Strange Ones: Volume 3

Atlas in the Coliseum

While Jonas and Blake were standing on one of the coliseum's balconies, their eyes looked down and they suddenly noticed the trail of Atlas vans approaching the building. Both with eyes full of confusion, they decided to go down and investigate. Once they got to the bottom floor, the duo rushed through the doors to find Atlas soldiers in white jump out of the vans and onto the concrete. They both watched them march to the entrance of the building, passing by anyone who was going to enter. Meanwhile, Michael, Clarissa, Ren and Nona ran out of the door Jonas and Blake ran through to see it for themselves. 

"Hey," Nona said, getting the group's attention. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Jonas said before gesturing at the soldiers. "They just showed up!"

"Guys!" A familiar voice called.

"Alex!" Ren shouted, and he and the others turned to find their blue-haired friend, who was followed by Petra.

"Where have you been?" Clarissa asked, her hands on her hips.

"I've been taking a walk with Petra." Alex answered, then pointed her thumb at the vans. "You guys saw them too, huh?"

"Yeah." The others nodded.

"Where's Carly?"

"Still in the building." Blake said. "She's watching Team Mexico being obliterated by Team Australia right now."

"Okay, that's nice." Petra nodded. "Do you guys know why there are Atlas soldiers here?"

"But why are they even here?" Michael asked, making a gesture at the vans.

"Perhaps, I can answer that question." A voice behind them said.

With the group flinching, they all turned around to find General Ironwood and Winter approaching them, a stoic look on their faces. With them was Fluttershy, Pixal, Zane, Ivor and Steven.

"General." Petra said, crossing her arms and giving him a stoic look.

"Petra." Ironwood said. "Do you and these Youth Members have an idea why we are here?"

"No, General." She shook her head. "Why?"

With that, Winter turned to the five standing beside her and said, "Tell them."

"Chara has escaped!" Ivor exclaimed.

"What?" Alex's eyes widen.

"She escaped the Delta Base while her room was empty and silent!"

"When we got back," Pixal added. "Her door was locked and Undyne used one of her spears to break it open. That was when we saw her bed empty and her window and closet open."

"Then, what are you guys doing here?" Michael raised an eyebrow. "I mean, today is the Strange Games, and-"

"We thought she'd go here." Zane said. "If I am correct, then Chara must be here to search for the key to her past."

"Also," Steven added. "We heard she rode Kuro in order to get here."

"Kuro?" Ren tilted his head.

"Don't worry about her right now." Fluttershy calmly said. "The soldiers were successful with bringing her down with my help."

The group looked over their shoulders. When they did, they saw Kuro, Fluttershy's owl, standing inside a circle of six Atlas soldiers surrounding her. All the owl was doing was sitting in silence as other civilians looked at her with wide eyes on their faced. Even a random group of three teenagers were surprised to see a humongous owl in one of them, one of them even dropped his ice cream cone out of shock. In response, all Ren could do was stifle a laugh. Clarissa, noticing this, gave him a smack on the arm and he glared at her, rubbing the area where she struck him.

"Okay, I guess that makes guess." Jonas awkwardly scratched his nape. "But searching for Chara in the middle of the Strange Games? Isn't that a bit, I dunno, disruptive?"

"Young man," Ironwood looked at him with a stoic glare. "We are only here to retrieve Chara and nothing else. We have no intentions of disrupting tradition. All we are here for is that girl."

"Why's that?" Nona raised an eyebrow. Ori, sitting on her left shoulder, did the same action.

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "What do you guys want with Chara in the first place. She's done nothing wrong. Not today, at least..."

"True," Winter agreed. "But that won't convince us to leave when all of Atlas is here to defend Camena from a suspected threat."

"You mean the Dark Ones?" Clarissa said, and both Ironwood and Winter nodded.

"We didn't even see anything suspicious today." Michael said with a shrug.

"Keep your eyes open, then." The Atlas general said before brushing past them followed by Winter. "You humans will have no clue what will be coming here. Also, be more aware of the people you meet and your surroundings."

The group just watched as both Ironwood and Winter walked through the doors and into the building. Everything was completely silent until Ivor turned to Petra and said, "Petra, please forgive us for this inconvenience."

"Don't even apologize, Ivor." Petra crossed her arms. "None of us expected any of this to happen."

"Yeah." Fluttershy nodded. "I wonder how Weiss would feel if she saw her own sister in the coliseum."

"She'd probably be excited because of it." Steven said, getting the Whisperer's teal gaze. "We all know what happens after that."

"Hey, Petra." Alex said, getting the flame-haired woman's attention. "You seemed tense when you saw Ironwood in your sight. Did something happen between you two or..."

"Let's just say that I had my misgivings with him." Petra replied before letting out a sigh and massaging the bridge of her nose.

"You don't have to talk to me about that if you don't want to."

"Can we go back inside now?" Jonas got everyone's stare.

"But it's afternoon." Fluttershy said.

"Exactly! I get uncomfortable at a time like this!"

"I won't blame you for it." Blake placed a hand on his shoulder, getting his greenish brown attention.

"Thank you, Blake..."

Suddenly, Ren let out a giggle, getting the attention of the others. "You know, Jonas? I think I'm starting to see why Frisk ships you with Blake. You guys have gotten close over the past five months, you know that?"

In response, Jonas' face turned into a bright shade of red while Blake's cheeks quickly turned pink.

"That's it!" He began to shout. "I'm out of here! I'm done! I'm going back inside!"

The others watched as Jonas hastily opened the door and ran back into the coliseum with both his hands covering his red face. Meanwhile, the cat Faunus' right ear twitched before she decided to follow him. 

"Maybe it's best if we get inside as well." Petra said before walking through the sat pair of doors Jonas and Blake walked through.

Soon, everyone else began to follow. But the only two who stayed behind were Zane and Pixal. Both androids looked at each other, then at the Atlas soldiers who were beginning to surround the building, but they left a way open for anyone who was trying to gain access to the coliseum and the Strange Games.

"Love," Pixal got her husband's attention. "I'm currently fearing the worst right now."

"You and me both, Pixal." Zane placed a hand on her cheek. "You and me both."