Airson's Story, Part Seven

Airson and the others said goodbye to the townspeople and proceeded to take their leave.

Pachi couldn't fly, so Nigel used his wood to create a basket that hung from his arms that she could sit in.

They flew off.

"By the way," Airson said to Pachi as they were flying, "How old are you? You're like ten right?"

"Huh?" she said with a straight face. "I'm thirteen."

Airson, Nigel, and Niwea all looked at her at the same time.

"Do I look that young?" she asked them.

"You look like you could pass as six." Niwea said flatly.

Pachi started laughing nervously. "Eh heh, well I don't get to eat often, so maybe my growth was stunted a bit?"

"A bit..." the other three thought together.

Airson lightened the mood. "Well when we get to Arbok City, you'll be able to eat as much as you want!"

Pachi's eyes sparkled. "Really?!"

Airson nodded.

"I can't wait!" she exclaimed.

-

Not too long after, they finally reached the city.

"Woaaahhh… the city is this big?" Pachi asked.

"Yeah," said Nigel. "It stretches for miles in all directions. Cities are much bigger than towns and villages."

The four of them landed next to the Knights' Headquarters. They went inside to find Ahsan.

They ran into him, Katie, and Miraka at the door.

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Airson..." Ahsan said with a serious tone.

"Huh?" Airson said back, not knowing what to expect.

Ahsan got closer to him, looking him straight in the eye.

Airson was starting to sweat. "Uh oh." he thought. "I'm in trouble for something..."

Ahsan stood up straight. "Yup, I'm sure of it. You've gained more muscle."

Airson took a deep breath of relief.

"But I'm glad you all are safe. I heard this morning that Carnage was taken into custody." Ahsan said proudly.

Niwea chimed in. "Yeah, he's dead though."

"I see. Tell me all about it later. I tried to contact the three of you but I couldn't get through."

"About that, Airson kinda went wild and fried all the electric systems in town, so the earpieces were as good as trash at that point." Nigel said.

Airson started laughing embarrassingly.

Ahsan nodded his head and continued speaking. "Mhm, oh, and go claim your rewards, the Queen said she received a good word from the people of Lemming Town for the three of you... and who's the little girl?"

"Oh, this is Pachi. She's thirteen. She wanted to come back and live with us, so I'm gonna put her to work." Airson said.

"Saving girls in need and gaining muscle while we're at it I see! A true man indeed!" Ahsan said excitedly as he walked off.

"No it's not like that..." Airson said weakly. He hung his head in defeat.

Katie gave them all a smile and a nod of approval and walked off as well.

Nigel and Niwea went inside to claim their mission reward. Pachi followed them.

Airson walked towards Miraka. "Miraka? Something up?"

Miraka was looking down at her feet and blushing. "I'm just, really glad you came back okay. I was really worried about you, you know." She looked at him.

Airson had a big grin on his face. "Of course I came back safe, I'm stronger than I look!" He started walking past her. "It's nice to have such a cute girl worrying about me though!" he said as he went inside.

Miraka's face turned bright red. "Huh? C-C-C-Cute?!" She put her hands to her face. "He... thinks I'm cute?" She squealed as she flew off in embarrassment.

Airson went to a reward station. In the Knights HQ, there are bright blue screens stationed all around the inside walls in the lobby. Each screen is called a reward station. It's where Knights go to claim their mission completion rewards.

Nigel and Niwea received the 500,000 Credits each from completing the mission, and a bonus 1,000,000 Credits each that was awarded by Queen Emilia herself.

The two ogled at the money. So did Pachi.

Airson went to claim his. He put his hand on the scanner. The screen beeped. "Hand print recognized. Airson. Alpha Squadron. Claim Reward?"

Airson hit the 'YES' button. The screen beeped again. "Reward Granted. 500,000 Credits."

Airson was happy. He'd never seen so much money at once.

The screen beeped once more. "The Queen has taken notice of your heroics in Lemming Town of Vulcan Bay. For taking down an S-Rank criminal, and saving the townspeople, thanks to a word from the Mayor of Lemming Town, the Queen has awarded you a bonus reward of 10,000,000 Credits."

Airson's eyes were as wide as they could get. He froze.

Nigel and Niwea were holding their paper checks and walked over to Airson. "What's the matter man?" Nigel said, flaunting his check. "1.5 million is a lot isn't it? We're gonna be living gooooood."

Airson remained frozen, staring at the numbers on the screen.

Nigel laughed, placing a hand on Airson's shoulder. "C'mon man, we're just millionaires now, just accept the fact that-'' Nigel froze too. He was looking at the screen.

Niwea and Pachi got closer to look too. They all froze.

"10.5 MILLION CREDITS?!!!" they all screamed at once.

--

Airson and the others were walking to the bank with their checks in hand.

Airson was silent. Pachi had already fainted. She was riding on Niwea's back.

Nigel was ranting on how lucky Airson was and how he's gonna be a "rich boy" and take all the beautiful women for himself.

At the bank, the trio ran into Reesus, who was turning in his check for his role in saving the city from Mastermind the other day. He was putting 75,000 Credits in his account. "Yo, what's going on guys?"

They said nothing to him.

Niwea looked stunned, Airson had a blank look on his face, and Nigel was still stuttering the word "rich".

Airson handed his check to the bank teller.

"What happened?" Reesus asked.

"Confirmed." the teller said. "Adding 10,500,000 credits to your account."

"Huh?" Reesus said. "Ten... million... WHAT?!!"

About an hour later, Airson sat in his small house, on the couch, with Nigel, Niwea, and Reesus.

Pachi was in the kitchen happily crying over how delicious pizza was.

"What're you gonna do?" Reesus asked him.

Airson looked around. "I think I'm gonna buy a bigger place to stay."

"Wise choice." Niwea said.

Nigel was nodding his head enthusiastically. "Hmm, hmm~ That's smart, you can't get the ladies in a house like this..."

Airson hit him on the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"That's not why I'm buying it. I just wanna move out of this wooden house."

The boys were watching the news on the small flat screen Airson had sitting on the TV stand.

The transmission suddenly got interrupted.

The screen showed static for a few minutes, then showed a man in a black mask close to the screen.

The mask had all black eyes, and three white circles going across the forehead.

The man spoke in a distorted low voice.

"Hello, citizens of Arbok."

Airson and the others listened intently.

"You may call me Z. You do not need to know who I am. But you will know that I am bringing an end to your current society. You people are the epitome of evil. You sit atop the world's economy as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and you ignore the rest of the world's problems. I will keep this brief, since I know how comfortable you all must be right now, without a care in the world, I understand. But you will know this. You will fear me greatly, as I will soon come to end your world as you know it. Your country will soon be mine, and when it is, the nobles of Arbok nationwide will experience true hell. The same hell so many others have gone through."

The screen returned to static, then the news channel came back up, but the reporters had their jaws hanging open from what they just saw.

Airson was on high alert.

"Z?" Niwea said. "You think he's a hacker of some sort?"

Airson shook his head. "He was for real. I could feel his bloodlust through the screen."

Niwea and Nigel looked at him. "You can sense bloodlust?" Nigel asked.

He nodded. "I think it happened when I fought Carnage. I took a real heavy shot from him, and I think it wore off on me somehow, but that's not important. Pachi, come on, we're going to HQ again."

"Okay!"

The five of them left the house and went to HQ. Miraka and Katie were already there, and so were many others.

Ahsan and Casey stood in front of the crowd to administer a PSA.

Ahsan spoke. "Attention, all Knights of the First Order. I assume the reason you all are here is because you saw the interruption we recently have gotten on all electronic screens and devices. We've been hacked. Not only that, but the entire country is assumed to be in severe danger. The First Order does not know the meaning of empty words! What we just received was a national threat! This Z character has been labeled as an S-Rank villain, who should be apprehended at any cost. As of right now, all of you have the same mission."

Casey finished the speech. "Capture Z, and protect the country to the best of your ability. Those of you who are Alphas will be stationed to the southeastern part of the country. It is most vulnerable to infiltrators because of the lack of large cities. You all will live, eat, sleep, and train there. You are not to return unless prompted. Omegas will be dispersed amongst the largest cities. One Omega per city. Ahsan will remain here. I will be near the Alphas at Starlight Square. Asnoth is also returning, he will be given a station as well. Betas will be in charge of smaller towns and villages. You will be notified of your positions shortly. Gammas and Deltas are forbidden from leaving Arbok City. Those that do will risk having their Knightship suspended or revoked. Understand?"

The crowd nodded understandingly.

"Good. Alphas you have twenty-four hours to be on your way."

Pachi looked up at Airson. "What about me? I'm not a Knight."

"You have to stay here, Pachi."

"But I have no family here, what'll I do?"

Airson thought about it. "Niwea. Your adoptive family is of nobility right?"

"Yes.

"Can you let Pachi stay with them meanwhile? Maybe she could learn a thing or two from them."

"If she wants." he looked at Pachi. "My family is really strict. Are you sure?"

Pachi was once again determined. "I'll do anything! I want to be as useful as possible!"

"All right. We'll leave right away, Airson wait for me, I'll catch up with you all tonight."

The others agreed.

"Alright, we leave at midnight guys!" Airson said.

"Right!" they all said in unison.

And so, a new chapter was starting in Airson's life. But none of them had any idea of what was unfolding in Arbok right now.