4. Where Am I? 2 - The Return of Confusion

The first thing I felt was a pleasant warmth in my body. And something else wrapped around it. As soon as the feeling appeared in my head it vanished and now I felt like I was naked.

I opened my eyes.

My mouth soon followed.

I'm in an all-blue place. Far and away I can see some fishes and sea animals swimming away as fast as they can.

Directly in front of me is a vertical blue line that's way more vibrant than the water around me. And it seems like it's widening.

|Host is advised to move away as fast as possible. The Spatial Fracture emits severe levels of radiation. The scarab suit is operational. Initializing secondary systems...|

'You don't have to tell me twice!' I turn and try to swim as fast as I can, trying to pull water and kick my feet. It does not take long until I notice some numbers flashing in my vision.

'Can you make me swim faster? The water is vibrating come on come on!!' Desperation started sinking in as I felt the water vibrating, I felt it in my chest.

Is that a roar...?

Looking back I deeply regret it when I see a giant monstrous head looking at this side of the fracture. 'Where the fuck was I dropped?!'

|Secondary systems online. HUD online. ALERT! Dangerous situation detected, engaging thrusters.|

YES YES GET ME OUT OF HERE QUICK!

{What's all the noise for~?}

'NOT NOW!' As I notice the thrusters on the soles of my feet and at my back, I adjust my position and begin gaining on the fracture. Until I feel the water around me being pulled towards it.

|It seems like the monstrous creature is pulling in water. Changing armor shape.|

I feel the thing wrapping around my body, the armor seems to turn slimmer or more aerodynamic (is aquadynamic a word?). I can ignore the pull of the water around me better. It isn't perfect, but I'm getting some distance at least.

'Can you go faster??'

|Yes, Host. Boosting thruster potency.|

As I feel the sudden acceleration, I see from the corner of my eye that a lightning symbol appears by the side of a bar. The HUD also has some other things: what seems to be a depth reading of 100~200 meters (328~656 feet), temperature, and pressure ratings, and some other numbers and statistics that I can't make heads or tails about.

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The feeling of seeing the sea this deep is exhilarating. I would love to see more of it and maybe even study some of these species up close, but unfortunately, I have a little friend who seems to have taken a liking to me.

Seriously, can this guy not take a hint!?

It's been an arduous 15 minutes of me escaping this thing, but after its trick didn't work it seemed to enjoy just coming after me.

I asked the scarab for a scan of that thing and it seems to be a silicon-based organism nearly 20 meters (65 feet) in height with at least a 4-digit weight. It is a very apt swimmer and can almost keep up with the armor. The armor also said that the radiation didn't stop, well radiating, out of the portal.

Two other creatures also came out of the portal but didn't seem as interested in me as this one was. One of them had a huge and sharp protrusion on its forehead and was absolutely massive. The scan said that it was 82 meters (269 feet) tall, and also a silicon-based organism. The other one was a bit shorter, 75 meters (246 feet) tall, but what set it apart was definitely its nimbleness. It had the slimmest body of the three I've seen thus far. They seemed to look towards me but decided to go another way.

|Detecting 2 sources of nuclear radiation coming from our North. According to their speed and trajectory, they seem to be heading towards the creatures. The radiation from the portal seems to have ceased as well.|

{Why are we running from this one anyway~? It's just a little one, We can take even the mightiest of them!} ... That's a good question, why are we running?

'Can you prepare the cannons, Scarab?'

|Certainly, Host.|

My arms, glued to my sides to better slice through the water, rise and transform into cannons that look suspiciously like Mega-Man's cannons. I turn and aim at the creature. Scarab adjusts and corrects my aim and I feel a metaphorical switch that I press.

A blue blast flies from each of my cannons, taking the thing in surprise right in its face. The blast seems to melt part of its face off, while the other catches it in its eye. Partially blind and with a face melted, the thing roars once again and sucks up the water around it.

I stabilize myself with the thrusters and prepare another shot - Scarab having to correct my aim lowering my fire rate - but the thing stops sucking water faster this time and shoots a pressurized beam of water in my direction.

With only a little flailing I move out of the way and shoot two more blasts towards its face. Both of them this time hit it in its uninjured eye and it seems to send it into a blind rage (pun intended).

'Juice up these blasts, Scarab!'

|Adjusting intensity.|

While the being is raging and swimming in my direction, the cannons shine a little brighter (the HUD showing a 40% for a flame-like symbol) and two shots hit it in its face again, but the reaction this time is much more satisfying. Its head is blown off, with the neck pieces partially melted.

God damn... Well, that works I guess. {I told you We could take them~!}

|Saving parameters for future encounters. Host, nuclear radiation levels fluctuating a few kilometers Northeast.|

Let's go see what the fuss is all about. 'And stop with the host thing, what are you a system?!'

{Ufufu~}

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(POV Change - Yancy Becket)

Yancy was not having a good day. Being roughly woken up by his little brother was pretty much routine now. The reason for it being one of the biggest readings of radiation they've had since the Kaiju started attacking was not the news anyone would like to wake up to.

"Stay sharp, Rayley, we've got the targets up ahead." Raleigh nodded his head, his apprehension getting to Yancy through their connection.

His brother, Raleigh, was always so dedicated to everything he put himself to. It was a source of inspiration not only to Yancy but to anyone who knew the lovable bastard. 'If only he could see his own qualities...'

Ridding their head of any further distraction, Gypsy Danger - piloted by Yancy and Raleigh Becket - kept going deeper into the North Pacific Ocean where the suspected Category-3 Kaiju emerged.

"Alright everyone, fishing boat secured and out of the way. We are as ready as we can be to face that thing." The cheery voice of one of the pilots of Victorian Nemean rings in the Becket Brother's comms.

"Good job, let's rendezvous and prepare for combat!" Yancy answers and nods to Raleigh, preparing for what will most likely be the most dangerous combat of their lives.

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Not long after regrouping, the squad saw the beast coming their way and it was massive. Although not that taller than Gypsy Danger, the thing was large and armored to high heavens. And the Knife-like protrusion on its forehead promised nothing but pain.

"General, do you see this? This one is far more armored than the Category-2's." Raleigh was always careful after the incident...

"I see it, Becket. It only means you get to hit it that much harder before it falls." General Pentecost was, as always, a delight to work for.

"Vic, you draw its attention and we'll flank it. Be careful of the knife."

"Got it. Come here you big fugly thing!" The overlapped female and male voices came out of speakers outside the Jeager. That alone would've been enough to draw its attention, but the energy blasts that followed also helped.

The thing roared and sped up towards us, Victorian Nemean intercepting it with its superior armor and strength. Not ones to slack off, we quickly wrapped around the monster, already preparing the plasma cutter to try and pry off some of its armor.

That was working, surprisingly. The thing thrashed and roared and waved its big horn, but Vic held on like a champ.

"It's gonna take a while but we're getting there!" At least we came prepared for a big boy...

"Yancy, be careful!!" Came the voice of my little brother. I turned to where I felt he was looking just in time to see a black silhouette opening its maw and biting our midsection, my fast reflexes being the only thing saving our energy source from being bit off by boosting off the Knife-Head.

"SHIT! We sustained critical damage here, Vic! There's another one!"

"Oh MOTHERFUCKER! This guy isn't enough trouble??"

The thing spat off what metal and wire it had in its mouth and I swear to God that thing smiled towards us. Gritting my teeth we control the wounded Gypsy away from the thing even if it stays there mocking us. Accessing the damage done, we aren't doing good.

"General, we are heavily damaged. Our energy core is whole but energy efficiency is dropping fast. We can stay in combat for 5 maybe 10 more minutes but after that, I'm not sure about the future of Gypsy." Raleigh relays the bad news while I start thinking about how to beat these two.

"Seems to me you have 5 minutes to finish this fight, Ranger." General Pentecost's words were far from encouraging but ultimately expected.

"We'll have to improvise, little brother." I give him one of my trademark cheeky smiles and, despite the situation, I see his mouth tug upwards slightly.

"Vic, hang in there and beware attacks from the flank! We'll use your fight as a distraction."

"Fuck me sideways you cocksuckers! Alright ugly unicorn from hell, come on! We gon teach you some manners." Victorian Nemean deploys two sharp metal blades from above its wrists, shanks the creature in weak spots of its armor (one of those being the one we were working on), and holds on to it. Seems to be hunkering down and making it difficult for it to move.

The Knife-Head screams its discomfort and rage and tries to cut Vic with its horn but their close proximity makes it impossible. The thing still manages to shake Vic up but can't move as it wants.

We, on the other hand, focus on the black Kaiju and notice that it looks at its ally and appears to want to attack Vic. 'We can't have that now, can we?'

"Come on Rayley, now or never!" We command Gypsy to boost towards the thing. It reacted so fast that it was almost like it was expecting the attack, but the intention wasn't to attack it directly. Getting close to it and 'missing' our attack, we give a big boost to the two entangled behemoths. One of metal and one of monstrous material.

The boost pushes the heated water towards the Quicky and it's pushed away from us almost a hundred meters. When we get to the two giants fighting we adjust our trajectory to circle around them and we wait behind the two.

"This fucker is feisty! Thrashes about like a hungry piranha!" Vic is thrusting its blades into Knife-Head, but it doesn't seem to be doing much damage. It only enrages the thing more and more. Still, it gives us the time we need.

As we come around the fight we see the thing swimming our way and it's fast.

"Rayley, we have to get it at the right time. That thing is fast and we don't have much time." Boosting like that is certainly not going to extend Gypsy's energy. We have to make this shot count. Raleigh nods to me and we split our attention: I'm preparing the energy cannon while Raleigh is readying the plasma cutter.

The plan is simple: We use the two big and strong guys fighting as cover as we prepare our attack. When it comes either to attack us or to attack Vic, we pounce on it. 'This plan does bank on the hope that the Quicky isn't as tough as the big boy here. He certainly does not look like it.'

As the tense few seconds pass, Knife-Head seems to have had enough. It throws itself to the ground, carrying Vic with it, and just in time for Quicky to sink its jaw in Vic's left shoulder, freeing Knife-Head enough for it to pry Victorian off of itself.

Surprised by their cooperation we almost lost our time to strike. Almost.

Boosting toward them we barely hear Vic's stream of expletives as we reach Quicky. Plasma cutter tearing through its tough hide like butter opening a significant gash in its chest isn't enough to bring down the big bastard. But we never planned for it to.

I could see its beady black eyes widen as the bright light of the energy cannon filled its vision just before the blast went off.

"This motherfucker is crafty too! Hey, Gypsy, you alright?" Vic had already boosted itself a little further away from the cloud of steam and sand that arose from the blast.

"We're running on fumes here, Vic. You'll have to deal with the big one alone."

"Yeah, that ain't shaping up to be easy without an arm an' all but we- FUCK, GYPSY LOOK OUT!"

Before I turned more than a few meters I felt the jaws snap on metal.

I could only see the horrified look Rayley was sending me. All I could do was smile while a single thought ran through my head:

Well, fuck.

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(POV Change - Matt)

I can say for sure now that diving in the ocean without a big monster trying to eat you was very relaxing.

I think the temperature and pressure control of the armor helps a lot as well. I fell just as dandy as I would on a Sunday afternoon.

'Scarab, can you take notes and remind me later?'

|Of course.|

'Then please, put up a note to explore the seas. I always wanted to dive deeper and explore some secrets.'

|Note taken.|

With that dealt with, I sped up toward the radiation. As I use the armor, its controls become more second nature to me. Just like that metaphorical 'switch' I felt when I fired the cannon, I can kinda feel what I'm doing as I go.

That means that things like accelerate, brake, turn, turn fast, boost and the like are coming to me now. Adjusting the intensity of the energy blast is also something I want to try, but I won't have the time now.

Just a few hundred meters ahead I see a cloud of steam and sand. Dashing out of it is an absolutely massive robot missing an arm, sparks flying out of its socket and all.

I accelerate towards them, still seeing the outlines of the two big ass monsters inside the sand cloud, preparing my cannons. 'Put them stronger than before Scarab. These guys are almost four times the size of the previous one.'

While charging the cannons and getting there, I see the slim one whip its body and advance towards the robot side though not quite towards it... fuck, two radiation readings! Another robot!?

Boost, boost let's go fast!!

I accelerated so hard that the water around me exploded outward and I was there before I could even understand what was happening. I just saw the thing closing its maw around a whole side of the head of the robot and all I wanted was to stop it.

'Scarab?? Can you do something!?'

{Hehe, leave this one to me. I'll show you how strong we can really be, darling.} Even as the sweet voice whispered in my mind, my body bulked a bit and tentacles surged from my back. 12 tentacles whipped towards the monster and they all dug deep around its mouth, stopping its bite.

{Oho, this beauty is strong!}

Even if it was somewhat surprising, I went with the flow and tried my best to tense my muscles or to boost away from the robot. Although clumsy, my attempts were enough to bring it away from the robot in time for its mouth to chomp on a chunk of metal.

'Fuck man, how fast is that thing?!'

|The movement shows a speed of just below the speed of sound. Be careful.|

{He is worrying over nothing! We can take this cutie together, just beware of the bite~! Ufufufu~}

The thing was not happy with the tentacles around its mouth and made that clear by spitting out the metal in its mouth and roaring toward me. I didn't want to deal with such a fast enemy while trying to keep people safe, so I did the responsible thing.

I asked for help.

'Scarab, can you take over the armor and kill these guys quickly? Don't destroy the bodies.'

|Understood.|

{Daww, you're no fun~!} We can play around later when I know what I'm doing.

Feeling my 'body' moving around on its own was weird. The bad type of weird. Filing that sensation for later, I try to understand what Scarab is doing by looking at the HUD and deciphering the sensations that each of his actions sends to my body.

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(POV Change - Raleigh Becket)

I think I've never been this scared in my life.

Seeing the metal warping, the teeth sinking in and the contented, knowing smile on my brother's face was... traumatizing is a fitting word.

I felt like I was dying instead. Losing my brother is not something I ever wanted to think about and it almost funking happened in front of me.

"-ayley!? Rayley!" Yancy was screaming my name, confused but always faster to react than I am.

"What!? What was that!?"

"That thing almost bit us! Almost killed me!"

"I know! Fuck!!" Is our very productive conversation.

"OK, can we salvage the Gypsy?"

Getting back to the swing of things, I focus back on the connection we share with the Gypsy, and what I see is not encouraging.

"Becket! Becket can you hear me!?" Vic's voice was all garbled up, but still vaguely recognizable.

"Vic! We're here, we're OK! Did you catch it?"

"Uhh no! There's this black and blue thing out here dragging it away. You guys better get back on your feet, that thing is small but it's fucking strong."

"Motor functions are mostly ok, but we can't boost. We can walk and grapple for maybe a minute but we aren't in shape to fight."

We all feel a vibration in the water around us.

Controlling the Gypsy to look towards the source, we see the tiny figure in blue armor with a hand in the center of Quicky's forehead. The thing is static and after a second it starts to fall to the ground, black blood-like liquid oozing out of its ears and eyes.

"What the fuck!?" Is Victorian Nemean's colorful comment on the occurred.

Before I can even say anything, the blue armored thing vanishes from its place. I can only hear a pained, almost frightened roar/whimper, and another vibration in the water happens, this time stronger.

The same thing happens to the Knife-Head. It slowly falls to the ground with black blood oozing out. The blue armored thing turns towards us, its red eyes peering right through us and at that moment I know that we're dead. There's nothing we can do to resist this thing, it's so fast it almost teleports and explodes brains on touch!?

'How can we compare-'

"WOW! Ok, ok. Aham! Hello! Are you guys ok??" Came the high-pitched voice from the blue armored thing.

"Why does it sound like a child?" Yancy has a very good question.