Chapter 17: Partnership

Though Rydel is too intoxicated or too tired to judge whether that move was executed with good technique, he couldn't argue much with the results. As he lied on the bed and tried to regain his senses, Valerie took a long last step and tackled him straight in the ribs, joining him on the bed.

'Ouch!' Rydel yelled out in pain, though it wasn't much of a complaint.

'Wow, aren't you a sensitive one...' Valerie buried her face in Rydel's wide chest then raised it to look at Rydel.

'I am not exactly the most well versed in...wrestling on an unstable surface, with someone extremely attractive.....' Rydel looked up at the ceiling and murmured, 'I guess the talk will come later?'

'Well, who's to say that cannot happen all at the same time.' Valerie sat up on the bed and began to undress, as she reached behind to unzip her dress from around her neck, Rydel swallowed hard as he saw the scars along her entire body.

Some are patches of burns while the rest are various cuts and bruises. Some of the spots are obviously courtesy of Rydel this morning, but it seemed like she has been through much more, and much worse. There is especially one that went across her torso from the left anterior side of her hip all the way to just underneath the rib cage on the right.

And yet despite all of the physical scars and trauma Rydel saw on her body, the indications of their existence didn't show once when they were eating dinner. Was it because she has overcome her past traumas and scars, or was it buried even deeper than the layers of scar tissue?

Rydel wouldn't know.

Apart from the obvious parts of her body, she is extremely muscular and lean, especially with her shoulder definition. Rydel can clearly see signs of the physiological enhancements being performed, and yet that's by no means all that Valerie has done to get her to this point.

Seeing the conditions her body is in, Rydel thought of Zel, the very first person that was truly born and raised in the wild region that he has seen and knew of. All that lived through the hell here all seemed to carry a distinct feature with them, whether that being the way they think and act, or something physical and superficial.

There is always this disconnect between the people living in the settled regions, and those scrambling for survival in the wild regions, and it was never clearer to Rydel than right now. He also threw away his clothing, and Valerie looked at him up and down with disbelieve. Despite the grizzled and slightly messy look on the outside, Rydel seemed to have some of the best skin conditions out there. Was it diet and exercise with a dash of artifact using? Rydel could never tell.

The bearers have always suspected that the artifacts, once possessed by a bearer, will influence he/she in one way or another, though they could never actually quantify exactly what's happening. Cellica has made comments about how her mental focus have become quite a bit sharper and she is able to concentrate for longer and harder after she has obtained the artifact, but the reasoning could equally be that she trained or forced herself to focus in order to control the immense power of the artifacts, and the training then carries over to other areas in her life.

Unbeknownst to Rydel, he also experienced such artifact-tual flow state earlier today in the Pilotmania. When things become extremely tough and messy and Rydel entered an state of extreme focus and clarity, the artifact itself was also activated slightly, just to the point that the energy output is able to synchronize with his body and thought and fuel him through the stressful processes. This would have been a giveaway not only Roloni, but the rest of the crowds watching him that something is up with Rydel, but thankfully he is not the only person with an augmentation in this race, and a lot more of those are many times more obvious and out there.

Rydel reached out and ran his fingers along Valerie's back as she sat by the bed side and folded away her dress. She didn't react, but instead asked:

'You are judging me now, aren't you?'

'No.' Rydel said as his fingers lingered on one of the more recent scars, 'these cut scars seemed fresh...blades?'

'Aquarian blades.' Valerie answered coldly and didn't elaborate. Rydel didn't need her to either. It seemed like Valerie and her sister and possibly some other people have already tried to attack Gold in order to get the artifact back in between the times of the Black Wolf's defeat and Rydel's arrival on this planet, and the results of that encounter is rather self-explanatory.

She turned around and sat in Rydel's lap, her hands placed on his shoulders while looking into his eyes. She reached one hand downwards and began to explain, 'you already know, there is the enhancements that I am sure you would be on extremely soon. A simple op, no biggie.'

'Ah.....yeah...' Rydel twists and moans as Valerie continued on, 'why do we have to do this here and now?'

Valerie stopped moving, and Rydel was finally able to catch a breath. The wild regions are indeed wild.

'You mean the explaining, or the other thing?' Valerie asked.

'Both!'

'Well, the kind of things I am going to talk about is not something that you can just say out loud, especially in this area. It's a special treatment only reserved for those with extreme potential.' Valerie explained while slapping Rydel on the shoulder, 'man up! You think I want to use this as an excuse to set up an anti-monitoring device? There are ears everywhere!'

'...And you couldn't do this anywhere else? Not that I am complaining...'

'And it won't be suspicious anywhere else? Just suddenly setting up an interference signal in the corner of the bar? Come on now.' Valerie continued on, and Rydel felt like he couldn't concentrate once again, 'besides, this is hitting a bird with two stones.'

'Nice one...' Rydel's breaths became more erratic as Valerie continued her motion, 'I can pull some strings and get you enhanced in the next few days. And what happens after that, is something hard.'

'Speaking on something hard.' Valerie smiled cheekily and pulled her hand away, and Rydel simply looked at her, waiting for her next move. The expressions on his face clearly indicating defeat. She pinched him in the chest and moved onto stage two.

'To accelerate the process and get the nanotechnology enhancements done, you need to prove your worth. So the assessments that you typically do AFTER...oh.....you have done the operation will be split in half...' Valerie continued on as she moved up and down, 'so you will have to perform the Test of Skill and the Test of Brain without the help of the nanotech, both of those would be missions given by the Grey Wolf.'

'Right. Is that where you are at?' Rydel asked as he wrapped his hand around Valerie's slim waists, 'what are you waiting for?'

'Nothing. But....but I couldn't complete the test alone, and my sister isn't ready.'

'So...you wanted me to be your partner in these tests? Would that allow both of us to pass at the same time?' Rydel tried his hardest to think, but failed miserably, 'is this place called Absolute Teamwork?'

'You are funny, outsider.' Valerie leaned in close and bit gently into Rydel's ears, the feeling sending a shiver through his body, 'but no. The difficulty of the missions will also be increased as the number of people doing it increases. But I have a feeling that if we work together, we can get this done in no time.'

'In no time?' Rydel felt like he was being disrespected, and fought on.

The rest of the night was a blur of sensations, and when the two laid in the bed with a sheet loosely covering their entangled bodies, Rydel was obviously the first one to fall asleep, while Valerie lied in his arms and played with his left hand. She knew there is something about this glove of Rydel's that made it, and him extremely special. Though she could not figure out what exactly it is at this moment, she felt like the secrets of the glove will become known to her really soon. Whether that would benefit her in her endeavor towards vengeance and reclaiming the artifact, she could not tell.

It is just as Valerie has foretold and possibly arranged, in the next few days, Rydel has received a notice from the Absolute Academy itself, alerting Rydel that he will be eligible to receive the physiological enhancements if he desired. He said yes, and was allocated a slot in a few days. Roloni was offered the opportunity too, since he is also a winner of the pilotmania, though he refused the actual opportunity due to personal reasons. Perhaps he doens't want the enhancements to mess with his physiology, now that he has entered a somewhat stable relationship with the hot Aquarian he got to know quite well in the few weeks here.

Rydel could totally understand where he is coming from, but knowing where he is going, there is absolutely no point in waiting for anyone. Valerie is ahead, and she is waiting for him. He continued on with his normal training and learning, occasionally meeting up with Valerie for some entertaining nights of sparring and bed wrestling before returning back to his normal life.

In the sparring ring, now that Rydel has lost the element of surprise with his glove, it become evident that Valerie is simply a more skilled and stronger fighter overall. Though Rydel can make sure he doesn't get taken out in a quick flurry of attacks, he could never find the opportunity to strike back. He did his best to learn as much as he can about close quarter combat for the past year and have grown significantly since when he first joined the bearers, but it just doesn't compare to those who have dedicated their lives to perfecting the arts.

Though Valerie never once talked about that part of her past, it became clear to Rydel that the fighting skills and the movement patterns are drilled into her ever since she is small. The only difference was that she hated it back then while the Black Wolf is still alive, but now she embraced it once her father is gone.

She is sharing some tips with Rydel here and there, but despite his improvements, both of them knew that she is one step ahead of him at least for now. With the newly earned power given by the physiological enhancements, who knew what Rydel can do.

Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and Rydel found himself sitting on a chair right outside the operating room for the physiological enhancements as he waited for the time to come. Both Valerie and also the brief Rydel have received repeat basically the same information. The actual operation itself will feel like an instant for Rydel despite its actual duration, and also the effects afterwards would be substantial. He will also have to spend sometime readjusting his body and regaining control over the basic motor movements, since his inner control systems would be out of whack for a while.

This made him wonder how much adjustment an avid martial artist like Dolon or even Gold would have to make, given so much of what they know about their body and what it does would be altered.

He would become faster, stronger, more durable, though some parts of his nervous system would be affected in unpredictable ways, though the actual impact won't be significant. For Valerie herself, she just became less sensitive to pain and taste. Rydel wondered what sort of change is going to happen to him, hopefully nothing that will impact his use of the artifacts later on down the line.

The door opened, and a medical assistance robot came out, greeted Rydel and ushered him in. It fed Rydel some medicine and performed the basic injections, and left the room. Then, after what felt like a good hour or so in Rydel's mind, but in fact just a few minutes real time, an extremely attractive Asian female wearing a red dress walked in.

'Hello, Rold. I will be the one in charge of the operation today. You should feel the effects of the....' Before she finished speaking, Rydel could already feel the effects of the anaesthetic kick in, and he simply shuts his eyes and allowed his mind to drift off.

A necessary step towards greatness, Rydel tried to tell himself that.

The operation was just another quick simple procedure for Lady Lily to perform, and she has done this so many times that everything can be quickly changed and addressed within the span of half an hour. She doesn't always take care of the enhancement procedures by herself, as she has trained up some stuff members to do the procedure, but this one is different.

'You said one of the wild artifact users that we have never heard of just walked in and signed up to the Absolute Academy?' Lady Lily couldn't believe how loud she was being while being on call with the master himself, though what he was saying was even more unbelievable, 'You are just going to believe that?'

'I said he was an unregistered artifact user, who signed up.' The master clarified what he said, 'I am not saying that he isn't involved with the previous group of users we came across, nor am I saying it might be the other way around. From what we know, he is here to learn.'

'I doubt he would be interested in Wild Region politics and economics.' Lady Lily said so defiantly. At least she isn't wrong in this regard, it was one of the less enjoyable classes Rydel has taken.

'There are many ways to learn, about many things.' The master ignored Lady Lily's remarks, though he sounded amused. She still kept her attitude despite the hefty work of running the Academy. He knew she'd rather be outside running operations, but now is a time for the organization to lay low and prepare for the next step of their plans. Plus with breaking news like this, there are plenty of ways to keep things interesting.

Perhaps a bit too interesting, Lady Lily thought.

'If he is someone running solo and are interested in how we operate, then I expect you to show him exactly how we are going to use this great power to benefit the galaxy, but both of us knew the timings are way too convenient.' The master finally said something that Lady Lily doesn't immediately disagree with. He paused for a moment to look away from the hologram communicator before continuing,

'But if he is really from the other group of artifact users infiltrating our organization in order to save their friends, then that's also fine. I have always suspected that they have possessions of some of the information gathering type artifacts that would prove an extraordinary hindrance to our plans, which is why I arranged for Gold to come and obtain Lock Down. It didn't take you that long to figure out how to create a pseudo-artifact based on that, and with the help of those, we can maintain our secrecy without much trouble.'

'So what? Eventually, this Rold person is going to find out what he wants to know.'

'Yes, at the very last stage of the test. Once he completed the three tests, all of the artifact user's details within our organization will be revealed to him, and he would be able to choose to challenge any one of them, including the Aquarian named Dolon. That is your concern, correct?'

'Yes.' Lady Lily admitted, 'and shouldn't I be concerned?'

'I would be worried if you aren't concerned.' The master chuckled, 'But until then, he would have to stay and go through the whole process. And by that time, he would have learnt all he could about this organization, and what we represent and what we do.'

'That won't be enough.' Lady Lily said, shaking her head, 'I trust your visions and your plans. But in order for that vision to come true, we cannot stay and simply say we are doing this or that simply for the sake of evolution and development. All of that breaks down when we take things practically, or how else can we justify the robbing of high level technology in order to research the artifacts?'

The master remained silent for a little while. Then he only spoke slowly afterwards, carefully choosing his words and trying to understand Lady Lily's sentiments.

'We couldn't.' The master laid it all out, 'and yet you still commited to the cause. And thanks to that, we now have the baseline to do things properly now. As you know, this trip into the settled regions isn't just to set things up for the elections to come.'

'I am laying down the ground work, establishing relationships and contracts. Soon, we will be one that worked under the establishment, and we will become part of the government itself. This would not be ideal, obviously, and this isn't the same as the simple slogan we advertised, but at least we would be legit, legally wise.'

'No more of the GBI interventions, none that would matter anyway. We would be under the protection of the galactic government,. We would be under the protection of me.'

'Now this I can agree with, master.' Lady Lily lowered her head slightly as a sign of respect, 'we have veered off path for too long in my opinion, but I trust your leadership.'

'I understand, Lily. But soon, all will be revealed. We will be the strongest fighting force within the galaxy in the crisis to come, and the galaxies would thank us for it.'

'Yes, master.'

'Now, tell me, how's the Aquarian settling in?' The master changed his topic near the end of this talk, and Lady Lily simply reported the latest updates before the transmission is completed and both parties returned to their work.

After finishing off the paper work related to Rydel's operation, Lady Lily then sat motionless in her red wood chair.

She refrained herself from doing anything to Rydel back in the operating table except from all the things that are supposed to be done as part of the physiological enhancement procedure, as strict orders were given to her to leave Rydel alone in the whole process, but she couldn't help but wonder whether this move would lead to Rydel learning about the true purpose of the Absolute Being and making a decision that is beneficial for the organization, or would his presence here be the beginning of the end for them?

The master, her master, has always had a plan in mind, and Lady Lily rarely questions his decisions. However, when her actions alone brought Dolon into the organization and then causing another artifact user follow in pursuit, her years of training and instincts all told her one thing: that Rydel is a threat that needs to be dealt with.

Maybe there is a way to set up some sort of precautionary measures... Lady Lily thought as she dug deep into the files and started forging her own plans.

Going back to Rydel who is completely oblivious to the conversastion happening behind his back. It didn't take him too long to awake from the operation after the effects of the anesthetic wore off.

He sat up despite the warnings of the droid nurse, and tried to walk around.

He felt like shit, and everything felt wrong, and the droid nurse easily overpowered him and put him back to bed. It gave Rydel another shot of medicine, though this one only aiming to calm him down and settling him back to sleep. As he dozed off once again, the droid made further arrangements and moved him back to his bedroom.

When he next woke up, he is going to feel like a new man. And extremely hungry.