Captain Solos #6-12: 3,611
The Rift was somewhere he had gone quite a few times, but never alone, and certainly not with the idea that he should go and find his Youma. But the encounters with the General had shown him that he might as well try to find one. Though he knew it would be painful if he ever lost his Youma considering what Faustite had gone through. From what he had heard of from other Agents whispering about, he was almost barely able to stand at this point.
Chamnbersite felt no empathy. If he hadn’t wanted his bond broken, he should have never taken his Youma out there in the first place. And at the first sign of a Princess being there he should have called them back so they wouldn’t be in danger.
But it wasn’t Chambersite’s problem. It just meant that he had to be more careful about how he used whatever Youma he may bond with. And he was pretty sure he would be keeping it down here, feeding it energy whenever and whatever it needed, but he certainly wouldn’t be bringing it to battle.
Which was why he was starting to wander around in the Rift in the first place. At this point the castle could still be seen, he could still easily find his way back if he decided that he had gone too far, or he hadn’t found a suitable Youma yet. He knew he would have to create some markers though the farther he went in. It was much too easy to get lost in… whatever this place was. Whether it was some sort of mishmash of ancient civilizations that had been sucked in here, as he had seen in one of the exploration trips, or full of Youma eager and willing to pounce on unsuspecting Agents, this place couldn’t be underestimated.
He figured that he would be taking some time here which is why he had brought what he thought would be plenty of snacks and water and only hoped there weren’t seagull-like Youma eager to swoop in and devour any food that was nearby, whether it was good for them or not.
Getting this time alone though had made him think about what he was doing. He enjoyed being in the Negaverse, but knew that to become a General he needed to do more, and he certainly didn’t care for any of the Generals that he had run into so far. They all seemed to care too much. Whether it was about each other or not making a scene. What was the point of being in the Negaverse and fighting Senshi if they weren’t going to
do something about it. He was pretty sure he remembered hearing that they had possibly lost one of their own that they had forcibly corrupted into the Negaverse recently, but he hadn’t paid any mind. If they couldn’t keep them, then they shouldn’t have tried it in the first place.
He didn’t see the point in forced corrupts unless it was from the very beginning. Before one even awakened as a Senshi or a Knight. Perhaps before becoming a Squire or a Super would be okay, but still difficult. Doing it to a Knight or Eternal however? At that point they were pretty much lost unless something happened to make them join willingly. That was the problem. It would be much easier to keep someone on their side who had joined willingly rather than forcing someone into it. He knew that some Generals thought that trying to force others to their side would work but even if one lost some of their memories, he doubted their starseed would forget. Order would have had too much power at that point to take anything away completely. If it were wanted however, it meant that their starseed was already vulnerable.
He turned his head to look back, thinking he had heard some scuttling, but it appeared to be gone already and he hadn’t seen anything when he looked.
Going back to his thoughts, he knew he needed to do something as a General, but unlike what had happened at the Farnsworth building.
They kept themselves hidden too much. If they were going to do that, then they needed to use it to their advantage. Instead, they only had the random skirmish here and there or some General would decide that they needed to do something and maybe they would get some starseeds and energy, but it never could be considered a real “victory” as it’s not as though they had taken over the building. It was more like they had only boosted their army in some small way and then fled and trying to come up with something else to do.
Even if there wasn’t a way to claim any
real victory over spots in the city, Chambersite thought that they still needed to do more. Maybe once or twice a year something would happen, maybe something around Halloween and the Winter Holidays that didn’t appear to come from the Negaverse itself and that was it. As though everyone was sleeping the rest of the time with only a few that were awake and battling it out.
Perhaps if he really managed to beat something then he would feel differently. The only Senshi that had really given him a challenge had been Athalia, with Puck coming in closely though he was sure that he could have done more if the battle had gone on longer and he hadn’t been as tired. Then with the Farnsworth building he had defeated, well mostly defeated, a Super Senshi that had been taken care of by a couple of Corrupts, but that one was nameless, along with that “Star Bit” one or whatever they were. Even if he was on the verge of losing, he never felt as if he had made a difference when he
did beat any Senshi. And he had only taken a starseed once or twice at this point, none of them with any feelings of satisfaction.
Was that what he was missing? Satisfaction? Meaning? Some purpose to be within the Negaverse? As much as he liked the power that it gave him, targeting civlians most of the time was more of a chore than satisfying.
He needed to battle more. He needed to fight more Senshi and Knights and even if he came close to dying or he did die, at least then he would-
His thoughts were cut off once again as he heard some scratching/skittering nearby and stopped this time, looking around knowing that something had been following him. Before he could see what it was, he felt a pounce on the bag that he had been carrying and before he knew it, a large rat-looking Youma that was mostly skin and the other part bones, was wrestling a granola bar from his bag and when it was victorious, leaping from the bag and skittering on the ground before he found some impossible hole to squeeze through with Chambersite hot on its heels. He only managed to slide and get his hand in the hole, but the Youma was now gone. He cursed to himself. It was only one granola bar, but it was a bit embarrassing to have a Youma leap up to attack him just to steal it. Even if no one saw the humorous encounter, Chambersite still felt embarrassment.
He stood up, determined to at least find the creature. If it was stealing from him, it had probably stolen from others. And looking like a rat it probably had it’s own nest. He wasn’t sure if Youma acted much like the creatures that they looked like, but he assumed if they had taken that sort of form that they behaved relatively like a rat. And rats had nests. He was pretty sure.
Unfortunately to reach… wherever the nest may have been, he was sure that he needed to get over the crystalline wall that was between him and whatever was on the other side. He wasn’t positive that that is where the crack lead, but it was a good guess as any.
He hadn’t tried it yet, but he hoped that his power as a General when it came to leaping was as good as it was here as it was on Earth and readied himself before taking a giant leap! He only managed to get about halfway up, but he had been able to grab onto a ledge and pull himself up. At least he could now conclude that it was just as strong considering how high this wall was.
He took a few more leaps, making sure that the ledges and crystals sticking out of them wouldn’t collapse as he tried and eventually, he was able to make it out to the top. Unfortunately, it appeared to be just as impossible to navigate as the “road” he had been on. Yet again it seemed as though he had just gotten straight back onto the road when he could turn around and see that it was beneath him. He sighed, and cursed yet again, this time out loud. He could have sworn he heard a giggle somewhere. Whether that it was his head messing with him or a Youma thinking that human curse words were funny, he didn’t really care to investigate at the time.
As he walked along, he looked for anything that looked out of the ordinary, hoping it might lead him to where the Youma had gone. It was a good distraction as he tried to try and ignore the doubts that were starting to plague his mind. Well, they were less doubts and more questions as to usefulness. He would always stay within the Negaverse, he had no reason to switch over. If he did that would just mean that he would become a Knight. Beholden to Senshi as though Knights would be there just to protect them. It was in the name, however. Knight implied that they worked for someone else, whether it was a Lord or some type of Royalty. Even if he was to follow Metallia as an Agent and had to follow her rules, at least they were given some freedom. And as long as he had been here, he had never seen her face. She was basically a faceless entity at this point that he knew they followed but for now he could pretend didn’t even exist.
He couldn’t join the Dark Mirror. It appeared that one either was a Senshi or a Knight/Agent. One could not be both. Add to the fact that they just appeared to be so… weak. Of course the Princess had been there. But he bet that if the Generals had all been able to go after her she would have been defeated. And how many others were there? He didn’t know but surely less than the Negaverse had, or at least less readily available. He knew that he could get into contact with one of the General-Kings or Queens. The Senshi though? They were so scattered he doubted that even half of them knew that they had some type of Royalty within their ranks. And for a Princess to make only one appearance, clearly, they didn’t get out that often.
Essentially, there was no reason for him to switch. But… other than under threat of beatings, was there a point for him to try harder? He didn’t know of any recent Agent who had climbed their way up the ranks to become a General-King or Queen. And it appeared that they barely did anything anyway. They had the random battles here and there, and like the Farnsworth building they had some plans of attack that they liked to do about once a year. But what else was there?
They weren’t advancing anything and although he had heard they had taken over the rest of the world except for this city, why was it so hard for them to win. And once they did, what else was there to do? Metallia didn’t appear to want to go any farther than Earth, even if there was no life on the other planets and whatnot. But what could they do afterwards? Continue to drain energy and attempt to destroy the world as well?
Useless. Boring. He was sure he could add more to it, but those were what he thought of first. What was all of this supposed to lead to? And what were the Agents supposed to do after all life was wiped out, except for them perhaps. It seemed that Metallia was self-destructive. Where would the energy come from if life was gone? How would they survive without it?
They may have been under Metallia’s control, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t question her motives.
He thought that it might be more interesting if they let Senshi actually take back some places across the world. Just continue the war. That would generate plenty of chaos, right? And that way there would still be a supply of energy.
He heard some scuffling and what sounded like scratching to his left and thought he saw some movement. He carefully moved towards the area and saw in a small dip among the crystals a littering of what could be considered… trash. Human items that had no value anymore. That was when he was jumped upon and realized that it was most likely the granola-stealing Youma’s from before. It tried to scratch and bite at him but before it could do any real damage, he managed to fling it off. Not too hard, but enough to have it land a few feet away from him. It jumped back onto it’s feet and attempted to attack Chambersite again before he yelled “Stop!”
The creature stopped, looking surprised at the Captain. Chambersite figured it must be some of his power as a Captain. He had been able to command all of those other Youma before. It wouldn’t have been any different with this one depending on it’s level of intelligence. He knelt down in front of it and the Youma appeared to question what he was doing. He couldn’t help but sigh. “Look, that granola bar was not yours.” The Youma looked annoyed, as though trying to say “finders keepers, losers weepers” to him. Chambersite rolled his eyes. “I’m going to forgive you this time because I found it interesting how you fit into such a small area.” At this the Youma appeared to be surprised.
The Agent grinned. He had gotten it’s attention. Good. “Listen. Maybe you understand me, I’m assuming you do from your reactions, or maybe you don’t but I’m out here looking for a Youma to bond with.” The Youma didn’t appear to be interested. “I know that takes a lot of trust to do and we would definitely have to be willing to look out for each other, but you could be useful to me. And perhaps I could be useful to you.” He said, reaching for his bag, rummaging through it a little, and taking out another granola bar that he held out to the Youma. The Youma ran up to it, sniffed, gave Chambersite a questioning look as if to say “are you really giving me this? What’s the catch?” before it quickly took it out of his hand with one of it’s bone hands, looked at Chambersite again, before it started to chow down on the bar. It must have eaten the first one as well.
“I cook and I can get you a lot of human food that you may be interested. Deal is though that we have to bond. And you can help me with other small tasks that I can reward you with.” The Youma had now finished his bar and was looking at Chambersite with a look that said “what do I get out of it and what do I need to do for you if we do bond?”. Chambersite grinned. “Not to demean you or anything, but I would love for you to help me get items that may be hard to find. Whether they belong to others or whatnot. Along with helping me to pass messages to others that may need to be of a more secretive nature. And then you can have all of the granola bars that you want until it starts to effect your weight which at that point I may need to put you on a diet.” The rat-looking Youma squeaked as if it was offended that Chambersite would
ever imply that he was fat! How dare he!
Chambersite shook his head. “Not now, just if it does happen. I still need you to go around and squeeze into impossible spaces. I know those aren’t amazing and may appear to be demeaning to your abilities as a Youma,” which the Youma appeared to agree with, “but as we do more we might be able to expand on what you do all right? I can get you energy as well and you won’t have to do any fighting for me.” He frowned as he said it. “Another Agent that I know of just lost his because he was stupid enough to bring it to a fight where it could be destroyed.” The Youma appeared to gasp! “I know. And I mean fully destroyed. No coming back for it.” He shook his head. “I wouldn’t be dumb enough to do that. And of course, if we were to get into a battle you would be free to leave if I didn’t give you the command to do so. Agree?” The Youma nodded.
“See, this isn’t a bad deal for you is it? You just have to do some small stuff for me, and then you get all of the granola and other human foods that you may wish. I am a great cook after all.” The Youma didn’t appear to know what a cook was, but it appeared to be interested in food at least. Chambersite looked over at the nest that the Youma had created before turning his attention back onto it. You can keep your stuff here if you want. Unless I need something that you find, then you can keep whatever you take, though I get to look at it first. Then you can build up your nest and I can get you a place in the castle as well if you want. I just don’t want it to get filled up just because you find a lot of shiny stuff that you like.” The Youma looked indignant at that assertion. As though it were some sort of
hoarder! It clearly kept all of the best shiny things around! The Agent was clearly just jealous!
Chambersite moved himself so that he was on the ground now, vulnerable to the Youma which it took notice of. “So, with all of that out of the way, if you want some time to think on it, I can give you some, or if you think it’s a good deal then we can bond right now. I know we just met, so you probably don’t want to do it just yet and you have no reason to trust me, but I wanted to get the offer out there anyway. I can come and visit you more if you want so that we can get to know each other. I’m not trying to pull your leg either. I know how serious bonding is. I wouldn’t be doing this just to get a little slave or something to do my dirty work. If I were to ever lose you if we bonded, it would be devastating and might even kill me.” The Youma didn’t have a reaction to it, but it appeared to be thinking about his offer.
“So, it’s not as though I’m taking this lightly either. If I just wanted some Youma to do the dirty work, then I’d just go and find some random one to go and command to do whatever. Bonding is a whole different game and not something that you do just willy nilly.” The Youma didn’t know who this Willy Nilly was, but it did appear to be considering the offer a bit more.
“It’s your choice then.” He held out both of his hands. “If you want to do this now, then touch this hand.” He said, raising his right hand. “If you want to do a few more meetings before we do it to get to know each other, touch this hand.” He said, holding up his left. “And if you don’t want to do it all then go back to your nest and I can continue on. Even though you’re the first Youma I’ve run into out here, your abilities impressed me quite quickly. It’s not as though I need a very strong Youma or something that will attack for me. I can do that on my own, I have confidence in myself. But I would like a partner that could help me in small ways and perhaps later on, as I become stronger, which would mean that you would become stronger as well, then we can think about fighting a little or negotiating what else you may want to do.” He kept his hands out with the Youma looking at him. “So, do we have a deal?” Chambersite said as the Youma approached slowly and looked at his hands.
For a moment, Chambersite thought the Youma might not choose either.
And then he quickly touched Chambersite’s right hand with one of his bony paws. Chambersite grinned. “Welcome to the team then Roquefort.”
