CALAMITY CORE : FREE THE WORLD

CH.48 'TOUCH BASE'

The thunder crushed sounds, and lightning blinded Saionji as she woke from her sleep to the sound of crackling static and explosive energy from the sky. Thrust into awakeness and panic by the rapid succession of gold-black lightning outside, she gathered her senses and slung her rapier around her hip, the grappling blade attached to the gauntlet at her wrist having already been attached due to the labor required to take it off in the first place being too much for a tired Saionji to bother with.

In an instant, she realized that the cliff face they had been camped out upon was shuddering, and as the floor of the tent became unstable, she looked over to see her waking brother. The heavy sleep he was, she had to get his sense to him. "Shoda, get up! Grab my hand, quick, or get your grappling blade!"

He shifted on his sleeping bag, then sat up, only to realize that the tent around them was no longer on solid ground. "Wha... W-Woah!" Shimoda stumbled to his feet on shifting rocks as Saionji cut the face of their tent out, and as the rocks below them began to tumble, both siblings rocketed upwards, their grappling blades lodged in the cliffside. "What the hell? Saiji? Big Sis?!" He called out, only to realize that she was just above him.

Looking down at Shimoda, she gave a look of reinforcement to hopefully give him courage, knowing just how timid he had been most of his life. Once she glanced back up at the sky, she saw rocks falling down from above, coming directly at them. Dislodging her sword, she yelled out to her brother, quickly firing her grappling blade out once more in order to get away. "Shimoda, look out! Above!" As her words reached him, she turned around, only to see him be clobbered by a sizable rock, knocking him out cold. "Wh-... Shit!"

She doubled back, going for Shimoda now as she weaved between the landslide. Using her free hand, she cleaved through a descending boulder, then in one swift motion, moved her arm to grab the collar of her brother's jacket. Another burst of wind, this time from her legs, shot outwards, propelling the duo upwards and to safety, with Saionji quickly scanning the mountainside for a stable place to set Shimoda down and gather her bearings.

Once she found an outcrop, and her brother was safe, she collapsed to the ground, the strenuous rush having drained her already wavering stamina...

That night, Shimoda had a dream of fire and lightning, that Saionji had all but given up. That in his unwilling sleep, he had lost his sister to the raging chaos which had enveloped him.

Then Shimoda woke up.

"Hrk-..." He grunted, feeling a shooting pain in his head. He rubbed his face, then looked down at his hand to see smears of blood. "... The hell? Saiji?" Yawning, Shimoda attempted to sit up, then gave up, laying on his back after seeing his sister sat beside him. "Where's... oh. Right."

Saionji leaned over to look her brother in the eyes, a look of concern on her face, and worry sparking bright in her eyes. "Shimoda! You got hit pretty hard... I almost thought you died! When we landed, I thought you weren't breathing! For a second!"

Shimoda grunted, and rubbed his head again, though more gently this time. "I think I'm feeling alive... I got a nasty headache though." Sitting up finally, he groaned, and looked over at his sister for real this time. "What about you? You didn't get hurt trying to pull me out of whatever happened, did you? And... Did anybody else make it out alright?"

"I'm fine, aside from a couple of scrapes and bruises." She looked away from Shimoda now, towards the storm which had still sent rain down upon them, even if lightning no longer struck. She looked to the black mass in the center of it, the eye. "I don't know... it was pretty chaotic. If we're going to find anyone, our best bet is the origin of the storm. I bet Alpha at least is headed that way."

"So... no Hirano? Or anybody else? What about that Suzuko girl? Or..." He paused for a second. "... Andrei?"

Saionji shuddered as she tried to recall if she saw anybody, and even then, if she could guess where they headed off to, if anywhere at all. "Alpha of all people would've found Andrei by now by his energy. That, and they fell together, I think." She then shook her head. "I didn't see him, but Hirano is able to fly, and the rest are capable enough. They're probably on their way to the place the merchants mentioned."

"Iwatayama, that was the place, right?" Shimoda pondered, as if his mind had been jumbled by the smack in the head he had received.

"Yeah. If we want everybody to make it safely, we should try to catch Andrei and Alpha..." She gave a nervous laugh. Though she hid it well, she was honestly worried for her new friend. Andrei wasn't exactly the best person to leave alone, and already, he had only been with Alpha before he was split from the group. Her assumption, that they were still together, was purely hopeful. "You've seen how bad they can be with directions, heh..."

Twisting his nose, he seemed to get frustrated at yet another mention of Andrei. "Eh? You-...!" He remembered his dream now, of the fire and lightning. Maybe it meant something. "Why worry about him of all people? He's a monster, he'll be fine without us by his side for a while."

Saionji blinked, taken aback in the moment. The outburst from her brother was something she hadn't expected, and it shocked her temporarily. Her confidence faded in the shock, and her eyes lost their shine, becoming dull and tired. "Why am I worried? He's our friend, Shoda... That, and-..." She trailed off as Shimoda got more worked up in the moment, not noticing his sister's worn expression.

"What? There's not a single thing that we can do that he can't! Aren't you a leader? That's what Ban always told everyone!" Now, he was practically yelling, his voice amplifying as it echoed through the barren mountain around them.

"Shimoda-" She stopped as he prepared to speak again, and she quieted him down. "Shut up for a second! I'm trying to say..." Saionji gulped back her pride, or what tatters were left of it in the moment. "... I'm not ready to be a leader. You said it yourself, Andrei's stronger than us!" Tears began to well up in her eyes, and Shimoda began to realize that he had worked his sister up. "... Without him, can I even keep everyone together? I can barely even keep my brother safe from a storm! My own flesh and blood!"

As she shouted at him, and nearly burst into tears, Shimoda watched his sister's confident, dagger-eyed facade drop in an instant. He winced as she began to cry. "Saiji..." He gritted his teeth and relented. Does she really think all that? He pondered in his mind. "I... I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

After a few moments, the apology helped her compose herself, and she looked back to Shimoda before sniffling and rising to her feet. "It's alright. I know that the last few weeks have been stressful." She looked down at her brother now. "I can only imagine how you're faring, as strong as you are..."

Looking down at his blood-stained hand, then at his boots in front of him, he grunted and stumbled to his feet. Taking a moment to get his balance, he followed it up by nodding, a slight, thoughtful smile spreading across his lips as his mind raced through memories of the two together. "I'll be alright, so long as I've got my big sister behind me."

She couldn't help but smile as Shimoda mentioned her, and even with a tear still floating in her yes, she nodded back in response, closing her eyes and forcing out the last tears in their ducts before clearing her throat. "Of course. I'll always be behind you, little brother. If..." She sniffled again. "If I'm going to be a good leader, like you want... I'm going to need to be able to be behind everybody who respects my command."

At that last part, he felt a little disheartened. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he simply wanted her attention undivided. Shoving it aside, he gave his all to smile brighter for her. "Right. And I'll get stronger..." He swallowed back his feelings of negativity and muttered to himself sort of. "... Strong enough that you'll only ever need me in front of you..."