Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Twelve: Meeting The Newcomers

It's early morning and Night Raid is still heading to their destination in the south east, riding the Air Manta through the sky like a plane. Tatsumi feels the wind zooming through his short hair and shouts, "Woooaaah, awesome!!! This feels amazing!!!" The stranger laughs at his childish behavior and says, "You must be Tatsumi. Najenda described you to the T. You seem so pure, it's hard to imagine that you're actually a killer. You're quite interesting." Closer to the head of the Air Manta, Leone, Minazuki and Akame are sitting together in front of Najenda. "This is actually kind of fun.", Leone says with a smile. "It's pretty good.", Akame says as the wind blows her hair back. Near the back of the Air Manta, Mine and Lubbock are terrified out of their minds by how far up they are. "T-this is not good! What if we fall off!?!", Mine shouts in a panic. "Don't worry, someone would probably catch you, maybe.", the stranger says, picking on Mine. The Air Manta starts to slowly descend and Lubbock shouts, "Are we crashing!? We're crashing! It's game over man, game over!! I didn't want to go out like this!!! I wanted to at least see some breasts before I died!" Sheele gently puts her hand on his shoulder and says, "We're just landing. It'll be alright, Lubbock." "Yeah, we're just landing. It's alright. Everything will be a'okay.", Lubbock says as he tries to convince himself that the truth really is the truth. "So, where are we now? I know from the terrain that we're southeast of the Capital, but where exactly?", Minazuki says as he glances over to Najenda. "Margue Plateau. Thanks to its unique ecosystem, there are all kinds of high-level danger beasts here and it isn't suitable for normal humans to live in.", Najenda says with a slight grin. "But we aren't the average human, now are we?", Najenda adds as her grin turns to a full smile across her face. As the Air Manta lands near a few trees on a cliff side, everyone prepares to dismount the beast. Everyone except for Lubbock is able to get off without any assistance. Lubbock seems to struggle for a moment to get down from the giant beast's back before ending up falling face first off the thing. Before he can hit the ground however, Minazuki catches him by his shirt, just inches from the ground. "T-thanks Minazuki, I owe you one.", Lubbock says grateful that he didn't bite the dirt back there. "No problem.", Minazuki replies as he flips Lubbock over so he can land on his feet. Leone just starts to snicker at Lubbock's failure before he says, "H-hey! Cut it out! It was really high up, alright!?" "This place is unexplored territory, so it makes the perfect hiding place, don't you think?", Najenda says as she sets her bag down. "Right now, the Revolutionary Army's Reconnaissance Team is searching for a new location for us to rebuild our base around the Capital. Until they've found one, we'll be training here.", Najenda explains before the Air Manta takes off and starts flying away on its own. "Hey, should we do something about that? We left the Imperial Arms we gathered on it.", Mine says as they watch it fly off into the distance. "It's a tamed danger beast, right? So it's likely heading back to its nest, which if I had to guess was back at the Revolutionary Army's Headquarters, correct?", Minazuki says before turning to Najenda for an answer. She replies with a nod and says, "Yes, it's a valuable vehicle, so we can't be monopolizing it. This way, it gets sent back to the Revolutionary Army and delivers the Imperial Arms all in one trip." "Come on Mine, you didn't even know that?", the unknown girl asks before laughing at Mine's ignorance. "Oh, could we ride one of those and rush into the Capital's palace that way?", Tatsumi asks. "Impossible. The airspace around the palace has tamed danger beasts guarding it.", Akame explains. "Wow, their defenses are completely impassable, aren't they?", Tatsumi says disheartenedly. "Well, it will return once our base is ready and the heat's died down in the Capital. Just relax. Now, let's get the formal introductions out of the way. First up is Ch-", Najenda says before stopping and looking for someone. She turns to the unknown girl who's playing with Akame's air and saying, "Ah, Akame, you're so cute now that I got a closer look at you~" "What are you doing?", Akame asks as the girl continues to play with her hair. "My name's Chelsea. Let's all be good friends, as well as teammates!", the girl says before pulling another lollipop out of her pocket. She holds it out to Akame and says, "Here, I'll give you this." Akame quickly takes the snack and says, "Welcome to the team." "D-did she just win Akame over with a piece of candy!?", Tatsumi shouts in complete disbelief. "She must've been hungry from the lack of snacks!!!", Lubbock shouts. "Doesn't she seem a bit young to be a professional killer? Or is the Revolutionary Army hiring child soldiers now?", Minazuki asks, doubting the logic behind this decision. "Don't judge based on looks alone. She's a talented killer, who's completed just as many jobs as Akame has.", Najenda replies. "So many young people. Most of them children....", Minazuki begins to think. "They've chosen this path, Mortal. Do not think too long on it.", Quake says in a somewhat scolding manor. Minazuki just nods, which was actually for Quake, but Najenda took it as him accepting her suggestion, so she moved on. "And this is my new Imperial Arm! I received him as a loan from the Revolutionary Army, Speed of Lightning, Susanoo!", Najenda says before pointing to Susanoo. Susanoo simply stands there in silence. "Since he's an organism type that moves on his own, there's as little burden on the user as possible. Even I can use him in my condition.", Najenda says as she lifts her mechanical arm. "Nice to meet you, again.", Tatsumi says as he holds his hand out to shake Susanoo's. Susanoo suddenly notices that part of Tatsumi's undershirt isn't properly tucked into his pants, and it bothers him greatly. He quickly drops to a knee and before Tatsumi could react, Susanoo had already fixed the imperfection. "Fixed!", Susanoo shouts after he's finished. Najenda sighs and says, "He's a bit of a neat freak for whatever reason." "Yeah, he even fixed my hair yesterday in the middle of the battle. He's an odd Imperial Arm.", Mine says with a sigh. "So, more importantly, what can he do? We saw that he's pretty strong in hand-to-hand combat, but Minazuki, Tatsumi and myself all have that already? What makes him so special?", Leone says as she sits on a large root sticking out of the ground. Najenda laughs at her question before saying, "Let me show you. Prepare to be astonished! Do it, Susanoo!!" He turns to her and says, "Understood.", before beginning to show off his many abilities. First, he starts cutting down trees. Then he builds a small base for everyone to live in. Shortly after, he washes everyone's clothes. And then he starts preparing lunch. Lubbock and Tatsumi watch in confusion as Susanoo uses his 'abilities' and Lubbock says, "Well, I am amazed, but what is this?" "Yeah, it looks like he's just doing chores.", Tatsumi says with a slightly confused tilt of his head. "That's right! He's originally an Imperial Arm created for escorting nobles! Along with his battle abilities, he's fully equipped with the skills to do any household chores you could imagine! This means he'll always be of some use! Cleaning, laundry, whatever it may be!! The repertoire of meals he's able to cook is nearly limitless!!!", Najenda exclaims confidently. "That's it!?! That has zero use in an actual battle!!!", Mine shouts. "No no! This will come in handy, trust me!!", Najenda refutes. Najenda then sighs and says, "Well, he does have a Trump Card for battle as well, right Susanoo?" Susanoo nods in response and says, "Correct." Minazuki looks him over and sees the red circular thing again. "According to the information I've gathered, that's his core. Is it really wise to display such a weak point so boldly?", Minazuki thinks to himself as he walks up to Susanoo. He doesn't say a word and reaches to touch his core with his right hand, but Susanoo grabs his hand before he can touch it. "Don't touch that.", Susanoo says bluntly with a stern glare. Energy seems to surge through Quake and into Susanoo's hand, forcing Susanoo to let go of the gauntlet. "I see, so Quake still fights on.", Susanoo thinks to himself as he notices that the gem in the right gauntlet has started to glow. "Well, I'm glad you're all joining the team.", Tatsumi says to them with a smile. The two ignore his comment while they go about their own business, Chelsea mocking Mine for being flat chested and Susanoo being mocked by Lubbock for just being an Imperial Arm and not the man Najenda needs or deserves.