"JOHN! CAN YOU SLOW DOWN PLEASE! THIS MOTION IS MAKING QUEEZY!" Aqua shouted down into the cockpit. She and Chris were sitting on the cockpit hatch, their legs dangling down inside as they rode on top of Suzy Q.
"We barely got started! Do you want to heal you?" He said, reaching up and grabbing her boot.
"NO! NO! I'm good. If you can stop for a minute, I can buff myself. I just can't concentrate with this motion."
"Fine." He replied, releasing her leg and slowing the ch down. They were following the road that led away from the city, but had only been travelling for about five minutes. He brought them to a stop so she could sort herself out. There was what appeared to be an old castle on a nearby bluff overlooking this area of forests and lakes.
"That castle looks like it would have a wonderful view of the region. Do you know why it's abandoned?" He asked Darkness. She was sitting behind him in the cockpit's jump seat, amazed by the advanced technology surrounding her.
"Hun? Oh, that used to be the noble's castle that oversaw this region a long ti ago. When the population of Axel grew due to the river trade, they moved from here to the city, leaving it abandoned."
"I didn't see it for sale when I visited the city hall. Do you know who owns it?"
"Well, technically, my family does, but it's far enough out of the city that we have never had a use for it. It would be ruinously expensive to keep it maintained, so we have just left it alone. Why?"
"I'm considering starting a dojo to train new adventurers and looking for a place to make it happen. This is a bit far out of the way, but if I could get it cheaply, I could make sothing work."
"You probably don't want this place. It doesn't look bad from here, but the inside is in extre disrepair. It would be tens of millions of Eris just to try and get it sowhat safe again, hundreds of millions to get it functional."
"Sha. The area is quite pretty." He said.
"It is. I like to visit this valley in the spring when the trees and wildflowers are blooming. It slls amazing."
"Well, maybe next year we can stop by."
"I'd like that. So, where did this 'Battlech' co from? Is it a relic from the past like The Destroyer?"
"I don't know what this Destroyer is, but you could think of it as sothing like that. You ready to hear my story now? It's going to sound rather outlandish, but I assure you that it's all true."
"Can we wait until we stop for the night? I want to focus on what you're going to tell , and I don't think I will be able to if you are running this down the road like a galloping horse.
"No problem, darling. We can do that." He said, then grabbed Aqua's foot again. "You ready yet?"
"As much as I can be. This Arch Priest class doesn't have the spells I thought it had. Just... be gentle with , okay." Aqua replied.
"I can't help it's gate. Just hold on, we should get there in ti for lunch." He replied. He wasn't going to hold back; this seed like a fitting punishnt for the scene she had helped stage earlier.
Throttling Suzy Q forwards, they quickly left the castle behind. He reached its maximum speed fairly quickly, the higher speeds feeling slightly less jarring than going slow in this ch. The road was fairly straight, so he just fell into a rhythm as they rocketed down the road. After about fifteen minutes, he spoke up again.
"Can you tell about this Destroyer? The na sounds rather ominous."
"It's a massive magical construct from a long-forgotten civilization that roams the lands, destroying anything that gets in its way. It has been beyond human territory for quite so ti, but the stories of the destruction it causes have beco legend in our kingdom. It's supposed to be made of tal and resembles a giant spider, but I don't know for sure. Seeing this made think of that old story."
"I see. Well, this isn't made with magic, but advanced technology. It can destroy things quite easily, but I doubt most people would call it a destroyer; it's actually pretty small compared to other chs."
"Can you show ?" She said, sounding excited at the prospect.
"I can... I just don't want to start a forest fire or anything. Plus, it gets quite warm in here when I'm firing the weapons. I don't want to make you sweat because you have all those layers on." He replied. It was already getting a little warm in there, the open hatch not really doing anything for improving the airflow.
"I can take it. Just shoot that hill over there. It has a bunch of boulders no one would miss." She pointed off to the right.
"Okay." He said, adjusting his torso to line it up with the distant rocks. When they got into range, he pulled the trigger. A bolt of green light shot towards his target, causing the surface of the rock to flash boil, then explode from the heat the dium laser generated.
"That is incredible! Can it do anything else?"
"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Aqua and Chris both shouted down at him.
"It can. Watch this." He said, ignoring the goddess and getting a little caught up in Darkness’s enthusiasm. He toggled to the short-range missiles and let fly a volley. Four missiles flew out from above the cockpit, slamming into the side of the hill in a series of explosions.
He barely noticed that, as when he had fired them, both Chris and Aqua fell into the cockpit at the sa ti, the missiles passing just over them. A lot of air was drawn out of the enclosed space as the missiles' wake created a montary area of negative pressure above the cockpit.
"A shit. Sorry about that." He said, wiping his face and glancing to the side as he recentred the torso and slowed down. The three won were in a tangled ss of limbs, snot covering their faces as it was blown out of their nostrils from the rapid changes in pressure. Darkness could barely be seen, being shoved to the floor as they landed on top of her. "Are you okay?
"I'm... fine. What in heck was that?" Eris said.
"Are we okay? You almost killed us!" Aqua barked. "Why didn't you tell us what you were doing!?!"
"Hah, Hah, I'm great! Do it again!" Darkness said from sowhere below the other two.
"NO!" Aqua shouted at her.
"She wanted to see so of the weapons on this thing. Normally, I'm sealed in here, so I didn't think about where the missiles were mounted." He replied.
"That looked like magic!" Eris said, untangling herself from the dogpile and climbing onto him. "How does that even work?"
"The laser? It channels a... energy into the weapon, where a lens focuses it on the target in front of it. The other is a bunch of fuel packed into a tube that, when ignited, sends it flying to its target. There is a warhead on the tip, a thing packed with explosives, that blows up on contact." He said, shifting a bit to let her sit on his lap more comfortably. There wasn't exactly a lot of room in here, so he didn't say anything about how close she was to him.
"Can you show us so more?" Chris said, bouncing up and down excitedly, shifting her petite body on top of him. Little John decided to make his presence known and ended up nestled between her butt cheeks with just a bit of leather separating them. Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice.
"What?!? You too, Chris?" Aqua said. She was pushed up against the side of the cockpit as Darkness and her armour were taking up the rest of the space.
"Why not? We have the opportunity to see sothing this world has never seen. Why wouldn't you want to see more?"
"I, too, would like to see more." Darkness added, leaning around the other side of his seat.
"Well, I don't mind. Just rember, it's going to get warm in here. You have been warned." John said, shaking his head a little bit.
"I'm a crusader, I'm pretty resistant to the elents."
"I don't mind a little heat," Chris added from his lap.
"John... Gentle, please..." Aqua pleaded, trying to find a more comfortable place to lean.
"This is a war machine, not a noble's carriage. She doesn't do gentle." He said, then jamd his feet down on his pedals, activating the Jump Jets.
"AHHHH!!!!"
"Hah, Hah, Hah. You were rciless on us, John. You ignored our screams, forcing us to sweat so much we wanted to strip our clothing, but wouldn't slow down enough to let us. Hah, I have never been so wet before without being in a bath." Darkness said, her face flushed from the experience, panting heavily as she walked alongside him.
She was carrying Chris in her arms, the goddess having passed out after twenty minutes or so of him jumping and firing at random rocks alongside the roads during their journey. She was screaming in joy like she was on a rollercoaster, so he hadn't stopped before she passed out because of the heat.
"You seed to enjoy yourself." He replied. He had Aqua cradled in one of his arms, the goddess sowhat awake, but had turned several shades of green. She had vomited in the cockpit a couple of tis, but refused to let him heal her again. He was massaging her belly with his healing hands, trying to get her stomach to settle.
Pretty sure she isn't faking it this ti. I'll have to get that Clean spell from Luna when we get back, else I'll be slling that every ti I use the ch. Lucky for , I spent a few extra tokens on a cooling vest. (500)
"I... did. When you ignored my pleas, I could feel nothing but pleasure from the experience. Though I think we all need a bath and rest before we do anything else."
"I thought you might. Hopefully, there are baths here in the village, else we might have to find a pond or a river sowhere."
He had stopped the ch once they started to see the outlying farms around the village, stopping in a tree line to stay out of sight. He laid Suzy Q on the ground so it would be easier for them to get the two immobile goddesses out, then shrank and pocketed the ch again. They were walking down the road and were just about to pass the village's wooden walls.
"Now, we are going out in public again. If you don't want to be put in a cute dress, contain yourself." He said. He didn't run them ragged on the way here just to be a dick. He wanted to see if he could take the edge off of Darkness's masochism before they were surrounded by people again. Knocking Aqua and Chris on their asses was just a welco bonus.
"Can I take the flowers out of my hair now?"
"No." He said, then took his free hand and fixed a few of them that had been shaken free. "This is your punishnt, rember?"
"Hah, you really are rciless."
"Easy, girl. Don't lose yourself now."
"I'm good. I'm just happy."
"...Water..." Aqua croaked, speaking for the first ti since they got out of the ch.
"A few more minutes and I'll get you so water. How's your belly?" John asked her, returning to massaging her sore belly.
"Your hands feel good... but I don't feel well. I just want to go ho." She said, closing her eyes and leaning more on his side.
Those last words struck an unexpected chord with John. Ever since joining DEN, he had been jumping around from world to world, never really putting down roots anywhere. The closest thing he felt to ho was inside the Phoenix Hawk, and he couldn't return there. Not yet.
Let's get this job done, then move on. I've already been here far longer than I planned to be.
" too, darlin'. too."
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