EoR Wine Country - NNWM2k19 - 2
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The mysterious Archer lead the way, walking towards the east and offering her new comrades breathing masks. Even in the more clear areas of the land, the haze was enough to leave a harsh raking down your throat. Drake wrapped hers around her neck and Gudako shook her head.
> “I’m fine, thank you, my magic will protect me.”
>>> “This makes me look like a fucking dork.”
“SENPAI! Watch your mouth!” Mash chimed in via hologram. “Ahem. I mean, it’s for your health! We can see where you are and this is by no means healthy! It’d behoove you to follow this woman’s advice.”
“Oh? You have backup?” The Archer grinned. “Please to meet you, you can call me the Archer of the Valley of the Moon. I’m this land’s guardian, in a way.”
“You make friends fast, don’t you?” da Vinci chimed in next from afar. “What a fascinating character you’ve picked up! What a unique style! Pleased to meet you as well! I’m the genius who’s as beautiful as she is inventive, da Vinci! This here in the glasses is Mash. We’re guiding Gudako and Drake around, I hope you don’t mind. We got some seriously nasty readings off this area and knew we’d regret not checking it out.”
Gudako sighed and put her face mask on, doing her best to imitate Darth Vader’s breathing. If she was going to look like a dork she was going to also sound like one.
“Unfortunately, you’ve come at the worst possible time.” The Archer sighed. “This land was once some of the most beautiful and bountiful on Earth, and now, well, you can see clearly it isn’t.”
“I… Yeah, I landed here once long ago and this doesn’t look a bit like the verdant land I once sat upon. The waves here were cold but not harsh, the wind refreshing, and there was plenty growing in the ground that I almost never wanted to leave!” Drake smiled, then softened it into a concerned frown. “I can tell in my gut this ain’t right, boss.”
>>> “So what the hell happened anyway?”
> “Would you like to fill us in?”
“Ha! You’re blunt! Well, you’re right, no time to mince words, really. It’s a long story, but I’ll try to get to the point quick.” The Archer removed her hat and sat down against the scorched trunk of a redwood tree. “This is Wine Country. The Redwood Empire. The North Bay Area. We have many names, but the one I know it best by is my home. A few years ago, the people who supplied the power to us went mad after their equipment started wildfires enough to burn over a hundred square miles at once. They took at least a month to contain, if not longer to fully extinguish. They pushed back repairs and such more and more and these fires claimed more land and more lives. Soon, they’d shut off our power so they could claim anything started then wasn’t their fault; it always wound up being so. Food spoiled, sick died, and most went without communication. It was a special isolated apocalypse.”
“Something else must have happened to cause this area and time to get our attention though...” Mash intervened, biting her lip. “I mean, this is already an awful situation, but this haze and destruction doesn’t quite match the magnitude of what you’re describing; instead it sounds far worse..”
“You’re right; we actually had just got back online with power recently when an incredible rain of fire came down from one of their power plants and turned most of this into nothing. From it rose, as if out of nowhere, a mighty, ugly spike of a tower to which all lines now connect. Soon, they owned the land, and no army could stop them. Everything that tried begin to burn, as if they had learned to control fire themselves. We now live in small communes, wandering where we are out of their sight and control, desperate to revive our land. Some say it has something to do with the newly appointed CEOs, some claim a new government superweapon, but I can tell it’s something worse...” The Archer sighed. “Almost as if a demon was controlling them...”
“A demon pillar would account for being able to just suddenly destroy a land like this, yes.” da Vinci chimed in. “You can sense it, can’t you? You’re clearly a servant.”
“Yeah. I couldn’t tell you exactly what, but it’s something that shouldn’t be here at all. It’s probably trapped inside their tower, leering down at us and summoning the rains of flames upon our heads. My sole duty now is to cut it down and make this land shine and breathe once more.” The Archer’s eyes narrowed, serious. “I won’t rest until they pay for taking my homeland!”
It was then a rustling in the bushes nearby caught their attention.
“There she is! That rotten swordswoman! The chiefs over at Praetorian Gas and Electric said it’s a life of luxury to whomever gets her head!” a few humans wrapped in rags and gas masks appeared, knives out. Their leader was a woman in temple robes wielding some sort of club and cackling.
“Bah! It’s the stragglers from Marin! D-Don’t let them sneeze on you! They don’t believe in medicine or vaccines or anything!” The Archer drew her sword, looking over at Gudako. “I hope you’re ready to see what I can do, oh Master. That’s who you are, right? Let’s cut these fools!”
And so they entered battle, a few lone wanderers from Marin. They were some of the first to popularize a movement of not vaccinating their children and causing health outbreaks all over the world. Their bodies were wreaked with diseases, bony, skin gray, flies around them. But still, they insisted on trying to spread their infected words like the vomit that poured from their stomachs.
It wasn’t long before they were cut down and their bodies spread into that familiar gold dust that everyone defeated does, dropping a couple chests containing gems or whatnot. The determination in the Archer’s eyes as well as her flawless command of her sword made it so those three barely got a chance. Drake wasn’t a half-bad backup to have for her, either.
“Good gods, I thought we’d contained those people. Imagine if one of them was let loose among the fire evacuees… It makes me sick thinking about it!” The Archer sighed.
“They… They really do that kind of thing?” Mash sighed. “That’s awful. Imagine how horrible those poor sick kids of theirs feel. What a terrible thing to inflict on others!”
“Vaccines were a pretty revolutionary invention and were a major reason why humanity has thrived as it did until now.” da Vinci added. “What a waste of great brilliance.”
> “Are we safe yet?”
>>> “They also smelled really bad.”
Their victory wasn’t a long one, however, as more rustling happened and another band of them appeared in an ambush, screaming the same thing about a reward on the Archer’s head. Just before they could go and re-enter battle, a familiar voice shot up from beyond the haze.
“Ahahahaha! Nice try, bastards, but you can’t get by my impeccable accuracy!” With that bellowing, a long volley of bullets rained into them, making them disappear into the void to follow the others into whatever Hell awaited them.
“Where the hell have you been?” The Archer scowled. “You know, I’m trying to give our friends a nice warm welcome and you could have shown up sooner to help us!”
A figure familiar to the Chaldea crew made her face known to them. That hat with the golden sunrise on it could be spotted from space. “Ahahaha! Oda Nobunaga at your service! I decided this rescuing you thing would look A LOT cooler, sis!”
“Sis…?” Mash asked.
“I don’t remember Nobunaga having a sister, especially not one that came from the future...” da Vinci pondered.
“It’s...complicated.” The Archer sighed as she grabbed Nobu and dragged her in closer. “I studied and taught martial arts here for a living, specializing in the sword. Through this I gained honorary entry into the ancestry and clans that included this one here, quite directly too, I might add. So imagine how I feel having to rely on this idiot in a time like this...”
“Hey! I’m not THAT stupid! I mean, I’m not the one wandering off to the beach by myself to go pick up a bunch of hot women, one of them turning out to be my boss, and the other is someone who’s tried to pilfer me booty before, only leading to disappointment in me that neither are in a bikini!”
“Big talk for someone who died in a fire.”
“I’m going to die you in a fire!”
The two threw each other’s hats off and began to wrestle about in the dirt, growling and hurling more terrible insults at each other. Mash, da Vinci, Gudako, and Drake could only sit there and blink. First they find out Nobunaga of all the servants has a sister, and then they find out it’s someone just as stupid and squeaky as she is?
>>> “Two of them!”
> “Two of them?”
“HEY! Why do you two get to have all of the fun??” Drake yelled. “Haha, oh well, at least this means this mission won’t ever be boring! Loud, maybe, but definitely not boring. Next time though, invite me! I can pin you both with one hand each!”
The Archer turned bright red and sputtered. “P-Please...”
“Haha, shit, are you serious? Here? Now? After your heroic posturing? LMAO! You useless lesbian!” Nobunaga cackled.
“Takes one to know one.”
“At least I can keep it in my pants!”
The two continued on for quite a while. And after that, Nobunaga officially joined the party, claiming it “beats a kick in the tits.” da Vinci and Mash made note to Drake and Gudako that this Nobunaga in particular had the class Avenger, separating it from the potential Archer and Berserker forms. Not that that’s ever stopped Nobunaga from being consistent, but they began to wonder just how the Archer and Kipposhi or even the Maou would get along.
~ END CHAPTER 1 NODE 3
“So, hey, Atma...” Nobunaga was interrupted.
“….It’s Archer of the Valley of the Moon, you dumbass! How dare you speak my true name this early in the story?” The Archer snapped.
“Oh, for crap’s sake, like you were going to be able to keep that up past chapter 2 at most. Besides, it’s easier for you to emote once people know who you are; you gain power from that. This subtlety stuff never suited you, nor did it ever suit me. Embrace it. Dumbass. Lol!”
“Fine..”
The Archer put her hat to her chest and blushed, biting her lip and sighing. Time to go through the reveal spiel yet again.
“Archer of the Valley of the Moon… It’s a mouthful and not the kind I’d like. Call me Atma Weapon. Everyone else does. I’m the inheritor of Oda and Minamoto blood, a renowned martial artist and chef from this area. In times of need, Amaterasu shines her light on me; the gallant protector of the Northern Californian shores and women the worlds over! Let’s stick it to these power-hungry bastards once and for all!”
Gudako checked her status screen. Cool. Her name actually did change to Atma Weapon.
“Hm, yes, there is indeed a record of such a human living here roughly around this time. Fascinating. You’re one of those heroic spirits that willed themselves into one, rather than being deemed one by the source of this all after you died like is the fate for most of us, aren’t you?” da Vinci grinned. “Don’t think I didn’t do my reading on this place once you showed up!”
“Yup, she inherited my clan and did it well. Hell, she even has Hoshigiri, a sword that’s been in the clan through various retainers of mine, so you know we’re in good hands!” Nobu grinned. “I give her shit but there’s no better flirt you’d like on your side.”
“Thanks, I guess, sis.” Atma looked over at the da Vinci transmission and crossed her arms. “So, what do you know about me?”
“Well, you’re not complicated, that’s for sure. Some of this stuff you may want to suss out later once things are calm, but your backstory doesn’t indicate you being of an evil origin point at all. Just a human who really, really wants to do the right thing at all times. One of those rare embodiments of genuine chivalry and kindness.”
“So she’s like that Emiya guy?” Mash asked. “What’s with you people who beg to become servants while living and being able to cook? You mentioned being a chef and all. Is this a requirement I didn’t know about?”
“I’ll look into the possibility, our dear Mash.” da Vinci went back to Atma, grinning like she always does. “Am I right? You’re just very chivalrous, to a fault, and that includes the old definition of the word where you sleep with others’ wives and whatnot, right?”
“….Why can’t I punch a hologram!?” Atma yelled. “Fuck, okay, you’re right. Just, let’s not shout that part out loud anymore! Thank you very much.”
>>> “Just so long as you don’t touch my Mash...”
> “How lewd”
“Well, I’m sure having you around Gudako will prove to be quite a combo. I’ll let you all return to work though; you have a lot more to go through, I’m afraid. Just keep your spirits up for now and get settled in where you can.”
da Vinci and Mash blinked out, leaving Atma to sigh and kick a rock hard into Nobu’s head. “This is your fault.”
That noise unfortunately gave way to another fight, their raucous behavior giving their location away, this time to a couple of goons using guns, a familiar sight from Gudako’s romp in Shinjuku, only now with their uniforms in blue with white stripes, the letters PG&E emblazoned on the armbands. With them were a couple of Efreet.
“What luck! We can burn her down here and now! Let’s get to work scorching the rest of this and paving the way for the bosses!”
Another fight ensued, though with three servants at her command, a hefty starting party of a Rider, an Archer, and an Avenger, they were trounced pretty quickly. Only one of their comm radios remained, and Atma picked it up, tuning it in to whatever frequency was broadcasting their news and commands. Once in, she disguised her voice and passed for an employee, which considering she couldn’t really seem to manage a tone beyond “smug and squeaky” it meant they were probably dealing with someone infinitely stupid. That was at least a minor relief among all of this. She faked a few static hissing noises and said she was reporting in for duty, or whatever other military these assholes now fancied themselves as. This is why she couldn’t be a villain; too much thinking on the worst details of anything.
“Let’s finish up this lousy county. Next stop is the farmlands of Petaluma; once we get those, their food supply will be vastly depleted! Then they’ll have no choice but to pay us to supply them with energy, shelter, and meals!” the voice commanded. It wasn’t one of the higher ups; just a local patrol boss. But it gave them more than enough motivation to get up and get going towards the farmlands.
“Ah, they’re going after the poultry and grain farms next; that’s not a good sign. Maybe that rebel guard patrol I set up there has been eliminated..? Maybe we can save them in time, but we have to get going, now!” Atma got serious. “Petaluma is east of here almost directly. Follow me! Let’s catch them and teach them to not count their eggs before they hatch!”
> “At least her sense of humor is intact”
>>> “Good, at least you’re not one of those serious protagonists. Not a joke in sight. Yawn.”
“Alright, lead the way, Archer… er, Atma, was it?” Drake asked. “I’m eager to see what this place looks like cleaned up and after a few hundred years of progress past my arrival. Let’s make it a date when we’re done, okay?”
Atma perked up, turning bright red again and giving her a hearty salute. “Ma’am, yes my captain!”
“Wow, she really is easy...” Drake laughed. “What motivation though, she’s suddenly going almost twice as fast as before...”
> “Wait for me!”
>>> “Can’t blame her on that one, honestly”
With the crew starting to come together and one True Name already in the bank, the merry band of ladies began their hike to the east, through the remnants of hills and plains, several empty holes in the land filled with debris that once instead held water to grow food and feed livestock with, the withered skeletons of cows and horses on the now dry and crunchy path below their feet, the only map they had the one inside of Atma’s head and annotated with Nobu’s corrections and commentary, dotted sparsely with abandoned farm buildings and dead grass, into what would become the inside crevice of a valley, where scraps of abandoned rails sat near the remnants of any culture that once was here. A brewery was the current stronghold of the resistance against PG&E, deep underground in its basements sat armaments and supplies. Like hell Atma was going to give this place over without a fight.
The trees seemed to engulf them and provide them some extra shelter from any incoming attack, lest they decide to just beam down another Armageddon fire and waste their time trying to extinguish it rather than fight.
It’s a good thing Atma knew that peasants were tough, and farmers had some mean fucking war implements at their disposal.
“They have sown the seeds of their destruction!” Atma laughed as they arrived. The area was surrounded in barricades made from pieces of old, thick wine barrels and other reclaimed material. A thick, brown and orange haze had sunlight peeling out slowly over them, sunset imminent; they’d arrived just in time, as a hero always should. It gave them a cool red glow, which made Atma lament the lack of hot babes to look at her glowing so radiantly.
Their first major mission: protect the food supplies. They weren’t about to march on an empty stomach.
Not today, at least.
~ END CHAPTER 2 NODE 1
The mysterious Archer lead the way, walking towards the east and offering her new comrades breathing masks. Even in the more clear areas of the land, the haze was enough to leave a harsh raking down your throat. Drake wrapped hers around her neck and Gudako shook her head.
> “I’m fine, thank you, my magic will protect me.”
>>> “This makes me look like a fucking dork.”
“SENPAI! Watch your mouth!” Mash chimed in via hologram. “Ahem. I mean, it’s for your health! We can see where you are and this is by no means healthy! It’d behoove you to follow this woman’s advice.”
“Oh? You have backup?” The Archer grinned. “Please to meet you, you can call me the Archer of the Valley of the Moon. I’m this land’s guardian, in a way.”
“You make friends fast, don’t you?” da Vinci chimed in next from afar. “What a fascinating character you’ve picked up! What a unique style! Pleased to meet you as well! I’m the genius who’s as beautiful as she is inventive, da Vinci! This here in the glasses is Mash. We’re guiding Gudako and Drake around, I hope you don’t mind. We got some seriously nasty readings off this area and knew we’d regret not checking it out.”
Gudako sighed and put her face mask on, doing her best to imitate Darth Vader’s breathing. If she was going to look like a dork she was going to also sound like one.
“Unfortunately, you’ve come at the worst possible time.” The Archer sighed. “This land was once some of the most beautiful and bountiful on Earth, and now, well, you can see clearly it isn’t.”
“I… Yeah, I landed here once long ago and this doesn’t look a bit like the verdant land I once sat upon. The waves here were cold but not harsh, the wind refreshing, and there was plenty growing in the ground that I almost never wanted to leave!” Drake smiled, then softened it into a concerned frown. “I can tell in my gut this ain’t right, boss.”
>>> “So what the hell happened anyway?”
> “Would you like to fill us in?”
“Ha! You’re blunt! Well, you’re right, no time to mince words, really. It’s a long story, but I’ll try to get to the point quick.” The Archer removed her hat and sat down against the scorched trunk of a redwood tree. “This is Wine Country. The Redwood Empire. The North Bay Area. We have many names, but the one I know it best by is my home. A few years ago, the people who supplied the power to us went mad after their equipment started wildfires enough to burn over a hundred square miles at once. They took at least a month to contain, if not longer to fully extinguish. They pushed back repairs and such more and more and these fires claimed more land and more lives. Soon, they’d shut off our power so they could claim anything started then wasn’t their fault; it always wound up being so. Food spoiled, sick died, and most went without communication. It was a special isolated apocalypse.”
“Something else must have happened to cause this area and time to get our attention though...” Mash intervened, biting her lip. “I mean, this is already an awful situation, but this haze and destruction doesn’t quite match the magnitude of what you’re describing; instead it sounds far worse..”
“You’re right; we actually had just got back online with power recently when an incredible rain of fire came down from one of their power plants and turned most of this into nothing. From it rose, as if out of nowhere, a mighty, ugly spike of a tower to which all lines now connect. Soon, they owned the land, and no army could stop them. Everything that tried begin to burn, as if they had learned to control fire themselves. We now live in small communes, wandering where we are out of their sight and control, desperate to revive our land. Some say it has something to do with the newly appointed CEOs, some claim a new government superweapon, but I can tell it’s something worse...” The Archer sighed. “Almost as if a demon was controlling them...”
“A demon pillar would account for being able to just suddenly destroy a land like this, yes.” da Vinci chimed in. “You can sense it, can’t you? You’re clearly a servant.”
“Yeah. I couldn’t tell you exactly what, but it’s something that shouldn’t be here at all. It’s probably trapped inside their tower, leering down at us and summoning the rains of flames upon our heads. My sole duty now is to cut it down and make this land shine and breathe once more.” The Archer’s eyes narrowed, serious. “I won’t rest until they pay for taking my homeland!”
It was then a rustling in the bushes nearby caught their attention.
“There she is! That rotten swordswoman! The chiefs over at Praetorian Gas and Electric said it’s a life of luxury to whomever gets her head!” a few humans wrapped in rags and gas masks appeared, knives out. Their leader was a woman in temple robes wielding some sort of club and cackling.
“Bah! It’s the stragglers from Marin! D-Don’t let them sneeze on you! They don’t believe in medicine or vaccines or anything!” The Archer drew her sword, looking over at Gudako. “I hope you’re ready to see what I can do, oh Master. That’s who you are, right? Let’s cut these fools!”
And so they entered battle, a few lone wanderers from Marin. They were some of the first to popularize a movement of not vaccinating their children and causing health outbreaks all over the world. Their bodies were wreaked with diseases, bony, skin gray, flies around them. But still, they insisted on trying to spread their infected words like the vomit that poured from their stomachs.
It wasn’t long before they were cut down and their bodies spread into that familiar gold dust that everyone defeated does, dropping a couple chests containing gems or whatnot. The determination in the Archer’s eyes as well as her flawless command of her sword made it so those three barely got a chance. Drake wasn’t a half-bad backup to have for her, either.
“Good gods, I thought we’d contained those people. Imagine if one of them was let loose among the fire evacuees… It makes me sick thinking about it!” The Archer sighed.
“They… They really do that kind of thing?” Mash sighed. “That’s awful. Imagine how horrible those poor sick kids of theirs feel. What a terrible thing to inflict on others!”
“Vaccines were a pretty revolutionary invention and were a major reason why humanity has thrived as it did until now.” da Vinci added. “What a waste of great brilliance.”
> “Are we safe yet?”
>>> “They also smelled really bad.”
Their victory wasn’t a long one, however, as more rustling happened and another band of them appeared in an ambush, screaming the same thing about a reward on the Archer’s head. Just before they could go and re-enter battle, a familiar voice shot up from beyond the haze.
“Ahahahaha! Nice try, bastards, but you can’t get by my impeccable accuracy!” With that bellowing, a long volley of bullets rained into them, making them disappear into the void to follow the others into whatever Hell awaited them.
“Where the hell have you been?” The Archer scowled. “You know, I’m trying to give our friends a nice warm welcome and you could have shown up sooner to help us!”
A figure familiar to the Chaldea crew made her face known to them. That hat with the golden sunrise on it could be spotted from space. “Ahahaha! Oda Nobunaga at your service! I decided this rescuing you thing would look A LOT cooler, sis!”
“Sis…?” Mash asked.
“I don’t remember Nobunaga having a sister, especially not one that came from the future...” da Vinci pondered.
“It’s...complicated.” The Archer sighed as she grabbed Nobu and dragged her in closer. “I studied and taught martial arts here for a living, specializing in the sword. Through this I gained honorary entry into the ancestry and clans that included this one here, quite directly too, I might add. So imagine how I feel having to rely on this idiot in a time like this...”
“Hey! I’m not THAT stupid! I mean, I’m not the one wandering off to the beach by myself to go pick up a bunch of hot women, one of them turning out to be my boss, and the other is someone who’s tried to pilfer me booty before, only leading to disappointment in me that neither are in a bikini!”
“Big talk for someone who died in a fire.”
“I’m going to die you in a fire!”
The two threw each other’s hats off and began to wrestle about in the dirt, growling and hurling more terrible insults at each other. Mash, da Vinci, Gudako, and Drake could only sit there and blink. First they find out Nobunaga of all the servants has a sister, and then they find out it’s someone just as stupid and squeaky as she is?
>>> “Two of them!”
> “Two of them?”
“HEY! Why do you two get to have all of the fun??” Drake yelled. “Haha, oh well, at least this means this mission won’t ever be boring! Loud, maybe, but definitely not boring. Next time though, invite me! I can pin you both with one hand each!”
The Archer turned bright red and sputtered. “P-Please...”
“Haha, shit, are you serious? Here? Now? After your heroic posturing? LMAO! You useless lesbian!” Nobunaga cackled.
“Takes one to know one.”
“At least I can keep it in my pants!”
The two continued on for quite a while. And after that, Nobunaga officially joined the party, claiming it “beats a kick in the tits.” da Vinci and Mash made note to Drake and Gudako that this Nobunaga in particular had the class Avenger, separating it from the potential Archer and Berserker forms. Not that that’s ever stopped Nobunaga from being consistent, but they began to wonder just how the Archer and Kipposhi or even the Maou would get along.
~ END CHAPTER 1 NODE 3
“So, hey, Atma...” Nobunaga was interrupted.
“….It’s Archer of the Valley of the Moon, you dumbass! How dare you speak my true name this early in the story?” The Archer snapped.
“Oh, for crap’s sake, like you were going to be able to keep that up past chapter 2 at most. Besides, it’s easier for you to emote once people know who you are; you gain power from that. This subtlety stuff never suited you, nor did it ever suit me. Embrace it. Dumbass. Lol!”
“Fine..”
The Archer put her hat to her chest and blushed, biting her lip and sighing. Time to go through the reveal spiel yet again.
“Archer of the Valley of the Moon… It’s a mouthful and not the kind I’d like. Call me Atma Weapon. Everyone else does. I’m the inheritor of Oda and Minamoto blood, a renowned martial artist and chef from this area. In times of need, Amaterasu shines her light on me; the gallant protector of the Northern Californian shores and women the worlds over! Let’s stick it to these power-hungry bastards once and for all!”
Gudako checked her status screen. Cool. Her name actually did change to Atma Weapon.
“Hm, yes, there is indeed a record of such a human living here roughly around this time. Fascinating. You’re one of those heroic spirits that willed themselves into one, rather than being deemed one by the source of this all after you died like is the fate for most of us, aren’t you?” da Vinci grinned. “Don’t think I didn’t do my reading on this place once you showed up!”
“Yup, she inherited my clan and did it well. Hell, she even has Hoshigiri, a sword that’s been in the clan through various retainers of mine, so you know we’re in good hands!” Nobu grinned. “I give her shit but there’s no better flirt you’d like on your side.”
“Thanks, I guess, sis.” Atma looked over at the da Vinci transmission and crossed her arms. “So, what do you know about me?”
“Well, you’re not complicated, that’s for sure. Some of this stuff you may want to suss out later once things are calm, but your backstory doesn’t indicate you being of an evil origin point at all. Just a human who really, really wants to do the right thing at all times. One of those rare embodiments of genuine chivalry and kindness.”
“So she’s like that Emiya guy?” Mash asked. “What’s with you people who beg to become servants while living and being able to cook? You mentioned being a chef and all. Is this a requirement I didn’t know about?”
“I’ll look into the possibility, our dear Mash.” da Vinci went back to Atma, grinning like she always does. “Am I right? You’re just very chivalrous, to a fault, and that includes the old definition of the word where you sleep with others’ wives and whatnot, right?”
“….Why can’t I punch a hologram!?” Atma yelled. “Fuck, okay, you’re right. Just, let’s not shout that part out loud anymore! Thank you very much.”
>>> “Just so long as you don’t touch my Mash...”
> “How lewd”
“Well, I’m sure having you around Gudako will prove to be quite a combo. I’ll let you all return to work though; you have a lot more to go through, I’m afraid. Just keep your spirits up for now and get settled in where you can.”
da Vinci and Mash blinked out, leaving Atma to sigh and kick a rock hard into Nobu’s head. “This is your fault.”
That noise unfortunately gave way to another fight, their raucous behavior giving their location away, this time to a couple of goons using guns, a familiar sight from Gudako’s romp in Shinjuku, only now with their uniforms in blue with white stripes, the letters PG&E emblazoned on the armbands. With them were a couple of Efreet.
“What luck! We can burn her down here and now! Let’s get to work scorching the rest of this and paving the way for the bosses!”
Another fight ensued, though with three servants at her command, a hefty starting party of a Rider, an Archer, and an Avenger, they were trounced pretty quickly. Only one of their comm radios remained, and Atma picked it up, tuning it in to whatever frequency was broadcasting their news and commands. Once in, she disguised her voice and passed for an employee, which considering she couldn’t really seem to manage a tone beyond “smug and squeaky” it meant they were probably dealing with someone infinitely stupid. That was at least a minor relief among all of this. She faked a few static hissing noises and said she was reporting in for duty, or whatever other military these assholes now fancied themselves as. This is why she couldn’t be a villain; too much thinking on the worst details of anything.
“Let’s finish up this lousy county. Next stop is the farmlands of Petaluma; once we get those, their food supply will be vastly depleted! Then they’ll have no choice but to pay us to supply them with energy, shelter, and meals!” the voice commanded. It wasn’t one of the higher ups; just a local patrol boss. But it gave them more than enough motivation to get up and get going towards the farmlands.
“Ah, they’re going after the poultry and grain farms next; that’s not a good sign. Maybe that rebel guard patrol I set up there has been eliminated..? Maybe we can save them in time, but we have to get going, now!” Atma got serious. “Petaluma is east of here almost directly. Follow me! Let’s catch them and teach them to not count their eggs before they hatch!”
> “At least her sense of humor is intact”
>>> “Good, at least you’re not one of those serious protagonists. Not a joke in sight. Yawn.”
“Alright, lead the way, Archer… er, Atma, was it?” Drake asked. “I’m eager to see what this place looks like cleaned up and after a few hundred years of progress past my arrival. Let’s make it a date when we’re done, okay?”
Atma perked up, turning bright red again and giving her a hearty salute. “Ma’am, yes my captain!”
“Wow, she really is easy...” Drake laughed. “What motivation though, she’s suddenly going almost twice as fast as before...”
> “Wait for me!”
>>> “Can’t blame her on that one, honestly”
With the crew starting to come together and one True Name already in the bank, the merry band of ladies began their hike to the east, through the remnants of hills and plains, several empty holes in the land filled with debris that once instead held water to grow food and feed livestock with, the withered skeletons of cows and horses on the now dry and crunchy path below their feet, the only map they had the one inside of Atma’s head and annotated with Nobu’s corrections and commentary, dotted sparsely with abandoned farm buildings and dead grass, into what would become the inside crevice of a valley, where scraps of abandoned rails sat near the remnants of any culture that once was here. A brewery was the current stronghold of the resistance against PG&E, deep underground in its basements sat armaments and supplies. Like hell Atma was going to give this place over without a fight.
The trees seemed to engulf them and provide them some extra shelter from any incoming attack, lest they decide to just beam down another Armageddon fire and waste their time trying to extinguish it rather than fight.
It’s a good thing Atma knew that peasants were tough, and farmers had some mean fucking war implements at their disposal.
“They have sown the seeds of their destruction!” Atma laughed as they arrived. The area was surrounded in barricades made from pieces of old, thick wine barrels and other reclaimed material. A thick, brown and orange haze had sunlight peeling out slowly over them, sunset imminent; they’d arrived just in time, as a hero always should. It gave them a cool red glow, which made Atma lament the lack of hot babes to look at her glowing so radiantly.
Their first major mission: protect the food supplies. They weren’t about to march on an empty stomach.
Not today, at least.
~ END CHAPTER 2 NODE 1