Off to a Good Start

[Reece]

He'd had little luck with the job hunt (shockingly enough, homeless fourteen-year-olds with no prior work experience were not exactly in high demand), but the food had been nice, he'd discovered a tournament they were holding in Camelot and had spent the last several hours looking at replays of its first round of fights. He'd just watched a humanoid dragon get impaled by a sorcerer with the ability to fire skulls at people when someone spoke up from nearby.

“So how're you doing, kid?” it was the blond man who had rescued- well, helped rescue- uhh … it was the blond man who had been present when that other guardsman had rescued him from the Revenant. He was smiling lopsidedly, apparently pleased to see that the boy had awoken.

“Oh, hello. I'm feeling much better now. Thanks so much for all your help, Mister … Recur, was it?” for some reason, the man grimaced when Yajima said his name. He had a feeling that his rescuers probably had introduced themselves properly at some point on the journey here, in their attempts at keeping him conscious. Unfortunately, since waking he had failed to recall much of that conversation, and so was forced to address him by the only name he could remember.

“No, it's not 'Recur'; that's just a dumb nickname. I'm Daniel Walker. You can call me Dan, if you want. It'd be nice if someone would.”

“Oh, sure … Dan.” it felt strange to address someone he'd barely even met so casually, but Yajima was well aware that even in large parts of his own world, people were generally much less formal than they had been in Japan. It shouldn't surprise him, he supposed, that the same applied here. “I'm Hideaki Yajima. Everyone outside of my family just called me by my surname, back home, but if you do things differently here...”

“Nah,” the guard waved a hand dismissively, “it's no big deal what I call you. Yajima is perfectly fine with me. Anyway, it's good to see you're recovering. If there's anything you need while you're here in Darkshire, just ask me and I'll see what I can do, 'kay?.”

“You will? Why?” it wasn't that he wasn't appreciative of the offer, by any means, but it seemed strange, to say the least, that someone who had already had a hand in saving his life (even if all he'd actually done was help him walk) should be acting as if he had a debt to repay. “Shouldn't I be the one offering to help you?”

“Well...” the man looked away. Embarrassed about something? “To be honest, Commander Skendor is always on the lookout for Primes to help out with the militia … but I'm not really sure it'd be the kind of thing you're suited to, what with you being just a kid, and, well...”

“Getting beaten up by a few undead?” Yajima asked, suddenly glum. If he'd been offered a position with Darkshire's guards back in the Nexus, before ever having come into contact with the zombies himself, then he would surely have jumped at the chance. It would have seemed the perfect way of both protecting the 'weaker' Secondaries, earning himself the Omnilium needed to summon Apparition, and giving him something worthwhile to do in the mean time. Now that he'd learned just how helpless he really was in the face of adversity, though, it seemed much less ideal.

“Um … yeah. I mean, you did much better than I would have, of course. It's just that, well, most Primes...” he trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.

“Are much more powerful than I am?”

“Yeah.” another pause, but this time around, Dan actually spoke up again. “I never talked to him myself, but the last Prime we had who volunteered to serve with the militia was the Avatar of Rage. He was … way beyond your level.”

“Avatar of Rage?” Yajima asked, raising an eyebrow. That didn't exactly sound like the kind of title that a noble, kind-hearted individual would give himself. In fact, going by name alone, this guy seemed like he might be better suited to working with Dracula's army, rather than Darkshire's guards.

“Yes. I only saw him in action once myself, but he tore through a mob of ghouls like they were nothing, and took down some sort of huge, patchwork mutant. It practically killed him, that thing, but until he'd finished it off, the guy just wouldn't stay down, no matter how badly injured he became … it was insane.” he fell silent for a moment, shaking his head. “You'd need to see it for yourself to believe something like that.”

Yajima stared thoughtfully down at the Dataverse device in his hands for a few seconds before replying.

“I think I might have.”

“Huh?” Daniel seemed surprised. The factor supposed that that was to be expected. The Omniverse was a big place, after all, and it was no doubt glaringly obvious that he was new to life here. The guardsman was likely assuming that he meant he had met the man in person. To clarify, Yajima held up the tablet computer in one hand.

“They're holding a tournament for Primes in Camelot right now, you know? One of the fights in particular was quite ridiculously violent. A crazy clown versus a white-haired mage. Either of them sound like this 'Avatar' guy?”

“The mage, did he fight with some sort of white energy?” the blond man was eyeing the Dataverse device suspiciously, as though it might suddenly explode in his face the instant he let down his guard.

“More than that. He literally transformed his body into that stuff at one point.”

“He's grown stronger then,” Dan grinned, “but its got to be him. I've never heard of anyone but Strazio who'd fit that description.”

Suddenly, though, the man's smirk vanished, his face taking on an almost fearful countenance.

“He did win, right? The Avatar of Rage couldn't possibly lose to a clown, right?” as much respect as he had for this mage, it was clear that Dan had learned that no matter how ridiculous they seemed, underestimating anyone in the Omniverse was a bad move.

“Yeah,” Yajima nodded, “though it was closer than you might think. His opponent might have been drunk, I think. Or stoned. Either way, he was at least as strong as I am, I'd say, and way more competent. If he'd been sober, things could well have ended differently. It wasn't an easy victory, by any means.”

“Impressive. If those are the calibre of people involved then it should certainly be interesting, I guess I'll have to have Ellen show me how to look up that tournament on my one of those data-whatcha-call-ems, once I get home.” he mused.

“Uh … you mean 'Dataverse devices'?” Yajima couldn't help but raise a sceptical eyebrow. This guy had presumably been living here for months, at the very least, if not years, yet couldn't even remember the name of such a simple, everyday item? Frankly, he would have expected those from old-timey worlds to be the most interested by the prospect of the Internet. It would surely seem like magic to them, after all.

“Yeah. Yeah, 'Dataverse devices' that's what it was. She loves those things; has done ever since she met that old, metal guy.”

“Uh...” Yajima wasn't quite sure how to politely point out that he had absolutely no idea who these people to whom he referred were, so just kept his 'statement' as vague as possible, in the hopes that Daniel would catch on on his own and explain. Of course, he did not. Instead, he just stared for a bit, as if silently urging the boy to continue.

“Never mind, it's nothing.” it wasn't like this guy's private life was any of his business anyway. It'd probably be best if he just didn't ask. So, instead, he awkwardly changed the subject. “Say, I don't suppose you'd know any place in town I could find some work? I need to make some money for … a project of mine. I'd originally planned on just killing zombies until I had enough, but, well, you saw how that went.”

“Yeah, probably not the best decision ever.” the guard smirked when he said that, but as he thought more about the question, that smile faltered. “To be honest, I don't really think you'll be able to find anything around here. Darkshire isn't exactly known for its employment opportunities, after all. The only chance you'd have, I'd say, would be with the militia. The commander could probably afford to pay you something for your work, unlike most people around here, and on top of that, you'd have the chance to take some Omnilium directly from the undead, like you said.”

“If only that was an option.” the boy sighed, glumly staring down at his hands, flexing the one which had been frozen by the Revenant's touch. It had healed completely, of course. Not even a scar remained. That did nothing to dispel the memories of what had happened, though. He had been helpless against that skeleton, whilst the sergeant had claimed that in the absence of its mental powers, even Dan could have taken it out. If he was even less competent than this guy – a man who by no means gave the impression of being particularly skilled – then what hope did he have?

He just had to face the facts, Yajima admitted to himself; up until he had gathered the large quantity of Omnilium he needed to build Apparition, he would only continue to be completely useless in combat situations.

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence for a time, which seemed to drag on and on, until, at last, Daniel hesitantly spoke up.

"There ... might actually be a way you could, you know...? Join the guards, that is."

"Oh?" Yajima didn't bother getting his hopes up, but didn't see any reason to object to hearing the man's idea. It wasn't like listening to it could in any way make his situation worse.

Well, you may not be particularly capable as you are now, but if you'd agree to take part in a little … training scheme, of sorts, then I'm sure we could teach you how to fight these things, even give you a sword to do it with.”

“A 'training scheme', huh? And who's going to teach me this astounding level of swordsmanship? You?” he wasn't trying to be rude, but Yajima couldn't quite keep the disbelief from his voice.

“You don't need to say it like it's some completely ridiculous concept, y'know?” Dan grumbled, “I'm not that bad. But no. I wasn't meaning myself. Sammy's been asking after you these past couple days, so he obviously cares at least a little about your well-being. I reckon he'd be willing to help out if I asked him to.”

“Sammy?” this time around, the factor wasn't quite able to resist the urge to question Dan's apparent habit of referring to complete strangers as though Yajima was supposed to have some idea who these people were.

“Oh? You've forgotten him too?” the guard smirked at this revelation, clearly glad that his name hadn't been the only one the boy had failed to recall. “Sergeant Samuel Lombard; the guy who saved you from that lich a couple days ago. He's one of the few people I know who's probably capable of at least putting up a decent fight against the average Prime … maybe even winning. He ought to make a great instructor, I'd say.”

Folding his arms across his chest, the guardsman stood proudly, a smug look on his face, as though he'd just concocted the greatest military strategy of all time, and expected to have his genius lauded. “What do you think of that plan, then?”

“Well," Yajima paused for a moment, frowning slightly as he actually tried to seriously consider the idea, "if you can actually convince that guy to teach me, then I'd say you'll just leave me in even more debt to you two than I already am ... but if it means finding the strength to protect people without having to rely on a giant robot to do all the work for me ... I'm in.”

Judging by his expression, Daniel was somewhat perplexed by his mention of robots. Given the era he apparently came from, as well as his obvious aversion to technology, it was possible that despite having presumably lived in the Omniverse for some time now, he didn't even have a clue what a robot was. The boy considered explaining the term, but then decided against it. If he could deal with Dan referring to people he'd never met, then Dan could deal with this.

"You can repay me by helping us guard the town for a while, after you're all trained up." the man eventually responded, "How's that sound?”

“Sure.” Yajima grinned, "It's a deal."

“See ya, then.” turning and sauntering off, Dan lifted a hand to wave without looking back.

“Bye.” after he'd gone, the factor lay back in his bed, feeling more relaxed than he had all day. Since coming to the Omniverse at all, really. There was no guarantee that he'd ever be able to learn to swordfight, much less do so quickly, but at least he now had a chance at being at least somewhat useful in combat before having summoned his machina; though he still had no intention of remaining in this inter-dimensional prison any longer than he absolutely had to, it would be nice to have the strength to protect the people of this land from the evils arrayed against them, for however long he was forced to inhabit this place ... which, he had to admit, was likely to be a while.