The Grand Challenge - Chapter 12 (Mission)

[MISSION - LOG START]

I open my eyes after launching the app and find myself back in Anim’s body. Taking quick stock of the area I now find myself in, it appears to be a high school lab. Long horizontal tables are arranged neatly in the rows adjacent to me, and and on my left on the edges of the room are the various cabinets, sinks, and counters that would typically line a school lab. Instead of the expected instruments and glassware lining the counters, various books, papers, notepads, laptops, and whiteboards. Glancing towards the front, I see a chalk board with various notes and discussions regarding the state of Anim’s world. Just before the chalkboard, I see 4 of the long tables pushed together to make a big table with a large map covered with various items. This was most likely a 3-D representation of Anim’s world where I noted 3/4 of the map was covered in nothing and all the notable items were scrunching together towards the edge of the map.

“This… is what remains.”

The grave words echoed in my head as I thought back to our recent meeting with Estellia, when that same familiar voice made itself heard once more.

Err-hmph!

A loud cough jolts me back into the present as I quickly dedicate my attention to the owner of the voice as Estellia stands beside the chalkboard at the front of the classroom.

“I’m sorry if I’m starting to bore you, Anim, but all this information will be the difference between the success and failure of the next mission. is there something you want to know that will keep you engaged in this conversation? “

Completely taken aback and a bit flustered at being publicly lambasted by the teacher, old juvenile feels of embarrassment begin to well up as a soft but firm voice speaks up from within me.

“No… I’m sorry. I just got a bit distracted as all. Please continue, I’ll be more mindful of my manners.”

Estellia nodded in confirmation and continued on with her presentation. I wiped the mental sweat from my brow, and internally chuckled to myself at the embarrassment I was probably going to cause had my trusty partner not been there to step in.

(Thanks Anim, you really saved my bacon there.)

“No worries. I had a feeling you were coming back sometime soon, though admittedly you did take quite a while to process everything in. Though I’m shocked you missed what I think to be the most important development. “

(Missed? What could I have possible missed?)

Just I was about to mentally review what I had seen, Estellia began pointing in the spot next to me.

“So that is our assessment of the situation at Steel’s Crossing. Do you and Brigitte this is something feasible to execute?”

(Brigitte? Who is that?)

Anim turned her head silently so I had too could see this Brigitte. On my right at a different table sat a girl who looked slightly older than Anim. She had intense scarlet-colored hair curled outward as they reached the top of her shoulders, and wore a long black jacket with grey jeans and a flaxen color shirt.

(Floofy…)

I whispered to myself and Anim, thinking that Brigitte’s hair reminded me of the texture of sheep’s wool. Noticing the stare, Brigitte turned to face us, and my jaw mentally dropped a bit as well. It was hard to see as her floofy hair covered her face, but facing towards us, a number of lacerations and bruises could visibly be seen, but the aura radiating from her did not invoke a sense of pity for her condition. Instead, I felt a pulsating anger and determination, and quickly had her scorn turned toward us.

“She asked you a question, Anim. Are you going to answer her or are you going to continue to gawk over me?”

Attempting to regain my professionalism once more, I quickly had Anim do a fake-cough into her balled fist and reply, “Yeah, sorry, just have a lot of my mind today.” Brigitte clicked her tongue and turned to face the front of the classroom once more, and Esteliia took the silence as consent of the mission. Realizing what I was about to get us into once more, I piped up through Anim’s voice.

“Sorry, could you give like the 30 second summary of what we’re about to do? Just want to make sure we’re all in alignment with the mission and what not.”

Estellia visibly sighs and I could feel Brigitte rolling her eyes besides me, but Estellia concedes with the request.

“Alright everyone, here is what what we know and here is what we must do. Steel’s Crossing was once a popular shopping plaza that sprawled several acres of land. Various food and equipment stores littered the property in the past, and was up until recently of the last homes of the Remains up until it was invaded by surprise. Our forward scouts have been encircling the safer parts of the perimeter, and have confirmed that various Turena have been patrolling the area. We can’t see deep into the stronghold, but the Turena farther into it seem to be stronger. We hypothesize that the core of their stronghold lies somewhere where the stronger Turena wander, and we are tasking you and Brigitte to sneak into Steel’s Crossing and destroy the Turena’s energy source. We believe that Brigitte’s current powers and your potential, Anim, have what it takes to turn the tide on his battle for humanity, and if we can retake Steel’s Crossing, we will have a stronger foothold in this region and learn more about how to deal with this type of Turena. To that extent, we will now have you train with Brigitte in an attempt to awaken more of your powers, and will execute this operation in 72 hours. “

With Estellia finishing her piece, Brigitte loudly slides her chair backwards to get up from the table, and quickly sends an icy glance over at us as she makes her way to the exit of the classroom. Slowly, Anim gets up from her chair as we make our way to follow behind Brigitte as I wonder what kind of powers she has already awaken and hoping that this was simply a bad first impression upon returning to Tant.

[MISSION - LOG END]