#ABOUT TIME I DEVELOPED COCYTIOS MORE LMAO

[kentuckywrites]

Imperium 2: Chapter 2

Bruma venit. (Winter is coming.)

At Nessa’s insistence, Elma led her into the barracks and sat her down on the couch as she dug around various locations for first aid supplies. Lin made herself useful in a different way: she figured Nessa would want some food, even though mimeosomes didn’t technically need to eat, and started preparing something warm. She wouldn’t explain what she was making, preferring to keep it a surprise. Elma quickly learned as she was bandaging up Nessa that Lin was making soup, something that smelled warm and cozy.

Elma worked on the deeper wounds first, particularly one on Nessa’s right shoulder. She winced whenever Elma made contact, but didn’t tell her to stop at any point. As she worked, Lin spoke over her preparations.

“So you’re Pongo’s sister...how come he never told us about you?”

Nessa chuckled, though she hissed through her teeth when Elma started wrapping the first bandage around her shoulder. “Because I didn’t exist until a short while ago. It’s so easy to lose track of time when you’re walking on foot all the way from Noctilum, so I want to say...maybe a few weeks?”

“Holy shit,” Lin breathed. Elma shot her a look when she cursed, and Lin flushed up and turned back to making her soup.

“Yeah. Believe me, I tried to flag some Skells down,” Nessa said, “But either they didn’t see me, or they flat out ignored me. If it was the latter, then that’s quite rude.”

“Either way, it sounds like you’ve been through quite a bit,” Elma finished wrapping up her shoulder and went on to cleaning the next biggest wound, a pair of scratches on her stomach. Not nearly as deep as the one on her shoulders, and if she had to harbor a guess, inflicted by some type of insidia. Once Nessa noticed where Elma was planning to work next, she rolled up her shirt for easier access. Elma paused for a moment.

“See something you like?” Nessa winked.

“W-What? No, I was just thinking...you’re a lot different than Pongo,” Elma confessed, a slight hint of blush starting to form on her cheeks and nose, “He wouldn’t have let me do this.”

“We’re both stubborn in our own ways. Hell, I wouldn’t have let you do this if you weren’t drop dead gorgeous,” Nessa grinned.

“Now that’s most certainly something Pongo wouldn’t have said,” Elma chuckled, partially from embarrassment and partially from the absurdity of the situation. She cleared her head by going back to cleaning the wound with a fresh cloth, dampened with water. “So what exactly did you mean when you only existed for a couple weeks?”

“Exactly that,” Nessa explained, “Now, you both know about Mira, right? I’m pretty sure Pongo told you at one point.”

“When Pharsis was about to break out and kill us all, and the only way to stop it was for Pongo to fall into Mount M’Gando? Yep,” Lin said bitterly. It didn’t go past Nessa and Elma undetected, but while Elma sighed, Nessa rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, that was fun. Here’s the thing. Mira created Pongo to be its avatar, right? Well, it created me for the same purpose...except, it’s also because Pongo is in some kind of trouble.”

“What kind?” Lin walked over, carrying a bowl of soup in her hands. She set it down carefully on the table next to Elma’s medical supplies before taking the couch adjacent to Nessa. “Like, the life-or-death kind from before? Or something different?”

“I...we...don’t exactly know,” Nessa admitted, “That’s kinda why Mira created me. Because whatever happened to Pongo, it kicked Mira out of his body, and Mira has no idea what happened after that. So it created me in an attempt to find him and figure out if he’s okay.”

“Mira was ejected from Pongo’s body?” Elma scowled, enveloped in her own deep thoughts, “How would that work? Do you think miranium has something to do with this disconnect, since Mira couldn’t access Pongo’s body beforehand due to a miranium shortage?”

“Normally, I’d agree with that,” She said, “But Mira does remember one thing before it lost its connection to Pongo. There were...they’re called Ganglion, right? There were a lot of them.”

“Ganglion? God,” Lin slumped in her seat, “I thought we’d be done with them after the Lifehold battle.”

“Unfortunately, many Ganglion still have strongholds positioned throughout the continents,” Elma clarified, “Our fight with them is far from over. Now, these Ganglion who found Pongo...where exactly were they? Do you - or Mira - remember?”

“Mira remembers a little,” Nessa said, “The Ganglion Pongo encountered were in Noctilum. But Mira also remembers...okay, hang on, actually, it’s thinking about it…”

Nessa trailed off, her eyes flashing white for the briefest of seconds. Elma recalled how Pongo’s eyes went white when Mira assumed control of him, back at Mount M’Gando, and could only assume that this was Mira appearing for a moment. Nessa’s eyes remained indigo, however, and recognition soon dawned upon them.

“Mira remembers a small part of where Pongo might be, right now. The Ganglion took him to Cocytios.”

Lin and Elma exchanged a look.

“Cocytios?” Lin asked first, slowly, making sure she pronounced it the same way Nessa did. “What…”

“Oh! Ah, right, I don’t think BLADE has discovered it yet,” Nessa said sheepishly, “It’s a sixth continent that’s located underneath Primordia, to the southwest. It’s only one of many places you guys haven’t found yet, though, but that’s an explanation for another day.”

“We haven’t exactly expanded our search to below Primordia’s southern borders yet, so that explains why it hasn’t shown up before now,” Elma said, “Though, why there? What do you know about the continent?”

“Cocytios is cold,” Nessa put her shirt down, realizing that Elma had finished patching her stomach wound a while ago, and that she had begun working on a section on her thigh. “Like, freezing. It’s pretty mountainous, has lots of snow, and a couple of those ancient weapons like the rings in Oblivia. Has a giant cavernous pit like Oblivia, too.”

“Ooh, it’s like Antarctica!” Lin smiled. Nessa’s visible confusion prompted her to expand slightly, “That was a continent back on Earth. It’s at the very bottom of the planet and it’s super cold there.”

“And it might be just as dangerous,” Elma cautioned, “We’ve never encountered an environment like that before, nor do we have much of an understanding as to what lives on the continent. We got lucky with the other continents being hospitable, for the most part.”

“You call Cauldros hospitable?”

“I said ‘for the most part’. Remember, Cauldros is also the continent with the most active Ganglion presence, and they’re seemingly responsible for the number of architectural developments there. Disregarding our relations with the Ganglion, those fortresses have the most protection against indigens and Cauldros’s weather phenomena. Of course, the Ganglion would never let us walk in there of our own volition…”

“But that didn’t stop us in the past!” Lin giggled, “Even if sneaking around didn’t work, those Prone were never gonna win against Team Elma!”

“Ooh, what confidence!” Nessa said, “Well, if you’re sure your mims can handle the environment, then that’s good to hear. I think I’d be more scared for those giant robot things you guys pilot sometimes.”

“Skells?!” Lin got stars in her eyes, but they just as quickly diminished when she realized what Nessa was trying to say, “Oh man, I don’t actually know if most of the Skell frames available through BLADE would be able to handle that sort of environment...most of the ones that were able to operate in space were dismantled or destroyed during our descent onto Mira, and we haven’t had any reason before now to upgrade any of the existing models aside from heat and humidity resistance so they can function in Noctilum, Oblivia and Cauldros…”

“And this mission is time-sensitive, if we’re to believe Pongo’s in serious trouble,” Elma added on, “So the chances of developing and installing those modifications onto our Skells for this is...well, I doubt we’d have the necessary amount of time required to make those modifications effective.”

“It took us a couple weeks to make the humidity modifier for Noctilum’s weather,” Lin sighed, “And even longer to create a modifier to help with the heat waves in Oblivia and Cauldros. It’d take a while to create a modifier to help against frost, weeks at best, even if we didn’t take any Skells out there for a test run. It’d go untested if we wanted to keep things quick, and ah...I don’t really recommend that.”

“BLADE has boats, right?” Nessa asked, “Please tell me this entire time you haven’t just been relying on Skells to get things done.”

“We’ve got boats,” Lin chuckled, “Sometimes with research teams there’s equipment that we just can’t trust in the hands of Skells, so we use rovers and boats to transport them, especially if they’re going to Sylvalum or Cauldros.”

“Great! Then we’ll need a boat, and some warm clothes for you both,” Nessa sat herself up straighter, placing her hands on her lap. Elma had long since finished addressing her wounds, and feeling as though she’d done a good job of patching the major injuries, was beginning to put the first aid supplies away. “I know mims can usually handle a ton of heat, thanks to your adventures in Cauldros, but...what about Elma?”

Nessa glanced towards Elma before taking the bowl of soup in her hands, fiddling with the spoon dipped into it. “I mean, at the risk of me sounding picky, you’re downright stunning in your true form. But...well, would it be a better idea to be in your old mim for this?”

Elma took a moment to think as she moved to pick up the medical supplies. Once they were off the table, Lin nudged the bowl of soup closer to Nessa, who nodded as a silent thank-you. Elma placed the medical supplies on the counter in the kitchen, not wanting to move far from the conversation. In the back of her mind she wondered where Tatsu was - he was usually here in the barracks, hovering next to Lin like an affectionately curious cat. But he was nowhere in sight. Elma resolved to ask Lin about it later. He’d probably want to come along, even if he didn’t offer much to the team besides being the constant victim of food jokes. But that wasn’t what she needed to think about, at least, not in the current moment.

“Recovering my mimeosome might be the better option,” Elma pondered openly, “And I don’t think that’s picky, Nessa. I quite prefer my original body to my mimeosome, though I can concede that the nature of the mimeosome would be better able to withstand the climate. Not that armor isn’t important, but I wouldn’t need to worry about extra layers in my mimeosome versus my true form.”

“I guess it would be a shame to see you covering up all that skin…” She sighed, and Elma’s blush returned tenfold. Perhaps it was a better that Tatsu wasn’t here, although unfortunate that Lin was. The poor girl was shaking her head. Was it disappointment? Second hand embarrassment?

“Are you implying that, despite agreeing to go in my mimeosome, which is more suitable than my current body, I should wear less clothing to a continent you’ve described as freezing cold?” Elma raised an eyebrow. Her tone was teasing, but not annoyed. How could she be annoyed when she considered this flattery?

And yet, Nessa started to blush, too, and she looked away quickly, suddenly interested in one of the bandages that Elma had applied to her shoulder. “Whatever makes you comfortable, of course! I’m not saying you should wear anything specific, just that you’d look nice in something similar to what you’re wearing now - or ah, well, you’d look great in anything, to be fair!”

“I never imagined, in all my life, that I’d meet someone with a bigger crush on Elma than Irina,” Lin chuckled, “But here we are!”

“Compliments aside, I’ll speak with the MMC about recovering my mimeosome from storage,” Elma told them both, “In the meantime, Nessa, I patched up the majority of the wounds on your body, and with a little rest and extra care, you should be good to go by tomorrow. I can lend you some of my weapons for the journey ahead, if you like, or Lin might be able to grant you weapons better suited to your fighting style.”

“When I hit, I hit hard, no matter the weapons,” Nessa smirked, “I’ll take some of your old weapons just for convenience’s sake. Plus, if they’re in the barracks already, I can take ‘em for a test spin!”

“Try not to overdo it, if you can. For now…”

Elma turned to Lin, who looked happy and bright. This would be a new adventure, a new location. Unexplored territory and possibly unidentified indigens. Despite the mission they’d agreed to take, Elma couldn’t deny that she was quite intrigued regarding Cocytios. Judging by Lin’s expression, she was excited, too.

“Lin, do you know where Tatsu is?” Elma finally asked.

“Oh, he’s hanging out with some friends he made the other day. Said he wouldn’t be back until dinnertime.”

“Something tells me he’ll want to join us.”

A sparkle brightened in Lin’s eyes, and her fingertips bounced against each other as a mischievous smirk crossed her lips.

“I sure hope he does! If he didn’t, we wouldn’t have anything to eat!”