Chapter 1: A Simple Drop-Off Part 2

I let out a sigh as the camera feed stopped following Sardina and Sardenia once they entered Ai's house, meaning we are now blind. The reason for this is because of Ai's own request. Normally, I would never listen to such a thing but, Kendrick had to bring up the elder's request card. No cameras or audio devices active in Ai's house. Tell me, even if Ai can be considered trusted, is this a good idea? Kendrick and Ai both were being unreasonable. Idiots in other words. As much as I would love to say it to their faces, all the times I saw them in person, I was in the presence of my superior. Because I didn't want to lose face, I held my tongue and did nothing.

I had thought of originally sending over a drone to talk to them in person but, I don't want them to complain. While I'm not sure about Ai, Kendrick, despite being old, is not above complaining to the higher ups about every little thing. While Sardina and Sardenia are perfectly able to defend themselves, the two having elite military training as well as...their other means of defense. There are also bombs and trackers inside Sardina's body but I would rather have to be demoted to a janitor then blow Sardina up, even if she can survive it. There is also the nicest fact that, even if Sardina's trackers are disabled, her energy signature is so unique and strong that we'll always be able to find her.

Still, if your job was to protect something precious to you, would you just allow your eyes to go off it and to turn your back to it, leaving it defenseless, even for a little bit? I say no. Especially after Sardina and Sardenia were captured once. The Damn Insects destroyed our escorts and managed to escape underground before my fleet could get a lock on their getaway vehicles and blast them.

Luckily, we managed to find them before five days passed and, when we arrived, Sardina and Sardenia had managed to nearly escape themselves. If I remember correctly, the group was mainly after the same energized liquid that we just put in Sardina's body again, though this time the energized liquid is a newer model. Another good difference about this mission from the one when Sardina and Sardenia were captured is that the destination is much closer and is just a couple hundred miles away from the bulk of my fleet. If they tried something, they wouldn't be getting very far.

....

....

Then there is the problem that is causing this mission in the first place.

I shook my head. I needed to focus. You're Kellie, the great Grand Admiral! Think about what can go wrong but don't let it consume you.

"Jun! Get a Hunter squadron positioned in the area," I yell, turning away from the monitor that shows the camera feed of Ai's house and looking at the number of drones and ships presented on a different red monitor.

"Yes, Mamn," Jun responded, giving me a quick salute before turning back to his own monitor.

I find it kinda strange how protective I am of Sardina. She's too precious. Though, if someone were to tell me that I would be babysitting a very weird girl in the future, I would have laughed at them and called them insane. I almost did when I received my main job from First in Command. Normally, my job is repelling the Creatures with the help of the MACDF. Not only did the leader of the Government tell me that I'm guarding a girl, but that I have to use three of my fleets, including my own personal fleet, to do so.

Now I have four fleets in total. While my main fleet doesn't see much action since, well, I am in the main fleet, all of my fleets have experience fighting Creatures. It was a job we took pride it, and also one where we realized just how messed up the situation really is. Allow me to explain.

We were told every fact about the Creatures, even the ones the MACDF don't know. We know that the Creatures aren't as evil as they seem. Still, seeing as we had little power about trying to negotiate anything to stop the fighting between the MACDF and the Creatures, we kept on driving them away, doing our job.

While my fleets may not see the Creatures as evil, we still don't want them killing innocents. My crew and I nearly lost it when we received the new orders. I managed to get it so one fleet is on standby in case the fleet responsible for repelling the Creatures need help but that was it.

Yet, when I met Sardina for the first time, I was weirded out as I was somehow attached. Sardina grew on me and my personnelle, and, eventually, none of us wanted to stop taking care of her. Of course, though, taking care of her is a mess within itself. To say that Sardina has a free spirit is...probably the biggest understatement ever. That is why I am glad Chole, the Second in Command, allowed me to keep my entire crew. My crew is smart, loyal, and don't call me a child because of my height.

I turned back to watch the monitor, breaking my thoughts on the past just as Sardia stepped outside of Ai's house, Ai following right behind her. Sardina was rubbing her arm, most definitely grateful to have the TX-06 out of her. Thinking about the name, wasn't the TX-05 the one that was stolen when Sardina was captured?

....

That was quick. Do you think this will give me a chance?

You had a chance to begin with, Sardina.

I was walking back to the bush path which leads back to the dropship. Luckily, the bushes weren't far away from Ai's house. I was almost upon them and, once there, it was just another short walk back to the dropship. Hmmm...I wonder if Iquarks are fine on dropships?

Toushobark says it makes him feel queasy.

Yeah. They must despise going on ships.

What makes you say that?

I thought of answering Sardenia but decided on another idea instead.

"Why don't you explain why Iquarks don't like going on ships, Kellie?" I asked, knowing I caught her off guard.

"Huh? Me? Where did this come from?" Kellie asked, the tone of her voice betraying that she was caught completely off guard by the question.

I let out a giggle at Kellie's confusion before responding.

"Sardenia wants to know," I say, trying and failing to nudge Sardenia who darted out of the way.

"Well, Iquarks hate going on ships since they aren't seen flying around. They have two heavily armored war fleets carrying heavy firepower and a "skilled" crew but they rarely use them. There is no record of them using them for war other than for meetings, hence why there is no record of them."

"See now, Sardenia? Kellie-chan for the win!" I praise, earning myself a lovely hiss of annoyance from Kellie.

I think I might start calling her Kellie-chan now. Ever since you started doing it more she has been becoming more and more annoyed.....

And soon she will accept it fully. Even as of now she is slowly accepting that we will call her chan. Then, we will start calling her senpai as we planned all along.

Yessss.

"Neee!"

Neee!

"Why are you getting so excited?" Kellie asked, her voice sounding somewhat cautious.

I let out a giggle that all too well spoke of mischievousness.

"Nothing," I responded, playing it off.

"<_<"

Wait. Now that I think of it, don't Iquarks leave town when...ack, what is it....

What is what? I asked, stopping in my tracks.

N-never mind. Just keep walking, I'll remember it eventually.

I shrugged and was about to start walking when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and noticed amber-colored berries on a couple of the bushes. There was also a very familiar shade of red splattered on the bushes and the berries. There was also some on the ground.

Curious, I picked a berry off the bush and popped it into my mouth. Immediately, I started squirming. The berry had the same sauce of whatever the apples had this morning!

"Speaking of ships, let me go check in on the dropship," Kellie said, her voice becoming harder to hear at the end as she moved away from the microphone.

I licked the sauce off my hand before eyeing the other berries, a bit of drool escaping my mouth. As I started eating them, I realized that a few of them, the ones without the red sauce, did not taste as good. Having discovered this, I started to eat the berries with only the sauce on it.

"Hey, Kellie-chan, don't Iquarks also go away if a strong pack of Visguarks are around?" Sardenia asked, her voice becoming audible to others so Kellie could hear her question.

And at the same time Sardenia asked her question, Kellie's voice came over the headpiece.

"Now that I think of it, there was no Visguarks around in the area-"

Her voice broke off to a low mutter. A bit impatient, Sardenia walked darted past me and stopped a couple feet in front of me, peeking through the bushes at the dropship.

Then, the two spoke at the same time.

"Oh Shit."

Oh Shit.

I stopped eating the berries, knowing that something is clearly wrong.

"Is something going on?" I asked, wiping the sauce off my face.

"Hey, Sardina...I got some bad news. You're gonna have to walk home by yourself today. Sorry about that. Just...see that much smaller bush path behind that bush?"

I looked at the bushes until I noticed a small gap behind one with a trail leading to somewhere. It was so full of foliage on both sides of the trail that it looked like a jungle, which I only ever saw in picture books.

"This one?" I asked, pointing at the trail.

"Yep. That should lead you right into town. Please go there. Currently, the dropship is an off the limits zone," Kellie informed me, her voice gaining back its sharp and authoritative...ish, tone.

I cocked my head before smiling with my eyes closed.

"Alright, Kellie-chan! I trust ya!"

While it is true that I do want to know what is going on, I trust Kellie. She's never steered me wrong.

I went through the hidden bush trail as she commanded and, after a bit of walking, I ended back in town, emerging behind the local knack shop. How no one ever noticed this before was a mystery. I guess the knack shop isn't really popular so I guess not many people paid attention to it.

I wonder how the dropship is doing. Any idea what happened, Sardenia?

Oh, don't worry about it, Sardina. Just focus on going back to the house. I have a fun game in mind that we can play when we get home, so we better hurry.

I let out a smile.

"Yay! Sardenia for the win. Your idea better be better than the last one."

It will.

"Then let's get going. Maybe we can have a couple of apples too if they are still lying around. Who knows?"

I felt Sardenia let out a smile too.

Yeah, who knows.

....

Kellie was frowning, her eyes on a wide screen in front of everyone in the bridge, supported by a metal arm hanging from the ceiling, when the two metal doors behind her opened.

"Grand Admiral Kellie? i'm reporting for duty, Ma'am," A solder, somewhat nervous, announced himself.

Hearing him, Kellie swiveled around on her dark pink and black chair, showing a bright smile.

"Ah! Rookie. Welcome to the Galleon, my flagship."

Kellie spun back around, a frown back on her face.

"Sit still for a bit, will ya? I'll explain what we're doing here in a bit," Kellie said, pulling up a file on a interactive monitor.

The Rookie didn't think about sitting down somewhere. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the big screen, and the horror scene it was showing.

The screen was showing live feed of a grey and black dropship with half of the ship being burned like it had been melted by acid. Scattered all around the dropship were the dead bodies of soldiers, every single one of them torn to pieces. Standing around what had to be sixty soldiers, the Rookie wasn't sure the exact amount, were four large reptile-ish creatures, grey, black, and silver in color with purple flames leaking out of their bodies. Their snouts were long and full of large sharp triangular teeth, like a crocodile's but larger. Its tail ended in a shape that can only be described as a buzzsaw. The bright glowing light purple eyes of the creatures showed intelligence as well as disgust as one nudged the torn and bloody head of a dead soldier.

The Rookie had never seen anything like them. They weren't much bigger than an above average human and they didn't seem that tough, yet not one of them looked hurt. The soldiers that they had killed were from the ACMDF, which meant they were used to fighting the bigger-than-life sized Creatures. How did they fail?

Kellie turned back to look at the Rookie and, upon seeing his stunned expression, let out a dry chuckle.

"Visguarks," Kellie said out loud, causing the Rookie to focus back on her.

"Those are Visguarks. Small vastly intelligent pack-hunting animals that have a power level almost equal to that of a Creature. No one knows how old they are but, what is known about them is that they can outsmart a super computer and can beat the world's best martial artist in hand-to-hand combat, or in its case, paw-to-hand combat."

The Rookie couldn't hide the look of disbelief on his face, which only caused Kellie to chuckle again.

"Shocking, right? Under my command, you're going to learn a lot of secrets that you wouldn't know elsewhere, Rookie."

"For example," Kellie said, pointing at the screen, "Visguarks don't stray near civilized areas and, if they do, they'll wander out in about a day or a week. They can't be reasoned with despite being more intelligent than us, and we have only managed to bring down eighteen of them ever since they were discovered."

"Of course, while they are a problem you'll now be dealing with, they aren't the main mission out here," Kellie informed the Rookie, turning back to the interactable monitor and pressing something on it. The moment she did, the screen flickered before changing, showing another scene.

"Hey, Sardenia. How long do you think we have to wait until old Keatori comes back with the rest of the Iquarks?" A oddly out of place tall girl asked, holding an apple in her left hand.

The feed is zoomed in on her but the Rookie could clearly see that she was talking to someone to her right...only no one is there. As the camera zoomed out, there was still no one in sight. However, the girl suddenly blew raspberries at empty air, seemingly upset.

"You like our little play times with him too!" The girl said, crossing her arms.

When she crossed her arms, she gave the camera a perfect view of the apple in her hand. It was partly eaten but the Rookie could make out that the apple seemed to be covered in some red liquid. As the camera continued to zoom out, the Rookie's face paled as he realized what that liquid was.

The girl was standing next to an apple stand with a pile of apples on the ground. Laying on the stand was the torn up bloody body of an old lady, most of her torso missing, causing her blood to run freely down on the apples below. All around the girl were torn and ripped up bodies, no doubt the work of the Visguarks from earlier. The girl herself had bloody footprints leading to where she was standing now, the blood coming from the puddle of blood and a rib cage she no doubt stepped in. Yet, this girl, despite the gleaming happy expression on her face, showed no sign of discomfort or even acknowledgment of the scene around her.

Does she not care? The Rookie thought. However, he soon got his answer.

"I wonder when Mrs. Terrain is going to come back," The girl said out loud, sighing. Her ears slightly perked up and she started walking the way she was going originally, a slight frown on her face.

"You don't have to be so negative, Sard. I'm sure she'll come back. She wouldn't leave her apples unprotected."

Her voice was as innocent as they came, completely oblivious to what the Rookie now assumed is Mrs. Terrain's dead body in plain sight.

As the girl started to walk out of the little market set up, the camera picked up movement. One of the people here was still alive. He had rough brown skin, making him either a mutant or another sentient race. He reached up with one hand, crying weakly towards the girl.

The girl stopped in her tracks, seemingly having heard the survivor, but before she could turn around, she jolted up and the Rookie swore he saw the fabric on her right shoulder move.

"You really think if I go back to the house quickly, my odds of seeing Shena is high?" The girl asked, once again looking at nothing.

After a brief pause, the girl let out a giggle and started to continue walking, though in this case she was skipping. She went out of view but the camera stayed focus on the market. Even from here, the Rookie knew something was wrong. That was when it happened.

The air seemed to shift or simmer. Then, when it stopped, a girl looking almost exactly like the other one appeared. There was no warning or anything but the weird slight shimmer that told of her arrival. She just appeared.

The only difference between her and the other girl was that she wore a black slightly fuzzy-looking jacket and no cuffs.

The newcomer's shoulders rose up and then went down, showing that she just sighed, before she turned around, showing the camera her face. Now the Rookie was able to spot one more difference between the two. While the other one had whitish red pupils, this one just had red pupils. She had a grim expression on her face and the Rookie could instantly tell that this girl wasn't a bundle of energy and innocence like the other one was.

She made her way over to the survivor, who reached out his hand again. When she was a couple of inches from his outstretched arm, she took a knee and met the survivor's eyes. For what felt like forever, nothing happened. When something did happen, it took the Rookie a couple of seconds to even realize what had just happened.

The girl opened her left hand and a long black serrated blade formed, similar to an Odachi. As soon as it appeared, she impaled the survivor through his right hand, pinning his outstretched arm to the wooden pole he was leaning on. The man opened his mouth to let out a cry of pain but the girl was faster, slamming her hand into his face so hard that the Rookie knew she broke his jaw.

"Sardenia!? Whatcha doing?" The other girl's voice asked.

The other girl, Sardenia, turned her head around as the other girl skipped into view.

"Just doing something of interest. Best you go away since the last time you wanted to see what I was doing, you ruined it," Sardenia answered, her voice very similar to the other girl's voice only tougher and meaner sounding, like she was some kind of delinquent.

"Fine!" The other girl answered, puffing out her cheeks before turning around, and walking off again, "But you better hurry!"

"I will," Sardenia called after her. She watched her go and, after a couple of seconds passed where the other girl was off the screen, she turned back to the survivor and took her hand off his mouth.

"W-why?" The man asked, blood trickling from his mouth, nose, and eyes.

Sardenia was silent for a moment, her expression dark, until she smiled. Her smile revealed sharp teeth and made her look like a predator.

"Why? Well, the answer is quite simple," Sardenia started, taking out her sword. When she did so, her sword disappeared like it wasn't there in the first place.

"To protect a little star."

The Rookie nor the man understood what she meant. Luckily, Sardenia decided to explain herself.

"Sardina is, to put it lightly, delusional. I'm sure you've noticed that from the multiple times she visited your stand," Sardenia said, slowly standing up. As she did, the man started to lift in the air without anything touching him. It wasn't until the man was off his feet did the camera switch to a barely noticeable light blue filter.

With this new filter, the Rookie saw what was lifting the man.

Coming out of Sardenia's back was what had to be eighty or so barely visible transparent tendrils, some ending in hands, others ending in a tentacle point, while the last shape ended in a clear blade similar to the one Sardenia materialized, only without the serrated edges. One of the "hand" tendrils was lifting the man up in the air while the others waved about, making counting the exact number of them hard.

"If something were to break her delusion, let's say something like this, she will snap," Sardenia explained, leaning forward, "and that is something no one wants."

Because of her height, Sardenia was meeting the man eye to eye.

"You can consider yourself a hero, Yiffen, but I can't make an exception. Not today."

All of her tendrils stopped moving. Then, slowly, one of the blade tendrils went down and went against the man's neck, causing it to bleed a little. Even though the Rookie doubted the man could see the tendrils, he definitely knew they were there, and could feel the sharp blade on his neck.

"I'm sorry, Yiffen."

Upon hearing those words, the man began to beg for his life, squirming which only caused himself more pain. Sardenia's smile grew at his efforts, and she tilted her head to the right, her hands folded behind her back.

"...but no mercy."

With that, the blade tendril went away from his neck. Yiffen was confused, looking around. Unknown to him, Sardenia's tendrils formed two large masses above and below him. Two seconds after they formed, the masses of tendrils clamped shut, completely destroying Yiffen. Some of his blood splattered out but even that never escaped the tendrils. When it was done, nothing remained of Yiffen.

Sardenia's smile went away, replaced with a blank smile, and all but four of her tendrils, these ones plain, went back into her back.

Sardenia stared at the spot where Yiffen was a bit longer before she spun on her heels, turning around, and walked away. When she went off the screen, the camera feed cut off. When it came back on again, it showed two pictures of the two girls he just saw, Sardenia on the right.

"The girls you just saw are Sardina and Sardenia, and they are who we are watching over," Kellie explained, turning around to face the completely pale Rookie.

"Sardina is a Creature despite having no massive "monster" form. Sardina and Sardenia aren't aware that Sardina is a Creature, nor are the other Creatures aware of her existence. Since Sardina and Sardenia share no hostile views of humanity, she doesn't attack cities. They are extremely useful for military assignments and other, more secretive Government missions."

Kellie stood up out of her chair, nodding at one of her officers. Seeing her nod, the officer pressed a button and the lighting on the shield changed, becoming a bright white.

"Code White is the most common mindset Sardina will be in upon her delusion breaking. In this state, Sardenia," Kellie pointed to the other girl, "will enter an extreme mode of aggression. Only time or those who are close to the two can calm her down. Afterwards, she will forget what happened. During this time, her pupils will change to a glowing white color while Sardenia's will start to glow."

After her explanation, the lights changed to an alarming red color.

"This is Code Red, which is the worst possible case that can happen," Kellie explained. The air in the ship suddenly changed, growing thick with tension.

"This rarely happens but, if it does, every single living thing and anything that caused Sardina to enter this state will die within a nine-hundred meter radius, which is almost the entire size of America. Doesn't matter where they are or how tiny they are, they will die, having been torn to shreds by her tendrils. As it stands, Sardina has the highest kill count of any living thing in our records, and is by far the most powerful Creature."

The screen started going through different images, each one showing ruined cities and towns that the Rookie heard were abandoned without any reason given.

"In this state, only time will calm Sardina down. After her initial outburst, Sardina will walk around aimlessly, killing anything within a four hundred meter range, her tendrils expanding to nine hundred meters if something attacks her. Sardenia will also attack anything within a three hundred meter range if she considers it a threat. Only time will calm Sardina and Sardenia down. Once the two calm down, they will enter a deep sleep which, upon awakening, both will forget the entire thing happened."

The screen turned off and the monitor returned back to the ceiling.

"Our mission here is of utmost secrecy, you understand that, right?" Kelle asked, breaking the Rookie out of his trance. He quickly nodded, causing Kellie to grin.

She reached out, offering him her hand. The Rookie took it, signing his fate.

"Welcome, Rookie, to messed-up baby sitting!"

[True fact, this is one part on the other websites I'll post this story at. It turns out that this chapter is too long for this website. That is why it is split into two parts.]