Alright, so... hey... I'm not going to say I'm back, but yeah... This here is a short chapter I wanted to release since I kinda forgot where I was going... The idea is, I'll drop this chapter I wrote 2, going on 3, years ago, reread my notes, and figure stuff out again.
Anyways, I'm kinda in the mood to start this fanfic again. I can't promise the others, but all the mecha audiobooks I've been listening to got me wanting.
Here's this chapter. I'll write the next chapter, most likely changing the way I write a bit, but I can't promise if I'll finish to publication.
---
A young man stood shocked in the dead of night, surrounded by nothing but greenery. The cause of his shock could be explained by a few reasons, but the main one would be what he saw ahead of him.
"Alice, when you mentioned you felt another MS, I figured it was going to be something generic, but not this," Kane said in amazement.
"Yes, when I initially detected the MS, I assumed it would be quite damaged due to its weak signal, but upon getting closer, it is now clear it is not. The MS seems to be in a state similar to that of power save mode."
'Hm, so it's conserving power huh? Let's see if it's safe to turn it.' With that thought, Kane moved closer to the MS. Getting about ten feet or so from it, Kane noticed that the color of the suit was oddly dulled, almost faded.
"Kane, can you get closer to the MS? I can almost connect to its system computer."
"Sure, I was planning to see if I can turn it on anyway," Kane answered back while moving even closer to it.
*Click*
Suddenly, a sound went off, and immediately after, what looked to be the cockpit opened up.
Slightly alerted, Kane asked, "That was you, right?"
"Yes, sorry for the late notice." Answered Alice.
"No, it's fine. What did you find?"
"While connecting to its main system computer, I was only able to connect to a few of its programs without direct access to the main console."
'Ah,' connecting the dots, Kane climbed his way up the MS. Approaching the cockpit, Kane asked, "How would I even get you connected?"
"Just get me near the console, I will do the rest."
"Got it," with that, Kane slid inside.
Inside the cockpit was what any stereotypical mecha cockpit would have. There were a few monitors. One monitor at the front and one long monitor on both of its sides. Below the monitors, there were a couple of joysticks, pedals, and buttons, obviously for piloting the MS.
Sitting in the cockpit, Kane took off his watch and placed it on top of the console, and waited for Alice to do her thing.
While waiting for Alice to finish up, I figured I might as well try to sort out the sudden influx of information from before.
*Inhale* *Exhale*
Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself for another round of headaches. Thankfully, after going through a bit of the info, my head wasn't killing itself.
While surfing through it, I noticed there was a lot of interesting information. Some range from knowing how to survive alone in the wild, to knowing how to create makeshift explosives. There were also a lot of different martial arts implanted in me, some I knew and some I never even heard of.
Now, for the more surprising piece of info I got, it was how to pilot an MS. More specifically, an MS with this specific cockpit. For a second, I thought this was pretty suspicious, but remembering what Alice said before, "...the Otherworlder will receive items that would help their journey," it made sense, kinda...
It seems that the items I received that would help are this MS and its weapons. Though I wonder, what would I have to do that requires an MS?
"Haah..."
Remembering the vague task given made me sigh. Honestly, what am I supposed to do if the instructions were just to "Have fun, and do good?"
'Having fun,' is something I'm obviously going to do; life would suck if I didn't, but do good? What does that even mean, and what is good? Would it be my definition of good, or whoever sent me here's version of good?
"Haah..." Whatever it is, let's think about it later.
Finished sorting what I thought was important, I asked Alice, "Hey Alice, are you done getting through to the MS?"
"Yes, but due to this MS being 'new,' I am doing a full check and data transfer to make this MS safe and usable. So this is going to take a few more minutes to complete. My apologies if this is inconvenient."
"No, it's ok. It's not like I'm doing much anyway." I replied, leaning back on the seat.
Well, since there's nothing else to do, I might as well rest until Alice finishes up. "Alice, can you wake me up when you finish or if something happens?"
"Yes, that would be no problem. Rest well." Hearing Alice finish her piece, I leaned back and was about to close my eyes, but the seat suddenly reclined back, making it easier to take a nap.
"Thanks, Alice, but a little warning next time would be nice," I said before closing my eyes again.
"My apologies, Kane, and you're welcome," Alice said before I started drifting off.
---
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
"Kane, wake up!"
Waking up to loud beeping and Alice's shout caused any drowsiness I should've had to disappear.
Looking toward the console while rubbing my eyes, I asked Alice what happened. "Alice, what's up? With all this beeping and big red warning on the main monitor, it can't be anything good."
"Indeed. The other mobile suits that I sensed before are now approaching this direction."
Hearing that, I couldn't help but be a bit panicked. Taking a deep breath and calming myself, I asked Alice, "Alice, what are the odds that they are coming for us or even seeing us if we aren't their target?"
Without missing a beat, Alice replied, "The chance of us being targeted is very low, and as long as we don't start up this MS, they would not know we are here."
"Phew..."
I heaved a sigh in relief. If they were after us, I'm not too sure if we can do anything right away. Sure, I now have the knowledge of how to pilot this MS, but that's different from actual experience. Others can argue that I can, but I won't take the risk if I can help it. You know what they say, "Better safe than sorry."
While in my inner monologue, Alice seems to have turned on the mobile suit's main camera. Seeing that, I couldn't help but ask Alice, "Didn't you say our chances of being discovered will go up if we activate the mobile suit?"
"Under the circumstances of activating the entire mobile suit, yes. Thankfully, in this instance, I was able to partially activate the mobile suit, only turning on its radar and cameras." Alice answered back.
"I see, thanks, Alice." I nodded back.
With my question answered, I looked back at the main monitor. Through the monitor, it displayed the typical view of what any forest at night would look like. The only difference would be the three humanoid figures moving toward our location.
While they were moving closer, I asked, "Alice, can you try magnifying the view? I want to try and get a look at their mobile suits before they pass us."
"Of course. Give me a few moments." Alice replied. A couple of seconds later, the camera started zooming in on the three mobile suits.
Now, having a better view of them, I noticed a few things. Three things to be exact.
One: Their mobile suit's colors. Granted, since it was dark, I'm not too sure if I saw them correctly. From what I can see, one mobile suit seems to be black. The other one seems to be either grey or white. The last seems to be a dark blue or a dark purple. I'm not too sure.
Two: Their design. Similarly to before, since it was dark out, I couldn't get a good picture, but I can see their general outline. From the order before, the first one had a bull-like head and an agile body with what looked to be a segmented tail. The second mobile suit, like the black one, also had an agile body. The only differences were its blade-like horn on its head and serpent tail. Now, the last mobile suit had a bulkier knight look compared to the other two. It also had what looked to be spikes protruding from its shoulders, an antenna(?) pointing straight up from its head, and finally a segmented tail.
Three: A pretty good guess of what world I ended up in.
'If I'm right, this world might be a little more chaotic than I'd like.' I thought before addressing the situation with Alice.
"I might have an idea of where we're at..."