Chapter 67: Orientation Part 1

Author's note: Text inside / signifies Dave's messages over text or phone. Text inside // represents other messages over text or phone.

NEW ROUND BEGINNING: UNIVERSAL WATCH

LOADING HURENCULE GALAXY AND 8 PLANETS

NEW SYSTEM LOADING UP

PREPARE FOR ENTRANCE

It's starting again, a new game and system to fight to the top. I wonder who and where I will be? Will the girls be with me when I awake, or will I meet them along the way?

3…

Who are the lost souls this time? So many questions, but no way to answer them until the countdown finishes and I get dropped back in.

2…

On the brighter side of all this, we shouldn't have to worry about Fate this time. Though, Simon told me not to let my guard down just because Fate was gone now. Regardless, it was time now.

1…

Cheap ale, pipe smoke, and the smell of unwashed bodies assaulted my nose. Opening my eyes, I half expected to see the dark elf bartender, Karman, but instead, unknown faces greeted me. At least they weren't the people I was looking for.

Four other people sat at the table with me, each drinking and or smoking while making jokes. Nelson, a Half-elf Battle Mynstryl, tries to get the bartender to tip him, and Gord, the Minotaur Berseker, is still trying to figure out that joke I told him yesterday. Beside him is Mencha, the stuffy priest. A stuffy woman that always left her clothes buttoned to the neck gingerly drank some milk while Tama the Rouge was sharpening her knife under the table. Under because the bartender had already threatened to kick us out if she continued.

Suddenly I felt something off. A sound or vibration that didn't seem normal was approaching. Soon, I hear the roof shaking, and I follow my party to run outside to see what all the noise is about. None of them have words for what descended from the sky when we are all outside, but I knew what it was, my ticket out of here.

On the other hand, my party was freaking out like this was the end of the world. Even Mencha was on the ground, praying to her god. There was only one person that wasn't losing it, Tama. As the metal bird, AKA, a spaceship, finally set down, Tama walked over to me.

Close to my height and surprisingly human, Tama had dark black hair like mine, but where my hair short cut, Tama had to keep her flowing hair tied up, or she wouldn't make much of a Rouge. As she came over to stand beside me, the spaceship lowered its ramp, which made Gord cry out that it was going to shit on us.

"What is wrong with these idiots?" Tama asked as she watched the other three make fools of themselves.

"If memory serves me correct, you picked these idiots, didn't you?"

That earned me a punch in the arm and a stern look from Tama. Suddenly, both of us stopped at the sound of metal boot on metal. We of us turned to see a metal humanoid walking down the ramp. This made the other three-loss hold of whatever sanity they held to with their fingertips. By the time the robot reached us, Only Tama and I were left.

���Ezjee mizssda gooooo!" The robot made some strange noises like it was trying to speak, but the voice came from an electronic box hanging around its neck.

The robot was smooth with helmet and shoulders that looked to contain…Speakers? If this robot had speakers on its body, why was it using that stupid box that didn't seem to work? The robot looked to be getting frustrated as it fidgeted around with the box, so Tama leaned close and whispered in my ear something she would prefer to be doing right now, and I wanted to agree, but the metal man seemed to get his speaker box going.

"Hello? Is this working now? Dave? Is that you?"

That was a very familiar voice, and I couldn't stop myself as I broke away from Tama and ran to Sasha's voice. When I reached her, I was surprised how light and soft whatever she wearing was. Soon, the glass of the helmet pulled back, and I almost fell over backward in shock.

Sasha, my sexy Tiger-Kin from the SHADEHOLM MINI-GAME, was in front of me, but this time her skin was blue and translucent. On top of that, Sasha only had one set of eyes, not that I expected more, but a part of me questioned it. Regardless, when our lips connected, I knew it was the same person. Part of me unintentionally recoiled when I felt her hand tighten around me, half expecting claws to sink into my back.

When we pulled apart, the was a decidedly agitated-looking Tama starting at the two of us. I guess for her, this would be strange, not like Tama and I were a couple but, we did share a bed. The look given said that she wasn't happy being left out, so I stepped back from Sasha and turned to Tama.

"Tama, this is Sasha. We have known each other from a while back."

"Oh, so do you greet all your friends like that? Where's my greeting then, you dick!"

"Oof, she is a spicy one, Dave! Her and Mikota will get along well!"

"Mikota? Are the rest with you?"

"No, just Jill, Mikota, and the other new recruit, Tilly."

Hearing that name let me breathe easier, but that still didn't account for Iona or the others. I guess that was part of it all. At least I wasn't a child this time. It seemed my age was around 25-30, medium build, and a rugged face with smooth shaved skin.

"Well, what's with the suit? Thing is covered in speakers, yet you used that little chatterbox instead, how come?"

"This suit is called a MAS, that short for Mechanized Armor Suit. These are the smallest version, but even this base model is no joke. When we get back to the main ship, we will go down to the hanger after orientation. There you can see what they are capable of."

"Well, this is going a lot smoother than I had hoped, but winning has to have its perks! Tama, are you going to come with us?"

"You think you can get rid of me that easily?"

"That's not what I meant, uuhh!"

Tama cut me off with a hard punch to my side that I suspected would make me piss blood.

"Jeez, was that necessary?" I groaned, arching my body in pain, but Tama was already walking into the ship with Sasha.

Oh, this is great. Where did I find such a violent woman? I had primary memories of her and the others from the party, but I couldn't know more without physical contact. I straightened out and stopped groaning to jog up the ramp after the women.

The door closed behind me, and I was inside a small hangar bay. I was hit with a bitter memory of the game I had lost, and everyone had died, all because of Fate/Tyron and his father, the Game Master, Victor. I was able to push the memory away since the two of them had been punished, and now inside this highly advanced landing craft, I was ready to start this next life.

"Are you coming? Or did my little love tap hurt the big strong Dave too much?" Tama teased.

"Ha Ha, I'm pretty sure I will piss blood from that act of caring."

I followed them into the cockpit that had six seats. The seats were white with a blue gel-like cushion that filled the padded areas. The chairs almost looked like an afterthought in the steel gray plated interior of the ship. I watch Sasha sit down in the pilot chair, and the blue gel surrounded her. I watched the gel cover her down to her elbows and knees, then it moved up to her neck and settled there.

"Woah, what is that stuff?" I asked curiously.

"Acura-gel, it's a reactive gel-like substance that change shapes depending on the A.A.I, Assisted Artificial Intelligence, can control it if you are not conscious."

"The A.A.I?" Tama asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, think of it as a person inside the ship that doesn't talk but keeps everything running properly."

Suddenly, a screen above Sasha's head turned on, and a message appeared on it.

//WHO SAID I CAN'T TALK