Sixth Game

[break_the_nine]

[After the Successful rescue Leos was pretty darned happy, Pale Rider was damaged, but not a complete mess like before! He managed to do things right, kick some serious butt, AND get a sword and come up with a snappy attack name! Not too bad for a day's work. Now one would expect him to be celebrating... however...]

Bwaaaaah....

[Apparently right after he was congratulated, he was immediately given a mop and bucket and told to clean up one of the corridors. Congratulations great janitor hero! Now get to work.]

Comments

[ben_dixon]

Hey, great hero! Way to go!

*Kakizaki slaps Leos' back.*

[break_the_nine]

[Leos nearly falls over but he gives Kakizaki a sunny grin.]

Thanks! You were pretty cool there yourself Mr Kakizaki!

[ben_dixon]

So, did you learn anything from me back then?

[break_the_nine]

Going really fast is awesome!

[ben_dixon]

Well, okay. That's something.

So, did Miss Lana said anything about me? Or did you say anything about me to her?

[break_the_nine]

Umm...

[Yeah about that... Leos isn't sure HOW to word this.]

She had... a lot to say about you?

[A lot, none of it complimentary. But best to let his friend dream.]

[ben_dixon]

Awesome! I owe you one, Leos!

Anyway, what are you doing with these cleaning tool?

[break_the_nine]

I signed up to help the janitor here! And the Janitor is one of my friends!

[majestic_keiki]

So things went well?

[break_the_nine]

Yup! Bad guys got their butts kicked and we saved a lot of people.

Well... apparently more than we were supposed to.

[Leos rolls his eyes.]

We were only supposed to save Elan... he's the guy who helped me and Lana get the sponsorship from PROGTECH.

The Old Geezers in charge were kinda upset we didn't run off with him the first chance we got.

[majestic_keiki]

They wanted people to die? Or just didn't care about the lives of anyone else?

[break_the_nine]

Probably the second bit... I don't think they cared much about everyone else.

But what matters is we saved a lot of people.

[majestic_keiki]

It is. And from what I can tell the mission went well in general.

[break_the_nine]

Uh huh! No disasters at all, and there was this big evil cloud of christmas that came early helped save everyone by killing some of the enemy!

[majestic_keiki]

Wait, what?

[break_the_nine]

Well there was this big cloud that showed up when the Platform was breaking down! It helped us take down the guys attacking us. Kanae called it a christmas miracle!

And usually people call clouds that kill people evil... so its the Big Evil Cloud of Christmas!

[majestic_keiki]

...And everybody just accepted it?

[abugslife]

It appears your fortune has finally turned itself around. In more ways than one.

By the way, you missed a spot.

[break_the_nine]

I knoooow....

[Leos sighs as he swabs the floor like he had a grudge against it. Stupid floors, mocking him by collecting dirt! He'll show you!]

[abugslife]

...When you finish, there is a cup of that goop you enjoy so much waiting for you in the kitchen.

[break_the_nine]

[Now THAT got a very happy look on his face. PUDDING! Leos was just plowing through the cleanup just at the promise of it!]

[abugslife]

How easy to placate.

[genericbiggerbrother]

"Hey Kid!" Yancy says, marching up with a jaunty grin. "I heard you did well out there! Kicked butt and everything!"

[break_the_nine]

Sure did Mr Yancy! I wasn't alone though.

[Leos is still all grins though as he leans against the mop he was holding.]

I'm just glad everything worked out alright! That other AC out there had a lot of guns.

[genericbiggerbrother]

"Huh: sounds like you were using teamwork out there!" Yancy says. "Did you pull off a few good one-two combos with your squadmates?"

[break_the_nine]

Uhuh! Sure did, especially at the end!

I needed to fight the enemy AC as fast as I could before it could dive into the water again so I ditched my weapons and had Yuuya toss me one of his swords while everyone kept it pinned down so I can cut it to pieces!

[star_of_sad]

You did well. Congratulations.

[break_the_nine]

Thanks! If I keep up like this... I can be as good as everyone else!

[star_of_sad]

I don't think you were doing bad before. You were just... unlucky, that's all.

There's limits to what one person can do, but there's more than one person on your side.

[break_the_nine]

Yeah...

I'm glad I have friends like everyone here.

[star_of_sad]

Yeah. Let's not forget that now, okay?

[ugyuuya]

Well I see they're working on the discipline side of things with basic grunt work. Was this from Kagura or one of the other military types?

Well whoever it was has a rather old fashioned view of building discipline but it's probably good for you in the long run.

[Yuuya reaches over to grab another mop from the cart.]

There's nothing that says that a hand isn't in order, it'll take you a long time to do this alone and I think a bit of a reward with some down time would be in order.

[break_the_nine]

Um... actually I kinda signed up for the Janitorial department to help out... I heard Ken was signing up and I didn't wanna leave him to do all the work.

[Leos looks like he's regretting every second as he keeps mopping.]

But yeah... Thanks Yuuya.

[ugyuuya]

You know I forgot that you and Ken weren't as free with your funds as most of the rest of us. As for this, I don't mind it every once in a while and as I said before, you actually listened and took the lessons to heart after what happened previously in sorties.

I mean they even put some combat video into their advertisements, which while it strikes me as odd from a security standpoint, it's good for you.

[break_the_nine]

I have good friends and teachers. Kind of hard to not listen to you guys.

And I guess if something looks like it would make money, they'd use it. PROGTECH is kinda small compared to the other corporations so they want to use every advantage they can get.

[way_of_vengeance]

[Surprise hugs from behind!]

You did excellently, Leos. I'm very proud of you.

[break_the_nine]

Thanks Kanae!

[Leos laughed anxiously.]

I actually was a little worried out there.

[way_of_vengeance]

Well, that's perfectly normal.

But, you won in the end! That sponsor of yours will be nicer now, I expect.

[break_the_nine]

Yep! I have a lot of people to thank for that though.

[Hey Kanae? Hugs for you!]

Thanks for believing in me Kanae!

[way_of_vengeance]

Any time, Leos.

[The hugs are returned. That's it, you're a cute little brother now.]