Leave The Monster Alone

The professor opened his eyes, now well rested and ready to face a new day. He had a frightening nightmare where a small black monster had entered his space along with some new humans and it had been terrifying.

It had been realistic enough to give him a turnaround for a few seconds to realise that it was not real. His mind was likely playing tricks on him and it would not be the first time either.

And then his eyes fell right on top of the small feline once again and now he tensed. That was not a dream?

"Ah, good morning professor. I hope you had a good sleep" the female called out to him, her voice soft and he vaguely recognised her as the one who had pointed out his mistake.

"Good morning miss. I'm sorry but who are you again?" The party looked almost amused as the confused person looked from the cat to the lady and then to the two in the back. His eyes seemed almost panicky in nature.

"We're from another base sent here to help correct the communication between our bases. I'm Rika" the female extended her hand to the confused person in front of her who finally took the clue and shook it.

"I'm professor Elam but no one actually calls me anything but the professor, I wonder why" the other sounded almost confused and Mark was the only one who was aware of why that was. He was likely an NPC, not someone important enough to remember.

"I'm Mark and this is Alan. the black cat down there is Kuro'' the professor looked almost scared of the feline and she gave him a playful growl that made him jump.

"A-Are you sure it is safe to bring a monster inside here? What if it kills us all?" The other sounded worried, his eyes not leaving Kuro and Mark felt like he understood why that was.

"She's safe. See, I'm holding her" Alan took the initiative to pick Kuro up and the other visibly relaxed. Mark had not realised how tense the other had been.

Professor Elam looked at the weird party who had a monster with them and how weird that was. Nothing much had made it through his self-imposed filter but he did think they talked something about communication.

But with such a backward technology how did they expect to make it all work? He already had to do so much extra work to keep this place running, not to mention add on anything extra at all.

"I don't think communication between bases is something that is possible in such times. I'm sorry but you made this trip for nothing" Mark took in the other who finally stood up and made his way toward the central computers.

The professor looked almost sad as he looked at those machines.

"These things are old and would fail any day now. They are our lifeline and once they go down, so will this base. It's best you leave before that and take every available person with you" the other sounded so sure but that was not the case.

Mark knew that it was not the case at all since this base had survived much longer than that. This had been one of the bases that had aided in the reclamation of the food fields in the original storyline. 

As much as the other's words made it seem unlikely, there must be a solution to all this. Mostly because this was a mission.

"There must be an out. Give me a few minutes to check" Mark called out to the party who had tensed at those words and now looked at him in almost wonder. 

Mark often forgot that they did not know much about things at all and unlike him, they had no source of information. He wanted to tell them but it was second nature to not tell anyone anything now.

Plus, every time he thought to tell anyone else except Luna, his brain gave him a massive headache he did not like at all.

Finally, he created some distance between himself and the others and opened his system screen. The guide must have some of the background information if his system did not provide him with any.

He quickly skipped through the obvious parts before he found what he had been looking for. The data on the river-bank base, the first of the communicable bases. Their communication system had been fixed after they miraculously found a safely tucked supply of parts and machines.

Of course, the location of those materials and machines were not mentioned but Mark had an idea where they could be. His map had only one weird place mentioned after all - the building on the other side which he had marked earlier.

"I think there might be something on the other side that can help us. Do you remember the building I took the boat keys from? I think we might find something there" Mark called back to the party who looked relieved all of a sudden while the professor looked confused.

"You came from the other side? How did you even manage that at all? Every time one of us tried, they just got killed" he sounded surprised as he booted up the program and started working.

Alan was the one who started explaining it all while Mark wondered about everything that was going on. Who had done this deed in the original storyline? There was no information provided on that topic at all, just that the communication array had been fixed and things had moved on.

Now that he thought about it, there were many instances where it felt as if there was a human intervention in the storyline but nothing was mentioned. Even the guide provided vague information as if hiding those secrets which made him all the more suspicious.

Either it was the story writer's fault or things were much more complicated than they first appeared.

"It's not like we cannot communicate but we lack the power needed to do so. What we need is a power source currently" Mark had missed most of the communication that was happening right in front of him. But he did catch the last part.

"Since these machines are very old, the power consumption is too much to handle. Our current power is taken up by the ventilation system so we cannot spare any for communication. If we did so then the base would fall" now this sounded more logical than they had old equipment excuse.

"I see. I can help you create a power generator but we still lack a source for it. Mark, you said that there might be something in that building? Let's check it out and we can store it in your storage" Rika took charge and Mark hated to burst her bubbles but he had to, unfortunately.

"I'll go there with Kuro, Alan and someone from this base. You need to stay here and help the professor out" and the female looked pissed, as he had expected. But he could not allow anything to happen to her right now.

Also, she questioned far too much which was a big problem.

He saw her about to open her mouth to complain before something crossed her eyes as he gestured toward the professor who looked a little spooked out. The female calmed down a little which made Mrk feel better.

At this point, it did not matter what she thought he meant if she agreed to stay behind.

"I guess I'm stuck here helping. You better hurry back though" she threatened, her voice not sounding happy at all. She sounded pissed off at being left behind but her tone also clarified that she would not argue with him over this matter.

"I'll have a talk with the base captain then. Alan, be ready to leave at any time" Mark called out to the teen who nodded. 

Now it came to the awkward part - the captain. As much as Mark did not like the other, even he knew the other would not deny him this since it was a part of the real storyline and necessary to continue it all.

But once he reached that office, he was met with a very familiar site with two back to him and facing the captain. Everyone turned toward him once he entered the room and it got tense before the captain broke it.

"Ah, Mark, welcome back. Gentleman, this is an esteemed guest from another base - Mark. Mark, these are some people looking to seek shelter. They must be amazing combatants to make it this long in the outside world" those words held admiration but also suspicion.

But Mark recognised those faces - the divine beasts. 

The snake passed him a very familiar smile, his eyes closed.

"It's nice to meet you again, Mr Mark. I see that you made your way here as well" the other female did not say anything, just looked back at him and the general coughed a little to break the tension.

"I see that you know each other, of course, you do" the last part almost muttered before continuing, "Please make yourself at home and we'll be glad to have such experienced people as you. Now, I'm afraid I have something to talk about with Mark alone?" 

The other took their clue, now leaving with a smile. Once they left, Mark turned toward the other, questioning eyes and got a calm but worried smile in return.