Sophitia and Taki

Bingley-bingley boop

“Welcome to the Union Aerospace Corporation Argent Research Base. In collaboration with the world-famous Mount Sanguine Research Centre, we’ve spared no expense in building this state-of-the-art laboratory, staffed by some of the finest minds we’ve encountered, all to help us bring pure, clean, argent energy from our mining facilities on Mars straight to your home as cheaply and safely as possible!”

An unnaturally cheerful feminine voice echoed throughout the empty lobby, the only sound aside from Sophitia’s clacking metal shoes on the white tiled floor. The voice rattled off more ad copy as she and her ninja companion slowly walked in, Taki’s hand resting on Mekki-Maru.

“This is an evil place,” the ninja said, tightening her grip on her sword. Sophitia wiped a layer of dust away from a glowing map of the base and began the process of trying to decipher the Latin lettering.

“Then we will heal it,” she traced a finger over the outline of a large room, “or be long gone before its evil can spread any further. I think I have it.”

She turned around and gave Taki a bright smile that faltered just a moment as a shooting pain ran through her chest. Taki was right, this place was evil, and the shard of Soul Edge lodged near her heart seemed to be pulling her towards the source. She wasn’t trying to hide the pain or the pull, her companion would have noticed her wince and her sword was similarly cursed, it would be pulling her as well, but she felt the need to put on a brace face for her saviour.

Taki, for her part, stepped closer to her ally. If she was weakened by the shard, she would need to fight all the harder to protect her from any potential ambush.

“It’s alright,” said Sophitia, “Really.” She gestured towards a glass door, “It wants us to go that way, towards something called ‘plasma processing.’ There’s sure to be something there, maybe even one of the artifacts we’re supposed to find but exposing ourselves to something that Soul Edge reacts to like this might not be the best idea. There’s also some sort of warehouse over there and something called an ‘argent power display’ to the right. What do you think?”