Colossus By Choice: Book 1 Verse 17

3001 P.G.E. (Post-Godzilla Era)

[Universal Date: Day 119]
[Planet: Pyrestar]
[Capital: Silver Sun City]

[Location: Silver Sun City – Eastern business district – Lucky Kirin Inn]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -

It’s a new day. It’s a new dawn.

The rising sun shines through the tinted and smudged window of the moderately sized inn room.

While it’s still composed of cobblestone walls and wooden floors like many lower-class inns, this one is decidedly more well-kept and has several higher quality features: the stone masonry is much sharper and more well-cut, and the wooden flooring is made of Ancient Dragonwood; the walls are decorated lightly with ornaments of various types that range from portraits of famous Hunters, wyvern bone trophies, and even occasional solid silver decorations that serve no useful purpose; and the furniture is cut into more defined rounded shapes with Monster patterns instead of remaining relatively simple and utilitarian.

There are 3 beds alongside the wall opposite to the door, right next to the table; Taum occupies the middle bed while Yun-Tao and Skrill slumber on either side of him. The 3 unlikeliest of heroes are sound asleep, with no sign of any of them waking up anytime soon.

All of a sudden, an immensely loud and annoying ring sounds off from some contraption on the nightstand next to Yun-Tao, stinging the ears worse than a shrieking Khezu; the forge-widow instantly wakes up, throwing off her covers and getting out from her bed. Meanwhile, her companions are decidedly less enthused or inclined to get out of their beds; Skrill curls up and puts his pillow over his head, and Taum covers the parts of his head where his internal ears are with his clawed hands.


(Yun-Tao): Wake up, you lazy hoof-lickers! Vengeance quest to assassinate a high-ranking Iwi-ki commander doesn’t wait around for bed lumps!


The elderly Radent and youngling Draconi simultaneously groan and remain lying down in their beds. Yun-Tao is quite chuffed about their laziness and stomps hard on the Dragonwood floor, shaking the room enough that Skrill ends up rolling off of his bed and onto the floor; Taum isn’t as easily shaken loose, but he gets the message and gets off the bed. While the tan-skinned youth slowly folds his covers and makes them neat for the cleaning staff, Skrill pokes his head over the left side of Taum’s bed; he looks up at the boisterous Oxbul with an annoyed scowl, though she simply chuckles at the sight.


(Skrill): An old man like me just can’t catch a break lately.


The old smuggler disappears from view and scoots beneath his bed to get his things. As he rummages through his items, he produces a ludicrously large amount of strange personal items far in excess of what’s considered normal for everyday use, absolutely littering the floor around his bed with objects ranging from useless trinkets to obscene reading materials. While this is going on, Yun-Tao neatly and calmly sorts her personal items and equipment and changes into her questing clothes; her wear consists of simple linen shirt and pants with a reinforced blacksmithing apron and pauldrons on her forearms.

Taum changes into his standard Leather armour and finishes packing up his backpack; Skrill pops back up in his simple reddish-brown robe with hood.

The elderly Radent may be ready in terms of dress, but his personal items are still completely scattered around the floor; his bed is also a complete mess. As he crouches down to pick up his belongings one by one extremely slowly, Taum and Skrill look on with annoyance and impatience; they finally relent and help him to pick up his backpack items and tidy up his bed a bit. Skrill struggles to hold back his laughter while his companions help him clean up, no doubt due to this being one of his ploys to avoid doing the majority of his own work.

Once they all finish, the 3 unlikely companions head out of their door toward the check-in office; the Draconi youngling goes inside to check the group out while Yun-Tao and Skrill wait outside. A little less than a minute later, Taum steps out; he’s carrying a small bag that has a jingling sound to it.


(Skrill): That doesn’t sound as empty as it should for a place like this, Taum.

(Taum): The inn owner wouldn’t accept my payment. He said us simply staying at his inn was payment enough. Apparently, we’re the heroes of Silver Sun City and that he should’ve been the one to pay us for saving his business and being a big promotional boost.

(Yun-Tao): That’s great!

(Skrill): No it’s not! This means we’re well-known, which means attention is gonna be on us for at least the next few weeks!

(Taum): Oh chill out, old man. At least it means we have more disposable income at our disposal.

(Yun-Tao): Exactly! Alright, let’s get going on some leads.


The brutish forge-widow marches down the street towards the Defence Watch’s eastern command centre. This decision baffles Taum and Skrill, who look at one another for a brief moment before they quickly run after Yun-Tao to catch up with her. The 2 of them try to get her attention, or at least stop her to talk a bit, but it’s to no avail; she’s committed to going to the military police outpost, forcing the Draconi youngling and Radent elder to walk and talk.


(Taum): Yun-Tao, why are we heading back to the eastern command centre? Shouldn’t we be heading out past the gates to look for clues?

(Yun-Tao): We will be. We’re gonna become bounty hunters.

(Taum): Bounty hunters?

(Yun-Tao): That’s right. We’ll take on a contract with the Defence Watch to take out Primatus Joa, which will provide us legal freedom to take him down and net us a reward for doing what needs to be done anyways.

(Taum): Huh….


Taum and Skrill think over this proposition as they walk down the main street leading directly to the gates of the Defence Watch’s eastern command centre. After a minute of thinking it over, the Draconi youngling seems to come to find the idea agreeable enough; the elderly Radent smuggler is less than enthused, but he eventually sighs and resigns himself.

As the trio walks further down the eastern business district, the signs of the titanic battle from yesterday present themselves despite the damage to Silver Sun City being minimized relatively well. There are massive imprints left behind by the feet of the Oozaru, shattered glass from his earth-shaking roars, burn marks left behind due to stray arcs of its golden Thunder Element, and more. Although the damage is immense, efforts are already being made to repair or replace the destruction that’s taken place; the foot imprints left in the road are being filled in, broken glass windows are being cleaned up and replaced, and other collective efforts by the people of the city.

The 3 unlikely allies pass by some street vendors who have set up their stands to profit off of the construction and repair crews’ personnel needing refreshments. One of them happens to be selling freshly made sandwiches, the scent of which instantly catches the nose of Skrill; he can make out many key ingredients with his keen sense of smell, all of which come together in an aromatic scent that makes his stomach audibly growl. The old man looks up to his 2 companions, who look back at him; both of them shake their heads at him, which seems to annoy him a bit.

Skrill relents and walks ahead of the group to this stall with his coin bag in hand; he offers up some CT to the vendor master. The shopkeeper stares down the dirty rat man for a few seconds, but he eventually gives Skrill some sandwiches and takes the money. The Radent smuggler quickly hurries back to join his companions and hands them their food, to which they graciously accept; the trio then continues walking down the road while eating their breakfasts for the day.

None of them talk while they eat, making for a somewhat noisy but dialogue-free stroll down the eastern main street; in no time at all, they come upon the gates of the eastern command centre for the Defence Watch.

Unlike last time, the 3 of them aren’t stopped by the gate guardians; instead, Captain Gairi himself is outside waiting for the trio with his helmet held in his right hand.


(Cpt. Gairi): I had a feeling you 3 would be coming by. Let’s go in and discuss details.


The Defence Watch captain turns to face the gate. The massive wooden doors open up, and the captain steps through; Taum, Yun-Tao, and Skrill follow him. Rather than cut straight through the courtyard to get to the interrogation rooms, Captain Gairi walks along the open hallways surrounding the greenery; he makes sure that Taum and the others can follow closely.


(Cpt. Gairi): So Taum, I talked with the City Scouts. They’re willing to open up apprenticeship for you again within the next few months. Best I could manage, even given your accomplishments these past few days.

(Taum): I appreciate it sir, but I’m committed to a different goal right now.

(Cpt. Gairi): I can see that. So, forge-wife—

(Yun-Tao): Forge-widow, actually.

(Cpt. Gairi): Apologies for the misspeak, milady. I take it you’re all committed to taking on Primatus Joa?

(Yun-Tao): That’s correct, captain.

(Cpt. Gairi): I see, then. I think we can come to an agreement.


The Defence Watch captain stops in front of a large bounty board just outside of his office door. The board has a large number of quests, bounties, and general jobs of all types from various different clients that range from wealthy aristocrats to farmers and many others. Out of these various bounties, Captain Gairi pulls off one from near the rightmost corner; its placement indicates it has much lower priority compared to quests and jobs in the centre of the bounty board.

The captain then turns around to face the trio and shows them the quest parchment; Taum, Skrill, and Yun-Tao lean in to take a good look at the details. The group’s expressions suggest great confusion at the relation between this bounty’s goals and their primary objective.


(Taum): A quest by a farmer out in some wheat fields…..

(Skrill): Simple hunt for a pack of Jaggi?

(Yun-Tao): No offence, but what does this have to do with our contract?

(Cpt. Gairi): Simple, milady. While the bounty itself doesn’t specifically concern your objective, there have been sightings of unknown activity around that area where the quest will take you. I figured you might as well kill 2 Vespoids with 1 stone and take on this quest at the same time.

(Yun-Tao): But—

(Cpt. Gairi): Don’t worry, forge-widow. We’ll still have our contract with you 3 as mercenaries to investigate the Iwi-ki commander, but there are still people out there that need help in light of this recent Monster invasion


The Oxbul forge-widow looks a little annoyed at this prospect, but she eventually relents and takes the quest parchment; she quickly stuffs it into her bag.


(Cpt. Gairi): Good, it’s settled then. I had a feeling you 3 would still get involved in things, so I went ahead and prepared a blank contract. All I need are your signatures on it.


Captain Gairi pulls out a long piece of parchment with his left hand from his utility bag around his waist and shows it to Taum and the others; he pulls out a pen and holds it out to them with his right hand. Yun-Tao is the first to take the pen and immediately signs it without hesitation. Taum is a bit more hesitant and makes sure to carefully read the contract’s details a bit before ultimately signing as well. However, Skrill is the only one who doesn’t sign it at all, taking it all in with great care and rereading everything to make sure he understands what the contract entails and asks of him.


(Cpt. Gairi): Is there a problem?

(Skrill): Yeah, there is. It says here that we’re duty-bound to uphold this contract until either our target is subdued, or we are.

(Cpt. Gairi): Well of course. We want this one done, and we want to make sure only the best are up for the job. You won’t be the only ones sent out for this mission, though. You 3 are only our first team of mercenaries being contracted out for this hit.


Skrill strokes his long, thin beard of grey fur running down from the tip of his chin for a few moments; he’s very strongly considering what he should do; Taum looks on with a bit of worry, Yun-Tao seems quite annoyed, but the dark-green-skinned Defence Watch elite seems quite assured and confident. After what seems like forever but is actually just under a minute, the elderly Radent smuggler finally seems like he’s ready to make a decision.


(Skrill): I’ve decided that I will not—

(Cpt. Gairi): Oh yes, I forgot to mention. We’ve received word from anonymous sources that speak of some highly suspicious activities involving you.


Skrill’s previous look of smug confidence instantly dissipates.


(Cpt. Gairi): Ordinarily, I’d investigate these claims right away. However, I’m legally obligated to look the other way if you’re contracted as a sanctioned mercenary.

(Skrill): Darned dung-rollers…. Fine, I’ll sign.


The old rat man takes the pen out of Captain Gairi’s hand and signs his name on the contract; the others look at him with smug satisfaction.


(Skrill): Let’s just go and get this over with, then.

(Cpt. Gairi): Fair enough. I’ve got a ride waiting outside the entrance for you. It’ll take you to the eastern gate, after which you’ll have to make your way to the quest location on your own.

(Taum): We’ll get right on that, sir. Farewell!


Taum, Yun-Tao, and Skrill walk across the courtyard and toward the wooden gates. The guards open the doors to allow the trio out into the eastern business district once more; this time, a cart that’s manned by a Catzfin and his beasts of burden greets them. The middle-aged woman has pale blue scales covering the majority of her exposed head and long neck aside from the faded white underside; her whiskers are long and white, a signifier of her age; the only other parts of her slender frame that can be seen are her webbed fin-like hands that are tipped with small claws.

Yun-Tao and the carriage driver stare each other down for several seconds that seem agonizingly long given the death stares they’re giving one another. This tension is finally broken when the Oxbul forge-widow climbs up onto the passenger seats of the open-roofed cart; Taum and Skrill look at one another with a bit of worry before climbing on and sitting down.

The Catzfin cart-runner whips the reins, riling up the pair of Aptonoth and getting them to quickly lumber down the street.


(Taum): So, Yun-Tao, how about—

(Yun-Tao): Save it. Let’s just wait until we get to the outer territories.

(Taum): Alright then. Whatever you say, Yun-Tao.


Taum and Skrill respect Yun-Tao’s wishes, making for a very awkward and quiet carriage ride down the street towards the main eastern gate of the inner city limits.