Pieces Begin to Move

Mouth's worms floated idly in a sea of caramel, slowly being engulfed and consumed. His Tarksun was curled up in the middle of them, trying to cover the hole Ira had created in it. Inside, Mouth sat with a beer in his hand. The caramel substance slowly leaked in, dripping next to his boots. He took a swig of his drink. A loose console hung above his head, which he yanked closer to his thighs, allowing him to type onto the small keyboard that flicked out from beneath it. After a bit of typing, he cleared his throat with a cough.

He hit enter on the console, causing an empty text window to appear. It was a group chat, titled: 'The Arcade Nemesis Crew".

'Hey, it's Earl.' He paused. 'I know we knew this was coming, but... I can't say I don't miss ya!' Another long pause. 'I got my ass handed to me, was never any good at the fighting part anyway. But... I guess I'll get to the part that matters. There's a Tarksun that's potentially not caught in the ritual. She's strong, real strong. I was never gonna stand a chance, but you guys will put her down for sure. I know you will. You're on the lookout for a primarily black design, easy to identify by her Tarksun's dreadlock hair. She can negate ranged attacks and can't be surprise attacked, probably some sort of Breaker to do with honour.'

He got comfier in his chair, sipping the last drop of his beer before shoving it into the gap leaking the most substance into his cockpit.

'Still doesn't feel real that we did it... It was a damn fine time working with all of you. Don't let this little rascal get in our way. Let's make Ambi proud.' He pressed enter again.

The console screen showed static before a modal appeared:

'Message sent.'

He smiled.

Sitting on the corpse of a blue-painted Tarksun, was a young-looking man. He was shirtless, with only a pair of loose-fitting cargo pants covering his lower half. His hair was messy, tinted a light blond. The sun was high, so he leaned back, taking in the rays with a big smile on his face. He shone with brilliance, a near-divine sight.

He stretched his impressive physique before getting up and slowly dismounting from the Tarksun. He was in a destroyed city, the immediate surroundings of which were littered with the corpses of Vanguard Tarksuns.

A beeping noise caught his attention—a phone in his back pocket, which he quickly nabbed out. It was a message from Mouth.

He put the phone up to his head, and after reading it, he let his hand drop. The happy demeanour faded, and he clutched his phone hard.

"I guess we aren't quite done yet..." He looked off into the distance, spotting the caramel substance gradually eating away at the very edges of the city. A sly grin crept onto his mouth.

Meanwhile, Ambi sat quietly in his cell. He would occasionally stand up to see if he could spot Hetto.

A door opened, and Hetto entered the room.

"Yo! What happened, you just kinda stared at me and left? You okay?"

Hetto pulled a chair over to his cell, sitting himself down in front of him and the console he'd pulled over previously. "Had to order some equipment. Don't know how this interrogation stuff goes but I've seen a couple movies, so that should help."

"Equipment? Movies? Did you leave to order torture equipment?!" Ambi backed away from the glass.

"Nah, I know those don't work. Just stuff like Dimmsey and Lokjawn." He spoke calmly while typing away on the console.

"Relaxants? Interesting approach... Why not just use some sort of truth Breaker or something?"

"I'm the one doing the interrogating. Leave the method up to me." Hetto pushed the screen aside.

Ambi chuckled. "Yeah, but we both know you don't have a clue what you're doing." He ran his hands together as he sat down on the edge of his bed. "They brushed you off? More important things to handle than some crazy man admitting himself into the brig."

Hetto didn't reply. His composure held.

"Well at least I got someone I can talk to. Otherwise, this would be a very boring prison stay."

"What do you know about the Ritual Class Breaker?"

"You know it's a Ritual Class Breaker, so that saves me explaining that at least." He clapped his hands together. "And as you've deduced, I do know something about the Breaker. Although it's too early to reveal what."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a certain order I gotta do things in; everything comes at the right time. Show my hand too early, and I risk not being taken seriously. Show my hand too late, and you'll refuse to listen to me out of principle. Basically, there will come a point where the Empress will take me seriously, but until then, there isn't much to say or talk about."

Hetto squinted. "So you're not going to tell me anything?"

"Not necessarily. I'm more than happy to discuss other things, which may or may not be indirectly related to the current situation."

Hetto tilted his head.

"Wanna hear a cool story?"

Hetto ground his teeth. "You're a real smug fucker, maybe I should've ordered a few knives after all."

Ambi threw his hands up. "Woah! Hey, hey. I'm trying to play ball with you. I clearly have a goal in mind, a goal I'm willing to lock myself in prison for! I won't just give it up for the fun of it. But I can lead you to it organically. You're arguably one of the only people who will bear witness to our hard work. In my eyes, you're essential. And to show that I value your patience with me, I'll give you something to at least cut your teeth on, alright?"

He had no clue how to go about the interrogation, all he could do was helplessly listen to the strange man ramble. "Fine, what you gonna tell me?"

"A very similar incident has happened before, involving a ritual class breaker... And if you let me tell you the story... You'll start to understand where I'm going with this..."

"I'm going to record it." Hetto pressed spacebar on the console off to his side.

"If it makes you feel better, then sure. But one last condition. I'll tell you the story tomorrow."

"What?" Hetto stood up in frustration.

"Trust me, as the man that knows the most in the world about what's going on right now. This won't be solved in a few days or something silly like that. We've got a few weeks at least before things get loud."

Hetto looked like he was about to reach through the glass and squeeze the life from Ambi, stopped only by the radio on his waist belt going off. "Hetto, we need you in F4 R288 now. Drop everything; we've got an engine malfunction."

He looked at Ambi with fervour. "Fine. Tomorrow."

Ambi gave a light chuckle in return. He was enjoying their relationship.