Zephyria - Chapter 8

In case it had escaped your memory, amongst the the kerfuffle that evening, a flufferino of a bear had graced to the Zephyrian Sky-Sky (of course, to the average Zephyrian this would be just a singular “sky”) and peacefully traversed above the busy metropolis. She was not oblivious to the shenanigans below, but she hadn’t the finer details of each occurance, nor, more importantly, the protocols to give a damn if she did. So there she floated.

Zephria’s mainland occupied a floating landmass in the shape of an almost perfect circle, with a radius of 8000 square kilometers(much big, such wow). It is important to note this minor inconsistency in terms of shape as twas only recently that a relatively small (to Zephyria, large to Zephyrian) chunk of levitating land had been forcefully teared from the mainland’s edge. It hadn’t lost its gravity-defying state of being in the process, however it did take up an image of a cute doge balloon leashed to the floor. For one, it was positioned 3 kilometers (in x,y and z axis) from the the Western border and was currently attached to the mainland by what seemed to be extremely fine cords, as to not float away. It also looked sort of like a doge if you squinted hard enough (shiba inu if you’re interested).

This floating balloon doge of a landmass was Tedi’s final destination of the night, and as she approached her landing strip, a man with a huge smile eagerly waited for her. He watched Tedi’s touchdown, who landed in front of him without making a sound, and the sight of this (or rather, the sound of this) forced out of him a hug and a huger smile.

“WOW even your landings are perfect!” Ryan said as he embraced her.

“Indeed.” Tedi replied blankly.

“Hikari also possessed the urge to hug me, although he could wrap more of his arms around me due to his slightly longer wingspa-”

“Yea yea yea” Ryan interrupted. Both his height and wingspan were an 2 inches shorter than Hikari’s, which secretly but minorly bothered him.

“So how was your flight?”

“”It was successful. My speed and mobility matched 80% of Gale’s.”

“That’s incredible! Stability issues?”

“None, the mount was also successful and Hikari instantly adapted to the flight pattern.”

“As expected! Any adjustments?”

“Yes. I require a size increase of 50% to accomodate the 5 non fliers.”

“5?!”

“Yes. Amber accepted.”

As mentioned, Tedi was not oblivious to what occured during the duration of her flight. Xero had informed Intel that Amber had agreed to join Vanguard, and Tedi had access to Intel’s Intel. Quite convenient.

“Hm okay okay” Ryan replied. He then stretched out left arm. Wrapped around his hand was a harness made up of thin white threads which, upon closer inspection, were made up of even smaller fibres. These threads were connected a ring on each finger, and at the centre of the harness was a white Ultra-Rare sOr [Cotton], which in that moment attached to each of Tedi’s arms four strings, and and he gently tugged her along, making their way inside an enormous building in front of the landing zone.

As they reached the main lab (covered by uniformly placed holes in the wall), Ryan led Tedi to her designated platform and attached the strings on her arms to weighted hooks on each side, stretching the bear out. He repeated the process as he attached four more strings to each of her legs and hooked them to seperate weighted hooks. Tedi now was in a star position.

“Power Down” he commanded, and the bear did just that.

He then formed 10 more strings which wove together to form a wire, which then connected to the Super ProcessOr on his desk. The Super ProcessOr powered up, and thousands of new strings sprung forth from the holes dotted around the room. Each of these strings were also a string collective that wrapped tightly together, boosting strength and controllability.

The strings, under Ryan’s control, seperated Tedi’s head, torso and limbs, and further (brown) strings wrapped round each part, adding size and durability to the bearino. Simultaneously, some strings formed wires to connect to Tedi and updated her data network and AI capabilities.

After about 5 minutes of this surgical procedure, Tedi was upgraded. Larger, smarter, fluffier.

“Power On” he commanded again. “Status Report.”

“Physical and Data have updated successfully. I am also now fit for a 5 person mount.”

“Yay!” he exlaimed gleefully, as he hopped onto her now larger back. He looked around, imagining his future teammates besides him. Though a fully grown man, he imagined this with a child-like personality. He anticipated being surrounded by not only powerful people, but potentially more friends he could cherish. As he fell asleep atop Tedi, time in Zephyria seemingly (and conveniently) fastforwarded and escaped it’s perpetual evening state (finally lol).

Ryan was not a 7-Star Knight, but he was an exception and in more ways than seemed. Though he was often this happy and goofball character, he possessed the most brilliant mind in Zephyria. The lab he presided in was the cornerstone (or rather, a sperated stone) to Zephyria’s advancement, and his sOr had been revolutionary in advancing sOr technology.

He was the final member of Vanguard.