THE LOST ADVENTURES OF HARUPIA - Part 3 (continued from HERE)
"Sousuke?!"
His eyes would snap open. Looking around, his heart would begin to race as his mind flooded with information. What happened? Where was he? Who was the metal man? Why was he still alive...
He would peer down at his body and blink for a moment. His damaged right eye seemed to be healed, aside from badges on his body he did not seem to be experiencing any pain. That is until he decided to stand up. If his body could have let out an audible creak it would have, as it felt like his limbs and joints had all been rusted over. Almost toppling over, he would catch himself and regain his composure before noticing a mirror in the room. The full length of the mirror would allow him to see his form fully.
"What..."
His body was slimmer, his muscle masses seemed to be completely gone, and all his definition and tone had been replaced by a look of emancipation.
"Oh ho... look who finally decided to wake up!"
The voice would be an unamplified version of the voice he had heard coming from the metallic figure. Without the reverb of the microphone, Harupia would be able to better hear the voice itself. It was gravely, like the voice of a much older and gruff person. This was the image he would have built in his mind as he slowly began to turn to face the direction of the voice.
"Easy, easy, the process to heal you used your own chakra and basically consumed your muscle and fat deposits. You are essentially a living skeleton with a flesh wrapper.... hmmm, I guess most humans are that, huh?"
Harupia would finally finish turning to be greeted by a figure the complete opposite of his mental picture. Where he thought he would see an older man, he would instead see a tiny child.
"Well, either way, it is PERFECT that you managed to live! Not everyone can survive that technique used on you... you got tough willpower within ya, huh?"
Harupia, now seeing the voice coming from the tiny body, could only blink in disbelief. The child-like figure would begin to grow frustrated.
"Are you brain dead or something?! Talk dammit! I did that technique PERFECT so you should be fine... all things considered!"
"Should a child use that language?"
"CHILD!"
The child-like figure would quickly dart up off the ground and stab both of his feet into the midsection of Harupia, a dropkick squarely into the gut of the Jounin. The shrunken, shriveled version of Harupia would easily be sent flying backward and slamming into his bed.
"OH SHIT! My apologies... I let my emotions get the better of me!!! CAN I GET A HELPER?"
Slowly a tall metallic figure would make its way into the room.
"Assistance required?"
"Pick up the shriveled corpse over there."
The machine-like creature would beep before slowly making its way to Harupia.
"The name is Prometheus, and I am one of the Guardians of Titan... well, we call it Titan now but this place used to have a different name. I don't know how you ended up under this place, but those damn ants and those damned generation 2 Unbent both seemed to be drawn here. Can't blame them, this is basically a buffet. Chakra is pulsating off this place like a son of a bitch... Titan is a unique village. You are the most completely organic thing now within these walls... also makes you by far the most fragile thing! HAHAHAHAHA! PERFECT joke, right!?"
Harupia's head was in a buzz as he tried to not only process all of this but also recover from the kick.
"Anyways... Children of Primus' Will were always destined to make it here, but it might still be a little too early since you didn't end up here intentionally. So my goal is to get you back up to 100% operating performance, and then send your fleshy, dried up ass back to where you came from!"
Harupia wasn't sure what to expect...
[A MONTH LATER]
Ducking, dodging, and sprinting, the Jounin of Suna would continue to make his way around. In the metallic heavy environment of Titan, Harupia found himself lacking in resources to make sand so he had to be resourceful with what little supply he had. Coating his hands, the Sunaku would continue to use the sandboxing strategy he had uncovered fighting the giant ants as the metallic Helpers would continue to attack him.
"I'm surprised your ability to get back in physical shape in just a month... PERFECT recovery! But still not ready to get back to your village just yet."
"And why not? While I enjoy your help and these practice dummies--"
"Not DUMMIES."
"You gotta remember that these guys lack personality for the most part, but the Helpers aren't just mindless machines... they are boring as all hell..."
"Not BORING."
"Prometheus-sama--"
"Ah, 'sama' that's the PERFECT honorific my pupil!"
"--I don't see how repeating this will be much more useful, so why is it still not time to dismiss me?"
A large smile would appear on the face of Prometheus as he would begin to laugh.
"Time for you to learn a little bit of the secrets of Titan!"
[SIX WEEKS LATER]
Harupia would emerge from a large building, his eyes appeared sunken in with bags under them.
"Enjoy your reading?"
"I don't know if I want to see a book again...the history of this country, of this village, of Primus, of the Unbent, of Ancients..."
"Well I am a Journeyman, so I don't blame ya on that... Oracles and their books! This was the ATLAS CHALLENGE! Big sis Atlas is an Oracle and made this library..."
"Atlas, Menoetius, and Prometheus... the guardians of Hammerfall"
"Which we now call..."
"Titan."
"PERFECT! You've heard of us, HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The tired Sunaku would let out a sigh as Prometheus would continue his laughing.
"You won't find this in the library, but we three are essentially vessels of Primus... machinations set in place to see his will not only inherited but also fully achieved."
"So you were built by Primus?"
"BUILT?! IMPERFECT! I am a human... kind of! Well, I was once a human, and then when Primus asked me and the others if we wanted to take on this quest, we agreed to be made into Living Dolls (Human Puppets). Our soul and chakra basically captured into a 'heart' and placed in a modified body. Being a Journeyman, I have built other versions but this was the original so I find myself drawn back to it."
"So you have been here all this time alone?"
"Not alone, others took up the calling to see the purpose of this place come to fruition, and those became the--"
"The Helpers?"
"PERFECT! Sadly, Living Dolls weren't really a proven thing, our personalities, memories, past lives... all of it is susceptible to corrosion. The Helpers succumbed much quicker than us Guardians, and I'm not sure why. Out of the three of us, Atlas always seemed the most together. Menoetius was always the most deranged... but that could just have been his previous personality. Either way, it's hard to fully know whether or not I have lost memories and parts of my previous existence over these past centuries, but the primary objective instilled, the primary purpose I asked for this role, is still burning strongly within my mind; I will make sure you Children get what your Father left you, you will make it to the Garden."
Harupia would blink for a moment, "You kind of lost me on that last part."
"PERFECT! Too soon for you to know everything now anyways. Now let's get your chakra reserves built back up and then you can be on your way... but I think it is time for you and I to do a little sparring."
Harupia would scoff before realizing how rude he might have just been, "I am sorry--"
"Shove it, Sand Boy! You won't be laughing much longer..."
Runes would begin to appear upon his tiny Living Doll body as his eyes would glow.
"Time to see Prometheus: Battle Mode!"
[SEVERAL MONTHS LATER]
Harupia's bags of supplies would be pact as he exited the front gates of Titan. Turning back around he would be greeted by the figure he would come to know as Prometheus: Titan Mode, the large metallic version of Prometheus that had saved him in the tunnel battle with the mutated Unbent, the Swarm variant that Prometheus would refer to as the Second Generation of Unbent.
"Prometheus-sama, I cannot repay you for your kindness, for your knowledge, and for your training..."
"You aren't going to get me to cry, jerk! Get outta here!"
"Seriously, there were questions we had about the Swarm, about some of the issues facing our village and the instigators around us, and yet you've provided me with a wealth of information. I will take this knowledge back to Suna, I will bring others back here when we are ready, and I will make sure you and your siblings get to see the fulfillment of your life's purpose."
"I--wah--told vu--sniff-cagt make mwe cwy--crying noises--"
Harupia would smirk and nod as he would begin his journey back to the village, now prepared to ignite his village members to the will of Primus. He wasn't sure exactly how he would help get the village behind this quest
"Would be easy if I could just become a Sennin..."
As the gates of Titan closed, two shadowy figures would appear on the shoulders of the large metallic body of Prometheus: Titan Mode.
"Stop crying, you little baby!"
"Brother Prometheus, you did a good job in trying to plant the seeds. Do you think they will flourish?"
"Yea, wouldn't be the first time one of us failed, huh sis?"
"I think so, I think a small ember sparked, but I think we are finally reaching the point we can fully pass the FIRE of Primus' Will to his Children."
And with that, one side story would end as the Sunaku would return to the village of Suna with a new quest, one that might see him joining leadership within the village. When the time came, would he bring those needed to Titan? Others, not inheritors of Primus' will also had an interest in what dwelled within the walls of Titan... did Harupia have time to wait to return back to this special place, or would it soon be under siege by dark forces?
That was a story for another time...
TO BE CONTINUED in HARUPIA'S NEXT ADVENTURE!
