He headed up to the fifth floor and met Lucy again. “You’re just in time. We’ve received a job from a very wealthy lady. Take a look at the monitor for the mission details. Since it’s your first mission, it’s better that you accept.”
Sora surveyed the mission folder. After he finished reading it, he turned to Lucy and said, “You have got to be kidding me!”
Sora walked past the busy streets of Gildartz City keeping an eye out for the missing thing, which he had been requested to find. He still couldn’t believe he had gotten such a mission, even if it was his first. He was reluctant in taking it up. But he had gotten the scent of it and was beginning to pick up a trail. He turned into an alley, which was less than posh, unlike the area Sora had diverged from. He could feel its scent becoming stronger as he went deeper and was mixed with a stench similar to that of a dumpsite.
A minute later, he reached the dumpsite. He was sure that it was here but found it hard to distinguish its scent from the stench of the dump. “Come on out. I don’t want to search through all that,” Sora said. He noticed some movement near a pile of trash and slowly approached it. He was about to take a peek into it when something black jumped at him. He took a step back as it just missed his face and then lunged himself at it. Holding it up against a photo, which he had been given he said, “No doubt about it. This is the Siamese cat, which escaped from that lady’s house. It has that diamond-studded collar too. Guess I better head back. But for a contractor to do such a lame mission…”
As he traced his way back, the cat had tried to scratch his cheek, poke his nose, bite his ear and almost pissed on him. Sora said in a frustrated tone, “Listen you; I don’t like you any more than you like me. But I’m just doing my job. I wasn’t told to bring you back unharmed either. So if you prefer not to choke on your own fur balls, be strangled by your tail or want each and every claw in your paws broken, I suggest that you cooperate.”
It couldn’t understand what he said, but it certainly noticed the tone. It slumped back like a puppet and remained silent.
They were approaching the end of the alley. But before taking the last corner, Sora stopped and said, “You can stop following me and come out. I prefer fights of these kinds to be held in the shadows than in the open.” He turned to face a large group of people, each holding on to a weapon.
“What business do you have with me?” Sora asked. One of them, who seemed to be the leader, spoke up. “We don’t want to cause any harm to you. Just hand over that cat with the diamond collar and we’ll let you walk.” Sora looked at the cat and said, “Why do you want the cat? Trust me; you’ll be happier without it.”
The man said, “Obviously, that cat belongs to some rich folks, seeing as even its collar is made of diamonds. We want to ask for ransom, around five hundred thousand Zens.”
“Seriously? But I was offered only five hundred Zens for this fur ball. Isn’t your demand too much?” asked Sora.
“Hey, who’re you to question me? You want to piss us off, one of the most feared criminals of Gildartz City, the Sly Foxes?”
“The Sly Foxes?” said Sora. “Never heard of them.”
That seemed to touch a nerve. The man shouted, “BEAT THE HELL OUT OF THAT TRASH!”
They rushed at Sora shouting war cries. Sora took a stance. But before they reached him, all of them were thrown back. Sora eased his stance and looked at the terrace of the building next to him. “About time you attacked. I was wondering if you’d let me have all the fun.”
Jake jumped down from there and landed next to him. He said, “From when did you know that I was there?” Sora said, “From around the same time I noticed these idiots following me. I guessed that it was your job to capture them, seeing as you were shadowing them.”
The leader of the gang stared at them and said, “You… both of you… what are you guys?”
Both of them faced him and said, “Lucifer’s Fall contractors.”
After a few minutes of wails, bangs and shrieks, the two contractors stood over what was left of the Sly Foxes. Sora bent over one of the unconscious men and said, “Maybe we overdid it a little. You’re pretty strong as well. You didn’t even have to move from that spot. Seeing them attacked by their own weapons was pretty hilarious.”
“You’re one to talk,” said Jake. “You took out a whole lot of them only using your legs. I loved your roundhouse kick… sublime technique indeed. You didn’t even need your contract.”
Sora grinned and said, “I’ve had enough practice. So, what do we do next?”
Jake said, “You should head back to the base to return the cat to one of the ladies, along with your badge in the lobby. Your badge will contain your job information. Then you’ll receive your reward there as well. I, on the other hand, should contact the closest police station as they gave this mission. They will take these guys into custody and will contact the base and inform about the successful capture. I’ll head back and collect the reward.”
“What was the price on your mission?” said Sora.
Jake replied, “Around six thousand Zens… that’s a common reward value for C rank missions,” he said, answering Sora’s awestruck expression.
After the police showed up, Sora and Jake headed back to the base. When Sora returned the cat and his badge, the lady in the lobby counter, Rita, inserted the badge into a machine. She checked the information and then handed him an envelope. He opened it and saw five notes of hundred Zens. She then gave a watch with a very wide screen as well. “Every contractor is given this watch after their first successful job. It’s the latest gadget invented by the guild’s scientists, called the Guild watch, also known as G watch for short. Using this, you can browse through all the available jobs, which you can accept at once. It also includes a flashlight, a communication device, a GPS and more. I hope you find this useful in future missions.”
Sora examined it and said, “I’m sure I will.”
Next Jake stepped up and gave his badge. She checked the badge and gave him two fat envelopes. Sora eyed those envelopes and said, “Hey, since I had a hand in finishing your mission, shouldn’t I get my share?”
“No way!” Jake retorted. “It’s not like I asked you to butt in on my mission. I could’ve handled them by myself. Do you think any contractor would’ve had a problem against those pushovers?”
“But wasn’t it my cat that brought those guys into the open?”
“I was already on their tail, idiot. Don’t get cocky, thinking that you can gain more money by doing someone else’s mission.”
“Why you…” They started fighting like little kids. Some other guild members had gathered around and were laughing. Sora and Jake untangled themselves and joined in. Suddenly someone said, “Stop this ruckus. You’re blocking the way.”
Everyone turned to face Zack, who had just entered. He walked in coldly, with a look of superiority. People gave way for him to pass as he approached Ms. Rita. He had a strange cube box in his hand. As he passed Sora he glanced at him. Ignoring Sora’s greeting, he gave the box and his badge to Rita, received a suitcase and left the building. Sora’s jaw dropped and he asked Jake, “What the hell? A suitcase?”
Jake said, “It’s obvious. Being an A rank contractor, his missions would be really high priced… around one million Zens, minimum.”
“That’s crazy! And he’s acting all high and mighty all of a sudden. He was way more social before.”
Jake said, “Hey, I’ve been in this guild for four months now and I’ve never seen him be social at all. But he really is in a different league from us. He became an A rank after only two years of being a part of the guild. He’s not just a noble by blood, but by skill as well.”
They went to the dining hall and took a seat. Sora said, “By the way, how can we improve our rank?”
Jake answered, “It’s done by taking your mission efficiency into account. As you do more successful missions, your reputation increases and they promote you to the next rank.”
They had a quick meal and were about to leave. Jake said, “What’re you going to do now?”
Sora replied, “I think I’ll take on another mission. This one was too boring so I want to finish off a lot more by the end of the day. Maybe this time I might get involved in a B rank mission as well.”
Jake said, “It’s not like I don’t sympathize with you, who is as strong as an A rank, to be held down in D rank. But if you do too many missions in one day, you’re not going to let anyone else get any work. So try to control yourself.”
A week had passed since Sora started doing missions as a contractor. The alarm rang at 6 a.m. and Sora slowly got out of his bed. He turned off the alarm of his new clock, which was the first thing that he had bought with his newly earned money. He opened his window and observed the March sunlight streaming in. He closed it almost immediately as the smell of stinky socks from the room next door filled his nostrils.
After he had freshened up, he switched on the television set to listen to the news. He sat in front of his computer and turned it on. It showed the homepage of the guild’s database. He logged in to his account using his badge ID and went through the guild’s news. It was more informative than what was shown in the television, as the police hardly withheld news from guild contractors. He went into the information section of the database and searched for the same thing he had searched for the previous night, knowing that the result would be the same. The screen showed;
“Information about the Dark Alliance is classified and restricted for the use of only ‘A’ and ‘S’ rank contractors.”
The search results were the same for Malva and Bard. It had kept him in a bad mood the whole night. He let out a sigh and leaned back on his chair. He had trained to be a guild contractor only because he would have better chances to come across the Dark Alliance. But after realizing that he was nowhere close to gaining any information on them till he gained a better rank, he was in quite a slump. He looked at the computer again and his eyes fell on a tab named, ‘Map’. He sat up straight and clicked on it.
A detailed view of the guild headquarters was shown, along with the location of different places in each floor. He scrolled it and noticed a place that he was not aware of before. The floors from eleventh to the fifteenth were marked as training grounds. It had been a while since he had used the Wind Fangs and took this chance to blow off some steam as well. He left his room and went to the eleventh floor.
On opening the door, he felt like he had returned to Kai’s base in Denso forest. The walls of the huge room were covered with kimatic rubber. He looked around and took a deep breath as he recollected all the training Kai had thrown at him all those years ago. He felt strangely comfortable and relaxed in this white confinement. He could let his powers loose without a care in the world.
“Hello.”
Sora turned to face a robot with Lucifer’s Fall’s symbol engraved on its chest.
“Are you here for the first time? I haven’t seen you here before.”
Sora replied, “Err… Yeah. I’m Sora. I’ve just been a guild contractor for a week now. I was planning to train here for a while.”
The robot said, “Then please turn in your badge for verification.”
It went into a room in the corner and returned after checking the badge. It then said, “Master Sora, would you like to know about this training ground? You must have noticed that there are five floors used for training. Each floor has its own unique facilities. This floor is used for sparring with other contractors or with training droids.
“The twelfth floor focuses on speed improvement. The thirteenth floor is for power improvement. The fourteenth floor is for improving your defence. The fifteenth floor is used for improving the control of your ki.”
“Cool!” Sora said. “Thanks for the info. Could you hook me up with a droid?”
The robot replied, “Of course. What level would you prefer facing? Seeing your record, I would suggest either a D rank or a C rank.”
“I’ll go with a C rank then,” said Sora.
“Please wait at the centre of the room,” the robot said.
Sora walked to the centre and the robot returned to the room in the corner. While Sora was stretching, a door opened at the side and a humanoid droid walked out. It was carrying with it a number of guns along with a few weapons. It approached Sora, who was pacing about and waiting in anticipation. The drone drew out a machine gun and pointed it at Sora.
A shot was fired. Sora was about to dodge but suddenly he stopped, stuck out his hand and caught a rubber bullet.
“Rubber?” Sora asked as he turned to the information robot. It replied, “Of course, master. Droids are used for training the contractors, not killing them.”
Sora was a bit disappointed. But before he could complain, another set of shots was fired and he evaded them with great agility. The bullets marked the trail of Sora’s movement but none of them seemed to hit the mark. At the blink of an eye, Sora appeared right in front of the firing drone. In response, the droid drew its scimitar and slashed him. The young contractor saw the blade being drawn from the drone’s right hip using its left hand in slow motion. He jumped at the spot and caught the drone’s left wrist with his right hand and landed a hard kick on its temple.
The droid flew to the other side of the room as Sora landed back on the floor. He was still holding on to its arm. He looked at the motionless, mutilated droid and asked the information robot, “I don’t need to pay for its damage, do I?”
“Of course not, Master Sora.”
“Thank god!” Sora replied. He threw the arm next to the droid and said, “If that was a C rank, can I face a B rank next? This wasn’t too much training.”
Just then, the main door opened and two girls walked in. They stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Sora and scowled.
Sora said, “Good morning!” waving at them, but neither responded. They approached the information robot, which had hovered next to Sora. One of them said, “Can you give us a B rank droid?” The robot replied, “Certainly. But please wait for Master Sora to complete his spar. He had just requested a B rank himself.” There was a moment of silence. Then the girl to the right burst out, “That guy is only a D rank. How can he fight a B rank droid?”
The robot replied, “But Ms. Julie, Master Sora’s performance against a C rank droid transcends the level of a normal D rank. He practically destroyed it within twenty seconds without even using his contract.”
They glanced at the motionless droid being carried back to the door it came from by a maintenance robot.
The girl to the left said, “He must’ve used some kind of trick, just like when he fought Zack. I won’t accept this. But if he really is strong, then he should have no problem handling both Julie and me at the same time.”
The robot said, “Well Miss Emily, that decision lies with Master Sora.”
They turned to Sora, who said, “Sure, no problem. But I certainly hope both of you are better than that scrap of metal.”
Emily scoffed, “Of course. We’re one of the strongest B rank tag teams in Lucifer’s Fall.”
Sora asked curiously, “Tag team? What do you mean?”
Julie said, “Tag teams are contractors, who complete missions as a team. They are usually in teams of two. And we’ll be more than enough of a challenge for you.”
Sora grinned and said, “Great, entertain me.”
He jumped to the middle of the room and said, “It’s your move.”
They smirked and walked to the centre. Emily withdrew something with her left hand from her pocket and, without warning, hurled it at Sora. Without flinching, he caught it. He glanced at the stone in his hand. He said, “What is this?” Emily smirked again and said, “A stone… a very special stone.”
Sora suddenly felt something flowing into him from the stone. He dropped it at once. “What did you do?” he asked cautiously. He saw Julie grasping Emily’s right hand with both of her own. Then she turned to Sora and held her palm
out facing him. Suddenly a ball of light burst out of her palm. Sora drew the Wind Fangs and slashed at it. As the blade made contact with the ball, it exploded causing Sora to be blown off his feet. He was on his back staring into the ceiling as he wondered what had just happened. As he got back up, he shook his head and muttered, “Let me guess, the blast element stone class contract.” The tag team seemed very pleased with themselves.
Julie said, “And that’s not all.” She hurled two more orbs at him. But this time Sora was prepared. He skipped to the side as the orbs missed him. He said, “But avoiding it is very simp…”
Before he could finish, he felt two sharp blows and an explosion on the impact that blew him to the front. Sora was lying still, facing the floor. Emily and Julie’s laughs filled the room as he staggered to his feet. He looked at them and said, “Now that was your contract, wasn’t it, Emily?”
Julie said, “My contract, the blast element stone class, enables me to release light orbs, which explode on contact with any solid or liquid matter.”
Emily continued, “Whereas my contract, the magnetism element stone class contact, attracts whatever I touch with my right hand to what I touch with my left. The magnetic effect from the stone I threw at you transferred to you when you caught it, making you a target to whatever Julie throws at you. Increasing the strength of the magnetism can make the attracted object faster as well.”
Julie continued, “Combining our contracts hides each other’s weakness and increases our strengths. We might not be that strong alone. But together, we’re a whole new level.”
Sora nodded. “Interesting combinations. But I certainly hope that those aren’t the only tricks up your sleeves.”
Emily replied, “We have a few more but this one combination is enough to take you down.”
Julie released another set of orbs. Sora released a blind scythe and the orbs exploded before Sora had come within their range, covering the scene with smoke. “One negative aspect is that the orbs explode on contact with any matter. It doesn’t necessarily have to be me.”
Contractor: The Legendary Contract of Vento Page 7
