As soon as the alarms started, Aenora had her staff drawn from her back with a single fluid motion. The shinobi already had their shouken out, while Suzumi was making the hand seals for a wind jutsu to make everyone move a little bit faster.

  The team of adventurers was expecting automatons to burst out of the walls, firing animatech weapons, or perhaps a giant scorpion robot that would add arm-mounted drills to the mix, or some kind of mechanical dragon. What they did not expect were shouted curses from further into the facility.

  "Shite! Someone's in here and triggered the defenses! What do we do?"

  "Easy, we get the hell out of here!"

  When the footsteps started, the shinobi all went invisible. Aenora just walked out of the room, staff in hand, only to turn, slam the spike of her staff on the ground, and wait to see who else was in here.

  Unfortunately for the Shinobi team, all three figures were wearing Imperial armor, black and silver in oddly organic shapes. Each person was armed with a simple javelin and a shield made of some Imperial alloy and had a manadrive on their back to either enhance their spells or allow them to cast spells that weren't within their personal affinities.

  The Imperials, however, didn't seem to view Aenora as a threat. The largest of them—a Garlon, perhaps?—moved in front of the Shamaness, showing her his back. "Protect the caster here; they're coming!"

  Even as the Imperials formed what was unmistakably a battle line, the automatons appeared. The leading unit had a massive ovoid body and two massive reverse-jointed legs. It was made of a pale metal and had blue lines pulsing throughout the length and breadth of its body, with the sole exception of the bright red sensor. At its side were some humanoid shapes, whose two arms ended in a long, stiletto-like spike. They moved with jerky movements and were made of all the same materials as the larger unit.

  When a cannon dropped from the central body of the main unit, the Imperial commander activated an ability and fired straight at Aenora, even as the other units charged. Immediately two of the units spontaneously fell apart—a flash of motion told Aenora the shinobi had probably gotten behind them using their short-range teleportation technique and carefully removed parts that looked important. Even as two of the humanoid models feebly sparked and mechanically whined on the ancient facility's floor, a burst of electricity caused the other two to seize up.

  That was when the impact of the beam hit the Imperial leader...only he didn't instantly fall with a mortal wound like Aenora was imagining. Instead, his buckler had expanded to something like the size of a heater shield, and his manadrive device had come to life. The energy shield it produced flickered with the force of the blow, and Aenora could feel the backblast of heated air as the large man stumbled back, but he didn't fall. Aenora quickly drew from the ambient anima, shaping a spell that would allow her to respond in kind.

  Aenora stepped from behind the giant man as two projectile autocannons popped off the automaton's back and slammed their payloads into his shield.

  With a grimace, Aenora loosed a blue-white beam of purest light at the thing, staggering it and melting away some of its armor plating. With this opening, the two other Imperials activated their manadrives and shaped a powerful electric spell that slammed into the opening Aenora had created, short-circuiting the massive machine as it feebly stumbled forward, eagerly executing the ancient commands to eliminate all interlopers.

  The two blade automatons directed their efforts to each Imperial, only for two four-pointed Fuuma Shuriken jutsus to dismember the robots, even as they stabbed at the Imperial soldiers and grazed the soldiers. The two lesser shinobi appeared from behind the two injured troopers, ninjetti held against their exposed throats. They immediately stopped moving as their leader dropped his javelin, retracted his shield, and raised his hands.

  Suzumi walked up beside Aenora. "Hmmm, not going to destroy the savages who retook their land?" She asked sarcastically, not even bothering to hide her disdain at the uniform or the ones who wore it.

  "Look, you Xin-xia insurgents want to kill anyone, kill me, but let my people go home. Our commander abandoned us weeks ago, and we've been scavenging here to survive. I'm an Imperial citizen, yes, but my people just want to go back to their families."

  Aenora looked at Suzumi. "This is your land; I'm just a researcher. Far be it from me to weigh in."

  Suzumi shook her head. "If Ondun were here...he'd probably slay them outright. I wouldn't blame him. Still...I should be a better example to my student." She turned her attention to the Imperials. "As people who have explored these ruins, if you want clemency, help us find what we're looking for. I can escort you back to our base and get you transport home to your families. As to you..." she stared at the Garlon. "As an Imperial citizen, that won't be possible. The Master will try you for any crimes you've committed against Xin-xia. If this isn't palatable, I can end this now. What say you?"

  The massive commander looked at the human and Eldifian under his command. They nodded carefully. He nodded back. "We'll help you, but there are more machines coming. They'll be on us any moment."

  Aenora nodded, then her tail went straight and her ears did likewise as she caught the faint clang of metal pounding on the floor. "A wise choice. You may want to pick up your weapon, commander... they're upon us."

  The blades came off the Imperials' throats as Aenora quickly channeled a wide-area healing spell. Immediately the Imperials' wounds healed. "Thank you, lady. We swear we won't let you down!"

  Aenora just shook her head. "Likewise. Fight with us, and we'll not see you returned to the Empire's mercies."

  The commander was silent for a moment as the clanging of automaton footsteps grew louder. Just before they came in, he whispered back to the two women, "Thank you. I value my people, unlike some in the Empire." Suzumi was already making electric jutsu hand seals. "If our master finds you innocent, Xin-xia could always use capable and competent leaders, you know."

  He grunted in acknowledgment, expanded his shield, and leveled his javelin against it. "A tempting offer, not going to lie. Emilee, Athvelor, Alpha formation! Cover the foreign auxiliaries!"

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Aenora had been preparing a wind spell of her own. She and Suzumi just looked at each other and shrugged before releasing their anima arts upon the ancient, witless automata. It seemed for Imperials, old habits died hard.

  Meanwhile, on Monastria...

  Night had fallen a few hours back. After carefully scanning the area around town with the new smartphone—Ondun had to mentally stop himself from calling it a Booklith because it looked almost exactly like one—he immediately pitched camp, being curiously watched by Aquepup.

  The fire was crackling merrily within a ring of carefully arranged stones. Ondun offered his monster a piece of jerky, who gobbled it up immediately, happily wagging his tail all the while.

  Meanwhile, Ondun was a little lost in thought. In truth, the adventurer hadn't had a quiet moment like this in quite some time. For months, he'd been charging from battle to battle, fighting the Empire, running errands for random hamlets, and being a general do-good hero to multiple lands. Now that Ondun's most pressing mission was literally, "take pretty pictures and readings of a peaceful forest that's mostly filled with low-level monsters that pose no threat to you," Ondun had some time to process everything he'd been through.

  Aquepup curled up with a whine of, "Aque?" Ondun absently pet the small blue and white monster.

  "You know, little friend...it's been a while since I've been able to just relax like this." His ally looked up at him, not even a speck of judgment in his young eyes. The fire crackled. Ondun looked down at his companion. "Perhaps the humans here are right. I've grown far, far too used to drawing my blades. At some point, 'hero' did come to mean 'killer'...just like that odd monster said."

  The pup tilted his head curiously, as if to say, "What monster?" Ondun simply petted his friend. "During the fight...time slowed, and an odd, blue, round monster talked to me. It told me to find something here. Then it told me to go find a therapist."

  The Aquepup simply nodded its head. "Aquepup." Sounds right.

  Ondun drew the monster into a sudden hug. "You know what the hell the thing is? I think that monster was right. Yes, I saved that boy...but you know what? I don't feel like a hero. That Ranger was right to be willing to throw me in prison. Monsters here...you are all intelligent, aren't you?"

  Aquepup nodded. "Aque."

  Ondun released Aquepup, who didn't go anywhere. "Then...even if those monsters were a threat to a human, what I did was little better than what they had intended to do. I should've shown greater control."

  Aquepup nuzzled Ondun with his nose. "Aquepup!" Look at me.

  Ondun locked eyes with his small companion. There was still no judgment there, just two puppy eyes, a wagging tail, and a sudden lick on his scaled nose. Then the tiny Mon resumed that innocent, loving gaze. Ondun nodded. "You're right. You're here. I should have worked with you to protect the boy. You're my ally."

  "Aquepup!"

  Ondun gave his friend some pets. "That said, I'm way stronger than you."

  "Aquepup?" Are you sure?

  Ondun thought back to his fight against the Yeziblade and almost said 'yes'...then he remembered Guardian Alice's Faerrow, who had forced him to start seriously fighting. He remembered the corrupted monster who'd been dropped by tranquilizers. He remembered all the Rangers, who had hands on monster capsules, ready to summon their allies at a moment's notice after the examples of the violence he could bring.

  "No, I'm not sure. The truth is, many monsters in this world are probably stronger than me." He paused. "However, that's all the reason for us both to get stronger."

  "Aquepup!"

  Ondun grinned at his friend's agreement. "Well, since everyone knows named monsters are stronger..." He tapped his finger to his chin, recalling his adventures. "There was once this massive wolf named Fenris in a dungeon I delved into with my friends. I think the male version of the name is Fenrir."

  Aquepup thought about it but didn't make any further acknowledgment.

  "There was also a mighty Astral in my world, named Hecatoncheir. Tonchei?" he asked.

  Aquepup just looked at Ondun with an expression that yelled, Are you serious?

  Ondun thought. "Wait. Those are all powerful monster names, sure...what do you like, though?"

  The young monster pawed at Ondun's pack and carefully pulled out another piece of jerky. It was now Ondun's turn for incredulity. "You can't be serious. You really like jerky, don't you?"

  "Aquepup!"

  "You know the other humans will think very poorly of me for naming you Jerky, right? The name doesn't scream 'loving ally and friendly monster companion.'"

  "Aquepup!" Well, why don't you do better?

  Ondun thought and thought of what some of his adventurer friends back on Arcanis would name a dog. He snickered. "No, that's a terrible idea."

  "Aquepup?"

  "I could call you 'Strudel,' since it's a food, but..." Aquepup was giving him puppy dog eyes. Ondun rolled his. "Fine, Strudel. You win. I swear I'm going to have to put you on a diet before our journey ends..." The monster, on the other hand, looked very pleased with himself and puffed up a little. "Aquepup!" Ondun just petted his food-obsessed little friend. "So, we need you to get stronger. How about I teach you how to use water a little better? I am a Shinobi, and we can use water jutsu. Water seems to be an element your species is aligned with, so..."

  "Aquepup!" The monster was happily wagging its tail now. Ondun grinned and put his self-recriminations to the side. There was time for reflection, sure, but Ondun had learned the hard way that a friend's time was ever limited.

  "Okay, then. I don't know how this translates for a monster like you, but my teacher Suzumi always told me that reaching out for an element means feeling for the essence of a thing you want to use in your jutsu. First, you're going to want to think only of water, how it moves, and how it flows..."

  The Imperial commander took another blow, but it was the last one. Suzumi somersaulted seemingly out of nowhere, digging her shouken into a massive, human-shaped automaton's control cluster, severing it, and causing the machine to limply fall, with its inner systems feebly sparking. The other shinobi kept on guard...but there were no further sounds of impending battle machines. Eventually, everyone put down their arms. The shinobi turned, with the weapons still in hand, and cautiously regarded the 'ex'-Imperials who had fought alongside them. Immediately the human woman fell to her knees as the Eldifian ran to her. "Dammit, she was already starving before this!" the man cried out.

  Aenora and Suzumi shared a look, then shrugged. Aenora dug into her pack and pulled out some pemmican. "Here." She offered the food to the famished Imperial woman. "Eat slowly. Also..." she pulled out a traveling skin of water. "Drink this, but slowly."

  The other two Imperials were eyeing the rations suspiciously. Suzumi pulled out some of her own. "Here. There's no poison," she added, "if you're to fulfill your side of the bargain, you'll need to be in good condition."

  The Garlon and Eldifian each gave courtly bows. "My thanks, honorable lady." They began carefully eating and drinking. The other two shinobi shrugged and stood watch.

  Suzumi broke the silence. "We need to decide what to do. While our new 'auxiliaries' were an unexpected surprise, this complicates the mission. We need to hurry. Aenora, how's the thread?" Aenora checked the thread her anima sight had been following. Already it was noticeably dimmer than it had started. "It is fading. We will need to proceed more quickly now. The automata stalled us quite successfully."

  The Imperials looked confused, and none of Aenora's allies felt the need to explain anything further. Aenora turned her attention to them. "Are you all strong enough to continue?"

  Each one nodded, though the human woman did so a little more weakly than her counterparts. Unfortunately for her, Aenora knew that time was running short. "Then, if it's okay with Lady Suzumi, we had best proceed further in. Whatever the Porta Intermundus is, we need to find it quickly and get it working."

  The Imperials and shinobi alike nodded in agreement. With Suzumi and the hulking Imperial leading the way, Aenora in the middle, and the flanks and rear covered by the stealth warriors and lesser Imperials, the seven carefully made their way deeper into the strange, metallic halls, looking for anything that would lead them to the prize Aenora had identified.