Chapter Text
"Zanka, wakey wakey Zankaaa, Oi Zankaa" a voice said seemingly distant until it got louder and louder by the second… Ugh… How annoying. Zanka finally opened his eyes, he was face to face with Enjin, the older man leaned back and sighed in relief.
Enjin looked at him with a slight grin to his face " Finally you’re awake,you’re a really heavy sleeper huh ? " Zanka didn’t answer, simply rubbed the back of his finger against his eyelid. After a quick minute of simply touching his face like he didn’t recognize his own touch he looked up. Enjin was still in his room now sat on the chair near his desk looking at the ceiling Before Zanka could say anything Enjin turned his attention back to him " So, before you get mad at me for waking you up sooo early Semiu gave us a job it’s an emergency so had to get the whole Akuta team." He said as he rose from the chair back on his feet, he set one of his hands to his hip "So you should get ready, before Semiu gets here to kick your ass or if any civilians gets hurt, wouldn't want the hell guards to interfere with our stuffs." He adds before exiting the room.
Zanka blinked a few times before sighing, how early even is it ? He wondered before looking at the clock beside him. 6:16AM ??? HUH ??? THE EARLIEST THEY EVER GOT WAS 11AM EVEN THE CAFFETERIA WASN’T OPENED ? WAS THIS A JOKE ? ALL THIS FOR A FEW TRASH BEASTS SERIOUSLY ?? Zanka set his clock back on his nightstand before getting out of his bed his feet stomping onto the floor more louder than needed, he quickly fixed his hair in front of his mirror before putting on his uniform in a rush. Right, as much as he hated getting a job this early, civils were in danger and they needed to head there fast before any damage actually occurs to the fortifications or the city itself.
At the reception Riyo was sat on Semiu’s desk talking with Eishia, Enjin was gossiping with Semiu and Rudo seemed to be in another universe trying to understand whatever Riyo was yapping about. Gris, Follo and Tomme were also here, the two men seemed to be dying each second they kept their eyes opened while Tomme was talking about the trash beasts of the no man’s land they were in on their last job.
"Ah, Zanka you’re finally here." Riyo said with a smile before hopping off the desk and heading towards the exit door.
"Alright, now that we're all linked up we can go, don’t worry Semiu I'll explain to him on our way there." Enjin said as Semiu sighed "Just go." she answered before turning her attention back to her magazines.
As they arrived to the car, Follo seemed to be stressed, his mind somewhere else his gaze on the car door as Enjin looked in his pockets for the keys "Are you alright ?" Gris asks putting his hand on the younger man’s shoulder, Follo slightly flinched at the contact before rubbing the bridge of his nose "i don’t know… i have a bad feeling that’s all… It’s weird.. Like as if… Something bad is going to happen. Probably just because of my lack of sleep recently." Enjin chuckled "Has to be ! Whole team Akuta here and you guys !" he pointed at Tomme and Gris "if anything happens our beloved nurse Eishia will take care of it." To think about it, it was odd. Why was Eishia here ? Zanka finally realised that he barely even knew the mission in the first place. As the team get set into the car, Zanka in the left side Riyo in the right Rudo in between them, Tomme, Eishia, and Follo behind them, Enjin in the driver’s seat Gris on his side trying to convince Enjin to let him drive Zanka finally spoke up.
"So, what even is the job ?" everyone turned their attention to Zanka then to ,,,Enjin ?.. Enjin awkwardly let out a small laugh rubbing the back of his head before turning his attention to the wheel and his expression turned serious. Before Zanka even took in the sudden silence he turned his gaze around everyone suddenly wore serious faces, damn they were all locked in. As Enjin finally started the car he finally spoke up, breaking the tense silence.
"Alright, so the reason why we’re all linked up so early is because a nearby town is attacked by trash beasts, their description matches the ones from the no man’s land of the penta, which is extremely weird. And that's not all. They also described 9 other trash beasts we don’t have saved in our books, they were all described being physically very different than the other, if i had to take a guess has to be Zodyl’s doings, must be failed experiments he just abandoned" Enjin took a second to sigh "We’re gonna be slightly out numbered so y’all better be on your guards. Team Eager couldn’t come since Delmon would probably struggle to take out the jinki and Tamsy has a day off." Enjin pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to focus on the road and not fall asleep mid drive which Gris noticed and gently shook Enjin.
Before they even officially got to the city’s territory trash beast screams and their heights could be seen from their distance. They were loud. So loud. "It's 7 in the damn morning dammit." Rudo muttered to himself as he covered his left ear with his hand. Zanka let out a loud sigh before follo spoke up.
"Enjin, what’s the plan ? Should we park here ? Going too close to them might be a death wish for the car, I honestly don’t want to make the way back on feet." he sighed as he laid his head on the window.
"Alrighty let’s park here then."
As they exited the car a final thud before they were all on their feet, they glanced at the trash beasts in the distance the wind passed through their hair as the trash beasts looked their eerie eyes on them.
"Follo, Gris, Tomme y’all already know what to do." The 3 of them nodded, Tomme takes out an empty scroll and a support for the paper ready to document everything, Follo slams his hammer against his palm looking as ready as ever, Gris cracks his knuckles and the bones of his neck.
Enjin looks one last time at his team.
"it’s cleaning time."
Riyo went east Rudo followed her, Enjin rushed the middle towards 3 of the trash beasts, Tomme and Eishia stayed back near the car, Follo and Gris went rushed near the north-east to deal with the scorpions shutting them down and throwing them over at Rudo and Riyo which they took care off as soon as it reached them. Zanka kept his eyes on 2 trash beasts in the distance, they seemed to be slower than the ones Enjin was fighting. As he ran he pushed upwards thanks to lovely assistaff, as he was about to strike one of the trash beasts it dodged. His mind was vivid, he quickly swung to his staff and broke the first trash beast’s arm before falling to the ground feet firs-
Huh ? I could have sworn the ground was right there ? He said to himself his body didn’t stop going down. It felt like falling down a hill, but he didn’t feel any cold air creeping up on him as he fell. He was just.. falling and falling.....
From afar Tomme suddenly rose to her feet, she saw the whole scene. "WHAT THE HELL ?!" she yells as Eishia rushes to her "DID ANYTHING HAPPEN?HUH IS ANYONE HURT ?" she says panicking as Tomme stays there speechless, even the trash beasts starred at the ground where Zanka was supposed to land trying to understand what happened before clanking their heads to the ground as if Zanka was still here.
Enjin heard Tomme’s horrified scream and glared at the direction she was looking at, the West side of the area where Zanka was previously fighting, he cleared the trash beasts out of his way before rushing to the West side "Zanka, your ass better not be dead !" he yelled as he rushed over and cleared the 2 beasts as fast as he could, which still ate out a lot of time. The moment he managed to get his way to where he assumed Zanka would be, it was deserted, just the 2 decomposing trash beasts and the usual piles of trash. He looked over at Riyo, Rudo, Follo and Gris, and it seemed like they were unaware. They seemed to be really focused so he didn’t want to bother. He focused back at the piles of trash around and dug in them.
Like expected nothing. Not a trace of Zanka anywhere.
He swallowed hard as the rest of his team came up to him, except Gris and Follo who were going to Eishia cause they got injured during the process. « Yooo you’ve seen Zanka ? I haven’t seen him around. » Riyo said as she set her hand on her slightly bleeding head as Rudo stayed behind her to catch her in case she fainted or something alike. A loud silence installed itself as Riyo and Rudo got a glance at Enjin’s expression, they’ve never seen him like that. He was shaking as he continued to push away trash that laid in front of him and digging to the ashes of the beasts.
"Enjin…. What happened…." Rudo said his voice shaking as he tried to compose himself. Even though Rudo and Zanka always had a mutual tension for the other, Zanka was still his friend. Only now he realized how much he meant to him.