Nana watched as the young man awoke from his unconscious state. From the attempts of the others to awaken him from his sleep, she had learned his name was Emiya. The moment he awoke, all the blades in the field surrounding the hill seemed to cheer, as if a benevolent king had recovered from an illness. The gears in the sky began to screech and rotate as a mechanical silence permeated this realm of swords. Emiya stood up and surveyed the area around him; then his golden eyes focused on her. They were analytical eyes, but not human—more mechanical in nature.
"Emiya, we are in some trouble. We need to gather the rest of the altars," Izuku said, trying to be as quick in his explanation as possible. "A new altar has control over our body, and the only way to regain control is to gather the rest of the system and storm his base of operations!"
Emiya nodded, and before Nana could add anything, Mordred yelled to Bob, "Bob! We need to head to the next person as fast as possible! Go, go, go!"
Bob nodded so fast that Nana thought his head would fly off. He then turned around and started running toward where they came from, with the rest of the group following behind him. Upon arriving at their entry point, Nana noticed that the archway acting as the entrance to this place consisted of two giant swords, standing perpendicular to each other and plunged into the ground, with their guards forming the arch. After they walked through, the giant doors shut behind them, and they were back in the factory.
"I don't like Bob's previous longer path," said Mordred, as she pulled Bob straight through the factory to the exit. Bob was crying when they finally left, apologizing for being afraid of smoke and fire. Mordred, feeling bad, eventually caved and apologized to him for dragging him through the factory.
"I'm sorry, Miss. I will takes ya a better ways next time, just please don't pulls me through the smoking place!"
"Uh, stop crying! I'm sorry I got impatient with you. Can you take us to the next sleeping person, please?"
Bob nodded and blew his nose into his sleeve before getting up from his sitting position, where he had been crying before. "Yeah, I will, this ways, ma'am."
Bob walked to the edge of the street that separated the buildings from one another. He looked left, then right, and then left again before crossing the street. There were no cars, no traffic at all, but nobody chastised him for it. It was a good habit to have for someone so, so special.
Bob approached the Greek temple. "This here is the house of Air Man," he said. "One of the sleepy people is in there." Bob then marched inside, and the four people following him, well, they followed him closely.
As Bob walked around, he greeted the wisps. Some waved, some nodded, but most didn't seem to care or even acknowledge his presence. After a bit of walking, the group reached a giant statue. Under the statue's feet was a plaque that read "The Great God Aries." The statue didn't look Greek in origin; it wasn't even made of marble. Instead, it was made of pure metal and looked more like a mech from an anime than an ancient Greek god.
"Air Man! My friends want to see the sleeping king!" Bob yelled, putting on a brave face.
Nana was momentarily confused. Why was Bob talking to a statue? Then it became abundantly clear why he was: the statue moved and, just like Bob, was aware of their presence.
It took slow, measured steps off the pedestal it stood on and peered down at the four new beings it had never seen before. The hulking red titan had glowing purple eyes and gripped a glowing red sword in one of its massive hands. Large black wings, clearly designed for flight, folded off its shoulders like a cape. Nana swore this was one of the biggest beings she had ever seen.
Aries stared at them for a moment before a mechanical voice echoed through the room. "If it isn't my little friend Bob," the metallic, baritone voice rumbled, clearly trying to be quiet but failing due to the sheer size of his body. "You're looking for Leonidas? I will take you to him."
The huge robot reached down and placed his hand on the ground in front of Bob. With a happy grin, Bob climbed onto the palm of the giant. Mordred, not sensing any danger and the least likely to consider the implications, followed suit. Izuku cautiously trailed behind, with Emiya ever vigilant, not far behind him. Nana was the last to climb on, mostly out of surprise.
A hatch opened in the chest compartment of Aries as he carefully placed his passengers inside. His wings began to move, preparing for their imminent flight. Another hatch opened in the roof of the temple as Aries shot straight up into the sky, soaring above the clouds until they eventually reached a strange tower floating high above.
Large doors seemed to instinctively open, allowing Aries to land inside. Once settled, Aries opened his hatch and helped his passengers out of his chest compartment. They were all a bit shaken; clearly, his chest compartment was not designed for transporting more than one person, despite the ample room inside.
As the group slowly climbed out of Aries' chest compartment, they took in their surroundings. They found themselves in a very futuristic loading dock, clearly designed for some kind of spaceship or a larger mech. Opposite the entrance from which Aries had entered stood a set of human-sized stairs leading up to a platform adorned with several doors.
"This is as far as I can go," Aries' mechanical voice informed them. "Leonidas is at the top of this tower. To reach him, you'll need to ascend."
Mordred perked up, excitement radiating from her. "This is just like in shonen anime! Where the hero and his teammates fight their way up to the top of the tower to claim the prize!" she exclaimed, punching the air enthusiastically.
Aries shook his head. "That's not necessary; you can just take the elevator." At that moment, a ding sounded nearby as the elevator doors opened right next to the stairs. Mordred froze, her enthusiasm deflating as her dreams of a grand battle were dashed. Sadly for her, this wasn't as shonen as anime portrayed it.
The group made their way toward the elevator, with Mordred trailing behind them, a disappointed expression on her face. She had hoped for an epic battle to the top of the tower, and taking a boring elevator didn't fit into her vision of adventure.
Noticing her disappointment, Bob walked over and tried to comfort her as best as he could. "Hey, yous could always comes back next times to fight. There are a lot a big monsters out in the woody places. I fights them alls the time."
Mordred looked up at Bob and managed a half-hearted smile. "Thanks, Bob. I appreciate you trying to cheer me up."
Just then, Emiya's voice chimed in from the elevator. "Don't encourage her! She's being overly dramatic."
Outraged by his comment, Mordred sprinted toward the elevator. "You wanna fight in this elevator? Let's go!"
== authors note
Yay another chapter is done. I hope you enjoyed please comment comments fuel me and let me know you want more chapters. Even if it's just a GIF, it shows that the story is at least a little bit interesting. I still probably write the story. It's been a fun exercise and it really helps with my writing practice for when I eventually get back to writing my own book, but I still want engagement because engagement is fun.