Chapter 126: I'm Leaving
The call between Hugo and Master Jet was cut off moments later after she sent him the meeting spot.
There was no time. Hugo had to leave immediately.
With an exhale, he turned around and entered the ball once again. The music had already stopped by now, and people were just sitting around, conversing with each other.
He scanned the room, searching for his friends.
Effie, Kai and Cassie were the first he had seen, so he simply went to them with a grim expression.
"Hey..."
The three Masters turned their attention to him, seeing his grim face.
"What is it? A fight?" Effie said, almost ready to summon her Memories.
Hugo shook his head.
"No... I don't know how to say this, but I'm leaving."
" You could leave the ball whenever if you're feeling uncomfortable," Kai said, confused.
"No, not just that... I'm leaving NQSC. I won't be back for a long, long time. It's... a secret government thing, and I can't really explain in detail. Can you do me a favor and tell Sunny and Neph about this?"
He had noticed that the two were nowhere to be seen for some reason.
"This is all so sudden though..."
"Yeah... I'm sorry, Kai. I'm really sorry. But I'm leaving. There's nothing that can change my mind right now."
Effie simply sighed. "Just contact us when whatever you're dealing with is done..."
Cassie had not said much to him.
"I wish you luck..."
Nodding, Hugo turned around and raced towards the exit, ignoring the people trying to converse with him.
When he reached outside, their driver from before said:
"Do you want me to drive you, Master Hugo?"
"No need."
Hugo touched the faceplate of his Omnitrix and transformed into Fasttrack, becoming a humanoid blue blurred alien.
Before the driver's astonished eyes, he sped away.
***
Hugo had briefly went to the immortal flame manor, taking a backpack with him and packing some his belongings, mainly his journal and clothes. He then ran back outside and quickly reached the train area, detransforming.
He lookedat the train that was supposed to take him to the rendezvous point where Master Jet was supposed to meet him.
The long-range transcontinental train did not look anything like the light intracity ones hugo was familiar with. It resembled a massive, heavily armored metal beast that stretched for hundreds and hundreds of meters, its long body composed of various bulky segments.
There were passenger carriages, massive cargo carriages, various utility carriages, and even a mobile repair and fabrication unit capable of restoring damaged sections of the railway should the train encounter any hindrances on the way. Rows of large-caliber turrets, automated cannons, and gun emplacements rose from the roof, manned by the railroad technicians and security officers.
It was a fearsome, moving fortress. Anything less would not have been reliably safe, considering that the government rarely paid attention to the Nightmare Gates that opened away from population centers.
Hugo thought that he could easily the distance with one of his aliens but going through this thing was apparently necessary so he simply went ahead and found the carriage he was assigned to.
As a Master, he was entitled to ride in the lavishly furnished car meant for high-ranking citizens, government officials, and members of Legacy clans. He also got a whole cabin to himself. The cabin was comparable in size to his room at the Academy, but much better stocked and equipped.
Looking at the cabin... Hugo threw his backpack and relaxed into his seat.
He opened his omnitrix menu system and decided to try something out.
-Modes
-network
-playlists
-features
-new tab
He clicked on the modes icon:
-stealth mode
-classic mode (cosmetic)
-factory mode
-uniform mode (cosmetic)
-protection mode (passive)
-custom mode (Cosmetic)
-recharge mode (passive)
He was going to a whole new continent, so perhaps a simple visual change to the Omnitrix wouldn't hurt, right?
Classic Mode would revert the watch into its original form, the same one from his first nightmare. But Custom Mode was more interesting—he could reshape the Omnitrix entirely, changing its colors and structure at will.
Hugo closed his eyes, picturing the design he wanted.
When he opened them, he began adjusting the settings.
The sleek futuristic white wristband darkened to a matte black with a thick white accent stripe running along the lower edge. The dial became a raised circular pod, and the hourglass symbol at its center shifted from azure blue to a glowing cyan. He added two small buttons on the left and right sides of the pod for selection, and a smaller knob on the front rim for confirmation.
When he was done, he activated the mode.
The Omnitrix shimmered, its form shifting and reshaping until it matched his vision perfectly. He raised his wrist, examining the new look with satisfaction.
It was a look he had taken by fusing two previous states of the omnitrix.
"Not bad..." he muttered. "Not bad at all."
The train started to move, slowly at first, then faster and faster. Soon, the familiar sights of the city and the outskirts flew by, and the great metal beast finally escaped into the wilderness.
Hugo felt a solemn mood overcome his senses as he looked at the scene outside.
Despite spending years of his life in the much more wild and untouched reaches of the Dream Realm, he still felt sad about leaving civilization.
the landscape of his world made him even more depressed..
The wild expanse of the Northern Quadrant mostly looked like a desolate, empty place. It was almost entirely made out of mud and snow. Whatever flora still clung to life in the barren soil looked sickly and dull. The sky was heavy and grey, and the air was slightly hazy.
Apart from occasional skeletal carcasses of dead Nightmare Creatures or rusty wrecks left behind from the times of human wars, there was nothing much to look at.
Hugo sighed.
'What a waste...'
The waking world was not entirely uninhabitable, but it was certainly inhospitable to the species that had once populated its every corner...
' perhaps there's an imprint within my soul capable of changing this...'
Such an alien must hold various elemental and natural abilities, but more then that it must be above the Transcendant rank, perhaps supreme or even sacred.
With that much power... He could change this world and fix it, making hospitable for humans once again.
'I need to ascend... No matter what, I must climb the path of ascension more...'
He stared through the window for some time, then stood up and walked to a narrow bed, deciding to go to sleep early. This was probably going to be his last opportunity to rest well for a long, long time. It would have been a shame to let the opportunity go.
Burying his face in a soft pillow, Hugo closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.
He dreamt of something strange... He dreamt of a fragmented vision of....someone?
He saw a magnificent palace, filled with servents... It reeked of blood.
He saw the corpse of a woman in a beautiful red dress seated atop a throne, with two two youths at the step of the Throne...
In that dream, he was talking with the corpse... Trying to convince her of something...
Hugo could only decipher Vague words from the scene, some included 'Fifth', 'Nightmare', 'Domain' and 'Beast'...
The corpse looked upon him and her presence washed over Hugo, causing him to wake up sweating.
'... What the hell...'
The ominous dream was a bit too realistic, despite how foggy it was...
Realizing he was just dreaming, Hugo sighed and got out of bed and went to freshen up in the small bathroom attached to the cabin.
He had more important stuff to worry about then a dream right now.
After that was done, hugo walked over to the dining car and had a scrumptious breakfast.
As he ate, Hugo studied the other people present in the carriage. Most of them were government officers and had a military bearing. A few of them were Awakened, and gave him respectful nods. They knew who he was, and some of the people here worked alongside him.
Most of these people were probably traveling south for the same reason that he was. They were going to Antarctica, as well, so the mood in the dining car was somber. No one talked very much, and those who did kept their voices low.
Hugo doubted that all the participants of the massive operation knew the full scope of the disaster that was approaching the Southern Quadrant. In fact, he was willing to bet that very few were as well-informed as he was...
If they understood the real horror of what was about to come, they wouldn't be so calm.
'How cruel...'
The government was indeed the lesser evil when compared to clan song and valor but they were still flawed, extremely so...
"Brat, we leave you alone for a day and you decide to get yourself in trouble again" an angry masculin voice appeared at his shoulder, causing Hugo to sigh.
"Hello to you too Bellicus, it's good seeing you. "
"Hmph! Like I would be happy to see someone like you, foolish child." Bellicus said, looking at the scene around him. "You do realize that you don't have to put yourself in danger right? You could've stayed at home and never done anything. "
Hugo shook his head, as he continued eating.
"I'm an ascended, and it's my responsibility to battle the nightmare creatures invading my world."
Bellicus looked at him for a long moment, silently judging him.
"You are a fool, truly an idiotic nimpenkoon, Cockalorum, Fustilarian, Dalcopic child! You and Ben Tennyson are no different, both foolish and childish! Humoh!"
After insulting him a great deal, the ancient deity disappeared, clearly dissatisfied with him for putting himself in danger...
'... Love you too old man..'
Hugo was about to get up and leave the dining car when a familiar voice suddenly stopped him.
"Nice watch."
He froze and turned around.
A familiar young man with dark hair and onyx eyes was staring at him, his pale skin Illuminated by the light of the train room... was standing there, tray in hand, staring at Hugo with an unreadable expression. His eyes lingered on the Omnitrix for a moment before meeting Hugo's gaze.
"Sunny?!" Hugo's jaw dropped. "What are you doing here?"
Sunny sat down across from him. "I could ask you the same thing."
Hugo leaned forward, lowering his voice. "I'm going on a very secret mission... it's a Government thing so I can't really—"
"...Antarctica?"
Hugo's eyes widened.
"You knew?"
Sunny nodded as he calmly started eating. "Master Jet told me a while ago... But I decided to go today... Or yesterday to be specific but you get the idea."
Hugo stared at his friend for a long moment
"Master Jet just told me yesterday... But why did you choose to go?"
Sunny was by no mean a malicious person, but he was not the type to risk himself selflessly for others... Sure, he would definitely help if he can but as of now, he was not the type to put himself in truly dangerous situations like Antarctica...
And the way he talked, it seemed like sunny knew the full details about the chain of nightmare gates.
Sunny looked away, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable.
"Let's just say... I had a disagreement with Neph... We fought so long to avoid joining Valor, but she went and joined anyway, completely ignoring my opinion on the matter. It's not that she rejected my idea—that I can handle... It's the fact she always gets her way, no matter what. This god complex she has angered me. I felt like I was just following her around mindlessly like an obidient slave... As if my my opinion didn't matter, and now that I look at it, she was always like this even back on the shore... So I decided to distance myself from her for a while." He paused, as he continued eating. "What better way to do that than to go to a whole other continent?"
Hugo looked at sunny with a dubious expression...
"So nephis and the fire keepers ended joining valor huh..."
It was a reasonable decision, but still... It made him uneasy.
As for what his friend has said, hugo understood why sunny was angry, and he respected his decision...
But was Sunny really going to Antarctica—a land about to become a battlefield filled with horrific creatures—just because he had a fight with his girlfriend?
Hugo wisely kept that thought to himself and raised his cup and smiled.
"Well, I'm glad to see you anyway."
Sunny smiled, raising his cup as well.
"Same."
They ate in comfortable silence, neither saying much after that...
The next morning, the armored train finally reached its destination.
The two Masters disembarked from the lavish carriage and froze for a moment, staring at the endless grey expanse of restless waves.
In front of them...
Was the sea.