Rachel’s motorbike stops at the gas station. Rachel releases her hand off the clutch and hops off, with the other three following closely behind. As she reaches for the keys in her pocket, someone comes from behind the wrecked car with a gun. Rachel recognizes the figure. It’s Serah.
- Rachel: Oh hey, Serah! It’s just me!
- Serah: No it’s not. Who are those things?
- Rachel: What things?
Rachel looks back at her group, looking at Unten and the green raccoon that’s been following them.
- Serah: Answer… motherfucker!
- Rachel: That’s Unten and… well I’m not sure what his name is but he’s been a helpful little raccoon…
- Serah: Unten’s the blue bear alien right?
- Unten: Yeah… why?
Serah jumps back in shock as Unten speaks, resting her hand on the trigger finger. Her eye twitches a bit.
- Rachel: Serah...?
- Serah: I’m not afraid to shoot, Rachel! Those aliens better get away from you right now.
- Rachel: Serah, they’re friends!
- Serah: They’ve brainwashed you, huh?
- Rachel: Serah, stop!
- Serah: I’m just doing what needs to be done!
Robyn runs from behind her and kicks her in the back. Serah falls to the ground as the gun goes off, missing everyone around but still causes everyone to jump. Serah drops the gun as she hits the asphalt.
- Robyn: Grab the gun!
- Rachel: I dunno, looks like you knocked her out cold.
- Robyn: Oh jeez, is she still breathing?
- Rachel: ...here, let me check.
Rachel lifts up Serah’s arm, sensing a pulse. She lifts her up. Aside from a couple scrapes, she seems fine.
- Rachel: She’s going to be fine. I’ll just…
Rachel props Serah against the wall of the gas station store. She opens up the gas station store shortly after. Unten, Robyn, and the green raccoon follow her in shortly after.
- Unten: What did you need from here, anyway?
- Rachel: Just something to eat.
- Robyn: We couldn’t eat somewhere for that?
- Rachel: Yeah, but I would have had to pay for that.
- Robyn: Good point I guess. I suppose the gas station was closer than your house right…
- Rachel: ...right. Just get something to eat.
Unten sits alone as he looks at a sub sandwich in his hands. Robyn helped make it for him but he wasn’t sure about eating it. He looked at the sun rising in the distance. Rachel walked over to him and sat down, with a sub sandwich of her own. She bit into it as Unten silently watched.
- Rachel: So, what’s up?
- Unten: The sun, I guess.
- Rachel: Well, I mean how are you feeling about things, I guess.
- Unten: Well, I don’t know if you heard it or not, but I come from a planet called Zeon. And things are… complicated to say the least.
- Rachel: Can’t be more complicated than me and my parents.
- Unten: It blew up.
Rachel stops chewing for a second.
- Rachel: Huh.
- Unten: It’s kinda my fault too. I mean… it was the drill Doomulus Grime was using for that kind of specific purpose but I mean… all of my friends are dead because of me. I had a chance, a slim one to stop it and I didn’t take it. I didn’t want to die.
- Rachel: Well, that’s not really your fault.
- Unten: You wouldn’t understand, I guess. I’m not sure why you wanted to find me.
- Rachel: I guess we never really got around to that I guess.
Rachel points to her tattoos on her arms.
- Rachel: You see these?
- Unten: Yeah, they look pretty good on you. What’s the point?
- Rachel: They were encrypted with a message to find you.
- Unten: Who would write that? Why would anyone want to find me? I fucked up this hero thing already. People want to give me another shot?
- Rachel: I don’t think it’s really a second chance. Maybe it’s destiny.
- Unten: Can we not talk about that? I’ve had enough of this “destiny” bullshit. All I got out of it was a tearful leave from the planet I was born on as I knew my friends were dying.
- Rachel: Yeah, I understand why you’re not really excited about this. But Unten…
- Unten: What?
- Rachel: I don’t know much about you. I think you have electricity powers? I know some of your backstory. I know your name. But I don’t know much else. Despite that, I believe in you because otherwise this whole crazy journey was for nothing. And I know it can’t be. Maybe you crashed here because of fate or just coincidence but Six is out there and she needs to be stopped.
Unten sits quietly as Rachel finishes her sandwich. She takes one last look at him and then heads to find Robyn. Unten watches her as she goes.
- Unten: Maybe she’s got a point.
Unten notices that the green raccoon has been sitting behind since he got here, shoving crackers into his mouth. Unten bites into the sandwich.
Rachel notices that Robyn is sitting alone, eating a donut. She sits down next to her.
- Robyn: Hey.
- Rachel: You okay?
- Robyn: Me?
- Rachel: Yeah.
- Robyn: Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?
- Rachel: I’m just asking because of what happened at the military base.
- Robyn: Oh yeah… that.
She silently eats the donut for a bit.
- Rachel: You’re a good kid and I just want you to know that. I dunno what will happen after this but I will make sure it’s something you want, something you’re happy with.
- Robyn: Thanks. Actually… I think I know what that is.
- Rachel: Yeah?
- Robyn: Maybe you could adopt me?
Rachel seems a bit surprised but intrigued.
- Rachel: Me?
- Robyn: Yeah. I know. But… I trust you and that’s all I can really ask for.
- Rachel: I’ll try and make that happen. It’s just… these things aren’t easy to pull off.
- Robyn: I know.
- Rachel: I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen but I just don’t want you to be mad if it doesn’t.
- Robyn: Okay.
The two hug as Unten walks over with the green raccoon.
- Unten: I finally figured out what his name is. It’s YE.
- Rachel: Oh, neat. You ready to go?
- Unten: Go where?
- Rachel: We’ve got to lure Six into fighting you, not her getting the upper hand. I’m going to a good friend of mine to talk some stuff out.
Next Chapter: Chapter 26