Chapter 22: Beach

On a scorching and cloudless day in the Ganymede archipelago, the waves, like a gentle lullaby, created countless small, calm ripples. A cool breeze, a welcome relief, caressed the air. Daubeny, his wings spread out, sat comfortably on the sand, relishing its texture. Sol, in his beach chair, with his headband around his head. Both of them wear swimming shorts and are relaxed. Five years had passed since their encounter with Slayer, and the Gears were taking a break from their bounty hunting and looking for any leads about Asuka. 

Daubeny speaks up and asks Sol, "So, am I bad at fighting?" 

"What brought this up? Go take a nap." Sol says while opening one of his eyes to look at Daubeny.

"It's just that I don't have a transformation like you," Daubeny confessed, his voice filled with self-doubt. His wings retracted closer to his back in a defeated posture, "And that fight with Slayer proved that I'm terrible at fighting."

"Stop thinking about that. There's no way you'd have won." Sol said supportively the best way he could.

Daubeny pouts. "Maybe, but you put up more of a fight than I did." 

"You could have lasted longer if you stopped with the "techniques" and focused on fighting. Strategy and spacing, forget it. All you have to do is keep punching until you hit something and win," Sol advised, his voice laced with a hint of sarcasm. 

Daubeny nodded but looked slightly conflicted. 

Daubeny sat up and turned to gaze out into the crystalline blue ocean. Global warming had been all but eradicated, a testament to the world's transition to magic. The world's natural environment has been safeguarded and substantially shielded from pollution to a degree.

"I've always wanted to own a ship like the Bruce." The words left Daubeny's mouth without him thinking, and it was not the subject that needed to be discussed. Daubeny looked behind him to see Sol staring at Daubeny with a blank, confused gaze. 

The red-haired man gave more details, saying, "It's the ship of Captain Steel, a famous pirate who vanished into history as a legend."

"The ship's a fiery red and big as a castle," Frederick responded lazily. 

"Yep, there's only one ship like it in the world, and I had hoped the four of us could travel together at some point," Daubeny said as he dreamily looked over the gorgeous waters. 

Sol didn't look happy hearing their past friend and sat up. "You're still considering that bastard Asuka, a friend? After what he did to you, me, and Aria!" 

Daubeny hangs his head down slightly. "I know what he did to us was horrible, but some part of me wishes Asuka could go back to being our friend." He stops with a hopeful expression on his face. "Although, there is a chance we can make it happen with Aria, you, and me because I found a vague lead on Asuka yesterday." 

Standing up quickly on both feet, he asked hurriedly, "We've finally found a lead after all these years? Are you sure it's that man?" 

Daubeny nods, "He changed his name, but it's definitely him." 

"Then what about Aria?"

"It's for the best if you read the document, but I think she's been turned into a Gear that can control EVERY Gear."

"Damn it, I need to see this myself."

Sol left angered and walked back into the archipelago's laboratory, with Daubeny following soon after. When Daubeny reaches Sol, Daubeny finds him in his scientist coat while drawing up a schematic of a weapon known as the Outrage, which Sol explains to Daubeny: 

"This is an extremely powerful magical amplification device meant to be an anti-Gear weapon." 

Daubeny is shocked by this and says, "You're not planning to use that on Aria, right?" Sol snaps his head towards his friend and answers immediately. 

"Never, and from what I briefly looked at, there's a chance this commanding gear isn't Aria." He continues. "And it's not made for that gear. It's for Asuka if he shows himself." 

Although Sol would never admit it to anyone, he made plans for this weapon in case something or someone powerful enough to kill Daubeny showed up because of his fear of losing his last friend.

Daubeny looks at the magical outline of the schematic with confusion, toning down his seriousness, "I get it. It'll come in handy. But... why does the weapon look like an oversized can opener?" 

Sol looks ticked off. "Who cares? I made the Outrage, so deal with it." 

Daubeny holds a hand underneath his chin, "But I feel like it's missing something." 

Sol shakes his head. "No way, all the magic elements are in there, including your light element." 

Daubeny then takes his hand from his jaw and enthusiastically says, "I know! It's missing another magic amplification device."

"Daubeny, there's no need to go through that effort. The thing doesn't need it, being one. Besides, you'd need some special materials to craft and add another magic amplification."

"Nuh-uh! If you don't do it, I will." Daubeny prepares a magical message within a few moments for "Dandy Man" to send. "Can I ask for your advice personally?" 

It takes a few minutes for "Dandy Man" to respond, "Of course, come meet us at Villa Vampir." 

Daubeny makes an annoyed emoji face ʕ̡̢̡ʘ̅͟͜͡ʘ̲̅ʔ̢̡̢ asking, "Why can't you just teleport me there." 

The "Dandy Man" responds, "Having a lovely time with my wife, wish to watch." 

Daubeny responds immediately, his face tinted red. He says, "No, it's fine! I'll be there in a couple of hours." Daubeny turns to face Sol, and he runs off towards the exit, unfolding his wings. "I'll be back soon. Better be ready to make my component then." 

Sol turns around to shout. "Wait a moment, brat. You don't even know what materials to grab." 

"Okay, but what kind of stuff do I need?" Daubeny skids himself to stop to look back. Sol takes a piece of paper, writes on it, and hands it to Daubeny.

"Typically, power magic like this needs large amounts of magic energy. This has to come from a source. We'll be using zeal." He goes to a messy desk nearby, with notes and dots connecting to people, and takes a stack of dollars and pushes them into Daubeny's hand. "Buy around 100 high-quality cases of it."

Zeal is the most commonly used form of magical energy worldwide. It is usually a liquid and possesses the same combustibility and volatility as gasoline.

Much like gasoline, it burns well and can be used as fuel. This is how telephone poles and previous electrical objects and devices are powered.

"Hehe, even after all these years, I can't get over that people carry magic with them."

Sol smirks slightly but continues with his list. "I guess so. There's a beauty to that. Though, how much do you remember about magic particles?"

Daubeny holds his head in overdramatic pain. "Magic particles are the residual of the magic spell itself. Just like physical structures are made of atomic particles, magic structures are made of magic particles. So, just got to find some materials like that." He lets go of his head as he is confused. "How do you even remember any of this? I don't think we made any actual weapons during the project?"

Sol shrugs, returning to grab the first components for the regular OutRage. "I guess you never heard, but before working on the Gear Project, I was a big player in the Saint Oratorio spell."

"So, what kind of spell is it?"

"The spell shoots out a burst of raw magic that blows anything it hits to hell."

Daubeny's eyes sparkle from hearing this. "Ho! Can I use it, please....."

Sol stops for a moment, adamantly refusing Daubeny's request. "We don't have the time for you to learn the spell in time, and I would never allow you to use it."

Daubeny pauses before looking saddened. "Am I that untrustworthy?"

"No, I trust you. But the backlash from this spell is huge; it would gravely injure me in my true form, and it would kill you if used. And we can only use it once due to the energy it requires."

Taking a moment to stop his work, Sol turns around and grabs Daubeny's shoulder. "I won't let that happen to you."

Daubeny nods and holds his hand up to fistbump Sol, which he bumps his friend's hand. The red-haired man backs up and starts walking away. "Promise I won't use it, so don't worry!"

Daubeny sprinted towards the exit and began flying off towards the United States.

As Daubeny soared through the sky, he couldn't shake the excitement that coursed through him about making his own component. He was going to Slayer's manor after buying the Zeal containers, which showed a bright orange glow in his comically massive bag. But before that, he wanted to stop quickly in Ohio. 

After a few hours of flying, Daubeny spotted a mountain in the distance as he descended towards the ground. It looked like any other mountain, but he knew better. This was the location of a hidden lab, and he had the coordinates to its entrance.

As he drew closer, Daubeny saw that the entrance was cleverly disguised to look like a natural part of the mountain. He landed softly on the ground and approached the entrance. The door opened with a hiss, revealing a long, dimly lit corridor. Daubeny stepped inside and went down the hallway, passing by rows and rows of cryopods. Inside the cryopods were Japanese people. All of them appeared to be in a deep, peaceful sleep. Daubeny had seen these people whenever he was apart from Sol. He walked down the aisle, gazing at the faces of the sleeping people. 

What is the number of people right now, around 100,000.

As he walked, he noticed a middle-aged man in one of the pods. Daubeny stopped in front of it and stared at the man's face. The man had a slight smile on his lips as if he was dreaming of something happy.

Daubeny couldn't help himself. He reached out and pressed a button on the pod, causing it to open with a hiss. The man's eyes fluttered open, and he stared up at Daubeny with confusion.

"Who are you?" the man asked, his voice groggy from sleep.

Daubeny didn't answer. Instead, he just smiled. It was a smile that didn't, if anyone would see it, would find it offputting, but he couldn't help it. While Sol had inherited the urge for destruction, Daubeny had received an urge to find ways to improve his chances of saving Aria and finding out how some people ticked. However, after his encounter with Slayer, Daubeny began kidnapping Japanese citizens in an attempt to save them since it was the best solution he could think of. In which he would release them after Justice never came into existence.

That's what he thought, at least, and he felt joy and excitement that he had never experienced before in previous years.

"You know, I don't know what's happening to me, but I don't care. Because right now, ever since a decade ago... I truly feel alive."

The Japanese man was starting to realize his situation. He tried to struggle, only to be hoisted over Daubeny's shoulder as he began to walk deeper into the secret laboratory, eventually strapping the man onto a table as Daubeny says. "Okay, let's begin the experiment."