Unusual Ethereal (ZZZ – Ethereal SI)

As Michael returned to Random Play, he was met by Belle and Wise, who wore rather peculiar expressions.

"Uh... I'm back," Michael said, rubbing his head in embarrassment like a child caught sneaking out.

"Honestly, it's not even been six hours, and you've managed to draw even more attention to yourself," Wise remarked, prompting an awkward chuckle from Michael. "Not only that..."

"You didn't even ask us for help," Belle chimed in, pouting .

"I'm sorry! I thought you two were still tired. Besides, I can handle Hollow-related matters on my own ," Michael defended himself. When he was met with only raised eyebrows from both of them, he sighed in resignation. "Okay, okay. Next time, I promise to ask you for help. Pinky promise."

Wise let out a sigh. "What's done is done. Anyway, no more sneaking out for today; you still don't have an ID."

"Did you hear that, Michael?" Belle teased.

"Alright, Mom and Dad... No more sneaking out today," Michael replied, rolling his eyes.

With that issue settled, the siblings returned to their bedroom to get some well-deserved rest, leaving Michael alone.

To pass the time, Michael wandered over to the collection of videotapes the siblings had .

He picked up a tape labelled "Invasion: Next Gen" and inspected it for a moment . "Hmm... This looks interesting. I guess I might as well watch it," he said to himself.

.....

"Yawn. Good morning, Wise. You're up early..." Belle greeted, both of them still in their pyjamas.

Wise let out a tired yawn in response. "I could hardly sleep last night with our new roommate downstairs."

"Fair point. Why don't we both get ready for the day and greet him?"

Wise agreed and went to the bathroom first to take a shower. Once he was done, it was Belle's turn.

After the siblings got dressed and ready for what was undoubtedly going to be a busy day, they headed downstairs to the HDD room to greet Michael.

When they entered the HDD room, they were surprised to find Michael focused on watching the videotape of " Beheboth ". "Morning, Michael."

The greeting seemed to pull Michael out of his focus. Shaking his head, he glanced at the clock and realized that hours had passed. "Morning, you two." He paused the videotape and got up from the couch.

Stretching his back, he walked over to the videotape player, removed the VHS tape, and put it back on the shelf.

"I would like to make a formal complaint to the producers of " Beheboth " and "Invasion: Next Gen". They do not accurately represent the Ethereal kind," Michael joked.

Wise rolled his eyes while Belle chuckled at the joke. "Yeah, let us find a lawyer for you."

"You sure had fun. Wise and I could hardly get a wink of sleep last night thinking about you."

"Aww... Thanks, guys. I'm so touched."

Belle playfully nudged Michael's shoulder, causing him to feign injury.

"Fairy, have you applied for the ID?" Wise asked.

"Affirmative. The new ID will be ready by tomorrow morning. Make sure to pick it up at the Lumina Square branch of New Eridu Public Security."

"That was fast. Thanks, Fairy." Thanked Belle.

"With that out of the way, Michael, want to go for a walk? We'll show you around Sixth Street." Belle suggested.

"Sure. Let's go then."

"Oh, and before I forget, let's exchange phone numbers," Wise said. "You have a number right?"

When Michael stayed quiet, he sighed. "Here, give me your phone. I'll register you with a new number."

.....

Leaving Random Play, the trio's first stop was Waterfall Soup, a noodle shop.

"Good morning! Oh, it's you two-come in! And it seems you brought a friend along," Said General Chop, the owner.

"Hello, General Chop. This is Michael, a new resident of Sixth Street. He just moved in with us last night," Belle introduced Michael.

"Pleasure to meet you, General Chop. I hope we can become good neighbours," Michael said, extending his hand, which General Chop shook with his mechanical hands.

General Chop nodded and replied, "Nice to meet you too, Michael, and welcome to Waterfall Soup-the best noodle shop on Sixth Street." He then looked at the trio. "Since you're our new neighbour, how about I treat you three today? It's on the house."

"Are you sure? I have Dennies with me..." Michael hesitated.

General Chop laughed. "Don't worry. Besides, you'll probably be a regular here. So, what will you have?"

"I'll have a vegetable noodle," Wise ordered.

"I'll also have a vegetable noodle, General Chop!" Belle enthusiastically added.

Michael thought for a moment before deciding on his order . "I'll have a super spicy noodle with extra spice."

Wise and Belle looked at him in surprise while General Chop raised an eyebrow.

"What are you both looking at me for?" Michael asked, to which the siblings responded with "Nothing" in unison .

"Alright then, two vegetable noodles and one extra spicy super spicy noodle coming right up."

Michael watched in amazement as General Chop utilized his extra arms with precision and grace. Although he had experimented with having extra limbs himself, he had never quite gotten used to it. Maybe he needed to train more.

Once General Chop finished cooking, he handed them their noodles. Belle and Wise immediately dug in while Michael took his time, admiring the aroma of his spicy noodles.

"Thanks for the food!" Michael exclaimed, grabbing a noodle with his chopsticks and putting it in his mouth.

Belle and Wise watched closely, fully expecting him to react strongly to the spice. What they didn't expect was for him to show no sign of discomfort at all.

General Chop whistled in astonishment. "I'll be damned! Not even one of my regulars who always orders the super spicy noodles can handle that!"

After they finished their meal, the trio bid goodbye to General Chop and headed to their next destination-the newsstand manned by a dog.

"Hey there, Howl!" Belle greeted, scratching Howl's head, earning a pleased bark from him. "My brother and I will have the regular scratchcard. Michael, you need to subscribe to their online site to get a daily scratchcard. Don't worry about the Dennies; it's free."

"Sure," Michael replied. Taking out his battered phone, he searched for the site to subscribe. Howl graciously helped him navigate the page. While it might seem strange to see a dog running a newsstand, he had long since gotten used to the peculiarities of this world.

After subscribing, Howl nodded and took out three scratchcards, handing one to each of them.

Michael, Belle, and Wise eagerly scratched their cards, hoping to win big .

Michael got bones on his scratch card, while Belle and Wise proudly exclaimed their joy at winning meat.

"Today's our lucky day, Belle! Over 25000 Dennies combined!" They then looked over at Michael's card and snickered.

"Better luck next time," Belle teased as Michael pouted.

The trio then laughed as they headed to redeem their prizes.

After getting their Dennies, Belle and Wise took Michael to Bardic Needle to introduce him to Elfy.

"Hey, Elfy!" Belle greeted, spotting Elfy in front of her store.

"Hello there, Belle and Wise! And who is this fine gentleman?" Elfy asked, noticing Michael.

"Hi, I'm Michael. Nice to meet you! I recently moved to Sixth Street and I'm currently living with Belle and Wise," He replied.

Elfy examined him for a moment. "Likewise. If you have any questions about music, feel free to ask me."

"Thanks," Michael said.

After saying goodbye to Elfy, they stopped at Turbo Remodeling Shop, where Wise knocked on the door. After a moment, Enzo, a big man with a prosthetic arm, appeared.

"Ah, it's you two! Does Eous need an upgrade?" He asked.

"Not this time, Enzo. We're here to introduce you to our new resident," Wise explained.

Michael stepped forward and introduced himself, repeating his previous introduction. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Enzo. My name is Michael."

"Haha, just call me Enzo. If you ever have a Bangboo that needs repairing or upgrading, be sure to come to me," Enzo offered.

"Will do," Michael replied.

Leaving Enzo in his workshop, Belle and Wise took Michael to a video game arcade, where a rabbit thiren named Asha was waiting at the entrance.

"Looks like you've been waiting for us, Asha," Belle remarked.

"Yeah! When I heard that you were giving a tour to a new resident from General Chop, I knew you'd come here sooner or later. So you're Michael, huh? Nice to be acquainted. If you have any free time, make sure to stop by," Asha said.

"Thanks," Michael replied.

"Oh, and Tin Master is waiting for you all. Be sure not to keep him waiting," Asha added, waving goodbye as they departed.

Not wanting to delay any further, the trio headed to Coff Cafe, where Tin Master was waiting with three cups of coffee.

"Oh, there you all are! Here, enjoy a Tin Master Special made by yours truly," He said, handing each of them a cup. "And a pleasure to meet you, Michael."

"Thank you, Tin Master! I'll definitely come to your shop whenever I can," Michael responded.

"Thanks, Tin Master, but isn't your shop still closed?" Belle asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Wait, your shop is closed and you still made coffee for us? Sorry for any inconvenience," Michael apologised.

"Nonsense! As soon as I heard we had a new resident, I immediately prepared the coffee," Tin Master said with a cheerful tone.

"Thanks," Michael said, appreciating the gesture.

Finishing their coffee, the trio then go to the 141 Convenience Store to meet with the three Bangboo there.

"Michael, here. Meet Buy, Ask, and Give Change. They're in charge of 141 Convenience Store," Belle introduced.

"Ehn-na." (New customer. More Dennies.)

The Bangboo in the middle smacked Buy on the head. "Ehn-nana." (Don't listen to Buy. He's an idiot.)

"Ehn-na." (Nice to meet you. I'm Give Change.)

"Nice to meet you all. My name's Michael. Since I'm already here, I'll take three vanilla ice creams for us."

"Ehn-na!" (Thank you for your purchase.)

Lastly, the trio visited the Box Galaxy store to meet Susie.

As they entered the store, Susie greeted them from behind the counter. "Hiya, Belle and Wise! Oh? Who's this?"

"Nice to meet you! I'm Michael, a new resident on Sixth Street. There are so many interesting items here," Michael said, admiring the various toys and gadgets on display.

"Hello there! I'm Susie, the shopkeeper of Box Galaxy. We have every kind of gadget you could ever need! If we don't have something, I can contact my boss for you," she replied.

"Thanks, Susie, but we're just here to introduce Michael. Anyway, see you later!" Wise said.

The three bid goodbye to Susie as they exited the store and returned to Random Play.

"So, Michael, what do you think of the residents of Sixth Street? They are lovely people, aren't they?" Belle asked.

Michael couldn't help but agree. "They are."

.....

After their outing together, the three decided to take a look at Inter-Knot for any commission available.

It was then Wise remembered something. "Oh right!" He opened his phone and showed the two of them a message he had received this morning.

"What's this? An ad?" Belle questioned.

"I thought so too until I went through the content and found out that the sender is an intel broker."

"Doesn't that still count as an ad?" Michael interjected.

"Yeah, if we were still the Phaethon of the past, we wouldn't care about ads like these, but the municipal election is drawing close."

"That means...?" Michael asked.

Belle answered him. "It means, commissions are becoming scarce. Not only that, a job from a broker involves far lower risk."

"Like Belle said. Furthermore, this 'Venus' found us through our alternate account. They must've thought that we're still newbies on Inter-Knot." Wise observed. "They also sent in precise coordinates saving us lots of trouble. How about it Belle? I say we take two of their commission to test the waters. Who knows? This Venus might become our long-time supplier of commissions."

Seeing the positives, Belle nodded. "I'll do it."

"Great. I'll write down the commission's information. Michael?" Wise looked at Michael. "Time for your debut as an Agent."

Michael gave him a smile as he brought along Eous to go wait by the designated Hollow.

.....

Setting Eous down, Michael called Belle on the phone. "Are you ready, Belle?"

"I'm ready. Syncing with Eous in 3, 2, 1..."

Eous' eyes glowed, indicating to Michael that the synchronization was successful.

"C'mon, Michael. Let's go."

Without exchanging any more words, the two entered the Hollow.

.....

As Belle walked toward the coordinates, she relayed information about their mission to Michael.

"So, all we need to do is drive off a few rebels from a mining site and the route to it? This will be easy," Michael boasted.

"Have you fought these guys before?" Belle asked.

"All the time. Every time I defeat one group and anonymously tip off the Defense Force to deal with them, another one swoops in like a pest infesting the Hollows," Michael complained. "Not only that, I have to hold back a lot to avoid accidentally killing any of them, which is also annoying."

"I guess so," Belle replied. She then stopped walking. "Hold on, the rebel group is up ahead. Fairy, can you scan to see how many there are?"

"Affirmative. Scanning..." After a few seconds, Fairy reported, "Scanning complete. Master, I have detected 15 biosignatures belonging to the rebels, along with a single Guardian mech guarding the site. Proceed with caution."

"That's a lot of rebels," Wise said over the comms. "Are you sure you can handle this?"

Michael smirked at the question. "Watch and learn."

He created a shortsword and a pistol, then sprinted forward toward the unsuspecting rebels, with Belle watching from afar.

.....

A rebel taking a leak was Michael's first target as he punched him hard, causing the others to become instantly alert.

"Hey you, who do you think-agh !" A rebel guarding the entrance with a shield screamed in pain as Michael closed the distance before he could finish his sentence. His companion wasn't so lucky; a shot to his chest incapacitated him before he could even react.

Michael then rushed over to a squad of ten rebels who had their guns aimed at him. "Fire!" Their leader ordered, and a hail of bullets was unleashed.

Michael smirked at them as he subtly hardened his skin with Ether Crystals. When the bullets reached him, they barely slowed him down, and he tanked the damage effortlessly.

"W-what?!" The leader exclaimed in shock at seeing Michael casually take hits that would otherwise kill a Goblin.

Not letting him utter another word, Michael struck him with the butt of his sword, knocking the leader unconscious.

"S-screw this! / I'm outta here!" The rest of the group fell into disarray at the sight of their leader's defeat and decided to abandon the position.

"Oh no you don't!" Michael yelled as he took advantage of their disorganization, picking them off one by one .

"Wait, wait, wai —blam!" The last of the fleeing soldiers tried to bargain, but Michael responded with a swift kick to their chest.

"Area cleared. Belle, where are the last two guys?" Michael asked as Belle approached him.

"They escaped during the chaos and regrouped with the mechs at the mining site."

"Copy that. Let me deal with these idiots first." Michael then dragged the unconscious bodies of the rebels and unceremoniously dumped them next to an abandoned car.

"Now that's taken care of, show me the way, Belle."

"Sure. I'll also have Fairy tip off the Defense Force. We probably have about ten minutes before they arrive."

After a few minutes of running, Michael arrived at the mining site where the last two rebels were holed up along with their mechs . He activated his Ether Vision to check for any traps.

Finding nothing, Michael charged ahead while Belle observed the impending fight from behind some debris.

"There's the fucker!" One of the rebels with a bazooka yelled as he fired at Michael, while the other provided suppressing fire.

Michael easily sidestepped the rocket with a few quick steps. The rocket exploded behind him as he went for the rocketeer first.

Before Michael's blade could reach him, he was forced backwards by the Guardian mech, which had activated and blocked his strike.

Michael ran around the mech as it fired volleys of cannon fire. It eventually stopped firing when it couldn't land a single hit, lowering its arm shield and thrusting itself forward towards him.

Michael stood his ground, gripping his sword tightly in anticipation.

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing against metal resonated in the area as the mech staggered backwards.

Sensing an opportunity, Michael jumped towards its head, stabbing the mech's sensor unit and blinding it.

The attack proved effective; the mech began thrashing around, firing its weapons blindly as it desperately tried to protect itself.

"Ughh!" A Rebel soldier from earlier was violently hurled around by the mech's chaotic movements. Meanwhile, his partner was sprinting for his life, dodging the mech's attacks like a headless chicken.

Tired of the nonsense, Michael climbed onto the Mech and aimed his gun at the spot where he had previously stabbed it. Channeling Etheric Energy into his gun , he fired a single overcharged shot. The Mech toppled onto its back, its electrical components sputtering with electricity one last time before falling silent.

The last Rebel attempted to flee when a shot rang out from a nearby rooftop, striking the soldier in the chest and causing him to lose consciousness.

"Target eliminated." A sniper emerged from the shadows, and Michael's eyes widened in shock at how provocatively she was dressed.

"Charon!" Belle rushed over. "Michael, meet Charon. She gave us our very first commission when we were just starting out as Phaethon."

"I'm surprised you still remembered me, Phaethon," Charon said, her visor briefly turning pink. "Although, I go by Trigger now."

"Nice to meet you, Trigger. I take it you're with the Defense Force?" Michael guessed.

Trigger nodded. "I was actually sent here to deal with these guys, but someone beat me to the punch." Belle laughed awkwardly.

" Anyway, since you've already dealt with them, I'll wait here for my squad to arrive. You should leave before other Defense Force members show up."

"Thank you, Trigger. If you ever need help again, you know where to find us," Belle said.

As Michael and Belle made their way out of the Hollow, unbeknownst to them, Trigger activated her Ether Vision and gave Michael a look.

"I see..."

.....

"Asaba, you're early," Said a concerned Yanagi. "Not only that, but you haven't even asked for a day off today."

"What do you mean, Deputy Chief? I've always been an early riser."

Yanagi glanced at the files scattered across Asaba's desk. Each one contained information on the Fallen Angel-ranging from rumors and supposed sightings to details about last night's incident. "Asaba, have you been here since yesterday researching Fallen Angel?"

"No, no. I've just taken a few naps here and there," Asaba defended himself.

Deciding not to press further, Yanagi could only look at Asaba with concern.

"By the way, Deputy Chief, do you happen to know the Investigator from last night's incident? I would like to speak to him."