Chapter 1359 What A Pretty Space Bird Author's Note: Unedited Chapter ------------- "Hmm… I think I recall an odd occurrence when my wife was still pregnant with him. I never really thought much of it till you mentioned this," Mr Tristan said with a reminiscent look. "What is it?" E.E. asked with a tone of curiosity. …. …. …. In deep space, Gustav stood before a sleeping Sersi with a conflicted expression. "You know you could just send her back if you're not interested in babysitting anyone," The system voiced from the side. "I would but she made her choice. Although I feel a little distress bringing a teenage girl along with us, I am confident enough in protecting her at least," Gustav answered while folding his hands. "Teenage girl? She is eighteen," The system scoffed. "Still a teenage girl," Gustav stated. "Because she calls you daddy. Get your head out of your smelly arse, you're not much older," The system spat. "You really gotta work on your attitude. I would have mistaken you for a teenage girl on her period had you not been a computerized being with sentience," Gustav said before turning around. "WHAT?! A teenage girl on her period?! How dare you?! Take that back you damned virgin! Take it back!" The system began throwing tantrums but Gustav ignored her completely while strapping in. 'We're closing in on Trackiowar Star… we should get there in about four hours," Gusta announced while recalling a few scenarios. …. …. …. ~Nine Months Ago~ "They're coming," Endric said to Gustav within the establishment where they were kept. "I know. I'm glad I got to speak to Angy's parents yesterday even though they weren't very welcoming of me," Gustav had spoken to Angy's parents a day prior. He didn't want to leave earth without assuring the poor people that he would get their daughter back no matter the cost. Angy parents had been heartbroken from the moment the Earth IYSOP participants returned without their daughter. The MBO officials who addressed her claimed Angy was lost in the destruction, claiming she was forever gone. Gustav had visited them without anyone's knowledge that he even left the current facility. Recalling how they reminded him of how he promised to keep their daughter safe, Gustav couldn't help but feel like a great failure. He made another promise to recover their daughter after assuring them that she wasn't dead. "Endric, you take the other spacecraft and make sure you visit the locations we talked about to gather as much info as you can. They probably won't send many troops after you since we're splitting up. I'll drag them away from you as much as I can so you won't be hindered," Gustav said to Endric. "Are you going to let them capture you?" Eric inquired. "For our plan to go smoothly, especially with the task I've given E.E, yes, but I will let them pursue me for some time first and let it be that they captured me due to E.E's help. I will only stay in their custody for a bit and rendezvous with you on the Trackiowar Star," Gustav answered calmly. "To think you didn't even get to enjoy your stay on earth for more than a few days after our return," Endric let out a little sigh. "It is fine. We have three priorities currently… Getting Angy and Falco back, retrieving the sacred items, and recovering the machine I built to investigate the warp demodulator. We'll focus on taking care of the first one when we rendezvous on the Trackiowar Star. I'm counting on you to recover the warp demodulator reading machine for me," Gustav pointed out with enough detail. "Understood… be careful please," Endric responded while stretching his fist forward. Gustav nodded while bumping his fist lightly with a smile, "You too, kiddo." Immediately after their brief discussion ended, loud knocks were heard at the entry points of the medical room they had inhabited. Bam! Bam! Bam! "Gustav Crimson! We are here to take you in. Resisting capturing will result in the use of lethal force!" Loud voices were heard from the entry point as armed MBO officers knocked with enough force to blast the entrance down, repeatedly. Endric had barricaded the surroundings with telekinetic walls so the assailant's knocks were unable to get in. Zing~ Zing~ A blue light engulfed Gustav and Endric's figure and they vanished in the next instant. Bang! The doors and west side of the walls came crashing down in the next instant as MBO officers trooped in in large numbers. "Where are they?" "Damn it! Did they already know what we were up to?" The disappointed voices of the officers rang out as they looked around while some of them dashed out of the premises in a bid to chase after Gustav and Endric. …. …. …. ~Present~ "It's all good since their chase helped me clear a lot of system quests and gain benefits," Gustav muttered as he recalled evolving a few more skills in the nine months. One of the best boons would be improving his Bloodline rank despite burying ninety-nine percent of his essence in Planet Vespa soil. His original Bloodline, Genetic Manipulation, was now able to do some things that he never thought were possible. 'I can't genetically assimilate an entire person's body… but if I somehow become capable of mixing that with shapeshifting, I will be able to use anyone's ability without taking it from them,' Gustav was thinking about how he took General Quasp's arms form from a biological, cellular, and genetic aspect and used his ability to manipulate the world-splitting axe. A phenomenon that was impossible with ordinary shapeshifting. He gushed at the potential of this ability but currently, it had very huge limitations. "E.E. should have a little information for me after talking to Falco's father. Once Endric and I manage to make some progress out here, we will return to Earth," Gustav decided. "It's high time I d…" Before Gustav could complete his sentence, he sensed something and turned left. He instantly tapped a control button on the panel. < DEFENSE MODE ENGAGED! > A loud computerized voice suddenly rang out as the silvery spacecraft suddenly changed into a black color on the exterior while blazing through space. Bang! A loud crash rang out in the next moment, causing the spacecraft to quake intensely. "Hmm? What is going on?" Upon the crash, Sersi suddenly jolted awake. "Nothing much… just a bunch of fools who just made a very terrible mistake," Gustav voiced while getting up from his seat. Twwhhhiiiii~ Twweeeeiiii~ A large three-story-building-sized spacecraft suddenly appeared in their rear view causing Sersi's eyes to widen in confusion. "Who are they?" She questioned cutely. STATIC! STATIC! Before Gustav could reply, a little static sound rang out within their spacecraft and what came next was a masculine voice. ~"Kia! Kia! Kia! Kia! What a pretty bird!" A loud maniacal laughter rattled the speakers within the spacecraft. ~"This space bird now belongs to us. You can either surrender peacefully or we take it by force," The voice resounded again. Gustav tapped on a button as bloodline energy began to gather around him. "How about you surrender yours to me instead," Gustav's voice transmission was sent to the spacecraft shadowing them. ~"Kia Kia Kia Kia... there must be a comedian on board that pretty bird. Prepare to crack your jokes in the afterlife comedian!" Immediately after the weird masculine voice finished transmitting, the inverted-cross-shaped spacecraft closed in on them while massive weapon cannons phased out of it. Sersi sat with child-like awe in her eyes. She had nothing to fear when Gustav was with her. Gustav shook his head in pity before turning around. Twwhhiiihhh~ He reappeared above his sphere-shaped spacecraft the moment two massive green beams were shot forward. Gustav's palm emitted a bright milky glow as he thrust it forward with intensity. "Take this!" The miky glow made contact with the first massive green beam. It was like an ant had just made contact with an elephant because of the disparity in their sizes but in the next moment, the beam began to twirl. The beam on the left vanished before it could even make contact with the spacecraft while the one on the right continuously ripped forward. "Who the hell is that person?!" Within the control room of the other spacecraft, an unknown group watched with their jaws dropping to the floor. Gustav leaped forward at this point, tearing through the second incoming green beam with his bare body. Before the people within the other spacecraft could react, loud alarms began blaring. < WEAPON SYSTEMS ONE HAS GONE OFFLINE! > < WEAPONS SYSTEM TWO HAS GONE OFFLINE! > < WEAPONS SYSTEM THREE HAS GONE OFFLINE! > It was almost like everything was happening at the same time as the space bandits noticed from one of the footage that Gustav was ripping the weapons out of the spacecraft like they were nothing and flinging them away. "Deploy star charge now!" The one in command yelled. "But boss, we will lose some compartments," One of the subordinates voiced cautiously. "Do it now!" Their boss couldn't spare the decision a second thought as he witnessed what the monster before them was doing to their spacecraft. < STAR CHARGE IS ACTIVATING! > < 3 > < 2 > < 1 > A bright, fluorescent-colored light suddenly engulfed their side of space.