Earlier
"I think this should be enough..." Phil mutters as he lets out a sigh, putting away the tool while glancing at the pile of Ether crystals on a containment box. Most of the tools he brought are self-made, and he learnt most of them through studying and research, then using the materials provided by the university to build them.
"Well, I think this might be my lucky day..." Phil mutters before glancing at his device. He presses a button while looking at the screen. "No sign of Ethereals...good, let's keep it that way..."
Phil puts away his tools before pressing the button on the containment box to seal it shut. He then looked around, specifically at the trap he had installed in case any Ethereals might appear, but fortunately, it seemed that he might not need it.
Phil stiffens when he hears an alarm coming from his device, showing an unusually high Ether activity inside the Hollow coming from two directions far away from him. He pulls out his tools before noticing that his device had detected several Ethereals.
"Oh, come on..." Phil mutters in disbelief before noticing more and more Ethereals arrive; the reading of Ether activity had gone higher, which leads to his device overheating before it short-circuits. "Damn it, curse my luck..."
Phil grows nervous as his ears pick up growls and snarls from the incoming Ethereals. Hastily, he pulls out a remote from his pocket, preparing to press any button to activate the traps. Phil even holds his breath anxiously, cold sweats dripping from his head.
Then, a horde of Ethereals burst out of nowhere and started charging at Phil. The bunny Thiren instantly presses a button on his remote, activating hidden traps as it shoots a wall of lasers that slices through part of the horde. Some Ethereals step on the mines he had planted, causing small explosions.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as there were more Ethereals than Phil had expected. He pressed some buttons, activating more lasers and explosions, but it wasn't enough. The traps weren't enough to get rid of some Ethereal, let alone all of them.
One Ethereal manages to reach Phil and swings its arm at the bunny, knocking him back while also destroying the remote. Phil screams in pain as his back is slammed into a pillar before he collapses to the ground. As he tries to recover, the pillar gives in and falls on Phil's leg.
"Argh! Shit, shit, shit!!" Phil says in panic as Ethereals started to crowd him. Phil tries to pull his ankle out, but he is too slow as an Ethereal almost reaches him. But, before anything could've happened, an explosion from the side knocks a bunch of Ethereals back. This caused almost all of the horde to face towards the source of the blast before they charged straight into it, much to Phil's disbelief.
'What's going on!? Why are the Ethereals rushing in that direction!?' Phil thought before shaking his head, focusing on his current situation as he pulled his leg out of the broken pillar. Good news, he successfully pulled them out. Bad news, his ankles are broken.
'No...' Phil thought in horror, and to make things worse, he noticed one Ethereal didn't go towards the explosion but targeted him instead. Before the Ethereal could do anything, someone had tackled the Ethereal, and Phil can get a good look at the figure.
'He's...my neighbour!?' Phil thought in disbelief as Caelus slammed down his bat, instantly shattering the Ethereal's core as it disintegrated. Then, his bat starts to glow, and Caelus tosses it right at where he emerges before it explodes. Phil tries to wrap what in the world is going on, staring at Caelus in disbelief.
"Brat...you are in so much trouble!" Caelus shouts at him, anger visibly shown on his face, causing Phil to flinch. Caelus got up and slowly walked towards Phil, which made him instinctively scared, before Caelus pulled out a first aid kit. This confuses the rabbit as he wonders where he pulled that out.
Before he could say anything, Caelus started treating his injury, and an awkward silence filled the area. Phil is unsure what to say, silently staring at Caelus, treating his injury while the person is fuming in anger.
"...why are you here?" Phil asks curiously, but he realizes he sounds more like an ungrateful brat. Before Phil could retract his words, Caelus had cut him off.
"The landlord was worried about you," Caelus says as he wraps Phil's arm, intentionally tightening the bandage as Phil winces in pain. "I decided to volunteer to look for you."
"Why?" Phil asks. "And how do you even find me?"
"The lady briefly told me about your history. I just put the pieces together," Caelus explains as he treats Phil's broken ankles. "You leave the moment the news about a Hollow forming on Fourteenth Street. You somehow knew a lot about the Hollow raiding business, and the landlord mentioned how you had done this multiple times."
"..." Phil was silent before glancing at Caelus. "You haven't answered why."
"...I was intending to leave you alone, hoping you might not be reckless enough to enter the Hollow," Caelus admits. "But, the possibilities were not zero."
"...why do you care so much?" Phil asks.
"...it's out of selfish reason," Caelus replies. "I had the strength to do something, but if I choose not to, then I will constantly blame myself for not doing anything."
"..." Phil is unsure how to reply to that.
"Honestly, what were you thinking? Entering Hollow alone? Are you trying to commit suicide?" Caelus reprimands Phil, who flinches. "Hollows aren't some playground! Ethereals and Ether corruptions are a constant threat inside this shit, and you choose to do something like this!"
"I-it's not of your business..." Phil says in annoyance.
"..." Caelus lets out a tired sigh while pinching the bridge of his nose. "The landlord is worried about you, you know?"
"Why would she? She's not even my mom..." Phil mutters as Caelus lifts him by picking the collar of his shirt. "H-hey!"
"If you're gonna act like a child, you're gonna be treated like one," Caelus says as Phil's face slowly turns red. Then, Caelus notices that Slyboo tries to walk towards him while dragging his baseball bat. "Oh, thanks for retrieving that for me, Slyboo."
"Na! (No problem!)" Slyboo says as Caelus picks up his baseball bat.
"What is that thing even made of?" Phil asks in disbelief. He was pretty sure Caelus had used it as dynamite to get rid of a horde of Ethereals, and yet somehow it was still intact, albeit a bit dirty. "And how do you even do that?"
"Sorry, brat. Trade secrets," Caelus says as Phil grumbles.
"At least call me by my name," Phil mutters.
"Hey, buddy," Caelus calls his Bangboo, blatantly ignoring Phil. "I'm going to need your help for this."
"Ehn-nu nuh! (Leave it to me!)" Slyboo says, puffing his chest out.
"H-hey, before we leave, c-can you...?" Phil stammers, getting Caelus' attention. "...um, help me drag that crate out?" Phil points at the crate filled with Ether crystal that is somehow still intact.
"...." Caelus and Slyboo give him a deadpan stare before they both walk away from the crate, causing Phil to panic.
"Wait, wait, please hear me out!" Phil exclaims as Caelus forcefully made Phil face him.
"Brat, you had caused enough trouble, and yet you had the gall to ask me to do grunt work!?" Caelus asks in disbelief. "Tell me one good reason why I should even help you out!"
"...I..." Phil stammers as he looks downward. "...it's for my tuition money..."
"...there are many part-time jobs you can apply for good sums of Dennies, so why Hollow raiding?" Caelus asks with a raised eyebrow. "Pride?"
"...I was just frustrated..." Phil says with gritted teeth, tears threatening to escape his eyes. "Those bastards...they won't stop rubbing it on my face...their wealth, their supporting family, and how they got the best H.A.N.D. agents to teach and train them to be part of HIA's investigators... I-it's frustrating...I want them to stop by proving to them I could be as good as them without nepotism..."
"And you think it's worth risking your life?" Caelus asks, causing Phil to go silent. Caelus sighs before approaching the crate, gently placing Phil on top, and pushing it like a trolley. Phil blinks in surprise as he looks at Caelus while Slyboo jumps into the crate, sitting next to Phil.
"You should just ignore those so-called bastards," Caelus says as he continues to push. "Their rubbish talks are not worth your time. You can use that time to get better grades, safely earn your money for your tuition fee, and do anything that doesn't involve Hollow raid. Those idiots are saying things like that, believing that kind of job would earn them glory, wealth, fame, and so on. Unlike you, who experience it firsthand, they don't know the danger inside the Hollow."
"Um, actually they do..." Phil says innocently, causing Caelus to pause before shaking his head.
"The point is!" Caelus exclaims, trying to ignore Slyboo giggling. "Don't listen to them. Just ignore their taunts and focus on what you're doing."
"It's easier said than done," Phil mutters.
"Life was never easy. If it were, then your attempt at Hollow raids would always go smoothly, and my attempt to look for you wouldn't be such a pain in the ass," Caelus says dryly, earning a snort from Phil. "You've got to persevere, endure those trashtalkers, but if they had gone a bit too far, you could always aim for the balls."
"...." Phil and Slyboo stare at Caelus in disbelief.
"What?" Caelus asks innocently.
"...you're terrible at giving advice," Phil says in a deadpan manner.
"It's the thought that counts," Caelus says while shrugging, before, out of nowhere, an explosion appears as a cloud of smoke covering their path. Then, a robot wearing black leather trousers and a red leather jacket can be seen flying out of the smoke, followed by a white haired girl with a green jacket, black skirt, and a backpack, along with a Bangboo with a black shirt and an orange scarf with '01' written on it, landing beside the robot. The girl lands safely, stabbing the ground with her sword, while the Bangboo faceplanted.
Both Caelus and Phil froze in shock at what they're seeing before suddenly, an Ethereal with a shield and a blade as its pair of hands emerge, while a woman with pink hair holding a suitcase and a green Bangboo runs away from it out of panic before regrouping with the robot and the white haired girl.
"Damn it, this Ethereal is super tough!" The pink-haired woman exclaims in anger, holding her suitcase that opens up and reveals a cannon in it.
"We have reached the third phase of the boss battle," The white-haired girl says in a monotone voice. "Just a little more, and we'll beat it."
"Anby, not the time to say such nonsense!" The pink-haired woman scolds the girl while the robot gets up and pulls out a pair of guns, pointing at the Ethereal. Phil and Caelus stare at the scene in disbelief before suddenly, the Ethereal shifts its attention towards them, specifically Caelus.
"...Oh, motherfucker-!"
To be Continued