Calcharo/Archive

==Introduction==
==CBT1 - Character Stories==
These were the stories for Artificial Resonator Calcharo, not to be mixed with the current Natural Resonator Calcharo as he had been rewritten and reclassified.
"Kakarot" appeared as his story display name during CBT1 because of unfinished localization, and Calcharo existed in the CBT1 story menus of: Mortefi, Verina, and Yuanwu.*
=== Stray Dogs and a Gang of Boys ===
There are many different types of dogs in the New Federation. Some dogs are pets of nobles and powerful people, having their own special servants to take care of them. Other dogs are trained to become loyal protectors, always ready to bite the throats of those who dare to harm their owners. And finally, there are the dogs that roam the streets, hungry, injured and left to fend for themselves.
— "Brother, why did the owner of that store just curse at us, not sell us food, and drive us away?", asked the younger brothers.
— "Don't pay attention to him. He wasn't going to sell us this garbage, and I wasn't going to buy it", nine-year-old Calcharo replied, taking out some food he had taken from the store. "Take it and eat."
The younger brothers tore open the packaging and gobbled down the food as if they hadn't heard Calcharo just call it "garbage."
Then these boys began their work day: collecting trash, watching, selling goods, starting fights and trying to escape before the sheriff came. Such is the life of the gangster underground. But for children whose parents have died, gangs are not such a bad choice. At least better than factories where you have to work sixteen hours a day, and shelters where there is nothing but torn blankets.
The gang members in the poorest areas were just as cruel and selfish as the outcasts, but much more ruthless and cunning. No one would have doubted that Calcharo would be eaten to the bone by this group of scum, but, to everyone's surprise, he survived.
When the day comes to an end, Calcharo returns to their small shed under the rock overhang, taking with him a meager reward. Sometimes he even brought golden melon to his younger brothers.
— "It would be great if only we could eat melons every day," the brothers said happily, licking their fingers.
— "We will. Sooner or later I will become a big shot, and big shots can eat melons every day,", Calcharo said genuinely.
At this time, the stray dogs who fought with Calcharo for scraps during the day did not chase him.
Instead, they huddled quietly and watched the four brothers laugh and repeat the famous advertising slogan: "Excellent golden melon, real melon."
==== Metaphors in Stray Dogs and a Gang of Boys ====
"There are many different kinds of dogs in the New Federation" is a line from the story of Calcharo's childhood.
The next paragraph of history tells of the class hierarchies actively promoted in the new federation: high aristocrats, soldiers and those who have no home, food, or even parents.
Comparing the characters with stray dogs indicates their vulnerability and insecurity. They face hunger and persecution from higher classes. More often than not, their life on the street is full of hardships, disasters and life difficulties.
But despite the brutality, life in a gang could be even more attractive for children whose parents died, instead of such options as hard work in a factory or life in an orphanage.
At the very end of the story, there is the phrase "赛金瓜, 真的瓜," which translates to "Excellent golden melon, real melon." This phrase can have several different meanings and I would like to consider the most suitable ones.
瓜 (gūa) in Chinese is a character that means "melon". But it can be used to convey various connotations and metaphors.
-Example："废物像个瓜"（feiwu xiang ge gua）"garbage like a melon！" 瓜 gua can symbolize the ultimate goal of children's desire for a safe life. In this context, the metaphor introduces a note of optimism and consolation into the text, emphasizing that despite social inequality, hope for the best is always alive, and children dream of a better future, like a real melon that they want to eat every day.
-In another version, this metaphor emphasizes the gap between hopes and reality. Children dream of a better life, of a "golden melon" that promises wealth and abundance, but the reality, the "real melon," is not so prosperous. "瓜" here is used to express that something is useless or worthless. It can be used to evaluate a bad product, a worthless object, or a useless effort.
-Thus, the character "瓜" (gua) can be associated with the theme of survival, access to resources and the ability to change one's life in the context of poverty and social inequality.
In this context, the metaphor 赛金瓜, 真的瓜 may mean that what we hope for is not always true.
=== Warhound ===
When Calcharo knocked down a rival gang thug who was three times stronger than himself, these shiny military boots appeared in front of him.
— "You look like a puppy, but with the fangs of a wolf," said the owner of the military boots.
He called himself a "Brigadier General" and promised Calcharo fame, fortune and a future, and in return Calcharo was to unconditionally devote his life and loyalty to him.
— "Arena or junkyard, baby.", said the Brigadier with a grin on his face.
Thus, Calcharo was drafted into the army, even if he did not understand the meaning of this and did not want to offer his life and loyalty to the other side.
— "I heard that you used to be in gangs. How does it feel? You must have taken advantage of people a lot. It's very exciting, isn't it?", said the Brigadier General.
— "I don't know what counts as exciting. Cleaning up trash is a pain in the ass, but it doesn't have to be exciting.", replied Calcharo.
— The Brigadier replied: "So you're a garbage collector, you bore."
Calcharo was a stranger among the other soldiers, who did not even bat and eye. The only people Calcharo interacted with, other than the military dogs in the battalion, were regular correspondence with his younger brothers. In his letters, he did not mention missions, injuries or casualties, but he named each military dog, as if introducing friends.
— "Grey Jack runs very fast. Duke has a great personality. Alpha is very smart. Sometimes I run out of canned food, so Alpha steals it for me." He was very fond of them. 
Yet his stories were always so monotonous and boring, lacking any excitement, surprises, risks, that his younger brothers really missed the barracks he talked about. But they didn't know that as soon as Calcharo hung up the phone, blood flowed from underneath the bandage again. A rifle wound from two hours ago, and a slight deflection that could have struck his heart. With such wounds, Calcharo single-handedly dealt with an entire camp of exiles thanks to his amazing fighting talent and the ruthless techniques that he learned during gang warfare.
"What a Warhound!" - Said the brigadier general in a tone similar to an opera.
This is how Calcharo received such a nickname, accompanied by a hunting knife, gifted by the brigadier general himself.
=== Silent Thunder ===
When his younger brothers followed in his footsteps and joined the army, Calcharo could not stop them.
— "Is it difficult to fight phantoms?", asked the younger brothers, who followed Calcharo on a mission for the first time.
— "It's very difficult, some phantoms are stronger than others, it's more difficult to fight them." he paused, "If you can't win, run away, don't fight them."
— "Brother, can you defeat the phantoms?", his younger brothers asked again.
— "I can.", Calcharo answered firmly, in the same manner when he promised the children to eat melon every day, "Just follow me, I can deal with them, I can protect you"
The brothers nodded obediently, and there was no sign of tension or worry on their faces. They knew that their brother would protect them just as before. But this time the situation was different. Angry merciless phantoms, defeated Calcharo's men, while the promised reinforcements from the Brigadier general never came. Calcharo sensed danger, but it was too late. A drug bullet fired from behind knocked him unconscious, and the last sound he heard was the frightened scream of his younger brothers.
— "Brother, help!"
...
Calcharo woke up in a large capsule filled with a solution. The Brigadier general approached it, tapping on the glass:
— "Now you are a Resonator, boy."
— "Where are my brothers?", Calcharo tried to ask with all his might, but all he could do was spit out a stream of bubbles. 
— The Brigadier general read the words on his lips and casually replied, "The material for your improvement has been used up."
At that moment, Calcharo realized that the so-called arena and the junkyard were actually no different. There are only experimental subjects and low-quality experimental subjects.
His younger brothers became material, and he became "experimental body No. 1095."
That night, a flash of lightning cut through the darkness, and experimental body No. 1095 successfully escaped, while the main culprit "Brigadier General" went missing.
== CBT1 - "About Calcharo" ==
In CBT1, Resonators had short stories for each other on their character menus.
These were the stories for Artificial Resonator Calcharo, not to be mixed with the current Natural Resonator Calcharo as he had been rewritten and reclassified.
=== Mortefi: About Calcharo ===
Mortefi later understood, the New Federation had always beheld a grey sky, and the people had lived their whole lives under this grey sky.
This grey sky had no shortage of drizzling rain, and it had no mercy on the peels of Cypumpkin Calcharo fished out of a disposal can. This rain had never done any favors for him, for the dumpster diving or for the back alley fights, everything would feel damp and stick on his skin. 
Even more hateful, was the noble laymen of New Fed. They always had an umbrella guy, never a moment under the assault of water. Hell, who says there aren’t enough Cypumpkins in their warehouses to feed him and his brothers for a week, easy.
When Mortefi walked into the inspection room, Calcharo did not like what he saw. That ruby red, glowing hair, somehow even more red than the Brigadier’s sent his body into high alert, faster than his mind could process. His Tacet Shadows howled in pain, ready to make pandemonium. 
— "Stop, stop, false alarm. His eyes, red.” Calcharo held his brothers (the phantoms he can summon, as they were the remnants of his dead brothers) back. “The Brigadier’s were blue, not the purest blue.”
— “Oh? You know of that side branch scum. I’ve heard hearsay that he proclaims himself as Corvat? Hmm, I suppose that filthy name matches him well.” The man with red hair raises the corners of his mouth with barely concealed derision. “I’m not sure why he came up, but I’m more interested in you, how are you maintaining a sound mind after your chronic Tace-morphosis?”
— "I’m not maintaining anything, I’ve always gotten along with my brothers this way.” Calcharo answered with a straight face. ”My brothers, they wouldn’t hurt me.” 
— "......” Mortefi fidgeted with his signature lighter, spared no word and began his inspection.
The results came out exactly the same way Calcharo illustrated. 
— “I see, your brain can still delay the onset of Tacet attrition even while lacking a string or two.” Mortefi makes no attempt to hide his inarticulate laughs , inspecting Calcharo’s inspection data, too stable to be true. “This…… what an interesting sample.”
=== Verina: About Calcharo ===
The Dim Forest, one of Verina’s priority research locales, as well as the genesis of a chance encounter with Calcharo.
As the field study for the research topic “About the Relationship between the Growth Speed of Parasitic Plants in the Claustro-Forbidden Forest, and the Density of Transmitted Wuthero-particles” was being conducted while hammocking on a sturdy vine, Verina sensed the ripples of a disturbance from the flora-fauna. What was initially speculated to be one of the mutant apes in their mundane business, turned out to be a burly, masculine specimen of a human. 
— “Excuse me, mister, are you OK?” 
— “Peachy.” 
— “Wait, could it be you’re a…” 
In her defense, only a phytologist would be seen chewing grass out in the wild, she thought. Personally sampling the taste and medicinal traits of various flora, contributes toward a deeper comprehension of its selling points. It wouldn’t befit any other type of scholar, to have the stomach or spirit to brave these botanical ventures. That is why her verdict of Calcharo was a kindred pursuit that matched her own, joining him in solidarity, plucking a nibblet of some fern-based vegetation for herself. 
— “Hmph, sophomore. The grass here under this tree, it’s not much worse than Cypumpkins. Well, I guess most grass are like that.” 
— “Well, it is true that squash types typically have grass types beat in terms of nutritional value. Though, what kinda squash is a Cy-pumpkin.” 
— “It’s better than normal pumpkins, for one.” 
Calcharo doesn’t have a sophisticated reason to stuff his gullet with foot greens. Forget the grass, he’s still the same pauper virtuoso he was in the New Federation, the same pauper who would ravage any kitchen dump for morsels. Even now, under the wing of the Midnight Rangers, he would save his provisional rations for a time of true emergency. If it was a mission in the wilds, he would literally live off the land, nibbling on whatever he found fancy. As a glorified squatter on a mission to gatekeep the Feilian Belingal, he doesn’t think about it anymore as he reaches out a serving. All in all, Calcharo was just “having a meal”, as people do. 
So if you find a curious pair of New Feds gorging on greens, please pay it no heed. As they quietly banquet in nature’s bounty, mind your own business. Do not disturb, and this friendship you shall behold at their feast.
=== Yuanwu: About Calcharo ===
Yuanwu has the habit of small talk with his customers, chewing fat in the aromatic gulf of herbal tea, and naturally…… word gets around. The Nightingale maybe an upstanding teahouse, but with people crowds, there will be the flow of rumors, hearsay, and stories from the grapevine. As the boss of the house, Yuanwu would of course listen in while serving his customers, which is why he’s in tune with the shivers of the city, more than a normal citizen. Now, there’s some new dirt about a bizarre foreigner joining the ranks of the Midnight Rangers, says he’s real good in a fight and rushes out the city with no regard for Ranger protocol, and that he’s interested in the Dim Forest…… Maybe he’s strong enough to save the Rangers who fell in bitter conflict that day in the forest? Maybe he can put an end to the nightmare of the Dim Forest? 
Yuanwu tries to gather more information in his activities, hoping to find some real news to validate the strength of that warrior, verifying for himself if his combat prowess is actually worth something against the Dim Forest. But Yuanwu could never guess that he ran into him, or that the rumors would disappoint him so greatly. If only he knew. 
— Calcharo: “This time I almost got into the forest, all it would take was a couple hundred meters, and I would be in. But, noooo, a new mission arrives just in time to send me someplace else. Blasted coincidence this is, you think Jiyan put a tracker on me somewhere? But I don’t think he’s that kinda guy, not that I trust him…… I just think since I just had the thought he’s tracking me, it means he’s actually not, because what I think usually turns out wrong.” 
It was an everyday afternoon, with customers few and far between. Yuanwu went to the back of the teahouse to feed his cat, and ended up overhearing a dog’s woof and some whispers on the other side of a wall. Yuanwu tried to parse the logic of what he just heard, but checked out pretty quickly after his head hurt. But the whispers kept going. 
— “Next time I’ll get there, and I’ll see how strong that guy is. He made the forest lightless, so I’ll make it bright again.” Will there really be a day, where the umbrage of the forest will be enraptured by daybreak?
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