Chapter 1

Separation

Lloyd Irving woke up, albeit in extreme pain. Not long ago, he was hit with a rocket by an evil Centurion AI named Tenebrae, who was controlling a medic that annoyed both his team, The Sylvaranti Blues, and his enemies, the Tethe'allan Reds. One of the Reds, Presea Combatir was with him, trying to comfort him.

"Come on, Blue guy," she begged the groaning soldier. "You gotta wake up. Wake up!"

"It hurts," he moaned as he struggled to move. "Just let me die…"

"You can't die, I'm bored," Presea cried out. "All these two wanna talk about is chick stuff."

"Wouldn't you be interested in that since you're a chick?" Lloyd asked, still moaning.

"Yeah, but they're not talking about the fun chick stuff like ribbons and unicorns."

He looked over to where Marta Lualdi, his teammates ex-girlfriend and current mercenary, who usually went by the nickname Lu, was chatting to Luna, the Blue's AI-controlled tank. "I don't have treads," the freelancer was saying, "but I often find them staring at things they really shouldn't be."

"You see?" Presea shouted, turning back to Lloyd. "Boring stuff like oppression, and a hostile work environment."

With great difficulty, Irving rolled onto his back. "Get Yggy… I need Yggy…"

"I can't," Presea replied. "He got possessed by that evil guy and they escaped. He's the one that shot you, don't you remember?"

"I know," Irving muttered. "I want him to shoot me again…"

"Now, now, now," Presea scolded, waving her finger like a condescending parent. "Sounds like someone's got a case of the 'poor me's. If you were gonna die, you would have done it by now. Maybe you just need to realize you're gonna have to live with intense pain."

"Get that Aurion guy," Irving winced. "Have him make me a new body."

"We can't." Presea sighed. "We're out of parts because we overused that joke. And Sarge left with the others to chase Yggy." She smiled as she looked towards the Red Base's teleporter. "But don't you worry, they left a long time ago, so I'm sure they'll be back any minute. Sheena had a fool-proof plan to catch him."

Meanwhile, Sheena Fujibayashi, one of the Reds, had landed in a long corridor with teleporters everywhere and as she wandered around, she found similar corridors, but no sign of Mithos/Tenebrae, Aska or the others.

"Hellooooo…" she called out as she entered the umpteenth corridor. "Hello?" When nobody responded, she sighed. "Just great, I guess we all got separated in the teleporter." She flicked on her radio earpiece. "Sarge, this is Fujibayashi 2.0. Do you read me? Apparently your plan to chase Aska and Yggy has failed miserably." She started walking around the corridors a bit.

"I appear to be stuck in some kind of nexus of teleporters which could take me anywhere in the Universe… Or it's a janitor's closet, hell, I don't fucking know…" She waited for a response but only heard static. "Sarge, are you there? Sarge!"

Kratos Aurion and Genis Sage weren't having any better luck. They found themselves in a creek in the middle of a small canyon. Kratos turned on his radio earpiece for the 5th time, trying to get some kind of signal.

"Hello, anyone?" he called out. "Do you read me? Do I read you? Anyone? Anybody? Nobody? Okay…" Kratos switched off his radio with an exasperated sigh and turned to Genis. "Well, I don't think the others are coming. They must have gotten separated somehow." he said, taking in the surroundings a bit.

Genis just glanced down at his feet. "My toes are getting pruny."

"Ooookay," Kratos muttered as he waded out of the creek. "Why don't we try to find Tenebrae?"

"I know where you can find him," Genis called out as he followed. "He lived inside my head for a while; maybe he left an address to send his mail. We were like roommates."

Kratos sighed and shook his head. "Sounds like he took some of the furniture when he left, and the carpet, and the drapes… and I wouldn't expect to get that deposit back, if you know what I mean."

As they neared a large building, Genis ran on ahead, turned a corner and then skidded to a halt. "Hey, Aurion, look! A sleeping person!"

"What?" Kratos ran forward and gasped in alarm. "Holy macaroon!"

There, lying in a pool of blood on the ground was a soldier in regulation blue armor, like Genis. Kratos stepped up to the soldier, knelt down and felt for a pulse. "He's not sleeping, son… he's dead."

"Oh good," Genis sighed in relief. "At first, I thought that was me, because I am blue and I like to sleep. But if he is dead, that cannot be me. That would be silly."

Kratos bowed his head sadly. "No doubt he was killed by our very enemy. Once again, I find myself torn. On the one hand, there's one less Blue in the universe, but now Yggy's got a bigger body count than me! And that just won't do, no sir." He stood up and gave a solemn salute to the soldier. "Rest in peace… scumbag."

Genis just ran around another corner and stopped again. "Look – more sleeping people!"

Kratos came up from behind and stared in silence. All around the field, there were more dead soldiers, some Reds and some Blues. He did a quick count and found there was six of each team, making twelve soldiers in total.

"It must be nap time," Genis said then he looked puzzled. "But who has nap time now? Nap time comes before pants time, not after. I think these people are just making up times."

"What the Samuel Helsinki happened here?" Kratos breathed. "There must have been an enormous battle." He stepped forward and called out, "HELLO! Is anyone okay? Are there any survivors; preferably any Red survivors? But don't let that discourage you from speaking up if you're Blue, I won't step on your neck or anything like that?"

"Am I allowed to answer?" Genis asked.

Just then, a loud trumpeting tune started to play, softly at first but getting steadily louder.

"Shh quiet," Sarge hissed as he listened to the tune. "You hear that?"

Genis tilted his head to listen but he just heard the creek. "Yes. That noise is called water. It is very wet and very sloshy-"

"I was talking about the trumpet, Bluetard," Kratos muttered as the music continued.

Genis then crossed his legs and gave an uncomfortable grimace. "I have to go to the bathroom for some reason… which is odd, because I already went when we were standing in the creek together."

As the trumpeting finished its tune, Kratos's eyes widened in realization. "Wait a minute, I know that song. That's Reveille. But why would someone be playing Reveille in the middle of a-"

"YAAAAAHHH! WOOHOOOOO!" Suddenly, all of the dead soldiers jumped to their feet and started cheering and shouting.

"Sweet jibbily jiblets!" Kratos yelped in surprise.

"Haul ass!" Genis shouted.

At once, the Red and Blue soldiers formed two lines of six and ran off, ignoring Kratos and Genis and heading out into the canyon. The Blues ran into the Base's front door while the Reds crossed the forest into another building on the other side of the forest.

Kratos just stared in stunned silence. "What just happened there?"

Genis turned to look at him. "I think all the sleeping people were trying to ke-"

"That was rhetorical." Hearing shouts from a nearby window, Kratos ran up and turned to Genis. "Get over here and give me a boost!"

"Okay," Genis said as he stepped up to the Red CO. "You are a good person, and people say nice things about you."

"Not a morale boost, moron," Kratos said, in a deadpan tone. "A physical one; I need to see what's in that window."

Genis looked up to the window. "That window is pretty high," he noted. "I don't think you're tall enough."

"I know," Kratos sighed impatiently. "I need you to help me look through it."

"I don't think I'm tall enough either," Genis replied crossly. "Also my head is round, that window is square."

"Oh, come here, you," Kratos sighed. He knelt down by Genis and slid his hands under his foot and with a loud grunt, he tossed Genis up to the window.

"Whoa," Genis yelped as he was thrown up. He managed to get a hand onto the window ledge, and peered his head to look up.

"What do you see?" Kratos called up.

Genis looked through the window. "I see… a room."

"And what's in the room?"

"There are some walls, and some ceilings. Wait- just one ceiling."

"What's making that racket?" Kratos asked as the shouts grew louder.

Genis looked inside and spotted the Blues standing around a flag and shouting, "Kill the Reds, kill the Reds, kill the Reds, kill the Reds, kill the Reds!"

Genis gulped. "Yeah, you are not going to like it…"

Genis let go of the ledge and landed safely on the ground. "Sage, I have a bad feeling abou-" But another trumpeting tune echoed across the canyon and the two looked round. "What's that?"

His answer came seconds later, as the Base's door slid open and the Blues burst out into the forest yelling, "Chaaaaaarrrrge!" On the other side, the Reds came out in a similar fashion and all hell broke loose!

"Come on, Sage!" Sarge yelled out as guns blazed all around them. "We gotta get to higher ground!"

As they ran off, a nearby Blue soldier blasted his foe with his assault rifle and then took out another clip. "Yeah, I love reloading!"

But then, a Red soldier smashed his fist into the Blue's head, taking him down. As the Blue fell to the ground, he called out, "Tell my girlfriend I love her."

"She's my girlfriend now, bitch," the Red yelled.

By then, Sarge spotted a nearby ladder and he and Genis scrambled up to the ledge and watched the carnage below.

"Aurion, I'm scared of our new friends." Genis said, trying to catch his breath.

"Good god," Kratos muttered. "What's going on here?"

Just then, a Red soldier ran out of the Blue Base, carrying the blue flag over his shoulder. "Stop fighting, stop fighting!" he shouted out. "Everyone, stop fighting!"

The Red and Blue armies stopped shooting and turned round. Kratos and Genis watched as the Red soldier waved the flag around. "Everyone, everyone look unto me! I possess the Blue flag!"

The Reds gasped in awe. "It's more beautiful than I ever imagined." one soldier breathed.

"I have seen the top of the mountain." the Red with the flag shouted, reveling in his new-found zealotry. "And you will worship me as though I were a God!"

Just then, four Blues mobbed around him and took him out WWE-style.

"I regret nothing," the Red Zealot cried out as he died. "I lived as few men dare to dream!"

The other Reds and Blues glanced at each other for a moment then shrugged and continued the slaughter.

One Red soldier smashed his rifle butt into a Blue's head. "Hell, yeah," he cheered but then a sniper round hit him in the head and he collapsed. "Oh no…"

"Head shot!" the Blue sniper crowed before a rocket shot him off his feet. "Oh, you rocket-whore!"

Another Blue soldier took out the Red with the rocket-launcher and then took out two others. "Hey, I got some, you want some? I got some for you! Come on, you!"

Then he was taken out by another Red who ran off through the creek yelling, "The only good Blue is a dead Blue! Christ, that water's cold!"

Nearby, a Red and a Blue were standing on opposite sides of a rock and taking in turns to stand up, shoot at the enemy and then take cover again. But after a while, the Blue was hit with a grenade from behind.

"Weak!" the Red yelled at his teammate. "You took my kill!"

"I didn't see your name on it!" the other Red yelled but then he was shot by another Blue hiding behind a rock. "Oh, you fucking camping bitch!"

"It's a legitimate strategy!" the Blue camper yelled out as he ran off. As he stopped by another rock, a shot whizzed past him and he jumped back. "Whoa!"

"Damn," the Red scowled. He then realized that the shooting had stopped around him. "Hey, Blue, we're the only two left! Let's work together!"

"What do you mean?" the Blue camper asked.

"I'm coming out!"

"Okay, I'm coming out too!"

The last two standing met in the middle of the stream. "What did you mean we could work as a team?" the Blue asked.

In response, the Red slammed him in the face with the rifle, taking him out. "I bash you in the head with my rifle and you die," he explained. "Good teamwork, you fucking n00b." He then looked round and called out to no one in particular, "Good game, good game, everybody! GG man, GG!" Then he was hit by a stray shot and fell to the ground dead.

As silence fell in the canyon once more, Kratos stared at the carnage in shock and confusion. "I have no godly idea what it is I just saw, or what this place is, or where in the hell Tenebrae is! My only choice is to blame Wilder, for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Wilder…"

"I am so confused..." Genis said as he looked around, scratching his head. "Where is Castagnier? I need Castagnier to tell me what to think. He could handle this; he can handle anything!"

"Hey, asshole," Emil Castagnier yelled to the warders, rattling the bars of his cell. "For the last time, LET ME OUTTA THIS GODDAMN JAIL CELL!" Emil and Red Team member Zelos Wilder were trapped in a jail cell. They ended up on Emil's old area, Flanoir Island, and were captured by the Red team there.

"Yeah, let him out," Zelos agreed. "He's driving me nuts!"

"Oh shut up, Red." Emil snapped, glaring daggers at his cellmate. "Nobody asked you!"

Zelos sighed and shook his head. "I should never have listened to Presea's stupid fucking plan…"

Back in the nexus, Sheena decided to try and find the others, so she got to work on the nearest teleporter, using his newfound mechanical skills to get a trace on her team.

"Okay, let's see," she murmured as she worked through a tangle of wires with one hand and tapped on a console with the other. "If I wire this thing into that… maybe I could signal boost on that thing there… I might be able to get this to work."

As he pressed a wire on the component, the teleporter crackled and suddenly a voice called out, "Sage, Sage, keep them away from me!"

Sheena looked up and gasped. Through the doorway, she could see a fuzzy image of a great battle. Two soldiers were standing back to back, firing their guns at two advancing armies.

"Get that one!" one of the soldiers said. "And that one! No, no, the one with the limp. Get him!"

Sheena recognized the voice immediately. "Sarge, is that you?"

The Blue soldier meanwhile was firing in every direction, sometimes at the Reds and sometimes at the wall. "I don't want to kill… but, I don't want to die either!"

"Sage, can you hear me?" Sheena shouted.

Genis turned to Kratos. "Yes, I heard you."

"I didn't say anything, numbnuts," he retorted as he killed the last enemy then he sighed and turned to the dumb Blue. "Sage, we have to break this never-ending cycle of attack and retaliation, either by A) convincing the two sides to live in peace, or B) getting ourselves completely involved and kicking some serious ass! I vote B."

Sheena chuckled to herself. That's Sarge…

"I have a plan, Sergeant," Genis said. "But we will have to move quick. Listen…" He stepped up to Kratos and hissed, "Whisper, whisper, whisper… Do you think that will work?"

"That's your plan?" Kratos asked confused. "All you said was 'whisper, whisper, whisper'."

"I know," Genis admitted. "I just wanted to be the one with the plan for once."

Kratos let out a sigh. "Come on, I have an idea."

As Kratos and Genis ran off, Sheena got back to work on the teleporter with renewed hope. Now that she'd found Kratos, he needed to work quickly if he was to save him and Genis from that strange place…

Meanwhile, at a complex somewhere else in the galaxy, a soldier in brown armor was on patrol of the grounds outside… and getting more and more irritated by the second.

"This sucks, man," he murmured as he marched. "I have to do everything around here. 'Go guard the wall, Pietro'. 'Go paint the jeep, Pietro'. 'Go do everything, Pietro'. This sucks."

As he turned, a camouflaged figure jumped out of hiding and landed behind him. Pietro started at the soft thuds. "What was that?" He turned round, pistol drawn, but there was no one there.

"Nothing," Pietro sighed as he holstered his gun. "Just that stupid, sucky wind, breaking a twig, coming up behind me and… breathing, real heavy…" Slowly he turned the other direction and jumped at the white armored figure standing behind him. "What the…?"

"Hello there." the figure said before knocking him out.

Sometime later, Pietro awoke with an aching head, but he found he couldn't move his arms. As his vision cleared, he saw that he was tied up and the red haired, white soldier was pointing his own gun at him. "Oh man, this sucks," Pietro groaned. "What's going on?"

"Right, here's the way this works," the soldier explained. "I ask you a question, you tell me an answer. One question, one answer. I don't get the answer I like, we've got a problem. And if we've got a problem, you've got a problem. Is that clear?"

"Okay," Pietro whimpered. "Just don't hurt me, I'm a single parent!"

"Splendid, that's the attitude," the soldier beamed. "Now, first question: where are you hiding the plans?"

Suddenly, his cellphone started ringing to the tune of 'Enter Sandman' and the soldier cleared his throat. "Right, where are you hiding th-" But the ringing was too much. "Right, need to get that. One second…"

He turned round and answered the phone. "Hello? Yes, this is he speaking… Oh hello! Yes… Right… Oh ok… Uh, spell that for me… No, thought you said something else…"

Pietro shuffled uncomfortably behind him. "Getting bored…"

"No, I'll get right on it," the soldier continued. "Right, usual fee… He won't be a problem. No, I'll nip that one for you straight away… Right, say hello to mom for me. Goodbye…" He hung up and turned back to his prisoner. "Now, where were we? Ah yes… looks like it's your lucky day, mate."

"Oh, thank God!" Pietro sighed in relief.

But the soldier raised his borrowed gun again. "I don't have time torture you, so I'm just going to have to kill you."

Pietro gasped in horror. "Wha-Oh, man, this sucks!"

"Yeah, I'm gonna kill everybody!"

"Get the flag, get the flag, get the flag, get the fucking flag!"

"We must protect this house!" one Red screamed.

"We must protect this house!" the others echoed.

"We must protect this house! This is our house!"

Then one soldier glanced through the door to the flag room. "Um, guys, look, where's our flag?"

The others gasped and gathered in the room, staring at the spot where the flag used to be. "No!" "The flag is gone?" "What will we do?"

"If the flag is gone, who will lead us?" the Red Zealot called out. "Who will inspire us with their shiny pole? Who will flag directions to us in battle? We are lost, and the world as we knew it is gone forever in our eyes, only to live our memories as the days of salad and glory! Truly these are the end of times! REPENT! REPENT!"

The others stared at him in silence before one of them spoke. "This sucks, I'm leaving."

"Yeah," the others agreed.

So they ran out of the doors, with less enthusiasm than before. At the other Base, the Blues were also feeling low on spirit as they met their opponents in the middle of the canyon… where Kratos and Genis were waiting.

"Oh, Blue Team," Kratos called down as he waved the blue flag. "Look what I have!"

"Oh, Blue Team," Genis then shouted, holding the red flag. "Look what- wait, I messed up my line. Let's start over."

The two teams looked up and spotted Kratos and Genis standing on the ledge, waving their flags.

"They have our flag!" a Red soldier yelled.

"No they don't, they have our flag!" a Blue retorted.

"Listen, you morons," Kratos called down. "You're gonna work for us now."

"What's in it for us?" the first Red shouted.

"Help us get out of here, and we'll give you back your flags," Kratos explained. "Then you can go back to senselessly killing yourselves."

"Deal," the Red yelled out. "Ha, sucker!"

"Wait," one of the Blues cried. "Why don't we just kill you guys and take the flags back?"

"Hmm, yeah!" the Red agreed.

With a sigh, Kratos pulled out his pistol and shot the Blue right in the head.

"Oh, you got owned," another Red yelled. "I saw it, f***ing owned!"

The Blues then started to shout, "Teams! Teams! Teams!"

"Shut up," the Reds yelled back. "Teams are fine! Teams are fine! Teams are fine!"

And inevitably, the guns came out and the fighting started… again.

Kratos sighed and tossed the blue flag aside. "Genis… I give up."

"Wait," Genis cried, dumping the red flag on the ground. "I can make them listen. I can beat them!"

"Son, what are you talking about?" Kratos asked puzzled.

"Tenebrae taught me how to be mean…" Genis then closed his eyes and placed a hand on his head. "I just have to… concentrate on bad things… like… Milk! No wait, red… Red Bull!"

"Son, I think you've really lost it," Kratos muttered, shaking his head. "Tenebrae's not in your head anymore, he infected Yggy!"

"No, I can feel him," Genis grunted as he placed his other hand on his head. "I just need to get angry, and say mean things… like… uh… Your brain is a mountain of hatred!"

Kratos gave a rueful sigh. "I never thought I'd reach the moment in my life when I actually miss Wilder…" He sniffed loudly. "But here it is!"

By then, Genis was concentrating harder that he'd ever done before. His teeth were clenched so hard it could deflect bullets and his eyes were scrunched up tight. "Now, I am, thinking about… kittens! Guh, kit-tens, covered, in, spikes! That makes me ANGRY!"

At once, his eyes flicked open, revealing glowing red coals of anger, and with a mighty bestial roar, he jumped right off the ledge and landed on the ground with such force it actually cracked underfoot. Immediately, the two armies stopped fighting and spun round to face this terrifying figure standing amongst them. "My name is Genis A. Sage!" he growled with a face like the darkest storms. "And I hate babies!"

"It's the Beast!" the Red Zealot screamed in terror. "The Anti-Flag come to live among us and rule us for seven years! The end is nigh!"

But Genis cut his ranting short as he punched him in the face. Then he took out a Blue then another Red then another Blue then he grabbed the last guy's sniper and started gunning down the others.

Kratos stared at the sight in horror. "Great Gustavo, what's going on down there?"

Just then, a voice called out from behind him. "Sarge, Sage, can you hear me?"

Kratos turned round to see a ghostly green figure standing before him, but he knew the voice at once. "Fujibayashi 2.0!"

Sheena nodded in confirmation. "I reconfigured the teleporter to allow me communicate with you. I need to get you guys outta there."

"Damn right we need to get outta here," Kratos agreed.

"Get to the teleporter," Sheena instructed. "I'll see what I can do from here."

"Okay!" Kratos nodded and turned to leave.

"And, sir?"

"Yeah?"

Sheena smiled. "It's really great to see you again."

"Oh, kiss my ass some other time." Kratos responded.

"Whatever you say, Sir." Sheena said as she disappeared.

Kratos climbed down the ladder just as Genis finished off the last soldier and ran towards the Blue Base. "Come on, Sage, before they wake up again!"

"I will eat your unhappiness!" Genis yelled as he followed.

They arrived at the teleporter just as the Reveille started up again. "Come on, hurry up!" Kratos called out.

"Just give me a few more seconds over here." Sheena's voice called through the doorway.

"We don't have a few more seconds!" Kratos bellowed.

"Stop pressuring me! I rely on you for love and support!"

Genis meanwhile was still searching for the enemy. "Your toast has been burned, and no amount of scraping will remove the black parts!"

"Oh, shut up, Sage." Kratos snapped.

Behind them, the cheering started again but Sheena then called out, "Okay there, come through now!"

"Come on, Sage!" Kratos shoved the possessed Blue through the doorway and jumped in after him, seconds before the two armies ran round the corner.

At the nexus, Sheena watched as Genis stumbled forward to the floor and Kratos appeared moments later. "Phew," the maroon Spartan sighed. "That was pretty close, huh?"

Kratos stopped for a moment to catch his breath. "Fujibayashi, you get an F in efficiency…" he said as he leaned on the wall, but added with a smile. "But I have to give an A+ in dramatic timing."

"Thank you, sir," Sheena replied, rubbing her fist on her armor before glancing at her fingers. "I've always felt that presentation is what matters most."

Just then, Genis groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. "What happened?" he muttered hoarsely. "The last thing I remember was a very mean kitten… and then we were in the janitor's closet, and my throat hurts… a lot."

Sheena glanced through the doorway at the gathered armies. "What was that weird place?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Kratos replied slowly as he led them away from the teleporter.

"Well, I guess it's back to basics now!" the Reds' leader shouted at their enemies. "Get ready for destructions, Blues! We're gonna kick your ass! We have become Death, Destroyer of wo-" He suddenly stopped and looked round. "Oh wait, I gotta take out the trash. I'll be right back…"

Season 3 has begun. Ok just because I don't want to get a bunch of weird questions, I'm going to sum a couple things up. As far as Emil and Marta go, yes they're in robot bodies, but I'm gonna be writing this like they have regular flesh bodies. Aska's Spanish, intentionally fucked up. Anything else, well I'll see where my mind goes with this. Until then, Hasta luego, cockbites!