"Inventing the Future"
Author's Note: I played through the game recently, and I've had Dr. Jaming on the brain ever since. You don't see very much of him, but he ends up playing a pretty big part in saving the world, even though it all happened off-screen after his defeat. We meet his grandson in the game, so it can be assumed that he either marries or has a relationship with an unknown woman. This leaves the door wide open for fanfic ideas, wouldn't you agree? I don't own Dark Cloud 2/Dark Chronicle, the events therein, or Dr. Jaming. I do own Meredith, though.
"Chapter 1: Vanquished"
"Graah, I can't believe it...You actually beat me..." Dr. Jaming snarled down at Max and Monica, gripping the neck of his guitar tightly as the floating platform on which he stood sparked and shuddered beneath him. Almost as if to add insult to injury, the platform gave one final jerk before it tilted and unceremoniously dumped its passenger face-first onto the beach before falling itself.
"Oof!" The pain of doing a belly-flop on tightly-packed sand was instantaneous, but the landing stunned him so that he was nearly knocked unconscious, and the pain wasn't as severe as it might have been otherwise. Above him he could hear the Shigura panting as they regained control of themselves, and he realized that the mind-control helmets had shorted out and fallen off. This was it. He was going to die. They had been docile enough when he had fitted them with those things, but surely they would be angry with him now that they knew he had used them!
Dr. Jaming's mind flashed back to the things he had done. Such terrible things. Why shouldn't he just let the Shigura kill him? After all, he had killed. After joining Emperor Griffon's forces, he had hardened his heart and ignored his pangs of conscience, obeying Griffon and Gaspard almost robotically in their pursuits. Most recently he had fired upon the lighthouse that housed the Moon Crystal, murdering the man who would be a Sage. Crest was the man's name, wasn't it? This was inexcusable. But Dr. Jaming had buried his guilt and repeated to himself the phrase that had almost become a mantra. They deserve it.
He lay there on his belly, eyes closed, awaiting his end. He did not cringe as he felt the beaked muzzle of a Shigura lightly grasp him before rolling him over onto his back. The sun warmed his face, and the peaceful atmosphere brought on a sad sort of calm. I deserve this. Let it be quick...
Hot breath wafted over his face, and oddly enough the smell was not unpleasant. Then, to his utter astonishment, he felt something warm and moist swiping gently across his cheek. His eyes fluttered open, and he realized that one of the Shigura was cleaning the sand from his face while two others hovered over him with expressions of utmost concern. "Wha...? But why are you..."
The Shigura tending to him did not respond (not that he would have been able to understand what it was saying anyway), and continued to clean his face. It stung a little, probably because there were tiny abrasions here and there from the sand.
Dr. Jaming heard a distant growl from Gaspard. "You're all worthless! Withdraw." This last was said to one of Griffon's soldiers, who responded with a "Yes, sir!"
The Death Ark disappeared through a time gate, and Dr. Jaming knew it would not come back. Gaspard had abandoned him. He was alone and aimless all over again. The Shigura, satisfied that Dr. Jaming's face was now clean and that he seemed largely unhurt, pressed the top of its muzzle against his arm and gently urged him to sit up with a soft nudge. Dr. Jaming felt his eyes begin to sting with the threat of tears. Why didn't they just kill him? He didn't deserve their kindness!
He got to his feet with little difficulty and picked up his guitar before looking up at the three Shigura who blocked him from Max and Monica so that they could not see him. He doubted that this was intentional, but he was glad to not have to deal with them right now. He just wanted to...
What did he want to do? He had nowhere to go! He was a failure. A murderer who deserved all of the misfortune that lay before him.
"Don't you know what I did to you?"
The Shigura that had been licking his face snaked its great neck down so that it was eye-to-eye with the blue-skinned human, who took an involuntary step backwards. Its eyes were soft and calm, full of forgiveness. Very deliberately, it nodded its head once.
"Then why?"
Now the Shigura gave a frustrated sigh through its nose, and the large puff of air nearly knocked the man off-balance. It opened its mouth and answered him, but all that came out was a deep, squawking growl.
Of course. "I see...You can understand me, but I can't understand you. Asking you about your motives is quite pointless."
The Shigura gave what looked like a wry smile, and moved off to join its fellows. The other two followed, but not before nodding to Dr. Jaming in an almost human show of politeness.
He watched them go, swallowing hard and setting his jaw. Sand crunched between his molars, and he turned his head and spat. Yuck.
Max and Monica were using some sort of device to speak to the Shigura, and Dr. Jaming felt a stab of envy. If he had one of those, his questions might be answered in a flash! But he was in no position to take it as he was now, and to be honest, he hadn't the heart for that sort of thing.
'What am I feeling?' he thought as he limped away. 'I hurt. Not my body, but...'
He placed a blue hand over his heart. 'Those Shigura...After what I did to them, they were kind to me...And I can't stand it!'
It had been so long since anyone had been kind to him, even before he had joined Emperor Griffon. Humans did not have blue skin and hair. Not until he came along, at any rate. And he was fully human, despite the rumors that followed him almost from birth and into adulthood. His odd, grotesque appearance was an anomaly for which no doctor had an explanation, and he was otherwise very healthy.
And having such large, uneven teeth surely didn't help. Not only did they look ridiculous, but they prevented him from closing his mouth properly, earning him such nicknames as 'mouth-breather' and 'bucky beaver'. He grew up very isolated and lonely. And angry.
What he lacked in looks, he more than made up for with his brilliant mind, and he found his niche with inventing. He had a theory, one that he knew would turn the world of technology right on its ear. He called it 'Aeroharmonics'; technology that would allow him to make objects float on the air using sound. He would give the world a new mode of travel, one that would eliminate the need for air-polluting fossil fuels. And he would get something in return. The world would look past his appearance and see his true worth. He would show them!
And then his research had hit a dead end. It wasn't until Gaspard came to him and told him that there was a way for him to achieve his dream while getting revenge on those who had hurt him that Dr. Jaming began to hope again. He was able to create the first Aeroharmonics prototype, a floating platform which now lay in a ruin on the beach.
It wasn't until he was in it up to his neck that he realized he had made a huge mistake. He was not by nature a violent man, and while it was one thing to fantasize about revenge, it was quite another thing to actually do it. There was no choice in the matter. It was either follow orders or die. And so, Dr. Jaming had buried his heart deep within himself and done as he was told. It was easier to put on a facade and act like a mad scientist than it was to face the truth about the man he had become.
Now, cut loose from Griffon's employ but very much alive, Dr. Jaming had no choice but to face the truth. He had done terrible, terrible things. And now he was being forced to live with it. The hard shell that had formed around his feelings of guilt and remorse had been melted away by the kindness of a Sea Dragon, and his once-gentle heart began to bleed.
Finally, well away from Shigura Village and the two young humans who had brought about his defeat, Dr. Jaming sat with his back against the trunk of a palm tree and wept.
Stay tuned for more!