This is another one of my FFXIII ideas, after reading Final Fantasy XIII My Mix by TheShadowHunterXIII and Dimensional Guardian: Book II: L'cie by XInsanityXGuiltechXShadowwindX, two fics I recommend as they are very good, but the one thing the Final Fantasy XIII OC community lacks in are OCs who aren't turn into L'cie, I always wanted to read an OC FFXIII story where said OC is not branded, so here I am writing my own, I might need a co-author or 2 for this.
Chapter One: Briefing
It's a long way down when your head is in the clouds
And all around the sirens play
Don't get in my way
Don't tell me I should bow
Cuz I'm no clown
And this is not a game
Don't get in my way
~Don't Get in My Way- Zack Hemsey~
From her lofty seat, the world of Cocoon has long enjoyed tranquility. The interior of her spherical shell supports several sprawling cities and a population numbering in the tens of millions. Although a variety of dangerous beasts prowl the wilds, advanced technology and the protection of the world's fal'Cie keepers ensure residents a peaceful and prosperous existence. Travel to the lowerworld of Pulse is forbidden, but given their deep-seated cultural fears of the place, Cocoon citizens would not even think to venture beyond the paradise they know.
But one day, a planet known as Earth, open a dimensional gate to explore new worlds, The first world they have come in contact was Cocoon, and it was on that day where Earth and the World of Cocoon and Pulse met. The governments met, the R.O.E (Republic of Earth) Council and Cocoon's government, the Sanctum, at first the relationship between the two worlds has been neutral, both worlds maintain a trade deal, tourism, and immigration from both sides, but back on Cocoon, The Sanctum was on edge as Earthlings became more curious in exploring the wild lands of Pulse. It was the last straw and new laws were in place to keep the Earthlings and R.O.E out of Sanctum affairs, fast forward 10 years later, the line between the two worlds is on the verge of snapping as the R.O.E government received disturbing accounts from Cocoonains who enter Earth Illegally, and now the R.O.E can no longer ignore the situation, in secret, a meeting is in place, and a team of Elite Soldiers is mobilize to gather intel of Cocoon's government, little did the R.O.E knew that a storm was gathering.
Briefing Room,
Fort Paradise
Greenland, 2065
For the last 5 Years Cocoon and the R.O.E (Republic Of Earth) has had a very tense and shaky Relationship, Ever since Cocoon and Pulse have been connected with our World via dimensional gates the governments of R.O.E and The Sanctum has never seen eye to eye since the number of immgriants from Cocoon starting showing up the last year, sure people of Earth could vist Cocoon and the Cocoonains could vist Earth and some choose to live in said location, I mean I visted Cocoon often as I have some Cocoonain friends most of them are in the Guardian Corp and some civies, let's just say The Sanctum and PSICOM get a bit annoyed and nervous when tourists from Earth vist or when Earthlings decide to become a resident in Cocoon, double points if said Earthling or Toursit is in the R.O.E Military, now The GC don't mind; in fact GC Units are more open and nice with Earthlings and the R.O.E Military, next is well technology wise and Military wise we outnumber them in terms of military size and outgun them in terms of weapons, equipment, size, and technology
But this last year of Immigrants from Cocoon, every single one of them say they are refugees from so-call 'Purges' conducted by Sanctum and PSICOM, of course Sanctum denies this and has stated, or more like threaten us, that the R.O.E Government should stay out of Cocoon's business, that we should just turn the other way, now clearly we couldn't just bust down the door as this will just cause a war Between our worlds and the last thing the R.O.E government wants is a war with Cocoon but as of right now we are running out of options as the tension between the R.O.E and Sanctum grows each day and many Generals and even the Council fear that war with Cocoon may be imminent, our President wants to first send in a Covert team, a six man team, my team, to Cocoon and gather Intel of the crimes and human rights abuses by PSICOM and destroy PSICOM bit by bit, lastly take out every Sanctum fal'Cie on Cocoon, The Generals of the A.O.E Military told us that once we gather enough Intel and send it back to them, they will decide if war is the only option
I silently lean on my chair as me and my squad waited for the briefing on our mission, so far all we know is the we are going to Cocoon and the name of our mission, Operation Godkiller.
Just the door to the briefing room and our CO, Colonel Walker entered, "Greetings gentlemen," he said as he stood in front of the holoscreen showing a map of Cocoon, "This is Operation Godkiller so listen up, our Field of Operations is the floating continent of Cocoon and the lands of Gran Pulse," he showed us images of various areas of Cocoon, "Beautiful beaches, dense eco-systems, and cities of wonder." He showed us pictures of the seaside city of Bodhum, the Natural reserve of Sunleth Waterscape, and the last image was the Capital of Commerce, Palumpolum.
I have visited Palumpolum a few times, mostly for shopping as Cocoon has various foods that our world lacks in, and the beautiful artwork, Bodhum is the area where I have the most visits, as I go there every summer and spring, my expreinces have been postivie for the most part, but somehow PSICOM soldiers always gave me a hard time when they notice my dog tags and realize I'm from the R.O.E Military, they always seem jittery when comes to us, like their hiding something.
My train of thought was broken as our CO continue with his briefing of the Operation, "Some of you may have visited Cocoon on vacations or for R&R, but make no mistake if you don't watch each others back, none of you will leave it alive." He than press a button on his control and the slideshow change to various individuals, all of them from Cocoon, "Your targets is The Sanctum Government and PSICOM, we have been receiving intel and accounts from immigrants that they are conducting something call 'Purges', you have full autonomy in this mission, we'll have hidden vehicles and weapon caches scatter all over Cocoon." He handed us holopads showing us locations of various Vehicles and Weapon replenish sites.
He continue "Air and Ground Support will be given but keep it to a minimal, as you know once you gather enough shit on The Sanctum and we expose them we will launch a Military strike on Cocoon." our CO turned his back to face the slideshow, studying each target.
He changes the slideshow and this time it shows images of their mechanical gods, the fal'Cies, this time our CO didn't say anything, we knew what we had to do, seek and destroy, "Remember men, dying is failure, you will burn The Sanctum and their fal'cies to the ground, let them see the last thing they see, let them see who was holding the match."
He said that last part with burning hatred, it's no secret that the entire R.O.E Military hates The Sanctum and their fal'Cies.
Our CO turned on the lights, telling us our briefing is over, "If you men have any questions now is the time."
One operative in his late 20s raised his hand, "What are we to do if we encounter any Guardian Corp units, cause with all due respect Sir, I rather not kill any of them."
The CO smirked, "Believe it or not, it's the GC who's been giving us this Intel, one GC group known as The Calvary."
The entire room, myself included were Suprise to hear this, apparently GC are tired of PSICOM and want them out, can't say I blame them, never did like those assholes.
This time I rose my hand, "Sir?"
Colonel Walker looked over to me and smiled, he knew what I was about to ask, "Yes Major?"
"Where are we going to be dropped off?" I replied, I was curious into what part of Cocoon are we going to be dropped off.
Walker replied "Major, you and your team will be dropped near the seaside of Bodhum, word has it that PSICOM found something and are ready to do their 'Purge', your team are to gather evidence and as well save as many civvies as you can, We'll have Helios and Motherships on stand by, I fear that The Purge will start any day."
We all nodded,
When the Colonel asked if there were any more questions only to be met with by silence he told us to gear up, not without saying this finale statement, "If you encounter any PSICOM units, I want you to show them no mercy, the R.O.E council has no need for prisoners."
Some grunted, some stayed silent, I just didn't care, PSICOM will answer for their crimes and The Sanctum will burn in Hell for their crimes against their people, me and my team left the room and made to our lockers.
We're Travelers, going miles through mud and muck
In the weapons room no one said a word, me and my sqaud just got our equipment and gear, 3 of my squad mates had cybernetic limbs grabbed some extra grenades and Thermite charges, being that those 3 have a knack for heavy weapons, explosives and pyro-weapons as one of them grabbed a Purifier Flamethrower, Just by looking at that weapon, I almost feel sorry for the unlucky PSICOM bastard that is going to be on the receiving end, its make you forget on how advance our weapons are, compare to PSICOM who don't even have a Navy let alone Flamethrowers, but than you realize that all our weapons and tech is all but alien to Cocoon.
We are Survivors, Equipped with the right gear to survive for months in the worst conditions
I looked to the numerous weapons hanging on the walls, pistols on racks, machine guns on racks, everything that we need to get the job done , I picked 3 weapons; a Tac-19 Auto-Shotgun with frag ammunition, a H&k XM8 Assault Rifle as my backup, and lastly a MP-443 Granch handgun, all the right weapons for me, I looked to one of my teammate who was grabbing an Auger, a portable Minigun, now we need some heavy stuff incase a situation goes to shit, my last squad mate grabbed a Mechem NTW-40 Anti-Materiel Rifle, an upgraded and much more powerful version of the NTW-20, the last thing he grabbed was a Remington R5 RGP, he's our sniper and one of the best, but he's also deadly with an AR as well.
We Are Strangers, far away from home.
My team and I left the weapons room and made our way to the Equipment room, to gather some useful gadgets, once we enter Cocoon, we'll be ready, I haven't explore all of Cocoon and sure as hell my squad didn't as well, but luckily for us our CO gave us intel on all the locations of Cocoon, Eden seemed too calm for my taste, I prefer the wildlands of Gran Pulse, that's another thing on why The Sanctum doesn't like us, unlike them who restrict their populace in visiting Gran Pulse and calling it 'Hell on Earth' and the Cocoonains buy the bullshit that The Sanctum spits out, we weren't afraid as we told them that we wanted to explore these untamed lands, but of course they wouldn't allow it, Sanctum went as far as to restrict the A.0.E from visiting Pulse as this will just make their citizens curious and want to explore it, we agree, but of course the Military didn't play by their rules and wanted us to do scouting missions on Pulse and we return with intel that made our scientists and our archeologists curious, but we still had to respect the wishes of The Sanctum until now.
We are hunters, blending so deep in the environments we become one with it.
My mind went back to the list of Sanctum and PSIOCM officials, a lot of them are on the kill list, apparently these are the ones who are guilty of genocide and illegal human experimentation, something that their own citizens don't know about, not even the GC knows, so these assholes are better off dead, now there where a few who are in the 'take alive' list, the ones who have information of past purges and info on the Sanctum's most hidden secrets, I would prefer in killing all of them but of course I knew that by killing those targets we would lose mountains of intel, but of course we aren't by the book like the regular military, so we will do whatever it takes to extract info out of them.
We are adventurers, doing what no one else dares
Our trip to the equipment room was fast and short, we grabbed what we need, cameo suits, my Dragon Skin Level 5 Body Armor, optical cameo, some mines, some C4, any basic equipment that we need, the last 2 thing we grabbed , were trackers and chips for our camera so in the case we get capture or kill, the info and vid will be sent back to HQ, so in other words whether we die or not, the intel will still be sent.
We are Scholars, studying out enemies, so we can hit him where it hurts.
As we made it out of the base to the airfield where a VTOL Mothership was waiting for us, our CO caught up to us and reminded us on the other targets, the Sanctum fal'Cies and the mission of destroying the Gapra Whitewood bioweapon facility, we have read a bit of the Bioweapons PSICOM uses, while they may be strong and a bitch to fight against we found out they are extremely vulnerable to EMP weapons, so using a single EMP grenade will render the mighty Proto-Behemoth useless and open to attack, that's a relief, I was worried of chewing through ammo if we ever encounter one of those things.
We are judges, we deicide who lives and who dies
As we boarded the VTOL, I toke a long look of the snowy fields of Greenland, it may be the last time I see the snow, but death never sacred me, its a code I lived by in my times in the A.O.E Marine Corps, all I care about is bringing those guilty to justice and sending the worse ones to Hell, We are doing all of this for not just for victims of the crimes committed by The Sanctum, but for the people of Cocoon, for those who's bodies haven't been discover.
Once we were in the Mothership my squad mates took their sits while I just stood up, tapping my fingers on my gun, it won't be long until we reached Cocoon, not far from Fort Paradise was Dimensional Gate, one created by The Military, it took them 4 years to build that thing, another reason why it took HQ so long to get this operation going. I walked up to the front and reminded the pilot to activate the optical cameo once we we're near, I rather not get blown out of the sky by PSICOM Jets or having to fight a Skytank.
Our pilot took a long look at me, "So what are you guys again?" he asked with a hint of curiosity, even the regular military knew little about of us.
I smirked, "The less you know the better son."
The pilot nodded, he understood even if he was a bit disappointed, I look to my team, each of them armed and ready to go, they show no fear, no sign of wanting to turn back, "Remember guys, once the VTOL enters Cocoon airspace, it will land near Bodhum beaches, from there we will continue with our mission, oorah?"
All operatives gave a loud "OORAH!", they will follow their Major to the gates of hell if need be, fuck sakes, they will fight the hordes of Hell to bring back their Major, their leader, their friend.
"Hey Major!" yelled one of the operatives, a early 30s Caucasian man with a Russian accent
My eyes fell on him, "Yes Master Sergeant?"
Said MS grinned, "You think we can stop by Nautilus, I promise my little girl to get her one those Carbuncle dolls."
I gave a smirk, "No promises MS, but you could always get her one those Cautar dolls."
This time our Heavy Gunner spoke, a bear of a man who is like a foot taller than me, "Major what's your deal with that necklace?"
He was referring to my necklace that was the shape of a gunblade, many think it's a souvenir with my many visits to Cocoon, but they don't know how much this necklace means to me.
Before I could get a chance to answer his question a short ring came from our pilot, " Be advise we are about enter Cocoon airspace, welcome to paradise gentlemen."
I looked out the widow from the Mothership and can see that sphere shaped floating continent, The big hole was the first thing everyone notices, a scar from the War of Transgression, a conflict that happen 600 years ago, to this day we struggle to be up to date with Cocoon's calendar, back home its the year 2065, but on Cocoon its 1 Something, we still don't know what they stand for but hopefully we'll find some sorta if intel about that.
"Activating optical cameo, we are about 1000 feet above Bodhum. Good luck gentlemen and gods speed."
The back door of The Mothership open, I wave back to our pilot, thanking him for the flight, before we jumped we activated our invisibility cloaks, and then we jumped. We descended down with such speed, we saw the beaches, The Flying Tortoise Hotel. It was night, lucky for us, if it was day it would have been such a pain in the ass. This may be one of the hardest missions, sure it wasn't our first mission in this world, but those missions where on Pulse, but this one's different as we have the entire Floating continent, thousands of miles away from our world, but we're tough as nails, we're Specters, this what we do.
We are Specters, and we do not exist
So that's that, I'm still deciding if this should take place during the last 2 days before The Purge or during the beginning stages of The Bodhum Purge, a lot of the weapons, gear, and vehicles that my OCs will use are a mix of Modern Weaponry and Futuristic weapons taken from other games, with some minor changes to fit the story, anyways review it, send me feedback, tell me your honest opinion, don't sugarcoat it.