Phantasy Star Online: Episode 2: The Return of the Four Heroes

PSOCecil

Two years have passed since Chihiro, Fei, Lutz, and Fallen Angel destroyed Dark Falz, freeing Red Ring Rico's spirit from it's dark hold. But the government is still hiding everything. Nobody knew about the heroes that walked among them. And that's the way Chihiro wanted it to stay.

She laid in her bed, waiting for something, anything, to happen. Chihiro stayed in her own apartment now, which she bought with part of the money awarded to her from the leader of Pioneer 2, the ship that they are on, Principle Tyrell. Fei and Lutz, recently married, are enjoying a nice life together, while Angel is still examining artifacts found in the mysterious ruins that housed Dark Falz. On occasion, he stopped by Chihiro's place.

"Man... I'm so bored!" Chihiro complained, lying on her bed on her stomach, when, just then, her visiphone rang. She hastily grabbed it.

"Yes? Yes? Hello??"

"Hunter Chihiro-Sen? Your services are needed again. Report to the lab."

"The... lab? Where's that?"

But the man had already hung up.

Fei and Lutz were enjoying one another, when their visiphone rang. "I'll get it." Fei said, and picked it up, "Hello?

"Force Fei Yen, and Force Lutz? Your services are needed again. Report to the lab." The voice said.

"Again?" Lutz sighed.

Chihiro was wandering around Pioneer 2, trying to find this 'Lab.' She spotted Fei and Lutz, and flagged them down. "Fei! Lutz!" she called, waving her arms like a lunatic. She ran to them, "I've missed you guys! Why have ya called?" she asked.

"Uh.. er.... um..." Lutz stammered, trying to grasp an answer.

"We've... been... um... busy." Fei slowly said.

'Ah, I understand. You two were just married, right? I guess you would want some quiet time alone, to think about how much your lives have changed." Chihiro said, smiling.

'Is she really that dence...?' Lutz thought.

"Um... ya, that we have." Fei said, with a nervous smile.

They all stayed quiet for a little while, when Lutz asked, "So, Chihiro, keeping up with your studies?"

Chihiro laughed nervously, and everyone knew the answer was a resounding 'No!'

"So, you guys get called the this 'Lab', too?" Chihiro asked.

"Yeah, we're going there now." Fei said.

"Oh... I'll just walk with you, and, um... at the end, you can walk me home, because we're such good friends!" Chihiro said, smiling.

"You were lost." Fei plainly said.

"What?! How could you!?" But Fei's glare changed her mind, "I was extremely lost!" Chihiro finished.

"Ha! Thought so. It's ok, just follow us." Fei said.

Chihiro did so.

They arrived at the Lab, and were astonished by the technology. Large computers, small robots, engineers, and a woman standing behind a large desk.

Angel, who apparently was already called, was talking to the ('Rather ugly...' Chihiro thought) woman.

"Ah, it appears that the rest of your group is here." The woman said.

"Fei, Lutz, nice to see you two again." Angel smiled, and looked overjoyed when he saw Chihiro, "Chihiro! I've missed you!"

Chihiro slightly laughed, "But we talked over visiphone yesterday." she said, still giggling.

"Yeah well..." He rubbed the back of his neck.

The lady behind the desk cleared her throat, loudly.

"Oh, this is Nastasha Milarose, the head scientist here in the Lab. She wants to find a missing general, who apparently went into the ruins before us, with an exploration party... they were all lost, but he lived. We don't know what happened after that, however." Angel explained.

"I suspect that Dr. Osto has something do with this, as he was seen, "she glanced at Chihiro, "with you, during the Numan incident. He was examining your cut, from that dark creature. We... spotted him cutting off a slice of the infected flesh on your body... we then lost track of him." Milarose said.

Chihiro looked at the cut and remembered the haunting encounter with what she thought was her brother, Bahn. She shuddered.

"Well then," Milarose started, "Let me explain the nature of your mission. We want you two four to head to Gal Da Val island, where out satellites spotted Heathcliff Flowen, the man you are to find, last week. We would of sent some of out scientists down there but... " she shrugged, "the monsters down there are unlike anything we've ever seen before."

"Do you have any sort of videos, or photos of some of these creatures?" Fei asked.

"Well... we had only sent one android out, with a video feed back to us.... the android was destroyed." Milarose said, untouched.

"You recorded it, right?" Chihiro asked.

"Of course." Milarose pressed a key on her computer, and a video opened on a big screen behind her. It showed a regular walk through a large mountainous region. The camera panned up, and a giant ape-like creature came crashing down, and the rest was static.

"There's no telling how many of those things are lurking around the mountain." Milarose stated.

"And looks like you never know when one will..." Chihiro swallowed hard, "come crashing down..."

Milarose closed the video on her computer, "So, will you take the job?" she asked the group.

Lutz glanced at Fei, who nodded. Fei glanced at Angel and Chihiro, who both nodded.

"Yeah, we'll do it." Lutz said.

"Excellent. We have the teleporter tuned to the correct coordinates, and your operator has been assigned."

"Operator?" Chihiro asked.

"She will update you on recent developments on Pioneer 2." Milarose grabbed a microphone to the whole lab. "Elly Person, report to the central Lab desk."

Moments later, a numan girl, who looked to be about 16, and was dressed in a small white dress, ran in.

"Ms. Milarose! I swear, I didn't do anything, this time!"

Milarose shook her head, "No, no, you didn't do anything wrong. Quite the opposite, your here because of your extraordinary mechanical and operating skills."

"You mean..." she gasped, "I'm a fully fledged operator now?!" She squealed.

"Yes, their's."

Elly quickly turned, and faced the group. "Wow! Real hunters! Don't worry!! I'll be an excellent operator!!!" Elly quickly said, jumping up and down she was so excited.

"Uh... great..." Chihiro said.

Elly settled down a bit, just to get excited again.

"Is that CALUS?!" She squealed, pointing at the large computer.

"Uh... yes, it will help you in your operation." Milarose said.

"WOW!!" Elly ran in front of CALUS, and sat down in front of the large computer that housed the AI. "HI!"

"Hello, miss. What is your user name and password?"

"Elly Person. Password is... My Hunter ID."

"Name accepted. Password accepted. Welcome to CALUS, Elly person." The machine said, in a almost human-like voice.

While Elly tried to hold a conversation with CALUS, whom she named CAL, Chihiro, Angel, Fei, and Lutz got up to date on their mission.

"Ms. Person!" Milarose called.

"Just a sec, CAL... yes? Uh... ma'am?"

Milarose grumbled, and said, "The Party is leaving. Set up the teleporter to Gal Da Val Island, beyond the security wall."

"Uh... sorry... a force field or something is in the way... CAL can't get a lock." Elly said, finally sounding a little professional.

Angel nudged Milarose, "So... how did we gets stuck with her? She seems a little.... empty minded."

Milarose chuckled. "She may not look it, but she has done better then everyone on Pioneer 2 in operating...at least in simulations. But we threw every possible occurrence at her, so... no worries."

"What do you mean, no worries?" Angel said, "There could be a occurrence that your team didn't think of that is thrown at her." 'And you don't even know that Dark Falz once exited...' Angel thought.

"Don't worry! I can handle anything!" Elly said, while spinning in her chair.

Angel just sighed.

"You will start your mission in the morning." Milarose concluded. Everyone returned to their rooms.

Back in her room, Chihiro sighed. "It sure is lonely... without Fei here..." Ever since Fei married Lutz, Chihiro and Fei slowly drifted apart... not because of Lutz, really, but because the newlyweds had more important things on their minds. When she thought about it, everyone was drifting apart, 'Even Angel and I...' she thought, with a tear in her eye. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Coming!" She ran to answer it.

Chihiro opened the door, and saw Elly there, holding two suitcases. Even with the extra weight from the suitcases, she was bouncing up and down from the excitement. "Oh...! I'm so excited!! I got to move in with you, 'cause I was promoted! Isn't this great?!" Elly squealed.

"Uh... yeah... great..." Chihiro forced a smile. 'You've gotta be kidding me... now I'll never get to sleep...' she thought.

But she did, Elly was still moving some of her stuff in throughout most of the night. Chihiro offered to help, but Elly said "Oh no, you need to rest up for tomorrow."

Chihiro happily agreed.

The next morning... Chihiro yawned, and slowly opened her eyes. As expected, Elly was already up. "Good morning!" Elly exclaimed.

'How did she know I was up...' Chihiro thought, confused. "Good morning..." She finally said.

"I already made waffles, hurry, we have to go in 20 minutes."

Chihiro got out of bed, and walked into the shower. She undressed, and saw her reflection in the mirror, of her naked body. She grinned. 'All this time, I look like I haven't aged a day.' She thought. That was, of course, because she was a numan, and once they reach their teens, they stop visibly aging, until they get around 100 years old or so, they then die, looking around 17 years old. She turned 17 two years ago. She smiled at her magnificently formed body, and began her quick shower.

Ten minutes later, fully dressed, Chihiro began eating her food. "This is great!!" Chihiro exclaimed. Elly was beaming with pleasure. The remaining ten minutes flew by...

They arrived at the lab, prepared for their mission. Prepared for the last mission that they would ever take.

"You ready everyone?" Angel asked.

"Of course." Chihiro said.

Fei and Lutz looked sort of worried, but nodded.

"Good luck in finding him. Elly will guide you from here." Milarose said.

Elly step ed forward. "Here, you will need these... minicoms. They let you communicate from anywhere on Ragol. The security wall surrounding where Flowen was last heard can only be unlocked if three security switches are pulled within 5 seconds of each other. Once all three are pulled, Chihiro will have another 5 seconds to run through a large door that will open, and pull a large switch on the other side of the door, to keep the door open. Chihiro, while holding that switch, do NOT let go, while someone is in the door way... the door will slam shut." Elly exclaimed.

Chihiro gulped.

"You mean... we all have to split up?" Lutz asked, looked at Fei, worried.

"Oh, you know me! I'll be ok!" Fei said, smiling.

But he wouldn't stop looking at her, worried for his loves safety.

"This mission rides equally on all of you," Elly said, "Except you, Chihro. It rides more on you then anyone." Elly pointed out.

"What?! WHY?!" Chihiro screamed, suddenly put on the spot.

"Well, you're the smallest, and the fastest, so your the one that's going into the base, and holding the door."

"Oh.." Chihiro sighed.

"She can't hope to have all that responsibility for herself." Fei said, coldly.

"What??" Angel asked, confused.

"Fei!" Lutz said, surprised that she would say such a thing.

"Hey..." Chihiro said, looking sad.

"I'm kidding!!" Fei said, as she raised her hands in surrender.

For a little while, Chihiro looked ready to cry, under all the pressure, and Fei's sudden cruel joke. "That wasn't nice..."

Fei laughed. "Sorry.." she added.

"Well then," Elly said, "Let's begin. everyone, into the teleporter."

Everyone stepped into it, and they were covered in a bright light. Before they knew it, they were back on Ragol.

Chihiro sighed, "I never wanted to come back here again...."

To be continued...