Interlude 2: Identity Crisis.
She had no clue as to what was going on. Her life was a complete blur. For one, She had no recolection of anything before a month ago, She woke up from a deep slumber and remembered nothing about her childhood, parents, even her name drew a blank in her mind. As soon as she woke up, someone had told her that her name was Ana and she was in love with a boy named Ninten. That didn't make any sense, she certainly didn't feel like an Ana and she didn't even know who this Ninten was. Another peculiar thing is that she would have these blackouts, the last thing she remembered was she was sitting in her hotel room, waiting for her roommate, then she blinked and she was at the front door to her hotel room, except it was now nighttime and her lip was swollen. She goes inside, and the first thing she sees is the time, 6:00 PM, the last time she looked at the clock it said it was noon. What the hell had she been doing for the past six hours?
"Hey babe, nice to see you." She hears the familiar voice of her roommate.
"Hello Porky, What have you been doing for the past 6 hours?" She asked him, in hopes of figuring something out.
"A little bit of this and a little bit of that, you know." He said as he started to rummage his way through the pantry, probably in hopes of finding some chips. "Oh yeah, I did get to see that fight you had with Teddy, you kicked his ass."
"Is that so? I do not remember..." That wasn't a lie, she didn't even know who this Teddy was.
"Oh, that sucks." He says as he stuffs his face with chips. "More importantly, I also got to hear about your new name, Reagan, huh?" A jolt, suprisingly, she actually remembered that! She was fed up with being called Ana, she thought Reagan was better.
"Yes, I feel Reagan is an apropriate name for me, I do not like the name Ana, I feel it does not suit me."
"Oh, ok then." He shrugged. "Well, with the defeat of Teddy, the seeds of deciept have been planted. Teddy says that you're the one that hospitalises him, Ninten doesn't believe that his girlfriend would ever do such a thing and gets offended, Ninten starts to trust Teddy less, and then they won't be able properly function as a team, and since 'Ana' is on our side, the only person Ninten can work with and trust is Loid, which puts us in a great position. I'll tell you, I've never seen the boss in such a good mood." She perked up at the mention of 'the boss'. Her boss was sort of a father figure to her. When she woke up for the first time, he was there to tell her everything. He was the one who told her that her name was Ana, and that she was instrumental to a new begining. He was also the first one to tell her that she was different.
She was one of the few humans born with a special type of power called PSI. This power allowed her to do things that normal humans couldn't even dream of. Another thing that made her different was that she was strong, much stronger than a girl her age should be, at least that's what she would think, if she actually had any idea how old she was in the first place. She recalled an event where she got really annoyed at yet another one of her blackouts, when she came to, it was nighttime and she was standing beside a car, she punched the door of the car in fury and to her suprise, It bent! It didn't just bend slightly either, it bent in half. She has never seen any other human do that to this day.
The boss told her that Ninten is apearently capable of doing the same thing to trucks, she wasn't suprised. She had to hang around with Ninten for extended periods of time, apparently, she couldn't remember, she would be around Ninten for a while and then she would have another blackout, but from what she had seen, he was very strong, and she didn't know why, but he always felt the need to impress her with his strength, as much as she didn't like it, she had to go along with it, boss's orders. The farce in general was annoying. To be around Ninten, she had to change herself completely, she had to wear a pink dress, had to put in these things called contact lenses because her eyes were green, she also had to wear her hair at the sides, in something called 'pigtails'. The whole process was nausiating to her. She prefered her normal attire very much, a black leather jacket with a black shirt and jeans, with her hair tied up into something called a 'low ponytail.' Did humans always have such stupid names for things? Why is it called a ponytail? Why is it low? She was certainly not a pony.
She moved her way over to the window, watching the cars pass by her hotel room. She didn't get to enjoy the view for very long, because she felt a pair of arms come from behind and wrap around her. "What are you doing?" She asked the only other person in the room.
"I'm showing my affection." He answers as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"I am confused, why do you suddenly feel the need to do such a thing?"
"Because, I like you." She couldn't help but raise her eyebrow.
"I do not understand the notion."
"It means I want to be involved with you, romantically."
"I see. If that is the case, then I do not feel the same way about you. The idea of romance does not appeal to me, and neither do you."
"Oh? Why not?"
"Your touch makes me want to vomit, you also smell of food and sweat. You are also very unattractive when compared to Ninten, you do not appeal to me physically, neither of you do for that matter. I am not intrested in the idea of romance in general, be it with you or Ninten." He didn't move.
"Cmon, don't be like that, I always get what I want for a reason." He cooed in her ear. She couldn't help but shudder.
"You are quite persistent. You do not accept no for an answer, do you?"
"Nope."
"Very well, I have other ways of saying no." She quickly spun around and picked him up by the throat, holding him against a wall. "Do not do this again. I will break your neck if you choose to persist. I assume you have better things to do than to have such meaningless conversations with me." She let him down. With a grunt, Porky left the room. Was he testing her? Why did he want to be romantically involved with her? She was positive that there were better looking suitors for him if he were to start looking.
Really, this whole ordeal has left her so confused.
INTERLUDE END
I let out a sigh as I arrive to my destination Ellay, year 1985. It should be approximately two weeks after Ninten and the others came back from the Nowhere islands, now then, let's see if I did it right.
"You?" I hear a familiar voice ring out. "What the hell are you doing here? When I said never to see me again, I meant NEVER, not two weeks later!" Ah. Thank you for confirming that for me, Ninten.
"Hey there, buddy." I turn to see Ninten standing there with Loid. "How are you doing? I hope you kids have been behaving." I grin at him. I swear, pissing off Ninten is FUN!
"Why are you here, Steven?" Loid asks me.
"Don't call him that, it's an insult to Steven, that's Giegue."
"Insult to Steven? Please, you didn't even like Steven." Ninten grunts. "and it's not like Steven went anywhere, we merged, he's a part of me, just like Giegue is." I explain to them.
"Very well then, that just leaves one question. Who are you?" Who am I? That's a question that stumps me everytime it's asked, am I Giegue? Am I Steven? Am I Human, or Gian? Would I be considered a hybrid? Goddamnit! There's a reason I try to avoid this question.
"That's not important right now." I end that conversation as soon as I can. "Next question."
"Why are you here?" Ninten calls out to me angrily.
"Simple, I'm here for Ana. You know, just in case she wants to be with a real man instead of a clown like you. Does she still wear that cherry flavored lip balm I like so much?" He grunts louder. "Actually, nevermind, It's not like you've ever gotten to kiss her before." Oh man! I think I see smoke coming out of his ears! "Get out of my way, hulkie, I'm here to go to the hospital."
"Why?" He growled.
"None of your damn business. Maybe I want to see a friend of mine in there?" I sigh. "Is there a particular reason I can't go in?" He shakes his head.
"No, I suppose not. But don't you dare try going back to your old lair." He walks up to me, stopping until we're nose to nose. "If you go back to your lair, I'll-"
"You'll what? Kill me? Don't make me laugh, even if you did muster up the courage to kill me, what's to stop me from coming back?"
"You of all people should know that I don't need to kill you, we all know your weakness." I scorn.
"My weakness? I really hope you're not talking about Maria's lullaby. If you sing even one verse of that, I'll claw your fucking throat out with my bare hands." I feel him gather up a bit of PSI. A red aura starts to surround me as I stare him down. "That's a bad idea, Ninten. The last time we fought, I used up quite a bit of power, just keeping Steven under control. I was only at a about 20% of my power back then, I'm at full power now baby. So, go ahead. I DARE you to fight me."
"Ninten." Loid puts his hand on his shoulder. "Come on, lets go, he's not even worth it." Ninten grunts as he starts to walk away.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." I grunt as I make my way to the hospital. "Oh yeah! One more thing." I say as I turn around, he does the same. "You're a smart guy, Ninten. It's a good thing you didn't try to attack me."
"-and why is that?" He spat.
"Because you would've been hit by quite a bit of PSI." He grunts. "That much PSI, to be exact." He raises an eyebrow. "Look up." They listen to me and both look up. I hear Loid's breath catch in his throat, he has a good reason to. Floating above them, a deep crimson cloud of pure PSI power about the size of Ellay sat there, menacingly. We all stare at it for a few moments before I quickly dispel it. "Just something for you two to think about the next time you want to fight me. Have a nice day." I wave goodbye to them as I enter the hospital. I smile to myself as I see the lack of a lineup, I grin as I walk towards the receptionist.
"Hi, how may I help you?" She asks me, I quickly let my eyes wander along her body. She's pretty good looking, that outfit of hers hugged her curves quite nicely. Too bad I have to look into things. I'll remember her the next time I'm in town though.
"Hey beautiful." Fuck it, I need to forget Claudia the elevator girl, go hormones go! She blushes slightly at my comment. "I'm looking for my friend, Teddy. I heard he was injured and brought here. Can you bring me to him?"
"Of course." She motions me to follow her down a narrow hallway.
"Wow, who would've thought I'd see such pretty girls such as yourself just walking around. I'm shocked that you're even working at a simple place. You give off the vibe of a celebrity trophy wife, or something." She giggles.
"Thank you, that's very kind of you." She smiles and turns to me. "I don't have a boyfriend, though... I just got out of a relationship, actually." YES! I just met her and I'm already getting her to spill the details.
"Really? Wow, I guess pretty girls can be single. I personally didn't think it was possible." She blushes a bit.
"Here's your friend's room." She motions towards the door on her right.
"Great, although, I kind of wish it was farther." I give her a smile, She giggles again.
"Yeah... Me too." She waves at me. "Have a nice day."
"I already am." I give her one last smile as open the door to Teddy's room. Well then, as I walk in the room, I see Teddy lying in a hospital bed, that officially confirms it, that dream was real. There's two other people dressed in blue, they both give me a menacing glare as they begin to approach me.
"Hey." He calls out as he adjusts himself on the bed. "Don't attack him, he's cool." They let up. "Even if you did, I doubt you would stop him. Why are you here?" He looks at me.
"Simple, I'm checking up on you. I heard you were beat up real bad."
"How the hell is that even possible? You're from, like what? 10 years in the future?"
"About that much, yeah." He glares at me. "So, who are these fine gentlemen?" I motion to the two guys standing by him.
"Friends of mine." He says abruptly.
"Funny, they look like gangsters."
"Of course, because they're friends of mine that look like gangsters."
"Are they your guys?"
"Guys? I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play stupid with me, Teddy. I can read minds, you know." He tries to laugh but winces in pain.
"Yeah, they're my guys." He nods while grinning.
"Wow, so you're back in the gang life, huh?" He keeps grinning, remaining silent. "You lying bastard!" I yell out in realization. "You never left?!" He nods. "Wow, no wonder Ninten was so pissed when I ran into him. You've been playing him for years!"
"It's not that simple." He explains.
"It doesn't have to be. The truth remains the same." He shrugs, or attempts to anyway. "Whatever, that's not why I'm here." He raises an eyebrow. "I'm here because I need to know exactly what happened you at that warehouse. But before we start..." I say as I reach into my pocket, pulling out the pack of cigarettes that the bullies got for me. "I bet you're killing for one of these."
"Oh god! You have no idea!" I grin as I walk over to him. He takes a cigarette and pops it into his mouth. He motions toward's one of his goons, he obviously knew what to do because he quickly pulled out a lighter and lit Teddy's smoke for him. "These damn doctors are driving me crazy! They even got rid of my friends smokes!" He takes a deep breath, before quickly wincing in pain. "Damn it! I can't do shit with broken ribs!" He rubs his chest for a moment. "Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I thought you said that you saw the whole incedent in a dream or something?"
"I didn't get to see much of it." I explain. "I only got to see bits and pieces of it."
"Oh, so you didn't get to see the beat down?" He asks hopefully.
"Oh no. That's what I saw the most."
"Damn, and here I was, hoping that you didn't see me get beat by a girl." He smiles. "Anyway. What part do you want to hear?"
"Just run the whole thing by me."
"Alright, then. It all started when I was relaxing by myself until I got a phone call from one of my guys. He told me that this girl was hunting my guys down. By the time I got the call, she had already hospitalized 10 of us in little under an hour." Shit. This chick is effective at what she does. "So, I went to go talk to the guys that got jumped, and they all told me the same thing. They all got jumped by this average sized girl with abnormal strength."
"Abnormal? How so?"
"Well, I spoke to this one guy that said she ripped a car door off of it's hinges and threw it at him. Another guy said that she punched a crater in a wall by the police station not too far from here. I checked, it's there!"
"Seriously?"
"Yeah! 'Fucking big one, too! But no, stupid me. I thought that it had to be something else, it couldn't be the girl they described, but I was proven wrong, really quickly."
"What happened?"
"I confronted her. You know the rest."
"Yeah, well, most of it. Did you see who it was?"
"I did, but it was weird..."
"Was she someone you knew?"
"Was she ever..." He takes a drag from his cigarette. "It was Ana."
"What?" I ask in shock.
"You heard me, man. It was Ana. Except she was weird. She was dressed differently like really differently. Like a biker would. She also said that she would rather be called Reagan instead of Ana." He shakes his head. "Well, she attacked me, we fought, and the rest you know." He sighs. "Some gang leader I am, I can't even stand up to the most gentle girl I know."
"Don't worry about it man." I reassure him. "Actually, I think you're lucky you weren't completely fucking killed. Humans aren't supposed to fight things that can throw cars like that." I begin to frown. "Well, this is great. I came here to get some questions answered, it seems that I'm left with more questions then before."
"What kind of questions?"
"Well, there's the biggest one being 'What the hell is going on?' That's pretty major. Now I have to figure out what happened to Ana, I have to find Pokey, and I need to stop Ana and Pokey before they get what they want. Oh yeah! That's another thing, what the fuck do they want?"
"Why don't you let Ninten and Loid take care of everything over here?" He asks me.
"Nope, they'll mess it up. I'm sure of it." I say to him as I turn to the exit. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot." I turn back to him and extend my hand. My fingertips start to glow red as a similar red glow starts to envelop Teddy. After a few seconds, a few snapping sounds were heard from Teddy's torso, as well as some grunting from Teddy. Once I feel it's enough, I lower my hand.
"Ah." He takes a deep breath. "Oh wow, thanks for fixing my ribs." He grins. "I was getting pretty pissed, since the main healer of our little group was the one who did this to me, and Ninten forgot. No one remembers little old Teddy." He snaps his fingers towards one of his gang members. "You there! Get my clothes, these hospital gowns suck!" He quickly does what he's told. "Thanks... Steven? Or do you go by Giegue now? Or was it Giygas?"
"Call me whatever you want. I'm not too sure what to go by myself. Bye." I wave goodbye as I leave the room head back over to the counter.
"Hey." The cute receptionist calls out to me.
"Hey you." I casually saunter over to her. "You know, I've been meaning to ask you. You want to meet up sometime?"
"Yeah, that would be great, but." She stares at me intently. "I don't date kids." What?
"Kid? Who says I'm a kid?"
"Your friend in the striped shirt over there." She points behind me. I turn to see Ninten, laughing at me. "He told me everything about you."
"Oh, is that right?" I growl as I put a cigarette in my mouth and light it up.
"You can't smoke in here."
"Oh, I know. I'm moving outside." I inhale and take the longest drag I can before walking outside and throwing the cigarette away. I stride over to Ninten until I get right in front of him.
"Is there a problem?" He's desperately trying to hold back his laughter. I scorn as I blow all the smoke in his face. "Hey you! *Wheeze* You. *Cough*" Whatever he was trying to tell me couldn't be heard, thanks to the asthma attack I just gave him.
"How's that for a problem, dickhead?"
"Loid!" He whispers. "My *wheeze* inhaler!"
"Wow." Loid says as he runs over with Ninten's inhaler. "Disproportionate retribution much? All he did was tell that girl you're only a kid! That's certainly doesn't warrant an asthma attack!"
"What can I say? Revenge is a dish best served with an extra helping. That and It probably doesn't help that I'm not on the best terms with Ninten to begin with." I grin. "You kids behave, now! Bye!" I wave to them as I teleport away. The scenery quickly changes from Ellay to Onett. I should tell Ness about what I found. As soon as I end up in Onett, I begin to look around for Ness. Clucking my tongue, I use PSI to locate him. He's... Not here. He's not in Twoson either, or Threed, or Fourside, he's not in Winters or Summers either. Where the hell is Ness?
"Steven!" I hear a female voice call out to me. I turn around and see Mona running towards me. Surprisingly, Jack is with her. "We saw Ness get jumped by some fat kid with blonde hair." Pokey.
"What!? When?"
"About 30 minutes ago. Jack and I were in town, and we both saw your friend get captured.
"Interesting. But, you live in Summers, Mona, and you live in Cinqtopolis, Jack. How did you two get here?"
"Is that really important right now? Your friend looked like he was in pretty bad shape!" Mona looks at me seriously.
"I see, well then. How would you two like to go on a little adventure?" I can't help but chuckle at this situation. Who would think that Giegue would ever have to save Ness? It's ridiculous.
Looks like this just got interesting.