Well, I feel sort of bad for taking such a long time to come out with this. So, I decided to make this chapter a special! It's double the normal chapter length, and it's not filler!
Enjoy!
Chapter 10
The place that the Boreal guy had been bringing us to must have been really expensive. We arrived at this big dome shape thing that had a cylinder shape entrance and exit.
The other people in the tour group stopped and stared in awe at the hugeness of the structure, but I simply stared at it before looking at Boreal. He was an interesting person, in a way. I haven't forgiven him for not being there for my mom, but he didn't seem like an overall bad guy.
I would need some more information about him before deciding what my thoughts on him.
Boreal stood in front of our tour group now, and grinned widely, "Welcome to WAZA's very own anti gravity space simulation chamber!" I raised my eyes in skepticism and curiosity at this. A real antigravity chamber? I had heard of some rumors, but I didn't think one had been created yet.
At the shocked looks of most of the kids in the group, Boreal continued, "Yes, it is true. WAZA has managed to create an antigravity simulator, and we have even set up model planets, to inspire learning and education about space!"
He said all this with an extremely proud look. I looked around myself, and it seemed that almost everyone but me shared the same look. The simulation was probably still in testing; otherwise they would release it to the public.
A huge project like this would no doubt bring in many tourists and visitors. It's not every day that one gets to simulate anti-gravity...or being out in space as a whole.
That is of course, saying that this thing actually works.
Boreal's ecstatic voice interrupted my thoughts, "And today, all of you get to go inside the simulator!"
At that statement, even I gasped in shock. Granted it was more like a sudden deep breath, but still.
They would allow kids to enter and use an expensive complicated simulation system? What were these guys thinking! My face curled up in distaste as I looked at the other members in my tour group. These kids would probably end up breaking it.
I shook my head in disappointment. If they allowed brats to enter this thing, it probably was a fake. Or they didn't care about their system at all. But that's probably very improbable.
Boreal showed us all to a big box located near the entrance of the simulation. He pressed some buttons on the box, and then slid in a key card. The card popped out, and a green light flashed, before the box opened in a high tech and flashy way.
I sighed as the others expressed admiration at the overcomplicated opening. Inside the box however, it turned out there were miniature space suits! I guess they were trying to make the process seem as realistic as possible, even though the simulation was most likely a dud.
Boreal stated with excitement, "Go ahead and take a spacesuit! The simulation does not have any oxygen in it to make it more similar to real space, so I'll be coming around to make sure all the spacesuits are on correctly!"
I scoffed as I looked at all the kids scrambling to get a suit. They were colored also, so many of the kids were fighting over which color they wanted. And a lot of them were struggling to even put on their spacesuits.
I sighed. We would be stuck here for a long time.
Someone tapped my shoulder, and my gaze shifted over to a pink blob. I already knew who it was. Apparently Sonia wasn't one of the people who were having trouble putting on their spacesuit. Her bright pink suit hurt my eyes a little. Her helmet was off, and it seemed that the suit fit her perfectly.
"What do you want?" I said neutrally. My voice didn't really have any contempt, but not really any happiness either.
Sonia smiled and pointed at the box with all the spacesuits in it, "You should go get a suit, it seems that a lot of the other people are already done putting their suits on." That confused me a little, I thought everyone was having trouble?
I took a glance at the others, and sure enough, they had their suits on. Boreal must have done a pretty good job. I grunted to myself as I looked at the box. There was only one suit left, and it was probably left behind because nobody wanted it.
I didn't blame them, it looked much older than the other suits. I observed Sonia's suit; hers had a ton of badges and logos on it, and it was pretty shiny too. The other suits held the same qualities. But the suit that I unfortunately had to take wasn't shiny at all, and it was completely plain.
Hmph.
It didn't matter anyway. If it is usable, I'll take it. Having a bunch of shiny buttons didn't add to the suit. I looked at the others. Sad that they couldn't understand it.
Plus the suit was orange. Orange is my favorite color.
I fitted the suit on myself pretty easily. It clicked together, signaling that it was airtight, and I held my helmet underneath my arms.
Boreal whistled, and my attention shifted to him, "Alright kids, does everyone have their suit on correctly?" At the affirmations of everyone, he continued. "Then let's go inside the simulator! Make sure to stay close together!"
The kids cheered, and I simply stayed silent. But I have to admit, I was a little excited for whatever was inside the dome. Boreal opened the door to the simulation, and like the box, the opening sequence was flashy and overcomplicated. The inside of the place was completely dark, and Boreal walked inside leisurely.
"We are going through an airlock, so we can make sure that air does not get in the simulator," Boreal explained as the group followed him inside the simulation.
Hmph, interesting. This thing might actually be real with all the trouble that was going on to make sure that air doesn't come in.
The room we entered was completely dark; a couple of the kids in my group started to whimper quietly to themselves in fear. I scoffed, it was just the dark. And besides, being in space wouldn't be much better, with only the dim light from the stars and reflected light.
The room slowly started to hiss, as oxygen was sucked out of it, and I felt pressure against myself lessen as the process intensified. A screen lit up, signifying the process of the airlock chamber, and it was almost complete.
I sucked in a breath from my helmet; the oxygen from it wasn't the best, but I would deal with it. The screen was lit enough that I could take a look around the room. Seemed like most of the other stuff at WAZA; fancy and overcomplicated.
A flashing attracted my attention, and I looked at the monitor once again. It was completely finished releasing all the oxygen in the airlock.
If something was to go wrong, and my helmet was to come off or something, I'd most likely die.
Not a pretty thought.
I grimaced at that speculation but looked at Boreal who was in the process of opening the door to the simulation. Unlike all the other doors, it seemed that this one was focused more on safety than looks, so it actually seemed practical.
The door opened with a hiss, and I looked shakily at the insides of the simulation. There seemed to be dim light coming through it, and I felt the effects of gravity lessen on me, to the point where I was almost weightless.
Well, well.
Turns out that these people at WAZA do know what they're doing.
Hmph. Of course they did.
Dad was one of them.
I jumped inside the simulation, following the example of the other people in my tour group. Boreal seemed to be keeping a close eye on everyone, and I wondered how he was going to communicate with us; with sound not being able to travel without a medium.
A fizzle came from my helmet, and I winced at the amplitude and pitch of it.
I see.
He was going to use radio to talk to all of us.
Boreal talked, his voice filled with static and interference, "Everyone, follow me. Don't get lost now; this chamber is very large, and it is easy to get disoriented around. Keep close to me, and always go with a buddy."
Yeah right.
There was nobody in this group who I'd want to travel in a group with willingly. I grunted in distaste at the mere thought of it. I floated away from the group, ignoring the orders of Boreal, and took a look around.
Stars permeated the blackness of space, giving off a dim luminescent glow. The planets revealed themselves to me, definitely not life size, but much larger than my own body mass.
How interesting.
I was still moving, however; it appeared that rules in space did apply here in this simulation. I was an object in motion, and I needed something to put me back at rest. I stopped my movement by placing my hand on a bright orange sphere, and contemplated my surroundings.
Until I realized that the object I touched was Jupiter.
Sort of.
I looked deeply at the model Jupiter, and observed how precise the clouds were depicted on it. It looked like the creators of this simulation actually took time to make everything in this simulation as precise as possible.
That gained a nod of satisfaction from me.
Quite nice, quite nice.
Someone tugged my spacesuit, and I rolled my eyes before turning to the person who had interrupted me. Instead of a pink suit invading my vision, it was a blue suit, and Luna came in front of me, her angry face clear through her helmet.
She started to shout in her helmet, and I watched with a smirk as she realized that I wouldn't be able to hear her because of space. Instead of screaming at me, she settled for just pointing rapidly towards the rest of the people in the group, who were slowly getting farther and farther away.
I simply turned around to gaze at the creation that probably took years to make. Even if I don't end up finding any useful information about my dad here at WAZA, seeing this simulation definitely made this trip worthwhile.
A vibrant comet traveled near me, and I took in the beautiful dust and ice particles that formed its tail. I leaned towards the comet, and I realized that I was actually moving. Apparently that tug that Luna gave me had sent me in motion.
I looked at Luna, who was still holding on to my spacesuit, before trying to touch the comet. That earned a stern shake of disapproval from Luna, before she pointed back at the tour group, which seemed very far away now.
But in her haste to reprimand me, she made a mistake.
One in which I would take advantage of.
If she wanted to go to the group so badly, she should join them.
I smirked.
She had let go of me when she went to point to the group. So I moved my leg back...and I kicked her in the direction of the group. There was no chance that she would be able to come back to my location, seeing how she would have no way to alter her course of motion.
So I wouldn't have to deal with her for the time being.
Her face was so red it looked like she was going to explode!
That made me chuckle a little bit, before I gave her a little wave and started to float away. Unfortunately, that kick I gave her made my speed increase, so I was going through the simulation pretty quickly. I estimated I would hit the walls of the simulation pretty soon, but until then, it would be nice to observe and take in all that this place had to offer.
After a couple minutes of waiting, I felt my back impact something very solid; probably the edge of the chamber. I sighed, before looking at the amazing sights around me.
Space truly was amazing.
But it was around the time in which I should be heading back to the tour group.
I took one last glance at the things around me before using the wall to kick off in the direction in which I last saw the group. But a flash of red behind me made me quickly look back at the wall, which now had huge warning signals over it.
This probably wasn't good.
It was flashing extremely quickly, and had huge danger signs. I turned my head in the direction I was currently traveling in. Everything around me seemed fine, so the problems that occurred must be near the group.
I grit my teeth in frustration.
This is what happens when you let brats meddle freely.
I don't know why, but my heart was beating much more quickly than usual.
I looked at my transer, which my suit conveniently had a screen for, and I grunted in annoyance when I did not see Mega. Of all the times to be gone...
Familiar terrain started to pass by me, as I looked around for the tour group. I didn't know why I was so worried!
But I just..was.
Instead of the sun being in the simulation, the creators of this thing replaced with it a huge ball, decked out with big and flashy monitors. If the group was anywhere in this chamber, they were probably around that.
People began to come into my view, and they appeared to be...dancing? What were they doing that for! They must have seen all the huge warning and danger signs! This was no time to be messing around.
Honestly, what were these kids thinking!
But as I saw more and more of the members in my tour group, I realized something was wrong.
Everyone was dancing.
And I mean everyone.
I even saw Boreal dancing with them. I grunted in confusion. What was going on?! Why did they randomly start to dance!
But then I saw it.
There was a huge head displayed on all the monitors of the center podium, the replacement sun. This guy...or rather, this thing, looked absolutely disgusting. It looked extremely similar... to that other guy I fought before.
My eyes widened.
This must be another attack!
I looked at my transer, desperately hoping Mega was there. But of course, the guy was not there.
I growled.
So it appears that I would have to get rid of this guy myself.
It was a good thing I kept my glasses inside my helmet, as I quickly put on the Visualizer too look around. It appeared that the center podium thing was sending waves of data to all the spacesuits.
This wasn't good.
So that...thing in the monitor was controlling everyone using their spacesuits. And the only thing currently keeping me from the same fate as the others was my distance from the center thing.
But that was quickly changing the closer and closer I got to it.
I couldn't stop my motion, or even alter it in the slightest way. That meant there was nothing I could do to escape that thing's control.
What could I do...
Because I would stay in motion...
I jumped as a realization occurred over me. My current path went near the center thing, but it didn't touch anything on the way! Which meant I would keep moving past it. So even if I was controlled, I would still keep moving, until I was too far away for the signal to reach me!
And once I got past it, I could locate the exit and try to get some help.
I smirked, and looked at the others, who had noticed my arrival.
All of them appeared to be yelling into their spacesuits, trying to get me to turn away.
The fools. All they were doing was wasting their air supply.
"Geo you need to get away from the main transmission podium," Boreal's voice stated with a sense of urgency. He was the only one I could hear, him being the one with control over the radio headsets. I don't know exactly if he could hear my responses, but it was worth a shot.
"No need to worry," I stated calmly. "I have it covered."
"You don't understand! This thing is controlling all of us! He is trying to make us dance until we run out of oxygen!"
"I know what I'm doing."
"No you do-!" His voice cut off.
Weird.
I was practically in front of the whole group, and I looked at all of them do their ridiculous dance. Boreal looked like he was freaking out, but instead of yelling in screaming, he apparently was trying to control his breathing.
I smirked.
Smart guy.
I then took a look at the monster on the monitor. He seemed to be enjoying the dancing, and when he noticed me, he pompously stated through my helmet radio, "Another swan eh! Get to dancing!"
With my Visualizer on, I could clearly see the new set of waves coming at my space suit. I stole a glance at the others, and by the alarmed look on their faces, they probably heard his message too.
I swiveled around while moving, and I watched with interest as the waves formed a connection with my suit. But strangely I didn't feel any urge to move. Did something malfunction? I was still in the machine's radius of control, so I should have started dancing.
That image made me grimace.
The monster thing also showed some confusion, but he started ignoring me in favor of playing with the others.
Boreal's voice cut in once again, "Geo you need to go find help. Your suit is old enough that he cannot control your body, so we need you to go-" His voice cut off again. He was sure doing that a lot wasn't he?
"Oy kid," A gruff voice stated through my headset. Normally I would have yelled at him. But at this moment, I was relieved to hear Mega again. He must be keeping me from becoming a dancer like the others.
I smirked, "Finally Mega, I thought you weren't coming."
Mega smirked right back, speaking haughtily with a tone of excitement, "And miss a party like this! No way!"
His face then turned serious, 'This guy is an FM-ian like Taurus," I grimaced. Another one huh.. "And this guy is probably much stronger than Taurus." I blanched at the thought of someone stronger than that monster.
"So how do we beat him, Mega?"
Mega smirked again, "We do what we always do. Let's go kid!"
I guess that was the signal to wavechange. I looked around. The tour group had faded from my view, and I was probably very far away from them.
Good.
Nobody to see it.
After a brief pause, I stated confidently, "Alright Mega, let's do it."
The same thing as before happened; I body was covered with armor, and I was now looking through a red visor. Mega appeared on my left hand again, and now that I wasn't in the heat of battle, I could see how creepy it was.
I shook my head. This was no time to be thinking about that.
"Ok, kid," Mega stated. "We can travel freely now, so you'll probably want to enter the same cyberspace the other guy's in."
At my confused look, Mega sighed, before yelling, "Just go touch the monitor!"
Jeez, what a forceful guy.
I angled my body towards the monitor, and I just..moved. I can't really explained how I controlled it, but I bet Mega was helping me. I was at the monitor in no time, and because I was wavechanged, I was able to see the waves that were controlling the others.
I took a glance at them, and Mega yelled at me again, "Stay focused kid! We can save your friends later! If we do it now, they'll interrupt our fight with the FM-ian!" I rolled my eyes. Mega was probably just trying to find an excuse to fight something.
They couldn't see me, so I really couldn't do anything to help them right now.
So I guess he did have somewhat of a point.
My right arm jerked, as Mega controlled my body again. How annoying. I wrenched back control of my arm and tapped the monitor in which the monster was in. It was an interesting feeling, as I felt my whole being just get sucked away into another dimension.
I was being compacted into little tiny packets, and I was suddenly flying through a huge network of packets. The whole thing made me pretty disoriented. But there was one section of the packets, which were glowing red.
And usually in these cases red wasn't a good color.
So that was probably the problem area.
I willed my body, or rather, what was left of it, to go to that red region. I sure hope Mega knew what he was doing.
Bright light filled my vision, as I felt myself being unpacked, and I was...me again. My feet touched ground, and the white light subsided. I immediately closed my eyes and fell to the ground clutching my stomach.
The feeling of nausea was overwhelming! I couldn't even move!
I stole a glance at Mega, who looked annoyed at my apparent lack of stamina. "You're useless, kid. You know that! Going down after just entering a netspace!" I growled in anger, before looking at my surroundings once the feelings had subsided.
And there was probably only one word to describe it all.
Swans.
There were just so many swans around me. They didn't really look like swans either. They were like rubber duckies with the head of a swan. I grimaced in disgust. But apparently one of those swan things noticed me, and it sent a barrage of feathers towards me.
"Move!" Mega yelled urgently, before I felt myself get tugged to the left.
Mega had apparently pulled me out of the way. I chuckled weakly.
So now he decides to be a nice guy.
But I stared at the area in which the feathers had hit. They had actually managed to pierce the ground I was on. I looked back at the swan, which was now surrounded by friends.
One thing was for sure.
I could not be hit by those feathers.
Mega looked at me with a disapproving look, but I ignored it. I held up my left arm towards those things, and used Mega's head to fire shots at them.
Surprisingly, only 3 of them went down before all the swans started dodging. My aim was just that bad. Following my first move, they started moving in every direction. I growled in frustration at my lack of success in hitting them. How could they move so fast!
I managed to take down a few more of them, but after that, they started launching attacks at me.
So now I was dodging feathers and trying to hit moving targets that were extremely fast.
However, after a couple minutes, all of them completely froze in midair. I watched with interest, before Mega jolted me out of my thoughts. "They're standing still! Get them!" That was a sort of low blow, in a way.
But then again, 30 vs 1 wasn't a very fair game either.
So I took the initiative and started firing at all of them. I managed to take out almost half of them before a force knocked into me.
Hard.
I was sent flying backwards, and I skidded along the ground before I finally stopped. I grunted in pain. What kind of attack was that? I stood up very slowly, testing my body for any permanent injuries. Whatever had hit me must have been extremely powerful.
As I got up on my feet fully, a dark shadow was cast on my body before I was quickly launched away by another kick. I grunted from the sheer force of the hit. What incredible power!
Instead of falling over, I was able to stay on my feet this time. I clutched the spot where I had been hit, and kneeled down on one knee, trying to gather some strength. How could I beat a guy like this!
A sinister, dark voice rang out through the netspace, "Omega-Xis," I felt Mega tense up on my left arm, and I grimaced. "You have bonded with such a puny human. You should be deeply ashamed."
I winced at that one. I wasn't weak!
Mega responded haughtily, "And the host you've found is better than mine?" I heard Mega scoff. "Oh, and by the way, your dance moves are pathetic as always."
That seemed to get this guy really mad. "I'm more graceful than you will ever be!"
I sensed the space behind me shift, and I quickly leaped away, narrowly avoiding a kick by my opponent. But for the first time in the fight, I was able to see who I was fighting.
The monster had two large wings, and looked like a mutated bird. He wore a hat that was pointed, like a bird's beak, and his feet were huge, like the feet of frogs. How disgusting.
I took Mega's head and quickly began shooting at the thing, but to no avail.
It seemed that every time a shot would hit him, it just went straight through him. Could he phase through objects or something! I looked a little closer; he was just using his insane speed to move out of the way!
How was he so fast!
Mega yelled at me, "Kid, if this doesn't work, use a wide-range attack!"
I nodded. I looked at my transer before pulling out a cannon chip. I took it out, and tossed it out to Mega for him to devour. I never liked how he did that. But soon my right arm transformed into a cannon, and I started blasting away.
But the guy was still able to avoid every shot!
I grunted, and started to pull out another battle chip, but someone grabbed my arm. I looked up with a little bit of fear as the monster stood in front of me. The thing was tall, I'll give it that.
But that wasn't the thing to focus on at the moment.
The monster hit me straight in the stomach, and I felt myself flying backwards, but the monster's grip held steady. He started to repeatedly punch me, with my body reeling back in pain every time. Eventually he kneed me in the stomach before throwing me away.
I skidded along the floor, my body weakening from the constant abuse. The pain was excruciating, with my whole front side on fire, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to take much more of this.
But what could I do!
I looked at my transer, gasping in hurt as I looked over my battle chips. My hands were shaking, I couldn't even pick a battle chip up! How could I be so useless! They all started dropping on the floor, and my vision was going blurry from the fight.
This was it. I couldn't last anymore in this fight.
I grunted my teeth in anger. How much stronger is this monster?
My face connected with the ground as I fell over in exhaustion.
I couldn't go anymore.
It would be too difficult...
My vision started to go blurry.
I then heard a chomp sound, and for some reason.. I couldn't feel anything anymore.
My vision cleared up.
My body stopped shaking, the pain in my stomach and chest completely disappeared, and I could move again. I stood up, my whole body feeling a bit numb. What had happened? I looked at Mega, who looked back, smirking.
"Come on kid, we don't have that many recover battle chips. Stop messing around and get to work!" So he had used a recover battle chip huh. For some reason, everything just felt serene to me.
I was just on the ground, and now I'm back up again? Miniature little swans were swimming across my field of vision, and I was so sleepy. What was going on? Why was I fighting?
All the swans started to go to sleep.
And I had the strangest desire to go to sleep also.
If I could just slumber for a little while, I'm sure I could remember the reason I was here. I distantly heard Mega shouting at me, but I ignored him. He probably just wanted to ruin my day or something...
But then a fist hit my face.
I was sent backwards once more, the netspace seemingly never-ending. But this punch didn't hurt as much as the previous ones for some reason. I got up, and started to quickly shake my head. I was awake now.
"Mega, what happened?" I asked demandingly, before avoiding a hit from the larger monster.
Mega responded with an annoyed tone, "You got caught up in one of his illusions. Pathetic if you ask me. How are you going to save your friends like this?"
"They're not my friends," I responded quickly. But my face grew dark and serious as I remembered that people would die if I didn't end this quickly. This thing was controlling everything, so if it died...they would be safe.
I ignored his jabs at me, before pulling out a battle chip. This guy only seemed to use physical attacks on me. So I had to do the same thing. Mega ate up the battle card, and a sword appeared in my right hand.
This monster was going down.
I closed my eyes, trying to sense for his presence. Just maybe, if I focused hard enough, I could find out where he was. I widened my eyes, before ducking, avoiding a kick, before thrusting my sword at it.
The thing didn't expect my attack, but it expertly weaved around my sword before going with another kick. I blocked with my sword, and pixels of friction appeared as we tried to overpower each other.
I was quickly losing our battle of strength, so I positioned Mega's head at the monster's head and fired some shots.
But the thing just avoided it!
How would I counter this thing's speed?
It came again, wielding... a feather? This thought made me lose focus, and a cut appeared on my shoulder. There were pixels coming out of that spot now as I winced in pain. What a sharp feather...
It engaged me in a duel, as we both used our weapons against each other. The thing was swinging its feather at an extremely quick pace, and I was actually able to block a lot of his hits.
He slashed from the right, I blocked from the right, before jumping over the following kick.
He feinted right, before dealing a roundhouse kick to his left, one which I jumped over.
He launched a flurry of attacks against me, but I was starting to evade them also.
He stabbed with the feather, aiming for my left side, and I smirked at the opening.
HIs feather was much shorter than my blade, so my blade reached his wing before his feather reached my shoulder. I grinned in triumph as I cut off his left wing. But I didn't let up there; I kept trying to slash at them.
I was now on the offensive, and the thing was doing well in keeping up.
I slashed left, followed by a punch with Mega's head, but he simply blocked my sword and the head.
We were in a deadlock now, with our two weapons once again creating sparks of friction, and his free hand trying to keep Mega from eating off his hand. With my hands occupied, I used my legs to try and kick him back.
He had anticipated this, and jumped away until he was just barely in view. He was still fast, but he was much slower than before.
I smirked in realization. The monster was doing a good job fighting with the loss of his left wing, but without it, he was slow. So if I were to just cut off the other wing, I would be able to fight him head on.
My transer beeped, and I stole a quick glance at it. My fighting style with the sword was pretty predictable. Maybe I should change things up a bit. But if I just had more speed...
I stopped looking through battle chips. I had no other physical attacks, so I would have to keep trying. I took a step forward, before I heard a slight crunching noise. I looked down at my feet, and my eyes widened as I saw a chip.
Area Steal.
Hmm...interesting.
"Kid stop thinking, we need to focus! The guy's coming!" I looked up, and sure enough it was charging at me covering almost half our distance in a couple seconds. But this time, I could actually see where it was. It was beatable. I looked at the card, before shrugging. I tossed the chip to Mega, and he devoured it.
The effects of the chip became apparent immediately. I don't know exactly what it did, but I felt extremely light, and the monster now looked like he was running at a fast sprint.
Whatever this chip did...
I shook my head, before running forwards to meet the thing head on. But one thing this chip did..I was a whole lot faster than before. I could see time slowing down as I charged...and I appeared in front of the monster in almost no time.
The thing's eyes widened, and I noticed...that he looks pretty familiar...
A kick coming towards my left stopped my thought process for a little bit. But it seemed to be moving so slowly! I ducked under the kick, still maintaining my blade position. I then jabbed Mega's head into the thing's stomach, and it reeled back from the impact.
That was new.
I was much stronger than before also.
The monster was moving so slowly to me now! I could see his every move, and adjust my own moves accordingly. Was this all because of that one battle chip! What a powerful chip!
But in order to make this thing even slower...I smirked.
I knew what I had to do.
I avoided his extremely slow punch, swatting it away to the side, before I spun around with my sword, slicing off his right wing. He screamed in pain, and I have to admit, it was pretty funny to watch this guy scream in slow motion.
But I didn't falter there, I started to rapidly slash at the monster's chest, not at all deterred by his cries of anguish. He didn't deserve any mercy from me for what he had done! Finally, I stopped slashing at him, and he stood standing, his face twisted in an unreadable expression.
It should have fallen down, but it took him a couple seconds before he started to fall forward. My face was grim and dark as I held out my sword, and he fell right through my sword, the blade sticking out of his back.
The monster was unconscious, hopefully; probably in a near death state. But it really didn't matter much to me. I looked around before smirking. His minions seemed to have perished also.
I turned around.
I guess that was it then. The monster was down, and I was victorious. I started to quietly walk away from the thing. "Good job kid, you did something right for once," Mega said cheekily.
But the monster thing groaned at me, "Wait...come back.." This made me sigh irritably. It could not stand a chance against me in its current state. But the fact that it could still talk made me question just how much stamina this thing had.
No matter.
I still had to end it.
I turned around, my sword still out, ready to finish the thing once and for all. But what I saw made me stop. It was like the monster was fading away, its body becoming a mass of pixels. And there was a man inside the mass of pixels, and I looked at his face.
...
...
It was the guy from before! The one who had gotten kicked out!
"It's you..." I quietly remarked, shocked at him being the monster. My sword retracted back into my right hand as I looked in amazement.
The man moaned, his voice distorted and barely comprehensible, "Come back...fight me..." I growled in annoyance as he kept whispering how he wanted to destroy me. But what happened to him?
He seemed fine last time I saw him. So what could have made him become this...thing?
Mega grunted from my left arm, and his voice held only remorse and sadness. "We FM-ians...we manipulate the darkness and negative emotions in the hearts of you humans in order to have you do our bidding," I raised my eye at this as Mega continued, "This guy was just another victim. Pretty sad if you ask me."
I nodded in confirmation.
The guy was groaning pitifully, as he started to crawl over to my feet.
But my voice stopped him from moving any further.
"So what's your story?" He looked up at me, a questioning look in his eyes. "What made you become this...thing?"
The man just stared at me for a while.
For the longest time, he held his gaze with mine. I thought he wasn't going to answer. But he did.
His voice came out in a cough, and it held deep pain and anger, "You wouldn't understand anything about it! I lost everything! Everything that I cherished was stolen from me!" He was shaking now, and I noticed that the pixels that were disappearing from his body were reforming.
I pondered the guy's words for a little bit before I responded gravely and tiredly, "You're not the only one who's lost things, you know," my tone then became sharper, "So what makes your sob story different from all the others."
The guy flinched, like he was stung by the meaning of my words. After what seemed like a never-ending pause, he continued, his voice a bit stronger, "I can't trust anyone anymore. I don't have any friends...any..brothers..."
Well he was in the same boat with m-
No.
That wasn't true.
The guy stopped talking again, and I took my chance to speak. "In my life...I've learnt a lot of things," I could see him perk up with interest. "And one of those things is...the only reason why some people don't have any bonds..is because they refuse to have them."
My words must have cut deep, because the guy stared at me with wide eyes; I wondered how I could have just been fighting him not too long ago. Tears then started to form in his eyes, and it looked like he was going to scream at me.
But then...
A voice seemed to permeate the netspace, and it was pretty familiar too.
Boreal yelled, "What's going on in there!" A picture of his face then started floating around the netspace, before it stopped to the side of me. Boreal must have recognized the guy also, because he went deathly pale as he saw who the monster really was.
"T-tom...?" Boreal stated shakily. He was still in his spacesuit,, but it looked like he wasn't being controlled anymore. That relieved me; so I had actually done my job. My eyes then turned to the guy, who was staring at Boreal's face with an unreadable expression.
So the guy's name was Tom, huh.
"What are you doing in there, Tom!" Boreal yelled anxiously. The guy was genuinely worried for the well-being of this..Tom guy.
Even though the guy had tried to kill everyone.
Maybe this Boreal guy wasn't such a bad character after all.
"You wouldn't understand Aaron!" Tom screamed, tears visible on his face. "I lost everything because of WAZA! The project I had been working on...all of it has been taken! All my work! My life! It's gone!"
Boreal looked even paler than before, if it was possible. And he slowly whispered, "But...how?"
Tom yelled again, tears streaming angrily down his face "I can't trust anyone! This is the second time it's happened to me!"
Ouch.
Second time? That's gotta hurt.
Boreal face went through a myriad of emotions, before it finally settled on grim determination. "You do have someone to trust," Tom just looked up, confused. "Me. Remember? We were going to form a brother band with each other."
Tom started shouted desperately, "I can't trust anyone! And even if I do! It can't change the fact my invention was stolen! Nothing will change! Nobody can be trus-"
"Then I'll prove it," Boreal stated calmly, "I'll help you get your invention back, and I'll do everything in my power to help you. And I'll keep doing that...until I prove that I am worthy of your trust." The way that guy said it...he had so much conviction in his voice.
Tom didn't expect that. Because he started sobbing again, looking down at the ground in anger, before brutally slamming his fist repeatedly into it. I watched on, expressionless as he did so.
Boreal looked concerned, but he didn't do anything.
Finally, Tom looked up, his expression murderous. He slowly got up, and I saw a feather in his hand. I took a glance at Mega, before my hand moved lightning quick to grab the guy's head, before slamming him into the ground.
His grip on the feather loosened, and the weapon slowly fell to the ground, leaving a mark. I held the guy up by his head, and dragged him towards the monitor, ignoring his futile moves of resistance.
I spoke harshly and bluntly, "Ok..Tom. You say you don't have any friends...that you are alone in the world. Well," I shoved his face into the picture of Boreal. "Looks to me as if you have friends; and you just don't want to admit that you are not alone."
His resistance stopped there as he realized the truth in my words.
"So now...you have two choices. You can surrender, and go be with your friend. Or struggle, and I'll end you right now," I demanded, my voice edgy and dark. I pointed Mega's head at Tom's head.
"I surrender..." I heard Tom say quietly to himself.
"That's good," I concluded. "Go to your friend now."
With that, I brought Mega's head up to the mass of pixels surrounding Tom, and looked in apathy as Mega bit it.
Tom screamed in pain, and Boreal looked angrier than I had ever seen him, but I ignored all that. I let go of Tom, before using my strength to pull away the FM-ian that was currently connected to his body.
A dark swan shape was thrust out of Tom's body, and it stared at me.
Or rather, Mega.
Tom had fallen unconscious, and Boreal was looking at him worriedly.
The swan loomed ominously, "This will not be the last of me.."
But a quick shot from Mega made the Swan retreat.
But I guess..that was it? I had defeated the monster, made some lonely guy some friends, defeated an FM-ian...So I guess that was it! I sat down tiredly, as I felt my eyes start to droop a little.
Before the ground started shaking.
My eyes widened as I looked at the netspace begin to crumble. "Let's go kid! This place is going down!" I heard Mega shout before pillars of data started to rain from the sky. The ground was literally vibrating from the force of impact between the two.
I did not want to be under that thing.
Mega yelled at me, "Forget about the guy, he'll be fine! Let's run!"
A pillar crushed the floating picture of Boreal, and I took one meaningful look at the slumbering Tom, before ending the wavechange. Mega better be sure that the guy would be ok.
When I awakened, I noted I was lying face down on a carpet.
I slowly rolled over, to find myself staring at the entrance of the space exhibit.
Huh.
Interesting how I would wake up here.
I heard some shouts of worry, and I looked over to see the rest of the tour group running towards me. I breathed a sigh of relief. So it appears that all of them made it out safe after all.
I motioned to wave to them, but I realized I couldn't move my hands.
Come to think of it I couldn't really move my body.
And with that...I blacked out.
So there I the chapter that has taken such a long time to write. Usually when I take a while, it makes it harder to continue my previous styles. But I think I did a decent job.
I will not respond to reviews, seeing as how the last few were pretty distant in time. However, I did get some laughs out of the feedback I got. Not in a negative way or anything.
But if you did enjoy this chapter, please leave a review telling me how to improve my writings, constructive criticism is welcome. And hopefully the next chapter will not take that long to write.
Until next time,
R&R