Chapter 10 α: Disconnect (Nara Hishikawa)
Gunshots have been constantly ringing in the background for about half a minute now. But…my hands were still empty. Yamato would not appear in my mind and neither did any of my other trusted weapons.
"Hishikawa-san!" Aigis seemed more than a bit anxious now. "I am running dangerously low on ammunition!"
"Damn it!" I shouted in frustration. I had to think quickly. If a weapon cannot be procured…an escape route is necessary. But where can we run? We're totally sandwiched between the alley's dead end and a horde of zombies. Unless… "Ellie! Calculate an escape route for us!"
I took a quick look around the alley. The brick walls are fairly unstable. They can be easily destabilized with rockets. And as Aigis held back the advancing undead, I noticed a man hole in the center of their path, wide enough for about one person at a time, and with the stumbling walking rate of the creatures they'd all be able to fall in. If the cover of the manhole is destroyed, it could work.
"Aigis, use your rockets to destroy the sides of the alleyway around that manhole cover. While you're at it, destroy the manhole cover too."
"Understood!" Aigis switched her weaponry. A set of rocket launchers extended out from her shoulders. She wasted no time in firing all eight rockets in rapid succession, creating a massive explosion. I ducked away to shield myself from the heat and blinding light of the explosion. When I turned back, the alleyway's walls had completely crumbed and turned to chunks of bricks, obstructing the alleyway's path. And as expected, the zombies not caught in the explosion were now being funnelled slowly into the now expanded manhole. An unrelenting torrent of splashes followed.
I exhaled, quite relieved. It appears I'm still in the safe.
"Cooling off." Aigis deactivated her combat mode, her rocket launchers and machine guns retracting back into her body. "That was a brilliant idea, stopping their advance with such a method."
"…I'm glad I even thought of that. I was really scared." I sighed, letting myself fall down on my rear. "I've never been unable to call forth my weapon before."
Aigis sat down beside me. "Has something happened since we've last met?"
…Haha, that's another thing worth explaining. When I go to another reality, I create another timeline when interacting only when significant change happens. This change could be that someone who was supposed to die did not die. When I visited Aigis's reality, I joined her group of friends to fight against a deity known as Nyx, who was destined to bring about the end of humanity. To explain all of my endeavours there would be a story for another time, but in short joining them allowed me to become good friends with the entire group. And since there was not a significant change in their history, they retained their memories of me. To make things easier though, I repressed their memories with the System, and only when I contacted them did their memories of me seamlessly return. They would never be aware that the memories are being repressed, and once they get the memories back they wouldn't have realized that it had been gone for a while. Oh, and the mannerisms of the people I summon don't change from where they come from. I'm a bit more used to Miss or Mister being used in the place of Japanese honorifics, but I guess it doesn't matter too much.
"Yeah…Someone's wrong with me I think. I don't feel any of the power that I had when we fought Nyx together…" I laughed nervously. "Speaking of which, how has everyone else been doing?"
"Very good it would seem. Mitsuru-san is still with her company, and Junpei-kun and Yukari-san have found jobs."
"Junpei?" I raised an eyebrow. "He actually got a job? Am I hearing this right?"
"Indeed. He is coaching little league baseball." Aigis smiled softly. "Everyone has gone through a lot…It's good to see Junpei enjoying his life."
"…I wish I could say the same of Minato…" I give an exaggerated sigh. It wasn't that I really missed the guy or anything…Okay maybe I do a bit. He was a cool guy.
Aigis's expression became wistful. "Yes…"
Minato Arisato was the leader of our –okay well their – group. Unlike the rest of the group, Minato possessed a special power. Because of this unique power, and his natural talent as a leader, everyone followed his lead. Despite his amazing combat power, he had to sacrifice himself to seal off Nyx, and prevent her from erasing humanity. He was the only one of the group who didn't survive…well okay there was some other guy named Shinji or, but I didn't know him as well. I joined the team after he had already passed away.
"Well…I'm sure one day we can find a way to release him." I dusted off myself and stood back up, trying to look positive. Actually, why am I trying? Do I really care about the people I meet? Hmm…Anyway… "I've always looked forward to a day when we can all walk alongside him again."
"Thank you…" I helped her up to her feet. Even if she has the body of a machine, her heart is real. I'd rather not see her cry. I'd look like quite the bad guy.
"Alright, I'll give this another try." I focused my mind again. If I can't summon a mystical weapon…I can try something simple.
"Trace…on!" I uttered some words that I shouldn't know. Another borrowed ability. Maybe this one will work.
In my mind, I am finally able to see something, the weapons I am attempting to summon: the twin short swords Kanshou and Bakuya, black and white swords representing Yin and Yang. If I recall correctly..."They were created without vanity, and lack a sense of purpose found in other swords. They contain no fighting spirit to defeat others or competitive spirit to beat other weapons, and they contain neither the desire to be famous nor the faith to accomplish great deeds." Unlike the blades' original user, I cannot use magic. I can only take things from different realities and reuse them.
Thus…the weapons transcend space and time to appear in my hands, heeding the call of another wielder. The blades in my hand were pulled from my System's Data Vaults to compensate for my inability to use magic.
"Hishikawa-san! You are able to use your powers now?" Aigis was excited and relieved at first, but then immediately confused. "These weapons aren't the ones you usually wield."
"These only take a miniscule amount of my original power." I examined the twin swords, feeling greatly disappointed. It's hard to believe that the image of these two swords in my mind is the only thing that wasn't inaccessible.
"Nara Hishikawa. I apologize for the interruption, but I have detected two of your subjects about 12 meters below you. Would you like to intervene?" Ellie brought up a visual interface, with a live feed showing four people – two familiarly looking high school students among them - running away from zombies. They seemed to be in a sewer.
"Wait…12 meters below…" I instinctively looked towards the manhole that Aigis blew up. "Oh…shit…" There weren't any more zombies up here anymore…
"Hishikawa-san!" Aigis wasn't one to wait around when there's action required on the stage, even though her role of protecting me is already over. "Allow us to assist them."
I can't say I feel compelled to risk my life while their deaths are not permanent. But I did start the whole experiment on a whim anyway. Besides, it has been a while since Aigis and I fought back to back against enemies.
"Alright, let's go after them." I motioned towards the manhole. "Take point and secure the entrance."
"Understood." Aigis activated her weapons again. "Please provide support and keep track of our targets."
"Hmm. Ellie, mark a waypoint to them. Use the Augmented Reality Navigators and Motion Tracker to keep us out of the way of enemies. Keep their live feed on the interface, reduce interface size to 300 by 200."
This would be another one of Ellie's useful traits: the ability to use augmented reality to make most tasks a lot simpler. A motion tracking device will highlight possible hostiles and the waypoint arrows are invaluable in a place without lighting. Right now I'm really glad the Reality Projection System came with an AI.
"As you wish, Nara Hishikawa." The Augmented Reality's navigational arrows appeared. In addition, all moving things were marked and highlighted in red.
"Haha…just like old times, rescuing people from Tartarus." I chuckled to myself. "Time to roll."
….
Chapter 10 β: Signs of Conflict (Kyon)
Something was wrong. I could feel it in my bones.
"Hey Koizumi." I gripped my rifle tighly. "You feel that too, don't you?"
"The disturbing increase of temperature and the feeling of bloodlust?" Koizumi kept smiling like nothing was wrong.
Tell me something, do your esper powers allow you to detect the emotions of people asides from Haruhi?
"No, I made that last part up." Koizumi chuckled creepily. "However, the abnormal increase in temperature would probably be from…" Koizumi's gaze went past the ruined San Francisco skyscrapers. "That massive firestorm over there."
Firestorm? Wait, what? I followed his line of sight. Indeed, beyond one of the skyscrapers there was an extraordinary blaze alight, maybe half the size of the skyscraper. I didn't notice it until just now…
"That wasn't there a few minutes ago." Koizumi got up. "I think we should investigate at once." Koizumi activated his radio. "P.S.S call. Stella, I need you out here with us. Something's happened and we need to investigate. Everyone else stay in the trailer."
Shortly after the radio call, Stella exited the trailer and joined us. "Rothcol. What's wrong?"
"There's a fire over there. And not an ordinary fire." Koizumi pointed towards the inferno. It seems to be getting bigger. "We're going to see what's going on there."
Stella nodded curtly. She ran off towards the fire, taking the lead. Koizumi and I followed just behind her.
…..
When we reached the source of the fire, I saw something expected.
"Ah, it's happening again!" A panicked girl's voice.
There were two girls locked in combat with each other. One of was wearing a red hooded cape and black combat skirt. She looked quite scared and not sure what to do about the situation. She had a large mechanical scythe in her hands but all she was doing was rolling and jumping around, avoid the bursts of fire that the other girl was shooting at her.
I didn't recognize the girl with the hood. But I did recognize the one holding a katana and shooting the fire. Shana…? Was that her name? She didn't look exactly as I remember her…since she wasn't wearing a school uniform. Instead she had a black coat and her hair was red like the blazing fire around her. A dark aura encapsulated her. Hold on, I had a vision of her like this during one of the games we were in. Well, first I have to get her to stop shooting fire around or she'll burn this whole place down.
"Shana!" I called out.
The girl with the katana paused and looked at me. And that's when I noticed. Her eyes were blank and soulless. I'm no specialist about the supernatural, but typically that means you're either dead or possessed.
All of a sudden, in Shana's expression I saw madness and bloodlust. The next thing I knew, she was almost right in front of me, and her katana was about to pierce through my skull. But…
A blue blade flashed in front of my eyes, merely centimeters away. It blocked the katana and deflected it away.
"Iksa Blade."
Stella stood between me and Shana, protecting me. In her right hand was a mysterious glowing blue katana.
In that moment, the girl with the red hood finally took the offensive. Dashing behind Shana, she slashed at her back diagonally with the flat side of her scythe. Shana effortlessly warded the attack, sending her blade in a crescent sweep behind her without even turning around. That was quickly followed up by a spinning slash.
The red hooded girl was dumbfounded momentarily but she regained her composure quickly enough evade. In the blink of an eye she reappeared next to me. Red rose petals fell down gently from the sky from where she stood. Stella made a slicing motion in a wide arc. Instantly all the fire in the area was extinguished by the blade slicing through the air. She then jumped at Shana with an overhead vertical slash. Shana raised her own blade in defense. A fierce duel was in the making.
"So uh…" The girl smiled awkwardly. "You guys are friendly, right? You're not going to shoot fire or ice at me?"
"Provided you aren't some extra-terrestrial life form that wants to eat us all, we'll give you a hand." Koizumi placed his hand on her shoulder while wearing a warm smile.
…Damn you Koizumi, acting like some kind of knight in shining armour.
"Oh, haha. That's uh…good to hear." The girl removed her hood, revealing her dark brown hair and alluring silver eyes. She actually has a pretty cute face, I'll admit. But she looks too young for someone who is running around with a dangerous weapon.
"So…I'm Rothcol. You can call me Koizumi. That's Stella…" Koizumi motions towards the black haired girl with twin tails and a black hooded coat exchanging thundering blows with Shana, and then me. "…and Kyon."
"My name's Ruby, but you can always call me…" An awkward pause and embarrassed look from Ruby. "Actually you can just call me Ruby. I am not an alien by the way. Just a regular person…who is hopelessly lost."
I was getting worried about Stella. It seemed like in swordsmanship, Shana is the stronger one. Stella was forced back. She blocked two slashes, but the third stung her in the forearm and the fourth left a slash on her thigh.
"Hold on." Ruby jumped back into the fray, deflecting two arced strikes that were meant for Stella's chest. "Let me help you, Stella."
Shana kicked away from her two opponents to put some distance between them. I could see her analyzing the enemy combatants with her empty eyes, trying to decide a course of action. It was almost as if…she was programmed for fighting.
"Maybe that's it…" I clutched my rifle tightly. "Koizumi, I think we need to knock her out cold. She's being controlled or something."
"You match my deductions exactly." Koiuzmi concurred, but he was frowning, deep in thought.
Despite Ruby's speed and strength in using her weapon and Stella's dexterity and tenacity, Shana was holding them both off almost effortlessly. If Shana was attacked from the front and from behind simultaneously, her sword flashes around her, blocking any and all attacks, so fast that I couldn't even see the katana. I could see that Ruby even transformed her mechanical scythe into a rifle a few times and that yielded no results.
Koizumi…it may just be me, but something seems off about the way Shana is fighting.
"Hmm." Koizumi nodded. "Her perception of attacks is bordering on precognition. Whoever is controlling her is boosting her combative abilities."
A kick from Shana sent Stella flying through the air. Stella smashed into the wall of a nearby building.
"Shit…!" I ran over to Stella as fast as I could.
She was still breathing, but the look on her face told me she was in extreme agony. I examined her body. She was covered in cuts and bruises and exhausted. She was in no condition to fight anymore.
"Stella, stay here. I'll take over." I took the Iksa Blade from Stella's hand.
"Critical repair." Stella managed to say those two words. All of her wounds started healing immediately. But from the looks of it, it's a process that'll take some time. And Ruby doesn't look like she'll hold up against Shana on her own.
The memories that I have don't provide me with much experience in using swords in the same way Stella and Shana do. But I'll leave it as a last resort. I aimed my rifle. "Ruby, out of the way!"
Ruby blinked away and reappeared about six meters away from Shana. I aimed just towards the left of Shana. I squeezed the trigger. A blinding flash and explosion followed. Shana was blown off her feet, quite literally. She landed a good distance away from the smoking crater left by the rifle. She was still conscious though. Looks like while she can deflect bullets and block sword strikes in rapid succession, she still can't easily evade something that travels at the speed of light. That being said knocking her out without injuring her too much is still proving to be difficult.
Koizumi grinned knowingly and walked up next to me. It seems my move gave him some inspiration. "Well, looks like this won't be too hard. Miss Ruby, if you may move to a safe distance." A large fireball twice the size of a soccer ball appeared in his hand.
Right…I forgot that for some reason he gets full access to all of his powers. Now I get why he wasn't doing anything at first. Koizumi refrained from fighting until he could end the fight instantly. Not understanding the situation but nodding, Ruby leaped about ten meters into the air and over us, getting completely out of the way.
"Fumoffu!" Koizumi hurled the fireball at Shana's feet.
Shana tried to jump out of the way, but the fireball made an impossible arc towards her, ignoring the laws of inertia and momentum. The fireball exploded upon contact with the ground.
"!"
I dropped down towards the ground. The explosion was nothing short of cataclysmic. The light and sound of the explosion were so intense I had to cover my ear and shut my eyes. The heat swept over me, and it was overwhelming. Forget about my gun causing injuries, this would've been enough to disintegrate a person.
When the dust and ashes settled, Shana was lying motionless in the massive fissure that the fireball created. She seemed mostly unhurt, miraculously enough.
"Koizumi…what the hell? You could've killed someone with that!"
"I adjusted my aim so that the explosion would only render her unconscious. She was never in any true danger."
I turned around and saw Ruby with eyes as big as saucers. They were sparkling with admiration for Koizumi. "Oh my gosh…that was so cool! That was absolutely amazing! The explosion from that was totally over the top awesome!"
"It wasn't that hard to do. It's only about a 10th of my power." Koizumi winked, like some kind of handsome con-artist.
"Are you a hunter?" Ruby looked like she was ready to get on her knees and ask for an autograph.
I need to put an end to this. Quickly, before I lose my mind.
"Anyway…" I helped Stella to her feet. Her injuries had all healed by now. "Who are you and where are you from?" Koizumi walked towards Shana. I guess he'll be taking care of her for now.
"Oh uh…" Ruby regained her composure and stood up straight. She folded the mechanical scythe into a compact form and holstered it. "Ahem…once again, I'm Ruby Rose, the leader of Team RWBY, and a huntress in training. I'm looking for a way to get back to Beacon, since, well…I somehow got lost and ended up here."
What is this beacon you speak of? Some kind of light? Or…?
"Oh, Beacon, as in the academy. You guys have never heard of it?"
Nope. And what's this about a hunter and huntress?
"Huh…that's weird…I was sure that everyone knew about hunters and huntresses. Where have you been living for all of your life?"
Japan. That is, until today. Nowadays I don't even know where I am half the time.
"Japan? Never heard of it." Ruby crossed her arms, looking more and more puzzled.
Allow me to make an assumption, since we sans Stella are all in this situation: You're from a different world and you've somehow wandered into this one.
"Whoa…so I'm in another world, huh? That's a lot to take in." Ruby looked awed. "You guys aren't from this world either?"
Well, Stella is. The rest of us, no. And we're also trying to figure out why someone we knew just tried to kill us.
"Haha...strangers are just friends you haven't met, right? Well, since we're all here anyway, let's work together to get back to where we should be." Ruby was pressing her index fingers together timidly. Acting awkward yet again, huh? I guess this is typically how she is around strangers: hyperactive yet awkward.
"Hey, it looks like she's awake now." Koizumi called us over.
As I approached Shana, I had to wonder what kind of enemy we're dealing with and if we'd all be able to leave in one piece. The answer to all of the questions I had about this situation will start with asking her if she remembers anything at all. And I'm rather desperate for answers right now. Especially the answer to "where is Haruhi, Nagato, and Miss Asahina?". I'm worried about everyone. I can only hope that they're alright and work things out with Koizumi from our end.
