A/N: Part one of the ORPHAN Inc. chapter. Personally, I believe that the ORPHAN Inc. would probably be a mixed similarity of Edenhall and Shrine Inc. from Final Fantasy VII. But I guess it wouldn't matter since the building is still being under construction. Which gives everyone who works there a bad time concidering PSICOM is attacking. All that hard work, only to be brought upon the bring of destruction. So sad really.
Chapter 8: ORPHAN Inc.
ORPHAN Inc. is one of the largest buildings that was ever to be made by human ever since the fall of Cocoon. Probably too soon to say since anything above the 16th floor is still under construction.
But it will become less then sixteen floors once this battle is over.
Right in the yard of the building, war rages on. PSICOM against the Guardian Corps. On PSICOM's side are large warships, war machines, heavily assault missiles and guns. ORPHAN military units with defense plasma cannons, soldiers and assault guns. It's quite a blood bath.
Primarch Raines stands upon the highest available floor of the building, looking down upon the battlefield like a king on his throne. "PSICOM...they just don't know when to learn." Raines acivates his communicator on his wrist. "Send in squadron 7 into the field. Squadron's 9 and 10, guard the left flink."
Jihl Nabaat stands upon the Lindblum deck, watching the battle below her. She smiles with delight. "Director Nabaat. These ORPHAN troopers are not pressing back."
"It's just what I expect from those who choose to live in this nightmare of a world." Jihl says. "Send in the Vemon Reaper."
The trooper stands and salutes. "Yes ma'am."
"Oh. And if you found that Shadow Hunter..." Jihl turns her head over her shoulder. "Bring him to me...alive."
Jihl Nabaat wants me alive. Whatever reason, must be something pretty devious. Can't be any worse then what she has done to me seven years ago, unless she really plans to.
Raines makes his announcement.
"ATTENTION ALL GUARDIAN CORPS AND ACADEMIA EMPLOYEES. THIS IS PRIMARCH RAINES. AS YOU MAYBE AWARE PSICOM TROOPERS ARE RIGHT NOW ASSAULTING OUR HEADQUARTERS AS WE SPEAK. THESE LOW LIFE COWARDS DARE CALL US TRAITORS AFTER EVERYTHING WE HAVE DONE TO SAVE COCOON AND ITS PEOPLE AND THEY TURN AGAINST US ALL. WE SHALL NOT LET THEM TAKE EVERYTHING FROM US. ORPHAN WILL PREVEIL."
Hope, Serah and Snow are a bit far off from where the battle is taking place, like about a thousand meters from the building. They are on their hands and knees, watching everything, while making sure they don't get spotted as well.
"This is bad." Serah says.
"Whoa. Never seen a battle like this. It's like we're back on Eden." Snow says.
Serah and Snow goes on with their conversion. Serah wonders if Lightning and I could be in that mess. Raines could have called us to immediately return to ORPHAN headquarters to help defend it. Snow wonders the same, only he's not as worried as much as Serah is. Though Serah is mainly worried cause she has not seen or heared from us since the explosion back at the temple. She has no clue if we even survived, but she knows Lightning and I better then anyone. We're tough as nails. Cannot be killed that easily.
Then that brings up Sazh and the Pulsian friends, including Noel.
Hope doesn't listen on the conversation. He's thinking of a plan.
They had just arrived after walking for miles when they manage to get out of the Macalaina Woods. They come to the headquarters so the scientists can analyze the crystal statue and translate the tablets they took from the temple, in hope it'll lead them to a connection with Caius and what he is planning.
Finally, Hope speaks. "We need to sneak in."
Hopes comment has Serah and Snow's attention. "How are we going to do that?" Serah asks. "It's chaos down there, we'll get blown to bits."
Even Snow agrees with Serah, and that says alot since he's reckless. Mr. Hotheaded Hero would just burst into that battlefield and take down the enemy, even if he wouldn't stand a chance. 'The Heroes never die!'
"There's a hidden passage not too far from here. It's mainly used as an emergency exit in case something sever happens." Hope says.
"Well then, let's go." Serah says.
Hope escorts Serah and Snow. They take a downhill passage on the cliff, zigzags downwards. But the path is not clear, for they also encounter some monsters. Mainly flying creatures like the Wyverns, Arcangelis and stray Wasps, the Cybugs. On the other hand, there are strange monkey creatures, Hanuman and Sugriva, on ground assault.
Serah and Hope take on the flying beasts while Snow handles the monkeys. Fight aerial with range and magic. Fight monkeys with an ape. That's probably what I would say if I were with them on this battle.
They're just lucky their out of range of the military combat, and out of their sights. Unless they could have been spotted through a telescope. Nonetheless, they still feel unsafe, well mainly Serah and Hope do even with Snow at their side, and they quickly move on whenever they're not busy fighting the wildlife of Grand Pulse.
Upon reaching the bottom of the path, they walk on the ledge path on the right cliff of the trench. No monsters were encountered. The path is smooth sailing.
"We should be close by now." Hope says.
Serah and Snow turn their attentions to the battle in front of the building. Even through it looks like ants and flies to them, they can still see how intense it is.
"Just look at all those soldiers. This is crazy." Serah says.
They all reach the end of a line, which is a small cave within the cliff. "In here." Serah and Snow follows Hope inside the cave. It's barely much of a cave, it's about as big as a medium office in a business building.
Facing the left wall, with a hand on a boulder that's sticking out, Hope lifts it, revealing a hidden keypad. He punches in the code numbers. Granting access. The wall right next seeps in a little then slides to the right. Serah and Snow are both surprised to see a hidden way.
Not really a passage. Just a deep hole with bars supporting as some kind of ladder. "Down here."
Hope goes first. Then Serah. Then Snow. And they climb down into the secret tunnels of the ORPHAN Inc. Climbing down the ladder isn't too easy for Snow, due to the fact he's holding onto the Yeul crystal and the ride down is about thrity feet, then they finally land on the stone tile floor. Hope grabs the lantern hanging on the side wall and lights it with his magic.
Light swallows the darkness, revealing the hidden tunnel to be a dome shaped passage made entirely of stone. "Whoa. Look at this." Serah says, her words echoing loudly even through her voice is at a normal volume. "So eerie."
Snow is amazed at the echoing sounds. "Check it out. This tunnel echoes." Snow now starts to goof off as he starts to shout. "HELLLLLLLOOOOOOOO!" Not only did the echo hurt Serah and Hopes ears, it has them worried and they both shush at him, loudly so he can hear over the echo.
The three of them remain quiet. Once the echoes dies down, they wait. They expect something to happen. To have been spotted by PSICOM or to have attracted some bloodthristy monster. Nothing happens instead.
"Are you crazy?" Hope whispers. "We need to stay quiet."
Snow nods, now he understands. So they beginning traveling through the tunnel. Hope takes the lead while Serah and Snow both follows him from behind. Serah gets a bad feeling about this place the whole time they travel down here, even through nobody else are in these halls.
They travel for a while, then they are startled when they hear a loud wailing. Serah's pretty horrified of it. If Snow didn't have his hands full with the crystal statue, Serah would have jumped into his arms. The wailing dies down.
"What was that?" Snow asks.
Hope is astonished. "Oh please don't tell me."
They move ahead and make a turn. In the next tunnel way are Cie'th, just as Hope feard. From the start, they only see two Ghouls and a Stambling, then when Hopen holds the lantern out, brightening the room. In the darkness reveals several more Cie'th.
"Oh crud." Hope says in disappointed.
Serah is pretty shocked to see all the Cie'th down here. They don't waste the time to think how they got down here. They just fight the Cie'th, bring them down. Snow even put down the crystal statue to lend Serah and Hope a hand, or a fist I should say. The Cie'th fights hard on them. Snow spents most of his battle in Sentinel, holding off the attacks while Serah and Hope fight them.
The last of the Cie'th got defeated. Hope looks down at the corpses of the monsters who were once humans. "This is bad."
"What are the Cie'th doing here?" Snow asks.
"They must have broken out of the underground lab cells." Hope says.
Serah is pretty astonished to hear that comment. "Underground...lab?"
Hooe just realizes he blow the secret. Lately, he's been working on a project with a small team of scientists. He kept the whole thing top secret, even from Lightning and I. Though he probably figures Serah and Snow would have figured it out since the Cie'th broke loose and wondered down the escape tunnels.
"Yeah...uh, you see. I have been working on a top secret experiement. We were trying to see if there was a way to turn the Cie'th back into human." Hope explains. "But I guess the battle must have caused the Cie'th to escape."
"Why would you do something like that? Isn't it impossible for a Cie'th to turn back into a human?" Serah defiantly couldn't believe what Hope was working on. It's so impossible, only a miracle would make it a success.
"Well...yeah. But when we all were facing Orphan, all of us beside Vanille and Fang turned Cie'th, then we returned to normal." Hope says. "Plus, it's like Lightning said: 'We live to make the impossible possible.'"
"'That is our Focus.' That is what she said." Snow says. "But still, an experiment like this...must be very difficult."
"It is. We are making minor progressions. So far, we were able to communicate with the Cie'th for a short time." Hope says.
"Really? That's amazing." Serah says. She's pretty impressd with the small progress.
Of course if I ever found out about the experiement, I might go crazy. For that would mean I killed my own father for nothing when all along, there IS a way to turn him back. To save him for a fate worse then death itself.
"Well, thank you. But we're not even close to figuring out the solution. But maybe we will...someday...hopefully." Hopes tone was normal at first, then doubtful on the second part where he kept adding words. 'Someday' 'Hopefully'. He can't be blamed. Trying to break a Fal'Cie's curse is close to impossible. They'll need a miracle to pull it off. "Come on. This way."
Hooe continues to lead Serah and Snow down the tunnels. Now they have to fight through the Cie'th. Hope still can't believe how much of the Cie'th escaped from the prison holds, but it would have been predictable given the war that's happening above. Under all that ruckus and chaos, nobody's around to keep an eye on the abominations.
The travels in the tunnels become long and hard, a bit staggering with all the explodes on the surface causing an earthquake underneath. It becomes dense that the stones starts to break and fall, barely blocking some passages. They were still able to slip through, but on the total blockades, they had to find another way through.
Serah stops on her feet. Takes a while for Hope and Snow to realize she's no longer moving. "What is it?" Hope asks.
"it's just...I don't see why it has come to this." Hope and Snow doesn't understand what she means, but Serah makes it more clear. "Sanctum PSICOM and ORPHAN Guardian Corps. We all want the same thing, to protect human kind...but why do they have to turn against each other."
Hope and Snow haven't thought of that. All they know is that PSICOM hates Pulse and they had lost everything one Orphan was defeated and Cocoon fell from it's place in the sky. "Well, I see what you mean, but the path PSICOM choose is evil. They even want to destroy the world."
"But if they do that, wouldn't they be taken out as well?" Serah asks.
"Either here on Grand Pulse or back on Cocoon. Those PSICOM guys are all the same." Snow says. "Just a bunch of punks who never learn anyhing. Just listens to what the Fal'Cie demands."
What Snow says it's true, but as far as they all know, the Cocoon Fal'Cie are no more. "That is true, what bothers me most is what is Caius up to?"
"Nothing we can do to figure out. Let's just head into the building." Hope says.
Fal'Cie order is indeed no more. The Cocoon Fal'Cie are gone and the Grand Pulse Fal'Cie are as mindless as the bloodthristy monsters the hunt in this world. Well, excluding Titan.
At the end of the tunnels, Serah, Hope and Snow came across another ladder. Not as long as the first one, but it still took a lot of climbing.
At the lowest basement levels of ORPHAN Inc. lays a hidden lab. Right now the place is abandoned. Shattered glass. Spilled chemicals. Loose cable wires. Damage machines. It's pretty much a death trap here. Not only that, but the prison bars that once contained the imprisoned Cie'th are open. All mostly broken or bend open.
This is pretty much where Hopes Cie'th experiment took place, before the battle took out nearly everything.
A tile on the floor opens a jar. Hope peeks his head out, looking around for enemies of any kind. No Cie'th or PSICOM soldiers to be heard or detected. It is all clear and Hope opens the hidden hole wide open. He comes out first, then Serah. Snow pushes the crystal statue up. Hope and Serah help pull it out, then Snow climbs right out once he was free.
"Oh man. Look at this mess." Hope, Snow and Serah get a look at the lab they are in. It's almost like a ghost town. No worse then Luxerion at the night time. Can't tell which is more creepy at night, the town or the graveyard area.
On Hope's hand, he is not very pleased to see the lab trashed. "Oh man...my experiment...The Cie'th must have trashed the place."
"That's a bummer." Snow says. He spoke too soon, for which the moment he said it, a loud explosion happens and it causes a massive rumbling for the former l'Cies down below.
Out on the courtyard, the battle still goes on. PSICOM and ORPHAN troopers shooting at each other, mostly behind in barricades to avoid getting hurt. Who would really wanna die in a middle of a war. ORPHAN troopers are preveiling. The PSICOM are starting to fall back.
"We've get them on the run!" The Commander announces.
ORPHAN soldiers pushes onward, but that is really a big mistake they could make. "Commander! Something's coming! Up ahead!"
The commander looks up. It's pretty far, like a shooting star, but he can make out what it is. Some kind of PSICOM war machine. Not an ordinary one. As it draws close, the commander can make out what it is.
A large flying machine. Wings and four arms. Two main ones for scythes and two beneath the scythe arms that has gatling guns. Scorpion legs. The whole thing made of steel and iron. Very tough. Very frightening.
Vemon Reaper V5.
The ORPHAN troopers are all shocked to see the large war machine approaching that battlefield. What's more is that it started shooting like crazy with its gatling arms. ORPHAN Troopers ar forced to withdraw, some stay on the field trying to face that war machine, but ends up being overpowered.
"Air team! Gun that thing down!" The Commander orders.
ORPHAN Troopers, in Velocycle and in Aerial Jets, are coming in and assaulting on the Vemon Reaper. They hold it back, but not for too long. This battle is turning into a bloodshed.
The quakes down below settle, but that doesn't calm the former l'Cies. With the battle going on, they know that they will end up being buried alive. They move fast, making their way through the damaged labortary and the monstrious Cie'th or lost Cybugs running loose.
They are lucky. The Cie'th and Cybugs are all focusing on attacking each other. With only half of their energy, Snow, Serah and Hope were able to ambush and defeat them quickly. It's not everyday this happens.
Hope tries to access the elevator, only it does not work. "The power must be out, the elevators don't work." Hope turns to Snow and Serah. "Guess we're gonna have to take the stairs."
Serah is disappointed. All that wondering lost through the enchanted woods was bad enough, now she's gotta deal with flights of stairs...upward. By the time they reach the too of the stairs, the door is lock. The security system must have went haywire during the attack. Hope doesn't have his keycard on him, you'd think the smart one would have been a little more prepared...
Now they have to improvise. They each check the other basement floors. The only one that is unlocked is the door to BF4. The Weapons Room.
They might be able to find something in there to help their escape. Once inside, they noticed the room is crawling with Cie'th. "How did they get in here?" Hope asks, pretty astonished.
But this isn't the time for wondering, they have to fight. Bring the abominations down. Snow holds them off while Serah and Hope attack from a safe distance. The Winged Cie'th comes at them. They both focus on the Winged Cie'th, taking them down one-by-one.
Snow is on his own against the Stambling Cie'th, but Serah does heal him whenever he is injured. Being on his own, you would think that he would know better to defend himself in Sentinel.
The Cie'th are defeated. Serah and Hope took care of the Winged ones then helps Snow finish off his. That said, they take a look around the weapons lab. Theree were still some Cie'th wondering around, at this much Serah now wonders how many Cie'th were taken in to the headquarters for the experiment.
Eventually, they found a keycard that goes up to BF3. Not what they had in mind, but they're a step closer to the surface. "Let's go." Hope says.
The three of them ahead out, but Serah stops once she sees something behind glass. "Hope...what is this?"
Hope and Snow looks at what Serah's talking about. Behind the glass is a six-foot long sniper crossbow, in black, silver and gold steel with a scope above the tigger handle. Serah seems intridged to it because it's nothing she's ever seen. Normally, Guardian Corps wouldn't have bow-themed weaponary, so why would it be here she wonders. She has a feeling it could be about me.
"That? That's a weapon I've been making with Sazh. It's a sniper-bow: BH Type 21." Hope says.
Now Snow seems interested, Fang would be too if she were here. "BH?"
"Stands for Black Hawk. It's a weapon for Patrick. I figured it could make his whole 'Shadow Hunter' title to the next level, where he can snipe enemies and powerful monsters at great distances while still using bows." Hope says.
I don't really have anything against guns, I just prefere using bows. Guns are powerful, but too noisy. As a Shadow Hunter, silence is one of my trademarks, and shooting with a noisy gun can be a giveaway. Plus gunpowder and bullets are way expensive. Arrows can be reuseable for a long peroid of time.
"That's pretty amazing. I can only imagine what Patrick might think." Serah says.
"Well, once its done, we'll find out." Hope says.
The young trio moves onward to the BF3. Storage. The entire area is pretty cramped, many old boxes, chairs, files, desks, ect. that came from Cocoon after the fall. There are no enemies in here, which is good cause the whole floor is pretty tight to get around. Mostly single paths and tight areas you can barely squeeze into. It's like a maze.
The only issue is that they have to find a keycard under all this mess. It beats having to fight mindless Cie'th, but they do not really have much time for this kind of situation. So they split up around the room, cover more ground, to find a keycard.
Eventually they found it, and made it out in time when another quake from the upstairs battle stroke. Caused a major avalanche that pretty much files the whole room. No way in and no way out, and no telling if there's even the slight space inside. The next keycard takes them all the way up to the BF2. There's really no BF1. The space between the BF2 and the ground floor is dense cause the next floor is the Training Facility.
Raines didn't want any trainees blowing magic or shooting guns or missiles through the ceilings into the floors of the ground floor, so they decided to skip a floor to create a dense gap between the two floors. Like a barrier.
The training facility is a wide area with multiple stations.
Weapons rack. Target shootings. Training dummies. An arena for live combat. Simulation Room for virtual combat to teach rookies on how to learn how to handle situations and critical combats. There are no Cie'th in here, but there are seveal PSICOM troopers and officers in here.
Hope wonders how they even manage to get in here. It's possibly that they manage to swipe a keycard from somewhere. If they did, then they must have one that leads to the ground floor.
Now Hope, Snow and Serah know what they must do.
"ORPHAN l'Cies!" The officer shouts. From that shout, he and all the other troopers aim their guns at the trio and fires instantly. Serah panics and cowers with Snow protecting her by using his body for a shield. However, none of that was nessessary since Hope uses his Protect spell to create a wall of shield to block the incoming bullets.
Serah and Snow relaxes once they realize they are protected. The PSICOM troopers stop shooting to reload. While at a disadventage, Snow, Serah and Hope fight. Bring the traitors to the Sanctum down.
One-by-one, troopers fell. Snow, Serah and Hope have a share of their injuries as well, but it's really not a problem for them since they can heal themselves via Medic magic. Snow hardly suffers much since he can defend himself in Sentinel.
Upon defeating PSICOM, they have found a Keycard that leads to the ground floor. Finally, they are able to resurface from the underground. But once they are, they can see how horrifying the battle is.
The lobby is filled with chunks of cement, damage metal, broken bricks and shattered glass with the large chandelier, partly broken, in the center. Almost everyone in the building are corpses of PSICOM and ORPHAN troopers, while couple of ORPHAN troopes by the doors and windows shooting to the outside.
"And I thought the Purge was bad. This is nuts." Snow says.
"It's a horrible sight to see." Serah adds.
Hooe, Serah and Snow searches for anyone who's free to help them, so far, only troopers occupied with the battle outside. They suddenly stopped when they hear something different, like they're being called out. They search until they found someone hiding behind the front desk.
Once they are there, Hope recognizes the one who is calling them. "Alyssa?"
The person is a girl, roughly around Hope's age, older by the looks. Short brown hair dressed in yellow shirt with white vest and shorts that pretty much only goes to her thighs. "I see you made it back. It's not like you to be caught in a middle of a war." Alyssa says.
She says it like it's a joke. But she can't be blamed. Hope spends most of his time doing lab works then going out on the battlefield, mostly because Lightning is still trying to train him to become a soldier. With l'Cie powers or not, he still has a long way to go.
"Who is this girl?" Serah asks.
"Oh. That's right, you never officially met." Hope says. "This is Alyssa Zaidelle. She's my assistant. Alyssa, this is Snow and Serah."
Alyssa looks at Serah and Snow, she's pretty much fallen for Snow's handsomeness, but she truthly knows it's futile cause he's already married. "Oh, yes. I have heard a lot about you two from Hope, Patrick and Lightning."
"Really? I never knew they talked about us that much." Serah says.
Alyssa nervously laughs. "Yeah, well. Mostly about you, Serah. From Lightning and mostly Patrick about Snow, they just tell us about his ignorance, arrogance, stupidity...and a couple of strong words I'd rather not say."
Snow feels somwhat worried to hear that, even thought he should have known that's something I would have done. And he thought I was warming up on him. "So, what's the situation, Alyssa?"
"Nothing serious. PSICOM Troopers invaded up to the third floor. We were able to drive few of them out, but the fight is getting intense out in the lot." Alyssa explains, then a massive explosion happens, sending a blast of smoke through the lobby. Everyone was able to avoid the blast from hidding behind the lobby desk.
The entrance is blown open,mleaving a large hole in its wake. Vemon Repear V5 is within sight inside the building. ORPHAN Troopers and soldies still stand against the war machine, preventing it from coming inside, but they were too busy to do anything about the PSICOM soldiers that are rushing inside the building.
"This is bad. We need to do something about this." Serah says.
"First, we need to get to the lab. Then we'll handle the fight." Hope says. "Alyssa. Can you take us to the lab on the tenth floor?"
"Will do." Alyssa says with a salute.
"Wait. How are we gonna work the lab when there's no power?" Snow asks.
"I've prepared a back up generator. Should give the tenth floor lab enough power." Alyssa explains.
Hope, Serah and Snow guides Alyssa through the lobby. It's crawling with PSICOM and the young assistant can't fight. Snow can no longer carry the Yeul statue, so Alyssa loads it on a hover cart and pushes it to their destination. Alyssa wonders what is up with the statue, why would Hope have it with him. If he is taking it to the lab, it must be for some scientific research, possibly about Grand Pulse's history.
Guess she'll have to wait and see.
The power is still out, they end up having to take the stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs. (They're just like the building is not a 70 foot story like Shrina in Midgar...not yet anyways. Still, was a troubling moment for Cloud and his friends in Final Fantasy VII)
Still, on the way up, they have noticed how much PSICOM soldiers there is on the other two floors. Serah and Snow wanted to help out, so that's what they decided to do. Alyssa is able to reach the tenth floor on her way up. She can keep the statue safe there while Hope and the others take care of the situations.
They start off on the second floor, where PSICOM troopers and Cybugs are attacking the citizen employees. Few ORPHAN soldiers are protecting him, but they're doing a rusty job due to the fact that they are only trainees. They have to act fast.
PSICOM troopers have noticed Hope, Snow and Seah. "It's the l'Cie!" Announcing that, all weapons turn to the heroes and they attack them.
Hope protects himself and his friends with his Synergist magic. Snow charges in with a yell and punches the daylights out of the troopers. Serah stays back and shoots at the troopers, mainly at their weapons to disarm them or blow up the guns. She tries carefully not to end up shooting her husband.
Why is she really worried? He's a defensive l'Cie (Literally due to his high health in the game and being a Sentinel) not to mention he's too stubborn to die, which makes a complete letdown for me.
PSICOM troopers were defeated easily. The ORPHAN soldiers, some of them, become exhausted and fall to their knees. "Is everybody okay?" Serah asks. Some of them barely replied to her question.
That said, Hope and Serah use their magic to mend everyones wounds. Sadly, they can only do so little to restore their energy. They'll just have to rest up and recharge. "Listen to me. Anyone who can still fight, head for the ground floor. PSICOM are pushing hard, trying to break in. The rest of you, get somewhere safe. Hurry."
The soldiers and researches go their own separate ways. The exhaust soldiers go with the researchers. At least it's not a complete loss. Once they regain their strength, they can protect the innocent employees incase PSICOM finds them.
Serah, Hope and Snow help out with the other floors that are infested with PSICOM. The fourth floor was all ORPHAN soldiers instead of employees. But still, they were all trainees snd they struggling to keep up with the fight.
After defeating PSICOM, helping out their allies by healing them, they continue on to the next floor, up until they have reached the tenth floor whee Alyssa awaits for them in the lab with the Yeul statue. By the time they are on the tenth floor, they are exhausted. Mostly Serah.
"Oh boy...that was pretty rough." Serah says as she bends down, hands on her knees, panting. Trying to catch her breath.
"It's a good thing we're taking a break here." Snow jokes. Now's not the time for joking.
Hope looks around. He knows Alyssa is in the lab, but there is something he needs to do first.
Days ago, maybe a week, Lightning and I gave him an encrypted data drive that contains information about PSICOM. He has to assign someone to try and unlock it. In situations like this, it's best to find a way to manage your time. While someone is trying to break open a hard drive that's as tight as a bank vault, he'll look into the tablets and the crystal statue to see what he can learn about Yeul and the Farseers.
"Kazuto Tokimiya." Hope approaches to one of the scientists. Kazuto is about in his twenties, black hair and glasses.
"Hope Estheim. What can I do for you, sir?" Kazuto asks.
"I got something I need you to do." Hope takes out the Data COM Lightning and I gave him. "I need you to decrypt this. It's a flashdrive Lightning and Patrick took from PSICOM. It might hold some of their plans and information."
"I am on it, Estheim." Kazuto takes the Data COM and heads into his lab to begin the work. With that said, Hope rejoins Alyssa and the others in the research lab.
The research lab is a bit dark with green lights shining inside. Alyssa is sitting at the control desk at the end of the room. Right above the desk is a window that leads to a concealed room with several tubes, a large one in the middle with the Yeul statue in place.
"Oh, good. You're here." Snow says.
"Sorry, just had to take care of something first." Hope says. "Is everything ready?"
Alyssa nods. "Of course."
With a few flip switches and several keypad types, they begin scanning the crystal statue. Yeul can only hope that being l'Cie crystal isn't very fragile. That's it's truly unbreakable. The scanning goes from bottom to top, the statue glows in green on the place where the scanner is moving.
Once it reaches the head, it now descends downward. The second it's complete the computer analyizes the data it's collected. Hope and Alyssa looks at the screen closely, Serah and Snow from over Hope and Alyssa's shoulders.
The analyizing lasts for a minute, then brings up DNA identification.
'Name: Paddra Nsu Yeul
Age: 715
Eyes: Green
Hair: Dark blue'
A few other information is listed, some that no one fully understands. But They can tell this is the Yeul that Noel is looking for. The age mainly speaks volumes for them about her.
"This must be the Yeul Noel and Cauis are looking for." Snow says.
"So what Noel said is true. She became a l'Cie...and turned to Crystal." Serah says.
"Is something like that even possible for a Seeress?" Hope asks.
"We only have little knowledge about the Seeress from the Paddra Ruins we are investigating." Alyssa says. "If only we have some more knowledge about the Farseers."
That's when Hope realizes something. The tablets from the temple.
During their research, have discovered the Oracle Drive. The device is created b the Farseers. Contains unlimited knowledge bestowed upon the Seeress herself. However, the ORPHAN researchers have only manage to discover so little of its power. One of them just so happens to be language translation.
Hope places the tablets inside the room while Alyssa connects the Oracle Drive into the computer. Alyssa have the tablets scan, and then they wait as the computer and the drive does their work into translating the ancient language.
They wait for a while until the Oracle Drive opens a window screen.
'Farseers. Disciples of Etro, the Goddess of Death. Lead by the Seeress.
Centries ago. The Maker and the Godess created a world, where humans and Fal'Cie life and work together in harmony. Fal'Cie lead by the Grand Fal'Cie himself, Bhunivelze. Farseers were known as the first humans created on Pulse. The Seeress is the leader of the Farseers, to be known as the descendant of Etro.
The Seeress is a very wise leader, mature despite of age. All knowing. Bearer of the gift of the Goddess: The Eyes of Etro. The power to see the truth. Visions of the future. Lead their people down the right path. The Farseers followed the Seeress to lead themselves into peaceful lives. Yeul. With each death the Seeress Yeul, a new Yeul is created. The Seeress, a single soul reincarnated through an endless cycle.'
Hope, Serah and noel become speechless reading all of this. They read through the translated tablets. History about Grand Pulse, the world falling into Chaos and the Savor being born and sacrificed. It all leads up to the part about the Seeress era of Yeul.
'Bhunivelze knew the Fal'Cie were more capable. He believes humans are weak and powerless. He wonders: "Why are we living with these creatures? It is we who are the superior beings. They should be serving us. The Maker made a mistake by giving this world to the humans." Etro knew Bhunivelze was plotting something dark. By doing so, he is breaking the law of the Fal'Cie.
Yeul went alone to confront Bhunivelze on her own. By doing so, she had become a l'Cie. Bhunivelze dared to break the most sacred ancient law of the Farseers and Fal'Cie and brand the Seeress into a l'Cie. Confused and in fear, the Seeress ran away, desperately seeking and praying for answers.
Yeul's Focus was a dangerous one: Grant Bhunivelze Etro's power to create a new world, Cocoon, and to control the human race.
Bhunivelze wanted humans to serve him as a God. Even if he created Cocoon and become a God, he's forgotten one thing: The Maker. He has the power to stop Bhunivelze's evil plot. If He were to summon the Maker, he would be able to become a God. That's when the whole ideal of Bhunivelze's Cocoon was created:
Sacrifice the world and summon and defeat the Maker.
Many Fal'Cie have followed Bhunivelze's ideal, including his sone Lindzel. But his other son, Pulse, was against the whole plot and left them.
Then it came. The chosen day.
Yeul had visited Bhunivelze to decide her fate: Complete her Focus and turn to Crystal, or fail it and become Cie'th. Yeul have chosen to complete her Focus.
For an answer, Yeul has seen the distant future. Nobody knows what will happen. But she only said one thing:
"I have seen the future. Both paths will lead to total chaos: A world without the Seeress. A world enslaved and controlled by the evil Fal'Cie. Only one can bring peace in the end. A world of peace, saved by a group of l'Cie. Bound by a single Focus. To save the world or destroy it."
Nobody knows what it means, but all they know is that Yeul have chosen to fulfill her Focus. By doing so, Bhunivelze created Cocoon and Yeul turned to Crystal.
After the Seeress's transformation, the Guardian, Caius Ballad, confronted Bhunivelze. Along with his student, Noel Kreiss. The battle between the Guardian, the l'Cie monster hunter, and the grand Fal'Cie, turned into a chaotic battle. The entire world was nearly destroyed upon the Fal'Cie's death.
Humans panicked and begin to flee to Cocoon, a world that's now under the order of the Fal'Cie Lindzel. The war between the two Fal'Cies and the two worlds as begin. Giving birth to the War of Transgression.'
With each new sentence they read, they can feel their hearts stopping. Grand Pulse's history was as hellish as the stories of the world itself.
The tablets read fewer of it's history, about the war between Grand Pulse and Cocoon. About how the Goddess created Ragnarok to bring down Cocoon. Even the next chapter is about what they have learned after facing Barthandelus in Grand Pulse, before they returned to Cocoon.
Barthandelus and Orphan knew about Bhunivelze's plot, and wanted to bring down Cocoon by awakening Rangarok. That explains to Hope and the others why Cocoon Fal'Cie wanted to defeat Cocoon. It wasn't to summon the Maker. It was to destroy the world and save it.
It makes no sense to them, even Hope. But there's no understanding the Fal'Cie or what they plan or do.
Then came the final chapter:
'Desserted and in ruin. Grand Pulse is at a loss, for the chosen l'Cies of becoming Ragnarok were drained of power, due to an incomplete Focus. With it's Seeress still missing, doom is all the awaits.
It is said that the Seeress will return one day. To be awake from her slumber. Destroy Cocoon. Free the captive humans. Put an end to Bhunivelze's plot, and the Seeress will finally awake. Free from the burden of her sins.'
And that's where it ends.
"Wow...this is..." Hope is pretty speechless at everything he had just learned.
"To thing, something like that has happened before." Serah says. "It's no wonder Grand Pulse turned into the bloodthirsty wildlife it's become."
"Even so, there's still much that doesn't make any sense. Starting with Yeul." Alyssa looks at the crystal statue in the corner. "Cocoon fell and all the humans were saved from the Fal'Cie order and plan. Still. Why is she still in crystal of slumber?"
Hope realizes that Alyssa is right. If Cocoon has fallen, then Yeul should have awaken. Which means...there must be some key missing to this puzzle. But what is it?
As the four wonder, Kazuto walks right in. "Kazuto? What brings you here?" Alyssa asks.
"I've manage to decrypt the Data COM." Kazuto sounds serious, but his expression says different. "I think you better see this."
Kazuto takes everyone too his office. Kazuto's office isn't much, a bit small. Alyssa thinks it could use a little work to lighten up a bit. What surprises, Hope, but mostly Serah and Snow, is that Kazuto's office has an unexpected guest.
"Primarch Raines?" Raines gives a respectful bow on the head.
"Serah Farron. Snow Villiers. It's been a long time." Raines says.
"Your excellency. What are you doing here?" Serah asks.
"I have heard from Kazuto he discovered something nefarious within PSICOM's plans." Raines says. "So I wanted to see this for myself."
Hearing that has Hope, Serah and even Snow on alert. Kazuto Opens the windows, revealing all the data that's stored in the drive. Battle plans. Weapon blueprints. The one thing that has her attention is their ultimate weapon they're working on:
Ultima Cannon.
Base on the scale unit, Hope and Alyssa can tell the weapon is large. What surprises them is the fuel it runs on. "Fal'Cie energy?" Hope asks. "Where are they gonna get such power?"
"Wait. Didn't Lightning and Patrick say PSICOM were draining the energies of the lifeless Fal'Cie?" Alyssa says.
He realizes that is what PSICOM was doing. "But...why? What are they planing to do with such a weapon?" Serah asks.
Kazuto digs deeper into the files. He didn't find anything much useful, until he opens the file: "Plan: Resurrection" He opens the file and it shows its plan. A four part plan.
Phase 1: A picture of a crystalized girl with the mark of Etro's Gate above her. They can tell that means the Seeress.
Phase 2: The Seeress in the hands of a Fal'Cie, with a planet floating above them. Bits of the slideshow reveals that the Fal'Cie is creating the new world with the Goddess power from the Seeress.
Phase 3: PSICOM airships transports the weapon onto the new Fal'Cie world.
Phase 4: It's just two planets, but the new one has an Eye in the center. But it shocks everyone when that eye charges up and blasts a massive beam, destroying Grand Pulse.
"They...gonna destroy...THE WORLD!?" Alyssa screams.
Everyone's pretty speechless at the plan they have just discovered. All though Raines just handles the situation with an emotionless expression. He is never so easily afraid of anything. "It would seem PSICOM is a far greater threat then we thought."
"Wait a minute." Snow realizes something. "Didn't that Caius guy mention he was gonna save Yeul...by destroying Pulse?"
Hearing that, Hope starts to put the pieces together. Wanting to destroy Pulse. Working with PSICOM to find Yeul. "You don't think...?"
Caius is being used. PSICOM are deceiving him. They are only making him hunt for Yeul so they can abuse her powers for evil. Complete the Fal'Cie plan that Bhunivelze has started.
"We have to stop PSICOM." Serah says.
"First things first: We must find this weapon and destroy it." Raines says.
"Raines is right. We have the Seeress. They can't complete the plan without her." Hope says.
An explosion happens. Causes the entire building to quake. Everyone, including Raines, staggers from the rumbling shake. "What is going on?" Alyssa asks.
Outside of the headquarters, PSICOM are break into the building. In the lobby, the Vemon Reaper breaks in and multiple PSICOM troopers breaks in. Airships fly closer to the base and the soldiers drop in from above. They shoot their guns as they fall, shattering the windows of the higher levels.
Several soldiers land on the roof of the construction site. Many have land on the higher floors below the site. PSICOM have broken into the base.
The sunsets, turning the skies fiery red. The perfect weather for a bloody war.
Jihl makes her announcement.
"ATTENTION SANCTUM TRAITORS! WE PSICOM HAVE INFILTRATE YOUR BASE! WE KNOW YOU HAVE POSSESSION OF THE SEERESS! OUR PRIMARCH SEEKS TO CAPTURE THE SEERESS TO RESURRECT OUR BROKEN WORLD OF COCOON! IF YOU SURRENDER THE SEERESS WE WILL CONSIDER SPARING YOUR LIFES!"
If I were here, I would say that's a total lie and I would cut that monsters heart out. If she even has one that is.
Raines and everyone else heard the announcement. "Is it me...or does that voice sound kind of familiar?" Snow asks.
Raines knows that voice anywhere, but he refuses to believe it's really Jihl Nabaat. She died back on the Palamecia. "Okay. This is bad." Hope says. "Alyssa. You and Kazuto watch over the crystal statue."
Alyssa and Kazuto salutes. While they guard the crystalized Yeul, Raines and everyone else will take care of the situation in the building.
The war has just begun.