Oh my god, I am so sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I started another Fan Fiction called The Butterfly Effect for Trafalgar Law and my OC and I didn't know where to go from where I left off. So enjoy the chapter.
Pakres head ached like crazy and she swore that she was about to throw up. She opened her eyes. It was a painful process because there was a blinding light right above her and her eyes were practically locked shut because of eye boogies.
She looked around and saw many foreign things: there was a giant machine next to the metal table Pakre was strapped to, small computers showing her heartbeat and breathing, bright white walls complete with a blinding light shining directly at her and an IV with a cord connected to her arm. "God, my head is pounding." Pakre groaned.
"Yeah, I expected that." said a familiar voice.
Pakre looked in the direction the voice came from. She saw her father, Karan, followed by a nurse with bright green hair tied up into a bun with a lock of hair hanging down the middle of her face that went down to her nose. Karan stopped next to the metal table and looked at Pakre with a kind smile. "How are you feeling? Light headed? Nauseous?" he asked. Pakre raised her eyebrows as she just thought of a most humorous answer. "Yeah, and I'm looking at 'em." Pakre answered. Karan looked hurt by this answer. "Now why would you say something like that to me? What did I ever do?"
"Let me think: You hit me good night, never really looked at me, told me funeral records for bedtime stories, never searched for me when I ran away, almost killed me, and now I don't know where Captain Apoo or the crew are and I'm strapped to a table connected to an IV and god knows what that machine does."
Karan let roared with laughter. "So that's what the simulator put in your head. That thing was designed to simulate situations in your subconscious mind and we see how you react in those situations. It seems you joined the fake "On Air" Pirates without any resistance –willingly in fact-, and that's a little disappointing." Karan said with a kind smile.
"Simulator' my ass. I know all that happened, I remember it clearly. If it were a dream I would hardly remember it. I remember Mac, Tobi, Kiskue, Apoo, and all in great detail too. So if you want to tell me that that was all a dream, you need some pretty damn good proof." Pakre was sure that she would win this little game of who was right and who was wrong.
Karan pulled a remote from one of the drawers in the metal table Pakre and pressed a button. A video transponder snail slithered out of a little hole in a wall that just appeared. Karan pressed another button on the remote and the video transponder snail opened its eyes wide and projected a picture.
The picture showed Pakres point of view of the fight with Karan in the town as well as the time when Pakre first met Apoo in the bar. Pakre couldn't believe her eyes. Everything that she had witnesses, or thought she witnessed, first hand from her sight was recorded on a video snail.
"Do you believe me now, sweaty?" he asked with a kind smile. Pakre turned her from the projection to her father wearing a look of disbelief and shock. "Can it really be true? Did everything that happened in my mind happen because I wished it? Everything... was fake. Just something I wished for, all just a big lie by me." Pakre was on the verge of tears. Even though it was all a big lie, she grew feelings for those fake memories.
"What's wrong, Pakre?" Karan asked with real concern.
"If this was a simulation and it's all over, why am I still strapped to a table?"
Karan laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Heh, sorry about that. I'll get the nurse here to unlock those shackles." he explained and turned to face the nurse unhooking Pakre from the machine. "Hey nurse, unshackle my daughter ASAP." The nurse nodded and finished her work as quickly as she could so she could follow the orders given to her.
Pakre first felt the buckles around her ankles come off then her wrists. Pakre pushed herself into a sitting position and rubbed her wrists. She found a bracelet tightly wound around her wrist that listed her name, birthday, age, and blood type. She also found that she was in a hospital gown that barely covered her thighs. The nurse carefully remove the IV cord from Pakres arm and placed a bandage where the needle used to be. "So, how did I end up here anyhow? I feel like my life just started a minute ago." Karan let out another roaring laugh and slapped Pakre on the back. "Well well, guess we found out a side effect." he roared.
"Okay, now I'm really lost." Pakre whined while pointing her fingers to her forehead. Karan pulled a chair from out of the hallway that he came out of and set the chair next to the metal table that Pakre sat on. "I'll tell you the whole story, kiddo." he said while sitting himself down. "Okay, shoot!" she said, shrugging her shoulders.
"It started about ten days ago. Dr. Vegapunk created a machine that could tap into the subconscious mind and create situations in your head that the brain thinks is real. We figured that we could use this machine to help train the new recruits with simulations for real events.
"We went through all the safety tests and needed someone to test out the machine in action. You volunteered and I was against the whole thing. I didn't want anything to happen to you that we couldn't fix. You kept insisting so I finally backed down and the doctors hooked you up to the machine. They started out to when you were young and memories that you could barely recall and temporarily rewrote them. I didn't know what they did to those memories but later in the test they used the identity of one of the rookies that entered the Grand Line to see how you reacted to that situation."
"Wait, let me figure this out. You made memories and how I lived them?"
"No, sweetie. We simply made the memories; what you did in those situations were your own actions. So we went as far as before Apoo asked you to join his crew and left you alone after that to see where it went." Karan chuckled and continued. "When you started running around naked on his ship it gave us some laughs. Of all things we predicted would happen, that was probably not on the list. After a few more days of watching you, we decided to put an end to it. But to do that, we had to shock you enough that your brain detected the intrusion and fix the problem. So they put in a situation that you had to fight me, and it was inevitable that you would lose. They made sure that they tweaked the program constantly so that you would not be able to think of what to do next. The fake me knocked you out, your brain detected the rewrites and fixed the problem, you woke up, and here we are now."
This was news to Pakre. It all made sense and the explanation was perfect. "So, I was a marine the whole time. I was never a pirate to begin with." Pakre sighed. As much fun as she had, all of it was fake. Then Pakre shot her head up. "Hey, wait a second. How can you go through seventeen years of my life in just ten days? And if my brain fixed the fake memories, why are they still plain as day in my head?"
"I guess it takes some time for the brain to fully rewrite the memories. Don't worry, they'll come back eventually." Karan said and smiled. He patted Pakre on the head and left waving his hand. "I'll have the nurse take you back to your room so you can change back into your uniform." were Karans last words before he disappeared into the hallway. Pakre looked to the nurse that was finishing putting away everything before she escorted Pakre to her room.
The nurse clutched a clipboard to her chest as she escorted Pakre to her room. Pakre looked around and saw that the walls were bleach white with absolutely no stains or scuffs and the white tile floors were shined and waxed to perfection. The nurse stopped at a door that led to Pakres room. The door was basic flat oak with a copper handle. The nurse opened the door and beckoned Pakre inside. The room held one bed with a blue comforter, white sheets and bed skirt, and blue pillow covers. There was an average dresser with six drawers made of the same wood as the door, a small night stand made out of the same wood with a white lamp with blue lamp shade and a photograph in a stainless steel picture frame. "Grab your clothes and I will escort you to the washrooms so you can wash up. After all, you haven't showered in ten days." Pakre lifted her arm and smelt her arm pit. The nurse was right, Pakre stunk like a sweaty pig and her hair was about as greasy as a grill. Pakre opened one of the drawers in the dresser and found all of the underwear in the top right drawer and all of the socks in the top left. The Marine uniform tops were in the middle right drawer, the marine uniform bottoms –which were pants instead of skirts unlike Pakre expected- were in the middle right, the collar and hat were sitting on top of the dresser and the boots were tucked away in a corner. Pakre grabbed on of each and followed the nurse out of the room and to the womens showers.
The womens showers were very lonely. It was very big but Pakre was the only person in there; not very many women joined the navy as soldiers and there were only five women on the base, including Pakre and the nurse she had met. Pakre slipped out of the hospital gown and stepped into the shower that the nurse had started for her. The water was warm and it soaked Pakres oddly colored hair. The showers were fully equipped with a full bottle of shampoo and conditioner, a bar of soap, and a new razor in every stall for the next person to enter. She proceeded with the usual routine that every person does in the shower. She washed her hair, twice due to extra oily hair, and deep conditioned. She readied the razor and shaved after she washed the area with soap. Once Pakre felt completely cleaned she turned off the shower and walked out of the shower stall. The nurse stood waiting with a blue cotton towel in hand. Pakre thanked the nurse and began to dry off. Pakre had set her clothes at a dry area near the sink with a mug that had Pakres name on it and a tooth brush and tooth paste inside it. The cup was a girly pink with blue loopy letters. Pakre assumed that this was her usual spot that she did her daily hygiene up keep.
She dressed following the strict dress code that the marines followed to a T and brushed her teeth twice. The nurse helped fix any and all mistakes in Pakres clothing before giving her a brush to brush her hair. Pakre did so and slipped the brush into her cup. The nurse escorted her out of the showers and to their next destination: the communication room.
This room was used for relaying information to other command centers or to HQ about any new pirates that would pose a threat to the government. Pictures come in and out as well as information on their predicted current whereabouts and recent actions. Most of the information coming in and out was on pirates such as Basil Hawkins, Trafalgar Law, Eustass Kid, and a few small time crooks.
Eustass Kid destroyed yet another town, as the marines told Pakre. "It seems the Kid Pirates do a lot of work." Pakre thought. They killed and hurt people needlessly and with no remorse. As did the information on the Heart Pirates, but those were mostly marines which meant to Pakre that they did not attack unless provoked and all were only hurt and absolutely no casualties. The thing about that that didn't make sense to Pakre was how people being dismembered didn't count as casualties. Basil Hawkins was on a killing spree as well as invading several marine bases with all personnel being wiped out.
"This is all really cool." Pakre commented she observed her new surroundings with a lot of interest. She saw printers connected to transponder snails that printed pictures of pirates in the area with confirmation from HQ of their names and bounties as well as orders to go after them or to stay put. "Ha ha, you say that every time you come in here." Karan said with a wide smile. Pakre looked around some more. No matter how much she tried, nothing seemed to pop up as familiar.
When Pakre went to dinner with her father and the nurse, a lot of marines were waving to her and calling out to her like she personally knew them. Pakre couldn't recall any names she knew and she couldn't pick up any habits she would have kept when getting lunch. In her memories, Pakre was always the one to cook meals and wake everyone up. The crew would sit down, grab what they could, and then start fighting over the left-overs. Here, she grabbed a tray, moved down a line to have a foot long sandwich plopped into her plate, grabbed a milk carton, and sat down at a lonely table. Karan and the nurse sat down next to her. "Hey, why the long face, kiddo?" Karan asked while munching on his very large chicken leg.
"I guess I just miss those fake On-Air Pirates. Even though it wasn't real, I still had a lot of fun." Pakre sighed. "I miss them. I really miss them."
"Well, I guess we're just gonna have to get rid of those memories." Karan growled and pinched the bridge of his nose
After having some trouble finishing the foot long sandwich she was given, Pakre made her way back to her room. She stripped down to her underwear and climbed into bed, sighing almost every second. Pakre pulled up the sheets to her nose and rolled on to her side. She turned off the lamp and the room went dark. Not a peep, pat, squeak, shuffling, or thumps disturbed the silent darkness. Pakre had gotten so used to the shuffling of bodies in hammocks and snoring of the men sleeping around her. She missed every single fake memory that was put into her head. Pakre rolled over to her other side and began to sniffle.
Meanwhile, in the dungeons of the same marine base, a pirate crew stirred and chains jingled. Most men moaned from pain because of the interrogation. The captain was hurt the worst and his strength was continually being drained because of the sea prism stone cuffs around his wrists. "Damn it, quit moving around! The noise is giving me a headache." Apoo moaned and fell forward onto his forehead. Kiskue, who was leaning on the wall next to his captain looked around, squinting to make out any figures with his blurry vision. "Is everyone still alive?" Apoo yelled with much effort.
"We've got one missing." Tobi answered. Blood was covering the entire left side of his face and his body was beaten and bruised badly. Mac was in the same condition. "I don't see Pakre anywhere." Mac continued.