Begin Author's Notes
*Camera turns on.*
*The people in front of the camera is still GotM Connor and Emperor Mitchell. They both look ready to commentate…*
*And then the door opens, with Kyle and Aria stepping in.*
Kyle: "Sorry for kicking you guys out, but Triple M told us to get back to commentating."
Connor: *Looks at Emperor Mitchell, "Want to get something to eat? I'm paying."*
Emperor Mitchell: *still upset but not as upset as before* "...Alright…"
Aria: *confused* "What happened with him? He was fine earlier, last I knew…"
Connor: *Sighing out loud, "You'll know sooner or later… C'mon, let's leave already."*
Emperor Mitchell: *nods*
*The two depart.*
Kyle: *Looks at Aria.* "You didn't have to...you know, attack Cait or Triple M...or Leon, Travis, and Veronica."
Aria: "...I know...It's just...seeing you get hurt like that...especially so soon after READING you getting hurt...something just...snapped…"
Kyle: "At the very least we got a good infirmary inside the studio."
Aria: "I'm glad about that…So...we ready to read this chapter?"
Kyle: "Yeah...I'm ready."
*Kyle switches the camera view by using the nearby terminal.*
*Chapter loading…*
*Loading...Loading…
*Loading Complete.*
*Chapter 21 Starts.*
Chapter 21: Mojave Disturbance
A few days later…
The Einherjar cards that Kyle had on him were given to Old Hubba, in addition to the receiver that Veronica and Leon were working on. They explained to the old man how to use it and to signal out for help.
Till more Einherjars showed up, the group had to depart from the island and get back to tracking down any remaining allies from Lucina's future. Once the group was back on one of the bigger chunks of land on the map, the search was back on.
In the days since then, the camp was on good spirits and it reflected in the vibe of the camp's atmosphere.
Meanwhile, inside Aria's tent…
Aria was out of her tent searching for a few books that were placed in the storage tent, while Kyle was left alone as he read the copy of the "Wasteland Survival Guide" in his hands.
The page he was reading was about how to treat radiation from an expert that irradiated himself and goes on in detail about how to treat it. A few pages later, the guide's expert was talking about robots. Everything from how to start them up to fixing them was covered.
Kyle was just about to start reading about how to deal with mutated Wasteland animals when Aria returned from her book search.
Once she stored away the books for later, the Tactician took an interest in asking what Kyle was reading.
"...Wasteland Survival Guide?" she asked, getting a look at the cover.
"It's a handy guide on how to survive in the nuclear wasteland...It's very popular for a good reason...beyond the fact it's hard to get a copy back where I'm from." Kyle answered back as he tried to keep reading.
Aria nodded...before deciding to look over his shoulder. "...So...these are the creatures you face in the Wasteland? Some of them, I mean?"
"Well...I don't know about this particular one...It's called a Mirelurk. I don't recall ever finding one out in the Mojave." Kyle said as he pointed at a very detailed sketch of a Mirelurk.
Surrounding the sketch on the Mirelurk was plenty of notes about its biology, weak points, and behavior. That last detail had "ALWAYS AGGRESSIVE, SHOOT ON SIGHT!"
"...Whoever wrote this must HATE Mirelurks.." Aria commented.
"Speaking of which, I never really did check out who wrote this...I vaguely remember the author's name in the first page. I'll check it right now." Kyle noted before flipping to the first page.
The page just had two sections to it. The first was the name of the author, which was "Moira Brown". The other section just had some part say "This is in dedication to the one assistant that helped make this guide possible, Leon Scott."
"I get the feeling Moira wasn't-" Kyle tried to say before he interrupted himself by reading the assistant's name again.
"...Leon Scott...isn't that… … …?" Aria began, but couldn't finish.
"... … ...No...That's Leon Scott, the same Leon we know." Kyle said as he looked through the pages beyond the first.
The two continued to look through each page, now with the knowledge the expert's notes were Leon's observations. Once they reached the end, they were stunned about how much he contributed to the guide.
"Wow...I can't believe he actually jumped off a railing and broke both of his legs to go in detail about how to fix them." Kyle noted as he imagined how that happened.
"And then you have him detailing how to find food, water, and medicine...and dealing with a large band of raiders… … ...I...I have no words…" Aria replied.
Kyle closed the guide and just said, "You learn something new each day." before storing it away and pulling out a Boxing Times magazine.
Aria nodded. "Yeah…"
Kyle put his magazine down and asked Aria, "Do you want to read something else? I got a spare Boxing Times if you want to read it."
"Remind me...what was that about again?" Aria asked.
"That one was about how boxers use their gloves to affect their punches, hooks, jabs, and anything else involving the hand in the sport." Kyle said as he got the spare magazine out and waited for Aria to take it.
"So...unarmed or glove-based combat, then?" Aria asked.
"Yeah...except not the 'battle for your life' kind of combat." Kyle answered back.
"I see… … …" Aria replied.
"Then again, most of the stuff in these magazines is surprisingly useful in teaching how to use "Power Fist" type of weapons...Say, is that Saturnite Fist still in the storage tent?" Kyle asked.
"Actually, Cait brought it and the other weapon here earlier," Aria replied, "… … ...Actually, I was kinda wondering about how useful the Saturnite Fist might be...I might want to try it out at some point…"
"Well, if you want to try it out, better get it out now so I can help you practice properly equipping it." Kyle said.
Aria smiled and went to grab the weapons Cait brought, before picking up the Saturnite Fist.
Once the gauntlet was brought over, Kyle began giving pointers and directions on how to equip it. After doing this a few times, Aria had the Saturnite Fist equipped on her right hand.
"Okay, I think we should find a practice dummy and start the actual combat training, if you want to, Aria." Kyle said.
"Of course," Aria replied, smiling.
A day later…
A lead was given from a nearby village the group passed through. According to what the villagers said, there was a set of ruins that supposedly had treasure.
Willing to take a chance at finding at something valuable, the group headed north to find the ruins in question...surrounded by water.
And to add further complications, a large group of Risen could be seen on the platforms just barely reaching the surface of the water.
Thankfully, there was a shallow path that lead to the south west side of the ruins. After the group was finished getting across, they had to get ready to deal with the Risen before searching for the treasures.
Kyle and Aira paired up, followed by Travis and Cait, and Leon and Veronica. Dogmeat was by himself...not that he was worried about it. Once that was done, the gradual clearing of Risen began.
Heading off east, Kyle and Aria crossed the water by use of Aria's Pegasus to reach another series of platforms that weren't crawling with Risen.
Kyle hopped off and sticked to the ground while Aria followed along in the Air. They actually ran into a brigand that was there on his own to loot the place. The end result of that meeting resulted in a brigand getting punched into the water and he wasn't moving.
Moving on, they did find Risen to fight. Kyle used his shotgun to deal with the Risen that tried to close the distance and attack him. Meanwhile, Aria used her usual Thoron tome to strike at Risen.
At some point, they heard a gunshot ring out, but Kyle didn't fire the gun in his hands. Two more shots rang out, except this time they could tell it was coming from further ahead.
They assumed that it was either Leon or Travis due to the gunshots coming from a small gun, which both men did have. However, from what they saw when they got closer, it wasn't them.
Instead they found what looked to be a pair of a young guy and a young gal back to back fighting off Risen. The guy had armor akin to Kyle's NCR Ranger gear, but the duster was replaced with a cloak akin to the one Aria wears. The girl, meanwhile, had armor akin to Aria's but, with the cloak replaced with the NCR Ranger gear's duster.
Kyle immediately swapped over to his Gauss rifle and picked off a Risen that was about to strike the girl. Aria did the same to a Risen that was aiming for the guy, except with a Thoron blast. The Risen disappeared and the Tactician and Courier advanced towards the other duo.
The two turned to Aria and Kyle, and a smile broke out on their faces (or on the girl's, and they could assume it did on the guy's face due to their tone of voice).
The guy called out. "Mother!"
"Father!" the girl called out.
Kyle just stood their confused and his response was, "Did you call me father?" to the girl.
The girl smiled. "Of course...you ok father? And why do you look younger?"
"And you called me mother?" Aria asked the boy.
"Yeah...and Morgan's right: you DO look younger!" the boy replied.
"Uh...Morgan, is it? I hate to confuse you...but I'm 27. I'm been that way since I got here...and why are you calling me your father again?" Kyle answered back, clearly confused.
"Actually, think about it, Kyle...what's been happening to many of the other Shepherds? Who have we been on the lookout for… … ...Maybe they came from the future as well…" Aria commented.
The guy then commented, confused, "Come from the future? That's not possible. You're acting rather strange...let's head home, now where...Ngh! M-my head!"
Morgan then commented, "I don't remember...either…Gah, my head…"
Kyle snapped out of his confusion and tried to do something by saying, "Uh...you two need to think about something else...something more pleasant and familiar."
The words ended up doing nothing, so Kyle quickly ended up asking the boy, "If you can, think about your name instead...you have a name, right?"
"Uhm...yeah...it's Mark," the boy replied.
Kyle then turned to Morgan and just awkwardly said, "Morgan...calm down and don't worry about home right now, we need to deal with what's happening now first."
Kyle then turned to Aria and quickly told her, "By the way, I'm still not entirely convinced these two are our kids…"
"Well...look at them...they look a bit like us...not only with their armor, but their hair colors match ours...and...hmmm…" Aria stated before going into thought.
Kyle sighed before just saying, "Yeah...but that's not definitive proof. All of the future kids we meet so far have a keepsake from one of their parents."
Kyle turned back to Mark and Morgan and asked them, "Pardon, do either you have something we gave you before you met us here?"
"Oh! Of course!" Morgan replied, holding up her hand...revealing a worn version of the Bottlecap Ring Kyle proposed to Aria with.
Mark held up his own weapon, showing it to them. "Here's what I was given…" And said weapon was...a rusted version of Lucky, one of Kyle's guns.
Kyle admittedly was flabbergasted after he saw those items, but he didn't show that on his face. Instead, he just smiled and said, "Sorry for making you two worry, father's been worried about the enemy me and your mother were fighting before we found you two."
Kyle quickly added, "Morgan, why don't you stick with me for the time being and let Mark go with Aria?"
Morgan smiled. "Alright, let's go...and maybe you can explain what's going on here…"
Aria turned to Mark. "You ready to go? I could probably explain to you what's going on here as well…"
Mark smiled. "Alright, mother: let's get going!"
The pairs split up and continued on their way forward with Kyle making sure to keep Morgan safe, while Aria did the same for Mark.
Meanwhile...
On the other side of the battlefield to the west, the other Wastelanders were dealing with a large advancement of Risen heading towards them. Travis, Cait, Leon, and Veronica, picked them off with their gun of choice held in their hands.
Veronica was using the Tri-Beam laser rifle (Given to her by Kyle to help her to provide a ranged way to attack), Cait with her double barreled shotgun, Leon with his hunting rifle, and Travis with the lever-action rifle.
The Risen continued to charge, even as some of them turned into red ashes, or got blasted into the water from the ballistic weapons. This continued on till the last Risen was also turned into red ashes before the defeated group gradually disappeared.
With the path clear, they advanced and were able to see Kyle fighting off Risen with a dark haired girl by his side. He was shooting Risen with his Ranger Sequoia, while the girl was casting fire magic at the others.
The odd thing they noticed was they had the same hair color, which was black...and they had similar looking dusters. Then the Wastelanders noticed Aria and a boy accompanying her.
Much like Kyle's case, the boy had a similar cloak to Aria's...and even the same hair color. At this point, they had their suspicions, but those were quickly pushed aside as they started firing upon more Risen.
Meanwhile, back on Kyle and Aria's side...
The family pairs continued until they stopped to let Kyle look ahead to see if there was any threats further ahead. As Kyle scanned over the area ahead, he spotted a Risen Chief on a griffin.
Unfortunately, the Risen Chief also spotted Kyle, leading to it moving towards his location. Kyle quickly ordered Morgan and Mark to get their weapons ready and to fire on his command. Aria was already one step ahead as she charged up a Thoron blast.
As the Chief got closer and closer, it saw Mark and Morgan and just loudly said, "Must kill...future...children." The moment Kyle heard those words, he gave the order to attack as he pulled the trigger on his Gauss rifle.
The Gauss projectile struck first hitting the torso, followed by the Thoron blast and Arcfire flame hitting the same area, and ended with a bullet getting lodged in its head. The combined damage did the Chief in as it dragged its flying ride down with it into the water before it vanished underneath the water.
The Chief being disposed off meant the remaining Risen (if there were any) vanished, leaving the ruins to be empty of threats. With the danger gone, the treasure hunt was on and the group scoured the ruins and platforms for anything valuable.
Some time later...
Every possible nook and cranny was searched and the items they found were going to be sent back to camp to be brought into the organized listed inventory.
Kyle waited for Aria to get back from talking with Chrom as Mark and Morgan looked around seeing the other Shepherds. Then the Wastelanders got back from their own quick search and regrouped with Kyle.
However, that's when things took a stranger turn when Morgan and Mark saw Kyle's fellow Wastelanders.
The moment they saw Dogmeat, they ran over to the dog and started petting him. Dogmeat himself was a bit confused at what was going on...but he was being petted at the moment. He could care less if he knew these kids...even as Leon stared at him in confusion.
Actually, the other Wastelanders in addition to Leon were confused at what they were seeing. A long winded explanation was given from Kyle...and that just further confused the fellow Wastelanders.
Aria eventually returned and helped explain what was going on, getting the confusion to clear up as much as possible. Of course, the one thing that didn't get explained was how Mark and Morgan knew who Dogmeat was. But at that point, it was time to get moving back to camp.
Either way, Kyle and Aria headed back to camp...now with their own children from the future, unaware of their lives were going to change forever. And not to mention that Kyle is now part of a family of amnesiacs.
Of course, he'll still be there to help them on their path to regain their memories, every step of the way.
End Chapter 21.
*Camera switches back.*
Kyle: *Remains silent for a bit.* "...I...don't know what to say."
Aria: "Well...I can certainly say this was interesting…"
Kyle: *Seems like he does have something on his mind.* "I get the feeling either something pleasant or terrible will happen shortly…"
*Kyle quickly moves out of the way...as nothing happens.*
Aria: "... … ...What're you doing?"
Kyle: *A bit confused as he says, "Don't you feel something should be happening right about now?"*
Aria: *thinking* "...Oh! You mean the portals? Hmmm...now that you mention it… … ..."
Kyle: *Thinking as well, "I recall portals showing up around the time we do these commentaries...I thought one was going to show up, so I moved out of the way in case something comes flying out of it."*
Dark Prelate Mitchell: *runs into the room* "Overheard ya, and yeah, a Portal's showing up, but not in here...I just saw one appear outside a few minutes ago and spit a couple people out!"
Kyle: "Wait…were you listening…Oh, never mind. Just grab the camera and bring it with you."
Dark Prelate Mitchell: *nods and does so*
*The camera gets brought outside and gets placed down. It sees two people already on the ground as Kyle, Aria, and DP Mitchell check to see who they are.*
Kyle: *A bit surprised as he says, "...No way…"*
Aria: "Thinking about it, given what we just read, it couldn't be anyone else…"
Male!? and Fem!?: *begin waking up...then noticing who they were seeing* *Gasps* "Mother! Father!"
Kyle: "Are you two alright?"
Fem!?: "Yeah, we're fine, father!"
Aria: "Mark, Morgan, how'd you get here? Was it those...portals?" *already knowing the answer*
Mark: "Portals? Yeah...it was some kind of portal…"
Kyle: "Did you two walk into it, or did it show up and brought you here?"
Morgan: "It just...showed up while we were walking and we ended up being brought here by it…"
Kyle: *In a reassuring tone, "Well...you don't have to worry about the portal anymore...Mommy and Daddy are here to make sure you two are fine."*
Dark Prelate Mitchell: "I guess I'm the one who's gonna inform the two in charge around here of the new residents?"
Mark and Morgan: *look at the Human Dark Prelate*
Mark: "...Who's he?"
Kyle: *Struggling to come up with a simple explanation* "Uh...That's Mitchell...The 'Dark Prelate' one...He's an acquaintance of ours."*
Dark Prelate Mitchell: "...I'll just get going now…"
Morgan: *once Dark Prelate Mitchell was gone* "...What do you mean the 'Dark Prelate' one? There can't be more than one of the same individual…"
Kyle: *Clearly having trouble again with saying, "Yeah...Not here. This place...has different versions of the same person...somehow."
Mark: "Wow...that's...actually pretty cool!"
Morgan: "Yeah!"
Kyle: *Whispers to Aria. "I didn't expect them to react like that...I thought it take them a while to believe what I said."*
Aria: *whispers back* "Well, you dealt with a lot of strange stuff, maybe the casualness towards such was passed on to them…"
Kyle: *To Aria, "Well...we really should get these two back into the studio and see about getting them their own rooms if possible."*
Aria: "Agreed…"
Morgan: *sees the camera* "Say...what's this?" *Gets a closer look as Mark notices*
Kyle: *Notices Morgan looking at the camera.* "Please don't touch that. That's a camera...and it costs a lot of money apparently."
Morgan: *hops back* "Oh!"
Kyle: *Heads to the camera* "Well...you can touch it, just be careful and make sure it doesn't fall onto the ground."
*As Kyle is trying to turn off the camera, it falls off its tripod stand and land on its side. Kyle could be hearing mumbling as he places it back and turns it off.*
End Author's Notes
Important Update V 1.1(6/3/17)
Great news for those who were expecting more FFNA. We got more chapters on the way since the technical issues are not a factor at this moment.
-MarkMartinMagmaM3.