Preface:
Over the last few years I created quite a few pieces of rather ambitious fancontent. Amongst those were a Visual Novel adaptation of "The Distant Valhalla" (a Light Novel to Steins;Gate), an animation of "Slumbering Fools" (a drama CD to Chaos;Child) and another animation to "Delusion of Zero" (a short story to Chaos;Head). All of which was official side-content that we fortunately received a translation of.
With the recent release of Robotics;Notes Elite I realized it was the only mainline entry in the SciADV franchise I haven't yet "covered", so to speak. So I looked into ways of creating an animation to the side-content we had, but gave up rather soon. Partially this was due to the 3D character models that just make an animation more difficult compared to the simple sprite images used in the previous titles. But on the other hand, we also don't really have side-content that's suitable for an animation.
So in the end I decided to write up something on my own. Part of that decision also came from me realizing I only ever "remixed" existing content that has already been created by other artists. Never did I create something that I came up with entirely myself, and that I poured my own creativity into. That's why I wanted to give it a shot just once in my life and wrote up Phase 13.
"So... what can I expect from this story?"
Relevance to Science Adventure:
Even though this is original content, it doesn't come up with a totally random premise. The plot is supposed to fill the missing gap to a certain piece of official side content that you're better off not knowing anything about for now. You could certainly see it as some sort of "midquel" between two other SciADV stories.
Due to that, this story strives to remain consistent to the relevant side content and heavily interconnects with its plot strings. While doing so, it also paves the way for the events occurring in Robotics;Notes DaSH. To understand the plot you only need to know the original Robotics;Notes though – preferably the Visual Novel, but the anime is sufficient as well.
Consistent terminology:
SciADV releases have been plagued by inconsistent terms and expressions depending on the translator or agency. Thankfully we have a group of dedicated fans at Committee of Zero who released fan patches that keep up a community-accepted consistency. Phase 13 follows that consistency, so its terminology corresponds to all other SciADV games. If you're coming from an anime only background or read the game without a patch don't worry – there's an "integrated" glossary.
Long story and properly stylized release:
This whole story contains about 10k words, giving it the approximate length of one Phase (one "Chapter") of the Visual Novel. I released it as a more pretty-looking HTML page, that I published on my GitHub Pages account. Due to that I could make use of the whole plethora of CSS-style rules and created a rather unique visual representation. The entire website is also responsive and adjusts to any screen size – no matter if it's a smartphone, a tablet or a desktop.
"And what should I not expect?"
Exact same writing style:
It's still fan content, and as such not written by a professional scenario writer like Hayashi Naotaka. Therefore I'm not gonna be as bold to claim I perfectly nailed the original writing style. One significant change compared to the Visual Novel is that Phase 13 is written in past tense, as it's a lot more suitable for literature. Another one might be it's less dialogue focused as I wanted to focus on the characters thoughts and feelings as well.
Consistency with untranslated side-content:
I'm not one of those lucky people who know Japanese. Therefore it might be the events of Phase 13 are rendered inconsistent by yet untranslated side-content. There is actually a certain 250 pages strong Light Novel that might cause problems in that regard. If you finish Phase 13 and look around for a bit I'm sure you'll figure out which Light Novel I'm referring to – I'll refrain from mentioning it due to spoiler reasons.
So let's finally come to an end with this wall of text. I'm not sure how many of you actually read through all of it, but if you're still interested you can find the entirety of Phase 13 below ;)
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! PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS STORY ON FANFICTION NET !
Instead, head to the GitHub Pages publication:
ghostinthesteiner . github . io / Phase % 2013 . 1
(copy this into your address bar and remove the spaces, I can't post direct outside links unfortunately...)
Reason: FFN doesn't allow HTML and CSS. As images, links and more decent formatting are crucial for my story, I decided to outsource to a more sophisticated platform that doesn't put any constraints on me. I'm just posting it here so the meta-data (such as the word count) shows up correctly.
Therefore the contents on this page are entirely unformatted and not supposed to be read!
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「 Termination Shock Extender 」 Phase 13.1 "It became the hopes and dreams of everyone."
The bustling atmosphere along with its vibrant laughter, neverending cheers and countless congratulations started to gradually fade out. The moment the hangar's giant roller shutters reached the ground, thousands of voices were reduced to a quiet mumble.
Pleasant. And comforting.
The stress and tension eased up, and my body was finally able to find some rest.
I already felt unable to do so much as stand right after the battle. However now—after just another event that used up the last bit of my energy... After all those people who kept talking, and kept congratulating me. After all this, it was already a difficult task trying to breath, let alone to speak.
I didn't exactly keep track of time, but it felt like hours before I managed to escape the crowd. I said 'escape', however... In reality, I don't think I did. I probably went more with the flow than anything else.
Fortunately Super GunBuild-1 took over most of the attention at some point, giving me a good opportunity to sneak away. And so, I found myself at this old airport hangar—the very same place where it all began.
Without the shutters being opened there was an absolute lack of natural sunlight. Usually, I would have turned on the lights right away. However... it seemed like someone else already did so. That's right—
"It's why... I wanna stay right by her side, too. Until she wakes up..."
Almost a decade ago—right here, on this very island—'her' idea was born. In fact, not merely an idea... Her wish went far beyond that.
"And when she does... I'll tell her."
No matter how ambitious, no matter how foolish. 'She' continued to pursue her goals. Following the dream that sparked from her wish. And in the end—as that dream crossed the border of reality—she was no longer on her own.
"I love you, Big Sis."
In this very moment... the person caught up in that girls' dreams the most. She was right here.
Kneeing in the corner of the room, in front of her covers that spread out all over the floor. And on top of them: 'Her' slender and seemingly weary figure. The figure of a person that has finally returned home—after seven long years.
Senomiya Misaki.
The girl whose dreams—unreachable as they may have been—finally became true. Right here, on this long forgotten airport. A far off place in the middle of nowhere, that all of a sudden became a spark full of hope.
And at the same time, the girl who chose to become the enemy of the entire world. In exchange for her dreams and hopes, in order to protect what she cherished most of all: A mere two children, who long since became an important part of her life.
I closed the distance to Misa-nee and sat down on the other side of her enfeebled body, right in front of Akiho. Misa-nee was still covered by the bodysuit she wore while piloting KAMINAGI. Even now, she appeared to be unconscious—only her breast moved to the rhythm of her breathing.
"She hasn't woken up yet, has she?"
I directed my gace at her face. Her eyes were completely closed, her face expressionless. On the right side I could see a long scar, probably caused by the pile bunker that hit KAMINAGI's pilot hatch during the battle.
Even so her face was still reminiscent of the person she has shown to the world—the smart and beautiful PR-girl, that used to appear in ExCo's HUG announcements.
Akiho slightly shakes her head in response to my question, a regretful expression on her face.
"In the end, Mitchie decided to call an ambulance... He said we couldn't just leave her here."
Right after the battle, the two of us made a decision. Had we called an ambulance right away neither of us might have seen Misa-nee again. After all, it still hold true she carried out a crime that can never be forgiven. Police might have been involved and for what came after... we wouldn't know.
"I'm so sorry... Big Sis..."
For one last time, Akiho and I wanted to bring Misa-nee to the abandoned airport hangar. To the very place where the Robotics Club was born. If she were to wake up, we wanted her to remember...
That dream.
A dream, that must have seemed forgotten and buried ever since the day she left.
"I wonder... will you ever see this place again?", Akiho whispered, gently holding Misa-nee's right hand.
Something wet dropped onto her nose, leaving behind a moist trail as it slowly moved down her cheek. I looked up... was Akiho crying?
"Big Sis... I'm gonna stay. I'm gonna stay right here, by your side. Just like you did back then..."
That's right. Nine years ago, following that unforgettable incident...
'You' were never leaving her side. Silently praying, and desperately hoping—just like Aki-chan is now. Still waiting for 'you' to finally wake up.
"Hey, Misa-nee..."
Carried away by Akiho's sentimentality, I tried to put some off my own thoughts into words.
"That robot you built. The one proudly resting on Doc's cargo bed right now."
Despite becoming an object of ridicule. Despite being Misa-nee's legacy, that noone besides Akiho acknowledged for the longest time.
"It became the hopes and dreams of everyone."
It was difficult to remember all the names and faces of who I've been talking to. A few of them however... I won't forget that easily.
"There are all kinds of people out there. People who joined the Robotics Club. Jun-chan, Subaru-kun and Kona-chan..."
Admittedly, none of them joined of their own accord. However, devoting their talents to GunBuild-1, all of them pursued their individual dreams.
"People we didn't know at all. Total strangers who still kept helping out in times of need..."
Without the overwhelming support this whole island gave to us, where would we have ended up? Without all those skillful hands, and all those brilliant minds? Just how much of GunBuild's final modifications were thanks to them.
"You know... Mitchie has been livestreaming the entire time. Even outside of Tanegashima's grounds—"
That was as much as I could say, before...
"Kai."
A sharp word cut me off mid-sentence. As if it sliced straight through my throat, what I had left to say became stuck in inside. That voice—
— Next Phase —
「 Heliopause Radiator 」