Disclaimer: I certainly don't own Scarlet Nexus or any of its affliated properties.
"Scarlet Nexus": Speech (Bold for yelling or Boss level creature)
'Scarlet Nexus': Thought
Panacea
Chapter One
"You all have reached the end of your OSF training," said the masked examiners. "This is your final test before joining the OSF – prepare for the virtual SAS connection. This will hurt much more than it did in training, be strong." As the examiners were speaking, ethereal cables were slowly feeding out of a central console; almost predatorily approaching two groups of would be OSF cadets.
'It's morbidly ironic that despite all their expensive training, most of these people won't even be able to handle the pain of an actual SAS connection-our most useful tool is also one of the main things that overwhelm our fresh cadets…'mused a silent observer watching through the many screens found in the two rooms.
He was a man of a lanky yet balanced build, lending him a somewhat reed-like body; tall and unassuming but not flimsy either. The man's clothes were also nondescript as they were standard black OSF gear Yo [Kagero outfit], with a short hooded leather cape being shortened to about shoulder level. Two 50 cm swords were strapped to his upper back, with the larger than normal hilts visibly protruding out of the mass of cloth. His hood was currently lowered, exposing a tanned face and bright red hair growing with no style other than simply having grown down to his neck, tied back with a purple hair tie and comfortably resting on his back.
His blue and yellow sunburst iris pattern eyes roved over the potential cadets, idly noting that most of the failures were the masked recruits. 'Well, at least when you don't have faces to go with the potential casualties of SAS overload you don't think about the deaths that are commonplace around here.' A cold set of eyes fixed themselves on him and their owner spoke with an authoritative voice," Hikaru, keep an eye on the new recruits for me will you? Keep me informed about the progress of the Sumeragi kid as well." Hikaru turned towards the speaker and said, "Oh Major General Karen, didn't expect a man of your caliber to come see the greenhorns get their first taste of the SAS…wasn't Major General Fubuki looking for you to help him with the platoon assignments?"
"Again with the thrice damned formalities- no, he can deal with those trivial matters on his own," grumbled Karen.
"Haaa…nothing ever really seems to get your interest these days, ever thought of getting a hobby?" Hikaru said with a slight smirk.
"You're one to talk, just keep me posted." Karen said and promptly left the room.
"And there he goes…all that power and yet he can't seem to let himself relax and enjoy life, then again I am just as guilty of this as he is," sighed Hikaru as he watched two specific recruits take the SAS connection without too much hassle. "Oh, that's interesting-two psychokinesis users reacting to the cables similarly despite being polar opposites in almost everything else…names are Yuito and Kasane eh?"
It was a fine morning in Suoh with the clouds overhead promising a light shower sometime later in the day. Hikaru left the OSF building and looked over Ryujin ward with a lazy eye. As his gaze panned over to the Sumeragi tomb, he felt a strange energy wave flowing through the sky. "What was that? Felt like an Other invasion for a second there…must be overworking myself. Maybe I should visit the tomb; say what you want about Yakumo being a deity or whatnot but I can't shake the familiar feeling I get when I go there" mused Hikaru.
"Man the visions are getting too hazy recently…" he muttered as he put on a pair of thin colorless contacts and made his way to the tomb. "Oh wow, so even the mighty Yakumo's resting site isn't safe from this mutant menace" he deadpanned as he saw all the Baki merchandise all over the gravesite. "Well, the little guy isn't too bad I guess…can't let Kyoka and Arashi know that though, they tease me enough as it is." As he looked for a bench to sit on, he noticed some of the cadets who shook off the SAS test effects take some Baki key chains and their fortunes as well. "What are the odds that the two weird psionics would come here so soon after Karen told me to keep an eye on anyone remarkable? Must be fate-or at least something like it, that level of dependency never sat well with me" said Hikaru as he watched the funny dynamics of the two duos as they made their way through the tomb, the two psionics he was interested in seemingly never noticing each other.
"It's almost like they are so wholly focused on what's in front of them that you'd think that they thought they were the MCs off some weird anime plotline of some kind…I mean their conversations with their friends are too cliché really" he said as he sat on a bench absorbing the ambient energy around him. Just as the comforting hubbub of the citizens at the tomb was about to lull him to sleep, a sudden wave of nausea shook him from his drowsiness.
"Damn! The one time I hoped that my senses would be trumped by the Other forecast…well, there goes the rest of my day" Hikaru griped as he tightened the straps on his cape and rushed into the inner city streets, knowing full well that the first and second regiment would handle the main bulk of the others intruding into Suoh airspace. "Knowing Karen and Fubuki, they should be here any minute…I should probably take care of any stragglers, make my power useful for someone beside myself for once" Hikaru said as he sensed some Vase Paws in the lower end of the city.
When he got there though, he was met with quite a surprise. "Oh what do you know - they're here too? Now I know the universe is having some cosmic joke" he said as he watched the four cadets make short work of the minor level Others while standing at the edge of the street. "Well this should be interesting, this psychokinesis has quite a strange feel to it, seems like it holds onto more than an object's mass though. I should probably lend them a hand – looks like a Wither Sabbat is coming in hot and these cadets' asses will be even hotter after the Chairman lambasts them about protocol. That's if Seto doesn't do his good cop routine first though."
Hikaru then jumped into the middle of the street, just in time to catch the tail end of a conversation between the Yuito kid and that girl Kasane.
"You're OSF right? You can use brain talk!"
"Do you see that thing in front of us? Let's talk after we take it down."
'Sorry kids, you are taking too long to finish this job' he thought as he unsheathed his swords and ran his signature crimson energy through the blades as he jumped up on the Sabbat's back. "Why do these weak spots always look like fancy light bulbs?" he muttered as he slashed at the shell protecting said weak spots. The Sabbat went berserk, charging at nearby debris to try and knock him off like some crazed rodeo bull.
"Sorry man, you're just not on top of your game today" Hikaru quipped as he flipped off the Other's back just as it fell over as its poise was crushed. He then flipped his swords facing hilt first and shot out crimson tinged bullets out of their hollow chambers straight into the bulbs, reducing the monster to scattered energy flakes. "Oh yeah that's the stuff…" he muttered after his blades seemingly absorbed some of the flakes and the sunbursts around his pupils extended minutely.
He then turned to the flummoxed cadets and took a good look at them. The first two, Yuito and Kasane looked fine, if a little shocked at his sudden entry. "Hmmm….the Sumeragi kid is in awe of the apparent might of the OSF while the girl is analyzing me-sheesh, talk about a piercing glare…"he mused. The other two cadets were doing well, at least one of them was. "Good teamwork for fresh cadets…while you broke protocol by basically doing your jobs before being inducted as OSF soldiers I can bear some of the brunt of the bureaucratic indignation coming your way" Hikaru said with a meaningful look in their general direction. As Kasane was about to ask about how the OSF could possibly blunder like this, she was suddenly interrupted.
An abrupt burst of movement near Hikaru caused him to let out a resigned sigh."Sigh…Arashi I know what you're gonna say but…"
"Oh Hikaru, what a ruckus you caused! Never thought the pet project of Karen and Fubuki would go and do something like this!" she playfully teased.
"It is way too early for this Arashi, don't you have the Crows to deal with or something?" he wearily asked.
"No way, wait until Kyoka hears about this…"
A familiar buzzing noise filled the air as the Crows descended."Well, that's my cue" said Hikaru as he rapidly loped away with a crimson trail. 'It's not full hypervelocity but it will do' he thought as he made his way to the entrance of the OSF headquarters.
"Oh Hikaru, just heard what you did -it's not like you to have such a flashy fight right in Ryujin ward" said Seto with a warm grin.
"Ah, can it Seto! The boy scout routine isn't working this time!" Hikaru huffed with a mild blush at his gaffe in combat. "Maybe I wanted to cut the rookies some slack, who knows?" he smiled mysteriously.
"Wile and intrigue ill suit you man-leave that stuff to Kagero" Seto said with an inward smirk.
"Whatever…" grumbled Hikaru, 'At least Seto is always such a good sport even if the white knight routine gets old sometimes.'
"Oh yeah, that reminds me, Tsugumi wanted to talk to you about your platoon assignment this year" Seto said as he checked the OSF database.
"Karen mentioned something about me moving interchangeably between your platoon and Kyoka's group on a mission by mission basis. I think he wants me to evaluate the new blood" Hikaru said as Seto nodded.
"Oh here comes Kyoka Platoon and the cadets-guess they got Luka to teleport the rookies out of that mess" he said as Seto went to talk to the two girls while the boys made their way to Kyoka instead. 'That Kasane…maybe I should have hidden my hair under my hood or something because that girl is still visually dissecting me. At least that Yuito kid seems more approachable, a plus to any observation mission' thought Hikaru as he started arguing with Kyoka over the merits of skipping out on Kaito's long winded lecture on protocol.
"Hikaru, Arashi told me about you skipping out on the main transfer call and fighting a Wither Sabbat with some fresh cadets. You know Kaito's going to chew you out despite your otherwise flawless service conduct right?" Kyoka admonished as she crossed her arms under her bust.
"Yeah, I know and I am steeling myself for the encounter already" Hikaru joked as he watched the rest of Kyoka platoon eye the cadets as they made their way through the crowd of reporters around the main gate of the OSF building.
"It's that pampered Sumeragi kid…" a sullen brunette muttered as he gave the cadets a sidelong glance.
"Relax Shiden, remember how appearances aren't always indicators of ability?" Hikaru said as he watched Kyoka scold the male duo. "I doubt it" grumbled Shiden as Hikaru turned to look at the four cadets as they turned to him as they were to make their way together to the Chief's office.
'Welcome to the OSF cadets, hopefully you'll find some bonds to treasure among these pack of oddballs.'
Scarlet Nexus:Phase 0 End
Chapter one is a little short because Phase 0 is also mostly just dialogue. I will be following the Yuito route first as the endings for both routes slightly differ in the actual game. The Red Strings are primarily a dimension creation power so it's not too weird to assume that the separate routes are sister timelines. Regarding the OC, he's from Tsugumi's generation but was mentored by Karen, Fubuki and Arashi because of the nature of his power. Initially, the story was going to be about Yuito but I liked the character as he was and ended up making an OC using a power only mentioned once in the OSF database in Alice Ichijo's profile. This is my first work so any advice would be nice.