Alright sorry I haven't updated in a month, got writers block and the holidays made me too lazy to write, I'll be the first to admit it. On top of ALL of that I've been working on finishing that colab chapter for another story so yeah. But luckily I'll be settling into updating every other week at the very least.
Chapter 2 Comments:
Unkown Soul:
YOU DID NOT JUST LEAVE ME WITH SUCH AN CLIFFHANGER! NO!
But really, you just got me totally hyped for the next chapter
Thanks bro, sorry it took so long to get Chapter three out!
GooBall:
Sweeet, I never thought of an fanfic like this, its great so far :D
You got me :3
Black Rock Shooter rules :)
Glad you think so! More to come to hope you like what comes your way, and yes, Black Rock Shooter is the best.
Crimson Homura:
Great story, keep it up!
I noticed an error and the end of chapter 2, you said her right eye. Black's left eye is the fire one, not the right. White Rock Shooter (from the game) is the red right-eye fire.
Besides that, good luck!
*Grumbles something quietly* Good catch, as I said in my edit to Ch.2 I made a perspective error that you brought to my attention. Oh well, not the first mistake and won't be the last! Thanks for the support too ;)
Chapter Three: The Second White
Day 2
Date: Saturday, January 22nd 2015
Location: Obroseon Grand Stadium
Keeper Battle No.1
When the smoke cleared, White got up took a look over the railing, finding that the wall hadn't even been scratched, pieces of steaming black stone that had come from the female Keeper's cannon just seconds before were on the ground around the impact site. White sat back down amazed and confused as to what just happened. That girl in black just tried to blast a hole in the wall and none of the Keepers are actually fighting one another, what the hell is going on? Clearly the audience was thinking the same thing. Confused voices began to fill the air, each of them asking a similar question, what kind of event was this?
"What just happened? We just got shot at by a chick in a bikini top!" DJ shouted. "What's the deal, they aren't event fighting each other!" Rose took out her sniper rifle, detaching the scope so she could look more closely at the situation.
"It's like they don't want to fight each other." Rose commented. "They're looking at each other like their trying to come up with a plan." Winston looked down at a piece of paper that had had been holding onto since the group had walked inside the stadium.
"The schedule says this is an all out melee, and a fight to the death. Maybe the Keepers are protesting killing one another."
"They look like they're our age, what do you think Rose?" White asked.
"They're definitely our age, maybe they trained together for years and aren't willing to kill each other, if that's the case I hope they stop this!" Rose put down the scope.
"No kidding! If they stop this that means there are more babes to pick up, wait this is a fight to the death!?" DJ looked at Winston and the words finally sunk in for White too. Only one Keeper was walking out of this arena. They're just kids, even if this is just a game. What the hell is this about?
From some of the muttering from behind White, it appeared that a lot of the other Guardians had noticed this detail as well, and some were even leaving the stadium, unwilling to watch teenagers kill one another. It was too much like a book they had read in reality, and this was far from a joke for those people.
"Tch, what a nuisance, why can't they be good Keepers and just start killing one another?" A female voice asked the man sitting next to her. The man, who was dressed in a white lab coat, shrugged.
"I warned you years ago that having Arstil as their instructor would end like this." The man took a sip of the wine sitting next to him. "Shall I give the Keepers some motivation?" The woman nodded with smirk.
"We cannot afford to look bad now, not when we're so close. Activate the chips." The man nodded and picked up a remove that was sitting next to him. Flipping a switch on the top, he placed the box back on the table and relaxed, ready to enjoy the show that was about to start.
"We don't have much time, the council is likely to send out soldiers any minute. We need another plan, now." Black was only half paying attention to the hurried conversation going on behind her, having not moved since she had taken a shot at the wall. It hadn't surprised Black that the attempt had failed, they were all expecting it to. A desperate gamble from the very start. But the wall wasn't what Black was fixated on; instead she was looking at the boy who had leaned over the wall to inspect the damage. The white cannon he was holding had shocked her. Black knew that cannon, it belonged to the only Keeper who died during their training. White Rock Shooter, the DNA between her and Black had been so close they had been called sisters by everyone, and it crushed Black when her accident happened. But how, how does he have that cannon?
Black could only think of one reason, the boy was a Guardian, and they had given White's cannon away to this kid. Black felt her anger rising, her emotional suppression training becoming useless in the face of this insult. Pulling out her cannon, she aimed right at the kid, making sure that her should was lined up correctly before firing. The shot looked good and the boy's eye's were wide with shock, but the flaming rock simply evaporated when it crossed into the stands. What?
"Black what are you doing? Those are civilians!" Black felt Dead's gaze locked on her, but the Keeper didn't take her eyes off the white cannon. Dead followed Black's gaze and immediately understood when her gaze found the white cannon. "Let it go for now Black, we'll discuss what to with that boy when we get out-"Black turned around, to find that all the other Keepers were frozen, not moving like someone had paused time.
"Holy crap we were just shot at again!" DJ shouted again. Rose looked through her detached scope at the group of Keepers, who were all huddled together in a group besides the girl in black.
"They look like they're talking about something, but none of them are saying anything." Rose commented in confusion. "Wait, something's wrong." White noticed it too, every Keeper except for the Black Keeper looked frozen, was the server lagging? That would be a quick and unfortunate end to this game.
But sure enough there was a small change in the Keepers. White has just barely close enough to see it, the change of eye color in every Keeper from their natural color to a deep red. It was now almost a certainty, this was some kind of event.
"Anyone else see that?" DJ asked.
"Yeah, and somehow, I don't like it." White replied.
"It's like it was a setup for that Keeper." Winston noted. White gave him a confused look.
"What do you mean?"
"Look at the girl Keeper that DJ is obsessed with, she's backing away from her companions. If I had to guess, someone is using mind control or something close to dictate the actions of the other Keepers." White turned his attention back to the girl. This won't end well.
Black slowly stepped away from her fellow Keepers, recognizing that something was very wrong. The eyes of her fellow Keepers were turning a deep red, and they were still unresponsive to Blacks mental calls. Slowly, each of them pulled out their weapons and backed away from each other. The crowd erupted in cheer as they realized that they were about to start fighting. Black found it sickening that the people they were going to protect were so fond and welcoming of violence and death. They've never tasted a real battle. Black realized.
Suddenly, a Keeper with two curved blades known as Silver Edge leaped at Black, forcing her to draw her katana to defend herself.
"Silver what are you doing, we all agreed to not fight one another!"
"That time is gone, none of us are walking out of here unless we give them a show, and I'll make sure that I'm the one who walks out of here!" Black managed to break free of Silver's blades and leaped backwards until she was a good ten feet away from him. The field around them was no longer quiet, the sounds of battle erupting all over the place as every Keeper broke their agreement not to fight. Black wondered what had gotten into them, and then she recalled the injection she had gotten before they entered the arena.
But why am I not under the same effects? Black didn't want to fight her fellow Keepers, she still wanted to get out with everyone behind her. But right now, that didn't look possible, and without knowing how to stop whatever had been injected, she only have one option.
Survive.
Black's eye flared, and she pulled out her cannon, Black Blade still in her left hand as she took aim at Silver and opened fire. Without flinching, Silver slashed his blades at the flaming rocks, splitting each of them in half easily. Black had anticipated the move but had tried it anyway in case this strange mind control made him forget their sparring sessions. Silver charged Black again, she responded by shooting continuous rounds at him, forcing the other Keeper to dodge to the side rather that keep charging forward. Black adjusted her aim but whatever shots got too close were simply cut apart by Silver's blades. I'll have to switch my strategy, there's no way I'm going to defeat him like this.
Silver charged straight at Black again, but this time she re-holstered her cannon and gripped Black Blade tightly, waiting for Silver to get close enough. When he was within striking distance, Black dropped low to the ground and attempted to sweep Silver's leg as he attacked with his right sword, but the blow never came. Instead, the other Keeper had read the movement and had jumped over, bringing his other blade back towards Black's head. She barely managed to get her own blade up in time to defend against the blow. I'm taking too many risks, I need to be more careful.
Black jumped backward, landing on her feet with her blade ready as Silver came charging back in. Forced to take a defensive stance, Black was blocking and dodging blows left and right, unable to find an opening to get an attack of her own in. She found herself being pushed back, knowing that one small slip would mean the end of her life. Black desperately searched for some kind of opening to get her out of this situation knowing she couldn't keep up her defense forever.
After a few more seconds Black spotted a rocket coming right towards them, probably shot by one of the other Keepers in the hope of picking off two easy targets. Seeing this as her opportunity, Black stepped inward when Silver tried for another slash at her torso, grabbing him by the hand and side, throwing him into the path of the missile, blowing apart the lower half of his body, sending blood everywhere. The audience roared even louder at the first sign of blood.
With Silver down, no one was immediately trying to kill Black, everyone else locked in their own small battles that were starting to end. Despite the chaos Black managed to pick out both Dead and Crystal in the chaos, meaning that they were both still alive. But that doesn't matter, they're my enemies now.
Black was suddenly slammed in her side and thrown to the ground, the force of the impact breaking a few ribs and leaving her in serious pain, and it appeared that a spike had been driven into her body and then removed based on the bleeding wound she now had. Looking up, Black recognized the face Scarlet Blood Hammer, arguably one of the most deadly Keepers in a bloodbath competition such as this. With every blow that drew blood, Scarlet and her spiked hammer grew stronger, and from the looks of it, she had managed to draw a lot of blood so far.
"You're going to die here Black." Scarlet raised the hammer above her head, and Black quickly used her right hand to draw her cannon and blow a hole right through Scarlet's mid-section, but she appeared unphased, the wound healing almost immediately. Scarlet laughed in Black's mind. "You'll have to do a lot better than-" Scarlet was cut off as the next shot blew apart her face, drops of blood splashing all over Black, which she ignored. Blood and pain were of no importance while one was still in combat. What did concern Black was the wound in her side, which was bleeding heavily even with the pressure she was putting on it. Black slowly drug herself to the wall and slumped against it, giving herself a moment to breathe and tot come up with a new plan.
"She's alive, we still have a chance!" DJ declared, pointing at the girl who was slumped against the wall with a viscous side wound. While frowned, even if she was still alive there wasn't much chance of her walking out alive, not with her condition as bad as it was.
The scene had been gruesome, the game had been rated mature but even While wasn't expecting this, the once clean field was now stained red, the Keepers going all out on one another. The girl in black had been away from the central fighting, which was probably one of the reasons she was still alive. Now, including DJ's star, there were four Keepers left. One was a girl dressed in dark green clothing with glasses and two what appeared to be horns coming out of her head, with one massive skull floating next to her and an odd shaped scythe in hand.
Another was a girl dressed almost head to toe in pink, and she'd been changing her weapon since the first minute. She held some kind of crystal staff at first, but it had morphed into a gun, a sword, and even a massive cannon that shot the rocket that had killed the black Keeper's first opponent.
Finally, the last male of the Keepers left standing was a guy dressed in massive battle armor holding a massive shotgun. His armor had a few dents in it but it had withstood the brunt of the attacks that it had taken, allowing him to remain standing through most of the fight. This guy by far had the highest kill count, quick and deadly with his weapon at systematically wiping out every Keeper in sight.
"This is so sad, can't we just have four winners! I can't watch this!" Rose was no longer looking through her scope, instead she had her face buried in her hands.
Looking around, it seemed like most of the crowd didn't share Rose's feelings of horror, in fact, most of them were cheering on a favorite or grumbling about how their selected champion died. Considering how few empty seats there were, White estimated that only about one to two hundred Guardians had left the stadium. It's just a game. White reminded himself, and he had to admit that it was interesting to watch the Keepers fight, it gave them an idea of what they would be able to pull off.
With her injuries being as bad as they were, Black was forced to watch from her position against the wall as Crystal charged Dead, changing her weapon from the long staff that it had been a moment ago to a massive hammer similar to the one that Scarlet used just a moment ago. Knowing that there would be no way to defend against this attack, the Dead jumped backward as Crystal swung, the giant hammer just barely missing its mark throwing the pink Keeper slightly off balance.
Revenger, the Keeper known for his heavy armor and shotgun skill, hadn't let the combat between these two go unnoticed, and charged at Crystal as soon as she started to swing, getting close enough to try and put a few shots into her side. Having anticipated the move, Crystal jumped forward to dodge and flying right at the Keeper she had failed to kill a second before with her hammer raised above her head. In theory it was a good move, but she failed to notice the giant green skull that crashed into her, sending her flying into the wall, moaning and not getting up. Dead's familiar flying high above her master, having completed its goal it began to fly in circles waiting for its next set of orders.
Ignoring the wounded Crystal for now, the two remaining combatants turned their attention to each other. Dead spinning her scythe a few times in her hands before dropping into a ready stance, lightly gripping her weapon and watching her opponent closely. Revenger however, wasn't phased in the slightest, gripping his shotgun and switching his gaze back and forth between the opposing scythe wielder and the green-hued skull that was looping around for another pass. Suddenly, Dead charged forward, synchronizing her attack with her familiar, the plan being for the Skull to knock Revenger off balance while she take him down.
It wasn't a hard plan to read, and Revenger dealt with it in a way that stunned Black, as he had never done it before during a sparring match. When the skull was close, nearly two feet from slamming into him, Revenger brought up his shotgun and shot it at least four times in different places, causing it to shatter when it actually impacted him. Dead, equally as surprised, tried to slow herself down but was going too fast. Revenger brought his shotgun around, pointing it directly at Dead's head and pulling the trigger.
Spinning her scythe around, Dead deflected the shot and swiped at Revenger, who simply stepped to his left and bent backwards, the blade passing harmlessly over his head. When Dead finally stopped moving she was a good one and a half feet away from Revenger, who shot back up as quickly has he had gone down, spinning around and firing a few more times with each shot blocked by the well placed scythe Keeper.
Black glanced at the cannon still on her arm and considered taking out either Revenger or Dead, but in the end decided against the action. Even if she could take out one of them the remaining Keeper would surely finish her off. Returning her gaze to the battle in front of her, Dead looked to be in a tight spot. Both of her skull familiars had been killed and there was no way she was going to get close to Revenger without taking serious injury. To any of the spectators here, Dead was going to live up to her shortened codename, but Black knew better, and in fact, Revengers only chance is when he had caught Dead off guard by killing her remaining skull with his shotgun. As far as she was concerned, Revenger was already dead.
Dead soon made good on her hidden advantage, one that only a few Keepers knew about since they weren't allowed to actually talk about their sparring matches before now. Flicking one of her wrists, she sent a chain flying at Revenger, wrapping around his shotgun before ripping back to Dead. The whole thing happened so fast it caught the armored Keeper off guard. Dead grabbed his shotgun out of the air, and smashing it to the far side of the arena since she knew she couldn't destroy it with her scythe. All Keeper weapons were forged that way, so no Keeper would lose their weapon in a combat situation because it broke.
Dead rushed Revenger at an angle that would cut him off if he tried to go right for his weapon, but Revenger played it smart and moved the other way, but not in time. Turning sharply, Dead managed to slice right through Revenegr's stomach, cutting the Keeper into two separate parts which separated when he fell to the ground. For any normal person, it wasn't a pretty sight, or so Black had thought. The crowd erupted in cheer after a few moments of pure silence, but no announcement or bell signaled the end of the match, and Black knew why. There were at least two people alive in the arena.
The last uninjured Keeper realized this as well, walking up to Crystal, who was still knocked out from slamming into the wall, and slamming the blade of her scythe right into her head. We were supposed to stick together, and then the council tore us apart. I will hunt each and every one of them down. Black slumped and closed her eyes, pretending to be knocked out as well, but she kept her trigger finger ready for when Dead was close enough.
The greed-clothed Keeper turned to Black, and from the sound of her footsteps was getting closer. When the footsteps stopped Black opened one eye slightly, finding Dead right in front of her with scythe raised above her head. In a single moment, Black's left eye blazed and she raised her cannon right to Dead's chest. Dead only had a moment for the look of shock on her face to appear as Black pulled the trigger, the shot echoing around the stadium. Black didn't even give herself a sigh of relief, this was no time to be happy about winning. This victory had cost her everyone she knew, and her only goal now was to figure out why that Guardian had her sisters cannon.
"Outplayed! Fucking outplay of the century, this one is going down in the record books!" DJ shouted, now standing in his seat and giving a little victory dance. "She really did it! Wooo! I need to her autograph and ask her out on a date!"
"Don't bother." DJ stopped dancing when he heard Rose's voice. "They're just going to make her fight again and again until she eventually dies." White leaned forward, looking past DJ and found Rose with her head buried in her hands, Winston rubbing her back in comfort. White realized why she was upset, and knew they needed to get some sleep. Rose wasn't going to be up for playing tomorrow if she didn't.
"Alright everyone we know who the winner was, let's get out of here and get to one of the Guardian houses." White led the four of them out of the stadium as everyone else was clapping and cheering for the winner. Looking over his shoulder, White noticed two people in lab coats placing the last Keeper on a stretcher. White hoped she would stay alive long enough for him to meet her in person, she looked strong and quite possibly could unlock the secrets to White's cannon, which was now back on his arm.
The four of them walked back the way they came, as the Obroseon Guardian house was just across the street from Guardian Tower. The four of them walked inside to find a similar interior as the Guardian Tower, Dark blue with a blue-green trim. White walked up to the receptionist, who greeted them with a smile.
"Welcome to Obroseon's Guardian house! All you need to do is tell me your name and how many are with you."
"Whitestar, here with three others." The receptionist nodded, typing the information into her computer.
"Room 123, first floor down that hallway to your right." White nodded.
"Thanks a lot, have a good evening." The receptionist smiled and handed White a card.
"You too, good night!" As it turned out, the Guardian house was set up much like a hotel. Electronic locks, well designed interior, hallways with doors every ten feet. It was scary how close this place looked to the real world, and if he hadn't been looking through it in a monitor he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference,
By the time White opened the door to their room he himself was yawning and tired. Winston, the last one inside, closed the door behind him. The room had four beds, a bathroom, a few lamps sitting on small tables, and a desk in the corner of the room. No dresser or television. White flopped his Guardian on one of the beds and hit the 'escape' button. A window popped up asking White if he would like to log out.
"Good night guys, see you tomorrow." White said in a tired voice.
"Night guys!" DJ exclaimed, clearly not very tired. Rose just grunted.
"Remember, we get our armor and go fight some enemies tomorrow." Winston reminded them. White nodded, then hit his Y key, confirming that he wanted to log out. His monitor quickly went back to his desktop, other programs once again accessible. But because of how wiped he suddenly realized he was, he flopped into his bed and fell asleep instantly.
Day 2
Date: Saturday, January 22nd 2015
Location: Rick's House
9:30am
Rick woke up slowly that morning, giving himself a few moments to recall the events of last night, jumping awake when he remembered BRSO, and the Keeper battle. Realizing he had to get ready as soon as possible, he grabbed whatever clothes he could find, raced through his shower, and settled for taking a bowl of cereal into his room as he booted up Cloud, finding Colin already online and waiting. Rick sent the first message.
Good morning!
What's up man, ready to play some more BRSO?
You know it! Any idea where Sofia and Scott are?
Not really, but I'll be waking them up soon regardless *grins evily*
Rick sighed, knowing Sofia wasn't going to take a wake-up call from Colin very well.
Don't do that. Considering what happened last night I'm surprised I didn't have any nightmares.
I guess you're right, those graphics were way too real, even if the fighting itself was awesome.
Rick suddenly got an alert in the bottom right of his screen. Scott is online. Rick added him to the chat room, but instead of typing, Scott decided to actually the both of them.
"Good morning guys." Scott greeted in his usual happy but slightly monotone voice.
"And good morning to you too 'Winston.'" Colin deepened his voice when he said the name of Scott's Guardian, clearly making a joke out of the name.
"Please you two, not this early in the morning, I'm still eating breakfast." Rick moaned. Colin sighed.
"I'm just saying."
"So, what was everyone's first impressions of BRSO last night?" Scott asked, sounding almost displeased.
"Truth be told, gory. I know the game had a mature rating but I wasn't expecting that." Rick replied with a mouthful of cereal.
"Yeah I agree, the action was amazing and the girls are so hot, but it's like they were trying to perfectly re-create reality, and succeeded." Scott sighed.
"I talked to Sofia after you both logged out, she'll be on in a minute but what happened last night brought back painful memories. We probably shouldn't watch one of those 'Keeper fights' again." Everyone was in silent agreement.
Sofia's "painful memories" date back to when her mother was fighting in the Middle East a few years ago. Her squad had been attacked while they were on patrol, and only one of them made it back alive, two days later we got a phone call, while at school. It was not only cruel but Sofia didn't take it well when she heard the detailed story, which not even Rick knew. Sofia preferred not to talk about it, and nobody pressured her.
"Good morning everyone!" Sofia muttered as she entered the call.
"Good morning sleeping beauty! Hope all the little monsters didn't come out of your closet last night!"
"Hmm, as soon as we get online I'm going to kill you…" was Sofia's half-asleep reply. The one thing about Sofia that we all quickly figured out in our many weekends of online gaming were that she had a hard time waking up in the morning.
"Let's try to avoid tearing each other's throats out today, don't forget that we start fighting the Thilan Empire, save your anger for then."
"Mmm, I don't think I'll be able to wait until then, I wanna shoot something…'" Sofia moaned, and Rick smiled, Sofia was downright adorable when she was this tired, acting all tough but still too early in the morning to do anything about it.
About to suggest that they continue this conversation in BRSO, Rick realized he had forgotten to do the only chore that he was responsible for on the weekends. Had he not remembered to do this he would be beyond a dead man. His parents were always up at ten am sharp, and if they found out that Rick hadn't made their coffee…
"Hang on real quick guys, I gotta go take care of something really quick, if I don't do this now I'm gonna get busted and then I won't be able to do anything today." Rick heard Colin snicker as he started to take off his headset.
"Better get your parents coffee before they bust your…" Rick didn't hear any more as he flew out of his room and into the kitchen, checking the clock, 9:55. He had five maybe ten minutes to get two well made cups of coffee. Pulling out two mugs from the cupboard, Rick began the process, not even glancing at the instant-coffee maker that his parents used for when there were guests over. Rick had tried that once when he had woken up really late one weekend, and he hadn't been able to touch his computer for two weeks afterwards.
Rick was putting in the last spoon of honey into his father's cup as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Quickly putting the spoon into the sink after a few rushed stirs, Rick placed the two mugs on the counter behind him and turned around as his father rounded the corner, yawning and scratching his arm.
Jacob Brighton, Rick's upbeat and loving father, helped run a small sports equipment shop on the far side of town named Champ Guard. He was known for being able to give customers the best possible service, often taking the employee of the month award for months at a time. Jacob loved everything about his job, the people, the competition, the sweat, and the jokes he could crack at any moment.
Rick had always felt somewhat bad that he had chosen to go into computers rather than go into sports like his dad did, but Jacob didn't seem to mind, in fact he supported the programming work that Rick was doing, saying that it was "the future of mankind."
"Morning Rick, how was your new game?" Jacob asked yawning, walking past Rick and grabbing his coffee.
"It was great, do we have any plans today?" Rick asked, inwardly nervous since he wanted to spend as much time with his friends online as he could. Jacob, catching the hint in his son's voice, smiled.
"Well I'm going to be down at the store all day, and I think your mom is going to take Leah shopping and then take the day off since her job has been really busy, so you should be able to play with your friends all day today." Jacob rubbed Rick's head before lazily walking back out of the room and up the stairs. For his family, a small conversation like that wasn't uncommon. Everyone had things they needed to accomplish, so sitting around the table and talking was more of a dinner activity.
With his Saturday chores completed, Rick slid back into his room, pulling the BRSO headset over his head.
"Alright guys I'm ready when you are." But Rick realized that the call had ended and there was a message in the chat box from Scott.
We're headed to BRSO, see you at the Guardian Tower. Rick was going to slap all three of them for being so impatient. Clicking on the BRSO icon on his desktop, all of his other programs shut down as his screen filled with the login screen.
White opened his eye to find himself in the same room as when he logged off, except for the fact that Rose, Winston, and DJ were already minutes ahead of him. Grabbing his cannon, which was leaning on the side of the bed, White turned off the lights and left the room, heading back down the hall to the receptionist desk. It surprised White to find someone else there, since normally the same NPC is tasked to something for all hours of the day. Guess they're really trying to make this place seem like reality, so it's a new shift. After turning in the room key to the new receptionist, White ran outside to find hovering cars crossing back and forth, traveling across the road.
Realizing that this road must have been disabled for the local vehicles for the first night, White looked up and down the street for a crosswalk, finding one on either end and exactly the same distance away. Deciding at random, White went left, holding his massive cannon over one shoulder. Interestingly, the NPC's around him, the citizens of Obroseon, were giving White and his cannon funny looks. A little boy actually walked up to him and tugged on his pant leg.
"Excuse me are you a Guardian?" White smiled and was about to answer when a woman, presumably the boy's mother, grabbed the arm of the child and dragged him away.
"Charlie get back here, you stay away from strangers!" White got the feeling she was scolding the boy not because he was talking to a stranger, but because she was afraid of what he would do to her son. Understandable, after all aren't we supposed to be warriors from another world?
"It's alright ma'am I don't bite." The woman didn't reply, instead she followed the group as they started walking across the street. White sighed and followed behind, wondering if the other Guardians had gotten the same greeting he did, the little incident still in his mind as he was ambushed at the tower, crashing right into a girl.
"Owowowowowow, watch where you're going block head! Wait, White?" SMACK. As if the pain from bumping into Rose wasn't enough he got smacked by her too? Wait, he could feel that hit, what was going on?
"Wait, Rose why are you saying 'ow' if this is a video game?" Rose turned around and gave DJ a concerned look.
"I have no idea." Winston raised a hand.
"I believe I know why, this morning I read somewhere that the headset that came with this game sends harmless signals to our brains whenever we get hit, so we feel any pain that we receive in the game."
"So what happens if we die?" Rose asked with a worried tone.
"If the pain reaches above a certain point the headset will stop transmitting, the goal is to have feeling as part of the experience, but not so much that people don't want to play anymore." Winston calmly replied. White realized something about the look of his friends.
"Wait a second, you guys all have armor now!" Their armor matched the colors of the clothes they had under them. DJ was wearing massive armor to fit his body, colored dark green without any fancy patterns, and the same went for Sofia's pink armor and Winston's black armor. DJ laughed.
"Yeah, it's not very cool but at least it's shiny and comes with a shield," White rolled his eyes.
"So just walk up to the counter and tell them you're name?" he guessed. Winston nodded.
"Apparently we're among the last one's to get out armor, and only a few hundred Guardians haven't already left on the train for the front lines."
"Alright, I'll get my armor on and then I have to go to a shop that's located somewhere in town."
"To get that strap for your cannon like that Keeper had?" Sofia guessed. White nodded.
"You wouldn't believe how much of a pain it is to carry this thing around all the time, speaking of which, hold this." White left his cannon with Rose before leaving the group to retrieve his armor, throwing an "I'll be right back" over his shoulder as he walked up to the counter.
"Name please." The receptionist asked in a monotone voice.
"Whitestar." White answered calmly, glancing at the male receptionist's name tag, which read "Alex."
"Whitestar… interesting, no armor for you, just a specialized while jacket equipped with a powerful shield, so be careful out there alright?" White, who was beyond confused at this point, accepted the jacket with a "thanks" and swapped out his dark blue jacket for the white one, which felt a little small but still fit for the most part. Not willing to take the time to figure out where his storage locker was, White placed his other jacket in his bag and pulled out the data pad which held the information on it.
"Just a jacket? Why do I get the feeling these guys are trying to throw White under the bus here." DJ commented with a note of amusement.
"Don't forget you said that about White's cannon too." Rose pointed out as she handed white his weapon back to him, which he leaned against the wall as he scrolled through the pad looking for the information on his weapon.
Weapon Name: White Rock Cannon
Weapon Type: Rock Cannon
Weapon Class: Shooter
Power Rank: S+
Historical Data: A weapon designed for a Keeper. The original owner of this weapon died in a training accident almost two years ago when a bomb prop had accidentally replaced a real bomb in a training session. Use it well Guardian, for there is no other weapon like it anywhere on Blue Rift.
Other Note: If you don't want to carry around that cannon on your arm all the time, head for Keepsake Weapons on Macfer street, just take a left from this tower and then it's two blocks on your right. Ask to speak to Riho, she'll get you what you need. Good luck out there Guardian, take care of that weapon, it may soon be the last memory of the Keepers.
Good Luck Guardian. – Guardian Manager Iori.
White looked over the note again with interest, and he began to wonder if he was a special part of the game or something, or if it was just chance. The last memory of the Keepers? Sounded like someone was aware that the Keepers were going to be destroyed and wanted to keep them alive somehow, but by giving a weapon of a long gone Keeper to a Guardian?
"Alright guys I know where we need to go, follow me." With the gang behind him, White followed the directions of the note, having to cross several streets and getting some strange looks from pretty much everyone they bumped into, a few even asked their companions in a low tone why they weren't on the front lines. The four Guardians ignored them, not wanting to pick a fight in the middle of the streets and risk getting penalized on their second day of playing the game.
"Keep an eye out for a shop named 'Keepsake Weapons,' that's where we need to go." White informed the group as they walked down Macfer street.
"On which side of the street will it be on?" Rose asked.
"The note didn't say, only that the shop was here." White replied.
"I think it's rather weird that we have to ask for this Riho chick directly, shouldn't any of the guys in there be able to help us?" DJ wondered with his hands behind his head.
"Maybe Riho is the one who designed the White Rock Cannon, or maybe she's a master of the Rock Cannon weapon class, either way I think following these directions is in our best interest." White replied, still unable to find the shop. Winston suddenly placed a hand on White's shoulder, stopping him.
"Wait, this looks like a weapons shop." Turning to his left, White realized that he was right. The building was three stories tall, but the first floor seemed to be dedicated to the shop, which about half of the long building, which had to be at least thirty feet long, was open like a garage. Weapons lined the walls and there was an empty receptionist desk on the right hand side. Looking up, White found the store unmarked.
"You sure this is it?" DJ asked, unsure.
"Only one way to find out!" Rose declared as she marched inside, ringing the bell that was on the counter.
"Coming!" A male voice answered. A few seconds later, a boy looking roughly eighteen ducked through the curtain that most likely hid the (), rubbing his hands off with a wash cloth. He was wearing a worn out jeans and a T-shirt whose logo faded long ago. He paused briefly, looking over the group. "Wow, you're the first Guardians to come into the shop! How can I help you four today?" With a nudge from Rose, White stepped forward, holding up his cannon with both hands.
"I need to see Riho, I was told she could help me with getting a holster for this." The boy looked over the cannon, and his eyes grew wide with shock.
"How did you get that, Master Riho, you need to get out here quick!" There was a crashing sound and a few curse words before a woman looking to be in her thirties stepped out, even more dirty than the boy.
"What is it Oris, this had better… be…" Riho stopped when her eyes rested on the cannon, and White shifted uncomfortably. He hoped this wasn't going to end up being a mistake, he wouldn't hear the end of it from DJ. The gaze of Riho shot up to meet White's eyes, and the glare was enough to kill. White could swear he felt a drop of sweat coming from his actually body.
"How did you get this." She demanded, slamming her hands on the table.
"I- I got it in a random weapon raffle when I first got here, I was told to come here to get a way to more easily carry it around." White stammered, flinching under the woman's gaze. "I didn't steal it, honestly!" Riho sighed.
"I know you didn't, even a Guardian couldn't steal from a Keeper. I always wondered what they would do with one of their weapons when they died. Tell me, when did you receive this weapon?"
"Last night, before the Keeper battle." White replied honestly.
"So that means that White died before last night, well that would explain those stories about Black that I've heard." White glanced back at his companions, who all shrugged with the same amount of confusion.
"Forgive me for asking, but what are you talking about?"
"You were at that little Keeper event last night correct?" Riho asked, ignoring White's question. White nodded.
"Did a keeper with a black version of this cannon shoot at you?" White nodded again.
"Twice actually, once at the wall in what looked like an escape attempt, and then the second time right at me." Riho looked back down at the cannon, tapping her fingers on the counter as she thought.
"What did you think of last night's contest?" White thought back to the night before, the blood being shed, the very realistic graphic, and that fact that it looked like they didn't want to kill each other. True it may have been fun while the adrenaline was high, but it only made the whole thing worse. Had this happened in real life, there would have been an uproar, and thinking about it this morning only made him sure, that competition had been a mistake.
"If I ever see something like that again someone is going to die." White replied coldly.
"That goes double for me." Rose added, stepping forward.
"Cute girls killing each other? Not cool." DJ sighed. Winston just nodded, clearly trying to get into his role-play. Riho looked back and forth, clearly assessing the groups answers.
"Alright last question, who sent you to see me?" White handed his data pad over to Riho, who looked it over. "Iori huh, well that would be just like her. Alright, I'll explain what's going on but not out here." Riho gestured towards the crowd massing outside the shop thanks to the shouting episode that had happened earlier. Waving for the four Guardians to follow, the two gunsmiths ducked back through the curtain.
The backside of "Keepsake Weapons" was an absolute disaster zone. Scraps of metal, paint, and dust were everywhere, tools all over the place, and it was way too hot. Not to mention there was absolutely nowhere to sit. As White looked around trying to figure it out, Riho clearly had other ideas, pushing open a part of the wall to reveal a secret room. Once again, Riho motioned the group inside.
"Watch the shop Oris." Riho ordered. Oris looked disappointed that he wasn't going to hear the conversation in the secret room but didn't protest, retuning to a seat towards the front side of the room. White didn't get a chance to see what he was working on before the door closed, sealing shut.
The room was fancier than White had expected, lit only by candles, there were enough couches and chairs to seat roughly nine people, a table in the center of the room, and a vending machine in the opposite corner of the room from the door. Nothing fancy with the floor or walls, which appeared to be concrete for the floor and plain white painted for everything else.
"So, why did you drag us into this secret room again?" Rose asked, looking around. Riho sat down in one of the chairs, resting her head on her hand, which no longer had the gloves the had been wearing a few moments earlier.
"Because this room is soundproof. What I'm about to tell you could probably get me killed if it was heard by the wrong people. Rose's eyes widened and she sat down without another word. "Let's start with introductions. Riho Kuse, Master gunsmith and the only crafter of rock cannons in Obroseon."
"I'm White; this is Rose, DJ, and Winston." Riho raised an eyebrow when White introduced himself, but didn't say anything.
"You mentioned something about a 'black' and a 'white' earlier, what were you talking about?" Winston asked with a note of interest.
"Not what, who. I was talking about Black Rock Shooter and White Rock Shooter."
"Those are the names of Keepers right?" Rose guessed. Riho nodded, lighting a cigarette.
"The Keeper's were lab bred, test tube babies if you will, their genes hand selected and modified to make them the perfect soldiers. What makes Black and White so special is that they're only two what I guess you could call sisters. At first they intended to make two of White Rock Shooter, but the DNA of the copy somehow mutated, creating Black Rock Shooter. And the two are basically twins." White sat down next to Rose and exchanged a glance, a genetic accident created the now last Keeper alive? It was quite the accident, but what disturbed White more is that this government bred kids just so they could fight one another to raise money. DJ actually had the courage to ask the question out loud.
"So wait, they created twins only to have them fight seventeen years later? Who would do such a thing to such cute girls?" His voice sounded frustrated and accusative, clearly he was taking this well, in his own way at least. Riho sighed
"Let me start at the beginning before lover boy over there loses his mind. Seventeen years ago the war against the Thilan Empire had just taken a turn for the worst, and the people were starting to get concerned that we would lose the war. To put in perspective for you, we were losing almost four thousand innocents every day. The council needed to do something, so they decided to create a human superweapon in the form of lab grown teenagers."
"They were supposed to be the heroes of Blue Rift?" White interrupted, shock filling his voice. Riho gave him a death glare, basically telling White to shut up.
"Yes, now don't interrupt. Don't you Guardians have manners?" White looked at the ground, embarrassed that an NPC told him off. "I don't know why they're called Keepers and I don't know much about the first ten years of their lives, but what I do know is that I was approached by a man who was overseeing the project roughly seven years ago. He wanted custom made weapons out of a strange new metal that I had never even heard of before, and gave me a list of Keepers complete with their fighting style and preferred type of weapon." White glanced down at his cannon, which had to be made out of the strange metal, wondering how someone who was supposed to be a super weapon would die.
"I figured that he was giving me more information than he was supposed to, but it helped me do my job. The guy gave me all the information I know on the Keepers too, surprised I actually gave a damn at the time. But something happened in the council and the Keepers were replaced with you Guardians. Beyond that everything else is a mystery. I don't know how White Rock Shooter died or what happened to the rest of the Keepers after I made the weapons. The man kept me informed up until he told me about the Keeper match." White continued to look over the weapon, and now Black shooting at him made sense. She must have been furious when she saw me with her sister's cannon.
"Of course none of that matters now though, Black's the only one left and she isn't going to live very long." Riho stood up. "You came here looking for a better way to carry that thing around right? Actually I never got to deliver the harness for the White Rock Cannon, so I'll go find that for you, just promise me one thing." White looked up at Riho, who was standing over him with another glare. "Take care of that cannon, those weapons I made for the Keepers were special. I think it's the only time I actually cared about the safety of those taking weapons I made." Riho left the room, pulling on a handle to move the heavy concrete door as it slid. The four Guardians just sat there in silence. They had just learned something that no one else on Blue Rift could ever know about, supposedly anyway.
"You know, the deeper we get into this, the less it seems like a game." Rose sighed.
"We've only been at this for two days but you're right, those are some really advanced NPC's. You saw the way she reacted to White cutting her off, that wasn't a scripted conversation." DJ sighed. "Man this is more drama than I signed up for." Rose grinned.
"No kidding, 'lover boy.' I like this woman, she's got spunk."
"So what happens now." Winston asked. "We know the truth about the Keepers, what do we do with it?"
"Nothing for now," White replied. "For now we need to report to the front lines to prevent anyone from getting suspicious, but I want to find out more about Black and White Rock Shooter, and the only way we do that is by talking to Black." As White finished the door opened back up, revealing Oris holding some kind of white harness.
"Here, put this on. My master made a few improvements to this over the years in case she ever got the chance to give this to White, the other one that is." The harness didn't look like it could hold the cannon at all, there were a few straps that looked like they would slip on over White's shoulders like a back pack, but other than that it was like one open ended hat for the cannon. White looked at Oris with confusion.
"How does this thing work exactly?" White asked as he took the harness from Oris.
"Put it on and I'll show you." White did as he was told, and found that there wasn't much weight to the device itself, but White did feel something strange bumping against his back. Oris, taking the cannon from the table, pushed it against White's back, there was a clicking sound and although he couldn't feel any additional weight on his body, he somehow knew that there was more weight there.
"What did you just do?"
"Dude, you have no idea how cool that looks." DJ grinned. White spun around, trying to see what the apprentice had done.
"That harness has two what we call 'smart magnets.' Unless you put your hand in that cannon in pull it out, it won't budge." Oris explained as White finally found the cannon, the trigger end of the cannon sticking out behind his right shoulder at an angle where he could easily reach back with his right hand and grab it.
"Wow, this is really cool." White complemented as he tested it, pulling the cannon out and returning it a few times before turning to Oris. "Thanks, this is going to make my life so much easier." Oris nodded and escorted the group back to the front of the shop, Riho not even glancing up from her work.
"Come back anytime, and don't worry about the cost, this one is on the house!" Oris smiled, and White waved.
"Thanks a lot! Next time we come back we'll tell you all about our adventures!" Oris's eyes brightened as the four of them started to walk away.
"Really! All right, come back soon!" Despite learning a horrible truth, the four of them left the shop in good spirits in knowing that the Keepers weren't designed to be war machines, but the next question on White's mind was how to get Black out of the clutches of that stadium.
"Hey White, you already scheming how to safe her?" DJ laughed. "Man, you might just be more of a ladies' man than I am!" White rolled his eyes and elbowed DJ.
"Yeah right dude, like anyone could top you. But yeah, that's the plan later on, for now we should follow Winston's suggestion and make our way to the front lines, despite all of this corruption and bad ideas of how to deal with the Thilan Empire, they are of course why we're here. So, is everyone ready to blow stuff apart?" Rose gave an evil grin, DJ a thumbs up, and Winston just nodded.
To be honest I had more planned for this chapter but this seemed like a good place to end it. Got stalled on the fighting scenes, (kind of my weakness as a writer…) but worked through it. Got some great plans for Ch.4 and 5, *grins evilly.* Anyhow if you have any questions please don't be afraid to ask them, I'll make sure I get them answered when I release the next chapter! Have a great weekend everyone!