Opem Your Heart To Live and Learn, a Sonic Gaiden side story.
Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters are property of SEGA and SONIC TEAM.
Ivan Cameron, Bahn Lock, Silver , Zelkin, Valgas, the G.E.A.R., the Oak are property of Grey Wolf Inc.
Grey Wolf: So you like the story? Good. Now I can update this thing on a regular basis. This story will probably be long, as the events will lead up to SA2. then my Prower Saga. (And we're now on the S&K timeline, right after triple trouble. Why? Because I said so.) Remember to REVIEW!! And I will answer all questions. Hey, I have a lot of room in this forward, maybe I can fill it with something........oh! I know!
Giant SEGA plot hole time!: If Gerald Robotnik was Ivo Robotnik's grandfather on his MOTHER's side....then why is Robotnik's last name Robotnik If Ivo has the same last name as his mother's maiden name?
Hmmm.. think about it..............Now stop thinking and read my story.
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"I accept."
"Good." Ivan said as he reached for the illusion object on the table. He tapped the top of the device, and it released a bright flash. Ivan then replaced it in his vest pocket. "Come, we need to take a rail train to my place." Ivan said as the both got out of thier chairs and walked out of the door of the resturant. They walked down the street.
"That's funny, you look taller without your hat." Ivan said. It was true, Nack looked pretty tall for an anthromorph, around '5''3. He still wasn't as tall for a human, but he was close.
"I do?" Nack replied. "I lost it back in the artic."
They walked toward the large train station. The huge center of Station Square. A few people were coming out of its doors. Rush hour was over. "My facility is pretty far. It will take an hour to get there." Ivan said as he opened the glass door for them and walked inside the large and elaborate lobby.
"Then why are we here? Couldn't we-......."
"Use the transport device? Heh heh, I'm sorry." Ivan chuckled. "But I've lost my lunch riding that thing for my first few tries. And I don't want you getting sick all over my lab. You will use it when it is your only means of transportation." The rat paused and grinned. "Trust me, it's something you have to get used to."
"All right, i'll take your word for it." Nack replied. They both puchased thier tickets, they were going to cross the wide Aquatic Ocean, to the other side of Station Square. There have been rumors to build a highway across, but the city has put the project on hold. The city was cautious about building a bridge spanning the ocean, fearing that their work would be undone by Chaos anomalies twisting the roads into loop-the-loops. One highway was started, but one piece of the road was twisted into a doulble spiral, and constuction was halted. (Radical Highway) They have halted the project and have no plans to continue until further notice.
They entered the narrow door on the train and found a empty bench, and began thier ride to East Staion Square. The train filled with a few passengers, and the doors shut. The train began to roll towards its destination. Ivan took out the same illusion ball out of his pocket and sat it on the windowsill behind thier seats. It emmited the same breif flash and Ivan began to talk.
"Is there anything you wish to ask me?"
"So you're alone in this reseach?" Nack asked.
"Well, yes. I used to work with another person who was interested in the same reseach."
"How come he stopped?"
"He was intrigued when we came across a way to power machines using body heat from living things. He became obsessed and built upon this discovery and left my side." the rat said.
"Ivo Robotnik, I presume."
"Yes, he has built numerous bases in the east, right now, he plans to take the Chaos Emeralds. That Master Emerald protector, he is still by his side. " Ivan said. The train had passed over Station Square's Emerald Coast, and were traveling over the ocean. "He has built two machines that can harness the Chaos energy. And I've seen evidence of a large space station being built. He has planned something big."
"Is anyone going to stop him?" Nack asked.
"Sonic the Hedgehog, he seems determined to stop him. He has done it once before, and I don't doubt that he would stop Robotnik again." Ivan replied.
"I see." Nack said. "When will I set out for the asignment?"
"A year from now." Ivan siad calmly.
"WHAT?! A YEAR FROM NOW?!" Nack yelled. "What would take so long?!"
"Nack, settled down."Ivan said. "First you have to test my tools first, and you'll have to train."
"Train for what?" Nack asked.
"I don't want some half-wit bounty hunter wrecking my tools. You will need time to prepare yourself for the assignment. These inventions will be disorienting at first, and you will need time to get familair and confortable with them."
"Familiar and comfortable? You talk as if they are implants."
"Most of them are."
"Hold on a second, I don't wan't anyone slicing me up with a knife. I will not do this." Nack said as he imagined himself having a gun for a hand. "I don't want to look like one of your experiments."
"Relax, they are not as drastic as they sound." Ivan replied. "The implants will be very small, like as the size of a button. They will aid you with your sight, hearing, and so on."
"How will they be put on me?"
"Let's talk about the hearing tool, as an example. The hearing implant will be set in your jaw, it will sense vibrations in the air and let you hear through walls." Ivan said.
"That's pretty unorthodox. Why wouldn't it be set in my ear?"
"If I set it in your ear? Well, number one, if you get hit in the head, the hearing device will slip out of place and not function properly. And number two, the hearing device will be too sensitive if it is placed within the bell of your ear." Ivan answered.
"Interesting....I will have to see this." Nack said. "When will we start with the training?"
"Soon enough." Ivan said. "You will need some weight trainning, the weapons you will use are quite heavy, and you will need to perform in top physical shape."
"What trouble will I run into?" Nack asked. "I want to know how much danger is involved with this."
"You will certanly have G.U.N. breathing down your back as you try to find the diary." Ivan said. "And part of your assignment has you hopping on ARK."
"ARK, in space?" Nack said. "Why there?"
"I also want to see the work Gerald had done before he was executed." Ivan said. "The diary might be there."
Later.............
The train had stopped at the eastern Station Square station. Ivan and Nack stepped out of the train. This station looks exactly like the one in the westside, but a little smaller. A number of people left the train, heading out of the door. Construction workers. They are adding buildings to the eastside. The city planned to span the eastside to the Pumpkin Hill mountains. They both walked out of the station. Nack turned around and looked at the ocean. Far, far in the distance, you can see.....water. The train rail bridge seemed to go on forever.
"My place is this way." Ivan said as he walked west from the smaller buildings of East Station Square. Nack followed. Ahead of them they could spot large mountains in the distance. "My lab is hidden in the foot of a mountain here, Pumpkin Hill."
"Pumpkin hill? So you depend on the ghosts that haunt there to scare away people?" Nack said.
"Heh heh." Ivan chuckled. "Ghosts? I don't think so."
"But these mountains are haunte-........." Nack said, being interrupted by Ivan's laughing.
"Ha ha! Nack please! That is an old trick!" Ivan chuckled. "They are merely just holograms, some have spiked spheres within them. Even Ivo uses the same trick to keep people out of his pyrimid bases."
They continued walking, and they reached the end of the road that turned into a narrow, rocky path. They walked for a few miles. Nack's feet were still sore from tripping through the snow yesterday. He saw the remains of miner drilling equipment and the cart rails for depositing coal. Nack looked down and stared down at the seemingly bottomless abyss below the sides of the bridge-like path.
"So you scared the whole mining company out of here?"
"Well, yes," Ivan said. "This place was hailed as haunted, but the coal refinery company was persistent. So I flooded the mines, set the ghosts, and watched them run away," Ivan said smugly.
"I see," Nack said. "So you have been staying here for quite some time."
"Yes, I have."
They have reached a sharp bend in the path, that was on the edge of a cliff, only a few feet wide, with a tall wall of rock on the other side of the path. Ivan just kept walking.
"Ivan! Wait!" Nack pointed to the dangerous path ahead. "It's past there?"
"Yes, don't worry, it's perfectly safe."
They crossed the narrow path and came to a gated entrance of a mine. A small hovering pod came over thier heads and looked at the both of them with its small camera. It then fickered and transformed into a ghost. It circled them and flew away. Ivan took out a set of keys out of a vest pocket and opened the large paddlock on the gate.
"Follow me." Ivan suggested. They walked down a long rocky man-made hallway supported by large steel struts. The floor of the hall had been worn down by the soles of the miner's feet and Ivan's entrances and exits. They both walked down the hall, constantly coming in and out of darkness, because that the lights in the hall were either lit, not lit, broken, or not there at all. They came to a large and open area. It was shaped like a square, with a large square pit in the center. The pit was filled with water. The water surface was a few feet below the edge of the square room's pit, and it seemed to be flowing in a direction.
"As you can see, I have flooded specific parts of the mountain," Ivan said "To make artifical waterfalls to power my machines." They walked around the pit and Ivan headed down another man-made hall. This place seemes like a labryninth of caves. "It won't be long until we get there."
They walked through a twisting path of rights and lefts through the mine. They then came to another paddlocked gate and Ivan opened it. They came to an area like the water pit room, except pitless. The room was filled with mechanical arms, large metal consoles, masses of wire and cable, metal pipes set into the ground, a few computer screens set on desks with folders full of paper stacked neatly, and a large glass cylinder on a metal base sitting in the middle of the room.
"Welcome to my humble home." Ivan said as he brushed away a string of tangled wires that looked like a mass of slaughtered jellyfish. "Watch your head."
"And arms, legs, and tail...." Nack added. The walked to the center of the room, abd Ivan pointed to the large cylinder in the room.
"This is the teleporter," Ivan said. "The Ryukker. Gerald planned to use this during his studies to send samples back to his ground labs on Earth. Unfortunately, he was executed before he made more." Ivan walked to the other side of the room and opened a large metal cabinet. In its shelves were small objects, diffrenting in size and shape, all of them were very small, nearly microscopic. Each of the objects were sealed in a plastic bag, probably sterilized. "These will be your best friends."
"These are the implants?" Nack said as he took one of the bags into his hands for a closer inspection. He squinted at the extremely small object. This one looked like a small box, with a few prongs jutting out of its thinnest side.
"That is the hearing enhancement." Ivan said. "Would you like to have them put on you now? Or wait later?"
"Now." Nack said. "There is no point in wasting time."
"That is exactly what I wanted to hear." Ivan said. "Your determination is why I chose you." Ivan walked over to a dentist-style chair and swiveled it around to face Nack. "Sit down, this will only take a short while." Nack sit down in the chair and looked up to see Ivan holding a mouth mask with a small metal container hanging off of it. "You will be sleeping for a little bit while I put these in. You're right-handed?" Nack nodded yes. Ivan put the mask to Nack's muzzle. "Now breathe deeply and count in any direction you choose." Nack counted numbers, starting from one, two....three....fourrr........thrrree..Nack had slipped into deep sleep and Ivan began his work.
Ivan put on latex gloves on his hands and put a paper mask over his mouth. He picked up the same bag Nack was holding earlier and tore it open. He took a pair of tweezers and plucked the hearing device out of the bag. He bent over Nack's head and opened Nack's mouth. He put the device behind his wisdom tooth, and it clamped down onto the flesh. Ivan took a gun-like object and held it up to the corner of Nack's right eye and pulled the trigger twice, a small sound was heard, and when Ivan backed away, and two tiny implants was twinkiling near the corner of Nack's eye. He did the same to the other eye, but only left one of the impants there. Ivan then put a very small, key-ring shaped object a little bit below Nack's temple. Ivan seperated the fur on the skin and placed the ring-like object onto the skin. He sprayed a chemical on the area around the ring and plucked each hair out by the root, and seeing if the chemical sealed the holes the hair left. He took a sewing needle and thread and attached the ring to Nack's skin through the little holes in the ring. Ivan inspected his work and was satisfied. He tore open another plastic bag and took out a small, half-circle shaped object the size of the ring. He pressed it to the ring on the side of Nack's head and pressed it in. The metal device clicked in place. Ivan then nudged a radio earpice into Fang's right ear.
"There all done."
Later................
"Are you awake yet?" A voive asked him. He opened his eyes and saw Ivan, holding a mirror in his hand. "Here," Ivan said as he handed him the mirror, "Take a look at yourself."
He took the mirror and looked at the person staring back at him. He saw two peices of metal in his right eye and one in the left. He turned the mirror at an angle, and saw a strange device made of metal, attached to his temple, that had a circle-shaped hole facing the same direction as his face.
"My I introduce.....Fang the Sniper!" Ivan said.
"Fang......I like it. What does these things do?" Fang asked as he got up from the chair. Ivan stopped him and held a small, long needle-like rod in front of his face. "Wha-What do you plan to d-do with that?"
"Relax, I just need to turn the implants on." Ivan said. "Now just stand still." Ivan said as he took the rod and pressed it into the implant's contact switch. The base of the rod turned green. He did this to the other eye implants. When he turned on the last one, Fang was blinded by red and green light hitting his eyes.
"Whoa! What the hell is goin' on!?" Fang said as he saw the light show that danced on his retinas.
"Calm down, " Ivan said as he opened a small round container. He took out a contact lens that sat on his finger. "Just let me put these in." Ivan opened Fang's eyelids and placed the lenses on Fang's pupils. The fireworks stopped and the lights changed into a red dot in the middle of his vison. Beside the red dot was blue text that read 'CONFIRM ORIENTATION'. Fang saw all of this in his eyes.
"What is this? A Target-Thingamabob?" Fang asked.
"Well, in a way, yes." Ivan said. "By the way, it's called Target Sight, not Thingamabob." He paused and looked into Fang's left eye. "What is it doing?"
"Uhh, confirm orientation?" Fang replied. Ivan nodded and pulled out a rod with a square piece of plastic coming from its top, in the plastic was a black crosshair. He held it up to Fang's face.
"Now look directly at the crosshair." Fang followed his directions. "Now follow it with your eyes as I move it around." Ivan slowly waved it up, then down, then left, then right. Fang following the movement with his eyes, keeping the red dot in the center of the crosshair. The dot and text on Fang's eye changed into a yellow '' on Ivan's body, a green '+' where the 'bullet' would impact, and the text read '2.3223 feet LOCKED.
"This is amazing!" Fang commented. He flicked his middle finger back, pulling an imaginary trigger. "Bang." Fang said as he did this, and the display text read 'RELOAD'. "Amazing!" Fang commented again. "How does it know what weapon I'm using?" Fang asked Ivan.
"The device attached to your temple recives your thought waves and recognizes the gun you are using." Ivan said in layman's terms. "This device can also scan faces, and ID them. And it can funtion as a map, compass, and mini computer."
"Can I turn it off? I know that it will get annoying sooner or later." Fang asked.
"When you don't want it on, it will turn itself off. Simple." Ivan replied. He withdrew the needle-rod. "Here, let me turn on the hearing device. Open your mouth." Ivan said. Fang opened his mouth and Ivan pressed the contact switch on the object fused to the gums behind Fang's wisdom tooth and Ivan stepped back. "Do you hear any better?" He asked.
"I don't hear any changes." Fang replied.
"Try hearing better, like the way you thought for the gun." Ivan said. Fang tried to hear the flowing water from the water pit room, he heard a faint trickling sound then it got loulder and it sounded like the flowing water from the room.
"Now I see." Fang replied. "It doesn't make the sound loulder, but it makes things sound as if you were standing right next to it."
"Yes." Ivan said. "So are you happy with your improvements?"
"I do." Fang said. "But I am eager to test these out."
"We will start your training soon, after you get aquainted with your firearms." Ivan relpied. "Come this way." Ivan said as he walked toward another hall in the room. Fang followed. It was another long twisting corridor.
"This is a giant turn for me, Ivan." Fang said. "But, am I the only one besides you that knows about these devices?"
Ivan stopped in his tracks and lowered his head. "There is another..." Ivan said in a downed tone. "....his name is Bahn Lock, a human. He is another bounty hunter."
"And you gave him the same enhancements?" Fang asked.
".....yes, I did."
"Then what happened to him?"
"He became over-zealous with his work and deserted me without finding the diary. The last I've heard of him was that he was off on his own, trying to find the pieces." Ivan said. He continued walking. "He planned to sell it on the black market."
"The diary is in pieces?" Fang asked.
"Yes, a few scientists took parts of it and tried to duplicate his work." Ivan said. "Something happened to them, retired, died of age, ect. and the pieces were either locked away, or given to another researcher. I know ARK holds at least one piece. You WILL cross paths with each other."
"Was he like me when you met him?" Fang asked.
"No, he was very skilled when I met him. But he turned out to be a psycotic killer after I gave him the implants." Ivan said. "Be weary when he is near."
Ivan walked into a room that was smaller than his lab. This room had a set of weights, a weightlifting bench, a treadmill, a bar that was suspended from the ceiling, a metal dresser and a bed, all nicely kept. "You will train and sleep here." Ivan said as he gestured toward the equipment and bed. "Don't expect a robot maid." Ivan added.
"Well, I guess this will be my home for a while." Fang said.
Somewhere.............
"Hehehahahah! Ivan! You are pitiful!" Bahn laughed. He was outside the entrance to the caves, standing upside-down on a pumpkin head mountain face. He was a human, asian nationality, wearing a large black trenchcoat hanging off of his arms because it was open,"Nack the Weasel?! If that is your choice, then I challenge him to a duel when he finishes his training!! I'll be waiting!" He said as he disengaged the grip on his boots and dropped down into the abyss. "Only one preson can have Gerald's research, and that's me!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Grey Wolf: So Nack accepts Ivan's offer and goes through the operation, but Bhan wants to kill Ivan's new student. What will be the outcome? Fing out in the next chapter: The Duel and the Deal.
Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters are property of SEGA and SONIC TEAM.
Ivan Cameron, Bahn Lock, Silver , Zelkin, Valgas, the G.E.A.R., the Oak are property of Grey Wolf Inc.
Grey Wolf: So you like the story? Good. Now I can update this thing on a regular basis. This story will probably be long, as the events will lead up to SA2. then my Prower Saga. (And we're now on the S&K timeline, right after triple trouble. Why? Because I said so.) Remember to REVIEW!! And I will answer all questions. Hey, I have a lot of room in this forward, maybe I can fill it with something........oh! I know!
Giant SEGA plot hole time!: If Gerald Robotnik was Ivo Robotnik's grandfather on his MOTHER's side....then why is Robotnik's last name Robotnik If Ivo has the same last name as his mother's maiden name?
Hmmm.. think about it..............Now stop thinking and read my story.
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"I accept."
"Good." Ivan said as he reached for the illusion object on the table. He tapped the top of the device, and it released a bright flash. Ivan then replaced it in his vest pocket. "Come, we need to take a rail train to my place." Ivan said as the both got out of thier chairs and walked out of the door of the resturant. They walked down the street.
"That's funny, you look taller without your hat." Ivan said. It was true, Nack looked pretty tall for an anthromorph, around '5''3. He still wasn't as tall for a human, but he was close.
"I do?" Nack replied. "I lost it back in the artic."
They walked toward the large train station. The huge center of Station Square. A few people were coming out of its doors. Rush hour was over. "My facility is pretty far. It will take an hour to get there." Ivan said as he opened the glass door for them and walked inside the large and elaborate lobby.
"Then why are we here? Couldn't we-......."
"Use the transport device? Heh heh, I'm sorry." Ivan chuckled. "But I've lost my lunch riding that thing for my first few tries. And I don't want you getting sick all over my lab. You will use it when it is your only means of transportation." The rat paused and grinned. "Trust me, it's something you have to get used to."
"All right, i'll take your word for it." Nack replied. They both puchased thier tickets, they were going to cross the wide Aquatic Ocean, to the other side of Station Square. There have been rumors to build a highway across, but the city has put the project on hold. The city was cautious about building a bridge spanning the ocean, fearing that their work would be undone by Chaos anomalies twisting the roads into loop-the-loops. One highway was started, but one piece of the road was twisted into a doulble spiral, and constuction was halted. (Radical Highway) They have halted the project and have no plans to continue until further notice.
They entered the narrow door on the train and found a empty bench, and began thier ride to East Staion Square. The train filled with a few passengers, and the doors shut. The train began to roll towards its destination. Ivan took out the same illusion ball out of his pocket and sat it on the windowsill behind thier seats. It emmited the same breif flash and Ivan began to talk.
"Is there anything you wish to ask me?"
"So you're alone in this reseach?" Nack asked.
"Well, yes. I used to work with another person who was interested in the same reseach."
"How come he stopped?"
"He was intrigued when we came across a way to power machines using body heat from living things. He became obsessed and built upon this discovery and left my side." the rat said.
"Ivo Robotnik, I presume."
"Yes, he has built numerous bases in the east, right now, he plans to take the Chaos Emeralds. That Master Emerald protector, he is still by his side. " Ivan said. The train had passed over Station Square's Emerald Coast, and were traveling over the ocean. "He has built two machines that can harness the Chaos energy. And I've seen evidence of a large space station being built. He has planned something big."
"Is anyone going to stop him?" Nack asked.
"Sonic the Hedgehog, he seems determined to stop him. He has done it once before, and I don't doubt that he would stop Robotnik again." Ivan replied.
"I see." Nack said. "When will I set out for the asignment?"
"A year from now." Ivan siad calmly.
"WHAT?! A YEAR FROM NOW?!" Nack yelled. "What would take so long?!"
"Nack, settled down."Ivan said. "First you have to test my tools first, and you'll have to train."
"Train for what?" Nack asked.
"I don't want some half-wit bounty hunter wrecking my tools. You will need time to prepare yourself for the assignment. These inventions will be disorienting at first, and you will need time to get familair and confortable with them."
"Familiar and comfortable? You talk as if they are implants."
"Most of them are."
"Hold on a second, I don't wan't anyone slicing me up with a knife. I will not do this." Nack said as he imagined himself having a gun for a hand. "I don't want to look like one of your experiments."
"Relax, they are not as drastic as they sound." Ivan replied. "The implants will be very small, like as the size of a button. They will aid you with your sight, hearing, and so on."
"How will they be put on me?"
"Let's talk about the hearing tool, as an example. The hearing implant will be set in your jaw, it will sense vibrations in the air and let you hear through walls." Ivan said.
"That's pretty unorthodox. Why wouldn't it be set in my ear?"
"If I set it in your ear? Well, number one, if you get hit in the head, the hearing device will slip out of place and not function properly. And number two, the hearing device will be too sensitive if it is placed within the bell of your ear." Ivan answered.
"Interesting....I will have to see this." Nack said. "When will we start with the training?"
"Soon enough." Ivan said. "You will need some weight trainning, the weapons you will use are quite heavy, and you will need to perform in top physical shape."
"What trouble will I run into?" Nack asked. "I want to know how much danger is involved with this."
"You will certanly have G.U.N. breathing down your back as you try to find the diary." Ivan said. "And part of your assignment has you hopping on ARK."
"ARK, in space?" Nack said. "Why there?"
"I also want to see the work Gerald had done before he was executed." Ivan said. "The diary might be there."
Later.............
The train had stopped at the eastern Station Square station. Ivan and Nack stepped out of the train. This station looks exactly like the one in the westside, but a little smaller. A number of people left the train, heading out of the door. Construction workers. They are adding buildings to the eastside. The city planned to span the eastside to the Pumpkin Hill mountains. They both walked out of the station. Nack turned around and looked at the ocean. Far, far in the distance, you can see.....water. The train rail bridge seemed to go on forever.
"My place is this way." Ivan said as he walked west from the smaller buildings of East Station Square. Nack followed. Ahead of them they could spot large mountains in the distance. "My lab is hidden in the foot of a mountain here, Pumpkin Hill."
"Pumpkin hill? So you depend on the ghosts that haunt there to scare away people?" Nack said.
"Heh heh." Ivan chuckled. "Ghosts? I don't think so."
"But these mountains are haunte-........." Nack said, being interrupted by Ivan's laughing.
"Ha ha! Nack please! That is an old trick!" Ivan chuckled. "They are merely just holograms, some have spiked spheres within them. Even Ivo uses the same trick to keep people out of his pyrimid bases."
They continued walking, and they reached the end of the road that turned into a narrow, rocky path. They walked for a few miles. Nack's feet were still sore from tripping through the snow yesterday. He saw the remains of miner drilling equipment and the cart rails for depositing coal. Nack looked down and stared down at the seemingly bottomless abyss below the sides of the bridge-like path.
"So you scared the whole mining company out of here?"
"Well, yes," Ivan said. "This place was hailed as haunted, but the coal refinery company was persistent. So I flooded the mines, set the ghosts, and watched them run away," Ivan said smugly.
"I see," Nack said. "So you have been staying here for quite some time."
"Yes, I have."
They have reached a sharp bend in the path, that was on the edge of a cliff, only a few feet wide, with a tall wall of rock on the other side of the path. Ivan just kept walking.
"Ivan! Wait!" Nack pointed to the dangerous path ahead. "It's past there?"
"Yes, don't worry, it's perfectly safe."
They crossed the narrow path and came to a gated entrance of a mine. A small hovering pod came over thier heads and looked at the both of them with its small camera. It then fickered and transformed into a ghost. It circled them and flew away. Ivan took out a set of keys out of a vest pocket and opened the large paddlock on the gate.
"Follow me." Ivan suggested. They walked down a long rocky man-made hallway supported by large steel struts. The floor of the hall had been worn down by the soles of the miner's feet and Ivan's entrances and exits. They both walked down the hall, constantly coming in and out of darkness, because that the lights in the hall were either lit, not lit, broken, or not there at all. They came to a large and open area. It was shaped like a square, with a large square pit in the center. The pit was filled with water. The water surface was a few feet below the edge of the square room's pit, and it seemed to be flowing in a direction.
"As you can see, I have flooded specific parts of the mountain," Ivan said "To make artifical waterfalls to power my machines." They walked around the pit and Ivan headed down another man-made hall. This place seemes like a labryninth of caves. "It won't be long until we get there."
They walked through a twisting path of rights and lefts through the mine. They then came to another paddlocked gate and Ivan opened it. They came to an area like the water pit room, except pitless. The room was filled with mechanical arms, large metal consoles, masses of wire and cable, metal pipes set into the ground, a few computer screens set on desks with folders full of paper stacked neatly, and a large glass cylinder on a metal base sitting in the middle of the room.
"Welcome to my humble home." Ivan said as he brushed away a string of tangled wires that looked like a mass of slaughtered jellyfish. "Watch your head."
"And arms, legs, and tail...." Nack added. The walked to the center of the room, abd Ivan pointed to the large cylinder in the room.
"This is the teleporter," Ivan said. "The Ryukker. Gerald planned to use this during his studies to send samples back to his ground labs on Earth. Unfortunately, he was executed before he made more." Ivan walked to the other side of the room and opened a large metal cabinet. In its shelves were small objects, diffrenting in size and shape, all of them were very small, nearly microscopic. Each of the objects were sealed in a plastic bag, probably sterilized. "These will be your best friends."
"These are the implants?" Nack said as he took one of the bags into his hands for a closer inspection. He squinted at the extremely small object. This one looked like a small box, with a few prongs jutting out of its thinnest side.
"That is the hearing enhancement." Ivan said. "Would you like to have them put on you now? Or wait later?"
"Now." Nack said. "There is no point in wasting time."
"That is exactly what I wanted to hear." Ivan said. "Your determination is why I chose you." Ivan walked over to a dentist-style chair and swiveled it around to face Nack. "Sit down, this will only take a short while." Nack sit down in the chair and looked up to see Ivan holding a mouth mask with a small metal container hanging off of it. "You will be sleeping for a little bit while I put these in. You're right-handed?" Nack nodded yes. Ivan put the mask to Nack's muzzle. "Now breathe deeply and count in any direction you choose." Nack counted numbers, starting from one, two....three....fourrr........thrrree..Nack had slipped into deep sleep and Ivan began his work.
Ivan put on latex gloves on his hands and put a paper mask over his mouth. He picked up the same bag Nack was holding earlier and tore it open. He took a pair of tweezers and plucked the hearing device out of the bag. He bent over Nack's head and opened Nack's mouth. He put the device behind his wisdom tooth, and it clamped down onto the flesh. Ivan took a gun-like object and held it up to the corner of Nack's right eye and pulled the trigger twice, a small sound was heard, and when Ivan backed away, and two tiny implants was twinkiling near the corner of Nack's eye. He did the same to the other eye, but only left one of the impants there. Ivan then put a very small, key-ring shaped object a little bit below Nack's temple. Ivan seperated the fur on the skin and placed the ring-like object onto the skin. He sprayed a chemical on the area around the ring and plucked each hair out by the root, and seeing if the chemical sealed the holes the hair left. He took a sewing needle and thread and attached the ring to Nack's skin through the little holes in the ring. Ivan inspected his work and was satisfied. He tore open another plastic bag and took out a small, half-circle shaped object the size of the ring. He pressed it to the ring on the side of Nack's head and pressed it in. The metal device clicked in place. Ivan then nudged a radio earpice into Fang's right ear.
"There all done."
Later................
"Are you awake yet?" A voive asked him. He opened his eyes and saw Ivan, holding a mirror in his hand. "Here," Ivan said as he handed him the mirror, "Take a look at yourself."
He took the mirror and looked at the person staring back at him. He saw two peices of metal in his right eye and one in the left. He turned the mirror at an angle, and saw a strange device made of metal, attached to his temple, that had a circle-shaped hole facing the same direction as his face.
"My I introduce.....Fang the Sniper!" Ivan said.
"Fang......I like it. What does these things do?" Fang asked as he got up from the chair. Ivan stopped him and held a small, long needle-like rod in front of his face. "Wha-What do you plan to d-do with that?"
"Relax, I just need to turn the implants on." Ivan said. "Now just stand still." Ivan said as he took the rod and pressed it into the implant's contact switch. The base of the rod turned green. He did this to the other eye implants. When he turned on the last one, Fang was blinded by red and green light hitting his eyes.
"Whoa! What the hell is goin' on!?" Fang said as he saw the light show that danced on his retinas.
"Calm down, " Ivan said as he opened a small round container. He took out a contact lens that sat on his finger. "Just let me put these in." Ivan opened Fang's eyelids and placed the lenses on Fang's pupils. The fireworks stopped and the lights changed into a red dot in the middle of his vison. Beside the red dot was blue text that read 'CONFIRM ORIENTATION'. Fang saw all of this in his eyes.
"What is this? A Target-Thingamabob?" Fang asked.
"Well, in a way, yes." Ivan said. "By the way, it's called Target Sight, not Thingamabob." He paused and looked into Fang's left eye. "What is it doing?"
"Uhh, confirm orientation?" Fang replied. Ivan nodded and pulled out a rod with a square piece of plastic coming from its top, in the plastic was a black crosshair. He held it up to Fang's face.
"Now look directly at the crosshair." Fang followed his directions. "Now follow it with your eyes as I move it around." Ivan slowly waved it up, then down, then left, then right. Fang following the movement with his eyes, keeping the red dot in the center of the crosshair. The dot and text on Fang's eye changed into a yellow '' on Ivan's body, a green '+' where the 'bullet' would impact, and the text read '2.3223 feet LOCKED.
"This is amazing!" Fang commented. He flicked his middle finger back, pulling an imaginary trigger. "Bang." Fang said as he did this, and the display text read 'RELOAD'. "Amazing!" Fang commented again. "How does it know what weapon I'm using?" Fang asked Ivan.
"The device attached to your temple recives your thought waves and recognizes the gun you are using." Ivan said in layman's terms. "This device can also scan faces, and ID them. And it can funtion as a map, compass, and mini computer."
"Can I turn it off? I know that it will get annoying sooner or later." Fang asked.
"When you don't want it on, it will turn itself off. Simple." Ivan replied. He withdrew the needle-rod. "Here, let me turn on the hearing device. Open your mouth." Ivan said. Fang opened his mouth and Ivan pressed the contact switch on the object fused to the gums behind Fang's wisdom tooth and Ivan stepped back. "Do you hear any better?" He asked.
"I don't hear any changes." Fang replied.
"Try hearing better, like the way you thought for the gun." Ivan said. Fang tried to hear the flowing water from the water pit room, he heard a faint trickling sound then it got loulder and it sounded like the flowing water from the room.
"Now I see." Fang replied. "It doesn't make the sound loulder, but it makes things sound as if you were standing right next to it."
"Yes." Ivan said. "So are you happy with your improvements?"
"I do." Fang said. "But I am eager to test these out."
"We will start your training soon, after you get aquainted with your firearms." Ivan relpied. "Come this way." Ivan said as he walked toward another hall in the room. Fang followed. It was another long twisting corridor.
"This is a giant turn for me, Ivan." Fang said. "But, am I the only one besides you that knows about these devices?"
Ivan stopped in his tracks and lowered his head. "There is another..." Ivan said in a downed tone. "....his name is Bahn Lock, a human. He is another bounty hunter."
"And you gave him the same enhancements?" Fang asked.
".....yes, I did."
"Then what happened to him?"
"He became over-zealous with his work and deserted me without finding the diary. The last I've heard of him was that he was off on his own, trying to find the pieces." Ivan said. He continued walking. "He planned to sell it on the black market."
"The diary is in pieces?" Fang asked.
"Yes, a few scientists took parts of it and tried to duplicate his work." Ivan said. "Something happened to them, retired, died of age, ect. and the pieces were either locked away, or given to another researcher. I know ARK holds at least one piece. You WILL cross paths with each other."
"Was he like me when you met him?" Fang asked.
"No, he was very skilled when I met him. But he turned out to be a psycotic killer after I gave him the implants." Ivan said. "Be weary when he is near."
Ivan walked into a room that was smaller than his lab. This room had a set of weights, a weightlifting bench, a treadmill, a bar that was suspended from the ceiling, a metal dresser and a bed, all nicely kept. "You will train and sleep here." Ivan said as he gestured toward the equipment and bed. "Don't expect a robot maid." Ivan added.
"Well, I guess this will be my home for a while." Fang said.
Somewhere.............
"Hehehahahah! Ivan! You are pitiful!" Bahn laughed. He was outside the entrance to the caves, standing upside-down on a pumpkin head mountain face. He was a human, asian nationality, wearing a large black trenchcoat hanging off of his arms because it was open,"Nack the Weasel?! If that is your choice, then I challenge him to a duel when he finishes his training!! I'll be waiting!" He said as he disengaged the grip on his boots and dropped down into the abyss. "Only one preson can have Gerald's research, and that's me!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Grey Wolf: So Nack accepts Ivan's offer and goes through the operation, but Bhan wants to kill Ivan's new student. What will be the outcome? Fing out in the next chapter: The Duel and the Deal.