Chapter 9 - Alternate Views
The facility in Tokyo seemed small, comprising what looked like just a radio tower. As it
turned out, most of the facility was underground, and seemed to be mostly passages upon
passages. Sharpe called it a cartographer's nightmare as he led Anthony through to the portal
room. Two lieutenants were waiting for them as they arrived.
"Major, is this the psion?"
"Psion?" thought Anthony. "Talk about a pretentious sounding way to say you're a psychic!!"
"This is the man, Lieutenant," said Sharpe. "Name's Anthony Bault, and he has done a lot
already for us. In fact, why don't you tell us what you have found out so far about the favor
Mr. Bault has asked."
"Yes sir! Mr. Bault," started the lieutenant, "based on the information in that text you told
us about called 'Blood and Metal', we found a small domicile in an abandoned building close to
where a portal to Mobius was created. There was a lot of high tech equipment in there,
including a device that looked like that 'roboticizer' from the comic book series and cartoon
and a weird pyramid shaped device that used the same setup like what we used to open the
portal. It looked like the place was still being used, and eventually we found a humanoid fox
in royal robes."
Anthony eyes widened. "Was he alright?"
"Besides some malnutrition, he was fine. He almost ran off when we saw us, but we called him
by name (one our men seemed to recognize him as King Acorn) then mentioned the words 'Mobius'
and 'Sally' and he calmed down. We told him what had happened in the last few days and seemed
excited. In fact, he fainted."
"That's definitely excited. Is he being treated right now?"
"Yes. He should be up and ready to go once you are done with the world beyond this portal
location, wherever this goes."
"Well, Anthony," said Sharpe, pointing towards the portal, "there's the door. Ready to open
it?"
"Definitely...unfortunately," started Anthony, "I may be at a disadvantage in this world.
Since this world is just an alternate Earth, it could be based on ANY game that uses Earth.
Could be Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter...be nice if it was Tomb Raider...it might not even be
based on a game at all!"
"Actually," the other lieutenant said, interrupting, "based on the story you were told about
the events 1000 years ago, we think it might be Megaman."
Anthony looked confused. "Why is that?"
"The creator of the golem, Adaman, might have had a descendant who also makes such items. Of
course, by this time they might be..."
"Robots..." interrupted Anthony. "But...why Megaman?"
"We dug a little deeper and asked Princesses Toadstool and Zelda what the last name of the
alchemist was who made Adaman. It was Light."
"Whoa! Small world!"
"Indeed," said Sharpe, producing a packet of CD-ROMs from his pocket. "Here, we got these
disks from Capcom. They contain copies of all the Megaman games created so far, including the
Japanese versions not released in the US, and they should work in any computer. This should
tell the people on the other side about how we know about them. Capcom even said you can keep
them if you can get them a meeting with Megaman himself!"
"Cool," said Anthony, and then turned towards the portal entrance which they had opened a
little bit using some technology. Anthony sent a psionic wave towards the opening and turned
it into the same shimmering portal he created earlier.
"Wish me luck, gentlemen," said Anthony, as he entered the portal.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anthony was surprised by what he saw on the other side. He ended up in facilities similar to
where he just left, except the technology looked far more advanced. Two scientists observed
his entrance, and were walking up to him.
"I see you managed to open the Arcadian portal," one of them said. "May I ask which of the
five worlds you are from?"
Anthony answered, "Earth...well, the version of Earth Sir Eric is from. I'm actually his
descendant and my name is Anthony."
The scientists looked stunned and the first one continued, "Ah...are you the new Gamemaster
then?"
"I guess," Anthony said, starting to feel like he should accept the job after his talk with his
mother. "No other descendants have come forward."
"Excellent. You'll want to meet with one of our world's resident celebrities then, who is a
descendant of the alchemist who created Adaman. His name is Dr. Thomas Light."
"Yes, I am familiar with him. Creator of the robot Megaman, correct?"
"Yes, but...how did you know?"
"The latent psi talent my world has allowed video game creators at a company called Capcom to
sense this world and create a series of games based on that robot. I even have the games on
disk for the good doctor to look at."
"Excellent," the scientist said, turning to his colleague. "Go inform Dr. Light the Gamemaster
is here." He then turned back to Anthony. "He'll probably send transportation to take you to
his location. The portal from this world to Hylas is in his hometown of Neo-Chicago."
"NEO-Chicago?"
"Yes. To avoid confusion between our world and yours, we decided to have all our cities have
the name Neo added to them, just in case the two worlds were identical. In fact, our world is
now called Neo-Earth."
"May I ask what prompted the use of 'Neo' for a name change?"
"The study of Adaman created great technological advances over the years, currently helped in
part by Dr. Light's advances in robotics. Come, let's go somewhere where you can
relax...hmmm..." He looked at Anthony's sword, which Anthony had brought with him as an
indication of his bloodline. "Would you care for a weaponry upgrade?"
"Huh? Oh, you mean my sword. Well, unless you have a similar weapon, that's not necessary.
I'm only proficient with swords."
"Well, I think you might like this," said the scientist, taking a small box from an emergency
weaponry cabinet used by security personnel, extracting a cylinder-like object from it, and
handing it to Anthony. "Flip that switch on it to activate it, pointing that emitter end away
from you."
"Why, what is it...?"
Anthony flipped the switch, and a glowing blue rod emitted from the end, stretching to four
feet long before stopping.
Anthony was amazed. "A lightsaber? Better not show George Lucas this, he'd probably freak."
He deactivated the lightsaber and turned back towards the scientist. "Thank you, this is
great!"
"Figured you'd like it. Now, let's see to your comfort...by the way, who's George Lucas?"
"Long story...I'll tell you on route..."
The facility in Tokyo seemed small, comprising what looked like just a radio tower. As it
turned out, most of the facility was underground, and seemed to be mostly passages upon
passages. Sharpe called it a cartographer's nightmare as he led Anthony through to the portal
room. Two lieutenants were waiting for them as they arrived.
"Major, is this the psion?"
"Psion?" thought Anthony. "Talk about a pretentious sounding way to say you're a psychic!!"
"This is the man, Lieutenant," said Sharpe. "Name's Anthony Bault, and he has done a lot
already for us. In fact, why don't you tell us what you have found out so far about the favor
Mr. Bault has asked."
"Yes sir! Mr. Bault," started the lieutenant, "based on the information in that text you told
us about called 'Blood and Metal', we found a small domicile in an abandoned building close to
where a portal to Mobius was created. There was a lot of high tech equipment in there,
including a device that looked like that 'roboticizer' from the comic book series and cartoon
and a weird pyramid shaped device that used the same setup like what we used to open the
portal. It looked like the place was still being used, and eventually we found a humanoid fox
in royal robes."
Anthony eyes widened. "Was he alright?"
"Besides some malnutrition, he was fine. He almost ran off when we saw us, but we called him
by name (one our men seemed to recognize him as King Acorn) then mentioned the words 'Mobius'
and 'Sally' and he calmed down. We told him what had happened in the last few days and seemed
excited. In fact, he fainted."
"That's definitely excited. Is he being treated right now?"
"Yes. He should be up and ready to go once you are done with the world beyond this portal
location, wherever this goes."
"Well, Anthony," said Sharpe, pointing towards the portal, "there's the door. Ready to open
it?"
"Definitely...unfortunately," started Anthony, "I may be at a disadvantage in this world.
Since this world is just an alternate Earth, it could be based on ANY game that uses Earth.
Could be Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter...be nice if it was Tomb Raider...it might not even be
based on a game at all!"
"Actually," the other lieutenant said, interrupting, "based on the story you were told about
the events 1000 years ago, we think it might be Megaman."
Anthony looked confused. "Why is that?"
"The creator of the golem, Adaman, might have had a descendant who also makes such items. Of
course, by this time they might be..."
"Robots..." interrupted Anthony. "But...why Megaman?"
"We dug a little deeper and asked Princesses Toadstool and Zelda what the last name of the
alchemist was who made Adaman. It was Light."
"Whoa! Small world!"
"Indeed," said Sharpe, producing a packet of CD-ROMs from his pocket. "Here, we got these
disks from Capcom. They contain copies of all the Megaman games created so far, including the
Japanese versions not released in the US, and they should work in any computer. This should
tell the people on the other side about how we know about them. Capcom even said you can keep
them if you can get them a meeting with Megaman himself!"
"Cool," said Anthony, and then turned towards the portal entrance which they had opened a
little bit using some technology. Anthony sent a psionic wave towards the opening and turned
it into the same shimmering portal he created earlier.
"Wish me luck, gentlemen," said Anthony, as he entered the portal.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anthony was surprised by what he saw on the other side. He ended up in facilities similar to
where he just left, except the technology looked far more advanced. Two scientists observed
his entrance, and were walking up to him.
"I see you managed to open the Arcadian portal," one of them said. "May I ask which of the
five worlds you are from?"
Anthony answered, "Earth...well, the version of Earth Sir Eric is from. I'm actually his
descendant and my name is Anthony."
The scientists looked stunned and the first one continued, "Ah...are you the new Gamemaster
then?"
"I guess," Anthony said, starting to feel like he should accept the job after his talk with his
mother. "No other descendants have come forward."
"Excellent. You'll want to meet with one of our world's resident celebrities then, who is a
descendant of the alchemist who created Adaman. His name is Dr. Thomas Light."
"Yes, I am familiar with him. Creator of the robot Megaman, correct?"
"Yes, but...how did you know?"
"The latent psi talent my world has allowed video game creators at a company called Capcom to
sense this world and create a series of games based on that robot. I even have the games on
disk for the good doctor to look at."
"Excellent," the scientist said, turning to his colleague. "Go inform Dr. Light the Gamemaster
is here." He then turned back to Anthony. "He'll probably send transportation to take you to
his location. The portal from this world to Hylas is in his hometown of Neo-Chicago."
"NEO-Chicago?"
"Yes. To avoid confusion between our world and yours, we decided to have all our cities have
the name Neo added to them, just in case the two worlds were identical. In fact, our world is
now called Neo-Earth."
"May I ask what prompted the use of 'Neo' for a name change?"
"The study of Adaman created great technological advances over the years, currently helped in
part by Dr. Light's advances in robotics. Come, let's go somewhere where you can
relax...hmmm..." He looked at Anthony's sword, which Anthony had brought with him as an
indication of his bloodline. "Would you care for a weaponry upgrade?"
"Huh? Oh, you mean my sword. Well, unless you have a similar weapon, that's not necessary.
I'm only proficient with swords."
"Well, I think you might like this," said the scientist, taking a small box from an emergency
weaponry cabinet used by security personnel, extracting a cylinder-like object from it, and
handing it to Anthony. "Flip that switch on it to activate it, pointing that emitter end away
from you."
"Why, what is it...?"
Anthony flipped the switch, and a glowing blue rod emitted from the end, stretching to four
feet long before stopping.
Anthony was amazed. "A lightsaber? Better not show George Lucas this, he'd probably freak."
He deactivated the lightsaber and turned back towards the scientist. "Thank you, this is
great!"
"Figured you'd like it. Now, let's see to your comfort...by the way, who's George Lucas?"
"Long story...I'll tell you on route..."