Life Is But A Game

Author's Notes: Firstly, I do not own any of the characters in this fanfiction. They belong to Konami's Genso Suikoden 2. Everything in this fanfic belongs to the game. I just elaborate on it...

Here's a fic on how hard it is to be a Suikoden 2 hero. This shows the different scenarios in the hero's journey and he had to deal with it. There may be some Out-Of-Characterness. Btw, the Hero's name here is Riou.

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It is really hard to stay in a castle with more than a hundred important people and other beings, soldiers and refugees. Even staying up in the fourth level did not help. Though not shown to the audience on screen, sleeping at night could be a real pain for Riou.

Firstly, Shu would remind him of what has happened on that day and prepare him for the next.

"Lord Riou, we have lost 499 men today, but we managed to kill 500. The farm has not increased, as you have not collected enough seeds and Viki teleported a hoard of elephants into our castle in the evening. Tomorrow we would need to hold a funeral for all 499 men, send the elephants away and you must hunt for seeds. Have a good night, my lord. And one more thing, our lake has been contaminated for all the fish have surfaced showing purple bodies."

As Shu stepped out, the room shook with Nanami's more than noisy entrance.

"Riou!! How was my little brother's day? You must be tired after the war. Thank goodness you took the tonic soup I made for you. Come now, don't be shy. Let sister Nanami here tuck you in. Goodnight and sweet dreams!"

With that Nanami tucked Riou in his bed and planted a kiss on his forehead, not noticing the soldiers outside sniggering and Riou's red embarrassed face. Little did she know that her 'tonic soup' was the cause for the fishes' death in the lake. She slammed the door shut, warned the guards not to let her brother be harmed, which meant no night strolling for Riou, and walked back to her room. Riou heaved a deep sigh. Why must every night be so hard? Not that the days were any better, but he would really appreciate some good rest. You think he can rest now? You thought wrong.

There was no BGM, just sounds of crickets in the still night, or so we thought. What we players did not know was, the castle was full of noises at night and our hero had the privilege of hearing them all.

Not ten minutes after he dozed off, Riou was awoken by the sound of wings. Feather usually slept at night, which could only leave three people - Chaco, who was probably sleeping somewhere, Sid, who had a big possibility, and Sierra, who hunted at night. A shadow passed Riou's window and he was convinced it was Sierra. Sid was unlikely to turn into a bat. Willing himself to go back to bed once the beating of wings disappeared, Riou was startled by the sound of something hitting something. It must be Miklotov...As much as Riou admire Miklotov's loyalty and his devotion to his principles, he wished Miklotov would sleep longer and train less. There was a loud banging on a door and Miklotov's punching moves stopped. Thank you, Camus! Apparently, others have complaint about Miklotov's noisy training and Camus told him off. Now poor Miklotov could only continue his training silently with push-ups and sit-ups. Finally, Riou felt his head luring him to sleep, but something else was nagging in his ear. No wait, it was not nagging he heard, but snoring. Someone was snoring so loudly it reached the fourth floor, and not just one, but an orchestra of it. This is why we should have gotten glass windows. Riou pulled his blanket over him and tried to treat that unlikely symphony as a soothing lullaby.

When he could finally get some rest, someone barged through the door and shouted merrily,

"Good morning Riou! Big sister has come to wake you up!"

Why me...

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It was again another battlefield. Riou had become accustomed to being enlarged every time they walked on the world map. They had rescued Lady Teresa and were about to return to the castle when this group of...of black rabbits trying to look real threatening with their cutters showed up. Riou was shaking his head at the enemies he faced. Yes, there were some tough-looking ones like Highland soldiers, Banshees, Mirages and even wolves, but rabbits? Riou could beat them single-handedly if there wasn't the turn-based system. Flik and the knights shared the same notion as they drew their swords with a helpless expression plastered on their faces. Siegfried, however, just neighed in disgust and stood aside. Why had he come along in the first place? Oh right, Shu sent him so he could stop harassing the young ladies in the castle grounds. Where was Lady Teresa? A shiver went down Riou's spine. Please, please don't let her be sitting on a tree... He looked at all the trees around him and sighed in relief when he saw no trace of any human up there. Flik guessed what he was searching for and pointed to a large rock not far from Siegfried. No... The rock did not move. Apparently Lady Teresa did not disguise herself as the rock. Good.

"Psst..."

Riou looked at the ground in front of the rock. A piece of grass moved and lifted to show Teresa's head bobbing up from a hole. Riou's eyes bulged at the sight.

"Lady Teresa! What are you doing down there?"

"Shh, Lord Riou. I was told to wait here until the fight is over. Besides, it is rather cozy in here. There's even a pack of instant coffee here."

This could not be happening... Riou wanted to cry, but his limbs automatically charged and attacked a black rabbit. It was a critical hit as Riou wanted to end the battle as fast as possible, so the enemy disappeared.

As he hopped back to position, he noticed Flik and the knights had formed a line with their swords in front of their chests. A question in his head, Riou nearly fell down when all three of them shouted,

"Pretty Boy Attack!"

In a flash Camus and Miklotov dashed front, crossing each other while Flik followed in a straight line. Riou just stood there, frozen, with a blank face. The rabbit vanished as they returned to their slots. Flik turned to Riou in an almost teary face,

"I did not want to do it, Riou. I really did not want to do it."

Obviously it was all the player's doing, as Riou could see the embarrassed face of Miklotov and Camus' shake of the head, though he seemed rather proud. EXP was counted and money received, Teresa hopped back onto track smelling like coffee. A few steps later, they were on for another fight. This time, they were lucky not to be fighting rabbits, but flat-faced squirrels. Teresa leapt into the allotted hole happily,

"Great, this time I can try the jasmine tea!"

Riou secretly prayed that he would not have to be in the next game.

 

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