Phantasy Star Online: Blue Requiem
By Ryuretsu
Chapter Two: Beret
The two hunters walked back into their tiny apartment complex. As usual the place was a dump. Empty instant-ramen packets lay here and there, various garments of clothing littered the floor and not to mention piles of Daisuke's 'book collection'. But in disregard of its clutter, the apartment was about moderate in size and held two small bedrooms, a decent sized bathroom, a small kitchen, a decent sized living room, and a 15x15-ft storage room in its lower level.
As they closed the door behind them and entered the living room, Daisuke gave a sigh. He always told himself he'd at least make an ATTEMPT to clean the place up a little if not decorate it with something more than just cheap industrial furniture made out of an even cheaper material. His female companion didn't make things any easier, her constant need to feed, shower and change (not to mention buy more) apparel made things even messier. But no matter how much he complained to himself about his partner's messiness, it would displease him even more to have it go away. Without it's presence, the place would seem messier than it ever was before.
"So what are you planning?" asks Rouge as she pulled out a chair to the table where the two were earlier playing a 'friendly' game of Chess.
"What do you mean?" asked Daisuke, not fully grasping the question.
Rouge placed her left elbow down on the table and rested her head in her hand as she looked at him, "I mean, what exactly do you plan on doing with this job? Christ, they're building a settlement, we could be gone for months to even years!"
Daisuke rubbed the back of his chrome head with his hand in a robotic display of embarrassment, "Well, when I heard that the government was moving so quickly, I just couldn't control myself. And besides, it's a lot of money, and maybe while we're taking our little 'vacation' down on Ragol we might be able to figure out just what happened to Pioneer I."
Rouge rubbed her forehead with her opposite hand, "And you have artificial what? Man, just what were you thinking? This won't be some walk in the park! Monsters are all over Ragol, we might be overrun within two minutes of beaming down there!"
"But according to the official, they've been working on this settlement for the past two months and raids only occur every other week and they were very minor ones at that." Daisuke replied in his defense.
"Well whatever," said Rouge as she grabbed her lucky red beret off the table, ".I guess this is a good time for me. I haven't really been doing much for the last few weeks other than playing games with you and watching the vid screen."
This was one reason why Daisuke preferred the company of Rouge compared to others of his own kind and even to those of hers': her personality. No matter what the situation, the young woman always tried to look at it from a positive perspective. Although this side of her never showed whenever she played games. She just couldn't lose with dignity and let it slide. Daisuke gave a robotic chuckle over the thought and came to the conclusion that she just made things more interesting and wins more awarding.
"Oh yeah Daisuke, I think I noticed something pretty interesting when we were at the Guild." Commented Rouge in a very serious tone.
"What's that?" asked Daisuke, obviously interested.
Rouge broke into a big smile, "Were you flirting with the official?"
Daisuke, caught off guard by the question, quickly pushed his body back against the chair. But with the suddenness of the movement, the chair tipped over just as quickly, dragging the android to the ground with it. Rouge bowled over laughing nearly falling out of her chair herself.
"Hahaha! I knew it!" she said in between laughs.
Daisuke gave a groan as he pulled himself and his chair back to their feet, "I don't see what's so funny." he grumbled.
"Boy, you have a lot to learn about women if that's your technique." She lectured him with a laugh.
"I wasn't flirting." mumbled Daisuke with his head down in embarrassment.
Rouge gave him a sympathetic, yet teasing look, "Daisuke, don't worry so much that you were caught. I'm sure all men, android or not, have those. Desires or what not."
"I'm just a machine, I don't have desires." Responded Daisuke dryly.
Rouge's face turned to a somewhat angry expression, "Oh really? Are you saying you don't even have feelings?"
"I don't."
Rouge slammed her fist on the table angrily, "Cut the crap Daisuke!"
This action quickly got the androids attention as he moved his head up and looked at the young woman, "Wh-"
Rouge quickly interrupted him, "For the last two and a half years I've been with you, you've acted more human than most humans do! What the hell do you mean, you don't have desires or feelings?! You're not just some machine, you're a person, you're an individual!"
"But how can I? I was created in a laboratory, a factory even. To most people I'm just a number."
Rouge's left hand, which for the past five minutes had been carrying her beret, quickly balled into a fist and smashed the garment in between her fingers, "What does that have to do with anything? It doesn't matter how you were brought to this world, but what you do when you're in this world!"
Daisuke blinked his optics twice in amazement, why was she so worked up by this? She knew he wasn't a real person, just a mannequin that was programmed to pretend to be real and act like he had a personality.
"Rouge," started Daisuke, "I'm just running a program. Whenever a situation happens I just do what I'm programmed to do. I'll admit it does seem like I make decisions, but all of my decisions are not just something chosen of my own free will. My program looks at all the different actions I can take and just chooses which to select and do." "Isn't that what humans do? Is that not what all the animals in this universe do? We're all driven by one simple thing: instinct. THAT is our program, THAT program tells us what to do and we obey." Daisuke gave a look up as she said all this, why does she care? What did he matter to her for? As he thought this Rouge continued, "And besides, you're a newer XN9 model android, you adapt to your environment and learn from it. Everything we've experienced in these past two and half years has created you. It's given me my only true friend. To tell me any less, that to say my friend is just some life less piece of junk, is just plain insulting to both you and me. Daisuke, wither you like it or not, you're an individual and you choose your own path in life."
Daisuke looked down in shame, for years he only thought of himself as nothing but a fake, a human wannabe. He was always jealous at the thought of humans being humans and he being nothing but an android, yet he never realized that he allowed himself to be jealous. No human ordered him to be envious of them; it was his own choice, he chose to be jealous of them. What a joke, all this time he wanted to be himself, but all this time he was himself.
Despite his lack of an actual mouth or real face, Daisuke had on a forced smile, "Heh. Guess I've been somewhat stupid then? I'm sorry. I had no idea you felt that way Miss Rouge."
Rouge gave the android a hopeless smile, "You know, I've been meaning to tell you this for a while now, but I think now is the best time to say it: Don't call me 'Miss Rouge', we're friends, just call me Rouge."
Daisuke gave a slight chuckle, "Haha, alright then Rouge, sorry about that. All humans make mistakes right?"
The following morning the two got ready for their mission. Daisuke sporting a new coat of wax on his blue chromed outer frame gleamed like a sports car fresh out of the shop. With his weapon, a double bladed beam saber, strapped to the hook on his right thigh, he was ready go. Rouge, sporting her typical black, baggy army pants, red tunic-like top with black straps and lucky red beret was ready to go with a large energy rifle strapped around her left shoulder and her favorite handgun in the holster on her right thigh.
As the two turned off the apartment's lights and gave one final look at their messy home, they both had a sudden feeling as though they wouldn't see this blissful dump for a rather long time. But pushing aside their less than happy thoughts, they forced themselves out the door and once again into Pioneer II's bright lights. The city's large, monolithic buildings soared deep into the never-ending void of space that was visible through the transparent field locking in the oxygen on the ship. The city's shops like a flea to dog, hold no quarter in size to the larger monolithic government buildings but held more colorful neon green and blue lights. Their large signs sported advertisements for entertainment spots such as movies to shops that sold books to tools of the trade for hunters.
Quickly and quietly, the two hunters walked down the bustling streets of the city. The noise of people talking, the hum of motors and engines of passing ships, the whir of small robots floating by on ion engines cluttered their ears. No matter what time it was, this city was always alive with activity. It was as if the city didn't sleep and held an unlimited supply of energy for its citizens. The city officials had made attempts at setting an official time schedule for the citizens to get them back into the routine of twenty four-hour days. However, it failed, most likely due to the length of time it took the officials to place it in effect.
As Rouge and Daisuke continued through the city's streets, they eventually reached the telepad. As they approached the large, warehouse like building it was stored in, the two guards preventing entrance stopped them. Daisuke handed them a data disk that relayed a message from the Hunter's Guild stating them to be on a job and requiring usage of the telepad. The lead guard snorted at the other guard by the control device to deactivate the blast doors protecting the device. Nodding in reply, the other guard pulled on a lever that lifted the large door up and out of the way, allowing view of the transportation device.
The room inside the building was somewhat small, about 10x10 feet all round. In the middle laid a large blue rectangle approximately 6x4 feet. From the basic outline of the rectangle, smaller lines of blue energy resembling its shaped moved upward at a constant, steady pace. Each line was spaced about roughly a foot and a half apart and continuously moved upward towards the ceiling where another blue rectangular existed. After each line would reach this ceiling, it was either replaced by another rectangle outline at the ground rectangle or just reappeared at the bottom. Either way, it was quite an interesting display of light.
Daisuke and Rouge slowly walked into the center of the rectangle in the middle of the room. As they both reached the center, Daisuke flicked his wrist back and opened up a small compartment on his arm with a small monitor and keypad. Quickly and without error, he typed in the coordinates of their destination. Once finished he hit a small little red at the bottom of the keypad that closed the compartment.
"Begin teleport now." said Daisuke with a somewhat sunken and emotionless voice. With this said, the room's blast doors closed once again. When the doors completely rested on the floor, the blue rectangular field of energy began to move quicker, faster and began to shine brighter. Soon, the energy move at such a quick pace that the lines blurred into one bright wall of energy that restricted any vision past it. As the energy levels within the room rose, the molecular composition of the two beings within the room slowly dissimulated. With the molecules separated, they lost their original shape and now were nothing but pieces of matter so tiny and insignificant, that visibility of them was impossible to any without the add of a powerful microscope. And it was then at this point that the intense energy of the telepad transmitted them forward through space and time to another location.
Chapter Two: Beret
The two hunters walked back into their tiny apartment complex. As usual the place was a dump. Empty instant-ramen packets lay here and there, various garments of clothing littered the floor and not to mention piles of Daisuke's 'book collection'. But in disregard of its clutter, the apartment was about moderate in size and held two small bedrooms, a decent sized bathroom, a small kitchen, a decent sized living room, and a 15x15-ft storage room in its lower level.
As they closed the door behind them and entered the living room, Daisuke gave a sigh. He always told himself he'd at least make an ATTEMPT to clean the place up a little if not decorate it with something more than just cheap industrial furniture made out of an even cheaper material. His female companion didn't make things any easier, her constant need to feed, shower and change (not to mention buy more) apparel made things even messier. But no matter how much he complained to himself about his partner's messiness, it would displease him even more to have it go away. Without it's presence, the place would seem messier than it ever was before.
"So what are you planning?" asks Rouge as she pulled out a chair to the table where the two were earlier playing a 'friendly' game of Chess.
"What do you mean?" asked Daisuke, not fully grasping the question.
Rouge placed her left elbow down on the table and rested her head in her hand as she looked at him, "I mean, what exactly do you plan on doing with this job? Christ, they're building a settlement, we could be gone for months to even years!"
Daisuke rubbed the back of his chrome head with his hand in a robotic display of embarrassment, "Well, when I heard that the government was moving so quickly, I just couldn't control myself. And besides, it's a lot of money, and maybe while we're taking our little 'vacation' down on Ragol we might be able to figure out just what happened to Pioneer I."
Rouge rubbed her forehead with her opposite hand, "And you have artificial what? Man, just what were you thinking? This won't be some walk in the park! Monsters are all over Ragol, we might be overrun within two minutes of beaming down there!"
"But according to the official, they've been working on this settlement for the past two months and raids only occur every other week and they were very minor ones at that." Daisuke replied in his defense.
"Well whatever," said Rouge as she grabbed her lucky red beret off the table, ".I guess this is a good time for me. I haven't really been doing much for the last few weeks other than playing games with you and watching the vid screen."
This was one reason why Daisuke preferred the company of Rouge compared to others of his own kind and even to those of hers': her personality. No matter what the situation, the young woman always tried to look at it from a positive perspective. Although this side of her never showed whenever she played games. She just couldn't lose with dignity and let it slide. Daisuke gave a robotic chuckle over the thought and came to the conclusion that she just made things more interesting and wins more awarding.
"Oh yeah Daisuke, I think I noticed something pretty interesting when we were at the Guild." Commented Rouge in a very serious tone.
"What's that?" asked Daisuke, obviously interested.
Rouge broke into a big smile, "Were you flirting with the official?"
Daisuke, caught off guard by the question, quickly pushed his body back against the chair. But with the suddenness of the movement, the chair tipped over just as quickly, dragging the android to the ground with it. Rouge bowled over laughing nearly falling out of her chair herself.
"Hahaha! I knew it!" she said in between laughs.
Daisuke gave a groan as he pulled himself and his chair back to their feet, "I don't see what's so funny." he grumbled.
"Boy, you have a lot to learn about women if that's your technique." She lectured him with a laugh.
"I wasn't flirting." mumbled Daisuke with his head down in embarrassment.
Rouge gave him a sympathetic, yet teasing look, "Daisuke, don't worry so much that you were caught. I'm sure all men, android or not, have those. Desires or what not."
"I'm just a machine, I don't have desires." Responded Daisuke dryly.
Rouge's face turned to a somewhat angry expression, "Oh really? Are you saying you don't even have feelings?"
"I don't."
Rouge slammed her fist on the table angrily, "Cut the crap Daisuke!"
This action quickly got the androids attention as he moved his head up and looked at the young woman, "Wh-"
Rouge quickly interrupted him, "For the last two and a half years I've been with you, you've acted more human than most humans do! What the hell do you mean, you don't have desires or feelings?! You're not just some machine, you're a person, you're an individual!"
"But how can I? I was created in a laboratory, a factory even. To most people I'm just a number."
Rouge's left hand, which for the past five minutes had been carrying her beret, quickly balled into a fist and smashed the garment in between her fingers, "What does that have to do with anything? It doesn't matter how you were brought to this world, but what you do when you're in this world!"
Daisuke blinked his optics twice in amazement, why was she so worked up by this? She knew he wasn't a real person, just a mannequin that was programmed to pretend to be real and act like he had a personality.
"Rouge," started Daisuke, "I'm just running a program. Whenever a situation happens I just do what I'm programmed to do. I'll admit it does seem like I make decisions, but all of my decisions are not just something chosen of my own free will. My program looks at all the different actions I can take and just chooses which to select and do." "Isn't that what humans do? Is that not what all the animals in this universe do? We're all driven by one simple thing: instinct. THAT is our program, THAT program tells us what to do and we obey." Daisuke gave a look up as she said all this, why does she care? What did he matter to her for? As he thought this Rouge continued, "And besides, you're a newer XN9 model android, you adapt to your environment and learn from it. Everything we've experienced in these past two and half years has created you. It's given me my only true friend. To tell me any less, that to say my friend is just some life less piece of junk, is just plain insulting to both you and me. Daisuke, wither you like it or not, you're an individual and you choose your own path in life."
Daisuke looked down in shame, for years he only thought of himself as nothing but a fake, a human wannabe. He was always jealous at the thought of humans being humans and he being nothing but an android, yet he never realized that he allowed himself to be jealous. No human ordered him to be envious of them; it was his own choice, he chose to be jealous of them. What a joke, all this time he wanted to be himself, but all this time he was himself.
Despite his lack of an actual mouth or real face, Daisuke had on a forced smile, "Heh. Guess I've been somewhat stupid then? I'm sorry. I had no idea you felt that way Miss Rouge."
Rouge gave the android a hopeless smile, "You know, I've been meaning to tell you this for a while now, but I think now is the best time to say it: Don't call me 'Miss Rouge', we're friends, just call me Rouge."
Daisuke gave a slight chuckle, "Haha, alright then Rouge, sorry about that. All humans make mistakes right?"
The following morning the two got ready for their mission. Daisuke sporting a new coat of wax on his blue chromed outer frame gleamed like a sports car fresh out of the shop. With his weapon, a double bladed beam saber, strapped to the hook on his right thigh, he was ready go. Rouge, sporting her typical black, baggy army pants, red tunic-like top with black straps and lucky red beret was ready to go with a large energy rifle strapped around her left shoulder and her favorite handgun in the holster on her right thigh.
As the two turned off the apartment's lights and gave one final look at their messy home, they both had a sudden feeling as though they wouldn't see this blissful dump for a rather long time. But pushing aside their less than happy thoughts, they forced themselves out the door and once again into Pioneer II's bright lights. The city's large, monolithic buildings soared deep into the never-ending void of space that was visible through the transparent field locking in the oxygen on the ship. The city's shops like a flea to dog, hold no quarter in size to the larger monolithic government buildings but held more colorful neon green and blue lights. Their large signs sported advertisements for entertainment spots such as movies to shops that sold books to tools of the trade for hunters.
Quickly and quietly, the two hunters walked down the bustling streets of the city. The noise of people talking, the hum of motors and engines of passing ships, the whir of small robots floating by on ion engines cluttered their ears. No matter what time it was, this city was always alive with activity. It was as if the city didn't sleep and held an unlimited supply of energy for its citizens. The city officials had made attempts at setting an official time schedule for the citizens to get them back into the routine of twenty four-hour days. However, it failed, most likely due to the length of time it took the officials to place it in effect.
As Rouge and Daisuke continued through the city's streets, they eventually reached the telepad. As they approached the large, warehouse like building it was stored in, the two guards preventing entrance stopped them. Daisuke handed them a data disk that relayed a message from the Hunter's Guild stating them to be on a job and requiring usage of the telepad. The lead guard snorted at the other guard by the control device to deactivate the blast doors protecting the device. Nodding in reply, the other guard pulled on a lever that lifted the large door up and out of the way, allowing view of the transportation device.
The room inside the building was somewhat small, about 10x10 feet all round. In the middle laid a large blue rectangle approximately 6x4 feet. From the basic outline of the rectangle, smaller lines of blue energy resembling its shaped moved upward at a constant, steady pace. Each line was spaced about roughly a foot and a half apart and continuously moved upward towards the ceiling where another blue rectangular existed. After each line would reach this ceiling, it was either replaced by another rectangle outline at the ground rectangle or just reappeared at the bottom. Either way, it was quite an interesting display of light.
Daisuke and Rouge slowly walked into the center of the rectangle in the middle of the room. As they both reached the center, Daisuke flicked his wrist back and opened up a small compartment on his arm with a small monitor and keypad. Quickly and without error, he typed in the coordinates of their destination. Once finished he hit a small little red at the bottom of the keypad that closed the compartment.
"Begin teleport now." said Daisuke with a somewhat sunken and emotionless voice. With this said, the room's blast doors closed once again. When the doors completely rested on the floor, the blue rectangular field of energy began to move quicker, faster and began to shine brighter. Soon, the energy move at such a quick pace that the lines blurred into one bright wall of energy that restricted any vision past it. As the energy levels within the room rose, the molecular composition of the two beings within the room slowly dissimulated. With the molecules separated, they lost their original shape and now were nothing but pieces of matter so tiny and insignificant, that visibility of them was impossible to any without the add of a powerful microscope. And it was then at this point that the intense energy of the telepad transmitted them forward through space and time to another location.