Phantasy Star: Death Among Us

Chapter IV - Skin deep

And he opened fire. The bullets skillfully aimed at the creatures head seemed to bounce harmlessly off of it's scaled armor.

"Go!" Heat Charge shouted between shots.

And so we did, we ran towards the door, and left him standing alone. Alone with the beast. We managed to get the door open, and I took one last look back before entering. Heat Charge 9 standing defiant in the face of death, I don't know how he could do such a thing. But a moment later the room was filled with fire, and I was pulled through the door. We stopped to catch our breath.

"What.what should we do?" Akino asked nervously.

"We do just as Heat Charge intended, keep moving." Yuni responded.

"So we just leave him there!?" I shouted.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Yuni replied dryly.

The sounds of the battle could still be heard. The thunderous smashes of the dragon's steps, and the bursts of Heat Charge's rifle. We listened for a while, and prayed for the best. Suddenly silence, then one more rifle blast. We still waited, and the silence was nerve-racking. I could stand it no longer. I opened the door.

Fire engulfed the area, and the entire room was in shambles. And I could see the dragon, laying limp on the ground. But Heat charge was not in view. I climbed through the wreckage, in the direction of the deceased creature. I drew nearer and I saw the wounds that decorated its body. It must have been a tough fight, still no Heat Charge. I approached the dragon's head as it lay dormant on the floor. Akino came up beside me and put her hand on my shoulder.

"He wanted it this way.He wanted to save us." She said quivering.

I could tell she was trying to console me, but it wasn't working. I broke down into a sit where I stood and thought. Yuni still stood at the door waiting for our return, so I got my act together and stood back up. Just as I turned to walk I noticed something, a slight movement in the dragon. I waited for another. I walked slowly towards it, a slowly reached my hand out to its head. That's when I noticed it, and I froze. The eye of the beast was still open. and it had locked onto me.

"It's.still.alive." I stuttered frantically.

Akino was scared witless and made a dash for the door. And the eye was still locked on me, I could see the pain it was going through. Suddenly the head jerked back and let out a blood-curdling roar. Its mouth opened and lunged in my direction, I could only back away a few steps when a photon shot came ringing out of its neck. I was utterly confused for a moment, and then the creatures neck was lifted off the ground. And under it a charred black Heat Charge 9, battered and damaged, but still standing.

"Heat Charge! Your alive!" I gasped from my place on the floor. He was covered in blood and heavily damaged. He began to stumble to the door, only to fall a few feet later.

"Heat Charge!" Akino ran to his side and surveyed the damage. Yuni began to walk over.

"Your hit pretty bad." Yuni stated the obvious.

"Just go, leave me be." Heat Charge ordered.

"I can fix this." Akino said slowly.

"What? How can you fix this?" I asked bewildered.

Akino dug her fingers into her wrist, and a moment later retrieved a long black wire. I had no idea what was going on. She then attached the wire to Heat Charge's main computing system, and she set to work. It was amazing; the damaged parts began to rebuild themselves right before my eyes, even Yuni was astonished. Heat Charge's body began to cover in a chrome colored liquid, and a moment later it dissipated, and Heat Charge 9 was fully repaired.

"So then it's true." Yuni started. "You are an Android."

Akino slowly nodded her head. I stayed quiet in this conversation, too confused to add anything.

"Prototype 67e9." Akino stated. She glanced over at me, as if apologizing for something. She looked so sad, this struck me pretty hard.

"Your one of the newest models, built exactly to replica the human body." Yuni said as she circled Akino, examining her. "They did an excellent job. And your emotion chip has really outdone itself. I didn't think it could be done, but you've proven me wrong. You had us all really believing you were human."

Akino's eyes seemed to fade out and she stared blankly at the floor. This party was full of surprises. But Akino. I wasn't expecting this. I guess nothing can really be what it seems. What's only skin deep.

"Akino. I." I started a sentence, but I couldn't bring myself to finish. I was in too much shock. I looked hard at her for a while, how could it be? That's when my world's boundaries broke; I realized that anything was possible. It took me a while to accept it, but I did finally manage to take it all in. Akino then looked at me.

"I'm sorry.for not telling you all. I just thought that you'd like me better as a human. and not an android. I just. wanted to be. accepted." She confessed.

"Enough talk. Let's get going." Heat Charge was back to his old self. He got everyone to their feet and we started through the caves again. With every step the caves seem to become darker and darker. We were soon relying on Heat Charge's light for any sight. I sure liked it better when I could see, I was tripping all over the place once the lights were out. Occasionally I would see the red glow of a pair of evil eyes staring at us from the sides of the room, swaying back and forth as if walking towards us, but not fast enough to keep up. We were being followed. that was for sure. And then we came to that accursed room which I will never forget.