Written by saka, November 09, 2003
saka[at]belvedia.net
Pre-story Notes:
Also, please don't try and connect these chapters plot-wise. These stories are non-sequential; they are part of a story arc because of one theme: a series of illusions that blur with the truth. Each story has different plots, beliefs, and ideas, but all share this one concept. Okay? Okay.
Wild ARMS 3rd Advanced belongs to Media Vision and Sony and whatever. Story mine.
Hallucino
Chapter 2: Hyperbole
This happened during what I like to call, "before." When grass was green and skies were blue and water was still existant. Of course, Old Jumper was there too.
Jumper was what Leehalt Alceste and Melody Vilente called my maintainence machine. Whenever I wasn't feeling too hot, which was more than occasionally, Melody and Leehalt and everybody else would hook me up to Old Jumper and fix me right up. They would make cracks about Jumper, how they could give it some hair and ribbon and call it my mom, how Elliot Enduro could bring in his broken radio for a quick fix, and the dinners Jumper could probably cook for Werner Maxwell and his wife, too sick to cook.
Leehalt, Melody, and Malik Bendict mostly kept to themselves. If they made jokes it was only amongst themselves; other than that they hardly talked to the other scientists at all. Though I remember one time Duran Bryant¹ and Pete Inkapilia were mixing some chemicals and making them explode into black smoke, trying to impress Melody, as if impressing her would prove anything. Bryant and Inkapilia were having fun, laughing and joking. But Melody was always the kind to be cocky and hard to deal with, the kind of girl mothers would shake their heads at in frustration and grief, so with a sneer of annoyance all she said was, "You're so pretentious," and turned around and lit up a cigarette.
It was hard to find common ground within the seven scientists; Leehalt, Melody and Malik basically cared for me mechanically, but Bryant, Inkapilia, Elliot and Werner took care of me mentally. I guess I could point out that my parents being huddled out of each others' way was something a little less than, if not right on poignant, but I must admit it was nice to know who exactly to go to with something I needed, whether it was a tweek and a tug or a smile and a hug.
Elliot and Werner always argued. It was usually about me. It would always concern me, and Inkapilia would tell me not to worry about it, but I knew it had to be a lie, because what kind of arguments go unconcerned when they never seem to be resolved? When they argued about me, it was always about the same thing: Jet.
Werner never agreed with Elliot about anything. Inkapilia and Bryant told me Werner was against letting Elliot model and name me after his dead son Jet, although at the time I didn't see the problem, because I was naïve and I liked the name Jet Enduro. As time rolled on, I learned that it was, in a teeny tiny microscopic atom-sized way, a sick, morbid thing to do, however I concluded that even though it was creepy, Elliot was just lonely and he missed his son. Werner, though, never changed his mind about it.
I had never told Werner this, because I was afraid I'd initiate more conflict, but Elliot had built a favor in hooking me up to Old Jumper and telling me about Jet. Elliot found ways to program Jumper to show me images and videos of Jet, and I'd enjoy them because Jet seemed like a fun character and it was interesting to know what Elliot's son was like. Never having been human, I never realized how free humans were.
Malik and Leehalt did, eventually, find out by themselves that Elliot had tampered with the maintainence program, and ordered him to delete it off Jumper. Everyone agreed, even Bryant and Inkapilia, who were usually neutral to conflicts, but it was needless to say Werner was more than happy with the resolution. Elliot was reluctant to take it off, but of course, he did, since he had no other choice, other than get kicked out of the Council of Seven for risking altering the blueprints of their plans to whatever the whatever the whereever.
I probably would've had no say in it, but if I got to say anything at all, it would be that I would've missed Jet.
And I did. Jet was cool. Even though all I got to do was watch him.
While Elliot tried to raise me by reminding me that I was his "son," Werner raised me by reminding me I was my own person. Werner'd always ask me what I would like to do for the day, and I'd always try to think of something new to say, just so I wouldn't sound dull and uncreative. One day I asked to learn how to use a gun. So Werner asked Leehalt, and gave me this neat looking gun called an ARM. He said the ARM was called Argetlahm; it was carved out of a legendary sword a warrior once weld.
First thing I thought: that story is worth more than the gun. But all in all, I got a cool gun, and that was all I needed to know.
Werner taught me how to use it; he said it was going to be important that I learn.
Melody didn't like the idea of me learning to use a gun. I suppose it was just a girl thing, but I didn't see why it should've stopped me from continuing. She never actually told me to stop, or did anything to make me stop, but it was enough said when I would do practice shots and, in her cocky, hard-to-deal-with attitude, she'd mutter to herself -- or me, I could never figure out -- "You're so pretentious," and light herself another cigarette.
Among all the interesting things I learned, though much of it came from Elliot's images of Jet and Werner's hands-on activities, the most compelling thing I came across came from something Bryant said. He told me that if Werner (a) actually convinced the Council of Seven to kick Elliot out for showing me Jet (x), Elliot would have to continue his work outside the laboratory, meaning that I (y) would be continued by the other scientists (b), but if that happened, Bryant said my brain would probably collapse on itself from the missing link of Jet and his presence in my conscious, so my brain would either 1.) shut down; or 2.) recreate Jet to seek the mental balance, and I'd start to become Jet (1).
x² y² = 1
a² b²
I could tell you that it was either 1 or 2, but I'd be lying. Even though the Council told Elliot to delete Jet off Jumper, there were times where he'd sneak it in and continue showing me. There were problems though. The program was buggy since it was not permanently stable in Jumper, so the things got a little... confusing. Glitches appeared all over the place, from Jet playing tag with a running novel book to Jet's body being replaced with a two-fold lamp.
Elliot never figured out how to bypass the glitches, so he sadly told me he had to ditch the whole thing; he didn't want me to remember Jet in such a way. Disappointment hit me first, then dread: what about what Bryant said about me and Jet? Basically, what Bryant said was, if Jet goes, I go. I told Elliot to show me Jet one more time before he shut him down for good.
This happened during what I like to call, "it."
The worst possible time to bring up Jet, Werner showed up. With the way he talks he thinks like a god; scarily intimidating yet you can't turn away from him or you'll be done. I was still hooked up to Old Jumper as Elliot argued with the god, and soon enough they prayed with their fists clenched and flying, and all I saw was Jet.
He wasn't glitching, doing anything weird, eating something inedible, talking to inanimate objects. He was Jet. He was smiling, and I knew that smile was at me. I knew I was no longer watching videos of him, he was there, watching me, watching Elliot and Werner pray for my redemption and knowing that if Melody were watching, all she'd do is flip her beautiful hair and say, "You're so pretentious," and light up another goddamn cigarette. Jet was here, he had always been, and he wanted to tell me something.
No "you're so pretentious," not a word at all. Just a nod of his head and the saddest look on his face told me that I had to go. Jet was a part of me now, probably always had been. And everyone knew that it was time for me to go, as Jumper cried for its own redemption, sobbing red light throughout the laboratory, sobs that seemed to cry out Help me. Stop what you're doing. Just stop it and help me, please, a threatening suicide. Jet and I were too much for Jumper. We were too much for everybody.
Werner, realizing Jumper's cries, took me off the machine and gave me a hug. He told me this was where everything I learned from him will be set in place.
1.
I shut down.
But I come back again.
What happens after that is during what I like to call......
chapter 2: end
Sub-story Notes:
Next story: Jet enters a world with no limits, no boundaries, no rules, and only one person can save him from letting go.
¹ - Thank you Teefa85 for telling me his real name. Verily appreciated.
² - There is no word in this story that connects to this footnote, so haha on you. Anyway, the word "hyperbole" can be defined as either a grammatical noun, which means something that's exaggerated for the purpose of making a point; or as a mathematical term, meaning an overshoot -- two open branches each extending forever. The story rides on this word, seeing as either android Jet's view of the world as a hyperbole or as his situation as a hyperbolic equation.