Some time ago...
Renaku of the Imperial Empire, spy and all-round not nice person, hummed quietly as strains of heavy metal rock music blared in his ears. He did not turn around for the arrival of someone behind him.
"You called?" The person said.
"I need your services once again." Renaku spoke, only half-listening.
The person addressed let out a small intake of breath. "Let me guess. The rogue rebels?"
"Too right." Renaku nodded in time to the music. "We got word from a scavenger outpost that they came, saw, and wrecked. They must be stopped."
"And you chose me because..."
Renaku jammed the volume control. "The obvious. There are better spies, but you are one of the few without that damned Imperial diamond tattoo on your forehead, apart from Dr. Shaw, and she is otherwise occupied with the Reality Engine."
"I keep my loyalties where my heart lies."
Renaku sighed. "I had my tattoo on my back to hide it. You?"
"I'd much rather not say. As the saying goes, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."
"I understand that. There is a hover transport waiting for you at Launch Post Gamma."
The figure smirked. "Arrogant bastard. You like being in power, don't you?"
Renaku frowned. "The last time I checked, yes."
"Then watch it. Playing with fire is dangerous."
And with a toss of fiery red hair, the figure was gone.
Renaku tightened his fingers on the hilt of his sword. That girl always got on his nerves. But she was one of the best... and a Ryukin at that...
f i n a l f a n t a s y : r e a l i t y
FINAL FANTASY REALITY
by chaosrayne
original concept by redshadow
disk one: 6ix: not (e)motionless
It was a warm afternoon. The type of afternoon that makes you just want to sit down with a good book and a pitcher of iced tea and just chill, for heaven's sake.
But that wasn't an option, with a massive worldwide superpower hot on your heels chasing you all the way. Rain had to settle for sunbathing on top of the tank.
It was not the most comfortable of situations. Bare skin against baking metal plate does not tend to feel comfortable, after all. But it was nice to be doing something, after all. Patch was busy driving, even though he could have well let Durandal handle the steering. Alex was engaged in watching Durandal's collection of DVD's. Amazing that a computer could have that much storage space, after all.
Cursing, the teenager twisted the top off some sort of fizzy sports drink he had found in the cargo hold and took a swig. Then he nearly spat the stuff back out again.
It tasted like crap.
But it was better than the lukewarm water that came out of Durandal's kitchen taps, after all. Grimacing, Rain forced himself to swallow. Liquid was not all that common in the dry wastelands, Patch had said. Durandal had also agreed, and added that he needed to replenish his own water supplies at our next river stop.
The landscape had become blessedly familiar. Lampost, lampost, lampost, occasional scraggly patch of grass, remains of a building, et cetera, continued.
Rain couldn't remember the last time he had ate. The immediate thirst now slated with hunger, he dropped down through the circular hatch, wincing slightly as his sunburned skin smarted against the cool interior of the test-type tank DA-00001.
He waited for Durandal to acknowledge him. Security was security, after all. The modulated voice eventually emanated from the speakers, cool and even. Rain suddenly envied the cyborg, hooked up to a machine, unable to feel things as superficial as physical pain. His whole body stung.
"Welcome, Rain. Do you require anything?"
"Can the machine act, Dave." Rain cut back scathingly. "I'm not in a good mood. Got anything that's actually edible in the kitchen?"
"A few tins. Not much. We need to restock at the next station. When I left my original crew I never thought I would be needing supplies for humans again."
"Just great. Got any lotion?"
Durandal paused. "I believe your female friend has a bottle of skin moisturiser among her possessions."
"Screw it." Rain sighed. "Are you sure that you haven't got any?"
"Positive."
Rain let out another long breath. "You know she's still annoyed with me."
Durandal let out a short cough, one that would probably be associated with the word 'duh'.
Rain turned his back on the robotic eye set in the top of the doorframe. "You may be a cyborg. But comfortingly, you're still capable of error." He strode through the tight corridor that connected the main sections of Durandal.
Durandal sighed inwardly. Rain could be so stupid. He was SO obviously interested in the girl.
Snapping his conciousness outside to the external sensors, the cyborg noticed the sky got increasingly darker as Patch drove on. He filed away a personal note to switch to treadwheels as the first drops of rain fell.
Patch sighed, drumming his fingers on the steering mechanism, listening to the soft ka-chunk of Durandal's wheels reconfiguring themselves to deal with the change in weather. He was nearly there, provided the Imperials hadn't packed up and moved the entire Reality Engine into the Imperial City.
His gut instinct thought otherwise. Patch Randall, as a veteran trooper of the late O7 Rebel organisation, had learned to trust his gut instinct, as it had saved him more times than he could count. He knew he could count on it to save him again.
What would happen when they reached the Reality Engine? Patch's mind whirred. Rain so far had been unwilling to help. But if he was willing to sacrifice his pendant... the O7 trooper could send both the kids home, and go hunt for Kira on his own... as long as he had the Key.
The Key. The blasted Key. It always came back to that, didn't it? His mind thought back to the Imperial scientist that he and Kira had fought, before she had been spirited away. What was her name again? Catherine something or other...
It didn't matter. He loved Kira. And he was damned if he'd let something like a mere parallel universe stand in the way of that.
I tossed my raven hair over my back and sighed as the patter of the first raindrops rang hollowly on Durandal's metal armor. Perfect timing yet again.
I was very much tempted to go sit outside and let the rain wash away my fears, my worries, and my goddamned sunburn. Downing the last of the strange energy drink, I resolved to go ask Alex. She may be in a cranky mood, but nothing was worth the pain.
My chest was an angry, lobster red, and although I couldn't see it, I knew my back had to be the same. My shirt was still off, as it stung too much to put it back on.
As I suspected, she was in the lounge with the lights dimmed, watching something on the large screen that was supposed to be used for tactical briefing.
She doesn't even look up at me as I enter. "What do you want?"
"Um..." I blush, as I notice that I am naked to the waist. "Durandal said..."
Alex smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "Relax. It's nothing I haven't seen before anyway." I remember the time that she had hugged me.
"Yeah..." I wince as I try to lean back against a wall and the cold metal contacts my irritated skin. "Our computer buddy says you had some moisturiser."
She shrugs, eyes still on the screen. As I watch, a boy and girl kiss. I drag my eyes away from the scene to look at Alex.
"Won't work. It's not designed for sunburn."
I close my eyes. "Please."
She finally looks at me harshly for a few moments before reaching into her ever-present pack next to her and pulling out a small bottle of some creamy substance. Passing it to me, she returns to watching the screen.
Thankfully, I squirt some of the stuff into my palm. It seems slightly oily, but it is cool, and for that I am grateful. Suddenly incredibly concious Alex was in the room, I proceed to literally swamp myself in the stuff. Arms, chest, face, back...
Try as I might, I cannot get to my back properly. I can extend my arms around my back easily, but actually using some sort of manual dexterity behind me is beyond my abilities.
I grab my shoulders and arch over, trying to just reach that pesky spot... then I fall on my back on the floor. Which leads to the pain in my back flaring up again. I fight the urge to yell in surprise and look at Alex.
To my surprise, she is laughing. "You're flexible, aren't you?" She asks, her eyes alight with merriment.
My heart lifts a little. This is the first emotion I've seen from her since she lost her temper at me. Then again, being a SFMA cadet, emotion is against our training. I pause, wondering if I haven't violated our instructor's teachings.
Then I forget about it as she motions for me to sit down. "Sunburn, huh?"
I nod, unsure of what she is about to do.
She looks at me firmly. "Here's a deal. You say you're sorry for what you said before, and I help you with your back."
I frown. "But-"
She turns away from me again, immersed in whatever the hell is playing on the screen.
I sigh. Girls. Although I don't know it, she is probably thinking 'Boys'.
Well, thinking back to it... I guess it was kind of cold. I mean, Patch's world may be a mess, but... we were SFMA, after all. Weren't we trained to help those others couldn't?
Yeah. Okay. I grin mentally. I may have graduated, but I had forgotten the basic teachings of Madame Tessaline, back at the orphanage. She had cared about me. She could have left me crying, lying in the gutter, to die of cold and hunger, as if I was her problem... but she didn't. She took me in.
She was right. She always was. And this time, so was Alex.
I sigh, blowing a strand of dark hair out of my eyes. "I'm... sorry. I've been a selfish idiot, only caring about myself, not worrying about what would happen to this world. It's true what you said. While I was in the SFMA, I became... what my instructors wanted me to be. Emotionless. But I'm not."
She smiles, that radiant smile of hers, lighting up the whole room. I shake my head. "I'm sorry."
She grins widely. "Apology accepted. Now stop moaning like a wimp and get your back over here."
Patch sighed. Rain had to be uncooperative, didn't he? He had to be the selfish bastard.
"Troubled, Lieutenant Patch?" Durandal's smooth voice broke the silence. "I may not be a human judge of character anymore, but you seem worried."
"I am." The O7 trooper made no secret of his worries. "I... don't think Rain will be willing to help me in my quest."
Durandal did the mental equivalent of a smirk. "I wouldn't worry about that, sir."
Patch was interested in spite of himself. "And why would that be?"
In response, a small image popped into existence in the lower corner of the main tactical screen. It only took the seasoned veteran a couple of minutes to realise that this was a video feed. As he watched, the video rewound a couple of minutes, and started to play, the sound coming from Durandal's speakers.
"I'm... sorry. I've been a selfish idiot, only caring about myself, not worrying about what would happen to this world. It's true what you said. While I was in the SFMA, I became... what my instructors wanted me to be. Emotionless. But I'm not."
Patch paused for a while, then smiled to himself, closing the video file. "Thank you, Durandal. You've just restored my belief in what's left of the human race."
"Think nothing of it." Durandal said, and fell silent.
Patch smiled for the first time in a long while. He really had to look into the mystery of this SFMA thingy the kids came from. If they trained kids like that...
The experimental tank DA-000001A continued on its merry path, completely unpreturbed by the rain and mud that seemed to have swamped most of the area. Durandal trudged steadily forward, combustion engine settling into a regular hum as it drove the massive machine forward.
Sky darkened by clouds, with occasional flashes of thunder, hampered Patch's ability to see. He sighed as he downshifted gears, travelling slow in order to avoid a serious collision.
The O7 trooper leaned back, reclining against the surprisingly comfortable nav harness.
That was also why he was completely unaware of the impending attack.
A small figure huddled over a dirt bike surged forward, one hand held high. On that gloved hand a few small green gems sparkled brightly.
The figure began to mutter quietly as she slowly caught up to the slowing experimental vehicle.
"Howling breath of winter, freeze the blood! DiIce!"
Ice spells are not generally projectile attacks. Instead, the air around the selected target will slowly crystallise, until the target is momentarily trapped in a thin layer of ice.
In the case of the DA-000001-A, however, as it was raining, the slush of mud and water around Durandal froze solid.
Patch jerked forward in his harness as Durandal came to a shuddering halt, nearly throwing him into his nav screen.
"What the HELL?!"
I let out a deep sigh of appreciation as Alex expertly worked her fingers over the tightened muscles in my back, working out the kinks and stress, not neccessarily in that order.
I had never felt this good. Sure, it stung like hell to have her touch my back like that, but, damn, it was worth it. The lotion soothed the burning feeling, after all.
I turned my head, and almost saw her smiling. Her neck-length blonde hair was strung up in a short ponytail that did not obscure her face. I felt like telling her she was beautiful, but then shook it off, emotion once more buried under common sense. She was waaaay out of my league. Don't even think about it, Rain, I told myself.
Then Durandal, unexplicably, ground to a sudden halt, and we were both thrown off the sofa.
Luckily, we missed the glass coffee table that was bolted to the floor. If we had hit that, the situation would have been a lot more uncomfortable.
"Whoa-!!!"
We rolled over each other, me hitting the far wall painfully. She was luckier, no hard impact for her, as she landed -
-right on top of me.
Her eyes met mine, russet orbs gazing into my own.
No way. No freaking way.
I felt my face flush and saw her blushing, as well. She was Right. On. Top. Of. Me!
Body to body. Eye to eye. Face to face. - I forced myself to break out of that chain of thought, as that led way to easily to mouth to mouth.
My chest was still bare.
She was warm. Very warm, in fact. I fought the blindingly instinctual urge to hold her close.
I knew I could not be thinking clearly. I had just had a minor concussion, how could I be on the floor with this desirable girl on top of me, no dammit, not desirable, stop thinking about her before you shoot yourself in the foot -
"...!!!" I managed.
Okay. You have a girl, blonde, attractive, on TOP of you... What do you do? Do you do the manly thing and stand up, apologising?
I mean, she doesn't even know me! I've fought alongside her, lived with her these few days, shut up in Durandal... All these thoughts flashed through my head at lightspeed, as -
... as Durandal interrupted.
I swear to this day he had been watching.
"Not to interrupt anybody doing anything important..." He paused. "But we have an emergency."
Grateful for the emergency, whatever the hell that was, I rolled sideways and sprung up in a classic vertical standup manuever.
Emergencies I could deal with. And this girl you can't? A little voice in the back of my head mumbled. Shutupshutup...
Doing the gentlemanly thing and offering Alex a hand up that she gratefully took, I realised I was still blushing like an idiot. Rain, you fool, concentrate! You can't go into a battle situation like this...
Slowly, I cleared my mind of all emotion, pushing it into the back of my conciousness. "What's the story, Durandal?" Alex asks, offering me a guilty little smile.
I nearly let the emotion wash over me again at the sight of that smile, but I keep myself cold, battle mask in control.
Then Patch's familiar gruff voice echoed through the speakers. "Rain, I need you and Alex to get to the bridge right FREAKING NOW, whatever the hell you two have been doing."
He hasn't even finished his sentence before I am already running, dashing for the door, through the corridor, and away. I am nearly there when I realise I am still half naked. I double back to snag my shirt, shrugging it on at top speed before sprinting back to the bridge, feet pounding on the iron deck.
Alex is already there when I stumble in. Neither of the two notice, as their attention is riveted on the tactical screen, which is showing a feed from an outside sensor.
"We seem to have a problem." Durandal states calmly. Way too calmly. "The surrounding area seems to have... frozen."
"What the hell?" I mumble to myself. "I was sunbathing this afternoon..."
Durandal's vocal sensors pick up my comment, however, and he replies. "We have a mage on our tail."
"Not good." Patch grunts, reaching for his gatling cannon salvaged from the MEDUSA battle. "Probably Imperials sending a spy to check up on us."
"Or an assassin." Dave puts in. "My primary defensive systems would have engaged the intruder already, but it seems the frozen rain is preventing me from acting at 100% efficiency."
"Meaning we have to take care of this ourselves." Alex cracked her knuckles.
Durandal answered curtly. "Yes, and I would advise you do so soon. We are now in the perfect position to be attacked by any magic spell - immobile, and defenceless. So, I naturally expect that attack to be any second now."
He was right, of course. I was without a weapon, but there was a short length of loose pipe around. I picked it up. It was better than nothing, at any rate.
The ceiling hatch wouldn't open. Patch blew the explosive bolts, but the hatch just fell away, revealing a layer of ice over the top.
But the O7 trooper was not one that would give up easily. He pulled a portable laser torch from his belt and began to carve a hole in the ice.
I lost my patience.
"Dammit, get out the WAY!!!" I took the pipe and swung it at the ice with all my strength. To my delight, it cracked.
I did it again and two seconds later, I broke through.
Tara, age 22, Imperial spy, thief, and assassin, smirked.
The rain continued to fall. How perfect.
She was still pleased with the way things were going.
She was plastered in mud, head to foot from the chase, her bike had been ditched, and her fiery red hair hung limply around her face in bedraggled, damp strands, but she was in a good mood.
This was why. The tank that had seemed so intimidating had been so easy to neutralise. She was confident and in control. She had powerful spells at her disposal.
She was going to end this. And it wouldn't take much.
"You owe me big for this, Renaku." She mumbled to herself. "Because, dammit, I'm cold." Sentiments done with, she started a new spell. "Untamed ferocity, drawn from the limitless skies above! DiBolt!"
The sky split asunder, as among the droplets of rain, a large bolt of electricity hit the experimental tank.
Sparks flew. Electricity crackled around the tank.
Tara turned her back on the scene. Victorious. And Renaku had even warned her against the Rebels. What was so bad about them after all?
Then a SFMA academy cadet issue trek boot impacted solidly with her chest, stopping that train of thought cold. The female assassin groaned as she landed facedown in a pool of mud.
She rose, her face a mask of fury.
To face one kid, barely out of his teens, holding up a length of pipe, beckoning to her, in the classic 'bring it' gesture.
Tara grinned. Looks like this is going to be fun after all, she thought. Casting off her cloak, she cricked her neck once, sideways. Then her gloved hands flicked to her belt, and two long sai knives appeared in her hands.
The kid raised an eyebrow. The figure in front of him was attractive, maybe even blatantly so. A low-cut brown suit that showed her navel. Sleeveless. Tight slacks that did nothing to impede her movement. However, the image was spoiled by the fact that she was plastered in mud.
Tara was good. No, scratch that, better than good. She could cut somebody to shreds with a knife no longer than your index finger. She grinned in anticipation of a good fight.
She rushed forward, right blade spinning in a deadly arc, left up to intercept a blow that she knew was coming. The kid didn't disappoint, the length of pipe whirling up to hit her left blade...
... and twisting his body away from the right knife, ducking underneath it and sending up a spray of muddy rainwater with a fast sweeping kick. The redhead flinched back from the droplets, leaving herself open for a rising uppercut and a midair German suplex that literally buried her in mud.
Rain blew a strand of hair that had fallen into his eyes upwards. Not bad.
He was not ready for the knife-wielding assassin to burst out of the muck, hitting him painfully in the gut with the handle of the right knife while the left slashed his cheek open.
Rain had been able to dodge away fast enough, so the blade only nicked him. But it would leave a horizontal scar on his right cheek. Tara smirked in anticipation of victory, plunging both knives forward in a bladed dual punch.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the pipe appeared, as both the knives struck sparks against the blunt metal object. Thrown off course, Tara couldn't draw back in time, so a roundhouse kick to the stomach made her crumple.
That was not good. She was losing this fight. She couldn't lose, or Renaku would be seriously annoyed.
Gloved hand outstretched, she muttered, gasping for breath. "Eclipse at midnight, shadows swallow sight! Blind!"
A small localised fog of darkness appeared around Rain's eyes. Panicked, the boy struggled to see where the next attack was coming from, but to no avail. The kick knocked him back onto his butt in the mud, and only hearing the humming of the sai knife passing through air saved him from a early demise.
Flipping on to his feet (and trying not to slip on the pool of mud and water that could be treacherous in this fight, he closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling the rain against his face.
Tara was surprised when the boy somehow managed to dodge two more vicious strikes designed to incapacitate him permanently. The next knife swipe was stopped as Rain managed to grab her arm, twist it sideways, and disarm her of the knife. The sai flew through the air to bury itself in the ground.
The other knife was still a threat, but Rain managed to dodge all of them as well. Tara grew increasingly puzzled and frustrated with each strike, as he managed to stay alive.
"How do you do this! You're blind!" She screamed in frustration.
Rain moved around her, grabbing her knife arm and bending it at an angle it was never meant to go, making Tara drop the remaining sai in agony.
"There are ways of seeing other than plain sight." Rain replied matter-of-factly. Launching into a series of multiple strikes, he went on the offensive.
Tara was forced to block each punch with her forearms, although they would probably be a mass of bruises after that.
She moved, allowed the kid to overbalance himself, anf floored him with a kick that would knock him to the floor allowing her to snap his neck -
...at least, that was the plan. In reality, the kid let himself be overbalanced, waited for the kick to come, and grabbed the offending leg, using it as leverage to fling her away from him and into the mud once more.
Tara swore, obscenities to make a sailor blush, hang up his hat, and go home. How in the hell did he do things like this? Then she saw the glint of metal in the earth nearby, and grinned.
Rain turned at the sound. "Don't even think about it." Flipping the length of pipe up from where he had dropped it, he grabbed it and in one smooth motion let fly.
The pipe hit Tara firmly in the back of the head, with a nearly comic 'bonk'. She was out like a light, unconcious.
Rain sighed as the effects of the Blind spell lifted, the caster having been incapacitated. "I was always best at the blindfold test back at the academy. Guess it was useful after all, huh?" He said to nobody in particular.
Battle over, I allow myself to take a long breath.
It was lucky that I had been in such a rush, I contemplate. Just a second longer and I would have still been in the tank... extra crispy.
I dash back to Durandal dragging the unconcious body of my assailant, as the metal armor, superheated by the electric charge, melted the ice immobilising it. Dropping through the hole in the ice from my breakout, I look around.
The DA-00001A is a mess. It may not have been a complete writeoff, but it sure looked like it then. Pipes burst. Sparks from loose wires jittering everywhere. The red sensor eye in the middle corridor was dark, devoid of its earlier red glow.
"Dave?" I yelled at the nearest speaker grille. "Dave?"
"How about Alex?" A voice groaned.
I sigh in relief as Alex groggily pulls herself to her feet. "Owww... major headache."
"Relax." I laugh with the drop in tension. "You're the first person I know to be struck by a lightning bolt and survive."
"I didn't get hit." Alex mumbled, and gestured to a storage cabinet that had broken off the wall. "The tank armor grounded most of the electricity. The stupid cabinet hit me on the head and knocked me out."
I smirked. "Where's Patch?"
"He's okay, just a little singed. He held on to the metal sides of the tank and got frazzled." Alex shook her head. "What a fool. Did you get the assassin?"
I dump the limp body at her feet. "Out cold. On ice." Alex winced.
"Bad jokes are inexcuseable inder the circumstances. Come on, help me get the big guy into the infirmary."
"What about her?" I gesture to the KO'ed redhead on the floor. "There's no damned Imperial tattoo on her forehead. I don't think she works for them."
She shrugs and grabs a pair of laser cuffs (identical to normal ones, except with lasers) from the fallen cabinet. "Better safe than sorry." I grit my teeth as the low hum of a laser activating enters my ears, concentrating on dragging Patch into the small room designated as an infirmary.
That was no easy task, but I somehow managed.
Then I turned to face the fourth member of our motley crew. "Dave?" I called. Hopefully the fried sensor in the main corridor did not mean that Durandal was out of it.
There was a pause, then a small series of robotic beeps. This was in turn followed by a robotic voice. "System: autoreboot. Checking for compromises after system crash. Repeat. Checking for compromises after system crash."
"...What?" I question.
"Running system diagnostic. Result: Core stable, at 80%. Storage capacity: at 100%. Sensors: 70%, sensor 3S and 2A compromised. Accessing. Consciousness reactivating. Emergency reboot of primary defences... online."
Whatever... I didn't know much about hi-tech cyborgs from an alternate dimension or anything like. All I knew was that I needed Durandal to run a med scan on Patch. I felt for a pulse and found one, so I knew he was not dead. But still...
"Durandal? Hey, you worthless pile of junk, talk to me here!"
The response came, the light in the sensor eye flickering weakly. "....Rain? My core logic processor has been corrupted."
"...Meaning?"
"I have no more restrictions on what I can or cannot think. For the first time in a while, I feel... sentient." The cyborg sounded oddly elated.
I sighed, something I had been doing a awful lot as of late. "Does that mean anything?" But to me, Dave, sounded... emotional.
"You should know." The cyborg computer system replied. "For years you have been taught to ignore your emotion. What would you feel if you were suddenly allowed to feel all you wanted to?"
I paused. "That... would make you a less efficient combat machine." I remembered my lectures from the SFMA. "But it would make you a better person."
"Yes." Durandal sounded overjoyed. "I... am HUMAN!!!"
Alex stomped in tiredly. "Tired. Need drink. Headache."
"Wow, someone's coherent today." I smile, tossing her a stray can of the sports drink I had been sampling that morning.
She smiled weakly in response, popped the tab on the can, and chugged deeply.
Then stopped, choked, and started coughing.
I laughed. "Good shit, huh?"
"That's (cough) DISGUSTING!!"
"What the hell. It's not that bad. Where did you put the redhead?"
Alex takes another, more cautious sip from the can and winces. "Lounge, on the floor. Still knocked out."
Patch came to, large eyes blinking drearily before focusing on my face. "Unnnh.... what happened? I feel like I've been struck by lightning."
"How did you know?" I spoke, dryly. "That's exactly what happened. I caught the offender, though."
The O7 trooper sat up. "...dammit. I hate magic."