Chapter 7 has arrived! Man, I can't wait until the plot finally starts to change…unfortunately, that won't be until the Patriarch battle…
Neo: -Is disguising himself as a bush- Psst. You can't see me.
I see you! –Huggles Neo-
Neo: Ah, crap. –Sigh- Anyways, KOS-MOS rox does not own anything mentioned in this story. Well, except Tony's sanity. But that doesn't count.
Yes it does.
Neo: No, it doesn't.
YES IT DOES!
Neo: No, it doe- What's the point of even arguing with you about this?
On with the chapter!
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Xenosaga Episode II: Die Kraft der Liebe
Chapter 7: Intoxicating Amour!
"Wow, it's bigger than I expected…"
"Heh, I'll bet that was something you didn't say that night, Shion!"
"Jr., can you be any more immature?"
"Yeah, Jr., was that supposed to be an insult or something?"
"Will you guys be quiet?" Jin said, breaking the squabble between Shion, Allen, and Jr. over the loudspeakers of the E.S.s. "We need to concentrate here, or we'll wreck."
The small group of mechs was navigating down a narrow passageway, attacking the occasional patrol robot. Once they reached the elevator, they all groaned as they saw that it was locked up tight.
"Alright…allow the 'Asher-bomb' to handle this!" Jr. exclaimed excitedly. "Yeehaw!" he yelled as he attacked four round balls that were obviously the locking mechanisms. Once they exploded, the elevator began descending to the level below…
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Our heroes went through the airlock at the bottom of the elevator shaft. "Check it out! Let's dock these babies here!" Jr. said, moving Asher's arm to point at an E.S. hangar just ahead.
"Do you think they'll mind us using their docks?" Allen asked sarcastically.
"Well, they're just going to have to live with it," Ziggy said.
Once the E.S. Asher was docked, Jin swiftly leaped to the ground, landing with barely a noise. "Pssh, I can do that…" Jr. said. He mimicked Jin and jumped down. Then, his body flipped in midair so that he was falling headfirst. "Agh! Someone catch me!" he cried. Jin sighed and caught the boy in his arms…then dropped him to the ground with a sickening thud.
"Ugh…" Jr. said, rubbing his head. "You could have at least been gentle…"
The E.S. Zebulun was next to pull into the hangar. Momo positioned herself on Ziggy's shoulders as he climbed down from the cockpit. He lifted her up and set her down on the floor. "Thanks, Ziggy," she said. The cyborg nodded.
"Um, Jr., is your head okay?" she asked, walking over towards the redhead. He lost the ability for everything but mad giggles when he though of how he had kissed her the previous day.
The E.S. Dinah was the final mech to dock. It floated gracefully into the dock as Jr. continued to giggle. KOS-MOS detached herself from the mech as Allen hopped down from the cockpit, followed by Shion.
"We ready to go on?" Shion asked. They group began walking towards the door.
"Yeah, but I have the strangest feeling that we're forgetting something…" Jr. muttered as they stepped through the door.
Ten seconds later, Jr. ran through the door into the E.S. hangar. He yanked the door to the Asher's cargo space and pulled out a half-suffocated chaos. "Oh my God, I am so sorry!" Jr. said, helping the man to his feet.
"Air! I need air!" chaos gasped, clutching at the collar of Jr.'s trenchcoat.
"Jesus, man, relax!" Jr. said, lightly smacking chaos across the cheek. "We need to go!" chaos and Jr. headed into the next area where the others were.
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After many mazes and much debating on whether or not to push the buttons (Jr. almost had a nervous breakdown because KOS-MOS, Shion, and Allen were telling him to push the button while Jin, chaos, and Ziggy were telling him not to) our heroes got back into their E.S.s and entered a large, open room. "Look, another switch," Allen said.
"This time, I ain't pressin' it!" Jr. said.
"My name is Richard!" a chilling voice echoed throughout the room.
"That voice!" Ziggy yelled.
"They were the ones chasing us on that highway!" Jr. snarled. Two large mechs flew down from the ceiling and landed in front of our heroes. One was a pinkish-gray, wielding a large sword. The other was dark blue. In its right arm was a large beam staff.
"I assume you remember. I'm sorry, but I have no time for games. Honestly, I grow weary of these encounters. I've had enough of you!" an angry voice rang from the pinkish craft.
Jr.'s hands tightened on the gun control. "Don't shoot yet…" he whispered to himself, clenching his jaw. Jin flexed his slender fingers before lightly placing them on the navigation shafts.
"…Now!" Jr. screamed as Jin whirled the Asher around and pointed the arm at the opposing crafts.
"It's just a coin…" Jr. said, grinning as he fired the machine gun. The pilot of the smaller mech grunted as the bullets collided with its outer shell.
"Why you little!" The pilot of the dark A.M.W.S. growled, ready to attack the Asher with its weapon. It was quickly stopped by the Dinah as KOS-MOS sent an array of laser blasts at it, not missing once. The Zebulun also contributed much firepower.
"Jr.! Watch it!" Allen yelled as the pink craft came dangerously close to making Jr.'s A.M.W.S. one limb short.
"Quit being a backseat driver!" Jr. grumbled as Jin put the mech in a position to fire again. The lighter A.M.W.S., Pilum, whacked the E.S. Asher with its sword, leaving a large gash. The pilot sneered and went for the Zebulun instead.
"Damn…" Jr. muttered. "I just had it repainted too…"
"KOS-MOS! Fire!" Shion yelled as KOS-MOS began blasting the dark craft with more lasers. "How are you guys doing over there?" she called to Ziggy and Momo in the Zebulun.
"We need a little help!" he grunted, barely blocking angry strikes from their opponent. The young realian pilot cried out as she tried to blast the pink mech with the Zebulun's twin arm rifles.
"Momo!" Jr. cried. "Jin, let's go help them out!" Jin nodded and moved the Asher quickly behind Pilum.
"Hey you! Face! Yeah, you! I'm talkin' to you!" Jr. yelled at the enemy. "Look over here!" The pink craft turned to look at the Asher, and in one fluid motion, Jr. shot the rifles of the Asher, blasting off the arm that held the sword. It clattered to the ground, and a long silence lingered.
Richard yelled suddenly, "Hermann, I'm abandoning the mission! We're outta here!"
"But…Richard! The Mistress told us to-"
"Who knows what else these psychos are gonna do to us?" Richard had begun to panic. "Let's go!"
The group heard a heaving sigh from the darker craft as the two of them sped from the room. "Wow! That was easier than I thought!" Jr. shouted, amazed. He laughed in triumph as Allen tilted his had backwards to look at Shion, rolling his eyes sarcastically.
"Hey, Jr., wanna push the button?" Shion asked, laughing. Jr. immediately sobered.
"Huh-uh! Not again!" Jr. yelled, grabbing his head. "I won't suffer another breakdown! I won't!"
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After Jr. had finally worked up enough courage to press the button, a walkway formed itself above the room that they were in. "That won't do us any good if we're still in our E.S.s…we should go and dock them again," Ziggy pointed out.
Our heroes disembarked from their mechs. Several P.S.S. soldiers, some elevator and box puzzles with insanity that rivaled that of Wilhelm, and an incredibly annoying transporter maze later, they found themselves in the core of the citadel. As Shion and the others stoof at the top of the stairs, they looked at the vast room at the base. A lone woman knelt in the very center of the room, her back facing them.
"Welcome to this holy confessional. Come in, you filth," she said. Her voice was laced with poison.
"What?" Jr. began down the stairs, jumping two at a time. The rest of the group followed him.
"There is nothing to fear. No matter what you do, there is no escape from this place. Now, confess your sins. I will listen to anything, even from the mouths of foul beasts like you," the woman said calmly.
"D-d…" Jr. stammered. "You damn bitch!" he spat.
"I see. You do not wish to admit your sins. You will leave me no choice but to rip you apart." The mysterious woman stood up and turned around to face the group. She had white-blonde hair, pulled up on the right side of her head. In one swift motion, she drew a beam sword and dagger, one green, one blue.
"Who are you?" Shion demanded, pulling out her M.W.S.
"My name is Orgulla," the woman revealed, her eyes glinting evilly. "And I protect that which matters most."
"What do you want from us?" Ziggy asked.
"The Master wants you dead," she stated matter-of-factly. "And it doesn't look like I'll have any trouble eliminating you beasts."
"God damn, you are a bitch!" Allen snarled, walking up beside Jr. Both men (well, one and a half men) fired their pistols at Orgulla. She nimbly dodged every bullet before going after Jr. with the beam dagger.
"Dah!" Jr. cried, moving out of its reach. The woman growled and went for Allen with the sword.
"Repent your sins, pigs!" she yelled, angrily swiping in the air. Allen quickly sidestepped, shooting at her. Again, she dodged.
"I'll burn you to a crisp!" Shion yelled, firing her weapon. chaos powered up his gloves and sent an aura blast at Orgulla.
"Don't touch me!" Orgulla spat after she was hit by chaos' blast. She pulled what looked like a pistol from out of nowhere and fired it at Ziggy. "Take this and die!"
"No! Ziggy!" Momo ran up behind the woman and shot an arrow into her back. Enraged, Orgulla turned around to face her, yanking the arrow from her back. Jr. grunted and dived in front of Momo, knocking her out of the way of the sword. Jin ran up behind the woman and swiped at her with his katana, but she dodged it easily.
"Do those eyes even work?" she asked sarcastically. KOS-MOS powered up her minigun and held it to Orgulla's head.
"I will proceed to eliminate the enemy threat," she said.
But before she could fire, Orgulla ducked underneath the gun and flipped behind Jr., holding the dagger to his neck. "This world…no, this universe, belongs to Ormus!" she yelled. Orgulla threw her head back and laughed hysterically.
"Jr.!" Momo cried.
"Nothing's working…" Shion said. "Unless…Allen!"
"What?" Allen asked.
"Let's do what we were talking about on the shuttle to the Dammerung!" she said. "Ziggy! Here's what we need you to do…" Shion whispered in Ziggy's ear.
"Uh-huh…yeah…hmm…" he said. "Wait, what?"
"Just do it!" Allen said, grinning. The cyborg shrugged as Shion walked over to Allen.
"chaos! Get Jr. out of her arms!" Shion yelled. chaos nodded and sent a ball of aura at Orgulla's arm, knocking Jr. from her grasp. She hissed and advanced for chaos.
"Hey, look over here!"
Orgulla turned her head slowly to see Shion and Allen standing in a pose that looked exactly like the beginning stance of Dual Spell Ray. "You ready?" Shion whispered to Allen.
"I was born ready…" he replied.
Shion fired up her M.W.S., exactly as in Dual Spell Ray. But then…
Hehehe. Rawr.
Shion looked up and winked at Allen. He grinned in return. Suddenly, Shion threw her weapon aside and wrapped her legs around Allen's hips, kissing him passionately. Orgulla raised her eyebrows as her mouth dropped open. Slowly, Allen moved his lips down Shion's neck, and Shion moaned his name repeatedly. She cried out in pleasure as he opened his mouth on the crook of her neck and inhaled slowly. Shion ran her hands through his tan hair as he began to remove her jacket.
Ziggy, seeing a chance to the task assigned to him by Shion and Allen, snuck up behind Orgulla and yelled, "Intoxicating Amour!" He delivered a fatal blow to the back, slamming his metal leg into her spine. She fell to her hands and knees, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and fell over.
"Damn, where's your sting...?" she said weakly before her name was changed to "the late Orgulla".
The rest of the group (minus KOS-MOS) stood wide-eyed, looking back and forth between Ziggy, Orgulla, and Shion and Allen. The couple was still engaged in their steamy liplock/triple tech attack. "Shion, Allen, it's over…" Ziggy said.
"Oh!" Shion pulled away from Allen and wiped off her lips. "Well…uh…ta-dah?" Shion said. Allen laughed nervously.
"…W-wow…that was…" Jin said, not blinking.
"I didn't see that one in the strategy guide!" Jr. exclaimed, rapidly flipping the pages of the Xenosaga Episode II guide book.
"Well, whatever it was, it worked," chaos said, smiling. "Let's move on."
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A/N: You have no idea how much fun I had making up that double (triple!) tech attack. Sorry for the shortness…the next one will be longer. Chapter 8, "Ontological Shock", will cover from the destruction of the core of the Stronghold to the descent to Old Miltia. And yes, I did get the title of the chapter from The Matrix…-Runs-
Until next time, this is KOS-MOS rox, signing off!