Phantasy Star Online: Lost Episode
Darkness Fallz
It was supposed to be a simple mission. Who would've known something stronger than the normal creatures would appear…
Chapter 1
Pioneer 2
Courtyard 13, Residential Shopping District
HUNTER'S Guild
One month later…11:00 hours
Pioneer 2 is as alive as it usually is. Now that the ship has been orbiting the planet for an entire year, it was finally taking a chance and moving closer to Ragol. As of right now, it is in higher planetary orbit, but just far enough to be out of the planet's atmosphere. The fact that the ship was now that close enables the citizens and pilots of the ship to enjoy the sunrise and sunset of the planet, after having had seven years of nothing but the stars and darkness of space filling their 'windows.'
On the ship, there is only one spot that was seemingly reserved, since a particular hunter chose this spot to look out at the stars, then at the curve of the planet once they arrived at Ragol. Some of the HUNTERS know better than to go near there for too long, since that particular hunter prefers being alone while in that particular spot. At this particular moment, one such HUNTER was taking one hell of a chance. It stood with its back to all behind it, looking out the window emotionlessly. Its arms were crossed over its massive body, the metal parts of the bulky arms just scratching the armor. Compared to the rest of its body, the head and legs of this particular Cast series machine were a bit too small. It stands over six feet tall and weight well over 200 pounds. Its armor is a faded and battle scarred tan with green trim. On the shoulder plate on its left arm, faded letters and numbers could just be made out to say NL0026.
'Analysis complete,' he processed, looking at the sunrise. 'Data is identical to that accumulated yesterday…' His armored head looked out at the window, shifting from analysis mode and combat mode visors to a simple vision mode visor. Its head looked similar to that of a human head, but a plate covered where its eyes would be. 'Conclusion: This activity is a complete waste of the Huntress's time…' He decided to uncross his arms, letting the bulky limbs drop to his side. 'That makes 173 analysis's done, all inconclusive.'
"NL?" The machine paused from looking out the window and looked to his side, already identifying the voice. Standing just behind him to the side was a young hunter, not much older than 17 or eighteen. The boy stands nearly 5'9" tall with a mess of brown hair. His brown eyes still showed his innocence as a boy, yet his physical features were screaming toned young man. He wears a white battle suit, complete with wrist watch and several armored pads. On his chest was the sigil of Redria. "What are you doing just standing there?"
"Analyzing this spot to find some reason as to why the huntress spends so much time here normally," he replied to the boy, turning back to the window. "She doesn't seem to have any reason, so it must be a waste of time for her to even bother."
"And yet she does," the boy replied, looking at the window. "She probably stands here to enjoy the scenery or think. Maybe even a mix of both." He looks at the larger machine. "Of course, I know next to nothing about how she acts, let alone who she is and what she looks like. You never say a thing about her, even her name."
"Names are just a thing given to others to identify them as individuals," the machine replied. "They also cause your kind to feel emotional when one of them eventually falls, especially when it is one you know well." It turned away from the window. "I don't bother remembering the names, just their class. You want to know the Huntress's name; you'd best ask her yourself when you see her."
"But I don't know what she looks like," they boy shot back.
"Provided she's still alive, you'll know soon enough, Adrock," NL replied before he marched off to the counter, determined to snag a mission before his circuits rust from idleness. He stopped short of it, for another newman had gotten in the way. She wore a black set of combat clothes similar to what a hunter wears, complete with data pad over a black glove. Her hair is bordering between blond and a pale green, clashing with her blue eyes. Her ears perked up as the machine stopped only an inch away from her, her eyes widened in surprise. She barely stood up to the lower part of his chest plate.
"An NL series Racast?" she questioned, taking in its battered frame and spotting its ID number. "I thought all the NL types were destroyed within our first few months here…"
NL just looked at the newman, and would be expressing a look of anger and irritation if he could do such a thing. "Move, girl," he said bluntly.
"Hey, NL! That is no way to speak to a girl!" Adrock moved over to the bigger machine. "Sorry about him," he said as he looked at the girl. "He's not the social type."
The girl gave a small smile, but her face showed some urgency. "No need to apologize. It's just a flaw NL model Casts have." NL's fingers twitched. "Besides, we all know such things require a steady flow of missions to keep them satisfied, and I need someone to handle this mission. Perhaps you two would be interested?"
Adrock was too busy trying to yell at the machine for his lack of manners to the girl to listen, but NL clasped his hand over the boy's mouth to shut him up. "A mission?" he inquired, getting a nod from the girl.
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Planet Ragol
Forest Area, Section 2
Central Dome Residential Area, A block
11:10 hours
The forest area is among the largest area on the surface of Ragol, and happens to be the resting place of the Central Dome, all that remains of the once space faring Pioneer 1. Its lush, green vegetation was starting to grow rampant, but was still easy for others to walk through. A transporter exists below a small ridge, with two doors from the ship blocking the area out.
However, flames have now erupted throughout the entire area, extending beyond the section that the transporter is in. At that particular moment, ten HUNTERS happened to be down there before the place burst into flames. Several hunters managed to find shelter, but others were now at the flame's mercy. One such hunter was already near the transporter, but had fallen from his injuries with his Gigush in hand, some flames already spreading to his prone body.
As it seemed that the flames would take him, the transporter's blue rings gave a bright flash, blinding the entire area as two HUNTERS entered the area, guns in hand. The mech in this two man group happened to spot the flames heading for the hunter and pointed his Justice machine gun at the flames and fired. The photon rounds struck the flames and started to extinguish them. The machine fired several more times, eventually taking out the flames in a few shots of machine gun fire. The other fired on a control switch, which happened to be aflame at the moment, with a Custom Ray Version 00 handgun. The flames were cleansed from the one area within a minute, the two hunters now standing over the fallen one.
"Are you… here to…" the fallen hunter started, struggling to get back up.
"Remain still," NL replied as he dropped a device near the wounded hunter. "This device will return you to the ship."
"Sorry… rescue the others…" The hunter didn't say much more before a bright flash engulfed him, bringing him straight to Pioneer 2's Hospital wing.
Adrock looked around, noticing smoke rising over the barricades. "We need to move now," he said. "The casts may be able to withstand the heat as can our armors, but most of the other Hunters still down here need clean air to breathe."
"Understood," NL replied as he activated the switch to the next section. More like he slammed one of his fists into the switch, since both hands were full with his H&S 25 Justice machine guns. His Nidra mag beeped in irritation at its master, clacking its scorpion-like claws at its master for such reckless action. "Weapon add-on is working perfectly; the flames are being extinguished by the very rounds that can kill the creatures here."
"Terrific, NL. Just shoot the damn things!" Adrock had entered the room and started firing on a patch of fire. As the two warriors shot at the flames, Nidra moved away from them for a moment, only to beep in alarm upon reaching one spot. A large panel had moved from the rock face to block off an access path. It was keeping the fire in their area out and away from a RA caseal, which happened to be in emergency recovery mode to counter the severe levels of heat in her section. Again, the pair managed to extinguish the flames, allowing the panel to move out of the way.
"Check for survivors in this block," NL said as he returned to the last area, checking for another path. Adrock entered the section and spotted the RAcaseal lying on the ground, a laser rifle in her hands. He checked to make sure her systems were still working before sending her back. He then turned and headed back into the last block, spotting NL up top of the dirt ramp.
"Status?"
Adrock smiled as he moved up the ramp, where NL was shooting out some flames they had missed around the transporter. "A RA caseal. We got her out of there long before her systems would've failed," he replied, moving up to the door. NL moved to the now flameless switch, activating it. "How's the situation here?"
"Fire in block A and G confirmed extinguished, then," NL replied, checking his Justice weapons on their status. He would've smiled if he had a mouth, for the weapon still has some charge in it, namely about 87. "Proceeding to B block now. Follow." Adrock simply nodded as the larger ranger moved ahead, mech guns held at his sides as he proceeded ahead.
"Surprised you're handling this well," Adrock replied. "I know you've been my battle partner for a month, but you live for battle. Without something to kill, you just seem so…" He stopped speaking as NL fired onto the fire ahead of him, extinguishing it. Sighing, he drew his pistol and fired into the flames, only to pale as he heard a growl from one of the native creatures. He turned and saw a group of boomas crawl out of the ground around the flames, roaring in rage.
"Activating Cod3 01," NL started, his speech changing as he holstered the Justice guns onto his thighs, and then popping open another red container. It glowed and formed into an orb, then became a Final Impact shotgun. "Elimi\4t3 -057il35!" Adrock sighed as the first shotgun round was fired with reckless abandon, grateful he wasn't in the line of fire this time as the boomas were hit. They roared in anger and pain as they charged towards the Racast, who stood his ground and fired as Adrock shot rounds from his own gun. "PR3P4R3 7O DI3, CR33P5!" NL shouted as the boomas feel, with a group of goboomas clawing their way out onto the surface to attack.
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Pioneer 2
Courtyard 13, Residential Shopping District
HUNTER'S Guild
11:43 hours
The Newman watched as the wounded were being teleported up to the ship, seeing them being rushed into the medical bay just across the street from the guild. "Seems they were the best for the job," she murmured in thought, checking their situation with her BEE system computers. It had been nearly a half hour since the pair of hunters accepted the mission, and they had already gotten about eight other hunters out of the blaze. She winced as she heard some chatter on her device.
'DAMMIT, NL! WATCH WHERE YOU… YIE!'
BLAM! 'DI3 FOO5!' BLAM! gggrroOOOARRRR
'DAMN MOTHER #$! STOP POPPING OUT OF THE GROUND ALREADY, YOU BASTARDS!'
grOOOaarr shrrAAAACK
'NL… HEY WAIT! DON'T USE THE…'
BLAM VEEeeeeBOOM! GGGGRRROAAAAAAAAAAARrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr……
'T4RG375 3LIMIN473! PROC3EDING with mission…'
'Damn, you crazy bastard! YOU ALMOST SHOT ME!'
The Newman's eyes were wide with shock at that particular transmission she had just received. The equipment claimed that they were in block H of the second forest area, the block just before the Central Dome entrance. 'Was it really a good idea for me to give them that job?' she started to wonder, her mind showing her images as to what may have happened down there. It wasn't long before another pair of Hunters appeared near the medical bay, both of them being rushed into the place for healing. She nodded as she got reports from her other team, whom claimed that the fire seemed to have been put out. However, within a few minutes, there were screams of another fire erupting before contact with the group was lost. It didn't take too long before both hired hunters arrived, both of them looking a little on the scorched side. Adrock was giving the larger machine a few death glares, and she had a vague idea as to why.
"Good job on rescuing the hunters," she said, putting her professional face on. "You can now collect your guild at the counter…"
NL stared at the girl, as did Adrock. "You seem troubled by something… What's wrong?" Adrock asked.
"Well, just before you got back, one of my teams claimed that another fire broke out before I lost contact with them. We need someone to go down and find out what happened." She shifted slightly uncomfortably on her feet. "If you two want, you can go back down and continue with this investigation to find out what's going on?"
"I accept," NL started, causing Adrock to turn and look at the ranger.
The huntress seemed to not be amused. "I'll ask again, will you go back down there?"
Adrock saw that NL wasn't going to change his mind. 'Damn RA cast. He's so damn war wacky right now; he would destroy himself if he felt that it would kill whatever is attacking…' Adrock was about to protest to continuing, when he thought about something else. 'But she did say another fire broke out… I could've sword we took out all the flames before we left…' With a sigh, he looked at the hunter. "Fine, I agree. We'll return to the forest and check it out.
The girl then looked at them both, putting her professional face on. "Alright. Just know that this mission probably is going to be a lot tougher than the last one. I know none of you used tech down there, so that probably isn't what's causing the blaze. If you must, you may use your tech down there this time around."
Adrock sighed in relief. "Thank you… you have no idea how irritating it is to not use Resta." He was going to say more before NL turned around and grabbed the hunter by the scruff of his neck. "HEY, LET ME GO!"
"Then keep up," the Ra Cast replied as he let go and continued to the transporter.
The HU newarl sighed again as she saw the pair off, sitting down with a hand to her head. "Perhaps I should've sent someone to back them up…"
"Maybe I can help then?" The Newman girl didn't even realize another person had gotten close to her before she looked up, her eyes widening as she recognized who this person was.
"Wait! Aren't you…"
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Planet Ragol
Forest Area, Section 2
Central Dome Residential Area, F block
11:55 hours
"NL, are you sure you saw a HUNTERS run this way?" Adrock asked as he chased after the machine. They had moved around the entire area, confirming where the fire was along the way. For some reason, though, their gun's extinguisher rounds weren't having an effect on it. They had gone on to further investigate, even searching for the team that was sent down, but hadn't found a thing. The two had split up for only a few minutes, and then Adrock nearly gets plowed over by the larger hunter.
"Affirmative!" NL replied as he ran towards the area that was now aflame. "I saw a force near the Central Dome platform, and my sensors detected movement heading this way. It has to be him." He approached the door with Adrock, watching as the doors opened. The flames covered five sections of the block, restricting one to carefully move through the room without getting burned. On the far side of the block is a FO newm, and he appeared to be quite scared. "There he is," NL said as he marched forward, hefting his Final Impact between his two hands as Adrock followed with pistol in hand.
"What are you doing here?" Adrock asked in a demanding tone.
"This wasn't supposed to happen…" the newman said. "The experiment went all wrong…" The Newman was shaking, in a state of shock.
"Let's go," NL said finally. "He's not going to say much else. We still need to find the others." He moved past the shaking Newman without even a glance, using a tone of voice that had the young hunter follow.
"WAIT!" the Newman yelled, startling Adrock. "HELP MEEE!" The hunter and ranger turned in alarm just a moment before a creature jumped out of hiding, slamming on top of the startled Newman and knocking him out. The creature appeared to be some sort of large ape, with rather long ears to boot. Its skin seemed to be a mix of black, blue, and yellow.
"A Hildebear?" Adrock murmured as he aimed his pistol, moments before another one jumped out from its hiding spot. Adrock barely managed to dive out of the way as it landed, giving a roar. Two more appeared in a similar fashion, far too fast for even NL to arm and fire effectively. "Four Hildebears?"
"No," NL replied as he lifted his Final Impact. "Physical aspects are incorrect, although it must be a Hilde-type creature." He fired his rounds, a series of five bullets leaving the barrel as Adrock fired on one of them. Some of them flinched, but the one furthest back reared up on its legs as it appeared ready to spit up something. NL was about to fire another salvo when that creature opened its mouth and shot a bolt of lightning out of it, striking the RAcast square in the chest. It flew back with a large scorch mark on its chest plate, the electricity of the strike surging through him as his weapon usage systems malfunctioned.
"Right…" Adrock murmured as he fired on one of the creatures again, getting two more rounds into the creature. "Definitely not Hildebears. They spit up foie, not Zond….AK!" He barely got out of the way again as another creature jumped from its spot in back, nearly pouncing on top of him. "That's it!" He holstered his weapon onto his thigh instead of sealing it in its capsule again with his one hand as he pulled out a capsule with his other, unsealing it the moment his gun was in its holster. The capsule became a glowing ball, then stretched until the Flowen Sword was in his hand. He then held it in both hands as he swung it hard towards the creature that jumped at him, managing to cut its arm off at the elbow. It screamed in pain as it swung its fist at Adrock, managing to hit the hunter before he could recover from the swing. He flew a short distance before passing through the flames, a yell of burning pain heard as the fire singed the hunter as his body rolled out of the inferno.
NL got back up and struggled to reinitialize combat mode as this exchange occurred, but that also left him open one of the others jumped onto him. He managed to duck in time, allowing him to evade the leaping monster as his systems restored. "\/07-3r #$3R!" he yelled as he dropped his shotgun, which was also smudged by the bolt, so he could arm his other weapon. Once the capsule he grabbed opened, it grew until his Guilty Light photon launcher was in his hands. "FR33Z3, F00!" The weapon got unbearably cold and started to freeze before a glob of photon was launched, impacting and freezing the creature on the spot. He was about to continue when his left arm was struck with a bolt of lightning, disabling his combat mode again as the bolt knocked him off his feet once more. He was struggling to get back on his feet when he saw the wounded creature move towards Adrock, preparing to strike. Adrock was pushing himself up onto his feet when he saw what was about to happen. "\/0V3 I7!" NL yelled.
A trio of shots broke the moment, the creature preparing to attack Adrock suddenly no longer moving as red blood spilled from its forehead. It collapsed in a heap before another few shots were heard, killing the creature still frozen as the ice broke apart, tearing the creature apart with it. Both remaining creatures turned in the direction the shots came from, where a hunter stood. A newman girl stood there, her blonde hair, cut rather short and blowing slightly in the wind. She is wearing a purple battle jacket with pink shirt under it and a pair of dark purple shorts on. Her choker showed the symbol of Bluful, and her green eyes showed determination. Her hand twitched, aiming the Bravace pistol right at the monsters as they tried to jump her. She rolled out of the way as they landed with a thud where she had stood, aiming and firing her pistol into one of the creatures. It groaned in pain as the rounds hit home, but none of them were lethal hits. As she fired on the first one, the second one moved closer to her and prepared to swing its fist into her. She saw the fist coming and barely managed to get away, the tip of the creature's knuckle causing her to spin and crash into the ground.
Adrock got back onto his feet and rearmed the Custom Ray, sealing the Flowen Sword in its container before starting his attack. He fired on the monster in back, startling it and causing its attention to shift to him. He managed to duck out of the way as the creature tried to flatten the boy with a single jump. NL got back up onto his feet and sealed his Guilty's light. He wasted little time in opening another container, with his Inferno Bazooka stored within. He aimed and fired into the creature, taking chunks of flesh off of it as explosive rounds slammed into the creature. This bought the girl enough time to get up onto her feet again and seal her Bravace in its container. A small flash signaled that she had opened another weapon container, but no one could see any weapons in her hands. She simply went up to the creature and went all martial arts on it, breaking its bones before she finally finished it off with a roundhouse kick to the ribs on the startled creature, its lungs punctured by its own broken ribcage. It gave a gargled roar as it collapsed, blood dribbling out its mouth. NL then turned to assist Adrock with a clean shot of the bazooka right up the creature's butt as the boy shot the creature full of holes in its stomach. The creature fell and died, its blood flooding out its belly and staining the grass. Once the last creature fell, the flames started to extinguish themselves, and eventually were gone within a minute.
NL sealed his bazooka and moved over to pick up his Final Impact while the girl moved over to the boy and used a resta spell, healing his wounds much better than he could using his own resta. "Thanks," Adrock muttered kindly as he stretched out quickly, making sure that nothing else was broken.
NL lifted up his shotgun for a moment before sealing it into its container and storing it with his other belongings. He then turned his armored head towards the two hunters. "Well," he started. "You always did have a knack of showing up at the last moment, Huntress."
The huntress looked at NL and gave a smirk, raising her hand in a mock salute. "Couldn't be helped," she said, a flash of her hand revealing a piece of unarmed combat gear on it, the God's Hand. "I was just lucky enough to catch up to you and save your shiny metal ass." A Sato mag mewed in agreement, while NL's Nidra mag clapped one of its claws shut with a beep of irritation. She stood up and moved towards the door to the next block. "When you two are done here, I'll be up in the guild waiting for you." With that said, she walked pass the doors and disappeared from sight as the large doors closed, leaving NL and Adrock to check the area on their own.
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Accessing HUNTERS files…
Two new files detected…
NL0026 (NL or just 026)
Class: Ranger Species: Android (Cast) Model: Male Series ID: Purplenum
Age: Four years Head: Armored Visor model
History: The last of the NL series RA cast type android, a model that would now be about 4 or five years old. The NL series were known to be used extensively for guard and assault missions, or that was what they were designed for. They were easy to recognize because of their apish appearance at a glance, and the fact that excessive armor plating was slapped onto the machines' large frames. They were programmed to follow orders and complete objectives, then were stored on Pioneer 2 until the ship arrived at Ragol. Within the first few months, only five NL model machines were still functioning. NL0026 is actually all gun-ho, although he will occasionally switch to close range when cornered or irritated. He is sometimes irritable outside of battle, tends to carry nearly eight weapons in any given scenario, and has this nasty habit of using 'L337 5P34K' when in a combat situation.
Weapons: H&S 25 Justice- A legendary machine gun from the Justice Corp. Its special attack freezes enemies. He found this weapon within the mines during a classified mission, presumably jammed in a machine in the area. It is his weapon of choice against single targets, although he rarely bothers using the freeze bullets.
Final Impact- A legendary shotgun with tremendous power. Its special attack steals enemies' experience points. This gun was given to him by Thalius, a legendary warrior at the time. After firing it once when there were no targets nearby started his L337 5P34K habit, and it has remained ever since. The weapon is his primary weapon of choice, usually loving to fire it into crowds and stronger, multi parted foes alike. His love for the gun is rivaled only by his teammates resentment towards him, namely for his tendency to accidentally shoot his allies in a frenzy of bullets from the weapon.
Guilty Light- A legendary photon launcher said to be created by an outlaw. Nowadays, he rarely ever bothers to pull out this large blaster, capable of shooting through enemies in a straight line with a glob of photons. However, the weapon holds a place in NL's circuits, and he will use it when royally angered or up against a Delsaber.
Inferno Bazooka- A powerful bazooka with highly destructive shells. Its special attack halves enemies' HP. Another weapon used when NL is royally angered, primarily due to its single shot volleys and slow rate of fire. The weapon itself is quite potent.
Armor- D-Parts Ver. 2.10 and Delsaber Shield. The shield he got by blasting a Delsaber's left arm off and giving good ol' John Montague a visit. The shield gives him impressive resilience to the dark strikes of Megid, thus keeping his systems from suffering serious trouble. The D-Parts were given to him by the Huntress, who happened to pull it out of some dark creature's belly after discovering the armor in her kill.
Adrock
Class: Hunter Species: Human (mar) Gender: Male ID:Redria
Age: 17 Eyes: deep brown Hair: Brown
History: A relatively new warrior in the HUNTERS fold. He is working alongside NL in an attempt to get stronger. He has a kind of respect for the machine, but also shows some anger towards him, probably from when his ass became yet another victim to Final Impact. He focuses on attacking in close quarters, but has been learning to use a pistol with NL's help. Unfortunately, the machine's inability to use techniques is cramping what Adrock is capable of doing, since he has no one else he knows that uses it and is willing to team up with him. He is a bit curious about the girl known as 'Huntress' as NL calls her.
Weapons: Flowen's Sword- Replica of a sword once used by the military. An extremely common replica. This is Adrock's real weapon of choice, a weapon given to him by his own father, who mysteriously disappeared a few months after arriving on Ragol. It's lightweight construction doesn't interfere with his evasiveness, making it even better to him.
Custom Ray Ver.00- A pistol used by military group "TEAM 00." Proves the bearer to be a member of the team. Far from what it claims to be, the weapon is only Adrock's secondary weapon, and he by no means is a member of TEAM 00. He found this gun from some random creature's belly.
Armor- Guardian Armor, Celestial Shield. Unlike his ally, his armors were purchased in the shop. They are well built and give him adequate protection, but aren't as great as the gear that some other, better skilled hunters may have.
End of new records…
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A note on combat in PSO: Lost Episode
The focus on the fight scenes is for as much realism as possible without loosing the effect of the world of PSO. I would like to think that I did an adequate job with the HUNTERS versus the Hildets and the huntresses versus Olga Flow from last chapter, and will try to do even better in future battle scenes.
The one thing that would need explaining is the weapon switch, which some players of the online game utilize in the mists of battle. Essentially, it would be quite difficult for some hunters, like NL0026, to run around with an excessively large set of equipment. I mean, some of those weapons require two hands to hold, and carrying several dual hand weapons would put a strain on anyone's back. In the case of the weapons, some of the small handguns and blades will have holsters which the hunter can secure the weapon when they aren't in use. For most other weapons, the capsule system will be used. Throughout the game, players collect such capsules to obtain weapons, armor, and tools for battle. Not just that, but the Dragon Ball series also introduced a capsule system capable of storing anything, from small weapons to motor bikes and mobile homes. Essentially, each hunter carries a bag or case full of these weapon capsules. All they need to do is just pop it open and instant weapon. This method also would help explain why weapons shimmer, glow, and make some odd sound as they are equipped in the battlefield.
Now that that's out of the way, I would like to hear any comments you may have, no matter how harsh. Expect the next chapter to arrive soon.
