Ch 3: Shadow of War
One and a half years before Rom's arrival...
In an abandoned factory district in South Lastation, a lone ASIC grunt was seen sprinting through the dark alleyways with a terrified look on his face. Far behind him, the sounds of frantic gunfire and screams echoed out into the night sky as his foolish partners who had decided to stand their ground against their assailant were picked off one by one. In just a few minutes, the last desperate sounds of resistance faded away altogether leaving behind only an eerie silence in the desolate landscape.
The fleeing grunt barely paid any attention to this though as he focused solely on getting himself to safety. Turning another corner without incident, he began to feel a faint flutter of hope that he would actually-
"And where do you think you're going?"
That was all the warning the grunt got before a thin metal wire seemed to appear out of thin air and tightly wrapped around his left leg. The next thing he knew, he was being violently yanked feet-first into the air as he screamed the entire way.
Luckily for him, the nightmarish ascent only lasted for a couple seconds before he came to a rather abrupt halt.
Unluckily for him, he now found himself in the precarious position of dangling several hundred feet in the sky next to the edge of a nearby factory rooftop.
As the pale-faced grunt desperately tried not to look down, the odd distorted-sounding voice from before spoke up again.
"Enjoying the view?"
Being careful not to move around too much, the grunt carefully turned his head towards the rooftop next to him. To his mounting confusion and fear, however, all he found there was an odd shimmer in the air as if some ghostly being was standing in front of him.
"Who... What are you?!" the grunt could not help but blurt out.
The ghostly shimmer did not answer but seemed to move ever so slightly. The next thing the grunt knew, the wire holding him up suddenly slackened causing him to plummet back down towards the ground with a loud scream. Just before he ended up becoming a smear on the pavement below, the wire tightened up again and stopped his fall. Not giving the poor grunt a chance to recover, the mysterious being yanked him back up to the rooftop edge like a human yo-yo.
"I'll be the one asking the questions around here," the mysterious voice said, its static-laced tone sounding vaguely amused. "You got that?"
The ASIC grunt could only let out a pitiful whimper to this as he tried not to pass out from his near-death experience. Fortunately for him, his captor seemed to pass off his weak response as an affirmative.
"Glad we got that covered. Now then..."
All traces of its previous levity disappeared from the ghostly being's demeanor as its shimmering form appeared to lean in closer towards the terrified grunt. With a menacing aura that seemed to physically darken the space around them, the nightmarish being asked a single question in a deadly whisper.
"Where's Brave?"
"Hmmm..."
The self-proclaimed robot general known as Affimojas had a contemplative air about him as he read through the letter in his hand. Next to him, his best friend and right-hand robot Steamax was busy reading over his shoulder while clutching the large envelope that had come with the letter.
"What do you make of this General?" Steamax eventually asked once he finished reading. "Can we really believe what is written here?"
After a moment of thought, Affimojas turned his gaze towards the envelope Steamax was holding.
"Check inside Steamax. Let us see what this 'incentive' written in the letter is about. Perhaps it shall show us just how genuine this proposal is."
With a nod, Steamax quickly opened up the envelope and pulled out its contents.
"It... appears to be a bunch of official documents for the job mentioned in the letter," the robot ninja reported. "I suppose this proves the offer's authenticity but I don't see how... oh wait. There's also a check here for... a MILLION CREDITS?!"
Affimojas immediately perked up at the mention of the large amount of money as well but quickly managed to get a hold of himself.
"C... Calm yourself Steamax! We must not act rashly on this matter! Though I admit that this is indeed a fine incentive, it would still be wise for us to think this matter through."
"General, you cannot seriously be considering turning down this offer?!" Steamax voiced incredulously. "With this check and the promised salary, we could finally afford to move away from this place!"
To highlight this, he gestured towards the cramped, rundown apartment flat that the two of them were currently living in.
Affimojas almost seemed to be swayed by this point – especially when their crazy cat lady neighbor began her daily singing practice with her pets – but ended up maintaining his doubtful stance.
"You must see the big picture here Steamax. As tempting as this offer is, taking on this job would also put us in direct opposition with the ASIC. While I am fine with reporting about their illicit activities to get more views for my blog, I do not wish to actively pick a side in this fight and antagonize them."
"But General... the money," Steamax practically whined.
Affimojas simply gave an amused laugh to this as he gave his pal a good-natured pat on the shoulder.
"Worry not my dear friend! I predict we shall soon be making even more money than anything offered here. The number of views for my blog has been growing quite rapidly lately and in a few more years I imagine we shall be practically rolling in ad-revenue money! In fact, we will probably have enough to buy ourselves a mansion as well as an aerial battleship! Actually, make that two aerial battleships!"
This finally seemed to convince Steamax though he still let out a small sigh.
"I suppose you're right General. It would be foolish for us to risk ourselves in this conflict just for some quick cash." Saying that, he looked back down at the job application forms that he was holding up. "Still, I am rather curious as to how they managed to find out about us and why we were picked to... Hm? It appears there was something else beneath these forms. It's... oh... oh my..."
"What is it Steamax? What is... oh..."
The cause for both robots' stunned reaction became obvious as Steamax held up a large limited-edition photo of Vert in a bunny outfit. At the top corner of the photo, a small handwritten note was paper-clipped to it reading:
There's a lot more where this came from. Just in case you're interested.
For a while, the only thing that could be heard was the cat chorus going on next door. Eventually, Affimojas turned to Steamax with a solemn air about him.
"Steamax?"
"Yes General?"
"Pack your things. We leave for the Lastation Basilicom immediately."
K-Sha was on the verge of having a full-on nervous breakdown as she paced about inside her dormitory room.
Up to this point, the Order (the shadowy mercenary organization that K-Sha belonged to) had been sending her on frequent raiding ops to steal valuable government assets while the Basilicom was currently distracted by the ASIC. Countless weapons, tactical information, and Credits had been pilfered with no sign of the Order stopping anytime soon. Or so it had seemed.
After calling K-Sha up on a near-daily basis, the entire organization had gone completely silent for over a week. This by itself would not have caused K-Sha much concern as she was used to being told to be on standby for long periods of time. No, what really got to her was that the last message she had received was to prepare for an upcoming mission the next day.
However, no contact had been established on the designated day. Or the day after that. Or the one following that either. All the way up to this very moment where K-Sha was waiting around desperately for an order that did not seem to be coming.
Having told the school she was attending that her (fake) medical condition was acting up again, K-Sha had locked herself in her room as she tried to figure out what to do. Normally, she tried not to think too much about her life as an Order member other than simply getting her assigned missions done but now she was starting to wonder if something had happened to her superiors. It seemed almost impossible that an external force could have attacked them considering how well-hidden they were so that left only the possibility that this was an internal matter. However, even that seemed rather unlikely seeing as how the head woman in charge had personally gotten K-Sha to assassinate all of her potential rivals from the get-go.
Wracked with indecision, K-Sha once again wondered if she should head over towards one of the Order's secret bases to see what was going on. This was, of course, completely against protocol and would most likely end up with her being severely punished but it seemed better than being trapped in her own uncertainty like this.
After agonizing about this decision for a few more minutes, K-Sha finally decided to risk it and find out what was going on for herself.
Just as she was about to head out the door, however, her phone let out a chime notifying her of a new message.
Pulling out her phone faster than the normal human eye could see, K-Sha opened it up and read its contents.
Congrats on your promotion. Hope you do a better job than your predecessor did.
Confused, K-Sha clicked on the attachment that came with the message. While the document that opened up initially seemed to filled with only random gibberish and strange symbols, K-Sha quickly realized it was written using one of the Order's secret ciphers and mentally started to decode it.
"Wha-?"
Bizarrely enough, the message ended up being a notice to all Order operatives that K-Sha had been instated as the new leader of the organization. While it would have been easy to simply disregard this ridiculous news as some sort of hoax or low-level security breach, the message also happened to bear the encoded signature that identified it as being sent directly from the Order's central HQ.
Understandably, K-Sha found herself completely baffled by all of this as she tried to figure out what exactly was going on. Before she could reach any sort of conclusion, however, her phone chimed up again as a new message showed itself.
Three days from now at noon. Coffee shop across the street from the Lastation Basilicom. I'm a bit busy at the moment so I'll answer all of your questions then.
K-Sha barely managed to read through the last line when another message popped up.
Actually, I think I'd prefer some crepes. Yeah, let's change the meet-up location to the crepe shop on the corner of Vita St. and Ratchet Ave. It's next to the bookstore with the funny alpaca poster on it.
This message too was quickly followed by another a mere five seconds later.
Oh yeah. Almost forgot. You don't have to worry about your new position for the time being. I've got a friend of mine to handle things there until we meet up so enjoy some time off. Ciao.
K-Sha read through the unsigned chain of messages a dozen more times before silently putting away her phone with an uncertain look. After a lenghty pause, she shook her head and walked out the door towards her school's infirmary.
"I guess I need to get back on my antipsychotics again..."
"Hey boss? You think this place will be safe?"
CFW Brave did not immediately reply to his generic henchman as he continued to silently inspect the expansive Arfoire chip factory from his upper viewing platform.
Being the ASIC's main base of operations in Lastation, the massive underground complex looked more like a highly sophisticated laboratory rather than the usual ramshackle production lines scattered throughout the region. As expected of such a high-profile location, the entire complex was filled with countless ASIC workers and machinery; not to mention the numerous armed guards and automated turrets that kept watch over the entire place.
"I see no reason to worry," Brave eventually told the underlings gathered behind him. "The recent loss of our outlying factories are indeed troublesome but I highly doubt whoever attacked them will know the location of this base. And even if they did, they would be no match for our defenses."
"I dunno boss," Generic Henchman #568 said. "It's not just those burned-down factories. There's been a lot of talk about some of our members just vanishing into thin air as well."
"Dude I heard about that too!" Generic Henchman #643 chimed in. "Rumor has it that some sort of evil spirit is dragging people into the shadows and eating them!"
"Holy shit, you real? Maybe that's what happened to everyone at those factories as well! I mean, we didn't find any bodies there so maybe-"
"Enough," Brave cut off, instantly silencing his peons. "It is pointless to worry yourselves over mere rumors and speculations. By my reckoning, these recent attacks are likely nothing more than the work of that meddlesome Oracle and her Basilicom forces."
"Um... that's the other thing boss," Generic Henchman #249 spoke up. "No one's seen the Oracle for several weeks. She used to make a public announcement every other day after the CPUs were captured but now she's nowhere to be seen. Even weirder is that the Basilicom closed itself to the public around the same time she stopped appearing."
"No way," #643 said nervously. "Do you think they were also attacked by whatever's after us?"
Brave was just about to refute this ridiculous notion when all of the factory's lights suddenly went out.
"AAAHHH! It's the evil spirit!" #568's frightened voice shouted out into the surrounding darkness. "It's come to eat us all! Run for your-"
"Silence!"
After making sure his underlings weren't going to start a panicked riot, Brave calmly activated his built-in communicator to call the factory's power division.
"Report. What's the situation down there?"
"We don't know sir!" the head technician replied in a flustered tone. "Everything just shut down all of a sudden! Even the emergency generators aren't-"
The call abruptly ended at that point with the sharp hiss of static.
"What's going on boss?" #249 asked. "Are we-"
"AAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Brave and his underlings immediately cast their eyes down as someone on the work floor below let out a scream. Unfortunately, the surrounding darkness prevented them from seeing anything more than a flurry of frantic movements.
"What was that?!"
"Are we under attack?!"
"Over there! Shoot it!"
The area quickly erupted into absolute chaos as the panicked workers ran about blindly for the exits while the guards began firing at something that Brave and his henchmen could not see from their position. However, it quickly became apparent that whatever was attacking them vastly outmatched the scattered guards as even more screams and the sound of numerous bodies hitting the floor echoed out in quick succession.
"What in Arfoire's name is attacking us?!" #568 cried out in a panic, pulling out his own pistol with a terrified look.
Next to him, #643 pulled out a metal charm shaped like a pirate ship and began chanting desperately.
"Arfoire protect us. Arfoire protect us. Arfoire-"
His prayers were cut short when he and the rest of the henchman suddenly flinched as if they had been hit by something. The next instant, the entire group fell to the ground in a motionless heap.
The rest of the humans quickly met the same fate as the last remaining guards and workers were swiftly taken out leaving behind only the sound of collapsing bodies in the now-quiet factory.
"You know, for someone of your size, you're a very hard robot to find."
Befitting his name, Brave did not display an ounce of fear as he calmly looked around for where the mechanically-distorted voice had come from.
"Hm. I assume you have some sort of business with me?"
Rather than an answer, the sound of someone landing several feet away from Brave was heard. Quickly turning around, Brave was rather surprised to find an odd ghostly shimmer floating in the air before him.
"Course I have business with you," the voice said. "Why else would I have gone through all this trouble of making sure we could have a private chat? Though I have to say, I'm rather surprised you didn't do anything to help out your... underlings."
Brave mentally noted the strange amusement the voice attached to that last word before replying in his same even tone.
"Only a fool would charge in blindly against an unseen and unknown foe. However..."
In the blink of an eye, Brave pulled out his gigantic sword from his inventory and took on a fighting stance.
"Now that you've so graciously presented yourself before me, I shall make sure to avenge all of my followers' deaths!"
Moving far faster than his bulk suggested, Brave rushed forward against his foe and brought down his massive blade...
…only for a large 0 to appear in the air as his sword harmlessly bounced off its intended target.
"What?!"
As Brave quickly retreated back into a defensive position, the ghost let out a small laugh.
"Alright, calm down there big guy. There's no need to get so melodramatic. All of your underlings are still alive and fine. I've only knocked them out for the time being."
Still keeping his guard up, Brave quickly took a glance down at his nearby fallen henchmen. To his surprise, he found that the ghost was telling the truth as all of his men had simply been taken out with small tranquilizer darts and were visibly still breathing.
Hiding his rising confusion, Brave turned back to the ghost and pointed his sword at it.
"Who are you? And what is your purpose here?"
The ghost did not immediately answer as its shimmering form seemed to shift ever so slightly. After a lengthy pause, it spoke up again in a much more serious tone.
"I want you confirm something for me first. Is your goal to bring joy to all the children of Gamindustri?"
Brave was rather caught off-guard by the ghost's knowledge of his main motivation but quickly recovered. Thoroughly intrigued by all this and hoping to gain some answers in return, he opted to reply.
"Yes. Though I do not know how you came upon this information, I am indeed working with the ASIC for the sake of the children. Using these Arfoire chips, I will make sure that no child will ever feel the sadness or resentment of being unable to play the games they want ever again!"
The ghost remained oddly silent at this as if it were contemplating something very deeply. After a long bout of silence, the ghost shifted ever so slightly again before speaking up. However, it's voice now sounded a lot more feminine and human than before.
"Looks like I get my second chance after all."
Oddly enough, Brave noted a large amount of both relief and regret conveyed in those words.
Before he could think too much about this though, the shimmer in the air moved again slightly before it suddenly seemed to expand. As Brave held up his sword and watched cautiously, the shimmer began to coalesce into a more solid form as a strange sound like a large electrical surge echoed from it. In a few seconds, the semi-transparent cloak disappeared entirely leaving behind a short human form standing half-hidden in the shadows.
"I guess it's a bit late to say this but... hello Brave. It's been a while."
Brave mostly ignored this strange greeting as he instead tried to figure out who exactly he was looking at. Though his enhanced vision allowed him to barely make out the person's face, he still had a hard time figuring out the identity of the vaguely familiar-looking person. A few moments later though, he finally managed to pull up a match from his internal database and outwardly expressed his surprise.
"You-!"
Hearing this, the girl let out a small laugh.
"Heh. Took you long enough to recognize me. Did my new look put you off?"
Once again, Brave ignored the comment as he instead settled back into his calm demeanor.
"I see. I suppose this answers quite a few questions then."
Taking on a more aggressive stance, he pointed his sword at the intruder once again.
"I assume you're here to try and kill me then, CPU Candidate Uni?"
Contrary to Brave's expectations, Uni - who's form was still mostly hidden in the shadows - shook her head.
"Hell no. I'm not going to repeat that mistake twice."
Brave was understandably confused by this bizarre response but kept up his guard and pressed on.
"Then what exactly are you here for?"
At this, Uni's veiled face seemed to give a faint smile.
In a move that left Brave thoroughly baffled, she extended out her hand towards him.
"I want you to join me Brave. Join me... in creating a new world order."