"Oh, my head! It hasn't hurt this bad since Nero punched me in the face with a fist the size of my house..." I said, slowly getting up. I then looked around at my fellow L'Cie to see they were unconscious and probably would be for a while. "Well, I'm not surprised. You're all lucky to be alive after that crash." I said. At that moment, a pack of the cougar things came from nowhere and attacked. The others weren't even close to waking up, so I had to defend them. "Fine. I'll take you all on!" I said, rushing in. I pulled out a katana and cut through them like a hot knife through butter, mixing in spells as well, keeping the punishment rolling. There were dozens of them coming, but I got so caught up in the bloodshed I stopped focusing. In a matter of seconds, they were all dead, but I wasn't satisfied yet. "YEAH! Give me more shit to kill! I want more death!" I said, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in my left hand and the L'Cie brand on my palm began glowing an orange-ish yellow and a giant summon circle appeared around my. "Oh, my gods, I think I'm tripping balls again!" I said while still groaning in pain.
Suddenly, the symbol moved across the ground just in front of me and a hooded figure, looking like the Grim Reaper, complete with a skull for a head under the hood and a giant scythe in both hands, stood in front of me as opposition. "What the hell? You look like my grandfather on my mother's side. A.K.A the god of death. I guess this universe has one, too." I said. Then, he raised one hand and I felt the grip of death around me and a timer appeared above my head. "Oh, shit." I said.
He then rushed in. I quickly used Steelguard and took my defensive stance, similar to Shadow's in the old Gameboy Advanced game Sonic Battle (for those of you that don't have that game, he crosses his arms in front of his face and crosses his fingers ). Once his assault ended, I rushed in with a mix of physical attacks and 'strike'-based magic (ex. Sparkstrike, Flamestrike, Aquastrike, etc.), then used power-up magics on myself and hit him with weakening magics, doing Steelguard again quickly before he could attack again. Right at the moment he did his last attack, I forced him back with a powerful counter and hit him with all the strongest magic attacks I knew (all of them). He finally submitted and began changing, turning into some strange type of manta ray dragon thing. I jumped on with the scythe in my hands and got an evil smirk on my face, my trench coat turning into a cloak with a hood, taking the scythe in my hands. "No one will be left alive." I said in a badass tone, then looked at the 4th wall. "By the way, for those of you who haven't figured it out yet, this is Deathgaze and for an idea of his Gestalt mode form, it's the Deathgaze summon from the Dissidia games. If you're too lazy to buy or play the games, Google it." I explained as I jumped down and returned to normal and Deathgaze disappeared into my brand.
The others woke up just in time to see me make Deathgaze submit and caught all the awesomeness of our transformation during Gestalt mode. "What was that?!" Hope asked.
"Whatever it was, I like it." I said.
"That thing looked like Death!" Sazh said.
"Well, you stole the fire monster, so I had to get the next thing clsest associated to me." I said.
"You beat that thing?! That was awesome!" Vanille said, grabbing onto one of my arms excitedly.
"Yeah. Good on you." Lightning said, putting one hand on my chest before walking off.
I chuckled at the hand, but then looked as she left. "Hey, where you going?" I asked.
"Yeah, what, no break?" Sazh asked, having just sat down, Vanille laying down as well.
"You just barely had one when you were passed out." I said.
"They're tracking us." She said.
"I know that! I know that, but WE aren't soldiers." Sazh said, pointing to all of us.
"I'm a soldier of fortune." I said, then looked at the 4th wall again. "Technically, the DMC office is a mercenary office." I explained.
"We don't have your kind of stamina." Sazh said.
"There's a word you don't hear people use often." I said.
"You've got enough to complain." Lightning said, looking over her shoulder at him.
"Oh, diss!" I said, laughing a bit.
"Oh, that's-" Sazh said, but then stuttered, fumbling with his words, before waving it off. "Forget it!" He said.
I stood there pondering for a moment. (Let's see... Going with Lightning will probably further the plot, but if I stay here, I'll be with Vanille. And I'm WAY more likely to score with her than with Lightning. Decisions, decisions.) I thought.
Suddenly, Hope walked in front of us. "I think..." He started, but we all caught his drift.
"I'd stick with her if I were you." Sazh said.
"Later, then." He said, taking off after her.
"Well... After much decision, I've decided I'm going with her, too. But don't worry, I'll still be right here." I said, looking at Vanille and pointing to my heart, then a small flame came from my chest, landing on the finger I was pointing with, making it look like a lighter, then I pointed to the ground and the flame fell off, expanding before it hit the ground and taking shape as two feet, which continued to form until there was another version of me standing with the group, only looking like he'd eaten a lot of carrots and oranges or got a good tan, as he was a light citrus color. "Good looking guy." I said, doing the two finger point thing to him, then waving. "Okay, later." I said, taking off after them.
"What in the world?" Sazh asked.
"I have A LOT of weird powers, man. Get used to it." 'I' said (that's the way you'll be able to tell the difference, the I in little apostrophes, 'I', so keep an eye out... That and depending which group we're with).
"That's cool!" Vanille said in awe, circling around 'me' excitedly, like a kid looking at a new pool or trampoline their dad set up (or something like that, you get the picture). "Now, come on, let's get going." She said.
"Uh... Where?" 'I' asked.
"Exactly. The whole of Cocoon's against us..." Sazh explained as Hope came to what looked like a giant engine and about to climb over it until I came up and stopped a few feet behind him, shooting just beneath his feet, scaring him into jumping over it.
"You've got superhuman powers now, use 'em!" I said, also easily jumping over it and landing beside him.
"No matter how far we run, there's no escape. That Cie'th clock? It's still a'tickin'." He explained.
"Well aren't you just the spittin' image o' cheery?" 'I' asked.
"There's still time. You give up too easy old man!" Vanille said, leaning inward to look at his face.
"Nail on the head." 'I' said, making a single hammering motion.
"I'm not givin' up. There's just some things that you can't change. Kids like you would understand." He said.
"I'll have you know I'm a full-fledged adult. 18, that is the official mark of adulthood. So there." I said.
"Not for drinking." He said.
"Never let that stop me in the past. Besides, they raised the drinking age to 25, so I doubt anyone still follows it out of anger." 'I' said.
[Well, that could've just been a rumor.]
Or it never passed. Honestly, who the HELL would pass such an evil bill or whatever like that?
"Yeah, I'm a kid, I don't understand." Vanille said either sarcastically or poutingly, turning away and crossing her arms.
'I' turned to the 4th wall at this moment. "You gotta give her credit, almost everything she does is cute." 'I' said.
"Well, I guess we can be fugitives together." Sazh said, stumbling a bit when he got up.
"I have tons of experience being a fugitive." 'I' said.
"That's not comforting." He replied.
"Hey, they were bogus charges each time." 'I' said defensively.
"You ready?" He asked.
"Yep, let's go." 'I' said.
"Ready!" Vanile said excitedly, pushing us both forward as we turned around.
We continued on for a small amount of time until the engine thing Hope and I jumped over suddenly rolled down and collapsed the bridge, preventing us from catching up to them the easy way. "Oh, come on! That's bullshit right there!" 'I' said angry and annoyed.
"End of the road." Sazh said.
"At least it's not the end of the line." Vanille said optimistically.
Randomly placed flashback...
It was two nights before the purge happened and it appeared to be a big beach party/firework event with everybody cheering and enjoying them. Suddenly, we see Vanille walking through the crowds of people, appearing as if she was looking for someone. However, she then stopped and enjoyed the fireworks, before doing the thing with her hands that I guess is praying, making a wish upon the star. We also see that not very far away, Lightning is also looking up at the fireworks, looking somewhat surprised more than anything. Suddenly, a taller, heavier-set guy who had a uniform similar to hers on walked up behind her off to her left a little. "You look dreamy, Farron." He said. Then looked up at the fireworks. "wishing on fireworks, were ya?" He asked, before looking back at her and laughing a bit. "And you call yourself a soldier." He said, although it sounded joking rather than serious.
She let out a small chuckle and did some form of solute. "Sorry, Liutenant. But I really don't think guard duty is my calling, sir." She said, bowing at the end (Wow, either she's a total kiss-ass or these guys get top-notch respect).
"Well, lucky for you, your shift just ended." He said, pushing her head up with his finger. "Pack it up and go home." He said, looking back at the fireworks (man, I wish my boss was that nice. I thought these soldiers were supposed to be stone cold).
"But, sir..." She started.
"PSICOM found something in the vestige nearby. They don't want the Guardian Corps here stepping on their toes." He explained, then scoffed a bit. "I'm sure you heard about the accident at the Euride Gorge energy plant. And now it has the PSICOM lads in a tizzy." He finished.
"Yeah. More INCIDENT than accident. Something Pulse related?" She said, looking to see if her info was accurate.
He chuckled, then looked between the fireworks and her. "Your taking tomorrow off?" He asked.
"Sir. For my birthday, sir. My sister, she insisted on it." She explained.
"21, huh? Maybe it's a good time to send off that letter of recommendation for officer training." He said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
She looked at him, shocked at this. "Lieutenant..." She said.
"You're pass-due for a promotion, Farron. Think of your sister. And your future. And, uh... Keep your nose out of trouble." He said, turning back to the fireworks.
"Out of PSICOM business, you mean." She said.
"Yeah, nothing good'll come of it. Nothing but grief." He said, then turned his attention back to the fireworks for the final time, clearly fixated on them, stepping forward and pointing to them. "Whoa, look at that!" He said.
Back with us...
"How right you were, Lieutenant." She said.
"Oh, it was your birthday a couple days ago? Happy late birthday. Finally at the drinking age. In my world, anyway, don't know about this one." I said, handing her a beer.
She was about to take it when Hope caught back up. "Just you?" She asked.
"For now, I guess. Should we wait?" He asked.
"They'll be fine. But what the hell took you so long?" I asked.
"They'll catch up. Eventually." She said, continuing onward.
"All the junk around here came from Pulse, didn't it?" Hope asked.
"Jeez, Pulse must be a giant scrap heap or something." I said. We then encountered a group of creatures similar to the cougar things, but they were green and way weirder looking. "Man, this is gonna be Bladecorp's best fiscal/production year EVER when I get back home!" I said, collecting a couple of the creatures after we killed them.
"Bladecorp?" Lightning and Hope asked together.
"It's my families company. We're a military contracted industry to make weapons, vehicles, cyborgs... Basically everything that could aid the military, as well as offering our own services for discreet, covert missions so America can't be tied to any major attacks. We're like a good version of LexCorp and Oscorp." I explained.
"Impressive." Lightning said.
"Yeah, you guys must be geniuses." Hope said.
"Mostly my brother. He has the intelligence of 20 super-computers. He builds and tests all the stuff. He can pretty much make anything, it's a wonder he hasn't out-competed any other company yet." I explained. We continued on, killed some robots, then encountered one new type of robot, with a weird coiled up hand. "Alright, more money!" I said and attacked, but once we had it staggering, it stopped and opened up its core, not at all moving. "This... This is it? This thing's useless! The military gets ONE of these things, they'd ask for their money back!" I said, disappointed, destroying it, walking off. "Stupid Pulsework Droid." I said, shaking my head.
We then jumped into a giant little chasm I guess you'd call it, which I had fun jumping down, but then Hope noticed something. "Dead end. Guess we have to go back." He said.
"Not quite, we can jump up that big ledge there." I said.
"Can we get through that way, you think?" He asked.
"I can. Worse case scenario I have to give you a piggyback ride to get up and carry Lightning up bridal style." I said.
[That... Is NOT a bad idea.]
Yeah, I want to do it that way, let's go!
"You know where you're going, right?" He asked Lightning.
"I've... Been here on missions before." She said.
"Missions. Nothing to do with the purge, though?" He asked.
"The purge is PSICOM's baby." She said, climbing the wall a bit. "Our military is split into two arms: the Public Security and Intelligence Command, known as PSICOM and the Guardian Corps. I was Guardian Corps, Bodhum security regiment." She explained.
"Helluva lot simpler than OUR military. Back in America, we've got all sorts of stuff: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Special Forces, all sorts of branches within branches, it's crazy." I said.
"Wait, I don't get it. If you're not PSICOM, then why did you board the train?" He asked.
"Haven't we already gone over this 5 times?" I asked.
"For Serah." She explained.
Another Flashback, less random...
The purge was happening, everyone getting forced onto trains, at least 5 soldiers having their eyes on me at all times due to the little incident beforehand. "Join the end of the line!" One soldier instructed a civilian, who was led to some type of booth or machine, another person coming out the other end, now wearing one of the robes they made us wear. "Attention purge deportees, Follow instructions and STAY in your lines! Personal belongings will be returned upon arrival." He explained.
Suddenly a bunch of soldiers aimed their guns at two fleeing civilians. They ordered them to halt, but they would. Just before they could fire, however, each was taken down and killed by a knife to the back of the neck. Everyone looked at me as I was still in the pose from when I threw the knives, but then I shrugged. "Whoops. Sorry." I said, but everyone was still staring and a few more guards got closer and aimed their guns right at my face. "What?!" I asked, annoyed.
"DO NOT leave your lines! This is for your own safety!" The soldier previously giving orders continued, but now we see Lightning walking up to one of the soldiers.
He looked confused, looking her over before speaking. "What's the GC doing here?" He asked.
"GC? Is that anything like DC, the comic company?" I asked after the soldiers calmed down and backed off.
"This op's under PSICOM direction." He explained.
"So direct me. Let me on. I wanna be purged." She said.
"Uh..." He said, but then leaned in and whispered a bit. "Only civ's get purged. Sanctum staff and soldiers are exempt." He explained.
She then unsheathed her gunblade and handed it to him. "Then I quit." She said.
He grumbled a bit, but then took the tough tone he had with the civilians. "Line up!" He ordered. She did so and got behind me in my line. (I picked the right train.) I thought.
Sazh, who was in line for another train, sneakily got in line behind her. "'Scuse me." He said, but got no reaction. "Ey, Lady, what gives?" He asked.
"I volunteered." She said.
"Really? You don't look ready to go quiet into that good night." He said.
"That makes two of us." I said under my breath.
"You want quiet, you better take the next train." She said as we were loaded onto the train.
Oh, shit's about to get real!
[This chick has to have a plan. Probably better than ours.]
(I highly doubt there's a better plan than mine. Mine involves killing every single soldier on the train and getting out of here.) I said in my mind to ~the voices inside o' my head~.
Sazh chuckled at this. "Well, now I really wanna see what you're up to." He said, following us onto the train.
(You and me both, pal. This is gonna be good.) I thought.
"I had to rescue Serah before they transported the vestige to Pulse. And out of my reach. My only option was to join the purge." She explained as the flashback continued.
End flashback...
"You're telling me you got on that train to save your sister?" Hope asked.
"Wow. Talk about dedication to your family. It's my turn to be impressed." I said.
"That's crazy. I could never do something like that." He said.
"Some people just have nerves of steal and absolutely nothing to fear. In fact, both me and my brother reached this conclusion: There's really nothing to be afraid of. Anything you could be afraid of is inevitable: Fear of bugs or spiders, they're everywhere, so what? Fear of pain, no matter what you do, you will never make it through a single day without some form of pain. Fear of dying, we all gotta go at some point, it's gonna happen, so get over it." I said.
"Wow. That's cool." He said.
"Interesting theory." She said to me, then looked at Hope. "It's not a question of can or can't. There are somethings in life you just do." She said.
"Easy for someone like you to say." He said.
"Oh, suck it up, kid, it's only gonna go downhill from here. Just like Yamcha." I said.
"I don't know what this Yamcha is, but it sounds disappointing." Lightning said.
"He is." I said as we started to climb the cliff wall.
"Lightning, Sai!" Hope said, reaching out to us.
"Are you coming or what?" I asked as we reached the top.
"I can't climb that like you guys did!" He said.
"Well then, you're stuck here. Good luck with that." I said, walking away, catching back up with Lightning, who didn't stop.
"They left me..." He said.
Back with the others...
Sazh and 'I' were looking around while Vanille started to climb up some what I'm gonna call ledges/giant stair steps from the look of them. "1,2,3, up we go!" She said as she lifted herself up enough to climb over.
"Oh, what's a'goin' on?" 'I' asked, looking over to see her ass sticking out. "Whoa, I like-" 'I' said watching until the bird from Sazh's afro flew into 'my' face to block 'my' view. "AGH, YOU GODS-DAMNED BIRD!" 'I' shouted, firing all kinds of spells at it with Sazh trying to make 'me' stop.