Author's Notes:
Hmm… Not much attention to this story at the moment, but 'ey, it's only been a couple of days. I just hope it garners just a tad more attention than it is at the moment…
Disclaimer:
Iji belongs to Daniel Remar and his company, Remar Games. I claim no ownership to it, or any references found within this story.
Iji: Demimortal
Chapter 3: The Tasen
Iji Soundtrack: Make Your Mind Up
"Alright, let's get you out of there," Dan's voice spoke through the microphone on the nearby wall, pointedly ignoring Satuxim's presence. "You'll see those logbooks scattered throughout the sectors, written by the Tasen; I've cracked some of them to be readable. Do through them if you want, some'll probably contain some important information." Iji nodded, and continued with her walk, as did Satuxim. A couple of minutes later, they came by a rather tall ledge; nine feet, at least. Iji tried jumping up to it and, rather startlingly, found herself jumping just high enough to grab on, and push herself upwards. Satuxim followed suit, though he didn't really jump as much as he made use of his wings to fly up there. "Well, looks like you're suddenly able to jump more than twice a normal human's maximum," Satuxim idly pointed out. "Those Nanomachines sure can do a lot, huh?" Iji nodded again, saying, "Hm. I wonder what else I can do with these, now…"
A few more minute's-worth of walking, and they came by a set of multi-colored crates. Jumping on to the first set and peering over, Iji let out a soft gasp; a human-like entity in grey armor, with a green helmet and a visor with it, as well as leggings of both colors, and equipped with what appeared to be a Machinegun, was walking around, likely patrolling it's assigned area. "Tasen!" Iji whispered to Satuxim, at little scared. "Shh," Satuxim hushed, "it might hear us. Let's see if we can't skip past it, hm?" Iji nodded in affirmation, and once it's back was turned on them, Satuxim motioned, 'Three… Two… One…' a pointed finger was shot out, and they ran to the nearest crate as quietly as they possibly could, crouching behind it when they got there. The Tasen that was scouting suddenly whirled around, perhaps calling some sort of warning for any intruder to come out, but, getting no response, and seeing no-one there, continued walking around, mumbling to itself.
Satuxim gave the signal again when he felt the Tasen was sufficiently distracted, and the two ran again; this time, however, they were not so lucky. The alien spun around fast enough, and, noticing the two this time, pulled the trigger on his gun, yelling what sounded suspiciously like a "Hey!" to Satuxim. The Tasen held the trigger down, and dozens of bullets immediately emerged from the barrel at a lethal velocity. Iji dove for cover at the other side of the crates first, and Satuxim came second. Iji glanced at Satuxim, worried, and noticed a hole in his tabard that wasn't there before, on his shoulder. Iji dived her head in to get a closer look, only to find that, strangely enough, that was only it; a hole in his clothes. The skin underneath appeared to be just fine. "Oh, no need to worry about lil' old me, Iji. I'm a bit more of a survivalist that you would first think," he said, evidently a bit amused at Iji's mixed concern, surprise, and curiosity.
"Anyways, we should keep on going. There's still more ground to cover, and that Tasen probably is not pleased that we managed to get away from her." "Her?" Iji inquired. "How can you tell?" "Magic is capable of a lot of things, Iji. You'd be surprised, I can guarantee you that much." Satuxim got up, as did Iji, and the two resumed their less than pleasant walk.
Coming over to a table, Iji noticed a couple of peculiar things on it; a red orb, a green orb, and two cyan orbs of different sizes. "Iji, those are Nanofields. The green one restores your armor, and the red one heals you. The two blue ones give you Nano, which you can use to increase your Stats." "Stats? What is this, some sort of video game?" Satuxim joked, hoping to ease the tension a little bit. Dan simply ignored his comment, saying, "Health increases the amount of hits you can take before dying." Iji flinched, just a little, but Satuxim noticed, "Attack… Well, increases the damage you can do with your Nanoweapons. Assimilate lets you hold on to more ammunition, and increases the Armor and Health repaired by Nanofields. Strength increases the power of your kicks. Crack lets you hack into more Nano-powered electronics. Tasen lets you use more Nanoweapons made by the Tasen, and the same applies to Komato. The blue Nanofields in front of you should be just enough to Level-Up once, letting you spend a point on one of those Stats." Satuxim merely said, again, "Totally not a video game!" Dan, growing irritated, practically yelled at Satuxim, "Shut up, Satuxim, no-one cares!" "I care, and so does Iji~!" he said in a sing-song voice, hoping to keep on raising Dan's level of irritance. Unbeknownst to the both of them, Iji moved on, being mildly amused by their banter. Grabbing the Nanofields, she walked over to the terminals on the wall, and selected 'HE'. Iji suddenly felt just a little bit more sure of herself.
Satuxim, eventually noticing Iji had walked on without him, teleported over to her side, saying, "Well, a good choice, I suppose. I mean, I'd go for Tasen or Komato, because you'd never know what those weapons'd actually be capable of, but hey, just my opinion." Iji jumped at his sudden appearance, but, getting used to his abilities quickly, then looked hesitant to move on, but she shrugged the feeling off and kept on moving. The two came to what appeared to be an elevator, which had glowing greens circuits across it's black surface. "Sigh… Iji, that's a Tasen elevator. Just step on, and it'll take you down…" Dan said, trying to calm himself from Satuxim's intended harassment. Satuxim himself merely snickered.
The two did as instructed, and it gently began to go down. Upon stopping, Satuxim noticed another one of the Security Doors. "Allow me," Satuxim said, attempting to play the gentleman, walking over to the Door and kicking it down. He noticed two more red Nanofields, and what appeared to be a couple of piles and bullets, and large, blue, circular casings. He could tell at a glance that the blue ones were very, very explosive. "Hey, Iji, come check this out," he exclaimed. Iji did as he asked, and walking over to the bullets first, she picked them up put them in a slot on the Nanogun. They all fit right in, as if they were meant to be put there. "Well, I guess you found where the ammo goes," he said. Just then, the place where Iji was putting the bullets in was covered up, and some text appeared on the casing: 'Machinegun ammo full,' it read. "Not many bullets for what is evidently supposed to be a rapid-fire weapon, but there's the use of Assimilate, I suppose. Now, Iji, careful with those blue ones. They're extremely volatile," he cautioned her. Iji walked over and, very gently, picked up the spheres and put them in another slot in the Nanogun. Six in total were collected. "Judging by their extreme explosiveness, I'd say that they're going to be put to use in a very powerful weapon. Just you watch." Iji nodded, not really listening, as she was trying to be careful with the shells that she was in the process of picking up.
Walking to the other side of the room, they both noticed a machine with a white, mist-like projection flaring up from it. "Okay, I think that you're all ready to move out," he said. "Um… Dan? Satuxim?" Iji asked, a little sheepish. "Yeah?" They both asked simultaneously. "… How many Tasen do you think we'll have to go through to get to the Tasens' leader? I really don't want to fight any of them…" Satuxim sighed, and said, sagely, "Iji... Violence is a force that should only be used when absolutely necessary. If whenever possible, don't fight. With any luck, we won't have to get into a situation that absolutely requires it on a living being." Iji, though uncertain of the legitimacy of his words, shakily nodded, and took a deep breath. "It's like Satuxim says, even if I don't like him. If you don't want to fight, then don't fight. But if you have to, then don't hesitate. If the time comes, just act." Satuxim gasped a little at that statement. "Those words… Hah… Just like Wolf…" "What's wrong, Satuxim?" Iji asked, wndering why he just made that sudden inhale. "Ah… It's nothing. He just reminded me of a friend, that's all. Anyways, that's probably a teleporter, judging by how there's no place left to go. I suppose I'll go first…" he said, then walked into the mist. A bright flash, and he was no longer standing there. Iji, though clearly nervous, walked into it as well, and then she disappeared, as well…