Chapter 20: Caught
John Call stormed into his office, folding his umbrella under his arm. It was bad enough that he had to fly half way around the county to talk with the President on demand, but then the weather here was always bad. Hoping that the news would be better upon arriving at his office, John Call, the CEO and founder of DreamLand sat down at his desk and began to overlook the newest reports concerning the newest expansions in DreamLand.
Five minutes into reading the new files, a knock came at his door. With a brisk, "Come in," the door opened to admit Todd Jacobs, the head of operations inside of DreamLand.
"Hello John," Todd said, "I'm afraid that there have been a few problems inside of the system since you've been gone."
John's interest perked up, "Oh? Problems?" he asked, not liking the sound of that. Most petty operational problems were not brought to the CEO's attention, but John Call had created DreamLand…
"The SeeDs from Balamb Garden have disappeared from our sensors. We're not sure where they are."
"Okay, that's not overly serious. I take it that there is something more pressing that you have for me?"
"Yes, it seems Hyrule's Ta'veren has left his world, apparently on his own free will."
"What?" John asked, shocked, "How? They aren't programmed to leave their areas! That's not even possible!"
"It would appear that their coding has evolved to allow such a thing to take place, because it has happened. Also, Cao Cao from the Three Kingdoms China has disappeared. We're not sure who was responsible for that, but we think that it is a small group of immensely powerful people. So far, all of the users inside of the system powerful enough to pull off such a kidnapping are not in any one clan. They're spread out, but we have a list of them together just in case we find a connection between them."
John groaned, Ta'veren missing out of their home worlds was not a good thing. It threw off the balance of power inside of the World of Dreams.
"How are the conditions inside of those realms?"
Todd shrugged, "China is not bad as of yet. I don't think that the lords of Wu and Shu have noticed Cao Cao's absence yet, but that is sure to change. As for Hyrule, things are bad. After the Hero of Time left the realm, an army of Trollocs came through the Stargate and destroyed most of Hyrule proper. They are lead by a user named Wicked, which is unusual in that…"
"Trollocs attack users on sight," John said dryly, "Yes I know. Can't you just delete the user from the system?" he asked irritated. The administrators should have spotted that a long time ago and dealt with it. Why where they bringing this to his attention now?
"Well yes, sir, we tried that. He can't be kicked or banned from the servers. We tried, but it seems that some immensely powerful program inside of DreamLand is protecting him. There's nothing our usual administrators can do. In addition to burning Hyrule to the ground, he and his army of Trollocs have broken Gannondorf out of the Sacred Realm…"
John sat straight up, "What!?"
"I know sir, I know, it looks pretty bad…"
"BAD?" John shouted, "This is a disaster! What are we going to tell people when they want to visit virtual Hyrule? That it's been turned into a deathtrap or turned to ash?! We can't just go fix it you know!"
"Yes sir, I know that, but there is good news," Todd said quickly, interrupting his angry boss.
"I'm all ears," John said, hoping that this was, for Todd Jacob's sake, very good news.
Larry cracked he eyes open, back inside of DreamLand. He was sitting slouched at a desk surrounded by white walls. Sitting across the desk from him sat one of the Agents he had seen at the Lon Lon Ranch. Agent Tabb, if Larry remembered right.
"User Harrod, nice of you to join us," Agent Tabb said smugly, "I've been waiting to talk to you."
"Choke on it," Larry growled.
"Your hostile threats will get you no where, all I simply wish to do is ask you a few questions. That is all. Then we will see that you are released."
Larry remained silent; instead he glared at the bland white colored wall behind Agent Tabb's head.
"Very well, I'll just start asking you questions then. Why did you attempt to remove the Ta'veren program titled the 'Hero of Time" from the area designated as 'Hyrule'?" Agent Tabb asked.
Larry did not reply and did not even open his mouth, just continued to stare at the wall just to the side of the Agent's head. Agent Tabb sighed slightly and stood up before he leaned over the table and put his fist firmly into Larry's face.
"You presume that you have rights here, but you are most mistaken. You have no rights here, because this is my world now."
"Don't presume too much," John Call said as he entered the room, "You do not own this world, program. I do."
"Of course, creator," Agent Tabb said, "I was merely…"
"I know. I wrote your programming, remember?"
"I am aware."
John Call turned away from his minion and toward Larry, "Well, I figured our paths would cross again," he said to Larry, "I just hoped it wouldn't be on the other end of an administrative duty."
"Why am I here?" Larry asked, more willing to talk now that the actual creator of DreamLand, not a mere program.
"You are here because you broke one of the rules of DreamLand, that you promised to up hold before you decided to enter this world," John said, "You have removed a Ta'veren from their world. The Hero of Time keeps balance between good and evil in his world, and most worlds have a key person or group of people like this, and it is illegal to remove them from those worlds because of the danger that will result."
"A danger to who?" Larry asked, "As far as I'm concerned, this whole world is dangerous. One of my friends is in a coma, thanks to this wonderful invention of yours."
John didn't show any reaction to that statement, instead he said, "A slight problem with the system. Your friend will be fine. Now why did you remove the Hero of Time from Hyrule? Placing it and anybody near it in mortal danger."
Larry was reluctant, but he had a number of questions that he was sure that the administrator of DreamLand would be able to answer so he began to explain, "One of friends left us on Nar Shaddaa with this final message," he began and proceeded to explain the whole story, from Allied's message to their traveling inside of Hyrule and their encounters with the God Killers, to the attack by the Agents and Delaine's coma.
"That fool Allied is a liar," John Call snarled at the conclusion of his story, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but all you have done is endanger a lot of users and NPCs needlessly. But since you have done this with faulty information, I will let you go back into the DreamLand so long as you return the Hero of Time to his proper place. He may yet be able to undo the things that you have done."
Larry thought that over, and then something occurred to him, "That would be great, but there is just one problem."
"Oh?" John Call said with a raised eyebrow.
"I never told you Allied's name."
John was silent and trying to come up with an excuse, but Larry could already sense that he had found truth. He did not need the Force to tell him that.
"You are the one that the God Killers are trying to kill, aren't you? And the one that Allied warned me about, the reason I need to gather the other Ta'veren. It's to stop you."
John smiled coldly, "Very good, Ta'veren. You're very insightful. I told you that I wanted your help, but it seems that your path is destined to make you a sacrifice and not a savior. Too bad.
"I'm afraid that your condition will be far worse then that of your friend, when you are found. For you see, I cannot allow you to…"
He was cut off as the whole room shook. With a questioning look he turned to Agent Tabb, who had been standing in the corner, silent.
"Find out what that was," John ordered, "Quickly."
The Agent nodded its head slightly and walked toward the door, but just as he was about to open the door, it exploded into the room with a loud crack of wood. The Agent flew backwards and slammed up against the far wall.
Men and women dressed in blue uniforms swarmed into the room wielding an assortment of different weaponry. John reacted immediately, striking the first man through in the face hard enough that Larry heard the man's neck break and he crumpled into a heap. By then, the Agent had regained its ground and was starting to open fire on the swarm of attacking soldiers.
He only got a few rounds off before a trench cloaked man wearing a cowboy hat that Larry recognized blew the Agent away with the shotgun that he carried. The Agent dissolved into thin air and Irvine Kinneas then shifted his aim and began open fire on John Call, who was surrounded by a sea of Irvine's soldiers now. Larry had taken cover underneath the desk that was in the center of the room, but he knew it was only a temporary refuge. These people must be SeeDs, because of their uniform and because of who led them, and the last time Larry had seen SeeDs they had been trying to kill him.
Of course, as luck would have it, the desk did not remain a good hiding place for long. The room began to change from a dull white-washed room into something larger and more expansive. In fact, it just seemed to be a linear plane, with no landmarks or features. And the desk disappeared, leaving only John Call, Larry, and a small army of SeeDs.
The SeeDs, however, had not taken any notice of Larry but were intently attacking John. Every time a bullet would fly near John or a sword be swung at him, it bounced off as though it had struck an invisible barrier. What was even more unnatural about that was that it happened in silence, as though the bullets and the force behind them were sucked into a black hole.
With a cry of "Traitor!" several of the SeeDs charged at once, but with a wave of his hand all of them were torn limb from limb, ending their charge in a bloody scream of pain. Larry was trying to find a way out of the 'room' when something hit him in the back of his head. Looking down at his feet while he rubbed the back of his head, he realized it was his lightsaber.
More and more SeeDs died, until eventually Irvine was the only one left his face grim. He kept firing from the hip again and again until finally, the shotgun just clicked every time he pulled the trigger. John walked forward, a calm expression on his face. Irvine just stared at the man with blank eyes until John struck out with his open hand, and severed Irvine's head from his body. The cowboy toppled to the ground, and disappeared.
John stared at the spot where Irvine had died for a couple moments, his jaw working silently. Larry ignited his lightsaber, and the purple blade lighting up the space around him. John turned to Larry and frowned.
"How did you get that?" he asked, and then shrugged, "No matter, you won't survive long enough…"
Suddenly somebody materialized behind John and lashed out with a blue gunblade, similar to the one Allied used to use, but a different color. Larry recognized the man as the leader of the SeeDs, Squall Leonhart. His blue colored blade lashed out and struck John Call in the back, and he cried out in pain.
Spinning around John managed to block another strike by Squall, and the gunblade disappeared from Squall's hands. Larry took that opportunity to plunge his lightsaber into John's back. The creator of DreamLand cried out and then disappeared from the room.
Squall stared at Larry with a blank look on his face, and then gave a quick nod and what might have been a salute before the floor underneath Larry and Squall became engulfed in flames and disappeared, and the two fell into an abyss.
