Translator
"So, this is what videogames are like, nowadays?" iX asked, sitting next to Jin in the latter's room. A console sat ahead of them, with a controller in iX's hand. He was barely aware of their never ending progression, but never really had the time to try the latest or any model for that matter out.
Jin hearing this, dragged him to the console that Blade must have bought for him. How else he would have afforded such a machine in the slums, something iX can't figure out otherwise.
The game Jin had booted up, was something called Gal Gun? The fans must have liked the games, because this said it was a remaster, of a remaster, which was remastered, one hundred years ago.
At the moment, the player character, made in Jin's likeness because he took about 30 minutes making sure it was just right. Was now standing in front of a school gate with a high tech winged gun held in their left hand. Why was that? Because something, something, love and-
Yeah, iX wasn't sure why. Jin just skipping cutscenes to get to the gameplay quicker didn't help.
"You move the joystick to move, you press the left trigger to aim, the right trigger to fire-"
"Why are there two triggers on this gun?" iX asked with curiosity, "Wouldn't one be easier?"
"No, for the controller, you press the left one to aim."
"Why doesn't this...Jin (yes, the character has the same name) just aim normally, why does he have to press a button?"
iX did not understand this in the slightest. How was Jin (the character) able to survive so many projectiles when hit? How come girls are shooting him with literal verbal attacks and why are they trying to step on or hug him if they get too close? What kind of shooting game is this? In the end, he folded and handed the controller over to Jin. Looking for the boxart to see if this truly was a game that someone his age could casually play. However he turned back upon hearing Jin shout.
"It's easy! See?" the boy told him, as his character started doing various trick shots that mow down the hordes of girls coming his way. Once none were left, the character moved further into the school, upon which the changing of surroundings caused more girls to appear and be shot at.
"This still doesn't make sense."
"Would you rather do this, or.." and now Jin gained a knowing smile. "Practice self defense with me?" he countered, with iX knowing he truly meant getting to try out the gun range or learning some martial arts move, something iX has repeatedly refused to do, but made an exception for with Kohaku which Jin thought was unfair.
"I'll try one more time." iX replied instead, while he wasn't eager to teach anything violent to anyone, at least Kohaku had the excuse that she's been in dangerous situations before so all the better she learns more to better survive them then hope she never ends up in one ever again.
He didn't need to glance back to see that Jin was pouting. Instead he changes the subject by asking more about the game, "So, are we trying to infiltrate the school for something?"
"We're trying to reach the rooftop," Jin answered handing the controller back to iX. He seemed to have gotten it down, figuring out how to shoot at weak points now.
"Any bombs or grenades I can use?"
"No," Jin told him as he was starting to get overwhelmed again. Demonic head creatures summoned somehow by the girls were starting to fly around and bullet spam the entire screen, their designs looked a bit like Lola's pod form but iX was too focused struggling to take much note of it.
"How irresponsible, if he knows he's entering hostile terrain. He should at least have something to thin the crowd down. To rely on only one weapon is foolishness. Isn't there anything else I can do?"
"Oh, actually.." taking back the controller, Jin aimed at a specific girl and pressed some combination of buttons. Suddenly the words 'Doki Doki Mode!' appeared on the screen and…
"Jin…" iX's voice turned a bit darker. "What am I looking at?"
"Doki Doki Mode?" Jin answered obliviously, as if the surroundings haven't turned all pink, as if the girl he aimed at wasn't put in a suggestive pose and he was now tapping all around her body in order to fill a gauge that's blatantly called 'Euphoria'. An act to which said girl lets out moans to.
"Fine, let's go learn self defense." iX relented. Earlier he was dead set on saying no. But if the alternative was Jin making him play ridiculous games then the decision became easier. They were outside in the yard in a matter of minutes, with iX adjusting Jin's posture. The browned hair boy looked very excited, perhaps he did share some like for cool things like Kyota after all.
"Remember, the goal of 'self defense' is to restrain or eliminate your enemy as quickly as possible." Perhaps he could've taught the boy some other martial style, if he didn't have only the one. Which honestly never failed him. "So, no flashy kicks and flips. Only precise strikes."
He went to the opposite side of Jin, before assuming his position. Jin became confused for a second before iX told him. "Attack me."
"W-what Mr iX?"
"Attack me."
"...Ok…"
Cautiously, Jin approached him slowly, not that much confidence in him whatsoever. Once he was close enough, he threw a punch at iX aiming for the gut. The latter quickly sidestepped before grabbing his arm. He then swept his legs, and as Jin fell, iX flipped him over. He landed on the ground face first, as iX restrained his arms.
"Owww!"
"I said attack me, I never said I wasn't going to protect myself."
"A warning would have been nice."
"Perhaps, but what do you think you did wrong?"
Jin thought about it for a moment, going through his previous actions. He had approached iX slowly, getting close enough to punch him. He thought he had an answer, but it seemed too simple. Unsure he answered, "I gave you too much time to prepare?"
"Yes, you were hesitant and wasted time. It messed with your nerves and allowed me to take advantage. You need to think and act quicker."
He let go of Jin then, allowing him to stand back up. iX went back into position and took his stance. Jin did the same, ignoring the slight sting on his face. Taking note of what he learned, he acted quicker that time. Rapidly he ran up to iX and threw a kick. iX grabbed his leg and instead threw him away. He landed on the ground hard, before iX then restrained him again.
"This time?" iX asked. Voice calm and repressing any tinge of guilt he felt from giving someone so young a scrap or two, but it's how he was taught as well when he was the latter's age and one does not break what does not need fixing. Coddling the other would only make things inefficient.
"Uh… I rushed in?" Jin guessed.
"Exactly, there's a fine line between rushing in unprepared and taking too long to act. You need to learn where that line is."
iX let go of him again, walking back into position and taking a stance. Jin, would slowly do the same, and get ready. He took a quick breath as he thought out his first move. iX was out of arms reach, but close enough to see what Jin would do. Soon enough he remembered something. Both times iX had grabbed him. Not blocked or punched but grabbed.
More than likely, he would grab again, so he thought of a way around this. He approached iX, keeping him in sight. Acting fast he threw a feint punch at iX. As predicted iX would attempt to grab him again, so Jin sidestepped. He then kicked iX in the gut before he could react.
His face lit up in a smile when he realized he had hit him. Then he found his face hitting the concrete again, with iX restraining him.
"Good, you're learning," iX commented, pride slipping out of his voice.
"I still ended up losing," Jin replied downtrodden.
"Winning wasn't the point. This is training remember, you're not expected to do everything perfectly. The important thing is that you're able to learn from this, which you are. Just remember, living past the encounter so you can head home is all that matters here, got it?"
"Oh, ok. Thanks, da-Mr iX."
"You're welcome. Now, return to position, I want you to try again" iX told him.
With a smile returning to his face, Jin replied, "Got it" and prepared to go again.
Yeah, no, this was a mistake iX realized, as Kyota held down the trigger on the minigun. He had already gone through several boxes worth of ammo, and he wasn't stopping. The kid just had to ask if he could try some guns, and iX, in his infinite wisdom, said yes. He was only glad the kid couldn't hold the gun and that it had to be mounted. Yet he could already feel it in his resources.
But the kid couldn't stop smiling. He hadn't hit anything, but he was just so excited about it. Soon though the minigun ran out of ammo, and the firing range became quiet, or as quiet as one could be.
"Aw, it's over already?" Kyota said sadly, looking over at iX. He couldn't help but chuckle before he had the kid walk away from the minigun. They would approach a new aisle, where iX would bring out a pistol. Kyota would step up, and iX held out the pistol, one similar to his own. "Now, remember what I taught you?" he waited expectantly as the kid recited his previous lessons.
"Keep my finger off the trigger, don't aim at anyone, and always check the chamber," Kyota replied, happy with himself that he remembered.
"Good, now this is where you'll start today, a Photon semi-automatic pistol. It's chambered in nine-millimeter, with a standard energy core instead of magazine. Now, that means it will fire one laser every time you pull the trigger. However if you hold it, the lasers will keep spouting forth as if it was an automatic weapon all along, though at the risk of overheating. Got it?"
"Got it," Kyota answered. Then with iX's approval, he would take aim at the targets. Before he fired, iX would adjust his hold and posture only slightly. Then with iX behind him, he went through what he'd been taught and pulled the trigger. The first shot fired and scorched the left of the target. He pulled it again adjusting his aim, and it hit to the right of the target. Another adjustment, and the third hit dead center, with the rest of the rounds hitting close to the center.
He wasn't the best, some of his shots were still off, but he seemed to catch on remarkably fast. iX couldn't help but applaud that, especially when the kid got to see where he hit. It reminded him of himself, back when he was… training… with… He shook the thoughts out of his head, now was not the time for it. And Kyota was excitedly asking if he could go again.
This time, they swapped guns, as iX gave him an Energy Rifle (set to stun). It was a bit big for the kid's size, so he had to rest it on a bipod to keep it stable. He ran through the basics, and the kid did the rest. His first shots were yet again inaccurate, but the last ones hit the center. So, they went to go get another gun. Kyota followed iX around the armory when he saw something.
"Hey, bro?" he asked. iX looked over at him, as Kyota pointed at the gun.
"Can I try this one?" Looking over, iX picked the gun up carefully. His first thought was what it was doing in the armory? Then again it seemed to be perfect for the kid to try.
"Sure," iX replied before they walked back over to the range. There, iX held out the gun, to break down the differences between the others.
"This," iX began, "is a FW-005 pistol, also known as the Dart Leader. It has about seven shots, and you have to manually reload every dart into the gun once you run out."
He gave him the gun then, and Kyota ran through the basics again. He fired, and the bullet hit dead center, along with the second and third. The final four, however, drifted off to the sides and hit slightly off.
"Not bad," iX told him as Kyota handed him the pistol. iX thought about teaching Kyota more about the dartgun, but then a certain someone came to mind, or rather a certain technique said someone would follow up with. Yeah, no on second thought it might be best to leave it be.
"Teach me how to fight as well."
Maria looked at iX with stern eyes, ready to turn them big and pleading if he dared say no. Yet somehow he was failing to do so even without them. It had taken hours of repeated demands, days of passive aggressive gestures, and even trying to sick Lola on him, and in the end, she got what she wanted. He couldn't help but feel ashamed for it, being played by a child felt wrong. Still he effortlessly caught the first punch she threw at him, and did NOT restrain her afterwards.
Call it cliché but Kyota and Jin are boys and can handle a bit of rough housing, to do the same thing to a little girl whose got a high chance of blurting tears if he did so...it was simply far too risky.
It was easy to see that her punch was not thrown well. Her thumb was inside her fist, her posture was crooked and wrong, and where the fist was aiming would have broken her fingers had he not put on big and soft gloves on his very durable hands. As he corrected her, iX couldn't help but feel like he was training child soldiers, sure, he knew deep down that he was simply increasing their odds of surviving against any opponent that may come their way. (Be it bandits, more death squads, etc) But part of him still felt like he was doing something legitimately wrong, still he continued.
Because they asked him to, because Maria is deeply focused and he cannot look at that kind of concentration and dismiss it as kids just trying to play games. Perhaps he's overthinking it, but he can't help but see a part of himself in those efforts. To become someone capable, someone strong, someone that one day can protect those they care about with their own hands instead of being helpless. And if these kids want to feel useful, or slightly more confident, who is he to deny them?
That or he's definitely overthinking this and they just find spending time with him… fun?
"...How did I do this time?" she finally asks after yet another punch.
"Ah, you did great, it was better than before." iX replied, catching it without much effort.
"So, is that it? Am I just going to punch you all day?"
"Patience, we gotta practice the basics first. Let's swap to kicks though."
Copen let go of Maria's fist. Then he had her throw a kick. It made contact with him, but the impact didn't register. Then Maria lost her balance and fell. Then got back up while ignoring his offered hand, still she'd listen to the pointers on what needed to be fixed. Then they would go again, and Maria would fix some of the problems. She would throw a kick, which he would catch, and then they would reset. Eventually, Maria got too tired to continue, so they stopped for a moment.
They sat down at the top edge of a ruined Lola Tank, using the height to oversee the rest of the slums. It still bugged iX that he was teaching children how to fight. Sure, it started with Kohaku then the others got wind of it and wanted to learn too, but that didn't mean he should. Their roles were to grow and live, while his was to fight and die. It's not something a child should be involved with, yet they ignored this. And some part of him could not reject those kind of feelings.
Each of them wanted to learn, but iX couldn't tell why. He had some theories, like them not wanting to become too dependent on him if he were to one day dissapear, or maybe they wanted to be like him? The thought was shot down when he remembered his first encounter with Kohaku, no, she and the others had already shown the reasons for doing this. It was in order to survive, was being the keyword as Demerzel and his minos death squads are now a thing of the past...but for how long?
He offhandedly remembers that Blade is currently dealing with a minor crisis of ascension. Being Demerzel's top enforcer and the world's strongest warrior, it's only deemed natural by most that she is to take over his legacy. Still, oppressed rivals, allies hungry for a bigger share and other such factions were starting to come to the limelight as well, trying to discredit her claim and honestly that's where part of his attention was starting to wane. It hasn't even been more than a week and his body is still busy recovering from the wounds Demerzel gave him, so iX can only hope that if the bastard has any minions out there biding their time, they stay that way until he's ready once more.
"iX, when can we have a tea party again?" Maria asked while looking anywhere but him.
"Again? We had one a few days ago." and just sitting while watching someone give pretend tea to dolls isn't that exciting in the first place. Not that he would ever say so out loud to her.
"I know, but I wanna do it before something happens again." Maria responded, looking back up at him.
"And what would that something be?" He felt a cold breeze wash over them, the changing air of the seasons becoming clear. Maria shivered slightly before the gust of wind dissippeared.
"Looks like winter's coming," iX noted, not that bothered by the past breeze.
"It feels like it already." Maria complained, then realizes something as some small eagerness takes over. "Will we get snow again?" iX witheld a sigh, not sharing her enthusiasm.
"I hope not, it's a pain to scrub down and makes places unsafe to walk due to slipping."
"Yes, but I get to build a snowman." Maria countered. A small smile hit iX's face as he thought about it. Oh, it would be a nightmare to clean, with the base all frosty and its walls frozen. Snowmen covering every inch of the place, all stylized by the Minos children and their friends. Also a base-wide snowball war. Not snowball fight, war. Lola would definitely create some unique snowball firing weapons, and if not stopped, would perhaps involve even artillery.
The only thing stopping her from making aircrafts would be the thought of how one would be shot down by a mere snowball. Then there was the Santa Claus thing, iX doesn't know how many of the children believe in some flying red man giving presents to those who were good. But the possibility of him having to play the role and get the gifts for the sake of the Minos community isn't zero.
"That you do," iX replied, thought of the future not filling him with dread for once, "that you do."
"I want you to fight me."
iX glanced up from his seat, taking his attention off the book he borrowed from Kohaku's personal library. He wasn't surprised to see Blade standing before him, weapon and armor already equipped and ready, still, the idea she'd challenge him for a spar outside this instant was rather unorthodox.
"You could've given a call," he closed the book, setting it to the side. "And you do already well enough on your own. What more could the world's strongest adept gain from facing me again?"
"Those fights were had while I was under someone else's influence." her eyes narrowed, though not at him per se. "And while I am aware that muscle memory is a thing, I'd rather not discover that the me as I am now is any less skilled than the other. But if that's the case, I need to be prepared."
"So in short, you want to fight me to see if you've gotten weaker and if that is the case, keep sparring with me in order to sharpen your skills once more?" iX summarized to be sure.
"Indeed."
"I see." iX paused for a moment. In truth, right now was his reading time so getting up and sparring would feel like such a hassle. Still, a friend of his is asking him for a favor that she likely can't or doesn't think she can ask anyone else. So it is with a mental sigh that he stands up. "Ok."
As it turns out her worries weren't that unfounded, as though the fight was technically easier it still ended up with iX on the ground with her sword at his throat. Even though it's not a sharp one, she'd stopped it a hairs breadth away from his skin with incredible precision. "Looks like you still got it."
Blade's eyes seemed to be boring through him at those words, before she nodded and stepped away, tending a hand that he took before she pulled him up and both gave each other a bow to end the match. "Would you like to go for another round? I can't help but feel like you didn't go all out."
iX considered it, then shook his head. "Nah, and to answer that, I usually aim to kill my opponents swiftly, that and Lola's absence means I'm not at my per se 'best'. But I'd rather not risk it still."
"Fair." she admitted, likewise she didn't use the strongest techniques she had either. "Though it's a bit unsatisfying, I-" she stopped, as if realizing what she was about to say could be rude, before changing the subject. "How do you feel about some cardio?"
"Like pushups?" iX didn't feel a thing about them, normally they'd be a respectful way to strengthen one's muscles and increase body mass but his robotic body would gain nothing from it.
"Exactly, think of it like a different kind of match." Ah, so she wants a sort of training competition.
"Sure, why not." iX easily agreed. Confident that he could beat her in such a scenario.
And well, if he felt even slightly competitive. He's sure Blade felt that even more.
"Oh, hey Copen! You were just who I was looking for!"
"Let me guess.." iX doesn't even turn around, "you want to either train with me or fight me, right?"
"What? Nope, you got it all wrong." Kohaku said as she walked into his lab, carrying a shopping bag in one hand each. "We've run out of bread, so I figured I'd ask if you wanted to go shopping?"
"Oh."
"That aside, why you'd ask such a thing? Is everyone out to do exactly that with you?"
"It's been a few busy days," iX said noncommitally, "but sure, I'll be right with you in a second."
"Allright."
The shopping trip is exactly what was promised, and sometimes that kind of boring can be refreshing after a week full of mayhem. He definitely thought so, little did iX know...
That the fanfic abruptly ends here.
The end.