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View Full Version : FanFic: Phantasy Crossing Ep. II- Broken Harts (Epilogue-End



Digi-Dolphin
Feb 24, 2004, 09:27 PM
There! Done! That's Episode Two complete, after an ungodly amount of time. Still dunno about Ep III but with Ep IV out there and PSU, I'm starting to wonder about the wisdom of making Phantasy Crossing stories for each one....



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2004-06-26 09:30 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2005-04-19 20:33 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2006-03-16 19:27 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2006-03-16 19:32 ]</font>

Sunblast
Feb 25, 2004, 05:58 AM
Whoo hoo! It's coming!
Problems with the quotes, huh? Well, if you're typing in MS Word and transferring it here, then they'll all change to question marks. Luckily, when I was wrighting my fanfic, MQuantum told me how to fix this (Make sure you thank him!). OK, you go under Tools and click Autocorrect Options. Under the Autoformat As You Type tab, turn off the "smart quotes" thingy. If you have a different Word program or your problem is something else entirely, then sorry about that.
I really, really suck with posting pictures. However, if you can just upload it to a website, you could use the Img tags. They're right above the box I'm typing in now. ^_^
Good luck, man! I am hoping to see Phantasy Crossing real soon!

Stormsworder
Feb 25, 2004, 07:18 AM
Alright! Another Phantasy Crossing! I can't wait to read this. It will probably be better than the last.

Digi-Dolphin
Feb 25, 2004, 06:03 PM
You asked for it! Here it is! And thanks for the quotes problem, it helped.

And now, Episode II!
___________________________________

Phantasy Crossing:
Episode Two
Broken Harts

Prologue


Gal Da Val Island~

"Is it ready?" L'zac murmured, looking up at the monstrous piece of machinery that his underlings were busily working on. The Fomar standing beside him studied his clipboard.
"It's ready. We just need to wait and see if that wormhole from six months ago opens again." he replied. He waved at the machine. "When it does, this interceptor will influence the entry point to be here, within our reaches. As far as we know, the item that caused the first gate was unidirectional. If we can take possession of it, we can force the wormhole to be bidirectional and the world we learned of will be ours for the taking!"
"Good. Activate the interceptor." L'zac ordered, "All those resources will be ours!" As men and women hurried to begin the final preparations, L'zac rubbed his hands together in anticipation and smiled. "At last, we will meet again, Valentine Hart, and perhaps we shall do battle to teach you to fear us, the Black Paper organization!" he laughed darkly.

Animal Crossing~

Val peered over the edge of the boat at the water as Kapp'n rowed along, singing his usual love songs. He studied the black shape in the water and blinked when the fish reared its head and gawked back at him before sliding back under.
"Thanks, Da Ral Lie, I can't look at fish the same way again." Val muttered and sat back, his pack full of rare furniture from Animal Island.
"Aye, laddie, I still think ye tell a mighty tall tale." Kapp'n pointed out as he neared the dock at Animal Crossing. Val shouldered the pack and sighed.
"Yeah, a mighty tall tale. That happens to be totally true." he murmured. He disembarked and headed back to the village.
Since his crazy adventure some six months back, Valentine Hart enjoyed the more relaxed lifestyle he had been bored with so long ago. Periwinkle, his new wife, took to decorating their new house with a passion, only wrinkling her nose when Val shifted things around inside for 'defensive reasons', mostly because he ended up shoving furniture into corners and costing them points from the HRA. He had sold his old home and managed to convince Tom Nook into pulling out the Ultimate Upgrade for Periwinkle's house, now the Hart home. More expansive room on both the bottom and top floors, plus a sub basement, courtesy of Mr. Resetti, the Hart Homestead was Nook's grandest creation.
"Don't make me do it again, you hear? Word gets out that I have such a blueprint in my possession and every human for miles around will want this! I'll go broke!" Nook scolded him after he finished the last payment. Then he smiled and hugged him and Periwinkle, "But, come! I talk too much of funds! Enjoy your house and remember, shop Nookington's for all your decorating needs!"
Whistling happily, Val brought out his Golden Rod and shouldered it, walking along the river in hopes of catching a couple of catfish for dinner. He waved to Bob the Cat from across the way. The cat was sporting a new pattern of shirt that Val had designed at the Able Sisters' shop.
"Hey, Bob! How's it goin'?!" he called.
"Great, pbbbth! I'm loving this pattern! What do you call it again, pbbbth?" the feline answered.
"Purplenum!" Val answered, "Mable told you about it already!"
"Yeah, that ID you saw in that dream made a wicked cool shirt, pbbth!"
"Yeah, wicked cool." Val sighed as he moved on, "I miss them. Dular, Perri, Elliot, Mako...what are you guys doing now? What adventures are you having today, now that Dark Falz is gone?"

Pioneer 2~

"This is gonna be so totally cooool!" Perrinetta declared as the group headed down to the Lab, "I can't believe we got picked to undertake such a super-secret mission!"
"I still can't believe we got a bigger house." Dular remarked with a grin, "We wouldn't have been able to afford it if Mako Tiburon hadn't helped out." The red-headed Fomar shrugged.
"It was the least I could do after you guys invited me to be part of your team. I'm tired of waking up every morning, looking out my window and getting a face full of Megid from some ticked off Mil Lily." he replied.
"I guess delivering Rico's message to Tyrell got us some points with the big shots running the Pioneer Project. I wonder what this mission is all about?" Elliot wondered aloud, a Ramar dressed all in blues and obsessed with the color.
"I bet we're gonna see a ton of rares! Ooh! Maybe I'll find a Caduceus to replace the one the stupid Dragon burnt up long ago!" Perri, the eternal rare hunter, cooed. Dular rolled his eyes and sighed. His violet-haired, violet-clad partner hadn't changed one bit after her experience with Dark Falz and a few dates with Elliot. She was still on the lookout for the bright red boxes that meant rare and unusual items for keeps, sale, or trade.
"Here's the transport. Everyone ready?" Mako remarked as they stepped up to the double doors. The group nodded and they entered. Perri yelped suddenly and looked around her. "What's up?" the Forcer asked in confusion.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that...I kinda forgot Val isn't with us." she murmured, "I was about to say 'Wait' for him." The team smiled in sympathy as the transporter was activated.

Animal Crossing~

Periwinkle wrinkled her nose and sighed, shaking her head. He had done it again. The Lovely Bed was planted sideways not more than three feet from the door, the Lovely Chair was barricading the window on one side and several assorted plants and end tables were shoved into the corners. Scratching her head, she eyed the layout carefully. Perhaps she could rearrange things so she could still get big points from the Happy Room Academy and Val would stop trying to turn the house into an obstacle course. She carefully picked her way to the other side of the room and lifted the red box sitting on the table next to the stairs, shoving it into her pack to get it out of the way. That taken care of, Periwinkle began to recall each piece of furniture, transforming it into a leaf that she packed as present stamps on the letters she carried in from that morning. Once she had a large portion of the room cleared, she started sorting through the leaves to unpack the furniture again.
"Okay, the bed could go here, the Academy doesn't mind that. The table can fit at the end of it to make Val happy." she muttered and pulled out a leaf that contained the GameCube Val had bought long ago. "Funny. Why does he still have this? I thought he got rid of it when he bought that silver one from Nook." Periwinkle remarked in surprise and opened the leaf. She studied the small bluish-purple box carefully. "He said it was defective. Hmm."
The faint shine of a pin caught her eye and she smiled brightly. There was a needle, a pin, pressed into the side of the Power button, preventing it from being usable.
"Well, no wonder he couldn't play the silly thing! There was a needle caught in it!" she laughed and worked at it with a fingernail, "I bet if I can pull it out, I can keep this one for myself!"

Val lashed the fishing hook into the air, grinning at the balloon that floated along and carrying a mystery present. His pack already held the catfish for dinner, but he couldn't resist going for the floating item. Since Darwin packed and moved away to Animal Forest, collecting rare and unusual furniture had become a lot easier to do. Rover had passed along word that a pair of newcomers to Animal Crossing was on their way in to start up a life of their own. He hoped they would be smarter than Darwin had been.
The balloon popped and the present dropped onto the grass. With a whoop, he raced after it and jumped when he heard an explosion not too far up the path. A scream erupted moments later and he recognized it in horror.
"Periwinkle!" Val exclaimed and dashed off to the house, leaving the present behind in favor of finding out what was going on.
It was as if a light show was in full swing in the Hart Homestead, with animals standing around in shock at the brilliant flashes of white light pulsing and beaming out the windows. A light Valentine knew all too well.
"Val, what's up with your house, honey?!" Cheri the bear cried as the screams went on. Val didn't answer, just raced for the door, only to have the screams end as he reached it.
"Please, be okay, be there." he whispered and shoved the door open, taking in the room quickly.
A shining white portal spun in the room, the indigo 'Cube sitting on the floor with the power button pressed in. Periwinkle was nowhere to be seen, gone along with the red item box Val had told her to keep close at hand. Setting his face as he felt his insides twist in fear, Val stuck his head out the door.
"No one come in here! This place is a danger zone right now!" he yelled, "I'm locking the door! I'll be back soon!" The animals gawked at him as he slammed the door shut and threw furniture against it. "Here we go again!" Val wailed as he grabbed the portal-causing furniture and stuffing it into his pack. He took a deep breath, then dove into the warp, determined to find Periwinkle and bring her back home.

Lone_Wolf_Nasca
Feb 25, 2004, 06:09 PM
And so it starts all over again http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime1.gif !! Great work !!

Digi-Dolphin
Feb 25, 2004, 06:33 PM
And thank you, MQuantam, for the information. It really worked!
Special treat! Part of Chapter One!
______________________________________

Chapter One


Gal Da Val Island, Central Control Area~

Perri kicked at the compound door and howled in pain, hopping about as Dular checked the computer again for help. Elliot sat to one side and watched her with a wry grin, a new Arrest Laser lying at his feet. Mako teased his Mags, Ryoko the Chao, Yami and Hikari the Pians, with Star Atomizers. Dular sighed and faced the group after finishing his conference with the floating device.
"We have to open the gate by releasing the security net on the island." he finally remarked. Mako dropped the item and shrugged.
"I could have told you that." he pointed out.
"Owww." Perri grumbled, "Okay, so then how do we bring it down? The sooner we find out if Flowen really is alive, the sooner we can get the reward and get outta here!"
"Well, Maxie said that the teleporter there has been set to take us to the three points where the security computers are located. We should head to them and get started on bringing down the net." Dular replied.
"Sounds good to me. We got ourselves a smart operator." Elliot grinned and got up, shouldering the laser. "Where do we go first?"
"The teleporter's been set for...." Dular was cut off by a sudden loud sound, an explosion that went off not too far from them. Instinctively, they looked to the sky and spotted a crackling white portal open above the island. It gravitated towards the easternmost tower and vanished into it.
"That couldn't be...." Perri whispered in shock.
"No way...." Elliot murmured.
The portal suddenly pulled back out of the tower and spun off to another portion of the island, disappearing into the thick foliage in the distance.
"Stranger things have happened." Dular sighed as Mako cracked a grin in recognition.
"Not until Val shows up! Awwwwriiiight! The man's back!" he cheered and ran to the teleporter, "Okay! So where do we go to find him and get the quest started?"
"My best guess would be the forest. So, let's go there first and see if we can find whoever got dropped this time and the computer." Dular gave in.
"Come on, Dular! You know you're hoping it's Val, too!" Perri teased and stepped into the teleporter. The remaining two hunters grinned and joined them, disappearing in a flash of light for the forest region.

East Tower~

Periwinkle groaned as she picked herself up, rubbing her head. She had pulled out the pin and pressed the button to check if it was loose again. The fact that the thing powered on without being plugged in startled her, but not more than the strange white hole that erupted before her and pulled her into it. She had kicked and screamed and finally passed out, then woke when she landed on something cool and hard.
"Ugh, what happened?" she muttered as she blinked groggily around her. Tall figures came into focus as her vision cleared, all of them pointing things at her. "What?" she murmured in surprise as one of them stepped forward and grinned.
"Well, well. It looks like the Interdictor did its job." a man's voice remarked with a twinge of disappointment. Periwinkle yelped and scrambled backwards, staring up at the man that smiled at her. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is L'zac Gerun. And you are?" the man said smoothly. Periwinkle frowned; whatever had happened, this guy was obviously responsible for it.
"A force to be reckoned with!" she declared, "How dare you pull me into this...!" Before she could finish, there was another shout.
"She's a Forcer! Ready to fire!" a Ranger yelled, "If we see anything that looks like the gathering of Force power, you're dead where you are!" Periwinkle screamed and covered her head, shaking in terror as L'zac pulled out a handgun and fired a head-shot at the Ranger that spoke out.
"Does anyone else want to do my job for me?" he growled and sniffed when there was no response. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes, your name, young lady?" L'zac went on, flashing another grin at Periwinkle. She looked at the body, horrified, then looked up at him, swallowing hard.
"Um...Periwinkle." she murmured shakily, "Periwinkle Hart." L'zac smiled wider.
"Well, Mrs. Hart, I have something I need for you to help me with. A small test that I had put together for an old friend of mine who couldn't make it." he told her and held out his hand to her.
"My help?" Periwinkle murmured in confusion, taking his hand and following him to another room, the other hunters putting their weapons away, "How can I help with a test? And how did you know I was married?"
"You'll see it all soon enough, Mrs. Hart." L'zac replied mysteriously.

Jungle Area, North~

Val groaned as he woke and looked around groggily. He dangled from the limbs of a tree, caught in a web of thick green vines. Below him was a clearing of moist ground, covered in a haze. The air felt humid and warm. It wasn't all that comfortable for him and Val began struggling to get free.
"Stupid lousy portal couldn't have dropped me in a worse place!" he growled and slipped through the net, landing on the ground. He scrambled to his feet and looked around, crouched low and face covered in dirt smudges. "Okay, no Boomas or Savage Wolves.... I think this might be Ragol, but I don't see the monsters." he muttered and pulled out the Golden Axe, stepping forward carefully. Plants loomed all around him and birds calling helped him relax a bit.
"Looks like a jungle. That explains the warmth and humidity." Val sighed and waved his hand in front of his face. "Periwinkle! Are you around here?!" he began to call out. Climbing over fallen trees and masses of rotting vegetation, Val continued searching for his wife. "This would be a lot easier if I had the gang with me." he sighed and dug into his pack again, this time bringing out the old armband Dular had given him long ago. Putting it on, he punched a few buttons and found the holo-map pop up. It was already starting to chart the area, but showed no data as to where he was and what lived there.
"It'd be just my luck to have a never-before-seen monster just jump up and bite my head off." Val grumbled as he glared at a nearby yellow flower. To his surprise, the flower jumped to its roots and waved its head at him. "What the heck?" he yelped and jumped out of its range, "The plants are alive here, too?! Well, at least they can't get me. Stupid new kind of Lilies." The plant monster surprised him again, this time by getting up and lumbering after him, squeaking and waving its leafy arms at him.
"Then again, I could be wrong!" Valentine wailed and ran off into the jungle, chased by the strange new plant.

Elsewhere in the jungle, Dular, Perri, Elliot and Mako trudged through the murk, searching out the computer that could be hidden in the growth. Mako's three Mags sat on his shoulders and head, wings wilted in the heat.
"What a day to wear this getup. I'd kill for shorts right about now." the Forcer complained, "Are we there yet?!"
"We don't even know where 'there' is, how are we to know if we've reached it?!" Perrinetta yelled back at him. Dular sighed and shook his head.
"Meriltas? Was that what it was we've been shooting at all this time?" Elliot asked as he fired on another of the strange walking plants.
"That's what Maxie said it was after Mako messed with that one computer. But then Maxie asked for a bottle of beer before he started uploading info to us, so...." Dular let the sentence trail as the group stopped in response to a wail coming from the jungle.
"What's that?" Perri asked, scratching her head. A small blur dressed in black came streaking by, followed by another Meriltas. Elliot calmly shot it and peered at the item it dropped as it flopped over and died.
"Agh! Hit and run! Hit and run!" Mako yelled, "Watch where ya goin', ya maniac!" The group looked back at him in exasperation, then blinked in shock. The Forcer had been knocked over by the speeding object and was sitting in the mud, along with a familiar little man.
"Val!" Perri cheered and ran to hug him. Valentine Hart sat up and rubbed his head with a groan.
"I ran into something hard." he grumbled as he was picked up.
"Yeah! Me!" Mako pointed out and got to his feet, "Yech! Look at my outfit! How am I supposed to be the Scarlet Tiburon now?!"
"On the bright side, you blend into the surroundings more." Elliot pointed out with a grin.
"Val! You're back!" Perri laughed and spun around with him. The group focussed on him and added their own cheers of joy.
"Hey, everyone! I'm glad to see you! Where are we?!" Val exclaimed after Perri put him down.
"This is the Jungle Area, northern sector, of Gal Da Val Island." Dular answered, "And no, it wasn't named after you. We're here to drop a security wall and locate a man named Heathcliff Flowen."
"What are you doing here? How'd you pop back onto Ragol?" Elliot asked eagerly. Val looked up at the group with a grim face.
"It wasn't by choice. My wife, Periwinkle, was in the house and somehow reactivated the defective GameCube I had stored away. She fell into the portal and I jumped in to find her. Have you guys seen her?" he explained briefly, "She's my size, has curly pink hair and a pointed hat, brown eyes...."
"You got married? Wow." Perri murmured and glared at Elliot, "He's married!" The Ranger turned bright red. "Hurry it up!"
"Can't we talk about it some other time?" he stammered as Mako stepped in around them.
"We haven't seen anyone else, but the portal that dropped you in here went into the East Town of the Central Control Area first. Maybe your wife was dropped off in there?" he pointed out. Val blinked in surprise and then looked worried.
"Why would she be taken all the way over there? Why didn't it drop me off with her?" he murmured and shook his head, "Well, let's bring down the net and find her. She must be scared stiff." He smiled wanly. "At least she has the Twinkle Star. If she's forced to use it, it'll help protect her, right?" The group looked at each other, unsure of what to say about that. Could a Force weapon be used by someone from another dimension?

___________________________________________
PS Watch for a special cameo character in upcoming chapters. He'll reveal where the two non-PSO characters in PC Ep I are from! ^-^

Digi-Dolphin
Feb 25, 2004, 07:46 PM
VR Temple Alpha~

"WAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Periwinkle screeched as she raced away from the horde of Rappies that marched after her. L'zac watched the screen as the little woman fled from the birds and darted behind a group of item boxes.
"Sir, she's not using techniques, she has no idea what to do with the items, and she hasn't stopped screaming since we threw her into the virtual reality simulator." one Fonewearl reported to him, watching along with the Black Paper Hunter.
"That's her problem. This just shows us that the people of that other world aren't like Valentine. They don't have the ability to fight against even the most pathetic of monsters and creatures." L'zac murmured, "Once we've discovered the route to enter their world, we can easily conquer it. In the meantime, let her run in there until she either escapes the illusion or dies from it."
"What if she lives through it?" the Forcer asked. The Hunter smiled and thought carefully.
"The portal drifted into the jungles, correct?" he asked. She nodded. "Then if she manages to survive the trials, transmit a message throughout this island for Mr. Hart. Tell him that we have his woman and if he wants her, alive, he must come and face me." L'zac replied and grinned, "We have a copy of Dr. Osto's notes and records of the experiment concerning D-cellular life-forms. Perhaps the only warrior that world was able to produce will be the best weapon to use against it."

"WAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Perwinkle continued wailing as she ran across the large stone room again. The strange yellow birds continued following her. She hadn't thought that THIS was the test L'zac meant! He had taken her to a room that looked empty and she had peered inside suspiciously. The next thing she knew, she had been shoved inside and the door vanished, there was a strange sound and a bright flash of light, and a whole new world lay before her, a tall and maze-like stone structure filled with these strange creatures. She had walked up to the birds at first, thinking they looked cute and fluffy, but then one pecked her and it hurt! Then the others began to come after her to do the same and she ran to keep them from pecking her. Periwinkle tried to find a door to get out, but they were all locked, red lights on the doors telling her that they wouldn't open.
So she stood on a box, jumping back and forth on her toes and wailing louder in fear as the birds came for her. She backed against the wall and felt the red box dig into her back from within her pack. Her eyes went wide as she recalled Val's words to her half a year ago.

"Peri, I want you to promise me something."
"Okay."
"This is very important. If anything weird should happen one day, like strange big men coming here or you being taken away from me to some weird place, take this box with you and use what's inside it to protect you." he told her seriously, "The item in this box will help you survive if something like that happens. And if you ever have need of this item, I will know that I will have to fight again....."

"He's been here before...." she whispered, "That's how he knows about the big men and the weird places. That must be how L'zac knows I'm married. He knows about Val! But how? And why?" Scrambling to regain her wits, Periwinkle reached into her pack and brought out the red box. There was a clasp on one side that she hadn't noticed before and she thumbed it. The box popped open and a strange thing fell into her open hands. It looked like a rod with crescent moons and spinning stars on either end of the thing. It looked pretty and was almost as long as she was tall. Gripping it tightly, Peri gave it a practice swing at the birds. They stumbled back and she swung again, knocking them all onto their backs, where they lay absolutely still.
"It's a weapon." she murmured in realization and spun the wand the way she had seen Val spin his axe. "This is a weapon from this world." The birds peeked at her, then ran when she looked their way again. "They ran away?" Peri asked no one and jumped when the doors turned green. She brightened. "Oh, so that's how you get through this!" Racing to one door, she passed through and ran down a hallway to another room. A Hildebear dropped in halfway through and she screamed, racing back to the safety of the hall. How to get through this one?
"Well, maybe if I run really fast, it won't notice me?" she murmured to herself and nodded, "Okay, I'll run real fast and get to the other side." With that, she took a deep breath and raced into the room, darting around the Hildebear that swung for her. It lumbered after her as she ran to the locked door and yelped. "What now? What now?" she whined and jumped aside as the creature spat out a fireball at her. Peri darted around it again and swung the wand once more. The creature snorted at the attempt and batted her, knocking her head over heels across the room. Staggering to her feet, Periwinkle whined softly in pain and looked up at the monster, backing up slowly as she gripped the wand. A storm began brewing overhead, flashes of light glowing from within the few dark clouds she could see.
"I could use a little divine intervention right about now." Peri muttered, picturing in her mind a bolt of lightning striking the Hildebear preparing to bat her again. She yelped and swung the Twinkle Star at the fist coming for her, the image of the lightning still in her mind. The Hildebear roared in pain and backed up. "Huh?" Perwinkle blinked in surprise as she spotted the fist with sparks of electricity jumping off the fur. Did lightning strike the beast?
It came after her again and Peri thought of the lightning bolt a second time, this time watching as she smacked the Hildebear with the wand once more. Electricity burst from the contact and wounded the creature. Peri lit up in understanding. If she thought of lightning, the wand would conduct electricity from somewhere and zap the monster!
"Okay! Let's do it!" she cheered and pressed her attack, each time thinking of lightning with every strike she made. The Hildebear flailed under the onslaught of electricity and finally fell. Perwinkle jumped back and smiled proudly. "I did it, Val!" she declared and giggled. Looking back at the door, she found it was still locked, "Hmm. How to open that? Are there more monsters?" She looked around for another test subject for her new weapon in the meantime. Peri spotted the group of boxes she had stood on and thought of fire burning as she hit one. Nothing.
"So it only does lightning?" she murmured in disappointment, "What if I need to burn something?" Shrugging it off, she smashed the boxes and found a tall object that had a shape floating within it among the debris. Peri put her hand on it and it lit up. The door opened and she looked back at it. "This can open doors too? I'd better remember that." she remarked and ran to the next room, growing a little more confident now that she could use the strange weapon Val had left her.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2004-02-28 13:53 ]</font>

shinto_kuji
Feb 26, 2004, 12:23 AM
Great! Keep it up http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Sunblast
Feb 26, 2004, 06:17 AM
Okay, this is SO cool! The characters are more memorable than ever! I love what you've done, Digi-Dolphin. I even liked the Kapp'n in this story.
*Sunblast shudders with disgust.
Stupid turtle... Why didn't I shove him out of the boat when I had the chance?
Once again, great stuff! This is getting good already!

Digi-Dolphin
Feb 26, 2004, 08:03 PM
I have for some odd reason labeled Dido's 'White Flag' song as Periwinkle's personal theme.

Ten points if you can guess why.
______________________________________________

Jungle Area, North~

"You want WHAT again?!" Maxie yelled through the computer unit floating midway through one field. Dular sighed as he watched his team take down a large violet creature that breathed ice at them. Val was in top form, spinning the axe and hurling it at the strange bees that descended at odd intervals, then catching it as it returned to him. He looked fairly calm, eyes darting about warily as he searched for more creatures that could attack his friends.

"The data on this area that we sent you for interpretation. I want to know what we're going up against. And have you found anything out about these new creatures yet?" Dular replied. The operator grumbled and cursed under his breath.

"They ain't payin' me enough to repeat myself. The hell do I look like, a parrot?" he growled and cleared his throat, "Test Code Level Beta Subject: Native Creature. Says here, Botanical Mutant Life-Form, Merillia and Meriltas. Who named these things, the janitor? Large numbers of these creatures have been found in Gal Da Val. Males and females of these creatures have been confirmed. Least that means they get it on more than me."

"Can I have the readout minus the commentary?" Dular asked dryly.

"Hey, I can just stop talking altogether, y'know! Fine. Now, where'd I leave off...? Ah, here. The male carries a toxic substance inside its body. So if you get poisoned and die, at least you know you were done in by a dude."

"Maxie...."

"What? Your sense of humor needs a shot of Moon Atomizer, pal. Anyway, normally they appear timid. They try to hide and run away when found. Lately, that doesn't seem to be the case."

"You're telling me?" Dular remarked under his breath as he watched Mako pound a Merillia into the ground with an archaic book, slamming it onto the plant's head over and over.

"Don't interrupt! It's bad for my performance." the old Viridian growled, "Now, this one's the one you gotta watch out for. Mericarol, an advanced form of Merillia and Meriltas, has been found in the jungle region. It has a huge body and roots to stabilize itself."

"At least it's stationery." the Hunter sighed, watching Perri chase after Elliot and shake her fist at him.

"That red box is mine! Hand it over!" she shrieked.

"Photon Drop! It's a Photon Drop! And it's miiiine! Muahahahaha!" the Ranger laughed as he ran into a large tree trunk.

"Heh, you wish. Reconnaissance devices have spotted them moving. Like the two other plants, it has a factor that can cause and 'abnormal status' in its body. Multiple species exist." Maxie finished up, "That's all we have so far. See if you can find any logs concerning Flowen. That's what we're after."

"All right. We'll keep in touch." Dular answered and ended the link. "Guys! Found anything?!" The group fell together and joined him.

"One Photon Drop, several Fluids and Mates, few weapons here that we have no real need for." Mako replied smartly and smacked his head, "Dang! That came off wrong."

"I looked around but there's no other computer here." Val added and sighed, "What are you guys still doing here?" he finally asked. The group looked at him in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Perrinetta asked in confusion. Val shook his head and frowned.

"Rico's message. She said for Pioneer Two to get out of here. Why are you guys still here?" he pressed.

"We delivered the message, but there's a ton of red tape to get through." Elliot replied and looked troubled, "Plus, I think that someone in the government is trying to keep us here. Pioneer Two hasn't budged since Dark Falz went down."

"That doesn't matter now. We have to get the security gate down. So let's get to the teleporter and find the computer." Dular told the group and headed down a hollow trunk to a secret room.

VR Temple Alpha~

Periwinkle crouched on top of the box and glared at the white flower that laughed not too far away from her. She made it deeper into the maze but then this flower appeared in front of the door and startled her. It blasted her with some strange mist and she began feeling sick. Retreating to the item boxes to get out of its range, Peri sat and scowled at the flower. She winced as a sharp pain coursed through her body. Whatever poisons were in that fog were definitely messing with her insides. She had called out for help from L'zac, but got no reply. She was on her own.

"I wish I had something to get rid of this." Peri grumbled and coughed, then retched. She held herself together and gasped. If only the wand could somehow cure her! She focussed on the image anyway, her mind building a picture of raindrops of pure water cascading onto her, flushing out the poison and acting as an antidote, curing her from the pain and toxins. She began feeling better, oddly enough. Opening her eyes, she looked at herself. A few last 'drops' winked out of existance.

"Anti." she murmured and blinked out of her trance, "Huh?" The flower snickered again and she glared at it. "Okay, that's it!" Jumping at the plant, Periwinkle swung the wand, the image of lightning flashing into her mind briefly. The electricity finished off the flower and opened the door. She scratched her head and thought about what she had done. Throughout most of the adventure she'd been having, she had to reinforce the image of lightning in her mind with every blow. This time, she only had a thought of it and the wand still worked. And the curing rain, where had it come from? She had thought it up and it happened, so did it come from her?

"Storm's getting worse." Periwinkle suddenly remarked to herself, watching the dark clouds swirling above her. Were they part of the test? Unsure of what else to think, she ran through the door to a teleporter. Wary of the machine, she stepped into it and pressed the single button that was on a small panel that floated near her, vanishing with a startled yelp in a burst of light.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2004-02-28 14:00 ]</font>

Sunblast
Feb 27, 2004, 05:50 AM
Hehe, that operator's getting funnier and funnier! Umm, the song thing... I didn't think I had heard it before, but I looked up the lyrics. I love that song! Okay, I think you chose it for Periwinkle because she refuses to give up? Do I get 10 Digi-Dolphin Points?

Digi-Dolphin
Feb 28, 2004, 05:11 PM
Yeah, that may be it, but there's more to it. You'll see soon enough. You get ten points! :hands Sunblast 10 Digi-Dolphin points: Once my site's up and running smoothly, those points will be good for a special gift! :scrambles to put together aforementioned special gift:
In the meantime, here's the next part!
---------------------------------------

Chapter Two

Jungle Area, East~

"Accessing Olga Database." Mako murmured, working furiously at the machine before him as his friends battled a pack of violet and scarlet creatures, all breathing fire or ice. "Searching logs for Flowen."

"Move it, Valentine!" Dular yelled, "We've got Merillias coming in! Perri! Rafoie will be helpful here! Elliot! Keep your distance and use the Arrest special!"

"Yaah!" Val cried, snapping the line of the Golden Rod at a plant. It caught and he pulled back, tossing the Merillia across the clearing. He grinned and snapped the line back. "I never thought I'd say this, but...you have NO idea how much I've missed doing this!!" he declared with a laugh and snagged a bee out of the air, slamming it into a tree with a flick of the wrist.

"One match found. Uploading to the Lab aboard Pioneer 2." the Fomar continued working, "Upload complete." A small beep sounded and he lifted his armband up. "Mako."

"Intel reports she's on the move. Last seen onboard Pioneer 2 taking missions from the Guild." a distorted voice reported through the com.

"Keep me posted. Once you have a confirmed location, I'll be there for rendezvous." the Fomar replied and ended the transmission, looking back at the group with a strange expression.

Perri took down the last of the creatures with the Angel Harp and sighed, wiping her forehead. Elliot poked at the remains of one ape-like creature, frowning at the item left behind. Val was sitting against one tree, nodding almost sleepily. Dular scanned the field, making sure everyone was together and safe.

"That's everything here!" Perrinetta called out, "Is Val taking a nap or what?!" Val snapped his head up.

"I'm awake!" he cried and looked around, "Sorry, but my arm was startin' to kill me and I needed a break." He got up and stretched. "Where do we head now?"

"The only other available gate we can go through is over there." Dular pointed across the clearing. The hunters ran up to it and peered through the dangling vines and ferns. "If the security computer isn't there, we may have missed it somewhere back up the path." he added. He looked back at the Fomar. "What'd you find?"

"We've got a hit on Flowen's name. Should take some time to get it straightened and played back." Mako replied, shifting back and forth almost nervously. Dular looked at him curiously, then stepped past the gate with the group.

Steps made from water and tree roots lay before them, sunlight streaming through the foliage high above. Merillias and Meriltas lounged here and there, then got up to attack when the team neared them. Val cracked the rod at one in warning, then hooked it and flung it aside when it pressed the attack. The sunlight dimmed.

"I'm not liking this." the little man muttered, pulling the axe out to go hand in hand with the rod. The group looked around warily as the smaller plants scurried away. Mako's band beeped again. Hissing under his breath and looking around furtively, he covered it and slipped backwards into the underbrush.

"What's that?" Perri murmured, stepping up to a huge flower that bloomed at the top of the steps. Her eyes widened at the enormous petals that dripped with fresh dew as they slowly began to pull apart. "It's beautiful...."

"Perri, get away from that." Dular muttered, growing anxious as he tightened his grip on the daggers he held. The Fonewearl reached out to touch the flower.

"Perri!" Elliot yelled and fired at the Mericarol the moment the petals exploded outward and the head at its base reared up at the Forcer, who screamed in horror and fell back down the steps. Dular and Val dashed up and started slashing at the plant, jumping back when a pair of razor sharp leaves stabbed downward at them.

"Urgh!" Dular growled, falling back with the Forcer, his leg bleeding from the slash. "Val! You're gonna have to take my place in this one! Get Mako over here and kill that thing!"

"He's gone! Perri, Dular, pull back! Hurry up!" Elliot called back to him, firing in quick three-hit bursts, "Val! Get out of there! Are you nuts?!"

"I'm the closest you have to a Hunter right now!" Valentine yelled back, axe held out to one side in preparation for a killer blow, "I'll graagh!" A leafy 'arm' swept him aside as the Mericarol barreled down the steps after the injured Hunter and dazed Forcer.

"Gibarta!" Dular declared, throwing his hand forward as a burst of ice shot from a frost blue ball of energy that formed before his open palm. The plant stopped abruptly, squalling as the ice chilled it, stalling the creature long enough for Perri to regain her wits, get angry and lash out with Rafoie. Val picked himself up, staggered about and glared dizzily at the monster.

"Meru!" Denwark snapped at the plant, biting into one leafy appendage, "Merrrrrr!"

"Bana! You've been holding that burst long enough!" Dular yelled, grimacing as he pressed his hand down on the gash, "Farlla!" The dragon-like Mag bobbed and released the energy serpent, watching with its single eye as Perri ducked her head and Denwark flew back in a panic. The Mericarol flailed, sharpened limbs stabbing dangerously close to the two hunters.

"Resta, heal this wound." Perri murmured, focussing intently on the injured Hunter, then dashing with him out of the line of fire. In a desperate attempt to hit someone, the plant belched out a ball of energy as Mako emerged from the jungle.

"Sorry about thaaaaaaahhhh!" he started, then shrieked as the sphere slammed into him and sent him back into the jungle. The Mericarol squalled once, then finally died, falling limp before the group. Elliot blinked back at the spot where his friend once stood, then at the team.

"What was that all about?" he asked. The group shrugged as they recollected and followed the trail of destruction, bumping into the Fomar halfway down as he came walking up, sputtering and cursing under his breath and brushing leaves and twigs out of his clothes and hair.

"Mako! Why'd you go AWOL on us?!" Dular snapped at him. The Forcer looked surprised, then evasive.

"I had to go and deal with some business, okay?" he answered shortly, "I'm tagging along with you guys as part of the four member party." He glared up at the taller Hunter from under his bangs. "That doesn't mean I'm part of your team." he added coldly and pushed past them. Val jumped out of the way as he marched on to the security computer hidden where the Mericarol had emerged from. A few taps and a flick of the wrist later, the computer was disengaged and the first part of the net was downed.

"Mako? What's up?" the little man called up as the remainder of the group joined him after locating the teleporter. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" the Fomar snapped back as he descended to rejoin them, "It's none of your business!" He received angry scowls from them as they began entering the teleporter and vanishing to the Mountain Area.

"Jerk." Perrinetta snorted as she headed out. Elliot shook his head in disapproval as he went on after her. Val looked up at him suspiciously, then followed the two. Dular and Mako were left behind, glaring at each other. The Fomar didn't speak, just made to enter the teleporter as well, but was stopped when the Hunter grabbed his arm tightly.
"Hold it." he growled, "I want to know what's going on." Mako didn't move or look back. "Ever since we began the VR testing back at the lab, you've been acting really weird, sneaking off at odd moments and talking in whispers. What's going on?" Dular questioned sternly.

"It's nothing that concerns you. Now let go of me." Mako growled back, still making no attempt to move or face him.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with Black Paper, does it?" Dular pressed, noting the angry clench of the younger man's jaw. "Does it...? Defender?" Mako jerked his head up and stared at him, whole body tense.


Valentine yawned and watched as Perri took out her anger on a nearby patch of weeds, whacking away at the tall grasses with the Branch of Paku Paku while Elliot leaned back against the rock in silence, brooding.

"Come on, guys. I'm pretty sure it was just the heat getting to him." Val started again, "It happened back in the ruins. He's got a history of snapping, you know."

"He's a jerk!" Perri yelled, "Right, Denwark?!" The Rukmin nodded furiously, not wanting to get hit by the stick himself. "See?!" Val rolled his eyes and looked back at the teleporter as Dular and Mako stepped through. Perri stopped her beating and followed his gaze. Elliot looked up from his thoughts, eyebrow raised. Valentine brightened when he saw them side by side.

"Hey! Guys! It's okay now! He's friends with Dular again!" Val exclaimed cheerfully. Mako grinned slightly and nodded his head.

"Well, he ain't friends with me and Denwark!" Perri shot back stubbornly as Elliot gave them a questioning look.

"It's okay. We've got things straightened out." Dular told them and gave the younger man a sidelong glance, "You wanna tell 'em, or should I?"

"It'd be better if I did." the Fomar sighed, "Look, it's like this...."

_______________________________

^-^ I have an alternate ending to this part, but I'll wait until Phantasy Crossing Ep. II is finished before posting the Alternate Phantasy Crossing Ep. II. Now, I need a theme song for Valentine. Any suggestions?



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2004-02-29 20:05 ]</font>

Stormsworder
Feb 28, 2004, 10:29 PM
Woah. This is really cool. Can't wait to read more.

Sunblast
Feb 28, 2004, 11:20 PM
Sweetness, man! I've got Digi-Dolphin points! Hmm, a song for Val? Well, if you can't think of one, you could always settle for "Valentine" on PSO. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif Well, umm, let me take a glance though my songs.
*Sunblast pulls up Winamp.
Hmmm, how about Cosmic Castaway? I don't know the artist, but I know it's in the Titan A.E. Soundtrack. I hope it works for you. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Digi-Dolphin
Feb 29, 2004, 11:11 PM
Maybe. I'll see about it.
___________________________________

VR Temple, Beta~

Periwinkle stared down at the items she had pulled together during her last battle. There were a pair of round disks that glowed a soft white and a pile of capsules labeled Monomate, Difluid and Sol Atomizer. They were foreign and mysterious to her, and made less sense than the strange pink bird that she had smacked just a few minutes before. It had flopped over like all the others and the sight was making her rather hungry.

"I wonder what it would taste like if it was roasted or barbequed." Peri murmured, thinking of the fires in the grill back home as she packed the items away. Her hand tingled and began to feel a bit warm. She rubbed it absently as the bird began to twitch and eye her carefully. "Would you be salty or sweet? Hmm. Val would know, right? He's run across things like you, right?" she added, cocking her head. The pink bird blinked, then quickly jumped up and made to peck at her in retaliation for the wand swipe. Peri yelped and threw her hand forward instinctively to protect herself. A burst of fire flew forward, burning the bird and sending it scurrying away in a panic as it left behind a red box. Perwinkle watched it leave, then stared at her hand in shock.

"It did come from me! What is going on here?!" she wailed in a rising panic and covered her head as the storm raged harder, "Vaaaal! Help me!"


"Sir, we've got incoming hostility from Calus!" a Hunter declared as groups of Black Paper members worked furiously at computers to hold the AI at bay, "I knew this idea of remote-accessing the VR simulations was a bad one!"

"Hurry it up! Shut up! Get that AI out of our systems!" L'zac barked orders as a figure materialized within a teleporter. "Lock onto that woman and bail her out before Cal fries her brain and makes her useless to us!"

"I see you're still having issues with tiny people not doing as they are expected to do." the newcomer remarked brightly, walking up to stand beside him. L'zac glanced at the figure and growled.

"What are you doing here?" he grumbled as he watched Periwinkle disappear from the screen. The tiny Racaseal smiled wider, the mottled grays and blacks of her body making it look sinister.

"I was sent to recapture the Defender Central Command lost several years before. Recon states Test Subject Zero-Eight was spotted with a trio of hunters here on Gal Da Val. And I use the term 'hunters' quite loosely." she reported. The storm was starting to abate on-screen, signs that Cal was either losing the battle against Black Paper or losing interest in the retreating remote link.

"Layman's terms, Regalia. I've got a situation." L'zac grumbled, "Where's that woman?! Where did you fools 'port her?!"

"Mako Tiburon, grouped with Dular Pensir, Perrinetta Arayo, Elliot Edwards and one unknown individual, currently investigating the outer sections of the island and attempting to bring down the gate." Regalia rattled off, studying her fingertips in boredom. "All of Black Paper's Defender troops are dead, save for Number Eight." She grinned up at L'zac. "The Scarlet Tiburon. We get him back and HQ will have the foundations for rebuilding the Defender Unit and the Enforcer Unit."

"Why? Where the hell's that woman?!" L'zac bellowed at his troops.

"We can't find her, sir! Random coordinates were input into the teleporter! It will take time to seek her out but the security net on the island is playing havoc with our short-range scanners!" one man cried. Regalia rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Poor pathetic human. We'll be needing new soldiers once the plans are put into motion on Pioneers Two, Three and Coral. Those two units, if they hadn't been destroyed by the Marine Family's little brats, would have been our strongest forces." she pointed out. "Now, I'm setting up a trap for Number Eight on Pioneer Two. I don't want anyone here piping up and interfering with it. Got it?"

"You came all the way here just to tell me something I'm not interested in?" L'zac scoffed as he kicked aside a Hunewearl that wasn't moving fast enough to find Peri.

"No, I came to tell you that if we don't get Mako or either one of his two sisters, Central Command will be using your butt for the next super-soldier experiment." Regalia replied with a smile and waved at him sweetly, "So, bye-bye! And wish me luck!" L'zac paled and watched as she sauntered back to the teleporter, twirled around to face him and winked, disappearing in a burst of light.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2004-03-02 11:59 ]</font>

Sunblast
Mar 1, 2004, 06:18 AM
LOL, the RAcaseal was funny. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif Can't wait to see the next chapter!

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 2, 2004, 03:07 PM
I'm having a ton of fun writing this one, but I just learned about Ep. III's storyline. If it takes place 21 years after Ep. I and II, how can I integrate Phantasy Crossing to finish the series? Oh dear....
_____________________________________________

Mountain Area~

Perri smiled brightly as she looked out at the ocean from her vantage point on the mountain slope. Behind her, her friends killed off the apes and bees that amassed to keep them from climbing higher. Sunset on the ocean made everything glow a golden color, lighting up the mountain slopes and casting shadow into nooks and crannies where treasure lay hidden.

"Hey, Perri! We could use a little support back here!" Val called out, knocking down more of the Meriltas with his axe, "Like a Resta cast! My arm feels like it's about to come out of its socket!"

"But it's so beautiful up here! Look at that sunset! And the ocean is so big and clean!" the Fonewearl declared, "I want to go swimming!"

"At least she's not tearing into everything in search of red boxes." Dular sighed as the last of the apes went down. She looked back and grinned, running up to join the salvaging of items.

"Red box, red box, where to find the red box?" she sang to herself as she walked along and scanned the ground. The Hunter shook his head as he called up the Calus computer.

"I spoke too soon. Maxie, anything new?" he asked after the device confirmed his identity.

"Yeah, that log you sent us was a recording from Flowen all right. I'll patch it through to you." the Viridian replied and his voice was replaced by another. This Hunter sounded much more experienced, commanding, yet weary.

"I am not sure who will be listening to this message, but....This message will explain the truth about the planet Ragol. My name is Flowen. Heathcliff Flowen, Deputy Commander of the Pioneer 1 military forces. Our mission, the migration to the planet Ragol, was going well. The environment of our homeworld, Coral, was deteriorating rapidly.... The Pioneer Project was launched to search for a new home."

"We arrived on Ragol, we began investigating its suitability to support life. We then began readying the planet for habitation. But, selecting this planet was a mistake. No.... That may have been the plan all along...."

"Ragol...."

"We have awoken 'IT'. 'IT' was way beyond what we could handle. 'IT' was not meant to be discovered. This cursed inheritance from the past...."

Maxie's voice returned once the log ended. Everyone was crowded around the device, listening in shock to the missing commander's words.

"That's the whole shebang for now. It's dated before the explosion of the Central Dome so we can't figure if he's alive or not from this. Keep looking for more logs and will SOMEBODY GET ME A FRIGGIN' KEG IN HERE?!?!" the old Hunter was suddenly cut off and the team looked at each other flatly.

"He's doing it again." Perrinetta sighed, walking off as Dular scratched his chin in thought.

"He's talking about Dark Falz, wasn't he?" Elliot remarked suddenly, "Rico talked about a cursed inheritance in her capsules, remember?"

"See? Even Flowen knew that something's up down here." Valentine grumbled, "You guys should've pressed the government harder in getting your ship and your people out of here!"

"But with Dark Falz gone, Ragol should be safe now, right?" Perri called out as she picked up a loose Trimate and handed it to Denwark for a snack.

"Dark Falz returns every thousand years, according to the legends Rico trudged up." Mako pointed out, "Do we really wanna stick around a planet that could see him again sometime next millennium? That may be a long time for us, but in reality, that's not too far off."

"I don't know. We should keep going and find the next computer." Dular remarked, "Split up and search for one. If we're lucky, it's the one for the gate."

"If I get another call...." Mako started warningly but the group all waved at him.

"Yeah, yeah, you'll have to split on us! It's no big deal! We did fine before you joined us and it's not like we're all gonna fall over and die if you leave us for an hour!" Perrinetta declared, "The only thing that's gonna need a Defender 'round here is the monster that's holding my next rare weapon!"

"And knowing us, the monster's gonna die anyway!" Val laughed as he walked off in search of the computer. The group split apart and began their search, peering into every small room and behind every boulder in their area.

"Found it!" Elliot declared and started working on the machine, "It's not the gate computer, but it might work in getting us some logs! I'll do a search and see what we get!"

Sometime later, the group was huddled around the device again, listening to the Viridian operator grouch and swear at something unseen.

"Test Code Level Alpha Subject: Native Creature. Our reconnaissance devices have confirmed it as...Gibbon. Why the hell don't people ask me to name these things for them? I call them Betty, 'cause they look like my wife!" Maxie declared.

"Is it too late to ask for that Elly girl?" Elliot whispered to Dular, who sighed and nodded. "Darn."

"These things are known to travel in packs. When surrounded by them, running for your life is highly recommended. But then some of you may not have the brainpower to figure that out. Gibbons have been found in all areas of Gal Da Val, however, pack leaders have only been found in the Mountain Area. The leaders are the same species as the Gibbons, but the Lab has named them Gibbles. Sounds like a brand of dog food."

"Maxie, please, can we just have the report?" Dular asked almost plaintatively.

"I AM GIVIN' YA THE REPORT! Gibbles are much larger in size, and have superb jumping ability. They have destroyed reconnaissance devices placed up in the sky. It has been speculated that these are very ferocious creatures. So tell the dude in the dress to tie a slab of beef to his ass if you wanna have some extra laughs."

"It's NOT a dress!" Mako yelled into the computer just as Maxie ended the transmission, laughing, "That old freak just wants me dead or married to his idiot niece!"

"That doesn't seem like a bad choice. Dead or married? I'd go for the marriage." Elliot pointed out.

"Same dif." Mako grumbled, stalking away stiffly.

"Gibbles, eh? That may be what's up ahead then. There's an unmapped section near the top of this place that we haven't explored yet." Dular remarked, "So let's go and see if this thing really can jump higher than a white boy."



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2004-03-21 15:59 ]</font>

Sunblast
Mar 3, 2004, 05:53 AM
Bahaha! Go Maxie! http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 3, 2004, 07:42 PM
Chapter Three


Central Control Area~

Periwinkle blinked in surprise and looked around. One moment she had been huddled in a temple with a storm raging overhead, now she was on a metal walkway outside two tall towers and there was a second structure higher up. She looked around in confusion. What was going on?

"I don't get this world. I don't understand any of this. How could Val have stood this? How did he wind up here to begin with?" she whimpered and sat down, "L'zac will find me and then he'll take me to Val. I hope." Peri sighed and looked up at the setting sun.

"Should I stay here or start walking somewhere?" she asked herself. Leafy jungle and wide rivers surrounded her and, as the light began to die away, the darkness of the forests began to unnerve her. She decided to promptly sit put and wait for the Hunter to find her. To pass away time, she toyed with the wand and practiced the strange fireball technique she had figured out in the temple stage. It wasn't long before she noticed the underbrush nearby rustling. She stared at it, the bush shaking slightly.

"Who's that?!" Perwinkle demanded and aimed her hand at the brush. "I'll use my fire and burn you if you don't tell me who you are!"

"Foie." a shy voice remarked from the bush. Periwinkle blinked in surprise.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Foie." the voice said again and a face poked out from within it, startling the little woman. Large green eyes looked up at her, cat-like ears on a small hat twitching on bright red hair. "It's not called fire, it's Foie." the face repeated.

"What are you?" Perwinkle asked cautiously, "And what's Foie?" The face looked around warily, then the rest of the creature appeared. It wasn't a creature, but another woman, tiny but still larger than her, dressed in red and black. "Is that a tail?" Peri noticed a twitching cat's tail following the woman as she scampered on hands and feet up the vine-covered slope to meet with her.

"Panzer Tail. My Mag." the woman answered, sitting on her haunches with it wrapping automatically around her feet. "Foie is the fire technique all Forcers start with. Are you a Force?" she went on.

"I guess. That's what L'zac's soldier called me." Peri answered carefully. The new woman stiffened and the tail twitched in agitation, the cat ears pulling back.

"I don't like him. He's a mean person." she said, then relaxed, "I'm a Ranger. You seem nice. I'll tell you my name." The woman smiled brightly, tail swishing happily, "I'm called Dol Fina, Enforcer Agent 13 Dol Fina. But I like Dol better."

"I'm Periwinkle Hart. Nice to meet you." Peri replied cheerfully, "Can you tell me where I am and where I can find Val, my husband?"

"This is Ragol, and I don't know anyone named that. Sorry. Do you have any other techniques?" Dol answered and cocked her head.

"What's one where it makes poison go away?" Peri replied as she dug out her pack and emptied it of the items she collected. "And these. Can you tell me what these are?"

"Anti. Cures everything most of the time." Dol replied and rolled onto her back, stretching out a hand and pawing a capsule, "Monomate, Mate series capsules restore life energy. Difluid, Fluid series restores Force power by rejuvenating mental strength. Sol Atomizer, cures everything Anti can't. Ooh, Barta! Ice tech, learn it!"

"Huh? How? This thing?" Peri asked, picking up a glowing disk. Dol rolled over again and nodded.

"Hold it in your hand and focus on it disappearing into you. It'll tickle for a bit, but that's because it's waking up the power in you. You got Ryuker there, too. That makes telepipes from where you are to Pioneer 2." she replied. Peri closed her eyes and thought of the disks in her hands vanishing into her body. Her whole body tingled as they shattered into dust that winked out of existance and she jumped slightly. "You want more? I have extras."

"Wait, I don't understand this. What's a Force? What's a Ranger? What's Pioneer Two and Ragol?" Periwinkle began rambling in rising panic. Dol sighed and looked glum.

"That's a lot of questions. I don't like too many questions." she murmured, "Forcers use powerful techniques to fight monsters and support people. Rangers use long range guns to keep monsters at bay and protect their partners. Hunters use weapons like swords and daggers for up close attacks and are very strong." She brightened again and brought out several more disks. "I got Resta, Zonde, Rafoie, Megid, and Grants." she went on suddenly, "Megid and Grants are Force only, no one else can learn them." She smiled suddenly. "Except me. I'm a Ranger, but I know Grants and Megid. Ssh. It's a secret." she giggled and handed Peri the disks. "Here, you can take them! They're presents! I'll teach you how to use techniques. Wanna see my weapons? They're red, like me!" she went on, sounding so much like a playful little girl that Periwinkle couldn't help but laugh and join in the 'game'.

Sunblast
Mar 4, 2004, 06:26 AM
Yay! It's Dol! She seems a little nuts to me. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 4, 2004, 06:00 PM
The Phantasy Crossing Dol does tend to be a bit...odd. You'll see why shortly. She's a bit different from the SD Dol, who's kind of a rare hunter but loves having fun with friends and doesn't mind sharing her loot with them. I'm working on the special gifts and SD PSO comics, so Phantasy Crossing Ep II will be going a bit slower than usual, but I'll still finish it up!
__________________________________________________

Mountain Area~

"I don't like this. It's darkening." Val growled as they wandered into an open clearing, “This is like the Mericarol's clearing.” He tightened his grip on the axe and looked around warily. "The more I explore Ragol, the more I'm convinced you guys gotta find a new planet to move onto."

"Gibbles can't be that bad. It's probably like all the other monkeys. Except green or blue." Elliot remarked, "I hope it's blue." A pack of Gibbons leaped into the clearing and a shadow marked the incoming Gibbles. The creature slammed into the ground, hulking body covered in short, coarse-looking fur. Its huge arms flexed as it lumbered towards the startled group.

"It's not blue!" Val wailed, running to one side in a panic. These creatures were far more hostile than what he was used to in the older days.

"It ain't nice, either! Run!" Mako wailed along, jerking up the gown and racing aside as fast as his boots would allow. Perri and Elliot stood side by side, firing their weapons as fast as they could, keeping the Gibbles stunned or paralyzed as Dular dashed in and set upon it with his daggers.

"Come on, Val! Don't chicken out on us!" Perri called out and whooped as the Golden Axe came spinning through the air and buried itself into the Gibbles' back.

"That's the way to go!" Elliot laughed as the creature jerked and collapsed, almost on top of the older Hunter. Dular glared at the two snickering partners.

"You did that on purpose." he accused, then grinned as they all broke into laughter. Mako rejoined the group after checking to be sure everything was dead or running away.

"I found the computer and lowered the second gate defense." he reported and sighed, "Look, I got a call. My contact says they spotted my sister on Pioneer 2. A visual confirmation. She's up in some ratty looking bar and...I gotta get her out."

"Well, go! What are you doing just standing there and talking to us about it?!" Elliot declared.

"Yeah! Hurry up and get her out!" Val added with a smile, pulling the axe free. He glared at it after noticing it drip on his shoe. "Yuck, why do they always have to be so bloody?" he griped.

"Okay. Look. Keep a pipe down wherever you go for me, 'kay? I should be back in a couple of hours, tops." Mako told the group as he created one of his own, "You guys keep going. You already know how to deal with the other computers. I'll be back soon. I'll call." With that, he vanished back to the Pioneer 2.

"He can pipe himself back." Perri yawned and stretched her arms, "Let's camp out and finish tomorrow."

"We still have one more to go and I think we can find it tonight. Then we can stop and rest for a while." Val remarked thoughtfully, "If we work fast and not try to slaughter everything that moves for items, we should get it done. I really want to get the search for Periwinkle done with soon, no offense."

"Will we have to find more furniture?" Elliot whined and Val laughed, shaking his head.

"Nah! I've got the GameCube in my backpack. Once I've got her safely with me, I'll shut it off and be back in Animal Crossing." he replied, "So let's hit the teleporter and get to the last computer!" The group cheered and ran off.


Central Control Area, East Tower~

L'zac chewed on a thumbnail as the men and women began to relax and resume searching for Periwinkle. Calus had lost interest and dropped the attack in favor of consorting with one of his operators. One Fomar walked up to him and whispered softly to him, murmuring a report.

"What? What was that? Say that again." L'zac snapped, still nervous over the android's threat.

"The tracking device on the fourth floor that we set up to detect the EPKD's emanations." the man replied, "It's picking up the wavelength for En. 13 right outside the tower, not more than a few kilos away."

"That's good. That's very good." L'zac murmured with a surge of hope. "Central Command wanted one of those agents back to rebuild their forces, right?" He thought quickly. "Is it stationery? Or is it on the move?"

"It's not moving."

"Good, good. Put together some troops and pinpoint the location. Once you're ready, deploy the team to find that agent. While you're out there, find that woman. I want the woman alive." L'zac ordered and drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "Alright, Regalia. You get that infernal Mako out of my hair, and I'll get one of the Enforcers to keep HQ happy. We all win, me most of all." he laughed nervously. The Fomar nodded and hurried away, looking just as nervous about his leader's slightly maniacal snickering.


Dol watched her new friend try out the new techniques, beaming proudly. Periwinkle had learned the disks the Ramarl had given her and tested each one out several times, learning to use them faster and more efficiently.

"Barta is ice, so you gotta think of ice. Techniques rely on the state of mind, the wavelengths of the brain, to focus Force energy and create the tech." Dol had said early on, "Same with everything else. It's all in what you are thinking and, sometimes, with what you are feeling. Megid is the curse of death tech, relying on the darkness within everyone to deliver its potent touch. You can think of something dying upon its touch, but it gets stronger if you add your negative emotions to it, like hatred or anger. Grants is the opposite, and it works best against monsters that carry darkness."

"Why?" Peri asked, throwing out her hand and casting Zonde on a nearby item box.

"It's light. The light of life. It can purify if you add the right emotion and change the light so it doesn't destroy. I'm still learning that one, but it's hard. I can't find the right emotion, I think." Dol replied and smiled, producing a sandwich from within her pack. "Wanna share? I've got plenty of food on me! Tell me about yourself, your world and family. I love a good story!" Peri smiled and accepted the meal, sitting on the floor and biting into it.

"It's not like this, not like Ragol at all. I live with my husband in a village called Animal Crossing." she began, "All the villagers, except me and Val, are animals. Dogs, cats, pigs, penguins, you name it, we got it." She laughed, "That's why I walked up to those yellow birds and tried to talk with them. They reminded me of Hopper the penguin back home."

"Rappies." Dol blurted and smiled. "Those are Rappies. They come in different colors and kinds. The yellow ones are Rappies. White ones are El Rappies. Blue ones are Al Rappies and the green ones with orange heads are Pal Rappies. Like the one that dropped my Red Handgun." She fished it out and showed it to Peri. "It's my favorite weapon, but it has these letters on them. All of my Red weapons have letters."

"What do they say? And what's a pink Rappy?" Peri asked in curiosity, poking at the handgun with one finger hesitantly.

"That's a Love Rappy. And I wrote the letters out on a paper. It said 'Heathcliff' when I scrambled them up." the ranger replied, "It's funny, to me at least. Well, go on. Tell me about Val."

"Valentine moved to Animal Crossing about a year after Darwin Grabag did, and he was there about three months after I moved in." Periwinkle went on and sighed wistfully, "I had never seen such a cute guy. I'm a sucker for the dark-haired, dark-eyed type and Val fit the bill. Appropriately enough, he moved in on Valentine's Day. When I learned his name, I couldn't decide whether to drop to the floor in laughter or swoon at the romantic notion of it all! Valentine Hart. I sent him his only one that year."

"Are you gonna have babies someday?" Dol asked, eyes wide with innocent curiosity. Periwinkle yelped and laughed in embarrassment, blushing furiously.

"Maybe, someday. I'd like to." she murmured, "Well, how about you? Family? Friends? A boyfriend, perhaps?" The ranger suddenly looked gloomy.

"Not much. Black Paper messed up my whole life. I remember I had a family. They were a good one, not too rich, but not poor. Then there was a fight in a house. I was little and I was hiding in my bed with my twin sister, Phynn." she remarked, "We had a bigger brother. His name's Mako. He ran into our room, crying, and then these men came and took us away from the house. I never saw my mom or dad again. The men did things to us, I can't remember too good. But I do know they made me and Phynn into soldiers. They called us Enforcers. They put something in my head one day." She tapped her head above her right ear. "Here, I think, but it's in deep. They said after the operation that it would make me stronger, better. But something went wrong, and now I can do things that normal people can't. All the Enforcers disappeared, too, I don't know why. My sister is still alive, but...." Her 'ears' drooped at that point.

"But? But what?" Peri pressed, saddened by the tale. Dol sniffed as the tail twitched again.

"She wants me dead. She's been trying for a long time to find me and kill me and I don't know why. She said something about wanting the 'Source', but I don't know anything about a source." she finished, "Mako's alive and he's trying to find me, too, I know. But, he's nice. He's a Defender. That's what Black Paper called him. They wanted him to make sure that they stay safe from the Enforcers if we turned on them one day. But he ran away when he was still little and wanted to save me and Phynn."

"So what do you do? You just keep running away from everybody?" Peri asked, "You don't have a house or anything?" Dol smiled brightly.

"Yeah, I do! I have one on Pioneer 2 and lots of them here on Ragol! I move around a lot so the bad people and Phynn don't find me. I don't want Mako to find me, either, 'cause I'm afraid that what happened to the other Enforcers will happen to him, too, if he got too close to me." she replied, "The thing in my head, it's called Electronic Psycho-Kinetic Device. EPKD. I've got the prototype, L'zac said so. But it does weird things to me sometimes, like Chaos Mode. I don't like Chaos Mode. I act crazy and attack everything I see and most of the time I don't really have control of me. It's like my body takes over and I kinda fall asleep at the wheel."

"L'zac? But he's somewhere around here! What if he's right up there?" Periwinkle cried, pointing up at the West Tower, "Or there?!" she added, moving to point at the East Tower.

"They still have to catch me. Finding me and catching me are two very different things." Dol replied brightly, "You have a funny hat. It's kinda pointy. Does Val wear a pointy hat, too? Tell me more about Animal Crossing and I'll teach you more about techniques."

Sunblast
Mar 5, 2004, 06:18 AM
LOL, Dol is definately nuts. But kinda in a cute way. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 7, 2004, 12:08 PM
I'll take that as a compliment, I guess. ^-^;;; She's my main character whenever I play PSO and my strongest one, too.
_________________________________________________

Seaside~

"You all should be jailed for disturbin' my peace! I'm old! I shouldn't be up this late!" Maxie griped and grouched at the console.

"We just want to know what's going on with the next log." Dular remarked, "The sooner we get that information, the sooner we'll be out of your hair and you can go back to sleep."

"Assuming he still has hair." Elliot snickered under his breath.

"I heard that!" Maxie yelled and the Ranger looked around in feigned innocence. "Now, for your report. The second log has been translated and will be played now. Pay attention!"

"The first time I encountered 'IT'.... That was when we were will into the excavation process of the ancient spaceship. We were researching the remains of an ancient civilization on Ragol...to find technology that could help advance our science. That was our mission. At least, I was led to believe that was our mission."

"While terraforming and the construction of the Central Dome proceeded on the surface, the excavation project continued in secret. No one could've imagined the huge project going on right under them. After long hours of hard labor, the excavation team finally made it into the interior of the ancient spaceship. But the celebration ended shortly after. We encountered 'IT'."

"...."

"Everyone on the excavation team died. No one has ever made it back from the ancient spaceship since then. We were finally able to confirm the existence of a hostile lifeform. With this knowledge, we created an attack plan to remove the creature."
"I will never forget. 'IT' crawled up from a vast abyss of darkness. It appeared to be mutating as it moved toward us. It looked like its 'body' was cycling through the stages of life and death. ........ The force under my command was completely demolished. I managed to escape but... I ws badly injured. My wounds move, as if they were somehow 'alive'. I'd almost believe that my wounds were consuming my body to take control......."

"Okay now that? That right there is creepy." Val muttered, "Creepy and wrong."

"Took the words right outta my mouth." Maxie grumbled, "We're not exactly sure what's going on, but it sounds like what happened to the animals on the mainland, the mutant ones. Find out more about what happened, and see if you can censor it some!"

"Okay, thanks. Well, let's get going." Dular started but Elliot held a hand up.

"Wait a second. I just recalled a little something that has to be done here. Can we split up and comb the seashore?" he asked. The group stared at him.

"You gonna pull a Mako on us?" Perri remarked, eyebrow raised and arms on her hips. Elliot laughed sheepishly.

"In a way." he answered, "It's nothing big. Just the fact that I'm looking for a certain someone who has the reputation of popping up here."

"How do you know that? Got a special contact too?" Val teased, "Super secret spies and all?"

"Nah, a kid I met on the Pioneer 2 a while back." Elliot remarked as he checked his laser and started walking off, "He said he saw it in dream." The group looked at each other in confusion as the Ranger continued onwards.

"In a dream?!" they asked in unison.

"He's gotta be nuts, or pretty close. Perri, go keep an eye on him. Val, you and me will check out the rest of the area for the last computers." Dular ordered out and the two friends nodded. Perrinetta ran off after Elliot while Val and Dular moved on to find the last gate computer, dodging past the wild creatures that tried to close in on them.


Central Control Area, East Tower~


L'zac paced back and forth almost nervously. The team was still trying to get prepared and pinpointing where Periwinkle had landed was taking longer than he liked. On top of that, Regalia had made a transmission to them, boasting that the Defender had taken the bait and would soon be hers. Moments later, the signal was lost and there was no further contact made from Regalia. L'zac hated not knowing what was going on, especially if it involved his future as a sane person. At least, as sane as he felt.

"It's their fault." L'zac growled, glaring at his assistant, the Fomar that had scooched away so quickly after reporting the EPKD signature, "If I had stayed to make sure that Valentine Hart and that idiot Tiburon were dead, I wouldn't be in this mess." The Forcer glanced around in search of a quick exit, didn't find one and sighed glumly. Here it comes. "Worly, you know better than anyone how much I hate it when things don't go like I plan." the Hunter grumbled, "If I go down in this, I'm not going alone!"

"Yes, sir." the Fomar agreed.

"Any word from that blasted android yet?"

"No sir, we've lost her tracking signal as well."

"Probably got nailed by the Forcer, then. I hope they killed each other in a big bloody fight, but I suppose that's too much to ask for." L'zac muttered, tapping his fingers together and scowling. "Worly, I have a job for you."

"Sir?" Worly asked, trying not to sound so relieved at the chance of leaving.

"I want you to go and find out whether Valentine Hart is indeed on this island. Then collect the data on Osto's experiments and prepare it for use." L'zac ordered and grinned, eyes shining almost madly, "I have an idea and if I am right, then I'll have a soldier more powerful than any Defender or Enforcer! Perhaps then, Central Command will recognize my true worth and place me among them as the great leaders of Black Paper!"

"Right away, sir!" Worly answered and hurried away, mentally figuring when would be the safest opportunity to disappear and get back to the ship.


Central Control Area~

Periwinkle yawned and waited patiently by the small campfire for her friend to return. With the darkness came odder and odder noises and Dol had the bright idea of building a fire to keep monsters at bay and them warm and lit. She pulled together debris, set it alight with her own Foie attack, then scampered off in search of firewood. Her departure was just as startling as her entrance, according to Periwinkle's line of thinking. The woman had leaped off the walkway, stretched out into the air, then suddenly curled into a ball, spinning through the air as she vanished into the foliage, tail wrapped around her. A bright light erupted when she was out of sight and several birds flew up from the treetops in surprise.

"I certainly hope she's not cracked her head on something." Periwinkle sighed and reached into her pack, pulling out her axe and poking at the fire with it. Unlike Val's Golden Axe, Peri's was common metal and wood, easily broken if used far too often or on too hard materials. Her other items were of the common type as well; as far as she knew, Valentine was the only person in Animal Crossing who had the complete Golden set, the results of his long years of physical labor; perfecting the town, completing three quarters of the museum, and generally keeping his eyes open for the next opportunity to flex his muscles one way or another.

"I'm baaaack!" Dol's voice sang out as she scampered back up the vines, limbs and branches strapped to her back as she scaled the plants. She dumped the load and tossed in a branch, then sat back and stretched. "Well, it's gonna be a while before your husband shows up. Get some rest and I'll keep watch. Then we switch when I get too tired, okay?" she remarked.

"Are you sure you're not all that worried about L'zac finding us first?" Peri asked as she settled into the red and black blankets her new friend set out for her. Dol shook her head vigorously and smiled brightly.

"Trust me! We're totally safe and sound here!" she replied, then her expression changed, turning very dark and ominous as the fire cast a shadow over half her face, "The last thing anyone wants to do is come across me in the darkness with the intention of hurting my friends. No one has faced me and lived if they hold evil in their minds." Peri clutched her blankets, eyes wide, then blinked as the fire flashed and Dol's face was back to being cheerful, as if the transformation never happened. "So sleep tight! Nighty-night!" the Ramarl chirped and looked out at the distance, watching the jungles and rivers.

"Good night." Perwinkle mumbled and curled up, snuggling into the blankets and drifting off to sleep.

mr_rubbish
Mar 7, 2004, 12:53 PM
Phew! Finally caught up!

For the Ep2 -> Ep3 gap there are two possible solutions:

1. Change the gap to much less than 21 years. No one will mind.

2. Val and Perri's children get involved......

Sunblast
Mar 9, 2004, 06:19 AM
Great stuff, Digi-Dolphin! I like the part about Elliot splitting from the group. I've only heard of such a quest.

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 9, 2004, 08:34 PM
mr._rubbish: Perhaps so, but I think I can manage to integrate both options into the plans for the final Phantasy Crossing. Thanks for the help.

And now! The secret origin of Elliot the Ramar! I trust you remember in my last story I'd reveal the third game tied into Phantasy Crossing...?
________________________________________________


Seaside~

"Where are you going? What are you doing?" Perri whispered suspiciously as Elliot crept through the plants and trees, watching the shoreline carefully.

"Keep quiet and you'll see. First, take off your hat, then put on the poncho that's in my pack." the ranger murmured softly. He caught a glance at the skeptical look on his girlfriend's face. "Trust me. You'll see everything soon enough." Perrinetta sighed and pulled off her hat, its floppy ends sagging without her head to support it. She folded it up and packed it away, then pulled out the bright blue poncho and pulled it over her head, covering the entirety of her violet outfit.

"I kinda look like a girl version of you." she muttered, wrinkling her nose, "All blue. Why not let me wear my purple?"

"I'll get you confused and I don't want to hit you by mistake." Elliot remarked, pulling out a small device and switching it on. Perri watched the light on the object pulse.

"Confused with who? How?" she asked as Elliot took aim and hurled the device out onto the beach, then picked up his laser and aimed towards it.

"Ssh! He'll hear you!" he growled, "This is my only shot." Perri grumbled softly and stood there, watching the pulsing light with a pout. "Come on. I know you. You can't resist bright and shiny things. That's why you followed that kid in his dream, his energy was shiny. Purity and Hope." Elliot growled, not noticing Perri look at him strangely.

It took a few minutes but finally there was a tall, slender figure that floated down from the sky. Perri blinked in surprise and looked skyward, but there was no transport car or ship. Where did it come from? She peered out at it again and saw why Elliot wanted her out of the violet shades so suddenly.

The floating figure was dressed in violet, with a hat similar to her own, sans puffs at the ends.
Elliot smiled darkly, watching as the figure landed and knelt to pick up the bait, large violet eyes captivated by the pulsing light. Perri cocked her head, then smiled as the figure stood up and played with the device, turning it one way, then another. Watching the Forcer-like character made her feel happy. Then the shot was fired.

"Gotcha!" Elliot whooped as the figure cried in pain and crumpled to the ground, "Payback, scumbag!" Perri screamed in shock and stared in stunned disbelief as the Ranger ran out of his hiding spot. He had just fired on this unknown being! How could he do that?!

The figure leaped back up in a fury, taking to the air as it held one arm, silvery liquid pouring down its arm, staining the long white sleeve. Elliot continued firing, trying to hit the being as it zipped back and forth before him, glaring back at him as a small violet shield continuously appeared to protect him, blocking every shot from the laser.

"Stay still and die! Die like Claris died! You ungrateful, lying, back-stabbing piece of trash! You said you'd protect her and now she's dead!" Elliot shrieked in fury, still firing. Frozen to her spot by the scene before her, Perri could only watch and listen to what was happening, unable to make sense of it.

"I did not lie!" the being yelled back, light device forgotten on the sands during the attempted assassination. "I kept her safe!"

"Liar! I saw her soul when I faced Dark Falz! She's dead and you did nothing to save her!" Elliot yelled back, "Stop using that shield and die like the dog you really are!"

"Elliot, I had nothing to do with what happened! What you saw was the lie! She's safe!" the figure snapped and checked its wound, hissing painfully as it clamped the hand back, "You shot me?! How could you?! I thought we were friends!"

"Not anymore, Nights!" Elliot hissed back, "Not after you let my first love die like that!" The being glared back at him

"Claris Sinclair is NOT dead! Not in the way you think." he growled and zipped aside from another attempt at his life, "Her body was destroyed by that explosion, yes, but her soul was never taken by that thing!" He landed then and wobbled slightly, stumbling backwards a step. Elliot kept the laser trained on him, grinning savagely.

"Losing too much dream energy, Little Majesty?" he taunted, "My, my, won't all of DreamScape mourn the loss of their prince and guardian? I bet you don't even have enough energy to create another Heart of Gold Shield." Nights glared at him, sagging under the loss of 'blood'.

"Don't underestimate me, Elliot. You know better than anyone my capabilities. I'm no Forcer, like Perrinetta." he growled.

"How did you know about her?!" Elliot snapped, "If I caught you anywhere near my dreams, I'd have generated my own nightmare to drive you insane!"

"I went to hers! She holds a bright spirit, the same as you once had!" Nights returned sharply, "The same Claris has."

"She's dead! Because you weren't brave enough to enter reality again and carry her to safety!" Elliot yelled and readied the gun to fire once more. This time, the being made no motion to evade or defend, just faced him with a determined expression.

"I did save her; I saved her soul. I stole that from out of Dark Falz's grasp at a heavy price. Without a body to store the soul, she would be easy prey to that monster." he said slowly and with heavy emotion, "I had only a few moments to find one for her or lose her to Falz forever. I chose my own body." Elliot blinked through angry tears that he hadn't noticed were falling the whole time. "Claris is alive, living through me until I can find or create a body for her. She can never return to reality as herself, but she can exist in dreams with me or return to this world in the form of a new child." Nights paused and closed his eyes, suddenly looking very tired as he dropped to his knees, bowing his head. "Killing me as revenge will do nothing but ensure that she dies completely. Then there will be no hope for her to live again, and the agony I went through to seal her spirit within me would be for naught." he murmured.

"Let me talk to her." Elliot demanded roughly, "If she can tell me something that only she and I knew, then I'll believe you. If you're lying, though...." Nights didn't flinch as the end of the laser was pressed to his temple. "Not even the Red Gem of Courage will have enough power to resurrect you. Not with your innards spread over this beach for the Gibbons to eat!"

"Alright." the being muttered and sighed. "Elliot?" a feminine voice whispered from his mouth. Elliot gasped slightly. "Elliot, it's me, Claris. Please, don't hurt us anymore." the second voice pleaded.

"How do I know it's you?" the ranger asked, sounding almost hopeful, "Tell me something we never told Nights, something only you and I know."

"When he left us to find out what had happened to his cousin, you and I went to the park. We were discussing what would happen once the Pioneer 1 launched and who should go onboard since we managed to get only one pass for it. That was when I told you that I wanted to break our engagement, that I cared for you as a friend, but I couldn't love you as you had wished for." A pause to reapply more pressure to the wound and the voice went on, "You were hurt, I wish I could take it back but it had to be done. Looking away from me, you said that I should take the pass and go ahead first. You said you wanted time to sort things out and see what happened. We never told Nights because telling him would distract him from his duties and the last thing either of us needs is a distracted dream king." Claris answered and laughed hesitantly, "You know how easily distracted he is and he'd spend more time trying to patch us together again than making sure dreams were safe for children, for everyone."
Elliot waited a few moments, then lowered the laser, fighting back more tears as Nights looked up at him, the raspberry color of Claris's eyes replacing the deep violet that had been his own.

"I've seen that you have someone new to love instead of me. I'm happy for you and I wish you both a good life and a longer lasting one. Please, let us both go in peace and perhaps we will see each other again one day, as friends." she pleaded through the creature's mouth. Elliot nodded slowly and stepped back. Claris smiled and mouthed out a 'thank you' before bowing and raising Nights's head, allowing him to take control of his own body again.

"I believe you." Elliot murmured, "Take care of her. I'll always love her, in my own way, but you keep her safe. Find a way to make her live and be happy again." He held out a hand towards him. "And I'd like us to be friends again. Forgive me?" Nights grinned weakly and accepted the hand, pulling himself up to his feet.

"Only if I get to keep that thing." he replied, nodding towards the still pulsing light. Elliot broke into laughter, shaking his head in disbelief. Perri finally found her voice and moved onto the scene cautiously.

"Elliot? What just happened here?" she asked as Nights broke away and scooped up the device. Elliot wiped his hand off on his chest-plate and looked embarrassed.

"I...uh...well...." he stammered, trying to think of something to explain the situation. Nights smiled and rolled his eyes.

"I'll handle this." he told his friend and walked up to the Forcer. Gently laying a finger on her shoulder, he leaned forward and whispered into her ear. "This is all a dream, nothing as it seems. Sleep and slumber till first light. Remember nothing of this night." he murmured and caught the newman as she suddenly collapsed in a heavy doze. Elliot moved and scooped her up in his arms as the dream being backed away. "I leave it up to you to decide if she should know about us." he added, "Perhaps we'll meet again one night, perfect dreamer. I only wish I could have saved them all...." With that, Nights vanished into a bright beam of light that fell apart into twinkling star drops and blinked out of existence. Elliot smiled and nodded. Now, he could heal.

Moving slowly so as not to wake his new dreamer, Elliot began to trek back to his friends.


Central Control Area~

Worly set the last of the sensors in place around the outside of the gate and sighed, then ran back to his telepipe to make the round-about trip back into the East Tower. Tired out by the running around and the placing of sensors, the Fomar picked up the collected notes from another Black Paper member and sighed again. He remembered Mako from the attack on WORKS's lab in the mines half a year ago. He shuddered; Mako scared him to an extent. Three EPKDs existed in universe, all made by Black Paper's research and development teams. Enforcer Agent 13 held the prototype, Mark 1. Her twin, Enforcer Agent 14, held the second design, Mark 2. Mako Tiburon held the more complete and stable Mark 3 design, though it was still chaotic in the organization's eyes.

"Whatever happens, I don't want to be around when the guy finds out what he's really capable of." he sighed and found L'zac studying a handgun intently. Swallowing hard and hoping it wasn't for him, Worly stepped up and greeted his somewhat insane leader. "Commander Gerun, sir. I have the sensors set to locate the Hart hunter and I've brought Dr. Osto's notes as per requested." he reported and held out the disk. L'zac turned and smiled widely as he took the disk into his hands.

"Excellent! Here!" he exclaimed and grabbed the handgun, "Take this and the notes to R and D! Tell them to recreate the D-factor in the Photon charges of this handgun. And I want it done in twenty-four hours!"

"Yes, sir." Worly replied and walked away, thinking quickly as he listened to his leader laugh maniacally.

"Yes! Everything is going according to plan! Yes, yes!" the Hunter howled.

"D-factor Photon charges?" Worly murmured to himself as he hurried to the lab. A beep sounded on his wristband, signalling he had a message in his private room waiting for him. "What next? Man, I gotta find a way outta this. My superior's going nuts and now we're making a gun that can infect something with D-cells!" he groaned and shook his head, taking the next elevator to the proper floor.

_________________________________________
For the purists, I always spell Nights's name that way. One, it keeps him from being confused with the Nights of NiGHTS and Fuji stories (I love those fics!) and two, spellchecker can't be a bitch about it. I like for the processor to just sit in a corner while I work and I'm too lazy to tell it to ignore the spelling constantly.

mr_rubbish
Mar 10, 2004, 07:02 AM
I can't believe you would have Eliot shoot at any version of Nights.

PS you wouldn't mind updating the thread title to reflect updates, would you?



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: mr_rubbish on 2004-03-10 04:02 ]</font>

Sunblast
Mar 11, 2004, 06:15 AM
Wow, you know a ton about Nights! I only got to play a demo of it, but I played it over and over. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 14, 2004, 07:50 PM
What I did to Nights here is nothing compared to what I put him through in my Nights Into Dreams series.(I had him get eaten by Wizeman once.^-^ Wizard guts splattered everywhere once he used the StarFire attack spell inside the dude....)
_______________________________________

Seaside~

Dular finished sending the log from the computer off as Val kept the bees and Gibbons at bay, covered in cuts and scratches from trying to avoid fights and getting dragged into them anyway. Once the data was sent, he ran by Val, scooped him up and ducked into the passage for another section of the rock infested beach, leaving the enemies disoriented as to what had happened.

"Okay, now, up ahead should be the last accessible area that the computer can be." Dular muttered between pants and looked down at Val, who was cringing in pain as he worked a stinger out of his left arm. "When did that happen?!" Val pulled the object free, frowned at it and then flicked it away, pressing his hand against the bloody spot.

"This? At the beginning of the fight, I guess. Got a bandage?" the little man replied with a grin. Dular sighed and pulled one from his pack, binding the wound quickly. "Thanks. When can we get the info back from Maxie on what it is we sent up?"

"Not sure. Let's find another of the Cal units and ask." the Hunter remarked and they headed off deeper into the passage. A warp led them to an open room that contained the device they sought. Running up to it, Dular punched in the ID and waited.

"There is no God, else I'd still be asleep." Maxie grumbled after a few minutes. "Don't tell me, you want the info. Young'uns; all they know is 'Gimme, gimme, gimme!' Ugh."

"Sorry, Maxie, but I'm not as young as I'd like to be." Dular replied with an understanding smile.

"Test Code Level Alpha Subject: Native Creature. Mutated giant bee found in Seaside area, called Gi Gue." Maxie read and groaned, "Again with the crappy names. I need a drink."

"After the report, Maxie." Dular reminded him.

"Gi Gue controls numerous small bees. They are called Gee. Their relationship works like a queen bee and her soldier bees. A pimp and his 'employees', how sweet."

"Maxie!"

"You don't get out much, do ya? Anyway, Gi Gue carries a powerful energy charge on its stinger. It has also been observed creating net-like barriers. Don't treat them as insignificant creatures. They are quite dangerous. Well, get goin' and find more of those logs. We need every bit of info we can get." the communication disconnected and the hunters nodded at each other.

Pressing on, they wound through tunnels and past dangling vines, now placing names to the bee-like monsters that had attacked them so mercilessly throughout the whole venture. At one point the two of them stopped so Dular could make a call to Elliot and Perri. After a short chat, Dular ended the transmission and nodded to one side.

"Come on. They'll be joining us soon enough. Let's find that last computer." he remarked to Val and they emerged into a large room filled with pods that emitted smoke and Gees. "Aw man, not this again." Dular groaned and pulled out a handgun he had found, opening fire on the pods and Gees. A soft light had glowed in the area, but now it darkened. Val hissed and pulled out the Golden Axe, spinning it in his right hand.

"I am really hating this 'dark room battle' thing!" he yelled as a giant bee descended into the room.

"You and me, both!" Dular answered, firing on it. The creature hissed and spit out a net that wrapped around itself. A Photon shot hit it and the next thing both hunters knew, a spiked ball of something was flung from the Gi Gue's abdomen and hit the ground between them. Both men went flying and crashed against the walls of the surrounding area.

"Owww! I just got this arm bandaged!" Val shouted angrily, staggering to his feet and ignoring the blood running down his arm, "Dular! How are you over there?!"

"Seriously ticked off." Dular grumbled, climbing to his feet and rubbing his shoulder, "My arm's dislocated. Think you can finish that thing off?"

"I'm ambidextrous. And I'd love to finish it." Val hissed and picked up the fallen axe, spinning it as he waited for the Gi Gue to drop its defenses. He looked around quickly and spotted a computer hidden among the debris on the other side of the clearing. "Dular, the gate comp's here."

"The barrier's down!" Dular yelled out and Val snapped to attention, sending the axe flying and into the insect's body. Buzzing angrily, it fell, twitching feebly as it began to die. "Great job! Now, let's get to the comp and shut down the net!" the Hunter exclaimed.

"Wait for us!" Elliot's voice called out as he ran up to the pair with Perri in his arms, "I just barely got here and you've gone and killed the monster without me!" He blinked at the two hunters and cocked his head. "You guys get banged up without us?"

"Just a little." Val remarked, looking unconcerned as he scratched at the bloody arm, "I'm getting used to it, hanging around you guys like I do."

"What's with Perri?" Dular asked, worried about the sight of the unresponsive Fonewearl. Elliot smiled and shrugged.

"She got tired and I told her I'd carry her while she slept. I mostly snuck around the monsters you guys left alive." he answered. He nodded to the final computer. "I found another of those and sent the log on Flowen up to the Lab, so all we have to do is flip that switch and we're set."

"You do it. I have to pop my arm back in place." Dular answered as he headed for the wall and braced against it. Val began retying the bandage and inspecting his arm for the second gash as the Ramar walked up to the comp, shifted Perrinetta slightly, then flipped the computer to release the defense grid keeping the Central Control Area inaccessible. The burst of light made Perri flinch and she opened one eye with a frown.

"What's going on? I was having a great dream about all the rare stuff we were gonna get!" she griped. Elliot sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Thanks a lot, pal. You should work on your spells a little more." he muttered under his breath and grinned down at the Forcer, "Nice to see you up, Perri! I hope you had a good nap."

"Where's my hat?" she demanded, patting her head and looking around, "And the red box? Why is there blood everywhere? Was there a fight? And you didn't wake me for it?! What kind of boyfriend are you?!"

"There was no red box. And the fight was over by the time you two showed up." Dular answered for Elliot and yelled in pain as he rammed against the rock. The team flinched at the popping sound of the bone slamming back into the joint. "Perri? Resta burst?" The Fonewearl hopped out of Elliot's arm and stood in the center of the group, focusing.

"Resta, light of health. Energy of all that is around us, heal my friends and soothe their wounds." she murmured as the wave of silvery energy flowed in a spiral out from her and encompassed the team. Val tested his arm and pulled off the bandage, smiling at the completely restored limb. Dular stretched his arm and flexed it a few times before thanking his long time partner. "Hey, someone's gotta make sure you stay alive, right? I can't go running around by myself, I'll get hit on by Montague again!" Perri joked.

"Well, the net's down, right? Let's get to the main gate and contact Maxie, let him know what's going on down here and find out about the third log!" Elliot exclaimed, "Then we can find Flowen and finally get some real answers about the Pioneer Project and this freaky planet!" The group agreed readily and headed for the teleporter.

"Hang on, Periwinkle! I'm coming!" Val declared as they vanished into the glowing red transporter.


Central Control Area~

Perwinkle awoke to the sound of soft growling and looked out cautiously at her friend. The Ramarl was glaring up at the sky and she followed her gaze, blinking as a wave of pale blue streaked across the heavens and fell to earth. Peri clambered out of the blankets and grabbed her wand.

"What is it?" she asked. The ranger glanced at her, twitching almost nervously. Her tail was lashing back and forth and the ears on her hat swiveled back and forth, listening for something.

"Net went down. Someone's lowered the defenses." Dol replied shortly and sniffed at the air, "Mark 3 is in the area. I can feel it."

"What? The net is down? What does that mean? And what's Mark 3?" the little woman asked in concern. Dol sat back and sighed.

"It means, someone took down the network that keeps the Central Control Area, this place, sealed up. I was counting on it staying up to keep Black Paper's scanners from working right." she replied quietly, "And my brother, Mako, is here. He got in about an hour ago." She waved at the East Tower, "He's over there. Probably thinks I'm there, too."

"Do you think Val brought down the net?" Perwinkle asked, looking around in hopes of seeing her husband. The ranger shrugged and then sat upright, tense.

"If he didn't, someone from Black Paper did. Which means they might still have enough power to get their scanners working to the point of generalizing our location." she hissed, "Which means they know roughly where we are and are prepping a team to get us!" Peri squealed in fear.

"I don't want them to find me!" she wailed, "They'll put me back in that crazy test room!" She sat down and started rubbing at her eyes, sobbing. "I want to go home! I want to be with Val again! I want to be normal again! I don't want these Force powers! Why did I get them?! How?! When?!"

"Quiet!!" Dol snapped suddenly and stood back up, eyeing the walkway above them. Periwinkle stopped abruptly, startled. "I'm going up to check things out. I'll be back in a bit. Stay put and use your techs on anything that doesn't look friendly." the ranger told her and studied the wall once more.

"You can't climb that! There's nothing to grab onto!" Periwinkle cried as her friend stepped back and prepared to jump.

"I'm not going to jump it." Dol replied simply and leaped into a backflip, tucking her tail around her again as she spun backwards. A burst of light forming a portal opened behind her and she fell into it. Peri cried out in shock, then looked up as another portal opened high above and the Ramarl flipped through, landing safely on the upper walkway. She waved down at Periwinkle, then ran off, this time on two legs only.

"She teleported? That looked kinda like the one that pulled me into this world." Periwinkle murmured in surprise. She smoothed down her dress and waited. Some time later, Dol came sliding down the sloping wall and landed, panting. "What happened?" Peri asked, worried over her friend's appearance.

"Did a lot of running. There's a teleporter up there that goes somewhere, but I didn't check it." the ranger puffed out and put a hand to her head, wincing. "Owwww...my head...."

"Are you okay?"

"It hurts.... It always hurts when something is triggering that thing in my head. I wish I could take it out, but I'm too used to all the things it lets me do. If I take it out, not only would I lose a lot of my favorite abilities, but I could die, too." the ranger murmured and smiled at her, "Don't worry. We'll be okay. If Black Paper troops show up, you run into the jungle and I'll keep them away from you!"

"I wish Val was here to make it all right again." Periwinkle sighed, clasping her hands together and looking glum.


Central Control Area, East Tower~

Worly stared blankly at the stopped message screen, still unable to comprehend what he had just been told. He had thought the message was just from one of his fellow members, sharing info about what he thought of L'zac, or maybe the results of his scans around the area in hopes of confirming Valentine Hart's reappearance on Ragol. But it was far more heavy than that. This was a direct message from Central Command.

"Lieutenant Commander L'zac Gerun has failed us far too often. First, in losing a valuable Rukmin bearing the data from Osto's private notes. Second, in losing a competent laboratory to Mako Tiburon. Third, in spending time and funds on the fruitless search for the world called 'Animal Crossing'. Fourth, in costing us the only available android agent we had aboard Pioneer 2 not in the Black Hound unit." the shadowed figures all intoned emotionlessly, "Thus, we have decreed that, upon his next failure to prove a gateway to 'Animal Crossing' exists, you will take his place and prepare for the upcoming plan to be put into motion. Do not fail us, lest you wish to die as he soon will."

"I don't suppose handing in a resignation offer will help me any, now." Worly sighed after the shock finally wore off. Another beep and the window cleared to reveal video of a group of hunters walking to the main gate. He blinked and frowned. "Let's see. A Hunter, a Ranger, and a Force. Typical three-man team." he sighed and blinked again as a fourth member stepped into view, looking around warily with a golden weapon in hand. "Hey, that's the guy from the WORKS lab!" Worly exclaimed and quickly recorded the incoming feed, "L'zac's gonna be happy to see this! Just so long as he doesn't go nuts on me. Maaaan!"

L'zac was eagerly grabbing the disc from out of Worly's hands once he reported his findings. The playback of Valentine Hart walking along his friends in full confidence, spinning the damned axe he was so fond of in a golden blur, ignited the mad light in his eyes again.

"Perfect! Perfect!" he whispered, "My new soldier comes to his master already! Go to R and D, tell them to hurry up the handgun and bring it to me when it's done!"

"Sir, the net is down! Tracking devices have pinpointed the location of Agent 13 and another heat signature nearby! It may be the Hart woman!" a Ramar called in through the communications system. L'zac switched back to his authorative mode.

"Ready the search and capture team on the fifth floor! I want them both brought in, alive! I want to see them before me or you'll all suffer!" he barked out and grinned maliciously up at the video of the little man. "Now, Valentine Hart. We'll see if we can make you afraid of stationary! Ha, ha!" the hunter laughed, spreading his arms and not bothering to notice Worly rolling his eyes and sighing.

"I really need a new job." he muttered under his breath.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2004-03-17 09:01 ]</font>

Sunblast
Mar 15, 2004, 06:05 AM
LOL! The stationary joke! Haha!

mr_rubbish
Mar 17, 2004, 06:39 AM
L'Zac has really lost it now!
Worley reminds me of Kif from Futurama

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 17, 2004, 12:21 PM
Heh, yeah, he is. Wouldn't you go nuts, being thwarted by a dude less than half your size?
_________________________________________________

Chapter Four

Central Control Area, Main Gate~

"This the place?" Val asked as the team walked up to the portable Cal unit floating before the gate. "Geez! What's behind that door?! Dark Falz's kid sister?!"

"Don't jinx us." Perrinetta grumbled, still adjusting her hat after she had gotten it back. "I don?t want to have to use Grants this early."

"Hey, look! Another computer!" Elliot exclaimed and ran up to a console partially covered by overgrowth, "Let's send this data up first, then bug Maxie into telling us what's going on in them." Dular nodded and leaned against the wall blocking their path as the ranger fiddled with the machine. "Okay, they're up."

Val sat back as they waited the few minutes it would take to decrypt the logs. As they spent time chatting and catching up, he couldn't help but feel something was wrong. Perri laughed at some joke Dular cracked and looked at him.

"So, you finally got married! How was the wedding? Boring and uneventful, like you like it?" she teased. Val grinned weakly.

"I wished. To be honest, a heck of a lot went wrong during the whole thing. I almost didn't get married!" he replied. He shrugged. "Eh, it's a long story. I'll tell you later. Are the logs done yet?"

"It's three in the morning! What the hell kinda coffee are ya drinking?!" Maxie yelled at the team once the confirmation of Dular's ID came through.

"Elliot's five alarm coffee." Perri piped out with a grin.

"Switch to decaf!"

Val lost interest in the old Hunter's ravings and wandered over to one of the trees nearby, testing its strength against the Golden Axe by swinging it into the trunk. He was startled by the sudden shock that resulted and was thrown back, axe falling beside him. Perri looked back at him, eyebrow raised, but he waved her off and stood up.

"That's a strong tree." Val grumbled and picked the axe back up, spinning it in one hand as he began to practice a new maneuver he had created in his hometown of Animal Crossing. Stepping back, he threw the axe out, stopping it with the blade out in a wide swipe. Spinning it again, he moved around deliberately and slashed upward, moving quickly to brace his arm. Perri glanced back at him, did a quick double take, then poked at Elliot to catch his attention. Elliot frowned at her, then followed her finger and grinned at the sight of Val going through the Hunter-like exercise.

"'D-Type Factor'. That?s what Osto said when he saw this wound. He could barely contain his glee at finding this unknown lifeform. Then he said to me, 'Would you consider donating your body to the government, for the good of our people?' And I thought, 'If my body could serve to build a better future for our people....' So I agreed to accept the request, under certain conditions. Osto was overjoyed and he said to me, 'Your body will be the subject of an official government experiment.'"
"...."
"What he meant was, I would have no say in what happened to my body. For all intents and purposes, my life was over. 'The government will send a message to your friends and family back home to announce your death.' That?s what he said. Even after accepting the fate of donating my body, I thought about it...."
"The young girl who followed me to explore this unknown world. She always looked up to me as a hero, even though I was just an old man. What will she think about my death when she finds out?"
"Everyone will eventually forget about me. My death was announced to the world, and I was transferred here. Maybe that was the beginning of the end. This disaster.... This decision I made to donate my body could trigger the chain reaction that will uncover the truth of the planet Ragol."
"....."

"So, he's not dead." Dular murmured, "Maxie, what about the other logs?"

"The second Flowen log needs a few more minutes. I can get you the monster data, but it's weird. By the way, the gate is being unlocked. Okay, let's see. 'Test Code Level Alpha Project: Search and Capture Unit.' Huh, according to the records on Berill and Spigel, they were deployed to protect the Central Area and Test Sites. D-Factor infection has been discovered in the AI of these two types. The viral infection is identical to that found under the Central Dome. This also demonstrates the D-Factor?s ability to infiltrate machines."

"That sounds very familiar." Val remarked, walking up to the group after practice. He turned a bit red at Elliot and Perri's snickers. Then he blinked and yelped as memory refreshed itself. "The Sinows! They must have gotten this D-Factor stuff and gone crazy! Like Vol Opt and the other machines!"

"Its equipment is: Photon camouflage. Transport generator. Incineration device. I want one each for my birthday... which is in three days, just FYI." Maxie hinted heavily. "It's categorized under capture type.... Part of this technology was developed in the Pioneer One lab. Hmm. So Pioneer One was involved in things involving D-Factor?" The Hunter sounded intrigued. "D-Factor was found in large amounts in the monster data collected from the underground ruins. It sounds like Flowen was infected with the same stuff that made the Delsabers and Chaos Sorcerers."

"Thanks. We'll take it from here." Dular answered and disconnected the link. "Okay, let's go through this carefully." The gate opened, grinding as dust and greens fell from it and let it open the path to the Central Area. "Watch out for anything that might be a Berill or Spigel. Keep together. Perri, you have S and D duty. Elliot, sniper duty. Val, you go up front with me." Dular ordered quickly as they walked across the fallen barrier.

"No problem...." Val remarked and hopped forward just as one floor of the East Tower exploded in fire and light, throwing the whole team backwards onto the ground. Heads swimming, they stared up at the building in shock when the vision hit them.

A figure all in red, suspended in midair as people and objects all around it writhed or exploded in bright golden light. Screams of pain, mostly from the central figure, played out. The figure then fell and managed to gather enough energy to look back at them.

"Mako." Perri whispered, recognizing the fallen Fomar.

The Scarlet Tiburon smiled weakly at them, mouthed out a few words, then closed his eyes and collapsed as the vision faded and vanished.

"What was that?!" Elliot finally managed to shriek out, "Mako! He was in that tower! He blew it to pieces!!"

"Crapcrapcrap! This wasn't supposed to happen! What was he doing here?!" Dular yelled angrily, "Everyone! Get up! We have to get to that tower and see if we can find him!"

"There's no way we can do that! That's way up in the tower! It's practically gutted!" Perrinetta snapped, face pale as the group raced into the Central Area, "For all we know, he's probably already dead! Make that definitely! That looked like a Ra- version of Grants!"

"That possible for a Forcer?!" Dular called as the team was set upon by Gibbons and Gees that took the opportunity to get revenge for packs that had been slaughtered throughout the venture.

"Can a Racaseal run on Windows FE without going through three internal kernel errors in a row?!"

"I take that as a no."

"Elliot, you know Mako better than us! He ever use a Ragrants anywhere?!" Perri declared, firing on the Gibbons after sending Denwark the Rukmin to cast Shifta and Deband in her place. Elliot sniped off Gees as they flew in.

"Electronic PsychoKinetic Device, Mark Three!" he called out as he fired, "Developed and built by Black Paper's research team in an effort to create an army of super-soldiers! Test subject: Defender Zero Eight Mako Marine, renamed Mako Tiburon! The device was supposed to tap into the flow of energy in a person and enhance them, so for Mako, it would make him a super-Forcer, capable of using techniques that are far more powerful than any that can be learned in all classes!"

"That doesn't tell us anything! I've read through all your journal entries! You're just repeating what I learned!" Dular declared, slicing through a path filled with Gibbons, glancing up at the burning section of the East Tower with apprehension. Elliot laughed.

"Not my handwritten ones!" he exclaimed, "When you can't trust a computer, put in on paper!" He kicked over a body and plunged on ahead towards a Cal unit. "Ragrants and Ramegid were the end results of several years of Black Paper R and D! When Mako used the Mark Three to destroy the Defender Unit and escape, he stole the two disks and absorbed them, but was never able to generate enough Force energy to actually use them without killing himself in the process!" He stopped to rest and waited for his friends to catch up.

"We tested it out on several programs in the academy. He faked papers and got enrolled sometime after he escaped Black Paper. Anyways, he told me that the EPKD he has is the most stable model they had created and, at that time, it wasn't functioning at full capacity. My guess is that something up in that tower forced it to peak. Mako became a super-Forcer, the most powerful Fomar alive." he finished.

"You mean 'was' the most powerful Fomar alive." Perri corrected, hands on her hips, "Look at that blast! Nobody's walking away from that thing!"

"Auto-telepipe." Elliot remarked simply and yawned, "Can we finish this and get some shut-eye soon?" Dular and the group glared at him. He feigned innocence. "What? I read his lips. He said he'd meet us back on the Pioneer Two later. Don't worry 'bout him." And that was that for Elliot.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Digi-Dolphin on 2004-03-21 15:51 ]</font>

Sunblast
Mar 18, 2004, 06:22 AM
Wow, Mako go boom!
And Elliot can read lips? He is a true Jack of All Trades. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 21, 2004, 03:17 PM
Central Control Area, Lower Walkway~

The explosion of the East Tower startled Peri and Dol on the walkway. Both shrieked and covered their ears and heads as debris soared out over the surrounding area. Periwinkle cried and sobbed as the Ramarl crawled over and covered the little woman's body with her own.

"What happened?!" Peri wailed as Dol kept an eye on the falling wreckage.

"Don't know, but I think it has to do with...." she gasped slightly as the vision of her brother bloomed into her mind, hands thrown out and igniting everything in a fury, a Racaseal's head screaming wordlessly on the floor as it was engulfed in the light of a Grants technique. "Mako!"

"What?" Peri called as her friend jumped back and stared in horror at the tower.

"Mako! My brother! He did that up there!" she cried and looked at Periwinkle desperately, "I have to go! I know my brother never goes without his auto-telepipe! I have to see if he's okay!" Without another word, she leaped out from the walkway, spun into another portal and vanished as the midair telepipe blinked out of existance.

"Wait! What about me?!" Peri yelled and bit her lip. Thinking quickly, she ran down the walkway, searching for something to get her away from the burning tower. Her mad dash for safety yielded a warp at the end of the walkway. She hopped in and slapped the button beside it, finding herself appearing on the pathway above it.

Almost the minute she got her bearings, strange monkey-like creatures leaped into the area, trying to surround her and screech in intimidation. Shots firing in the distance gave Periwinkle all the more reason to bolt for the red teleporter at the end of another walkway.

"Get away!" she shrieked as she ran, ducking around rotating red lasers for fear of what they could do. She reached the device and looked it over quickly. Unlike the ones she had spotted in that temple, this teleporter was far larger and more ominous looking. She whimpered and stalled, unsure of whether jumping into it would be safer than where she currently was standing.

An unearthly shriek, half beastly-half birdlike, startled and made the choice for her. Periwinkle leaped into the teleporter and fumbled for the button.

"Wherever this goes, it's gotta be better than this place!" she cried and hit the switch, "Vaaaaal! Save meeeee!" She vanished in a burst of brilliant light, the panel blinking the single phrase, 'Seabed' over and over.


Central Control Area, East Tower~

L'zac aimed the handgun one way, then another, laughing all the while. Worly clutched his clipboard tightly, knowing full well that it wouldn't protect him from a shot from the gun but still wielding it like a shield anyway. The Hunter twirled the gun and studied it, smiling.

"It's perfect! One shot is all I need to begin my glorious reign over the new world!" he declared. He looked at Worly, who jumped slightly, "The team on the fifth floor; are they ready to deploy yet?!"

"Yes, sir. They're checking the tracking device one last time to be sure that the agent and woman are in the same location as last." the Fomar replied and swallowed hard, "Sir, is it really a good idea to be playing with that in here?"

"What's the worst that can happen?" L'zac snorted and both men were thrown violently to the floor when an explosion ripped through the building. "WHAT WAS THAT?!?!" the Hunter bellowed in a fury. Alarms blared and screaming sounded as communications opened, broken and scattered.

"... Fifth floor... demolished... teleporter... Rega-...." a voice reported, "...sensors indicate... Tiburon...." The communication went dead soon after that. Worly went pale and began crawling towards the teleporter set into the small alcove nearby.

"Blasted Forcer!" L'zac growled, grabbing the notes for the interdictor and Osto's research, and holstering the gun as he ran for the escape route, "Next time I see him, he's dead! You hear me, Mako?! You're dead the next time we meet! You, and your sister, and your stinking Mags!"

"Sir! Wait for me! What about the others?!" Worly wailed, jumping into the teleporter after his commander.

"Let them deal with their own skins! We're continuing the mission from the West Tower!" L'zac barked out, punching in the coordinates for the other tower. "Valentine Hart will be mine, and all of Black Paper will see that I am the greatest commander in the organization once Animal Crossing is under our power!" he declared, laughing maniacally as he and the Fomar hugging his leg in terror vanished in the blink of an eye.

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 21, 2004, 06:48 PM
Mako's not the only thing that went boom....^-^
________________________________________________

Seabed~

"I really don't like this. Where am I?" Peri murmured to herself as she walked down the halls, gazing out at the water beyond the thick glass-like windows. Sea creatures swam by, and colorful coral decorated the rock surrounding the area. She smiled slightly and sighed. "I wish I had never seen that stupid box." Peri muttered and folded her arms over her chest, looking very stern. "When Val finds me and takes me home, I'm telling him to get rid of that thing!" She grinned and brushed off her hands, proud of herself now that one decision had been made.

She was underwater, that was certain. The dripping of water from ceilings unnerved her at times, but everything seemed solid and well built, so she didn't panic. At least not until the first wave of squid-like creatures poured into a room through a vent, waving tentacles and clacking their beaks. Periwinkle yelped and stepped back, looking back and forth in fright.

"Oh dear...." she whispered, "What to do, what to do?" She blinked and looked at her hands. "Wait a sec. I've been doing nothing but running all this time. I'm a Force! A Force to be reckoned with!" she murmured in realization and shut her eyes, concentrating. "Just pretend this is Animal Crossing's Sale Day, and there's a ton of animals who want that last piece of the Chess Theme furniture, the Black Queen." she told herself and opened her eyes, glaring at the surrounding monsters, "All right! Let's do this!"

Lifting her arms above her head, she thought of fire flooding the room, burning everything it touched. Energy flowed through her, hot and spinning deep within her. With a yell, she spun in place and threw her hands out to the crowd.

"Rafoie!" she cried and the blast of flames erupted among the squid, sending them scattering while others began to cook and scream in pain. She kept it up, alternating with Zonde on whatever came too close to her and bashing a few with the Twinkle Star. "Come on!! Come and try to get a piece of me! That's right! Bring it!" she screamed at them, laughing as the monsters began retreating, scurrying past the dead, "That's MY piece of furniture! Breathe on it and I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" Periwinkle grinned fiercely at the departing squid and thumbed her nose, brushed her hands off after tucking the wand under one arm.

"There! Now to get my furniture piece!" she declared and blinked as the illusion she had planted in her mind shattered in the sight of so many lifeless bodies. The Twinkle Star fell to the floor as she stared at them all. "Oh my gosh. What did I just do? This isn't the test; those creatures were real!" she whispered and dropped to the floor on all fours, "I...I just killed a bunch of living things!" She sniffled and started to cry. "I'm a killer, too! Just like L'zac!" She rubbed at her eyes and sniffled again, "Val, was it like this when you first came here?" An old conversation came to mind as she gazed sadly at the fallen monsters.


"It's very peaceful here, Peri. I like that more than anything else." Val had remarked one day while stretched out on the grass next to the pond in Animal Crossing. Periwinkle gave him an odd look as she sat next to the remains of their picnic lunch, fanning herself with a leaf fan. "Remember that story I told you? About the young man in the strange new world of monsters?"

"You said it was a dream." Peri pointed out. Val shrugged.

"Same dif. Anyway, that man had never killed anything before in his whole life, until the day he met a bunch of monsters in a forest with some friends of his. One of the friends was about to be attacked by a monster and that young man killed it to save him. He had done something he had never done before; take the life of another creature." he went on, gazing up at the clouds drifting by. Peri cocked her head and listened as he went on. "He was very shocked with himself and felt quite sick. He couldn't stand to look at the item he had used to kill it, because it was now a weapon. He couldn't even look at himself, because he felt he was a killer, a murderer. Then, after traveling further with his friends and killing more of those monsters, he realized something that made him change the way he thought."

"And what was that?" Periwinkle asked, poking around in the basket for another sandwich. Val went silent and looked thoughtful, gazing out at the scenery and watching the animals walking past on the other side of the pond, chatting happily and trading items for no reason but to do it.

"If he didn't kill that monster first, it would have killed his friends, then him. I guess my point is, in life there is the fight to survive, to help others survive, and sometimes that fight costs lives, whether it be from a friend or an enemy. When faced against living things that won't think twice about killing you, swallow your fears, your sickness over it, your doubts and horrors. Swallow it and do what you have to do to survive, because they won't let you stay at peace and they'll make sure that any other move you make to keep from killing them will be one you?ll regret forever." he finished soberly, "It never gets easier, killing things that are as alive as you are, but it's a necessary evil." Periwinkle stared at him.

"You sound like you did all that stuff in the story." she remarked suspiciously. Val sighed and looked at her, a slightly haunted look in his eyes that showed briefly.

"Sometimes I wish I hadn't." he murmured and the look went away as he resumed his cloud-watching.


"It wasn't a story or a dream, was it, Val?" Peri whispered, standing up and blinking at the bodies around her, "You came here, to this world, and fought your way back to Animal Crossing. You did something to make L'zac dislike you." She moved on, leaving behind the item boxes that held nothing of interest to her, grabbing up her Twinkle Star along the way. As she walked, she continued thinking about her new revelation in her husband's past. By destroying that wave of monsters, she had stumbled across Val's secret. How could she have not seen it after all those months? The way he was able to describe the forests and caves, mines and ruins, monsters and people so well from what he claimed was a dream was just evidence that it wasn't one. And the look in his eyes when some hapless penguin bothered him during his tree trimming for a favor or four, the way his grip on the Golden Axe suddenly tightened, then relaxed; it was as if he had been expecting an attack and had been barely able to hold back a counterattack.

"What did you face, Val, to make you the way you are now?" Periwinkle murmured as she headed deeper into the seabed, "What are you so afraid of?"


Central Control Area, Main Walkway~

"I had no knowledge of this facility, until I was brought here. I was transferred to this island, far from the Central Dome. Surface and the seabed... the island is one giant laboratory. All of the top scientists from Pioneer One were there, waiting for me. Dr. Osto, of course, and even Dr. Graves, the Photon engineer... this was all part of their plan."

"...."

"Soon, the experiments began on my body. I don't know the details, but the research seem to span many areas. And from the look on Osto's face, the results were fairly positive."

"But then, I heard news of another sub-lifeform outbreak from the ancient ship."

"...."

"...."

"'IT' was still alive."

"Now that I think about it... the concept of death doesn't apply to 'IT'. We just didn't understand. That is why the ancients have kept 'IT' sealed inside that spaceship, deep beneath the surface of this planet."

"Mysterious Photons...."

"An eternal life-form...."

"Now I can see why all the doctors were so excited...."


Val glared out at the smoldering building, still standing but with that floor and the one above nearly blown apart. Construction of the East Tower was high quality, apparently.

"That's how Rico died." he murmured after the group finished listening to the record from the unit, "She heard the news of Flowen's so-called death and went to investigate the cause. In the process of seeking her mentor's killer, she fell victim to Dark Falz's power and was then used to completely destroy the people of Pioneer One." He closed his eyes and brought a fist up, trembling in rage, "The lies of the idiots that tried to control what never should have been released caused the deaths of thousands of innocent lives! How could they be so STUPID?!?!"

"Greed and power-lust tends to do that to people." Dular remarked and sighed, "Maxie, thanks for the record. Where do we go from here?"

"The teleporter should be up ahead, but we're getting some weird readings from the cliffs of Gal Da Val. A second teleporter has been detected there so I'm going to load its coordinates into the local one for you guys to use." the Hunter reported, "Gah, I'm so freaking tired, it ain't funny! Anyway, take the 'porter over and check out what the hell it is while me and the scary woman eyein' my ass figure out where the hell the closest entrance to the seabed is and then I'm gettin' outta here and taking a nap!!"

"Roger that, Maxie." Dular answered with the same expression he wore when Perri jumped a red box and then looked confused, "I hope he was kidding about Ms. Natasha Milarose." Elliot and Perri snickered and looked over at Val, who had resumed staring up at the tower. "Val, let's go." the Hunter called, "Once we finish this part up, we'll catch some z's and keep going tomorrow!"

"Was that the East Tower?" Valentine asked suddenly, looking back at his friends. The group went quiet, stealing evasive glances at each other. "Was that the tower where the portal went first?"

"Valentine...." Perrinetta started, trying to sound comforting. Val's expression turned dark as he moved around to face them, ignoring the building behind him.

"If you're going to tell me that my wife is dead, then just say it to my face, okay?" he growled, "I'm not a kid, you know. So spit it out! Was that the East Tower?!"

"Yes, it was." Dular answered even as his partners shook their heads at him feverently, telling him to keep quiet and say nothing. "If your wife was on either of those two floors, and from the height of the portal when it first went in there, I'd say she was, then yes. She's dead."

"Aw, man." Elliot groaned, slamming the heel of one hand against his forehead, "We're gonna hear it now...."

"Then I say that's a lie." Val retaliated and looked back at the tower, "Periwinkle wasn't up there. She's long gone from it, from what I can feel." The team blinked at him in confusion as he looked back at them. "Trust me. I know my Peri, and, after everything I've taught and told her, she'd have the sense to make a dash for freedom first chance she got and look for me." He pulled out the axe and spun it a few times, then held it out to the teleporter after executing a wide sweep with the blade turned inwards to prevent injury to his friends. They jumped back a bit anyway.

"This is where we split up, my friends!" Val declared, "I know I've helped you out with fighting the monsters back on the mainland, and here on the island, but my fight with Ragol's evil is done with! This is your quest! I have mine!"

"You're not coming with us to check out the cliffs and seabed?!" Perri cried as her friends echoed the words. Val shook his head.

"I came to Ragol with the purpose of finding Periwinkle and getting her home safely. I had no intentions of reuniting with you three and getting dragged into another war against ancient evils." he lied, "Now get going. I've helped you get this far and now that I'm within the boundaries of the Central Control Area I'm not leaving it until Peri is safe with me."

"All right. It's only fair, I suppose." Dular sighed, looking somewhat disappointed and hurt, "We'll continue on with our mission. It was still good to see you again. Fighting alongside with you will always be a good memory." He forced a grin at him. "You make an excellent Hunter, y'know. Is that what you are back in Animal Crossing?"

"We don't have classes like that where I live. My talent for... hunting... is probably just coincidental." Val replied dryly, "It was good being with you all again, if only for a day or so, but I have to get going."

"You're pulling a Mako on us!" Elliot laughed, digging his knuckles gently into Val's head and ruffling the hair, "Okay, see ya 'round, pal!" Val made a face, then joined in the laughter as the trio entered the teleporter at the end of the walkway. Denwark the Rukmin floated back to him and stared at him sadly.

"Meruuuu!" he whimpered and then hugged him quickly before zipping back to his mistress, "Meruuuu!"

"Bye, guys!" Val called, waving at the group.

"Good luck, Val!" they returned and vanished, the illumination of the teleporting particles partially blinding the little man. Val rubbed his eyes a bit and blinked away the after-spots, then smiled sadly at the empty teleporter.

"You, too, guys." he whispered and shouldered the axe, walking away and calling Periwinkle's name again, hoping that he wouldn't have to fight anything else to rescue her.


Central Control Area, West Tower~

With only half the force he had before the blast now working on the new interdictor machine, L'zac sat sourly in his seat, glaring at the monitors set up to show images of the nearby areas. Worly stood nearby, watching them with a slightly befuddled expression on his face. The screens constantly cycled through new data feeds, displaying fresh views of everything from the abandoned East Tower to the Main Gate. Though both towers were several stories higher than the six or seven that had been somewhat explored, those upper levels were sealed by some strange force, and L'zac was not interested in them in the least.

"There's no sign of the woman, or the agent." the Hunter finally grumbled, face partially hidden by his hands, which were woven together and propped at the elbows by the armrests. "Worly, my faithful lackey, tell me. Do you believe that that blasted Forcer died in the explosion at the East Tower?"

"Um, yes, sir. He must have. There's nothing I can think of that could have helped him escape whatever he used to destroy those two floors." Worly replied hesitantly. He cringed a bit when L'zac slowly rolled his eyes to look at him from his slumped seat, gazing at him out of the corners of his eyes to study the darkly-clad Fomar.

"Except an auto-telepipe. I don't think he's dead. Whatever stupid idea Regalia had to capture the fool didn't work. Instead, he was led here." L'zac muttered and shifted his eyes back to the monitors. "And in blasting apart our base of operations, he's cost me the woman, the agent...." Here he suddenly lashed out with a short sword made entirely of some strange metal, its surface glinting in the light of the images flashing on dozens of screens. "And the chance to sink my Kamui into Valentine's heart!" Worly froze in terror at the blade coming so close to his nose. L'zac glared up at him as if he were the meddlesome character, then broke into an awful smile, teeth shining almost the same color as his now pale face. "I made a joke! Get it? Valentine Hart's heart!" he laughed brightly, then resumed his darkly dangerous expression almost immediately. "Why aren't you laughing?!" he demanded of the Fomar harshly, the weapon still at his nose.

"Oh! Right! Yes, of course! It's a brilliant joke!" Worly quickly recovered, laughing nervously, "I'd never have thought of it!" L'zac resumed his brooding state, the Kamui sliding back into wherever he had it concealed and his fingers reweaving themselves to press against his mouth.

"The Interdictor is completed, but we lost a lot of the data that had been gathered from the portal before it shifted again." he mused, "I won't be able to open the gate from this side of the dimensional fabric without that data. How long will it be before Valentine is foolish enough to reopen it from his world?"

"Not long enough." Worly muttered, rubbing at his nose to make sure it was still attached to his face. L'zac made to reach for the D-Photon gun when a movement caught his eye.

"It can't be!" he exclaimed and pressed several keys on the pad beside him. The monitors flashed and were replaced by a single large screen displaying Valentine's body slumped in a corner of the Central Area, axe held in a ready position even as the little man slept on. L'zac smiled again as Worly looked up at the screen and held in a groan. "Even if I've lost the woman and the Enforcer, my true prize lies waiting! Worly! Get those machines we found and prepare them to claim my prize!" he declared, jumping to his feet. Worly gulped and raced off with his orders, glad to be away from the madman and his Kamui. "My soldier, and the glory of Black Paper's commanding title, awaits me!"

Sunblast
Mar 24, 2004, 06:27 AM
On 2004-03-21 15:48, Digi-Dolphin wrote:
Why aren't you laughing?!

LOL! That guy is freakng nuts! Ha ha!
Val freaking on a penguin? Is it what I think it is? http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif
Nice stuff, Digi-Dolphin! I can't wait for another chapter!

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 30, 2004, 04:31 PM
Some poor penguin almost became headless for looking like a Rappy.... Awww.... Kick 'em, Val!
________________________________________________

Chapter Five

Cliffs of Gal Da Val~

"This is creepy." Perrinetta whimpered as the group stepped about carefully on the high mountaintop. Waterfalls cascading around them and the forests and jungles looming in the distance made for a rather picturesque scene, but the thought of something giving off strange readings here was making the air tense. "I hope there's not another dragon thing here. I don't have a Twinkle Star to zap and hit with."

"The Angel Harp will do just as well." Dular reminded her and peered into the foliage on another cliff, "Hey, I think there's something up there. See that? The trees moved."

"It's probably just the wind." Elliot muttered, but he trained the laser towards it all the same.
A shrill cry pierced the air as a bird's head lifted from the jungle canopy, followed by a pair of huge horns. The team jumped and gawked at the monstrosity that lifted off of the mountaintop, flapping enormous wings and stroking the air with four huge legs.

"What kind of monster is that?!" Perri cried, swinging the rifle up at it. The creature hovered above them, flapping hard enough to nearly knock her over. The Forcer bent low to the ground, gripping her hat and yelling. "Heeelp! It's trying to blow me awaaaay!" Elliot snapped out of shock and fired quickly, the bursts of Photon energy startling the bird and chasing it higher into the air.

"How much you wanna bet this is another one of Falz's ideas?" he shouted over the winds at the leader of the band.

"I don't think it is! It's not Del-ed! It looks like a mutant hawk or something!" Dular yelled back, "Run! It's coming around again!" The group scattered in different directions as the griffon-like monster flew in low, wings outstretched to knock them over. Perri threw herself onto the ground and covered her head, screaming as the under part of the wing skimmed several inches above her.

"Perri! Where are you?! Are you okay?!" Elliot yelled out. The Forcer caught her breath, looked up at the creature eyeing them, and pouted.

"I'm okay! But that thing's not, once I get my Grants in!" she called back, "Denwark! Watch my back!"

"Good idea! Let the Mags help out with this one!" Dular exclaimed as the griffin planted itself onto the ground with a heavy thud, nearly toppling the elder Hunter. "Oof! Bana! Get ready for another burst!" The little dragon seemed to look annoyed but floated closer to its master, watching the griffin almost balefully. It was because of that thing that it wasn't getting any sleep.

"Pushan! Get back here! That fruit isn't yours!" Elliot yelled upon realizing his own Mag had shot towards a nearby fruit tree and buried its face into the largest piece it found. The bat-like Mag blinked at him, chewing away as it fluttered next to it. "Get over here and get set for a burst, or you're not getting any Atomizers from me, pal!" the Ranger threatened.

"Shu~!" the Mag retorted, but flew at him and perched on his head, puffy tail bonking him as it sat put. The griffin cried again, the piercing shrill scream that had sent Periwinkle scurrying into the teleporter scant minutes before her husband and his friends showed up. Stomping both forelegs into the ground, it lowered the horns and spread its wings, unleashing a river of energy across the field. Dular rolled aside from the attack, then made his way to the griffin's body.

"Everyone have a burst or not?!" he called out, "Bana's not ready yet!"

"Denwark's got one!" Perri shouted, darting along to meet him, "He said he was saving it for a special occasion!" The Rukmin nodded eagerly, dancing about in the air.

"Meru! Meru!" he sang, "Meru Pilla!" Dular's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"He's got Pilla? His former master must have raised him quite well. I'd like to see what it looks like." he murmured as Elliot reached the other side of the griffin, still fighting to get Pushan off his head.

"I've got one ready! Pushan! Get off me!" he yelled. He pried it off at last, "Get your Golla ready, you squishy bat! Ow! Don't bite me!" The griffin caught on by the time they were ready and galloped off, attempting to run them down. "Bail! It's gonna squish us! Ow! I wasn't talking about you, Pushan! That's my trigger finger!" the Ranger shrieked as they ran.

"Move it! It's coming our way!" Dular yelled, racing to stay ahead of the creature. Perri ran to one side as the Mag whispered into her ear. She looked startled, then seemed to understand, looking a bit pale.

"Please work." she whispered and spun around to face the griffin as it veered around to gather speed for another run. She stood fast, resisting the urge to bolt as it came at her. Dular and Elliot spotted her and screamed for her to run as they began to chase after the monster, shooting from the laser and a small handgun in efforts to slow or stall it.

"Meru!" Denwark yelled as the griffin came upon them. Perri shrieked and dropped to all fours, covering her head as the Rukmin threw his hands up and released the burst. The male hunters stopped in shock as Pilla, the sorcerer, suddenly appeared from a flash of energy right in front of the griffin.

Throwing its arms out, the summoned creature called down a rain of energy beams that stabbed and pierced the monster that flailed before it in attempts to escape. Perri stayed huddled on the ground, crying in fear as the Mag above her exhausted itself of energy, the burst vanishing moments later. The griffin, heavily weakened and wounded, was still not dead, even from such a massive blow. Staggering about, it screeched in pain, ready to drop down on the little Forcer and her Mag.

"Pushan! Do it!" Elliot yelled as Dular started a steady flow of Foie attacks to drive the griffin away from Perrinetta. The bat focused and unleashed its energy in the form of an elk, Golla, that stomped its forelegs and fired bolts from its antlers at the hulking beast that swayed not far from them.

"Meru!" Denwark yelled angrily as the griffin finally fell aside, narrowly missing crushing the Mag and his mistress. Elliot and Dular ran up to Perrinetta in relief, helping her get to her feet.

"Are you okay?! What were you thinking, letting that... Gal Gryphon... come at you like that?!" Dular exclaimed, checking her over for bruises and broken limbs.

"Denwark said he'd handle it." she replied dazedly, "Pilla would kill it quick."

"Pilla didn't do the job. Golla finished it off." Elliot told her and looked around, "I'm gonna search out that teleporter again. We better get back to Pioneer 2 and have her looked at. Then we can tell Miss Milarose to get a new team down here, 'cause all the meseta on Ragol and Coral ain't worth getting ourselves killed by more giant monsters."

"We can't do that!" Perri suddenly cried, "We have to find Mr. Flowen! If only because it was the last thing Rico was doing before she died...." Dular picked her up and she slumped tiredly against him. "I don't want to give up on this mission. I don't want to quit. I want for us to be clean again. Right, Dular?" she murmured sleepily, then trailed off into sleep. The Hunter sighed as he followed Elliot to the teleporter.

"Yeah. We'll come clean one day. No more cheating the system and tarnishing our records. We do enough good things and we'll be redeemed one day." he muttered with a faint bit of hopefulness.


Seabed~

Periwinkle sat on a large box set against the wall in one room, looking up at the ring that hovered nearby. She had found the odd thing and cautiously stepped underneath it, thinking it could take her out of the underwater tunnels and back to solid ground. All it did was come down around her and tickle her body and mind. It didn't do it again after that.

She was tired of walking and it felt late. A long time had passed since she enjoyed the warm blankets the eccentric Ramarl had lent her and the blazing fire that kept away the darkness. The sound of her friend talking about the animals and techniques as she lay comfortably in a bed of red and black had been soothing, there was someone she could trust near her. Now, she was alone and cold and scared again. She wanted to sleep, but was unsure of her surroundings. The door was closed so that offered some protection.

"Val, why didn't you tell me the truth? Why didn't you ever tell me about this place and the things you did?" Peri murmured as she hugged the wand tightly, trying to stay warm despite all the water that she had trudged through to get this far in the lab. She had fallen in one room, tripping over the wreckage of some metal thing and landing with a splash in the flooded lower half of the room. She had almost lost the Twinkle Star, but with quick thinking and a little doggie paddling saw her swim across to the other side. That's how she wound up shivering and trembling in this wretched little room not far from where she hoped the entrance was so she could get out of there.

"L'zac wanted Val to come here. Maybe he is here and is looking for me. He would know what happened at the house, he would have seen that white light and understood what went on." she tried to comfort herself. "But why would L'zac want Val? He said something about a test; the same one I took." She blinked and thought harder. "The story. Val's story, the one about the man and his friends fighting their way to that one monster. He mentioned there was a man who had something to do with stationary." she murmured, "Black Paper? That was the name of it. That's the same as the group that Dol said L'zac belonged to." Peri sat upright and started piecing things together in her head. "L'zac is from Black Paper. He doesn't like Val, but he wants Val to come back. In the story, the man from Black Paper asked questions about where the stranger came from while he had other people doing things to make him feel weird." she thought aloud, "That means that L'zac, the man from Black Paper, was asking Val about Animal Crossing. But why?"

Peri clacked her shoes together and studied them sleepily. She was ready to call it a night, but one last thought lingered in her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

"Maybe he wants to go to Animal Crossing one day?" she murmured and closed her eyes.

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 31, 2004, 05:33 PM
Central Control Area, Main Walkway~

Morning on Gal Da Val Island was bright and warm. Valentine shifted in his sleep and yawned, stretching as he came around fully. For a moment, he didn't know where he was, then remembered the events of the previous day. He never had the chance to get rid of the catfish in his pack since leaping into the portal, so he unpacked them for breakfast. Val started up a small fire on a pile of debris using his axe and nearby metal shards, then fried the fish that way.

The East Tower looked somewhat better in the light of the day. The gutted floors smoldered less but the sight of it and the knowledge that Periwinkle had been there sobered him. Val chewed the fish slowly, looking depressed. There was still a chance that she may have run away from L'zac, but she had no knowledge of the teleporter system or who the bad guys are, or monsters. The story he had told her to teach her about Ragol may have just been that for her; a story.

"Better keep looking." he muttered and got up, walking along the Central Control Area and calling his wife's name. Val looked into every crevice he could find, sometimes startling a few of the wild animals and winding up having to fight them off. He kept looking towards the tower, spirits dropping further with each glance. "Maybe she didn't make it out." he murmured, "Maybe she couldn't escape the tower and when Mako blew it up...." He dropped the axe then and choked on a sob, burying his face in his hands. Maybe he had been too late to save her, maybe he never had a chance at all. For all he knew, there could have been monsters in the tower and they would have torn Periwinkle to bits the minute she fell among them.

"PERI!" he screamed in sorrow, tears streaming down his face. Had his venture into Ragol been for nothing?

"Winkle." a voice added suddenly. Valentine stopped crying abruptly and looked around in shock, eyes wide but still wet from the tears. "You forgot the other part of it."

"Who said that?! Who's there?!" Val demanded, spinning about in search of the speaker. He spotted the axe and snatched it back up. "Show yourself!"

"You must be Val, right?" the voice went on. He tensed and gripped the Golden Axe tightly.

"Who wants to know?" he growled, "Who are you? What do you want?!"

"You're Val. I was told about you. You have a funny personality." the voice continued, giggling. Val spun around again and yelped in surprise.

A head was upside down before him, sticking out of a tree. Pale face, deep green eyes, bright red hair in a ponytail and a hat with odd 'cat-ears' still planted on its head, the sight was shocking. Obviously female, the woman smiled at him and laughed at his reaction.

"Hi!" she remarked brightly, "Good morning!"

"What the heck?! Who are you?! What are you?!" Val cried, jumping back. The woman smiled again and pulled her head back into the tree. The leaves and limbs rustled, then she dropped out of it completely, rolled up in a ball that opened halfway down so she could land safely on her feet. She straightened and put one hand on a hip, the other in a fist that she pawed the air with. She winked at him.

"Myu, myu!" she teased, "My name's Dol! I'm here to help you find Periwinkle!" Val blinked in confusion.

"What? But, how did you know my name? And how did you know I was looking for Periwinkle? And how did you know about her?!" he demanded to know. Dol blinked and looked tired, not as bubbly as before.

"My brother told me about it. He said he was sorry that he couldn't be here to help you more, so he asked me to come and help you and his other friends find your wife." she replied, tail swishing gently behind her. "I met Periwinkle myself yesterday. We were on the walkway near the main gate, the lower one. When the tower blew up, I had to leave her there to save my brother. When I finally was able to get back here, she was gone. I don't know where she went, so I'm going to help you find her because she's my new friend."

"Your brother?" Val echoed blankly, then registered Dol's red hair and green eyes as being incredibly familiar. "Mako! You're Mako's baby sister!" he cried in shock, "The one he's been looking for!" He brightened up. "And you said you spoke with him! He's still alive! And if Peri was with you when the tower exploded, then she must be alive too! How were they?!" he asked eagerly.

"Mako is recovering at my hideout. He's really weak now, but he's healing quickly." the little woman replied, "Peri was just fine last I saw her, but she doesn't know anything about Ragol. But she should be fine still, wherever she is. I gave her some really strong techniques."

"Wh-what? Techniques? Like what Perrinetta and Mako have?" Val exclaimed in surprise, "But how? Why? Why does my Peri know techs? She knows nothing about techs!"

"She had Foie when I met her. All Forcers start with Foie." Dol shrugged, "Maybe you should ask her, when we find her." Val nodded, still confused as to how his wife could have Force powers when this was her first venture on Ragol. They walked back to the main gate together. "We'll start from the walkway and look for clues. Are you a Hunter or a Ranger? You don't look like a Forcer to me." she added.

"I guess I'm a Hunter." Val replied, the axe resting on his shoulder as they walked along, "What about you? Are you a Force, like Mako?"

"Nope, I'm a Ranger. Ramarl. But I'm about as strong, tech-wise, as a Forcer." Dol replied, poking around behind boxes as they began the search. She looked over the fencing at the lower walkway. "We were down there. Hmm, a warp. I'll see where it goes." she remarked as Val ran up and looked with her.

"And we were right here!" he cried in anguish, "I could have been with her right now if we had bothered to look over here!" Dol shrugged again as she slid down the slope and trotted over to the warp. She stepped in and disappeared, only to reappear not far from Val on the main walkway.

"There's that. Oh well." Dol sighed, "Should we try that red teleporter?"

"No, that goes to the cliffs of Gal Da Val. If she was up there, my friends would have contacted me about it." Val replied, holding up his arm and showing the band he wore. "If she made her way up here, we should keep looking around here. Maybe she's just asleep somewhere." Dol jumped and laughed.

"Okay!" she cheered and ran off to start a new search. Val scratched his head, shrugged, and raced to keep up.


Central Control Area, West Tower~

Worly circled each of the Sinow Berills and Spigels, eyeing them warily. The machines had been left in the tower's lower floors, deactivated, and L'zac, being the kind of person that would have machines do the dirty work for him when possible, immediately ordered that they be programmed to work for him and cleaned up a bit. The Fomar and several of the surviving members of the squadron set up in East Tower set to work on it. The end result was a troop of ten or twelve Sinows all ready to accept commands and follow them through. L'zac himself was standing before the group, smiling that eerie maniac grin again.

"This is all too perfect! Now, all that's left to be done is to take what is mine and the glory of the highest title Black Paper can bestow upon us will be mine!" he chuckled. Worly yelped at the light that glowed from the eyes of the Sinows and scurried back to his commander, who held the activation device in one hand. "Now then, all Sinows of the Black Paper Gerun Division! Heed my orders! In the Central Control Area of this island you will find a man and woman of below average height! You are to seek them out and retrieve them, unharmed! Anyone else can be eliminated, just bring me the small man and woman!" he declared and signaled for the doors to be opened so they could get started. The Sinows cloaked at first chance, bounding out the doorway with heavy metallic thuds on the flooring.

With the troops gone on their mission, L'zac smiled and walked away, followed by the nervous Worly. The handgun still holstered to the commander's side had begun to change form and color, taking on a black and leathery appearance with faint spots of yellow and red mottling the barrel of the gun.

"Sir, about that gun of yours... are you sure it's a good idea to continue carrying it around like that?" Worly asked hesitantly, pointing at the unusual weapon, "It's looking more and more like those monsters found in the ruins beneath the Central Dome."

"Don't be spineless! This D-Photon gun will create the perfect soldier once we get Valentine Hart and then we can begin conquest of the place called 'Animal Crossing'!" the Hunter laughed and clenched his fists together, "And I can't wait to finally have my duel with him! A chance to crush him with the very power he used to survive Ragol's mainland dangers!"

"Is that why you went from Ramar to Humar?" Worly asked, mind wandering as he pondered the change in his commander's class, "Valentine is a Hunter? Do they even have our classes in his world? The data files of the interrogation didn't say he did."

"Worly!" L'zac suddenly yelled, stopping abruptly enough to have the Fomar bump into him. He jumped back, startled.

"Y-yes, sir?!" he stammered. The commander tapped his bottom lip and studied him carefully.

"Prepare the interrogation room for our new guests. Make sure that they have a warm welcome when they arrive." he finally remarked with a crooked grin, "You can start by doing something about that hair of yours. That hat is pathetic; you look like you're trying to fly away with that stupid propeller attached to it." Worly blinked and pat the cap sitting on his head. "Those glasses have to go as well. You're a member of the elite Black Paper Gerun Division! I'll not have my assistant looking like a social misfit with those bottle lenses!" L'zac added sternly, "Get going! What are you doing just standing there and patting yourself on the head?! Are you a Gibbon?! Move it, soldier!" He pulled out the mutant gun and started firing it at his feet, the black bursts hitting the floor and throwing small sparks up. Worly danced about in a panic, trying not to get anything to touch him.

"I'm going, I'm going! Right away, sir! Waaaaahhhh!" he wailed and dashed off, not bothering to hold down the cap that threatened to fly off his head as he ran.
_________________________________________________

I'm going somewhere with this, trust me. Any ideas what a Del'ed Varista would look like? 'Cause I had the idea that the mutant handgun looked like that. BTW, the wallpaper's taking longer than I thought, but then good things come to those who wait, right? And the second one is a bit tough to make....

Digi-Dolphin
Apr 1, 2004, 07:49 PM
Oi, this is leading up to that dreaded moment...the duel between L'zac and Valentine. I say dreaded because I feel like I'm gonna write it out and it's gonna be crappy. I'm crossing my fingers it won't be so bad.
__________________________________________________

Pioneer 2, The Lab~

"I trust you had a good night's sleep?" Natasha Milarose asked curtly as the team assembled before her, "And where's your fourth member? That red Fomar?"

"He's in recovery after a small accident." Dular replied, "The creature that had sent out the readings you picked up here at the Lab was a very, VERY large beast."

"Altered Beast, actually." Milarose interrupted, "We had some data sent up to us just a few minutes before you arrived by some anonymous source."

"Who could have sent it? There's no one down in the seabed yet. We never found a teleporter with coordinates to it." Dular wondered aloud. Milarose cocked her head thoughtfully.

"Well, according to the analyzed data, there was a huge experiment going on at Gal Da Val and it expanded into many different directions. One of those was the development of bioweapons." she remarked and looked through the data, "This research was directed by Dr. Osto Hyle. Only three subjects produced results; test codes Beta 630, Beta 772, and Gamma 119. Data from test code Beta 630 and the data from the beast you encountered on the cliffs are identical. In other words...."

"That monster was created by the researchers on the island!" Elliot exclaimed in shock, "That thing was a bioweapon?! And there's two more out there somewhere?!"

"I'm getting to that. Beta 772 escaped and infiltrated the ducts. Gamma 119 went out of control and was disposed of at the waste station in the facility. Those are the only details available on those codes." Milarose answered.

"Beta 772 sounds familiar." Dular remarked, "Perri, wasn't that the code-name for De Rol Lei mentioned in Meruton's files?"

"Yeah! It listed all kinds of info about that worm! That's how we were able to kill it and escape WORKS!" the Forcer declared excitedly, "Da Ral Lie must have been an evolved form of another Beta 772 project!"

"Then we only have one project to deal with, right?" Elliot asked hopefully, "I mean, bioweapons like the Gal Gryphon and De Rol Lei are pretty nasty monsters. I'm shocked we've lived to tell about encounters with them!"

"Apparently so. If you run into that final bioweapon, destroy it with extreme prejudice." Milarose told them firmly, "We can't have anything like that jeopardizing the safety of the Pioneer 2 and her crew and civilians."

"Have you found an access point to the seabed laboratory? We can check it out and see if Mr. Flowen is hidden there." Perri asked, anxious to get back on the mission. "Maybe he sent us that data and will help us destroy Gamma 119!"

"Sure, sure! We got one for ya!" Maxie grumbled from the console off to one side. He leaned back in his chair and scowled at the group, still unshaven but peppery-colored hair neatly made. "The pansy in the red dress chickened out, eh? Well, tough for him! The coordinates we pulled from the locations of each log's transmission number and the message sent to the Lab at the beginning have been punched into the teleporter over there." He jerked a thumb at the blue teleporter, "There are two levels to the seabed laboratory, and we're only able to get you to the entrance of the upper level. You'll have to work your way around from there."

"Thanks." Dular told him with a polite nod, "We'll resupply and continue the search. How goes the message from Rico to the government?"

"Like my wife in the mornin' when she's cookin'!" Maxie retorted, "Slow as hell to get started and what finally comes out of it is nothin' but shiiiiiit!" The team collectively rolled their eyes as they headed out to the shops.


For Dular, Perrinetta, and Elliot, the seabed presented them with a new challenge. No longer in the wide open spaces of the over-world that provided them ample room for dodging and maneuvering, the confined quarters of the laboratory hallways made them skittish. The beauty they found in the undersea creatures swimming boldly by them beyond the windows of the tunnels did little to ease them in the strange, sterile-looking surroundings.

The hope that another legendary Hunter might still be alive drove them on, past strange machines that popped out of boxes and squid-like creatures that chirped and squeaked as they attacked. Motion sensitive barriers littered some of the junctions between halls and made travel all the more hazardous. During their sleep, the Lab had sent in several reconnaissance devices and Cal units to ready themselves for communications and data collection. The vast sprawling tunnels were like a maze to the team. Often they found themselves returning to the same dead end or in need of backtracking to investigate another route through some room that was partially flooded.

"Dular, are we ever going to find a home?" Perri suddenly asked as they found themselves sloshing through the water of one room, weapons held above their heads as they carefully made their way past a group of sleeping squid creatures. "Maybe Val's right about Ragol. Maybe it is too dangerous to rebuild and live here."

"I think so, too, but what choice do we have? Coral is dying and we may not have the fuel to find another planet. We can send out more probes, but how long will it be until we find another world that can support us?" the Hunter whispered as they reached the other side and climbed out of the water.

"We shouldn't have come here to begin with." Elliot muttered, "We should all have stayed on Coral. With less people, we may have had the chance to fix the planet and make it habitable again. I know of a person who was able to save his world because he worked hard at it and fought to make sure that it would be safe and healthy. We should be like that guy and make the dream of a place to call home a reality."

"Maybe." Dular sighed and checked the map, "Let's keep going. Nothing for us here." They trudged on, eyes open for anything that may give them more signs of hope that Heathcliff Flowen was indeed alive.


Seabed, Upper Level~

The strange machine that beeped and buzzed was of no help to Periwinkle at all. Angry that it hadn't done anything to let her know if she was on her way out or not, she cast Zonde on it and let it spark and hiss as she stormed away. The pushing of buttons was somewhat calming at first, but she couldn't stand on her toes high enough to see what exactly it was that she had been doing. Leaving it behind, she continued on to walk deeper and deeper into the tunnels.

Periwinkle could sense that she was moving out of the strange place. The air seemed a bit lighter on her shoulders and smelled fresher. The rooms themselves didn't look so dark and the creatures outside of the windows in the halls were mostly fish that could be caught near the surface of the water. She knew this because of her fishing attempts at the beaches of Animal Island. Glad to soon be out of the wretched facility and on her way to finding Val and a way home, she hummed a song and skipped along the hallways.

"Sunshine and happy day, seeing me go on my way! It's a wonderful new adventure each time we go out and play! With my tools and my friends, the fun and laughter never ends! Buy a house, fill it up, trade for things, find more stuff! See the world, you're free to roam! But Animal Crossing's my home, sweet home!" she sang aloud the words to the town theme she had invented for Animal Crossing, sure now that she would return to it soon enough.

The joy she was feeling was abruptly ended by the sounds of growling coming from behind her as she passed through one large room. Periwinkle froze in midstep, eyes wide. Slowly, she turned her head to look over her shoulder.

Standing not far away from her was a strange black beast, hulking and ready to leap at her. Planted firmly on all four legs, the creature seemed to be like an enormous dog, but its face was nothing more but a beak-like mouth with a round portion within it. A spike rose from its head, several more were along its body, mostly at the shoulders, and lines of gold and green decorated the body, glowing steadily, like a heartbeat. Though she couldn't see any eyes on it, Periwinkle knew it was glaring right at her.

"Um... nice doggie?" she squeaked and shrieked when it suddenly launched itself at her, ready to mow her down. Racing out of the way, she darted into a hall, scrambling to escape the pursuing monster. "Get away from meeeee!" she wailed, running faster than she ever thought she could, past groups of startled squid creatures and a pair of bored looking blue and red robots. The dog continued on after her, the scent of terror and the thrill of agile prey exciting it to no ends. It would pursue this most interesting bit of game until it either dropped dead from a burst heart or it was cornered in some cul-de-sac.

Turning down halls and entering junctions without regard as to where they went, Periwinkle fled blindly onwards, silently begging to anyone for help, for one more chance to be in her husband's arms before the crazed animals of this world finally killed her. Forcer or not, there was no way she could fight this thing. It moved so fast; it would be on her before she could even gather the willpower to cast a technique. And so she ran, heading ever closer to a group of hunters that came across a strange terminal with interesting information about secret projects and experiments.


Central Control Area~

Val raised an eyebrow at the several blue, orange, and green item boxes being chucked from one side of the walkway to the other. On occasion a red box would go flying, followed soon after by the Ramarl that had thrown it, squealing in joy and playfulness. He shook his head and sighed. This was ridiculous! How was he to find Periwinkle, when his only guide now was an insane female Ranger?!

"Oh, pooh! I've got this one already!" Dol pouted at the pair of metallic gloves in her hands, "Stupid Angry Fist." She threw it aside and resumed digging through the items that Val helped pull together after checking behind every large box in the area for Periwinkle. "Oooh! Difluid!"

"How long is this going to take?" Val growled irritably. Dol poked her head up from the pile, the capsule held delicately between her teeth, and blinked in confusion. "You're just rooting around for junk! We're supposed to be looking for my wife!" he yelled at her. She blinked again. "Gah! Are you some kind of an idiot?!" She spit the capsule out and pouted.

"No.... I'm just getting ready." she replied simply and dug around a bit more, "Well, that's it. Nothing else of value here." She scooped up the capsule again and stuffed it into a pack wrapped around her waist. "Okay, let's go to the teleporter. Maybe she left a sign that she used it before you and your friends showed up there." Val sighed again and followed her as she made her way up to the teleporter's control panel.

A thudding sound caught his attention as she began fiddling with the controls. Looking around warily, Val readied his axe and stepped forward. There didn't seem to be anything out on the walkway, but the sound had been directed from it. He continued studying the area. Too many run-ins with monsters that jumped in from nowhere taught him that a clear area wasn't always clear.

"Miss Dol?" he called softly and looked back. The Ramarl was staring out past him, cat ears perked up and forward, tail raised up in a questioning curl. "You heard that too, huh?"

"Something's out there." she whispered and sneaked a glance at the console, "Seabed. The machine was set to the Seabed before it was changed to the cliffs."

"She must be there then. Can we get to Seabed with that teleporter?" Val asked, backing up slowly.

"Negative. The security system protecting the teleporter has been activated upon the arrival of enemies. To deactivate the security measures, the surrounding area must be cleared of all threats to the integrity of the teleporter and the destination point." the Ranger responded emotionlessly, hand reaching for the Red weapon closest to her.

"Where are they?" Val wondered aloud, changing course and putting forward a more aggressive stance as he headed down the walkway with her, still studying the open area beyond the gate that led to the teleporter. The air flickered a bit when they went beyond the gate into the center of the area. Val blinked and cried in shock with the air rippled and a dozen machines suddenly appeared around him. "Aagh! They were invisible!"

"Sinow Berills and Spigels!" Dol cried, lashing out with a pair of shiny Red Daggers, slashing one of the machines across the chest-plate, "They had a cloaking ability!" Val attacked with the Golden Axe, slamming the blade onto anything metallic that came at him. Sinows disappearing and reappearing around him confused him. How many were there, exactly?

"Ugh!" he grunted as one of the robots appeared behind him and slapped him across the floor. The axe skittered away from him. "Dol! Help!"

"Problems of my own, little man!" the Ramarl cried, darting among the robots as she tried to make her way to the axe. Val rolled aside from another Sinow that appeared to pick him up, then leaped to his feet and ran after her. Dol reached it first and kicked it towards him before diving away from several more machines that materialized in front of her.

"Where did they come from?! What do they want?!" Val yelled, slamming the axe into another machine and jumping aside from one that sent a ring of fire spiralling out around it. "They have techs, too?!"

"No way!" Dol cried and yelped when she was knocked aside by a Sinow Berill that rammed into her. Her daggers fell to the wayside and she struggled to get up and reclaim them. Val spotted them as he darted back and forth among the oddly determined machines.

"Daggers?! But, you're a Ranger! Hunters use daggers!" he exclaimed in shock and confusion before yelping in pain as a Spigel anticipated his movement and met him with a fist that sent him flying again.

"Never mind that!" she yelled back as she rolled across the floor to recover the daggers. She packed them away and switched to using blasts of Rafoie to hit the mechanical pack, wherever they showed up. "Run! We gotta get outta here!"

Val spun the axe and let it fly, burying it into one Sinow as it tried to teleport away from him. It fell, breaking apart into large pieces as he ran up and grabbed the axe. There went one, but how many more were there?! The blows from the seemingly magic machines were wearing him down; his body ached from the slaps to his back and chest. He made for the gate, desperate to escape the robots. Without Dular, Perri and Elliot to back him up, he was no match for the Sinows. Dol was far too small to do much damage alone, despite her claim that she was a strong as a Forcer and her unusual ability to use a Hunter's weapons.

"Yaaah!" the sharp cry startled Val back into alertness and he skidded to a stop, searching the battlefield quickly for the Ranger. Hadn't she been right behind him? By the fencing surrounding the walkway was one of the Berills. Draped forward onto its arm was the redhead, motionless. Val darted back and leaped at it for a rescue, then flailed his arms as he was snatched out of the air by an invisible hand.

"Let me go!" he screamed and kicked as the robot held him snugly, "What are you doing?!" The pack turned and started loping towards the West Tower. Val squirmed and blinked in shock as he remembered the data on the Sinows. They were made for search and capture uses! Whoever had sent these ones out was on the search for something or someone. "Let me go! I'm not the one you're looking for!" Val yelled louder, "Dol! Wake up! Shoot these things or something!" He continued to yell until the Spigel paused long enough to flick its fingers at the back of his head, knocking him out on the spot. They continued on to the tower, returning with the little man and the little woman.

Digi-Dolphin
Apr 2, 2004, 03:03 PM
Chapter Six


Seabed, Upper Level~

"Codes are assigned to each research project in the facility. The codes indicate the time period in relation to the overall experiment. Code Alpha indicates projects started in the early stages of research. The level Alpha projects range from technology development to biological research. There's also a project to develop machines called Recon and Recobox. These are miniature patrol and reconnaissance devices. There's also a seabed version of the Search and Capture unit on the surface. Zoa type and Zele type. The basic equipment is the same, but these have a freezing device." the terminal reported after Elliot poked and prodded at it.

"That explains the blue Sinow style robots that blasted me with a Gibarta looking attack." Dular muttered. Perri looked around, listening for something that was somewhat familiar. She cocked her head one way, then another, stepping around the room to hear better.

"You guys hear that?" she asked, sticking her head out the room and looking around. Dular and Elliot blinked and strained to listen, aiming their heads in all directions. "Sounds like a kid yelling at the top of his or her lungs."

"Your ears are bigger! I can't hear anything!" Elliot whined and received a slap for it. "Ow! Dular! She hit me!" The Hunter sighed and shook his head, still trying to listen for the sound. He blinked just then.

"Hey, now I can hear it. What is that?" he murmured. The sound grew louder and louder. The other members stopped fussing and fighting to listen.

"Reminds me of Val when he first came to Ragol." Perri remarked wistfully, a small smile on her face, "He shrieked so loud at everything before he got the hang of it."

"It's getting louder." Elliot pointed out and looked out at the hallway from under Dular's arm. "Is it getting closer?" Perri joined the group, all three hunters now looking out the door at the junction linking two halls together.

It came skidding around a turn and racing down the hall; a small figure so like Val's own height that for a brief moment, the team actually thought it was Valentine Hart. A black monstrosity came barrelling after the little person, barking and howling. Dular held out his hand, waited until the shrieking figure got close, then snatched it into the room as it ran by, the door slamming shut after the trio leaped back in. The dog, too caught up in the chase, continued running on, not bothering with the fact that the prey was gone, just running for the joy of it.

The small figure, however, kept shrieking and kicked out at the Hunter, who promptly set it down and stepped back. The group bent to take a look at what they rescued.

"What are you doing, you maniac?!" the figure screamed up at Dular, then squeaked and jumped back. She noticed the others and jumped again. "Wh-who are you?!" she cried, "What do you want from me?"

"It's a girl?" Perri remarked in surprise. Elliot eyed the figure carefully.

"Nah, she's well-developed. My guess is a healthy little woman." he remarked. The woman looked shocked, then angry, turning bright pink.

"Why, you fresh little pervert!" she snapped, "I'm married!" She pulled the Twinkle Star around and hit his knee with it. "How dare you look at me like that!" Elliot yelped and jumped back, holding his knee as he hopped about. Perri cried in surprise.

"My Twinkle Star wand! She's got my Twinkle Star! The one I gave to Val!" she yelled, pointing at the woman. Dular's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he merely watched them, head slightly cocked in interest.

"Is that what it's called?" the woman asked, then blinked and yelled back. "What do you mean by that?! Why would you give things to my husband?! Are you trying to steal him away, you little harlequin harlot?!"

"What did you call me?!" Perrinetta snapped at her, hands ready to cast a technique. The woman raised her arms and one leg, looking like a ballerina about ready to start a dance, but she looked as threatening as possible. "I oughtta zap you with a blast of Foie, you little witch!"

"Yeah, just you try it! I'll hit you with Zonde first!" she retorted. Dular straightened quickly.

"Stop it! Both of you!" he bellowed and the two girls looked at him in surprise. "You must be Periwinkle Hart." he remarked and knelt down to meet with her. He held out a hand. "My name is Dular Pensir. I'm a friend of your husband's." he added politely, "We've been looking for you and another man." The woman looked at him suspiciously.

"You from Black Paper too? The last guy who said Val was his friend tried to kill me in some crazy room full of monsters and birds." she grumbled. Then she blinked. "Wait. The story. He said there were the three friends that he started with, that became four. Dular, the Hunter, was tall and intelligent, with rusty hair in a braid." she murmured and looked up at him. Dular brought his hand up and pulled the braid around for her to examine. "Perrinetta, who went by the nickname Perri, the same sounding nickname he gave me. She was the Forcer with long elf ears and purple clothes who loved red boxes. She gave him the Twinkle Star as a gift of friendship." Periwinkle looked over at the Forcer who proudly displayed her Angel Harp as a red box.

"Perrinetta Arayo, at your service! But call me Perri if you like. So you're nicknamed Peri, too? We're gonna have fun together, girl!" she laughed brightly. Periwinkle smiled and looked up at Elliot.

"Elliot, the Ranger, who loves blue and dresses in it. He has a crush on Perri." she remarked and laughed when the Ranger turned red and bashful.

"Elliot Edwards, that's me." he chuckled. Peri looked around, confused.

"But where's the fourth one? Mako Tiburon? The red Forcer who wore a dress and had three pets? Bright red hair and green eyes?" she asked. The group looked disheartened.

"He's back at the Pioneer 2, recovering from an accident." Dular replied.

"Where's Val?" Periwinkle finally whispered, looking up at him fearfully. "Was he in that accident, too?"

"No. He's up on the surface, looking for you." Perri told her and gasped, "Val's up there! We've got to go back and tell him, better yet, reunite them!"

"But what about Flowen?" Elliot asked, scratching his head. Dular rested his chin on a hand and studied Periwinkle carefully.

"You know Zonde?" he asked. She nodded.

"I also know Barta, Foie, Resta, Anti, Ryuker, Grants and Megid." she listed off, struggling a bit to recall the tech names. "Dol taught them to me." Elliot perked up.

"Dol? Dol Fina?" he asked. Periwinkle nodded. "Mako's sister. That's her."

"We're going back." Dular suddenly said and stood up, ignoring the looks from his friends. "The sooner Val and Periwinkle are together, the sooner they'll be able to switch off the GameCube and go home, and then we can restart the search for Flowen."

"The GameCube? L'zac was asking me about that." Peri remarked as they began the walk back to the entrance teleporter. "I don't have it with me."

"Val does. L'zac? You met him?!" Perrinetta exclaimed, "What did he do to you?! What did he want?!" Peri shrugged in confusion. "And why aren't we piping out of here?" she asked the Hunter.

"Because your pipes take us to the Pioneer and we want to avoid exposing Val or Periwinkle to our society. Black Paper knowing of them is bad enough, our government might do something stupid if they knew of an interdimensional gateway device." Dular replied, "We'll go to the teleporter and I'll rig it to take us planet-side. We can get to the Central Control Area from there."

"He was asking about Animal Crossing, my hometown, and about Val and the GameCube and what the people were like in my world." Peri replied, "He sounded like he wanted to go visit."

"L'zac doesn't want to visit. He wants something more from it." Perrinetta muttered, "Crazy Ranger."

"Hunter." Peri corrected and she looked down at her in surprise. "He's a Hunter, he fit the requirements for one, according to Dol." The team looked at each other in confusion. "Is there something wrong?"

"Periwinkle, when you first came here, you were able to use a Force weapon and techniques right away, correct?" Dular asked, the group still walking along to the entrance.

"Yeah. I didn't think much of it. Why do you ask?" Peri replied, head cocked in confusion.

"When Val got here and started actually fighting, he used a lot of power attacks. He was stronger than he looked." Elliot pointed out. The group nodded. "He acted like a Hunter."

"Why?" Dular muttered, "What makes Val a Hunter and Periwinkle a Forcer right off the bat when entering our world from theirs?" He looked down at the woman. "Can you tell me what you do in your world? Everything about you, anything that could help us figure out what caused this to happen to you and Val."

"I decorate." Peri replied smartly, "I'm a five year champion of house decorating in Animal Crossing! I can set up furniture and plan out themes to score huge points with the Happy Room Academy!"

"Furniture decorating, does that take a lot of strength to move the pieces?" Dular pressed.

"Not really. It takes a lot of thinking, though." Peri answered with a smile, "You have to make sure everything is coordinated just right and placed in just the right spots."

"So you have a high mental strength." Perrinetta translated, eyebrow raised.

"If you see it like that, then yes."

"What did Val do?" Elliot asked before steering the group down another hall just as they began to go off track. Peri laughed.

"What didn't he do! He's the guy in charge of Animal Crossing's unofficial town beautification project, practically!" she replied, "He's cleared trees, replanted them, planted flowers, filled the museum with fossils, insects and fish... that's how he got the Golden series of tools." She pulled out the axe from her pack and showed it to them. "My tools are normal ones. I don't do much outdoor work. I let Valentine handle it."

"So he does a lot of work that involves swinging axes and nets, digging, fishing... things that involve a good amount of strength. Power." Dular muttered and snapped his fingers, "That's the connection! The gate that brought them here must have changed Val and Periwinkle to adapt to our world! Periwinkle's ability to coordinate furniture gives her a high mental strength, translating to a Fomarl class when she was dropped here!"

"And Val does a lot of outdoor work, exercising enough to gain more strength than any normal little dude! That translates to a high enough power stat here on Ragol to give him the Humar class!" Perrinetta caught on, clapping her hands. "Peri's a Forcer and Val's a Hunter! Just converted from Animal Crossing's specialties!"

"What does that have to do with L'zac changing class from Ranger to Hunter?" Elliot asked, still confused. Dular thought carefully, then looked slowly horrified.

"L'zac has a grudge against Val, according to Periwinkle. He could be crazy enough to change class to match Val's strength...." he started and looked at the group, "To fight him. He must want a one on one match against Valentine!"

"He could kill him! L'zac's so big and Val's so small!" Perrinetta cried as Periwinkle screamed.

"But why?!" Elliot demanded.

"The GameCube. L'zac was interested in it and Val's the only guy who has it and can use it." Dular pointed out. "If he gets his mitts on it, there's no telling what he'll do with it. Especially if he manages to figure it out enough to get to Animal Crossing."

"Then we've gotta hurry and find Val! We have to find him and go home!" Periwinkle wailed and jumped as a swarm of the squid creatures flooded into the room they stopped to talk. "We don't have time for this! We have to get out of here!" she cried as the group went into a battle stance. The lights suddenly flickered and went out, plunging the group in darkness. As the team yelled and headed into battle, Periwinkle bit her lip and bolted for the doorway. No matter what, she had to get out and find Valentine. The fate of her husband, and possibly her world, was at stake....

Sunblast
Apr 4, 2004, 11:57 PM
Great stuff, Dol! Everthing's coming together. I can't wait to see what's next!
*Sunblast slaps Elliot.
Perv!

Digi-Dolphin
Apr 11, 2004, 06:22 PM
Central Control Area, West Tower~

Val awoke with a groan, unsure as to what had happened since the morning. Or was it morning now? He cracked an eye open and peered out with it cautiously. He was in a room, mostly dark, but with a single light shining down on him from above. Once he was fairly sure there was no threat to him, he picked himself up off the floor, wincing at his sore body and looked around.

The little redhead lying nearby on the floor brought back the recollections of the previous events in a rush. The search for Periwinkle, the meeting of the strange Ranger, the ambush from the Sinows and their capture; his head ached from the realization that he was in a pretty pickle, as Ol' Tortimer liked to put it. Val staggered over to her and shook her shoulder.

"Hey, hey. Wake up. Come on." he urged softly and sat back, checking himself over as Dol grumbled and rolled onto her back, stretching all her limbs out and yawning big enough to drop a tennis ball in her mouth.

"Five more minutes, Mako." she burbled and rolled over into a ball, tail curled up around her.

"Ah! My GameCube's gone! Dol! Get up! We're in serious trouble!" Val cried, kicking her in the back.

"Little lower." Dol muttered back.

"Come on, you ditz! Get up! Where are we?!" Val snapped, "Gah! Why can't Mako recover faster so he can get here and replace you?!" Dol growled as she curled up tighter under the kicks, then suddenly exploded outward, flipping over and lashing out with a hand to trip him up.

"Leave me alone!" she griped and sat up on her haunches, tail lashing back and forth as she hunched over in a foul mood, cat-ears flattened on her head. "I'm not supposed to fail a mission." she grumbled, "And now I did."

"I've got all my items, but the GameCube's gone. I have to get it back. Without it, me and Peri are trapped here, probably forever!" Val exclaimed as a door slid open nearby. The two turned to look and gasped in unison.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to West Tower!" L'zac boomed heartily as he walked in with Worly stepping carefully behind him, looking somewhat ill with his hair tied in a ponytail and streamlined glasses. He squinted through them at the splotch of red he noticed and turned pale.

"S-sir! Th-that's...!" he stammered, pointing at the little woman, who promptly ignored them and started rubbing at her cheek, mewing all the while.

"That's not the woman I was hoping for." L'zac mused in mild annoyance, "It's that stupid Agent the team picked up back in the East Tower." He shrugged and beamed at Val. "We meet again, old friend! Valentine Hart, how has life treated you since we parted ways?!" he declared in a friendly voice.

"Oh, it's just you." Val retorted in the same annoyed tone the Hunter had used, "And here I thought I was in trouble. C'mon, Dol. Let's blow this stationary stand." L'zac's eye twitched ever so slightly, but he kept the grin.

"But, Val, my dearest friend...!" he went on.

"Hey, man, I ain't your friend, so you can just kiss off!" the smaller man snapped as he poked the Ranger into getting up on her feet. The Hunter brought out the small bluish box, holding it by the black handle set in its back. Val froze the moment he saw it.

"You're forgetting this wondrous little gate-maker." L'zac finished, the smile turning sinister.

"You don't know what you have. It's just a toy. Give it back." Val countered shakily. "That thing's of no use to you." L'zac raised an eyebrow and looked at Worly, who produced at small device and, after much squinting and feeling about, hit a button to play it.

"And how did you get here from this 'Animal Crossing' world?"

"My GameCube... opened a portal... sent me here...."

"Could it send one of us to your world?"

"Probably.... If it sent me here... it could do the reverse... I think...."

"What does this device look like?"

"Let me go.... Stop it.... No...."

"What does the device look like? Tell me, Valentine, I'm your friend."

"Small blue box. As long as the power is on... the gate from Animal Crossing is open."

"So if I turned the power off, the gate to Animal Crossing opens in its place, and I can go there?"

"I guess so... yeah... maybe... I don't know for sure...."

Val's eyes went wide at hearing his own voice telling L'zac all the information he knew concerning the little box. Was that what the brief lapse of memories had been about? In a drugged, broken voice, he had spilled all his knowledge to this crazed... Hunter?

"You're a Ranger, not a Hunter. Why are you dressed like one?" he asked inanely.

"You'll see soon enough." L'zac murmured as he slipped the GameCube into his pack. "There is still the matter of those blundering machines kidnapping the wrong little woman. I was after Periwinkle Hart, not this girl who thinks she's a cat."

"You're the one who forced the gate into the East Tower?! What did you do to my wife?!" Val demanded, "She's using techniques and she's running around in the Seabed! What the HELL did you do to her?!" The Hunter grinned.

"Ah, so that's where the little vixen ran to, eh? She is quite a little beauty. You married well, Valentine." he remarked brightly, then laughed, "I made another joke! Little! Ha!"

"SHUT UP!" Val yelled in a fury and ran at him, only to get kicked back.

"We're not through yet, you and I." L'zac answered coldly, "We have other business to attend to, but I have to deal with this punk Ramarl first. A disgrace to the Ranger class."

"My techs are better than yours." Dol answered promptly and flashed a smile, "And I have to go soon, anyway. Sorry, Val, but I have to help your friends and Mako, too. I know you can handle this creep, so toodles!" She turned the smile on Val. "But before I go, I'll give you a head start. Make it good!" she added, then turned a dark face on the Black Paper members.

"Oh, I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning...." Worly groaned, lifting the lenses so he wouldn't have to squint to see what was happening. He wished he hadn't. In a flash, the tiny Ranger was on them, screaming and clawing and biting whatever was within reach. Val jumped back and pulled out the Golden Axe, whirling it in preparation for an attack. L'zac stumbled back, raging equally as madly as the tiny attacker. A blur of red, black and orange cleared the doorway and Val dashed out of the room to freedom, racing down a hallway to search for a way out of the tower.

"Blasted Forcer and his blasted sisters!" L'zac growled and finally managed to grab the little Ramarl by the throat, holding her out at arm's length. "I really don't care what Central Command wants with that thing in your head! You're just a prototype and an obsolete one at that! Your life means nothing now!" he snarled and marched over to a full-sized window overlooking the Central Control Area. Worly panicked and looked around, fretting, until he spied a control panel on the wall. He dashed over and punched a series of buttons, sliding the glass away.

"If he's gonna do what I think he's gonna do, I really don't want to see glass everywhere." he whimpered, "In fact, I think now's a good time to disappear, 'cause when the Scarlet Tiburon finds out that we chucked his baby sister out the seventh story window of this tower... oowwww!" Worly bolted for the door, not wanting any part of the mad Hunter's actions.

"My life... was something... before your kind... interfered." Dol hissed, still kicking as she was held out the open window. She grinned even as she struggled with his fist in an effort to free herself, "I wouldn't... drop me... if I were you. That's not... a guarantee... I'll be dead."

"Well, I'm not you. And if I were, I'd look into body enhancement." L'zac retorted and tossed her beyond the reach of safety, sure that any attempt on her part to cling to the building would fail. Instead of flailing and screaming in terror, as he had secretly been looking forward to, the Ranger smiled and fell into a backspin, rolling into a ball and dropping into a mid-air telepipe that suddenly popped open below her.

"Told you sooooo!" her voice rang out laughingly as the pipe vanished and L'zac raged in blind fury at being foiled by such a simple trick.


Val stopped in one hall to rest, panting and gasping as he leaned against the wall and let his head drop. He winced as he looked at his arm; the Sinow that had grabbed him had crushed the armband Dular had given him in the process of capturing him, rendering any kind of contact with his friends impossible. He pried it off and threw it aside as he continued walking towards an exit. Entering a large room, he looked around warily, then dashed towards the door on the other side. Maniacal laughter rang out and the lights above each door turned red. Skidding to a halt in the center of the room, Val glared around, trying to see where the source of the laughter was coming from.

"I know that's you, Paper Boy!" he yelled, still looking and trying to keep his back covered at all times, "How'd you get here ahead of me?! And where's Dol?!"

"A lovely shade of red on the pavement. And I know this tower, I've studied the blueprints of both the East and West Towers for months. Waiting for you to make a mistake and come to me." L'zac replied smoothly, stepping forward from the shadows, the Kamui in hand. Val looked horrified, then angry.

"So you're the guy responsible for what happened to Mako! You've nearly killed him, and you murdered his sister! On top of that, you've harassed my wife and nearly killed me! Twice!" he snapped, "I should make you pay for all you've done!" With that, he slowly began spinning the axe, working the muscles until it was once again a golden blur. L'zac smiled and aimed the Kamui towards him.

"Then come and demand your payment, Valentine Hart. Just be aware that I have studied intently to match your strength." he answered, curling a lip back in an insane smile.

The two ran at each other with angry yells, L'zac bringing the Kamui down to cut into the smaller man, Val swinging the Golden Axe up to block. The blades met with a crash, sparks dropping from the metals. The Hunter pressed down with all the strength in his arm, grinning through his teeth at the little man, who fought to keep the sword from coming onto his head. Val suddenly smiled and darted under the blade, coming around the other side of the sword and lashing out with the axe. L'zac jumped back, a quick cut tearing the fabric of his uniform and staining it red.

"For stealing my 'Cube." the little man taunted and leaped forward once more, swiping at L'zac with the axe. The Hunter blocked and parried, snickering when he feinted a stab to Val's right and turned it into a slash across his chest. Valentine stumbled back in shock, pressing a hand against the cut and turning the axe aside as a makeshift shield.

"Where's that cocky attitude, Valentine Hart?" L'zac purred, stabbing forward again. The smaller fighter jumped aside, hopping back and away from each lunge the Hunter threw at him and pushing the axe to block. "Come on and fight me like a man! Or are you merely a little boy, calling himself a man?" He lunged a final time and hit a cable along the wall. The lights flickered and went out, replaced quickly by the red emergency lights. "Agh! The cable to the power grid! Look what you made me do, you little idiot!" L'zac raged upon realizing what had happened.

"This from a psychotic mailman, eh, Black Notepad? And don't think you can blame any more mistakes on me. You're the blunder-butt of this stupid operation!" Val countered, using the angry yell from L'zac as a long enough distraction to dart forward, scamper underneath him, then spin around and use the blunt end of the axe to slam the back of his knee. The Hunter dropped abruptly and swiveled around to retaliate with the Kamui, bashing the butt of the hilt into the side of Val's head. With a yelp of pain, he was sent skidding across the floor, then quickly scrambled to his feet. L'zac climbed to his own, wincing at the pain in his leg, but it only fueled his rage more. "That was for Mako getting caught in that Ragrants blast in the East Tower." Val growled, rubbing at his head, "Don't think your little touch?eans anything to me. Just the fact that I'm gonna make it double to you!"

"Pint-sized brat, you have no idea what you are up against, do you? The might of Black Paper will crush you!" the Hunter snapped and dashed forward, swinging the Kamui around for a sudden berserking slash. Val yelped and twisted aside, crying out at the sudden pain in his back. The edge of the blade had bitten into his shoulder, narrowly missing his neck. Dropping to the floor, supported only by his right arm, Val gasped and tried to move the injured arm. He could feel a sticky warmth down his back and the motion seemed to increase that feeling. Biting his lip, he struggled back to his feet and faced the Hunter again, axe spinning slowly in his working hand. Though his vision seemed to dim slightly and go somewhat out of focus, he did his best to not show it.

"Hey, you, I'm ambidextrous! That did nothing to stop me!" he boasted with a shaky smile. L'zac didn't respond, just silently dared him to rush him as well. "I'm not stupid. You want me, you come and get me yourself. Or are you so scared of a little man that you have to have robots come after me? Are you afraid that I'll run by, reach up and grab you by the crotch to make you fall?" Val sneered, "I just might, you know."

"You talk only because you're cornered like an animal. If you had any strength, you'd fight me." L'zac answered coolly, raising the Kamui to aim at him. Val blinked angrily and spun the axe faster, "You have nothing. You're dead where you stand, Valentine Hart."

L'zac barely finished the words when the Golden Axe was thrown at him, spinning in a blur that he could barely avoid. The barrier on his arm absorbed most of the axe's impact, but it still knocked the Kamui from his grip, sending it skittering across the metallic surface of the floor. Startled by the blow and the sharp pain that shot up his arm moments later, he fell back to the floor again, further injuring the wounded leg. He cursed loudly as the axe spun back to its point of origin.

"Now who's dead where they lay?" Val hissed coldly, walking up to him in a slow, menacing gait, "Pride goeth before the fall, as is so often said. The question is, are you even worth the killing blow, or should I just leave you here to think about your defeat at the hands of someone not of your world?" L'zac growled and bent over, glaring at the empty hand, his other bent back behind him. "That sword's too far off to reach. If you so much as make a move for it, this axe is gonna go straight for your head."

"Mercy... have mercy on a hunter who knows his own madness." L'zac mumbled, sounding broken and dispirited. He held his visible hand up in peace, "Please, don't kill me. I swear, I meant no harm to your wife." He looked up at Val, pleadingly, "I kept her safe and sound, but she ran away and I only wanted to find her to make her safe again. She's not like us, Valentine; she doesn't know the dangers here."

"Where's the GameCube? I want it back." Val hissed, still keeping the axe held ready, even as he felt himself growing weaker with each passing moment.

"I left it in the lab room where you fled from us. It's sitting on the table outside the interrogation room. Please, don't kill me!" L'zac whimpered, ducking his head to hide his face in shame, "I admit defeat; let me live my days in peace!" Val studied him for a moment, then stepped back and let the axe drop, his arm too drained of strength to support it.

"Good. Now, you'd better get out of my face." he added sternly, "Before I decide to change my mind...."

"I think not." L'zac's voice suddenly reverted to its dark tone. With a mad laugh, he jerked his head up and swung the hand behind his back around, bringing the D-Photon gun point-blank at Val's chest. He fired several shots in rapid sequence just as the smaller man's eyes went wide at the sight of it. "Who will beg whom for mercy now?!" L'zac declared, still laughing as the blows sent Val flying back onto the floor. He was silent for only a second, then howled in pain and outrage. L'zac climbed to his feet and slowly made his way to the fallen hero, the gun still trained on him.

"Cheater...." Val hissed, hand pressed to the wounds on his chest, "I thought... this was... blades only.... I gave... mercy...."

"You expected me to be truthful?" L'zac countered with feinted surprise, "You're more pathetic than I thought. However, that will soon be remedied." Val ground his teeth together and took time to glance at the injuries. "You see, those shots won't actually kill you." the Hunter went on, grinning as he noted Val's confusion at the darkened flesh and slight mottling color, "Rather, they will make you wish they had. The Photons of this handgun were modified with suspended D-Factor cells within the energy capsules."

"'My wounds move as if they seek to consume my body....'" Val murmured softly in horror as he watched the burns and gashes quiver and spread. His flesh seemed to crawl, not only in his mind, but on his very body as well! "D-Factor... the same as the Delsabers...! Oh no...!"

"Exactly!" L'zac replied brightly, enjoying the look of growing horror on his foe's face, "See? You can be intelligent if you just work at it! Soon, the factor will spread and consume you and you'll be my loyal servant!" He twirled the gun in his hand. "And with the gate-maker in my Interdictor machine, Animal Crossing will get a surprise conquest by me, the Grand Commander L'zac Gerun!" he declared and smiled broadly at Valentine, who had begun drifting out of consciousness from the wounds and the overpowering effect of the D-Factor disease. "And his newest super-soldier, the DelVal!" L'zac finished with the standard maniacal laughter that was quickly becoming a part of his daily routine.

Sunblast
Apr 16, 2004, 05:15 AM
The Del Val?! Oh, no! I swear, I would so kick L'zac's butt! You don't mess with Valentine Hart, HUcross exraordinaire!

Digi-Dolphin
May 18, 2004, 11:53 AM
Chapter Seven

Seabed, Upper Level~

The last of the Dolmolms and Dolmdarls fled from the group after feeling a blast of Rafoie and Razonde that took out half the army. Sinow Zoas and Delbiters that had posed greater threats to the group now lay dead or dismantled in the pools of water and violet blood. Perrinetta dusted off her hands and snorted in disdain as Elliot finished uploading new data by the light of an emergency chem-lite flare.

"I never liked kalimari." Dular sighed and looked around, "Where's the little one? Where's Periwinkle?"

"I dunno. I thought she'd stick around and help us out, like Val." Perri murmured and blinked as the lights suddenly came back, "What is up with this place?! The lights come back after, what? An hour of being in the dark?"

"Gah, that was tiring. My shooting hand feels like it wants to be cut off of my arm." Elliot groaned. Dular shook his head and waded out from his position in the water.

"Let's go. We have to find Periwinkle and get back to the top." he told the duo as they headed for the doors, "Getting Val and the GameCube back with her is our new top priority. The sooner they're home safely, the better for all of us."

"We should have let De Rol Lei eat L'zac when we had the chance." Perri grumbled as she stomped along, shaking water out of her shoes as she stepped along with the group.

~*~*~*~*

Periwinkle knew she was lost after running from the team yielded no visible exit. Staying put in one of the many flooded rooms of the underwater laboratory, she stood against the wall and prayed for Val to be all right. She wanted to be back with him, wanted to be home, wanted for this horrible nightmare to end.

"Why? Why would L'zac want to go to Animal Crossing? And why does he want to fight Val so much?" she wondered aloud. The lights had been on for quite some time but its return gave her little joy.

Something moved just beyond her line of sight, but a sudden chilling feeling made her grip the Twinkle Star and look around her, warily. She listened carefully, peering at corners and boxes to see what may be hiding. The gentle dripping of water didn't hide the soft ta-tink of something sharp coming in contact with the metal floor.

"Who's out there?! Show yourself!" Peri snapped, holding the wand ready and bracing for an attack, pulling energy into her for a blast of Zonde. The shadows moved and a figure appeared within a dark corner, small and wielding an axe in one hand. "Val? Is that you?" Periwinkle called hopefully, nerves tingling and heart racing. If it was him, then they could escape this insane world right now!

She stepped closer, slowly dispersing the Force power she had conjured, and held out her hand. The figure moved back from her quickly.

"Val? Valentine! It's me! Periwinkle! Your wife! Come on! Let's get out of here!" she cried happily, "I believe all your stories now! I met Dular and Elliot and Perrinetta! I fought Rappies and Hildebears and I met L'zac! I have to warn you! He's trying to steal your GameCube and use it to go to Animal Crossing!"

<I know.> Val's voice spoke softly into her mind. She froze, eyes wide, <We've already met again.>

"Val...? Did you two have a fight?" Periwinkle asked quietly, "Are you okay?"

<We fought. I won, and lost. Peri, I can't go back. Not like this. Not after what he did to me.> Val answered, sounding almost anguished, <I wish... I wish I could do all of this over again... and never bought that stupid blue box to begin with....>

"What are you saying? What did he do?" Peri asked, then stepped forward quickly, "What did that awful man do to you?!" She shrieked at the sudden burst of yellow and green lights dotting the figure of a blackened figure and jumped back, stumbling and falling into a puddle of water. The figure jumped forward to her side, startling her worse and making her scream louder.

<Peri! Oh, please, don't scream! It's me!> Val's voice cried clearly as the somewhat emaciated creature waved its bladed arm hopelessly, the other arm a long and slender tentacle with a tiny blade at the tip. The woman screamed again and scrambled to her feet, running out of the room and into the tunnels, blind to where she was heading. <Peri!>

~*~*~*~*~*

"Ya'll hear that?" Perrinetta asked, stopping at one junction and cocking her head. Dular paused and sighed. Not this again. "And if you give me that smart aleck 'big ears' crack again, I'm gonna shove this Angel Harp right up your...."

"It's getting closer." Elliot merely remarked, looking down one hall. The others joined him and blinked as Periwinkle raced around the bend at the far side, then skidded and came tearing at them, shrieking loudly as a black creature roughly her size sped in after her, talons from its legs gripping the floor and walls as it bounded and raced to catch her.

"It's a Delsaber!" Dular cried and fumbled for a handgun, "Elliot!" The Ranger raised his laser and took aim.

"Already on it. Die, Delsaber!" he laughed and fired. To his surprise, the creature leaped away from the shot and continued running. Periwinkle dove at Dular and hid behind his legs, babbling and pointing at the monstrosity closing in on them. "I'll get you this time." Elliot growled and fired again. Once more the creature dodged. "Dang it! Perri!"

"Grants blast, coming up!" Perrinetta declared, raising her hands and pulling them back to unleash the light attack.

<Stop shooting at me! I'm not here to attack you!> Val suddenly yelled out, startling Perri enough to make her lose her focus and drop the Force energy she had gathered.

"Val? Buddy? Where are you?" Elliot called out, looking around in confusion as Dular stared in shock at the Del'ed creature that dropped before them and rested its axe-blade arm against the wall.

<Down here.> the former little man remarked dryly, <You jerk.> The group cried in alarm and horror at their friend.

"Oh God, Valentine, what happened to you?" Dular whispered, hesitantly reaching out to touch his shoulder. The creature's large violet eyes closed slowly.

<L'zac happened. He had something that could make things get infected with D-Factor. I got hit with it.> he replied in a trembling voice.

Val's body had turned completely black, with yellow and green gemlike spots decorating his chest, legs, the length of his arms and his neck. A single large spot of yellow rested in the center of his forehead, half hidden by the messy brown hair he still had. His ears had grown long and sharp, curving upwards like a blade on each side of his head. His right arm had mutated with the Golden Axe, creating a war-axe blade that gleamed in the light of the lab tunnels. His left arm was elongated and ended in a bladed tip, resembling the tentacle arms of the Dolmolms. His legs ended in raptor-like talons, three toes forward, one toe in back, all tipped with sharp claws. His flesh felt soft and leathery, almost supple. The spot on his forehead pulsed softly with light in rhythm to his speech.

"How are you still yourself?" Dular asked, once the shock of his appearance had worn down a little. DelVal shrugged.

<Not sure. When I woke up after my fight with L'zac, I found myself in what seemed like an incubator. I was strapped down with my axe in my right hand and the Golden Rod in my left.> he replied, <He was watching me with this stupid grin on his face and said that the process was being sped up through that capsule I was in. I passed out again, but the second time I woke up was when I was standing before him.> DelVal squinted in confusion, his face lacking a nose and mouth after the disease consumed his body. <I wanted to just tear him apart after I realized fully what he did to me, but I decided to wait until I figured what he was up to first. I might actually need to trick him into curing me or something. The other guy with him kept whining about how I was unreliable. Too much light energy in my cells was causing instability with the D-Factor cells, or something.> he went on, <L'zac told me to come down into the Seabed and bring Periwinkle to him while he had the GameCube plugged into his interdictor. Once I did that, he would open the portal to Animal Crossing.>

"Why?" Elliot asked as Periwinkle slowly stepped out of hiding and studied her husband cautiously.

<He's planning to invade and conquer Animal Crossing. Ragol is proving too dangerous to gather resources from for Black Paper, but Animal Crossing is completely open to assault. He took data from me back in the Mines of mainland Ragol when I was kidnapped by the Sinow Red and I told him that Animal Crossing had no weapons, no defenses, nothing in the way of combat or lethal creatures.>

"That madman!" Perrinetta declared, "I knew he was up to something bad about your homeworld!" Periwinkle walked up to her husband and started to cry after reaching out to touch him.

"How could he do this to you, Val? Why?" she sobbed, "I want to go home, but not like this. What did we ever do to deserve this?" DelVal looked at her and shut his eyes tightly.

<Peri.... I'm sorry. It's my fault for keeping the GameCube when I should have destroyed it. I almost wish that you could hit me with Grants and finish me.> he murmured, unable to touch her for fear of hurting his wife with the blades on his arms, <Then I could stop being this monster.>

"Don't say that!" Periwinkle told him, "I still love you and I won't let you die! Even if you look like that creepy dog that chased me all over the place, I won't stop loving you! We'll find a way to change you back!"

"Grants. Grants! That's it!" The group looked at Perrinetta in confusion. "My Grants blast! Back when we were fighting Dark Falz, Val told me to hit his rod with Grants so it would pass through him into Falz via his axe." she reminded the group, "I wanted the burst to separate the D-Factor from Rico's normal self, but it didn't work. I think that it went to Val instead."

"Meaning?" Elliot trailed blankly.

"Meaning that Val's normal self and cells are protected by my Grants attack. The D-Factor looks like it took him over, but it hasn't really. Not yet." Perrinetta finished proudly, "That's why he's not as big of a mental case as the Delsabers!"

<Gee, thanks.> DelVal grumbled, <That doesn't guarantee a cure for me, though. Just temporary immunity from a complete transformation.>

"So... there's a chance we can turn Val back to normal?" Periwinkle asked, still sniffling as she stroked the strands of brown hair that remained on DelVal's head despite the D-Factor's attempts to force it from him.

"There should be. Though it will be tough to find a way to make the D-Factor vanish without destroying Val in the process. Grants is the only thing that can fully destroy those cells." Perrinetta replied with a sigh.

"Wait, we have to remember what L'zac is doing this for." Dular pointed out, "He's getting ready to enter the gate and start his attack on Animal Crossing at any moment now. We have to do something, fast!" Periwinkle cried and suddenly brightened.

"Val, we can stop L'zac together! We can all go and fight him and save Animal Crossing!" she exclaimed and turned to the others, "Together, we can take him down! All of us against one man; we can do it!"

"That won't work, he'll catch on to Val's disloyalty. He was told to bring you back, not all of us." Dular murmured and brightened, "But you two together could do it!" The two small figures blinked up at him. "L'zac is going to invade Animal Crossing, but we know that going from one world to another changes a traveler to fit that world. You two were changed to a Hunter and Forcer to adapt here, right? Well, if he goes over to your world, won't he be forced adapt to it, too?"

<It's possible. After I returned to Animal Crossing, it was as if I had never left. Yet I kept the abilities I learned from here, my ability to fight and use my tools in new ways.> DelVal remarked, looking up at him, <If L'zac were to go to the town, he'd have to fit in. Since we're shorter, he'd probably get shrunk down too! If he's not as tall as he wants to be, then there's a chance Peri and I can overpower him!>

"You see?! He'd be forced to shrink and adapt to Animal Crossing. The same will happen to us if we go, but if you went ahead, you'll be able to fight by your own rules. L'zac won't. You can beat him there on your turf and save your world!" Dular finished with a smile.

"What will we do to help?" Elliot asked, "There's no way we can just abandon them like this!"

"We'll go on ahead and find Heathcliff Flowen. He can help us stop L'zac if he stays on this side and report Black Paper's plans to the authorities." Dular went on, "Periwinkle, you have Grants. Go with Val and use it to help slow down the D-Factor cells. Short bursts and don't focus on him too much or you might hurt him."

"Right! Come on, Val! We'll stop that man and get you back to normal!" Peri cried, thrusting her wand into the air as hope surged within her.

DelVal looked distant as they finished the planning. In granting L'zac mercy at the end of the fight, he had ignored his own teaching. He told Periwinkle before to swallow her fears and do what had to be done to survive, even if it meant ending someone's life. He had ignored it and it cost him his body. If anything were to drive him to insanity and complete his transformation, would Periwinkle follow through and end his life, or would she also show mercy and lose her own?

"Val? Are you okay?" Periwinkle asked him. DelVal shook himself alert and blinked.

<Um, yeah. Just thinking. Well, let's get this done!> he declared and stepped forward, twining the tentacle arm around his wife's waist, <I used a teleporter to get here, we'll use it to get back out. Good luck, guys, and hurry!>

"Same to you, guys!" Perrinetta called as the hunters began to run back to the path towards the second level's teleporter, "Give him hell!"

<I'd rather send him there, first-class.> DelVal grumbled as he let Peri adjust to him and then raced off, speeding down the halls back to the entrance.

Sunblast
May 21, 2004, 05:38 AM
Go Del Val! He must look SO cool right now! Hehe, L'zac's gonna shrink. XD

mr_rubbish
May 27, 2004, 04:45 PM
Wow! Finally caught up!
quote of the day:

"Ah! My GameCube's gone! Dol! Get up! We're in serious trouble!" Val cried, kicking her in the back.

"Little lower." Dol muttered back.

It's nearing the end.... http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_cry.gif

But there's always Ep3 right?

Sunblast
May 28, 2004, 05:11 AM
I don't know. Somehow, I think the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! might get into PSO. XD No, seriously, that's not a bad idea...

Digi-Dolphin
Jun 22, 2004, 10:01 PM
sorry for the huge delay, i'm juggling a ton of things.
__________________________________________________

West Tower~

L'zac peered at the tiny blue box embedded within a chamber built into the newer Interdictor machine. The orange light glowed brightly, the Power button depressed into it, and yet he could see no sign of a power source. Worly paced anxiously nearby, still worried over the idea of Val being on 'their side'. He had studied the reports brought back every few minutes on Val's transformation and each one confirmed his suspicions.

Val was not fully accepting the D-Factor.

Whether this meant that the disease wouldn't take because Valentine wasn't of this universe or some other reason was still unclear. Either way, Worly didn't like it. With the enhancements brought upon Val by the D-Factor infection, the little man could easily use his new strengths to fight back against them. And then there was the matter of tossing the Ramarl out the window.

He shuddered to think what might happen once the Scarlet Tiburon learned of this turn of events for his baby sister. Black Paper, in their attempts to create the perfect army of soldiers for themselves, created three nuts that became their greatest hindrance. Mako tore up the Defenders and made off with the only disks of Ragrants and Ramegid in existance; Dol blew away the Enforcers without really thinking about it and now flitted about from here to there like a butterfly in indecision; and her sister, Phynn, mostly rampaged through every Black Paper hideout she could find in order to locate her twin.

"I don't like this at all. What if something goes very wrong?" Worly remarked, tugging at his ponytail in stress. "What if we're not meant to open this gateway?"

"Worly, shut up and check the teleporter." L'zac grumbled and eyed the box again, "Fascinating. Such alien words. They are printed right on the top of the device. What in the name of Coral is a 'Nin-ten-do'? Is it a variety of box?"

The Fomar peered into the next room and jumped as DelVal appeared within it, blinking huge eyes up at him. The tiny woman, Periwinkle, lay draped on his shoulder, limp. He backed quickly out of the room and let DelVal enter. L'zac looked back and smiled as DelVal gently set the woman on the floor, then stepped back with a bow.

"Excellent. And you were worried he wasn't going to come through for us, Worly. Go stand in a corner and think about this!" the Hunter lectured. Worly sighed and trotted off to stick his nose in a corner and wish God had enough pity to telepipe him back to Coral. L'zac clapped his hands and the door behind him opened, allowing the remaining members of his mini-army to rush in, Photon weapons ready. "Now, to begin our conquest of Animal Crossing!" he declared and reached for the switch to activate the gateway.

<I think not.> DelVal suddenly remarked and whipped at his hand, pulling it away from the machine, <Now, Peri!> The little woman leaped up and threw out her hands, shooting bursts of ice at the men and freezing several in place. Worly ducked and crawled across the floor to the teleporter room.

"I knew this was going to happen! I just knew it!" he whimpered.

L'zac jerked his hand free and growled angrily, reaching for the D-Factor gun. DelVal lashed at him with the tentacle, searching for a chance to pull the GameCube free from the Interdictor. Periwinkle kept up her barrage of Barta, using the Twinkle Star to slam whoever got too close to her. Rangers began opening fire, trying to hit either one of the two smaller people but without the experience of hitting things smaller than a Rappy that fired back they were unable to make the attack.

"You're going to hit the Interdictor! Knock it off!" L'zac bellowed and aimed the gun at Peri, "Let's see if we can get a Gran Peri out of this!" DelVal jerked in shock and leaped forward.

<Peri! Get down!> he cried and flailed in mid-air as the beam intended for his wife struck him in the back. She looked back and screamed as he fell to the ground, writhing. L'zac hit the activation switch on the great machine behind him and laughed triumphantly as the gate to Animal Crossing bloomed before him, a spinning oval of white energy crackling almost violently. The GameCube ground its tiny motor as if trying to fight the invasive program that forced it to remain active and still produce the homeward bound portal.

"Nothing can stop me! Onwards! To my destiny!" L'zac howled with laughter and leaped into the portal. The few unfrozen Hunters, Rangers, and Forcers looked at each other, shrugged, then leaped in to follow. Peri knelt by DelVal, sobbing.

"Val! Can you hear me? Please, be okay!" she pleaded. The tiny figure struggled to his feet and narrowed his eyes at the gateway.

<I will be free. I will open the gate and grow. I will have the perfect body and set us free!> he hissed in a dark tone and shot into the portal without even looking at Periwinkle. The little Fomarl-like woman blinked and stood on her feet.

"That didn't sound like Val at all. What was that all about?" she whispered and thought through the story he had told her. "Those words are familiar. Didn't that Dark Falz thing say stuff like that to him long ago? Is Dark Falz trying to use Val now?" she murmured and cried in shock. "If that's true, then maybe Dark Falz is gonna try to make Val set him free in Animal Crossing! Then he can go everywhere and wreck everything! Including my house!" She tightened her grip on the Twinkle Star and set her face. "No way! Mr. Dark Falz Thing! You're not getting my husband and you're not messing up my nice arrangement! I have perfect feng shui in that house!" she yelled and leaped into the portal, "Vaaal! I'm coming to save you!"

Seabed, Lower Level~

"So much water. You think the Gal Gryphon breaking out caused this flood?" Perrinetta murmured as the team waded through a water-logged room towards the next set of doors. Elliot shrugged and held his laser closer to him, looking around warily for weird black butterflies called Morfos. After having one suddenly materialize a few rooms back and push him down he decided he didn't like them very much. The Delbiters convinced him that the seabeds weren't much fun either.

"I sent a message to Mako via BEE. I hope he comes through and rejoins us soon." Dular muttered, "We don't have a full party and that could be trouble later on." He stopped suddenly in one room, nearly causing his friends to run into him. "What the-?"

"What is it?" Perri griped, looking around him, then at the floor. "Whoa! Red box! It's mine!" She snatched it up and opened it quickly to find a small red handgun. "Huh? But it was in a red box. Why is a normal old handgun in a red box?"

"It's mine! Put it down!" a voice yelled and the hunters looked up at the source of the sound. A tiny woman dressed in red and black glared down at them from within a strange trap. Four metallic blue prongs were raised around her, holding her fast with an electric net. The ears of her hat were pulled back and the tail mag behind her swished angrily. "I dropped it when this thing caught me. Can any one of you give me a hand?" Elliot blinked and peered up at her.

"Red hair and pale skin.... Hey! Are you Dol?" he yelled up as Dular held out his hand for the gun. Perri pouted, then placed it in his hand for him to study. The engraving intrigued him, as did the color, while a small dolphin sticker plastered on the side made him smile.

"Are you Dular?" the woman called back. Elliot jerked his thumb back at the Hunter. "He is? You must be Elliot then. Can you get me out of this thing already?!"

"Do I get a rare out of this?!" Perri yelled up at her. The woman nodded and she smiled. "Okay! Zonde!" she called out and summoned several dozen bolts of electricity to shatter the trap around the redhead. The newcomer stretched and flipped down to meet them, grinning.

"Enforcer Agent Thirteen, Dol Fina, reporting for duty!" she declared and saluted them, bringing her heels together and raising her hand to her forehead, "My brother sent me to help you out while he recovered from Ragrants!"

"Yeah, yeah! Where's my red box?!" Perri interrupted before Dular could speak. Dol blinked, cocked her head and grinned. She pulled one from her pack and held it out.

"I got this from inside one of the robots that kidnapped me and Val. You can have it." she replied and opened it to reveal a small, round capsule enclosing a swirl of deep green energy. "It's a Berill Photon." Perri snatched it and cuddled it, cooing brightly as her cheeks turned pink. "Can I have my handgun now?"

"Here." Dular remarked with a suspicious tone and held up the gun. Dol reached for it and he grabbed her arm instead. "Where did you get this? And the ring around your arm?" The little Ramarl frowned at her captive arm and glared up at him. Elliot looked confused, then blinked in shock as he noticed the shining red ring fitted snugly around her wrist. "All of your Red weapons are Rico's, aren't they? And this ring. It's Rico's red ring."

"I found them! Let go!" Dol snapped, tugging on her arm, "They were all over this one field and I picked them up! I found the ring when I went back after Mako told me about that Falz thing!" Dular set her loose and let her snatch back the handgun. "They're mine now!"

"They should be returned to Rico's father." the Hunter pointed out, "They are the possessions of his daughter, Rico Tyrell, and should be given to him."

"Is his name Heathcliff?" Dol asked, suddenly no longer angry, just curious, head cocked as she looked up at him.

"Heathcliff? Like Heathcliff Flowen? No." Elliot answered, studying her carefully. She seemed healthy enough. Mako could stop worrying over her now.

"Then the weapons belong to me." Dol remarked with a finality tone, "They have letters that spell the word Heathcliff, and if he's not Rico's dad, he doesn't get my weapons."

"Why would Flowen's name be on Rico's Red series weapons?" Perrinetta asked, scratching her head in confusion. "Wait, Flowen was Rico's teacher and hero, right?"

"These are prototype weapons. That's why they don't have the official colors of the military. Flowen must have made these for Rico to have!" Dular replied in realization. "Dol, do you have information on where Flowen is? We were sent down here to find him!"

"The computers said that he was down here waiting for someone. There were also mentions of Olga, the third AI from the Pioneer One." the Ramarl pointed out and looked at her map. "That's where I found the terminal for Olga, but the AI didn't respond. There were notes that said it had been moved to be the core to something else."

"Do the words Gamma 113 mean anything to you?" Dular pressed. Dol scratched her head and scrunched her face up.

"Ah, that was where Olga went. Olga was gonna be the core to control Gamma 113, but it didn't work." she replied.

"Olga must be the final bioweapon, and its in the test disposal area." Elliot murmured and ran to the door, "Come on! We're wasting time! Val and Peri need Flowen's help and ours, too!" The group followed him down the hall, rushing by Recoboxes and laser fields. "Dol, who was Flowen waiting for? Us?"

"He said he was waiting in the abyss for the saviors of the red captive child!" she replied, racing to avoid Sinow Zele that dropped from the ceilings to stop their progress. "It was a real-time message! He sent it just a bit ago. Mako told me to look for info on him to help you, so I did and that's what I got!"

"He's waiting for us then! We're the saviors of the red captive child! Rico wore red and used red things!" Perrinetta exclaimed, "She was a Hunter and so's Flowen! He's waiting for the people that saved Rico to save him!"

"Olga must have him captive down in the test disposal area! It's probably continuing the research Osto left behind on him to find out what else can be done with the D-Factor!" Dular cried, "How much farther till we reach that area?!"

"Not very much longer! We have to get by a few more rooms and hit the final hallway! The elevator to the disposal area is just beyond it!" Elliot remarked, looking down at his own map.

Poison gas filled the next water logged room. Sinow Zele and Zoa clambered in to attack as the hunters choked on the fumes. Perri blindly cast Rabarta and Rafoie in attempts to clear the room of machines. Dular rushed to the door at the end of the room and banged his fist against it, coughing and retching.

"We're gonna die!" Elliot rasped, barely able to keep enough focus to fire on a Sinow. A second crumpled and slid apart after Dol slashed at it with a Red Partisan. She packed it away and raced to the now open door, cheeks puffed with air. The group collapsed in relief in the next hallway, gasping for fresh air and cracking open capsules of mates and fluids. Perrinetta stood shakily and looked around the bend.

"Dular, its glowing down there. See the light?" she whispered as the others joined her. The end of the hall was filled with a misty white fog and a light shone from another bend.

"This could be it. That could be the elevator shaft at the end of this hall." Dular murmured and looked at his team. "Is everyone ready?" Dol raised her armband and typed something quickly.

"I'm sending a message to my brother to meet with Val in the West Tower. He should be fully recovered by now and Val could use a hand getting his GameCube back." she remarked and then smiled, holding up the Red Handgun. "Okay, ready!"

They raced down the hall towards destiny.

________________________________________________

still tryin to work out ep 3. wish me luck

Digi-Dolphin
Jun 26, 2004, 11:28 AM
Chapter Eight

Animal Crossing~

The sun shone brightly and animals gathered in confused and curious groups to blink and snap photos of the strange new arrival to the town. A brilliant white light shaped like an oval had just opened in the middle of the air in their midst and they weren't quite sure what to make of it. Just as Hopper was about to grumble that it was a useless bum of a thing, L'zac Gerun and his army stepped through. The mad Hunter laughed in early victory and strode forward to attack.

"Boss? You're kinda short now." a Ramar pointed out. L'zac paused and looked over his shoulder in irritation, then blinked as he saw his army reduced to child-like heights. He looked down at himself and cried in shock. His arms ended in round little fists that seemed to be attached to his gun. His legs were short and kind of stumpy, almost as if they shouldn't be able to support his weight though they did.

"What form of madness is this?!" he demanded and turned to glare at the animals, "These creatures did this! Kill them all!" L'zac fired several shots of his D-Factor gun at Hopper as the other Black Paper agents whooped and set upon the group en masse, firing and slashing madly with their weapons.

Hopper raised an eyebrow as the energy beams went straight through his body, causing no damage or ill effects to the little penguin. Grumbling in irritation, he turned and waddled away to his house, ignoring the screaming of the Hunter that hadn't realized what was wrong.

The Forcers, on the other hand, were flooding the town with Rafoie blasts, sending animals running everywhere in a panic. DelVal jumped into the scene and scanned the field, watching coldly as his friends raced to escape the fires that raged through the forests he had planted.

<I will be free.> he murmured and dashed after the Forcers, lashing out with his tentacle and axe in search for a host for Dark Falz's consciousness.

The portal dropped off Periwinkle for its final traveler and she gasped in shock at the burning town. She raced to find DelVal, following the destruction and the fallen Force soldiers to the beach.

The villagers had gathered and huddled in terror at the approaching army of hunters. L'zac continued his laughter, waving his gun before him at the animals. DelVal wasn't anywhere in the area, but Peri was sure he would show soon enough. She dashed down and stood before the villagers in defiance, holding the wand out towards the Hunter.

"L'zac! You won't conquer this place! Not while I still stand against you! I can use the powers of your world against you!" she yelled, "Now, drop the antidote to the D-Factor for Val!" L'zac only snorted and aimed the gun at her.

"You pathetic woman! I am a god here! You can't touch me, but I can destroy everything!" he declared, "When the organization sees the bounty I have brought for them, they will have no choice but to name me leader of Black Paper! I will rise to untold power!"

"Without the GameCube and the portals, you're nothing! And in the world of Animal Crossing, you're still nothing! This is my world! My home! My turf! I can't be beaten here!" Peri snapped and summoned the energy for a blast of Foie that knocked over a pair of Hunewearls.

"Then become like your husband!" L'zac snarled and fired straight for her. The animals cried as the shot hit Periwinkle dead on. She curled forward with a cry, then blinked as she found it passed through her without so much as a sharp pain. The villagers murmured in surprise and Peri smiled, turning it on L'zac, who gaped at her and fired again to the same effect.

"It doesn't work here." she laughed, "Photons don't work in Animal Crossing! Your weapons can't hurt us!" She turned to her friends. "Fight back, guys! They want to take over our world but they can't even hit us with their weapons!" she declared and led the surge of angry animals against the Black Paper members. They ran from the rain of apples, oranges and coconuts being thrown at them, racing for the portal to return to a world they understood and were dominant in. L'zac howled and raged for them to return, punching at the fruit that came down on him as the inhabitants of Animal Crossing shook trees for more ammunition.

"Come back! You cowards! You run from fruits and deformed meat products! Get back here, or I will kill you upon my triumphant return!" he shrieked. DelVal shot in from the forest and cracked the whip-like tentacle into the air.

<It is here! I will open the portal here and set us free!> he bellowed as the animals panicked upon seeing him. Peri stood before him, unsure of what to do.

"What is that?! It's a monster! It's gonna kill us!" the villagers wailed and scattered, no longer in the feverish mood for fighting strange invaders. L'zac smiled and waved his gun at him.

"Ah, DelVal, you see the stupid woman before you? She is a threat to our plans! Destroy her!" he ordered. Peri gathered her energy for Grants, focused on the figure of her diseased husband. She was furious with the Hunter for having done this to her husband, to her world, to her friends. Her fury churned within her, feeding the light of Grants gathering in her hands.

"Wait a minute, Peri. If I fire this at Val to snap him out of it while I'm still mad at L'zac, won't it make the Grants kill him?" she wondered briefly and faltered, the energy fading from her. She looked horrified, then cried in shock as DelVal dashed forward, slashing the air with his axe in attempts to cut into her.

"Val! Stop it! It's me! Periwinkle! Remember?!" she cried, jumping backwards as L'zac hooted and danced about joyfully.

"Yes, yes! Kill her! Rip her to shreds!" he urged the possessed human. Peri raced through her mind, trying to find a way to use Grants to free her husband's mind.

"Grants works best against monsters that are of darkness. It's light. The light of life. It can purify if you add the right emotion and change the light so it doesn't destroy. I just don't know what emotion will change it." Dol's words suddenly came to mind and she stumbled back and fell.

"Change the emotion. Grants is light from life. What emotion also has light?" she whispered as DelVal strode forward, axe raised for the final blow.

"Kill her! Kill her now!" L'zac screamed, the mad light shining from his eyes as he nearly salivated for her end. Peri looked up at her husband and blinked. She thought of how she met him, of how she felt around him and when he asked her to marry him. She remembered her declaration of love for him even though he asked for his death upon revealing himself to be this horrid monster. Love. Wasn't love often said to be the light of the heart? At least by old Kap'n?

"Grants." Periwinkle whispered, holding her hand out to DelVal as she let a surge of her love for him flow through in the form of the technique. A pink light erupted from within his body, causing him to shriek and writhe in pain, stumbling away and flailing as the light engulfed him.

"No! My soldier!" L'zac cried as the light exploded and finally faded away to reveal a perfectly recovered Valentine Hart standing on the grassy field, Golden Axe and Golden Rod in his hands. He looked stunned and shook his head.

"What? What happened? What was I doing?" Val remarked in confusion, looking around him, "What are we doing in Animal Crossing? And why the hell is it burning?!"

"Megid!" Peri yelled, firing the dark ball filled with her anger at L'zac. He threw himself aside, dropping the D-Factor handgun as he did.

"This isn't the end of it, Valentine! I've still got the gate-maker! I'll just use it to conquer another dimension!" the Hunter threatened and jumped through the portal again, returning to the world of Ragol.

"Not if I'm there to stop you!" Val hissed and moved to follow when Periwinkle grabbed his arm, "Peri?" He looked back at her in confusion.

"Don't go! We're home! We're safe now!" she pleaded, "Stay here and we'll fix Animal Crossing and get back to our life!"

"Periwinkle, I can't! Not as long as he has the GameCube!" Val returned, "He can use it to attack other worlds and they may not be as lucky as us! And I still have to help Dular and the others find Flowen!"

"They can handle it! They're bigger! We caught a lucky break because Animal Crossing forced L'zac and his guys to be our size and their Photon weapons don't work here!" Periwinkle shot back, "Stay here!" Val looked at her for a long time, studying her face.

"Peri...." he finally murmured, "He murdered Dol." That caught her attention. The woman's eyes went wide.

"What?" she whispered, face paling.

"He killed her. He told me so. L'zac threw her out of the tower and let her fall several stories to her death." he went on, a serious look on his face, "Tell me, Peri. Do you want me to leave my friends to die too? L'zac killed Dol, it's only a matter of time before he kills the others. Black Paper will win and with the GameCube, they'll find us again." She stepped back and hugged herself, tears running down her cheeks.

"She was my first friend on Ragol. She taught me about techniques and Ragol. She was nice, if kinda wierd." Periwinkle murmured between sobs, "And now she's dead? I can't believe it!"

"I'm going back. To avenge her, to avenge your capture, to avenge my own. It has to end." Val told her. Periwinkle raised her gaze to him, the tears stopped and her face looking angry and determined.

"I'm going with you then!" she hissed, "L'zac murdered my best friend in Ragol, and I want some payback for it!" Val smiled and nodded, then held her hand as they leaped through the gate to Ragol.
____________________________________

Almost over, I have to rewrite the next part because I just finished an ult mode fight with Flow and found he has some cool moves he used on me, so I wanna put them in the story.

Digi-Dolphin
Jul 15, 2004, 01:59 PM
Why won't the italics work right?
______________________________________

Seabed, Lower Level~

Dular studied the round disc that acted as the elevator to the Test Disposal area. Elliot poked at the computer nearby and Perri stood in the center of the disc, gripping her Angel Harp as she looked around.

"There aren't any more enemies coming for us. I guess we go down this thing and see if we can bail out Flowen before Olga jumps us." she remarked and looked over at the recent addition to the group. "Hey, you! Dol, right? Get over here!"

"Ah, got a mail from Mako. He said he wishes us luck and he's headed for the West Tower. He'll drop a pipe for us when he sees its clear." the little ranger replied and jogged over to stand on the disc. "What's this thing for?" Elliot joined them and called Dular over.

"I activated the elevator. Come on!" he called and the four hunters balanced themselves as the disc shifted and sank down the shaft.

They hadn't gone very far down when a deep raspy voice gurgle all around them, sounding as if it was trying to speak. The group clustered together and looked around warily as the voice went on. The shaft was lit by rings of light that passed by them at considerable speed. Still, there was enough darkness that they couldn't pinpoint the source of the rasping voice.

"I have everything... yet I am... powerless...." they finally made out of the growls and rasps.

"Dular! Look at that!" Perri yelled, pointing at a pair of glowing eyes. A huge creature surged out of the darkness and spun through the air around them, wielding a huge sword and shot as its arms. Black and decorated with brilliant hues of green, yellow and blue, the monster was obviously another D-Factor creation. "That's gotta be Olga! Gamma 113!"

It raged and swung its sword at them as it fell alongside the disc. The hunters threw themselves to the ground and barely avoided the huge blade. Perri threw out a Grants blast and kept her back pressed to the floor as the creature spun around them, dangling upside down as it swiped at them again. It righted itself and brought the shot weapon around to fire, spraying the confined area with hundreds of glowing green energy shots.

"Scatter!" Dular yelled, ducking and dodging as best he could. Dol spun and danced around the attacks, then fell flat on her face after one slammed her back.

"Scatter where, Dular?! There's nowhere to run!" Elliot called back and tripped over the fallen ranger, saving himself from a shot to the head.

"Owww. That hurt." Dol mumbled, lifting her head and blinking dazedly at the creature. Perri had rolled away from the attack and got to her feet, opening fire with the Angel Harp.

"Come on! Suck it down, Olga! Let Flowen go free!" she laughed and blinked as a blast of Grants erupted from within the monster. "What the-?" She looked back and scanned her friends. "Hey! Who called in another Force?!"

"What?!" Dular yelled, firing his handgun repeatedly at Olga and spinning in place to keep up with the agile monster.

"I saw a Grants blast go off and I didn't use it!" Perri went on, "Who the heck is the other Forcer?!" Another spray of shots filled the air and the hunters ducked and dodged as best they could, gathering injuries and wounds as the battle went on. Denwark, fed up with his mistress's growing fatigue from the fight, yelled out a warlike cry and summoned Pilla.

"Go!" Dol suddenly cried and the figure of Estlla, the dolphin, appeared above her. The sorcerer cast down its energy upon Olga, followed by Estlla's head on rush. The monstrosity writhed, then ducked under the disc. The group ran to the edges of the elevator and carefully peered over the sides.

"Where'd it go?" Elliot asked. "And what's it doing down there?" The end of the giant sword suddenly pierced the disc, causing it to shudder violently. Dol squealed and nearly fell over, grabbing the safety bar as she was tossed over by the abrupt attack.

"Agh! It's attacking from below! Run!" Perri yelped and scrambled to avoid the blade as it was pulled down and then thrust again to puncture another portion of the elevator. Elliot scanned the disc as he tried to keep his balance.

"Dular! Where are you?" he called and fired on the blade, hoping it would take some amount of damage. The Hunter crawled along the edge of the disc, reaching out for the fallen Ranger. He strained to grab her.

"Hang on! I've almost got you!" he grunted painfully. Dol looked up at him tiredly, then blinked at Olga as it spun around to face them. "Agh! Elliot! Perri! Fire over here! Quick!" Dular yelled and gripped the disc's safety bars tightly as the elevator shuddered once more.

"It's about to collapse! We're falling!" the Fonewearl cried, leaping over the gashes in the disc, "We have to hit the emergency brakes before we fall too far, or we'll all die!" Elliot ran to the edge and craned his laser over the bars, firing madly at Olga's body.

"If we kill this thing first, we can land and find Flowen!" he declared, "Come on, Perri! Blast it! Hurry!" The Forcer stumbled towards the control terminal for the elevator and started working the commands for the emergency brakes. "Perri! Grants! Now!"

"Hold on! I'm wiring what's left of the power grid to the brakes!" she yelled back. Dular stretched out for Dol once more, calling her name as she glared at Olga.

"Hey, you! Olga! Where's Flowen?!" she demanded. She swiped the air in front of it, the light catching the glittering red of her ring. Olga's eyes narrowed at it, then widened. A deep-throated growl of recognition rumbled from it and reached for her. "Hey! Hey!"

"The red captive child...." the raspy voice spoke again. "Rico...."

"Will somebody cast Grants and finish this stupid thing off?!" Elliot shrieked. Dol yelped as Dular grabbed her arm at last. She threw out her hand and focused.

"Grants!" she cried and the light erupted within Olga, sending the monster hurtling downwards in pain, slamming blindly into the walls of the elevator shaft as it plummeted to the test disposal area. Dular hauled her onto the disc while Perri finished her hot-wiring job and the elevator jerked and slowed, momentarily crushing them against the floor from inertia.

"Did we win?" Perri gasped, picking herself up to a sitting position as the others got to their knees. Dol rubbed her head and blinked up at Dular's scowl. "Dular? What's wrong?"

"She used Grants." the Hunter replied, pointing at the Ranger, "She isn't a Force, but she used Grants." The team stared at her, baffled by the remark. She only cocked her head and blinked back at them.

"What? He said that somebody had to do it." she remarked, pointing at Elliot. The group sighed in unison and shook their heads as the elevator finally reached the bottom of the shaft.

~*~*~*

The body of the immense monster lay sprawled in the knee deep water. A shimmering light floated around it as the hunters disembarked the elevator and began to explore the ruined test disposal area. Dular scanned the area and nodded to one side cautiously. Perri swallowed hard and pressed after him, Elliot bringing up the rear with his laser held ready. Dol sat put on the elevator, glaring down at the water flooding the test disposal area. Just by watching the others slosh through she knew it would come up to her chest if she stepped in. Her ears pulled back as her tail lashed back and forth.

"Yucky water." she grumbled.

"Okay, that is one seriously ugly bio-weapon." Elliot remarked as he looked up at Olga's still form. Dular sighed as he made his way past fallen debris to the perimeter of the room. Perri glanced back at the elevator, scowled at the Ramarl glaring back at her, then rubbed Denwark on the head, trying to calm the spooked Mag.

"Elliot, get away from there and help me find Flowen! He's gotta be around here somewhere!" the Hunter called out and fumbled for a flashlight. "Commander Flowen! Where are you?! Can you hear me?!"

"Dular, I don't like this. This is way too much like that field were we fought Falz." Perrinetta remarked, eyeing the light that bobbed her way, "What are the odds that this thing is gonna pop back up and try attacking us again? And the odds that we are going to be in serious trouble if it does? 'Cause we can't move right in all this water!"

"Don't jinx us, Perri." Elliot warned, poking the end of his laser at the body. The flesh quivered and he stepped back in a hurry. "Ugh, gross. It's like gel or something." Perri watched the light bouncing along and reached out for it.

"What's this? Could this be the spirit of whatever it was that became this monster?" she murmured and touched the brilliant sphere.

The ground began to quake the moment she made contact and a red light erupted all around them, cutting through the flooded room and lifting the monster's body into the air. Elliot ran as fast as he could from it, shrieking in terror as Dular spun and stared in horror at it. Olga's lower half shifted and modified itself, transforming into a pair of legs and two huge black claws that floated separately from it, slowly circling the monstrosity. It bellowed in a rage and began stomping towards the hunters, knocking more debris from the ceiling and walls as it swiped after them with its sword.

"Saviors of the red captive child! Battle me for the freedom I desire!" it raged hoarsely, "Let me be with her!" The hunters scattered as waves of energy rushed across the battlefield from the slash of the sword.
Dol remained on the elevator, tensed and staring wide-eyed up at the creature. The tail Mag was puffed and standing erect, and she collected herself into a small form, gripping the ruined mechanism with her fingers.

"M-Mako! H-Help!" she whimpered. Dular dashed by her to escape another energy wave and she shut her eyes, diving into the water to allow it to pass over her. She resurfaced and coughed, shaking herself off as Perrinetta darted behind a boulder for cover and cast Grants continuously. Elliot noted the claws sending energy tendrils towards Olga and turned his gunfire onto them.

"Dular! If we can keep these claw things busy, we can buy Perri time to kill it with Grants!" he yelled. The Hunter nodded and quickly swapped his Silence Claw for a handgun, firing rapidly at the strange creatures that floated around Olga. The beast lifted its sword into the air, bellowing in pain and fury. Beams of crackling white and blue energy rained down on the field, slamming into ground and knocking the combatants to the floor. Perri sputtered and splashed about, desperate to recover her footing and cast Resta. She felt the healing energy wash over her and looked surprised as she found herself being pulled upright by the tiny Ranger.

"What? Weren't you knocked over too?!" the Forcer remarked in shock. Dol grinned back at her.

"I have good evasion." she simply said and darted off to find the others, "Keep up the Grants! We can't let it stop and get anyone else with that attack!"

Elliot dragged himself up with the aid of a fallen chunk of metal and glared up at the creature still stomping around. Olga seemed to be incredibly intent on crushing somebody, anybody, under its oversized feet. Dular was doing well enough, dashing back and forth as best he could and slicing at Olga's ankles with his claw. Dol was dashing after him, waving her hands about with waves of Resta energy flowing around to heal him.

"Hey! You're a Ranger! Act like one and shoot at it!" Elliot yelled out and turned his laser back onto the claws. The tiny woman paused and blinked, then smiled and whisked out a Partisan, solid red in color. "What the-?! That's not a Ranger weapon! That's a Hunter weapon! What the heck are you doing?!" he shrieked upon seeing her slashing away at Olga's legs with it. "Dular! Get that thing away from her and slap some sense into her head!"

"I'm running low on fluids! I can't keep this up forever!" Perri declared as she cracked open another Trifluid capsule, "Where's Flowen?!"

The room was filled with a bright red light as Olga's body suddenly turned an iridescent crimson, almost transparent. A shimmering light, very much like the one that Perri had seen, bobbed down from Olga's heart and made its way towards the elder Hunter running from the creature. Before anyone could cry out in warning, Dular was swallowed by the light and vanished.

"Dular!" both Elliot and Perri cried in shock and ran to him, leaving Olga to stomp after the only target it could see, the tiny figure in red that scrambled onto a boulder and slipped the Red Partisan back into its box and her pack. They reached their friend, then stopped in surprise when they saw another man in his place.

"I am Deputy Commander Heathcliff Flowen." the older Hunter told them gruffly, looking down at them with steely eyes, "And you two are part of the group that saved the red captive child, correct?"

"Yes, sir. It's an honor to meet you at last. But, where is Dular?" Perrinetta murmured with a wide-eyed expression, clutching the Angel Harp close to her body. Flowen lifted his arm and studied the Silence Claw attached to it, fastened over the white of his military uniform.

"That is not the issue at hand. For now, we must destroy that evil abomination." he replied at last and pointed up at the monster, "That thing... Olga Flow." The two hunters looked back at it, then jumped as Flowen raced by them, a rebel yell erupting from his mouth. "For the good of this world! For the people of Pioneers One and Two! Rico! Use the gifts I've given you!" he roared aloud, and slashed the claw deep into Olga's flesh. The monster squalled in pain and a grimace flashed across Flowen's face as the other two members of the party darted up to help.

"Rico? But Rico's...." Perri started to exclaim and cried in shock as she saw the tiny Ramarl leap out and grab onto Olga's leg, scrambling to hang on and climb up, clawing at the glowing flesh as she scaled the giant humanoid monster. "Agh! No way! Flowen thinks Dol's Rico!"

"He can think what he wants! He's here and he's helping us kick major monster butt!" Elliot declared, firing repeatedly at Olga's back. "Perri! Act as support! Keep us healed and give us a boost!"

"Resta, Shifta, Deband, comin' at ya!" the Force yelled and threw out her hands, sending waves of healing energy over her friend and the commander, followed by the techniques to raise their power and defensive abilities.

"Higher, Rico! End it at the heart of it all!" Flowen yelled up and leaped back nimbly from the monster shifting stance for a new attack. "Don't give up, hunters! Kill it no matter what the cost!" Dol scrambled higher, a grim look on her face as she reached the monster's chest. She froze then, eyes wide and distant as the red ring around her arm began to flicker and shine. "Rico! You must finish it!" the commander yelled again and was thrown aside in the wave of energy that swept the battlefield once again.

"Dular! Where the heck are you?! We need another Hunter at the front line!" Elliot cried as he got to his feet again. Perri staggered up and popped open a Star Atomizer, healing the two of them quickly before resuming her supportive role, alternating between healing and casting Grants.

The Ranger managed to crawl up onto Olga's shoulder and the creature finally took notice of her, turning to glare at her in a fury. She glared back and a slender Red Saber appeared in her hand, poised for a blow of her own as the monstrosity lifted its own huge sword for a final attack on her friends.

"It is returning, and it will have the perfect body...." the soulless creature seemed to rumble at her.

"It will have to face them first again." Dol hissed and sank the saber into Olga's neck, violet blood gushing out over her as it roared in pain and staggered backwards, flailing in agony. Flowen yelled out and fell back into the water, vanishing in a blast of white light as the great red creature collapsed onto the field, the hunters below narrowly avoiding being crushed by it. The Ramarl leaped back from it as it fell, twisting into the air and dropping into a mid air telepipe.

"Look out!" Elliot cried as he and Perri watched the body disintegrate, then gaped as the figure of Heathcliff Flowen rose up from the vanishing body and blinked out of existance high above them.

"Oh God, Olga Flow... Flowen was turned into that thing!" Perri whispered, "Just like Falz took over Rico, Olga took over Flowen!" They blinked as they heard the whistling of a metallic blade spin down from the ceiling and land with a ker-chink sound, embedding itself into the center of the bloody battlefield.

"My head.... What the heck happened to my head?" Dular groaned as he climbed out of the water and rubbed at it. He looked around in surprise. "Ugh.... What the-? Where's Olga? And Dol?" The telepipe reopened and the ranger dropped into the water, then splashed up in a yell and raced to climb onto his shoulders.

"Yaaah! Water!" she wailed as Perri and Elliot ran up to him. He rolled his eyes.

"Never mind. Perri, Elliot, what happened?" he went on. The two younger hunters blinked, then launched into their story.

"You disappeared when that light got you...!"

"And then Flowen was right there and he had your weapon...!"

"And he told Dol to climb up onto Olga and kill it there....!"

"While he helped us attack it down here with everything we had...!"

"Because he thought Dol was Rico because of all that red crap she's got...!"

"And the red ring she's wearing, too! Then when we finally killed it...!'

"It fell down and vanished and so did Flowen...!"

"But we saw him reappear inside Olga and go up and disappear again...!"

"And now we know that the monster was Olga Flow and that Osto...!"

"Turned Flowen into Gamma 113, the final bioweapon!" both of them babbled in a breathless rush. Dular pried Dol off of his shoulders and walked up to the sword embedded in the water. It was slender and dark, looking as if it had been infected with D-Factor as well, but the energy was gone from it. He reached out and grabbed the hilt, pulling the sword free and holding it in his hands.

"Flowen must have taken possession of me for that fight." he finally said, turning back to his friends, "Some part of him wanted to be free of this, so he used me to help you defeat the creature he was forced to become. He's at peace now."

"So what do we do now?" Perri whispered, watching him spin the blade once and study it.

"We report to Ms. Milarose. We tell her what happened to Flowen, and we make the push to get out of here." Dular answered and tucked the sword into his pack, "Ragol isn't safe. And we were all duped. After all that's happened, after all the missions involving Osto's research and all the crap Black Paper is pulling, I think I get it now. The Pioneer Project was never to save Coral's people. It was to find a research planet to make these... hellish weapons."

"What?" Elliot murmured in disbelief.

"We were all sent here as experiments! As labor workers for the Corallian government's weapons research and development! It makes sense! Black Paper must have their hands in the government!" Dular yelled in a rage, causing the three hunters to jump slightly, "We were sent here as part of their lies! Now we have to get out of here!"

"Then let's spread the word! Before more people are duped and the Pioneer Three gets sent out!" Perri cried and raced for the elevator, "Let's get back to the surface and find a way back to the ship and haul butt back to Coral!" The others nodded and dashed after her, unaware that one final battle was still at hand. Not for them, but for a traveler from another world....

mr_rubbish
Aug 18, 2004, 04:37 AM
Where is our final battle?

Digi-Dolphin
Dec 11, 2004, 06:49 AM
On 2004-08-18 02:37, mr_rubbish wrote:
Where is our final battle?



Okay, thanks for the wake up call. Man, this place has seen better days and so has the game itself. I let one deranged person online for a month and what happens?

I quit PSO, that's what.

Oh well. Now that I'm sniffing around to see if it's safe to go back, I may as well finish this up for everyone. Due to my failing interest in the game (blame the deranged person), there might not be an Episode III. Kind of a bummer. Aaanyway, let me juggle around my schedule and throw some stuff on the backburner to work on the last fight between Val and L'zac and let's see where my inspiration takes me. I just got done writing three straight chaps for Tales of Symphonia, may as well do it again for Phantasy Crossing, neh?

Digi-Dolphin
Jan 8, 2005, 01:14 AM
Hey, okay, my inspiration's starting to kick in again and the final battle's going fairly well. I should have it wrapped up soon.

Let me just say this first. I refuse to do Episode III until I get the game itself and play through it to see exactly what the hell it's about. I can then decide whether to continue Phantasy Crossing using it as the baseline or chuck it out the window and write it following the rules of Ep. I and II.

Bear with me. I have to sneak my online time on the sly.

Digi-Dolphin
Apr 19, 2005, 10:10 PM
Okay, don't get your hopes up too high. I barely finished this chapter and didn't have time to beta-read it. Thanks for the patience though. It is truly much appreciated.
----------


Ch 11

Whistling cheerfully as the fires burned computers and machinery around him, Mako rocked back and forth on his heels as the Interdictor whirred before him. The spiralling vortex of light continued spinning behind him and the heat from the flames gave it an eerie red glow while the machine finally spat out a single black disk that Mako reached out to collect.

"Yup, all in a day's work for the Scarlet Tiburon, Scourge of the Underground Alliances!" he remarked brightly and slipped the disk into a pocket hidden on the front of his robe. He lifted the Demonic Fork and walked to another computer, resuming his whistling as he purposefully crammed the prongs into the panels and twisted it, ripping through circuit-boards and wires as though they were pasta in a dish.

L'zac fell through the vortex with a grunt and scrabbled to his feet, taking in a quick scan of his lair before erupting in rage. Mako jumped and spun around, gripping the fork with its collection of ruined components.

"You! You little...!" the Hunter snarled in a fury. The Forcer blinked and rolled his eyes, setting the fork down as he planted a fist on one hip.

"Oh for the love of God, get over yourself already!" he declared sarcastically, "What the hell made you think that stupid holographic image of my baby sister on that idiot android was really gonna fool me? And don't growl like that! I thought you were something actually intimidating for a moment there!"

"...Cocky little bastard!" L'zac finished spitting out in a fury and grabbed for a pair of swords left on the floor by his troops, "I'll rip the flesh from your body while you live and cut your tongue from your mouth for a souvenir!"

"That a promise?" Mako purred and dashed aside as the Hunter lunged with the Yasha in his hand thrusting forward. The vortex shone brightly as Val and Peri appeared in the room, weapons in hand as they took in the scene quickly.

"L'zac Gerun! Your fight is with me! Not some Forcer seeking his sister's body!" Valentine yelled in anger, aiming the Golden Axe at the man ripping his sword free from the ruined console. Mako stopped his sprinting and stared at him.

"Body?" he echoed. Peri twirled the Twinkle Star and held it ready for casting techniques.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Tiburon! Val told me that L'zac murdered your sister and my friend, Dol!" she cried, "I want revenge, L'zac! I'll make you pay for your cruelty!"

"Believe me, young woman, you have not yet seen true cruelty." L'zac growled, "Cruelty is what I shall inflict upon your husband as punishment for defying his master and superior!" He stepped menacingly towards Val, the Sange and Yasha in his hands glinting in the firelight, appearing as if blood already drenched the shining blades. Val reached back into his pack and pulled forth the Golden Shovel, mimicking the double bladed stance of his nemesis. "Come, Valentine Hart! Let us do battle with both of our best weapons in hand! This time, I truly give my word on using only these blades to carve your flesh from your body!"

"Peri, get out of here. Mako! Get Peri and get out! This one's the finisher!" Val yelled out, bracing himself as he glared up at the towering man, "I don't trust your word, L'zac, but I make the same vow! These tools you've forced me to use again as weapons will be your end! I won't let you destroy Ragol or Animal Crossing! Both worlds are free to follow their fates!" Peri dashed towards the Fomar, who stood firmly with the Demonic Fork held forward defensively.

"I'm not leaving. If what you and Periwinkle say is true, then my life has no meaning any longer." he answered coldly, "I want to see revenge carried out with my own eyes. This fight's not mine, but you carry my will with you now."

"I'm staying too! I'll keep out of the way, but I'll cheer for you! Go for it, Val! For Ragol, for Animal Crossing, for us and for Dol! Get him!" Peri yelled.

"Let us end this rivalry at last." L'zac hissed. Val nodded.

"Yes. Let's." he echoed and the two rushed at each other with a roar of outrage, blades meeting in a powerful first slash to test each other's strengths. Golden sparks flew from the metals and Val scraped the edges of the axe and shovel across the swords to break away from the deadlock, darting back to gauge his next move. L'zac didn't give him the opportunity, swinging the Sange and Yasha almost wildly at him, slicing low to catch the smaller man in the most vulnerable of locations. Ducking and jumping to avoid the blows, Val parried what he could and dashed aside, spinning the axe to act as a temporary shield, then leaping forward to slam the shovel against L'zac's knee. Roaring in pain, the mad hunter brought the pommel of the swords down at full strength, catching Val on the shoulder and sending him crashing to the floor. He rolled aside quickly, barely avoiding the twin katanas whistling downwards into the very spot he occupied moments before.

Mako and Peri slunk around the edge of the room towards the Interdictor, the male Force eyeing the alien box grinding furiously in the machine. Peri had to bite her lip to keep from crying out at the blows being exchanged between L'zac and her husband. She looked up and watched Mako pull the GameCube from the machine and hand it to her, effectively closing the portal to Animal Crossing at the same moment.

"Don't turn it off. Keep it on or everything Val is doing will be in vain." he whispered, "Stay behind me."

"Why won't you just die?!" L'zac raged as the blade of the Golden Axe bit into his leg once more. The Yasha sang as it sliced the air, staining itself red as Val leaped back with a fresh cut on his arm to add to the several wounds already on his body. "You, who do not belong on this world, should have been ripped asunder the moment you stepped foot on this planet!" Val panted for air, eyes searching for another weakness to exploit, a new opening to run after.

"Because I want to return to a world where I do belong. Because I want to ensure that the friends I have made survive to find a better one." he hissed, spinning the axe again as he held the shovel up for a shield. "And because..." he went on with a grim smile as L'zac yelled and dashed at him with both katanas ready to spear into him, "I just don't like you!" He spun around, leaving his back open for just a moment to bait the man closer, then caught him off guard by slamming the axe and shovel together against L'zac's arm. A crunch and a crack, and the hunter shrieked in pain as the bone shattered and he dropped the Sange. The momentum of clashing of metal and bone spun him and L'zac immediately put it to his advantage despite the cloud of agony descending on his insane mind. Val didn't expect the kick that sent him across the room into a pile of rubble, nor the cry of pain that erupted with blood from his mouth as he felt his ribs shift within him. He forced himself up and gasped while L'zac felt his arm out and focused his rage on the smaller man.

"I will make you wish I killed you then and there...." the Hunter snarled as he gripped the Yasha tightly with his remaining good hand. He moved deliberately towards Val as he stood painfully with the two makeshift weapons in his hands. Glaring back up at the bigger man, Val spun the shovel once and slid it back into the pack on his back. L'zac laughed shortly, spitefully. "Fair fighting. Peh, honorable to the very end, is that how you want to be remembered?" he insulted, "I will make your widow scream with what I'm going to do to you before you take your final breath."

"I'm tired of this." Val finally whispered, "I'm tired of the fighting, tired of the killing, the slaughter of animals and people alike. I'm tired of the constant struggle between darkness and light, of this stupid game of good and evil, of the quest for power and redemption." He narrowed his eyes at the grinning hunter stalking towards him. "If this is truly my destiny, my fate to be the one to get something done for Pioneer Two to finally get out of here, then I will rally my strength for this final time." He tightened his hold on the Golden Axe and stood still, watching L'zac carefully for a sign.

It was so slight, it could have, should have, been missed. However, Val caught it, the tensing of muscles that warned him of the next maneuver L'zac was about to make. The Hunter lunged suddenly, Yasha thrust out for the killing strike just as Val swerved aside, allowing the bigger man to fly by him as he lifted the Golden Axe once more.

"I will fight no more!" Val screamed in pain and fury as he brought the blade of the axe down onto the man's arm, nearly severing the limb from his body. Peri did scream that time, hiding herself from the sight as Mako cringed and turned away, trying to block out the screams and wails of agony. Valentine stumbled back and leaned on the axe for support, coughing up more of the scarlet liquid himself as L'zac lay broken on the floor, writhing as his arms remained useless to him.

"Resta, heal his wounds." Mako murmured as he cast the technique on the small man's body. Peri rushed out and hugged her husband tightly, sobbing as Val rested against her. The mad hunter growled, tense from pain as he bit out the words to heal himself partially as well. Though his Resta was nowhere near as powerful as Mako's, thus unable to fully heal his wounds, it was enough to keep him from bleeding to death, stopping the blood flow with bandages of energy.

"This... is not... the end... Valentine Hart!" L'zac growled and looked over at the Interdictor, the machine standing dormant against the wall, "Computer! Self destruct the West Tower!"

Alarms began to blare as the tower began shaking, the Interdictor coming to life as its LEDs surged with a vast amount of incoming energy. Mako stared at it in confusion, then cried in shock.

"He's overloading that thing! This whole place is gonna blow if it overloads!" he yelled. Val pulled away from Peri and searched the room for an escape. "The teleporter! We have to get to it!"

"No go! The power's been drained from it! That thing's taking in everything!" Val reported after checking the machine and finding the normally lit up device dark and quiet. Peri looked over at the window spanning the other wall.

"What if we escaped through the window?" she asked. The men looked at her, then at the glass. A desperate hope lit up within them.

"That might work! If the fall doesn't kill us first." Mako remarked and swung the Demonic Fork aside, "Here goes!" He slammed it into the glass, only to find it bounce off the window, "Damn, it's Photon-enforced! I can't break it!"

"Overwhelm it then! Grants!" Peri declared, eyes closed in concentration as she threw her hands and the Twinkle Star forward in the casting. The window rippled as the light erupted within it. Mako bit his lip in brief fear, then spun the rare weapon to point at it, murmuring the words to unleash the tech himself. L'zac began laughing maniacally, watching them cast the technique over and over to shatter the glass.

"You will all die here... with me...! Such pitiful people you are...!" he announced between laughs. Val joined in the attempts, smashing the blade of the axe against the window continuously until, against all odds, the glass finally crumbled and broke apart.

"We're through! Let's go!" he exclaimed joyfully as Mako dropped to his knees and clutched the Demonic Fork, using it to stay upright as he gasped for air.

"You go. Can't move." he told them breathlessly. The two smaller people looked back at him in shock and confusion. The Forcer smiled wanly. "I don't have the strength anymore. And with my baby sis gone, well... there's no point in continuing. I have no family." He pulled the disk from his gown and tossed it to Peri. "Give that to Dular. Tell him to keep it safe. Might come in handy."

"Mako, don't do this! You have to come with us! You're going to die here! This place will go up any minute now!" Val shrieked.

"Get out already!" the Fomar snapped. He shook the fork at them threateningly. Val and Peri stepped back, glaring at him, then turned to run to the outer ring of the building, a photon bridge forming towards it.

"You're making a mistake." Val called back and raced towards the emergency elevator with his wife close behind. Mako shook his head, unable to even cry in sorrow over his lost sister. Behind him, L'zac staggered to his feet and grinned as his auto-teleport triggered and he vanished, a final laugh of victory erupting from his mouth.

"The transport rings are dead!" he exclaimed as the bridge flickered, then vanished. Mako shrieked as the two small people wailed and fell straight down. He scrambled to the window's edge and looked down in horror.

"We're gonna diiiiieeee!" Peri screamed as Val reached into his pack and pulled out the Golden Rod once more. He grabbed the woman by the waist and let the line fly out.

"Hang on! And pray this works!" Val yelled out and watched breathlessly as the line hooked onto a crumbling ring surrounding the West Tower and went taut. The pair of them swung towards the ground, the fishing line whirring out at high speeds as Val tried to aim for a non-lethal landing. The light of a Ryuker spell erupted and he cried out at the sight of Dular, Elliot, Perri and Dol running from it towards the tower.

"She's alive!" Peri yelled in amazement and twisted her head up at the tower, "Mako! She's alive!" The Fomar was staring down at them, helpless and trapped high above them. The fishing line snapped and the two small people screamed in a panic before crashing into the Hunter and Ranger down below. Dol blinked at the mess beside her, then looked up at the tower in confusion.

"Mako?" she questioned with a cock of her head. Val scrambled to get up and yelled at her.

"Mako's up there! The tower's going to explode!" he shrieked, "Don't just stand there! Go save him!" The tiny Ranger gave a start and jumped up, rolling into a tight ball, tail wrapped around her as she spun.

"Ryuka!" she cried and dropped down into a mid-air telepipe. The group looked up at the tower and saw the entry flash of the pipe.

"They're gonna make it!" Perrinetta exclaimed and screamed as the floor exploded, gutting out the West Tower just like its twin before it.

"Nooo!" Periwinkle wailed as the hunters snatched her and Val up, racing away from the Central Control Area as fast as they could. Flames continued erupting from the building, lighting Val's pale face with reds and golds as he stared back at it, knowing that the brother and sister pair were trapped by it, almost certainly doomed.


---------------------

Almost done! God, this is so close, I can almost taste it!

Digi-Dolphin
Mar 16, 2006, 10:31 PM
Epilogue

The sunset rained the last of its dying light upon the smoldering West Tower. Like its twin before it, entire floors were gutted by fire and electrical explosions, leaving only skeletal framework to support the higher levels. From the distance and relative safety of the edge of the Central Control Area, Dular, Perrinetta, Elliot, Valentine and Periwinkle could see strangely self-automated machines begin to crawl about the ruined levels of both towers, working on repairing and restoring the buildings. There was still no sign of the red-haired pair that entered the gutted levels.

"They had to have auto-telepiped out." Elliot finally murmured, shielding his eyes as he gazed up at the West Tower, his face completely expressionless. "Mako is a Force; Forces are super-paranoid about physical damage. Their auto-pipes are always in top condition."

"And his sister?" Val asked, trying to comfort Periwinkle and check himself over for unhealed injuries at the same time. The Ranger shrugged.

"She's a nut. Who knows if she had an auto-pipe or not? If she's smart, she'd have used that... what'd she call it?" he muttered and looked to Dular for help. The Hunter was silent for a moment.

"Ryuka. This just proves how dangerous this world is for all of us. We have to leave Ragol and find another world." Dular finally answered. He turned to his friends and partners. "We have to trust that they escaped safely. In the meantime, we have to start using our status and connections to get Pioneer Two out of here and stop Pioneer Three from coming." Perrinetta sniffled tearfully.

"Yeah, you're right. We... we don't belong here. We lost Rico, we lost Flowen, Dark Falz could come back in another thousand years; we have got to find a new world!" she blurted, "But, Dular! We don't have the supplies to last us until another planet is found for us! We can keep sending probes until Falz rears his ugly head again, but without supplies, without an easier way of moving the people, Pioneer Two is trapped here!" Periwinkle blinked and looked to her husband.

"Val, your GameCube... it lets people travel between our world and this one, right?" she whispered to the brunet. Val nodded. "Well, can't we let these guys have it? Just to help them move from Ragol to someplace else? After we use it to go home, I mean?" The man sighed and shook his head. "But, Val, these are people who really need a better place to live!" she pleaded.

"What do you want me to do?! Tell a whole ship full of people that they can pop through a hole in space and move into Animal Crossing?!" Val declared incredulously, "There are more of these Black Paper guys up there on Pioneer Two, and L'zac could be hiding out there too! We just went through hell to get this thing away from them and now you want to give it back?!" The hunters stared at the argument, baffled by what the two travelers were discussing.

"Well, not move to Animal Crossing, of course, but can't they use their space stuff to kinda tweak it so it can take them to another world in this place faster?" Periwinkle tried to explain, a confused look on her face as she tried to understand the rules of Ragol's universe quickly, "I mean, if it took them a long time to get here from wherever they came from, why not work with the GameCube so that they can leave this place faster and find someplace else to live?"

"Because the GameCube doesn't work like that! And besides, the portal is too small to let a whole spaceship through!" Val growled, "People will have to jump through one at a time, and somewhere along the way those same people are gonna start asking questions. How are Dular and the others supposed to keep all of us, you, me, and Animal Crossing, a secret if they're using something from our world?" He threw his hands up in exasperation, "And it's still gonna dump them all in Animal Crossing! These people don't function like we do there! They're gonna go ballistic and tear up the cities and towns! Like L'zac did with his Forces! Do you want a bunch of panicked people burning down Animal Crossing, Animal Forest?! Even the cities where we humans came from before moving to those animal villages?!" Val calmed, taking a deep breath as he shook his head again. Periwinkle glared at him for yelling so loudly. "Peri, we belong here even less than these people; they'll feel the same way if they wind up in Animal Crossing. This little box is still a mystery; it only works properly if activated from our world." he explained and pulled the box free to show the group, "See, it's still powered on. That means the gate from Animal Crossing to Ragol is still open and only people from our world can pass through to here. If we turn it off, the portal reappears before us and reverses itself. Then people of Ragol can move through it to Animal Crossing. The only way to close the gate completely is to take the GameCube back to our world while the power is still off."

"But that cuts off access between the two worlds." Dular remarked suddenly, "That means, if we wanted to use your GameCube to move everyone to your world, you and the box would have to stay here in this universe until all the people are moved, then pass through the portal last."

"Too many things can go wrong during that. And I highly doubt anyone wants to live in Animal Crossing. No offense, Val." Elliot pointed out with a half-grin, "Though I like Periwinkle's idea of using your GameCube to create a better hyperjump system for the Pioneer Two. Then we can just pop through a portal from here to a new world if we find one." He looked at his armband then with a frown. "Mako should have called in by now. What's taking him? He had to have gotten out of there, right?" he muttered and Periwinkle yelped, digging into her backpack for the disk the Forcer had given her. She held it out to the taller people.

"Mako told me to give this to you guys. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks really important." she told the group and Dular accepted the disk. He studied it in confusion.

"It's a data disk, that's for sure. What could be on it?" he mused softly. The Hunter put it away carefully and looked down at the two travelers. "Well, thank you for all your help, Val and Periwinkle. We'll try our best to get Pioneer Two on course to leave Ragol. All that we've learned about this place from Rico and Flowen should be strong enough evidence to get us out of here." he told them, "Because of our battle with Dark Falz, the three of us and Mako are called the Four Heroes on Pioneer Two. So, we have enough popularity on our side that maybe we can sway some votes to get the ship to leave."

"Yeah, you do that. Periwinkle and I will use the GameCube to get back home." Valentine agreed, "I'm sorry that I won't be able to help you get to another world, but it's for the best that this thing doesn't end up in the wrong hands." He looked down at the device in his hands with a serious expression. "I'm going to destroy it when we get back. This will be the last time we see each other, so this is really our last goodbye." The group went silent, gazing at the box as those words sank in.

"So, no more adventures with the little Hunter, huh?" Perrinetta mumbled sadly. Val nodded. "We're all gonna miss you. Can't you stay just a little longer this time? There's all kinds of cool places to visit on Pioneer Two, and fun things to do. We're not constantly confined to the guild and the main concourse." she pleaded, "There are clubs and shops and museums and the science labs...." The smaller man shook his head with a smile.

"Thanks, but we really have to get out of here. After all we've been through, I'm looking forward to just crashing for a week and not do anything involving an axe and shovel." Val remarked with a laugh, "I'm just sore all over!" The group joined in the laughter and said their last goodbyes as Val prepared to press the power button on the device in his hands. "Well, goodbye, you guys. Take care of yourselves and I hope you do find a good home." he told the hunters, "I know you can do it. You're the Four Heroes, right?"

"Take care! Bye-bye! Maybe someday, you'll find a way to visit us!" Periwinkle cried, waving while Val pressed the button and opened the portal. Dular, Perrinetta and Elliot waved back, cheering for them as the travelers held hands and leaped through the crackling white gateway. It spun closed after they disappeared into it and that was the end of it.

"So what now?" Perri sighed. Dular checked his armband computer and looked towards the Cal unit hovering nearby.

"We make a full report to Natasha and Maxie, we tell Principal Tyrell what's been happening down here and we start pulling strings to get us all out of this system." he finally declared, "The people of Pioneer Two aren't safe here and Pioneer Three will be in the same dangers if we don't get the warning to them to not come here. We also have to find out where Mako is; we'll need his help to get full support from everyone." Elliot nodded.

"Yeah, and I'd want to know if he's okay or not. He's my best friend, after all. And it's really not fair that this happens just as he gets reunited with his baby sis. Well, one of them at least." he added. Perrinetta opened a telepipe back to the ship and the group headed back to the Pioneer Two.

Animal Crossing ~

The animal villagers were already busy with stopping the fires and repairing damaged homes when Valentine and Periwinkle dropped out of the portal. The gate closed behind them and the two humans took a moment to breathe easily. This was a world they understood, a world that was their home.

"Nice to see you back, guys." a rabbit remarked, walking up to them with a shovel in one slender grip. "Val, we're gonna need your help with the trees; a good five acres of your orchard got burned up by those weirdos from the freak hole. Luckily, we still have enough fruit to rebuild, but you're the expert at this." Val nodded.

"All right. I'll be right there, Snake. Give me a sec." he replied and the rabbit headed back to the other animals. Val looked at the box in his hands and sighed. "Well, I might as well get this done now." Periwinkle watched her husband as he set the device onto the ground and readied the Golden Axe.

"Are you absolutely sure about this? What if they need us in the future? Wouldn't it be a wise idea to just store it in the sub-basement and protect it?" she urged, "There aren't any bad guys here in our world; Animalia is a peaceful world!"

"But look at the damage it's done, Peri!" Val exclaimed, "I was turned into a Delsaber, Animal Crossing was nearly destroyed and Dark Falz almost got turned loose in this dimension! This GameCube is too dangerous!" Periwinkle sighed sadly.

"Oh, all right. If you say so. You know more about Ragol than I do, so I have to trust your judgment. I just wish we could have a safe way of going back and forth so we could at least visit our friends there." she murmured and stepped back as Val readied the axe and lifted it up.

In one forceful slam, the gates between Animal Crossing and Ragol were closed forever. Pieces of the indigo box flew like plastic shards of mystery into nothingness, the remnants of the GameCube scattering all over the grass as it was cleaved in two. Val winced as one of the shards hit his cheek, grazing it enough to draw a thin line of blood. Putting the axe away, he sighed and rubbed at the cut, watching Periwinkle gather together the larger chunks of electronics until they puffed a cloud of smoke and transformed into a mass of black gel with pieces of trash clinging to it. She picked up the unit and shook her head at her husband.

"You should have that cut looked at, Val. I'll take this to the dump and help the girls with the houses." she told him and walked off. Valentine sighed, gazed skyward for a moment, then ran to join the male villagers in reforesting the ruined acres.


Once more, two very different worlds touched together, reuniting heroes, and enemies, from both sides to reach common goals. Though the physical link between them has broken, the bonds of friendship, heroism and even hatred spans the dimensions, uniting them in a way that is unique to them alone. Black Paper continues its quest for power, aware of L'zac's search for a way back to Animal Crossing for revenge against the otherworldly hero, Valentine Hart. The Four Heroes prepare to make the motion to convince the leaders of Pioneer Two to find another world to make their home, the words of their friend, whom the people dubbed the Fifth Hero, still ringing in their ears. And Valentine himself, freed of the strange device that began the strange ties between them all, returned to what he hoped would be a normal life with his wife in Animal Crossing. Bonds are powerful things, uniting otherwise vastly different people across time and space. Stretched by separation, these bonds can only be forgiving for so long, before time, and circumstance, eventually will bring them back together....


The End