When Yoshi was young, he would use to read stories of an era of cowboys and how some would be buried alive in a coffin. Though he did believe that one day, he too would find himself waking up in one of these boxes. Little did he know that he would eventually find himself contained in a much darker, stronger prison. One that is more cramp and a lot less polished than what are read in the books. Instead, of being buried in an expensive noblemen’s coffin or a cheaply made box, made of wood and left outside in the sun all day, he instead found himself in a tightly packed dirt block. Narrow, small, corners cut into angle, though he didn’t understand why, and finally, the smell of desert sand. Course, cool, yet smooth from place to place, damp almost, all of it from the not so distant planet of Lillpa, a planet just a few kilometers below him.
From within his dirt jewel, Yoshi squirmed. He didn’t know if he liked the feeling of being a tightly packed sardine. At least now he knew how they feel, or would have felt had they still been alive. It didn’t help that he could hear is own breath become distorted and reflected upon its sand walls. But this wasn’t the thing that bothered him the most. What did bother him was the fact that he willingly encased himself in tightly packed box of mineral, to be dropped from the T-57, to perform a simulated orbital drop into an allegedly cushioned sand dune below. What made things worse was that he couldn’t even see outside. His own power got in the way of opening up a window. Or so he thought. Sometimes he felt like he didn’t try hard enough.
“Can we get this over with? This is becoming a bit uncomfortable,” he said to two women standing outside of his container.
Standing beside him were his mother Ijiraku and his ex-mentor Shinobu Shiomi. Of the two, Ijiraku stood furthest away, wore a cheery smile and held an open door. Standing in-between the hold and the helm, she had been waiting for the moment when Shiomi would lowered the blind man into the floor panels below so they could drop him. Shiomi on the other hand, who held on to Yoshi’s coffin like an oversized and unwieldy battle mace, simply bought her time as she still couldn’t believe she was doing this. Though in truth, she understood why, as it is one of the side effects of being born with the power of diga, insouciance. For a while they stood there and stared at each other, both expecting something. Ijiraku eagerly awaited the loading of Yoshi and Shiomi stalled for an answer.
“Again, why did you think an orbital drop was a good idea?” she asked with a raised brow and a mean frown.
“I told you already, this is his training,” Ijiraku replied pleasantly, fingertips pressed together.
Getting comfortable, the nemwen shifted the weight of her pillar and continued, “And what makes you think this was a good idea? They stopped doing these kinds of things for a reason you know.”
“Yes, but that was during a time when Oracle didn’t use photons.”
“So let me guess. After they discovered the mysteries of photons,” she said, wiggling her free hand, “they completely abandoned the art of orbital vehicle insertions without transitions or technological advancements.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“After they discovered how to manage photons, it didn’t take long for them to learn how to create a warp pipe. Since then, orbital drops became a thing of the past and eventually, they made these so called warp pools we use today, which in a sense would still be an orbital insertion.”
“Nobody did them anymore and that’s why I was specific.”
“Maybe some of the more stubborn ships continued to do so, however, if you have ever read through all the records, accounts, books and diaries, you would find that they all admit that casualty rates were very high.”
“Okay, so. We know that these things are deadly,” said Shiomi before she leaned forward and snared at the Caseal mother. “So why the hell are you sending your son off in one of these?”
“Like you said, because they never combined deadly blazing vehicle insertions with magic of photons,” the robot cheered.
The pillar spun around, the newmen circled with it until her backside face the Cast. Pressing her face against the rock she whispered, “No offense to CASTs and your mother, but your mother is a fucken moron. That is all.” After that she spun back around with a much more bored expression. “Now please do share with me the reason for being okay with this.”
“Line shield,” Ijiraku replied, a finger pressed against her gloved arm.
“What?”
“Line shields. They cushion falls, soften blows, and reduce injuries during crashes. Yoshi’s will do the same. Actually, he has his own built in line shield already. It just needs improvement, much improvement. So, he falls, photons save his life, he pops out guns at the ready.”
“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Shiomi screamed. “You need to test these things to make sure they would even work.”
“Just load him in already. The point is… we can’t always rely on one form of transportation. As a ball of energy in the sky, what if something hits him, redirects him, blocks his path with some sort of emp field? At least then this capsule would protect him. Yes the blockage would also force the loss of his power. But the thing would be so solid that it wouldn’t start to erode until after he had landed.”
A slot opened up in the rock allowing two concerned eyes to be seen in the darkness. “Are we there yet? I’m feeling a little cramped in here,” a scared voice said to them, first looking left, then right.
Both of the women glanced at the eyes. On a sigh, Shiomi placed a hand next to the slit and magically closed it. “No peeking, kid. That’s an order.” Hearing the man’s muffled groans; Shiomi opened up the doors beneath her and dropped the container inside. Like the hull outside, the interior had been restored as well. From barebones benches and rusty floors, the seats now sported brand new chocolate cushions, a silver trim, new copper flooring and completely redone paneling and equipment. However, despite all the restoration work done on the ship, what had been retained was the double door flooring. As dropping stuff off or lowering the bottom floor all together had proven handy from time to time, for both Yoshi and Shinobu. Finally, she seal the hatches, got back on her feet and walked into the cockpit, where she would take her place as the ship’s pilot. As she passed by, Ijiraku said to her,
“Sometimes I wonder what sort of role you seek to play in his life.”
“Less talking, more dropping.”
Once in the chair, the newmen looked at the blinking auto pilot message, said, “Alright, let’s get this over with,” and slammed a medium sized orange button. Just below the blinking red auto pilot, equally red numbers began to count down from the number ten. While the numbers counted down, the newmen held down another button and said, “Yoshi, I know this is your first time and all, but hear me out. Everything will be okay. Just let nature take its course and take action if you feel it’s necessary. Just remember, when you hit the ground, break out and slay some bad guys or something, I don’t know. Go get’em, expresso.”
“Make mommy proud,” Ijiraku scream shortly afterwards, close and loud enough to make Shiomi wince.
Three, two, one, the sounds of unhinged doors could faintly be heard behind them. Ijiraku opened up a holographic window, where a capsule could be seen falling from a top view angle. Shiomi looked back and forth, determining which scented candle she should use.
“So why did you need to delay it?” the Caseal asked, her eyes closely glued to the screen.
“Figured I’d give him some words of encouragement. What are you looking for anyways?” Shiomi asked, unenthused in tone.
“The real reason we are here. To see how what he does, how he manipulates his power and from where I need to start. Now hush, I want to see how fear and his will to live affect his choices.”
“You know, there are safer ways to do these kinds of things.”
“Don’t argue with me, I’m a CAST.”
The newmen closed her eyes and rubbed at her temple. Part of her wanted to continue arguing, but something else told her to just stay quiet and keep an eye on the screen. In doing so, the two watched as the canister fell. Sometimes the mother would open up a new window, zoom in and replay a moment in slow motion. Other times words would just scroll near a screen, like notes magically writing themselves. Shiomi didn’t know what they were for but she had a feeling she was going to be involved with them at some point in the future. Something she dreaded, something she didn’t look forward to. Then boom, sand flew in the air. The capsule had landed.
A dust cloud drifted about blocking everything in sight, they watched intensely for the dust cloud to clear up. First slowly, then instantly the moment the coffin blew open. As if made to do so, four panels falling neatly adjacent to every side, evenly spread out with the top popping off like a cork in a cork gun. As requested, Yoshi also had his fists in the air, expecting an attack. Though to his disappointment, there were none to be had or blocked. The only things seen in the area was the sand, sun and a strange bird watching from a few meters away. Both looking at each other, Yoshi and the bird tilted their heads and stared. They even bobbed their heads a few times. As if it could read his mind, the two of them then looked up into the sky where the T-57 hovered above, a small dot in clear sky. Seeing the vessel, Yoshi waved and jumped. He cheered and yelled random gibberish. In response, the vessel tenderly lowered with its ramp down, until the slab of metal lightly bounced and when Yoshi would immediately dash, jumped in and closed the door, meeting Ijiraku on the other side.
“Congratulations,” she cheered, though at the same time kept her distance.
“Thanks,” Yoshi smiled, rubbing the back of his head. He personally felt like he didn’t do much but smiled anyways. Though smiling at first, it melted into an ugly frown when she then added,
“You’re doing it again.”
Yoshi shifted in place. His scratching hand stopped. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked.
“No, but you didn’t do what I wanted either,” said his mother as she twizzled around.
Yoshi didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know what he did wrong. The corner of his mouth twitched, wanting to smile, as if this was a joke. “What do you want me to do?” he cautiously asked, his arms thrown in the air, his face begging for an answer.
“We’re going to drop you from a much higher distance. Get back in the box and prepare for another drop.”
Yoshi threw himself on the bench in despair. He didn’t want to. He wouldn’t. Then that’s when Shiomi came in and sat beside him.
“As expected of a CAST, showing total disregard to human feelings, thinking everything is made of metal,” said she, her arm dancing across the sky. “Though naturally, CASTs have more of an issue dropping sometimes. They say the parts mess with their inner workings from time to time. Some types of robots even had to be entirely removed from the line of work.” Looking at Yoshi with a thin smile, Shiomi gripped his shoulder and continued, “Look, I know you don’t want to do it but listen, when this is all over I’ll take you to the Gaion, the ship rumored to see the first diga warriors.”
Yoshi lifted his head and returned the smile. “Sounds odd of you to take me to a museum.”
“Yeah, well, I have some business to take care of at my family’s place and I may need some backup in case things get a little… messy.”
Yoshi lifted two flat hands and pointed them at her. “But you’re…you,” Yoshi exclaimed. “You always come out on top.”
The newmen laughed and smacked at his back. “I can kick all their asses any time of the day, but I’d like mine to come out intact as well.” With one last softer pat, Shiomi got up and trade places with Ijiraku, who waited until the newmen walked out of the room to say,
“Truth be told,” she whispered, “Half breeds aren’t as powerful as pure breeds. Diga is a human exclusive ability and half human powers are diluted by their newmen blood. The proficiency of techniques conflicts with it. Two rivers trying to go both ways into each other,” she finished, two fists bumping into each other.
“That doesn’t make much sense. If diga make humans similar to newmens, then-”
“See you on the ground,” she interrupted, walking back into the other room.
Like his mother, Yoshi also waited for the doors to open then shut. The moment the doors seal together, Yoshi looked at his idle mag. The mag blankly stared back at him. Gesturing for the mag to come a little closer, he whispered to it, “How well do you think you can withstand heat?” Though the mag couldn’t speak, it did display a symbol art, or an image of the word direct, a flame and a clock. Thirty minutes the clock said.
“Good,” replied the human with a big grin. “I got a plan.”
When the time came for Yoshi’s second drop, not only had Yoshi trapped himself once again in his own tomb, but his mag with him as well. As a small little device with two four prong stars on each side, each clung to the sides of his teal head and stayed there until further orders. Sitting, waiting; the two stare forward in silence until a vibration could faintly be felt in the distance, a pound vaguely heard beyond the noise of the eased jets outside. “Ready?” Yoshi whispered to his mag. The mag rocked in acknowledgment. “Try not to cling too hard. Those stars hurt you know.”
Yoshi took a deep breath. He could feel the doors open up, allowing his body to free fall. Not too far from the ship, a mound could be seen moving from the tip top to the middle of the container. Via a pocket of space Yoshi easily created, he moved it alongside his mag so that it could move from his head towards his stomach and act as a pair of binoculars. Eyes of the mag see through a little slit in the box, the data would be sent and then seen by Yoshi through window from the inside. Using what he see, Yoshi would then adjust the shape of the capsule, morphing wings, bumps, ridges, and his box to better guide the container’s fall until it neared the ground, where Yoshi opened up four thin flaps that clung to the top like a palm tree. From there, they would slow it’s decent until they broke off. Once he hit the ground for a second time, he repeated the same process. Only this time, his mag prepared for battle with him, its star blades spinning rapidly. Ready to go, the drop ship swooped down to pick them up, but to Yoshi surprise, he didn’t get a cheer this time around. Instead he met a caseal with both hands on her hips and a,
“Hand over the mag.”
“Huh?” Yoshi asked as he boarding the ship. Using the doorway as his support, he then asked, “What did I do this time?”
“You cheated,” replied Ijiraku. A step forward was made. A finger pointed at the ground in front of her. “Mag, get over here, this instant,” she commanded.
Amused, Yoshi scratched the back of his head and said, “I don’t think mags obey many people like that.”
“Then would you kindly hand it over.”
“Well maybe I don’t want to?”
“So, it’s come to this then, huh?” the blond woman said darkly. “Very well, if we can’t do this the easy way, then we will do it the hard way.”
“Stand down, Cast,” demanded Shiomi from the other room.
“If your children can not be controlled, then you must discipline them for their disobedience.”
“And what are you going to do? Send him to his room.”
Ijiraku turned around and smile. “Exactly,” she said with a snap of her fingers.
Almost out of nowhere, several golden triangles zoomed out form the walls and surrounded Yoshi in an orderly formation. Once in position, giving the cowboy no chance to react, pales green walls of energy wrapped around him and a smaller field appeared under his feet, formed to push him up. Unable to escape, an energy prison encapsulated the struggling human, separating him from his mag, which shot bolts of energy at the strange new device.
“It’s for your own good, Bitol,” Ijiraku said to him with a pouty face. She then walked up to the prison and slid a hand down its harmless barrier like walls. “If you won’t improve yourself willingly, then I have no choice but to force you to. I will expand it to give you enough space to make another one. Just know that if you don’t, this thing will still disappear. Shiomi, prep the ship for the third drop.” After saying that, the robot of blond locks grabbed the capsule and stuffed it into the floor below.
“What kind of mother are you?” Shiomi glared.
“Oh come now, there wasn’t any violence or bloodshed had. Someday when this is all over, the both of you will thank me.”
How long will this going on, wondered Shiomi. Giving off a sigh, she stared at the floor and thought for a moment. Her finger tapped at her chin. Her foot tapped on the floor. Deciding to free Yoshi, she stopped to the sounds of something breaking inside. But just as Yoshi was about to open up the hatch, the flooring below him gave way, causing him to fall once more.
At first, Yoshi scrambled around, feeling like a cat squirming to find a foot hold. His breathing grew rapid and harsh. He didn’t make a squeak but he did feel screaming. Looking down, he narrowed his form and used what particles of sand he could gather to form a third coffin. Little by little stands of sand were being formed. In a few seconds they became rotating bands, ribbons and stings moving all around him. To his amazement, it formed quite faster than he expected. Like a glass refilling with gelatin, he watched the walls rise up, splash, wiggle and wave around. Some of the bands rushed in from the bottom. Others snap and clung to the sides. Still wide eye in fear, he deepen his breath, balled both hands and closed his eyes the moment earth engulfed his head.
“Okay,” he said in the darkness, under his breath. “I can do this.”
The edges of the coffin became covered first in bumps, then thorns, the bottom ones larger than the upper ones. One he felt that the thorns were long enough, he used them to determine how far he was from the floor. The moment the forth thorn began to erode away in the heat of friction, he allowed slightly thick flaps to shoot open from the flatter sides. They moment to sprung open, he could feel the coffin jerk backwards. Yes, he cheered. Just when he thought this was going to be a piece of cake, snap, something went wrong. The flaps came off.
Were they too inflexible? Did he open them too soon? Can he manage replacing it with a parachute made of sand? Can he even do that, he asked himself. Trying to remain calm, Yoshi flexed and relaxed his hands multiple times. He took several deep breathes. Unsure if another set would work, he instead focused on reinforcing the bottom of the container. With strengthen walls, he would create two handle bars near his hands and grab hold of them. Elongating the tube while at the same time pushing his body upwards with it, he prepared to let the bottom collapse upwards to absorb the fall. Using what little experience he had with vehicle crashes, he modified the coffin to preform a specific action when landing. Rushing for time, unsure how much was left, he worked with all haste. Then boom. The bottom hit the sand. Instead of a professional entry, it was a sloppy one, but one he could still work with. The bottom held together but the weaker lower walls collapsed and fell apart. They twisted and winded around. The upper portion of the container swung around. Using the energy, Yoshi flung himself away from the crash in a break away pod, one that slid and bounced across the yellow sea to slow down. One with a nose and legs to keep it from violently flipping all over the place. Finally he slipped out. For instead of waiting for the dust to clear, he weakly turned the cloud into a dust devil so he could recover. Arms freed, he grabbed the nearest object and held it like a gunslash, leveled at his chin in an imaginary pistol mode.
Finally the dust clear and in the distance sat both the bird and now a cloaked Lillipan, both which sat down eating a tub of strange food.
I did use the name Aki for a bit before creating the character, but that was a long time ago. I don't use the PSO2 Tweaker, that's the reason I don't use the patch. I still understand enough Japanese to navigate the menus and stuff, just not enough to catch most of the story chapters. You yourself said the game's story doesn't offer much so there probably isn't much benefit to me spending hours going through all the chapters, right? (FYI I *did* read a summary of the first few chapters in a PSOW thread so at least I kinda know what's going on. The new stuff in Episodes 2 and 3 are beyond me, however. xD)
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