- RP Date
- YE 46
- RP Location
- La Prossima Base
"Are you really sure you want to know?" Dr. Shinobu chided, "the procedure tends to be rather.. harsh. Perhaps you'd be more content to simply lose you mind in ignorance?"
Ryuko looked at him, defiance and paranoia clear on her face as she did so. "Ryuko doesnt want to be ignorant. Want to know!" she said to him. "besides Nekovalkyrja remember? can handle it!" She said to him as she waited for him to do his thing.
The doctor smirked as his battered Geboku android served him a syringe of an unrecognizable green fluid, "then prepare for the ride of your life." Guiding her to lay on the operating table he pierced her skin with the long needle and began slowly injecting. Fire spread though her veins from the point of injection as a paralyzing force began weighing her down heavily. Her eyes became heavy despite the searing pain and slowly the ceiling lights faded into a dark abyss beyond any sleep she'd ever experienced. Her last moment of conciousness she caught the faintest glimpses of a strange coding language, recognizable only by its format yet with characters all but foreign.
As the darkness overtook her she could hear Barone's voice make a final comment to Shinobu. "Plug me in too. I need to see this."
Ryuko did as she was told, her paranoia getting to her as layed in a state that left her vulnerable to any perverse actions. Ryuko gritted her teeth as pain filled her entire being, the feeling of being stabbed by something sharp. She fought hard, trying to keep herself from being awake, but this was a loosing battle.
She began seeing darkness cloud her vission, causing her fear and paranoia to rise forcing her to try fight, as she heard Barone say plug him in too.
She woke up to a battle, deafenened and hurt. Taking in her surroundings she could clearly see the armored hand of her squad leader extended toward her, though her words were muted and drowned out by the ringing in her ears. Her chest armor now sported a large hole the size of a baseball burned almost completely through the plate. Taking Ryoku's hand forcefully her squad leader wrenched her off the ground and over to the only other surviving squadmate. Huddling behind a tank the three were now fully in cover behind the burning husk of a main battle tank.
Pain filled her being, different from the pain she’d just been subjected to Ryuko glanced to the hole in her chest, and the under parts of the armor. She knew that it was barely protecting her from injury or worth death now. She glanced over to the corps of Miyuki, Natsume, Yoriko, AoI, her sqadmates, now dead. She remembered how Natusme wanted to be a mother. Soon Ryuko sensed that the ringing was subsiding and her CO was speaking to her.
"Ringing slowly subsides- hey, ready up!" her CO shouted over the chaotic scene of aether, particle, and plasma fire landing all around them, "this is it, the repair yard is right over that ridge. Takahashi, you and I'll cover Ryuko. Ryuko, I want you to take that warhead and get it into that vent. You're the best throw, we're all counting on you." Ryoku's HUD indicated a digital detonator had been added to her suite as the heisho placed a bulky improvised bomb into her hand. "This is it, I'll see you all in medbay." With that the other two peeked around the tank to lay down suppressing fire.
Ryuko felt herself being pulled up and she forced herself to hurry after her. and sooon huddling beside Takahashi behind the main battle tank. Her body jerked slightly as the loud plasma, aether, and particles landing around them. Ryuko forced herself to focus she knew that she could do her part. “Hai! I’ll do it!” Ryuko said trying to look braver than she really was. Her HUD registered the improvised exposive handed to her and nodded her head.
Ryuko charged out from the tank, and ran as fast as she could, winding herself up to throw the bomb as if she was a baseball pitcher. The bomb hadn't left her hand before an advanced type Mishu had landed on her with it's tenticals ensnaring her in its coils. She frantically attemped to detonate the bomb only for it to arm and be thrown by the Mishu back at her squad, detonating on them and killing both. The Mishu began wrapping its coils under her neck constricting with bone-crushing force. Blood spattered onto the interior of her helmet as the pressure reached explosive levels and she blacked out to the view of her helmet filling with hemosynth.
Ryuko thought that she could do this, her arrogance will allow her to win the battle for her team, but she hadnt expected to be ensnared in the Mishu’s grotesque tentacles. “no, no,no,no,no!” She panicked as she was grabbed, but seeing no way to escape, she detonated the bomb thinking that she’d sacrifice herself and the perverted Mishhu giving her a hug. This meant her team will have to complete the mission without her. But she hadnt expected the Mishuu to grab the bomb and throw it at her squad. “NO!” She screamed as she watched helplessly as the bomb exploded, leaving a mess in place of her squad.
Despair filled her as she tried to fight against the Mishu trying to escape that didn’t come to be. she felt herself unable to breath, trying to scream, and struggle, as she triedvto escape the strong grip of the Mishu that held her in its grasp. as liquid filled her view of Hemosynth blood filling her helmet, adding her worries of drowning, as her vision went black.
“Hang on a second! that’s not how it happened, Ryuko knows well!” Ryuko said suddenly in the darkness, her voice breathless.
The Space Battle
Without a moment to recover Ryuko reawakened to a raging space battle, her task to civilian evacuation shuttles having been complicated by NMX battlepods and the frigate that had deployed them. "This is Ocuugan squad 182, calling for immediate fire support! We got Mishu, making life uncomfortable!" "We cannot get a positive firing solution, hei!" came the response as missiles streaked their way towards the shuttles. She and the Ocuugun around her desparately swatted them and the battlepods, holding them back, but only barely. Aether bolts scorched across her leg, blood bursting into space for that breif moment before the liner could seal. Taking cover against the hull of the nearest ship she noted the prow of the ship beginning to glow with aetheric charge while the missile turrets that had retreated inside to reload had returned to the hull's surface, loaded for another salvo. "FOR FUCK SAKES! WE NEED FIRESUPPORT! Mishu attack on our position!" "Negative, hei. That damaged shuttle is in the way, marking it on HUD. We cannot fire!"
A few moments later a blinding white-pink flash erupted from the prow of the frigate enveloping most of the shuttles and blinding Ryuko, as her vision returned she could see that even the shuttle she'd seeked refuged on had become little more than a debris she'd been ejected from. Looking back to the frigate she noticed only the missile's streak before the explosion had filled her view and once again her mind faded to black.
"This seems different than what had actually happened," Ryuko said in reply as things faded to black.
The scene rewinded back to the start, again, this time, it showed Ryuko getting annoyed at the lack of support, so she ran to the shuttle that was marked on the HUD, and attempted to pilot it, straight at the Mishu, as a kamikazi attack. the shuttle had caused severe damage to the enemy ship which caused the white-pink explosion that had been seen before.
She'd been ejected from the shuttle last minute allowing her to watch as she fell.
The Graduation
Ryuko entered the office of the SELECT tribunal where she'd been called. She'd heard a few had been called in while all of the rest of the aspirants were being sent home. As she entered she saw an older man she'd known as an evaluator. He smiled faintly and gestured to a chair as he took his own at the other side. "Welcome, Ryuko," he said happily, "do you know why I called you in here?"
Ryuko stood before the evaluator. nervous but also excitement within her as she stood there. "Yes, I.. got accepted?"' she asked him as she recalled indeed few aspirants were called in, while the others were sent home. "I passed right?' she asked with confidence in her voice as she waited for the evaluator to speak. She was certain she did pass, and that now she was a member of SAINT.
"You passed, alright. Passed right under our radar," the man drew and fired his NSP on stun, her body convusling from the massive electrical current, "It's amazing we almost had a spy qualify for SAINT." The evaluator stood up and approached her. "Just wanted you to know I caught you before you die."
Switching the pistol to it's lethal setting he aimed for her head, Ryuko seeing straight down the barrel. Time slowed and she heard the voice of Barone call out of nothingness, "you're not going to fix this with your strength, but with your mind. YOU need to fix this memory permanently. Now fix it. Swdhow me what really happened."
Suddenly everything froze in place the effect of the man's NSP, the pain everything. Suddenly, the weapon fired again but in reverse now as if time was rewinding itself. back to when the man first began speaking. Now there wasnt a faint smile on the evaluator's face, but a proud one. "You passed, alright, It amazed us, your skill in stealth, and what you were able to due in the time you were alloted during the exam." The man had said
"We can see why your CO recomended you for this, and we are looking forward to your career as a member of SAINT." He said causing her to swell with pride and glee. "Yes!" she cheered before she went serious. "I am honored by your words, sir, and I will continue to do my duty to SAINT, and our Empire proudly, sir!" Ryuko saluted him with her proud smile.
"Just like that, Ryuko," Barone's voice returned, its a natural thing. No force required. Let's fix those other two memories."
The Space Battle
The memory of the civilian defence returned as did the reason even the current fantasy outshined the truth. "FOR FUCK SAKES! WE NEED FIRESUPPORT! Mishu attack on our position!" "Negative, hei. That damaged shuttle is in the way, marking it on HUD. We cannot fire!" A couple more shots peppered her position and Ryuko became enraged, lashing out, “Gunner, the shuttle is fucking damaged, it’s no longer usable so therefore it’s best to sacrifice it for the greater good, it can become useful in that way, but we need fire support, and we need it badly, or else we will all die, and not just us, but the civilians we are damn well sworn to protect.” Ryuko said in reply to the Gunner.
The gunner relented with a wavering voice, "aether shock beam inbound- danger close." As the burning shuttle's portside engine flamed out it began to spin, pushed only by it's right engine. Looking to the new markers on her HUD Ryuko locked eyes with a terrified little Abweran boy pressing his hands against the transparent-durandium window. A moment later a bright pink aether beam enveloped the shuttle in pure energy as it passed through into the bow of the NMX frigate. The frigate went dark as the beam lanced its hull, fires forming and filling its hull as it found every tiny crevice to escape from until exploding in a collosal fireball of molten metal and radation. The shuttles were saved, but at a cost and a face that would haunt Ryuko's dreams for years to come.
Ryuko closed her eyes, Barone could see what she did now, how would he react, she didnt know but she knew she had to go through this all again. "Kaspar" was the only word she said as the scene ended.
The Repair Yard
Ryuko charged out from the tank, and ran as fast as she could, when the Mishu lunged at her with its tentacles Ryuko dipped and ducked dodging the attack as she ran as fast as she could. The Mishu tried to grab her, only for its tentacles to become destroyed as her two remaining squad mates covered her while shooting at the Mishu causing a distraction for the Mishu to deal with. It's sparked and crackled as her squad caused it light damage granting Ryuko just enough time to throw the bomb. Falling the 15 meters into the open engine vent and reporting with a BOOM the Mishu looked back her direction scornfully.. knowingly.
"Tell your masters, Ryuko says bye bye!" Ryuko said with an emoticon with a tongue out, using volumetric over her helmet.
Location Unknown
A moment later the pit below erupted in a collosal aetheric blast, atomizing the entire repair yard in a flash. The intense brightness of the explosion consumed her vision until the infinite brightness began to subside, the outline of a birdcage with a finch came into view, it being the only visible thing in sight. The bird tweeted happily, cocking its head and gazing at her it said in a child-like voice, "are you here to let me out?"
Ryuko blinked as the bird spoke to her. Her eyes blinking in surprise. "You can talk, who are you?" she asked not remembering this at all. The finch ruffled its feathers at the question and chirped, "I'm just a poor little bird and I cannot get out of this cage. I wish I could just be able to fly again. Please. Come closer."
Ryuko blinked her eyes again. Something about this was strange to her. She'd heard of MiniNeko's before but Mini Neko's didnt look like that. Ryuko knelt down, closer to the cage. "who put you in there?' she asked the little bird. It cocked it's head to the side and answered, "I'm not entirely sure. I was a person once. I was free. Do you know what that's like? To be truly free? I just want to be free again." A muffled sound came from what Ryuko could only perceive as her real ears, possibly the sedative wearing off. "We don't have much time," the bird said as the bright light began dimming.
Ryuko blinked as she became distracted by the muffled sound she'd heard. "I know freedom, freedom is a right of all good and noble people." she said, as something didnt seem right here. She trusted her team, though her paranoia was making her worried for her safety. "Why dont you get free?" she asked the bird.
"Isn't it obvious? I have no hands. If I did, I could open the latch and leave. I could find my body and be a person again," the little bird answered eagerly, "I would owe you everything, we could be friends!" The bird began twitching axiously. "You said freedom is a right for all people. I could be a person again. won't you set me free?!" More thumping could be heard in the real world and a muffled scream as the brightness began to fade even further. The bird became agitated in it's cage.
"Do it!"
"You dont need hands, not in this place," Ryuko said to the bird as once again, she became distracted by the sounds she was hearing. "Think about it, in this area, given what i have learned our minds control everything, here." Ryuko said to the bird, then closed her eyes, and willing herself to be free of what was trapping her in this environment. Forcing herself mentally free from what was keeping her in this place the darkness crept forward even more and the dream wouldn't end.
"This isn't a dream and it's not your mind," the bird chirped angrily, "you're in my mind, and it's falling apart." As an even louder cry of pain came through even clearer the visage of creeping darkness shattered like glass to reveal walls of steel pressing in on them, the entire illusion disintigrating to reveal a monsterously huge dragon, it's skin battered and scarred with steel gray eyes. "I saw your memories and I can see who you are. You suffered the same fate that befell myself as well," the dragon growled, it's voice gravely and vicious. "within your mind is a similar trapped soul. Barone is unable to know what I've learned as he does not know what death truly is. For any of us to survive we must achieve synthesis. You're life depends on this as well. Please... open the gate and I'll ensure we both survive and save the others who are like us."
Ryuko blinked her eyes when the illusion disintegrated to reveal the steel walls pressing in on them. "how.." Ryuko said her eyes blinking "How do i know i can trust you?" She asked him hesitatingly a part of her wanted to trust Barone, he was her superior afterall, but there was a large part of her a paranoid part, affected by her ST Fragmentation that was pushing her towards trusting this rather scary looking dragon.
It looked scarred and battered to her eyes. A hand moved up lifted for a moment unsure as she stood there. The dragon became eager as Ryuko reached towards the lever, but the question visibly pained him. "Beyond my word I have nothing to offer to secure your trust," he admitted, "in my life I would have asked the same of you, but then I was not aware of this growing illness. Take this as my bond, my enemy is niether you nor Barone. I must finish what I started. The fragmentation must be stopped. Barone is full of hope, but he hasn't the knowledge of death to know what to do when the time comes- and that time will come."
The walls pressed in even further, the ground beginning to shake as the connection became unstable. As the shaking began the dragon became anxious once more. "Shinobu is activating a PSC. The time is now. What will you do Ryuko-hei?"
Ryuko lifted her hand, she wanted to be free of ST fragmentation, she wanted to be the best soldier she could be so if the dragon can help her. She pulled the lever as it were, and waited to see what happened next.
The collosal cagelike structure that contained the dragon shattered like glass and the beast reared up, it's wings stretching the size of buildings. With a groundshaking roar it took to flight and with that the nightmare ended. Ryuko rose off of the table with a start taking in her surroundings, still coming to terms with the experience she'd just had. "What did you do?!" Dr. Shinobu yelled as he worked frantically over Barone's unconcious body, streaks of dried blood marking where Barone had been bleeding from every facial orfice.
Ryuko blinked her eyes in surprise as she saw the sight before her. "Restored memories to rightness, and talked to a dragon," she said in confusion, "what happened to him?' she asked the doctor. in confusion. She didnt like the blood marking his body that she saw. "Oh what happened? I'll tell you!" he shouted, you locked him in a massive psionic attack and cooked several thousand of his nuerons! And it took me years to get him to even open his eyes."
Abandoning his patient he viewed a monitor and continued his rant. "He'd dropped all of his defenses to see what you were seeing. You had no idea the kind of psionic attack you just performed?! Look, it's off the charts." The monitor in question was indescipherable to Ryuko, but had sure bothered the doctor into a frenzy as he returned to Barone with needles of chemicals and electrodes. "Just.. go get some lunch. I can start him back up in a few hours."
HOURS LATER
It was yet another day of scorching heat at the Black Sands Testing Range, yet one could hardly tell in the depths of the sublevel Dr. Shinobu occupied with his "mad science" lab. The procedure had been rough on Ryuku, who was still shaking off the heat as she entered, but it couldn't compare to Barone who was fresh out of a hemosynth tank sipping electrolyte water in a dark corner of the lab, an icepack on his head..
Ryuko stared at Barone as she entered paranoia high on her mind as she saw him. Worries and concern of whether he now hated her extremely high up in her mind as she stood there. Did she really see a Dragon did she help him or was it all a figment of her imagination. She stood there fearful unsure whether to turn and run like she had never ran before or stay and take what ever punishment was coming like a warrior.
He gestured to the chair beside him. "Well.. that escalated quickly. I've been hit by a psionic attack before but that was crazy. Almost like I was hitting myself," he said, his pain visible, "I knew what I was getting myself into, but how did you do that? You're not in trouble, I'm just curious."
Ryuko moved over to sit on the chair beside him. "Ryuko didn't do that.. atleast.. not alone.. She found herself in this.. caged area, with a dragon. They needed my help to free them, and that they can help rather help me with you know.. it, and weren't our enemy. and especially weren't your enemy either.. They said only by Synthsis can she be helped so since she wanted help to be treated she thought it a good idea to help Dragon-person. You weren't aware of Dragon?" Ryuko asked him her head tilted slightly.
Barone laughed quietly, "Ah Ryuko, you can't trust what you see when the drugs start to wear off. Look, in my 'past life', before Candon Suites died, there was a voice in his head that would talk to him when he used combat stims. It was just a figment of his imagiation and he called it just that. This voice even suggested he try to bang Hanako!" Laughing he winced in pain, "I know it felt real, but it really wasn't. You hit me with a psionic attack that ranks in the top hundred recorded attacks, and many of those records span back to the first Mishu War.. Trust me. That dragon was nothing more than a figment of your imagination. It's odd though that you would imagine having a conversation while performing a psionic attack though. I tend to see data streams myself, but this isn't an exact science. Next time a dragon talks to you, just remember.. it's all in your head."
As she listened to Barone she had to admit what he was saying made logical sense. Though as he was telling her of the attack, her eyes widened when he mention that the attack ranked in the top hundred recorded attacks. "hmm.." she said softly to herself. "should Ryuko impolitely ask the dragon to fuck off?" She asked him. Though it was strange, it had felt real to her when she was talking to the Dragon.
Barone rubbed his chin thoughtfully, pondering the question. "You know, I'm unsure what to do. Look, what you need to do is keep a rational mind. In the theatre of the mind, everything is symbolic. What happened between us, don't worry about it and don't worry about the future. Something tells me we're going to be just fine.."
Ryuko found herself relaxing, with relief that he didnt seem to be mad at her, and indeed everything was fine. "ok" she said.
Ryuko looked at him, defiance and paranoia clear on her face as she did so. "Ryuko doesnt want to be ignorant. Want to know!" she said to him. "besides Nekovalkyrja remember? can handle it!" She said to him as she waited for him to do his thing.
The doctor smirked as his battered Geboku android served him a syringe of an unrecognizable green fluid, "then prepare for the ride of your life." Guiding her to lay on the operating table he pierced her skin with the long needle and began slowly injecting. Fire spread though her veins from the point of injection as a paralyzing force began weighing her down heavily. Her eyes became heavy despite the searing pain and slowly the ceiling lights faded into a dark abyss beyond any sleep she'd ever experienced. Her last moment of conciousness she caught the faintest glimpses of a strange coding language, recognizable only by its format yet with characters all but foreign.
As the darkness overtook her she could hear Barone's voice make a final comment to Shinobu. "Plug me in too. I need to see this."
Ryuko did as she was told, her paranoia getting to her as layed in a state that left her vulnerable to any perverse actions. Ryuko gritted her teeth as pain filled her entire being, the feeling of being stabbed by something sharp. She fought hard, trying to keep herself from being awake, but this was a loosing battle.
She began seeing darkness cloud her vission, causing her fear and paranoia to rise forcing her to try fight, as she heard Barone say plug him in too.
She woke up to a battle, deafenened and hurt. Taking in her surroundings she could clearly see the armored hand of her squad leader extended toward her, though her words were muted and drowned out by the ringing in her ears. Her chest armor now sported a large hole the size of a baseball burned almost completely through the plate. Taking Ryoku's hand forcefully her squad leader wrenched her off the ground and over to the only other surviving squadmate. Huddling behind a tank the three were now fully in cover behind the burning husk of a main battle tank.
Pain filled her being, different from the pain she’d just been subjected to Ryuko glanced to the hole in her chest, and the under parts of the armor. She knew that it was barely protecting her from injury or worth death now. She glanced over to the corps of Miyuki, Natsume, Yoriko, AoI, her sqadmates, now dead. She remembered how Natusme wanted to be a mother. Soon Ryuko sensed that the ringing was subsiding and her CO was speaking to her.
"Ringing slowly subsides- hey, ready up!" her CO shouted over the chaotic scene of aether, particle, and plasma fire landing all around them, "this is it, the repair yard is right over that ridge. Takahashi, you and I'll cover Ryuko. Ryuko, I want you to take that warhead and get it into that vent. You're the best throw, we're all counting on you." Ryoku's HUD indicated a digital detonator had been added to her suite as the heisho placed a bulky improvised bomb into her hand. "This is it, I'll see you all in medbay." With that the other two peeked around the tank to lay down suppressing fire.
Ryuko felt herself being pulled up and she forced herself to hurry after her. and sooon huddling beside Takahashi behind the main battle tank. Her body jerked slightly as the loud plasma, aether, and particles landing around them. Ryuko forced herself to focus she knew that she could do her part. “Hai! I’ll do it!” Ryuko said trying to look braver than she really was. Her HUD registered the improvised exposive handed to her and nodded her head.
Ryuko charged out from the tank, and ran as fast as she could, winding herself up to throw the bomb as if she was a baseball pitcher. The bomb hadn't left her hand before an advanced type Mishu had landed on her with it's tenticals ensnaring her in its coils. She frantically attemped to detonate the bomb only for it to arm and be thrown by the Mishu back at her squad, detonating on them and killing both. The Mishu began wrapping its coils under her neck constricting with bone-crushing force. Blood spattered onto the interior of her helmet as the pressure reached explosive levels and she blacked out to the view of her helmet filling with hemosynth.
Ryuko thought that she could do this, her arrogance will allow her to win the battle for her team, but she hadnt expected to be ensnared in the Mishu’s grotesque tentacles. “no, no,no,no,no!” She panicked as she was grabbed, but seeing no way to escape, she detonated the bomb thinking that she’d sacrifice herself and the perverted Mishhu giving her a hug. This meant her team will have to complete the mission without her. But she hadnt expected the Mishuu to grab the bomb and throw it at her squad. “NO!” She screamed as she watched helplessly as the bomb exploded, leaving a mess in place of her squad.
Despair filled her as she tried to fight against the Mishu trying to escape that didn’t come to be. she felt herself unable to breath, trying to scream, and struggle, as she triedvto escape the strong grip of the Mishu that held her in its grasp. as liquid filled her view of Hemosynth blood filling her helmet, adding her worries of drowning, as her vision went black.
“Hang on a second! that’s not how it happened, Ryuko knows well!” Ryuko said suddenly in the darkness, her voice breathless.
The Space Battle
Without a moment to recover Ryuko reawakened to a raging space battle, her task to civilian evacuation shuttles having been complicated by NMX battlepods and the frigate that had deployed them. "This is Ocuugan squad 182, calling for immediate fire support! We got Mishu, making life uncomfortable!" "We cannot get a positive firing solution, hei!" came the response as missiles streaked their way towards the shuttles. She and the Ocuugun around her desparately swatted them and the battlepods, holding them back, but only barely. Aether bolts scorched across her leg, blood bursting into space for that breif moment before the liner could seal. Taking cover against the hull of the nearest ship she noted the prow of the ship beginning to glow with aetheric charge while the missile turrets that had retreated inside to reload had returned to the hull's surface, loaded for another salvo. "FOR FUCK SAKES! WE NEED FIRESUPPORT! Mishu attack on our position!" "Negative, hei. That damaged shuttle is in the way, marking it on HUD. We cannot fire!"
A few moments later a blinding white-pink flash erupted from the prow of the frigate enveloping most of the shuttles and blinding Ryuko, as her vision returned she could see that even the shuttle she'd seeked refuged on had become little more than a debris she'd been ejected from. Looking back to the frigate she noticed only the missile's streak before the explosion had filled her view and once again her mind faded to black.
"This seems different than what had actually happened," Ryuko said in reply as things faded to black.
The scene rewinded back to the start, again, this time, it showed Ryuko getting annoyed at the lack of support, so she ran to the shuttle that was marked on the HUD, and attempted to pilot it, straight at the Mishu, as a kamikazi attack. the shuttle had caused severe damage to the enemy ship which caused the white-pink explosion that had been seen before.
She'd been ejected from the shuttle last minute allowing her to watch as she fell.
The Graduation
Ryuko entered the office of the SELECT tribunal where she'd been called. She'd heard a few had been called in while all of the rest of the aspirants were being sent home. As she entered she saw an older man she'd known as an evaluator. He smiled faintly and gestured to a chair as he took his own at the other side. "Welcome, Ryuko," he said happily, "do you know why I called you in here?"
Ryuko stood before the evaluator. nervous but also excitement within her as she stood there. "Yes, I.. got accepted?"' she asked him as she recalled indeed few aspirants were called in, while the others were sent home. "I passed right?' she asked with confidence in her voice as she waited for the evaluator to speak. She was certain she did pass, and that now she was a member of SAINT.
"You passed, alright. Passed right under our radar," the man drew and fired his NSP on stun, her body convusling from the massive electrical current, "It's amazing we almost had a spy qualify for SAINT." The evaluator stood up and approached her. "Just wanted you to know I caught you before you die."
Switching the pistol to it's lethal setting he aimed for her head, Ryuko seeing straight down the barrel. Time slowed and she heard the voice of Barone call out of nothingness, "you're not going to fix this with your strength, but with your mind. YOU need to fix this memory permanently. Now fix it. Swdhow me what really happened."
Suddenly everything froze in place the effect of the man's NSP, the pain everything. Suddenly, the weapon fired again but in reverse now as if time was rewinding itself. back to when the man first began speaking. Now there wasnt a faint smile on the evaluator's face, but a proud one. "You passed, alright, It amazed us, your skill in stealth, and what you were able to due in the time you were alloted during the exam." The man had said
"We can see why your CO recomended you for this, and we are looking forward to your career as a member of SAINT." He said causing her to swell with pride and glee. "Yes!" she cheered before she went serious. "I am honored by your words, sir, and I will continue to do my duty to SAINT, and our Empire proudly, sir!" Ryuko saluted him with her proud smile.
"Just like that, Ryuko," Barone's voice returned, its a natural thing. No force required. Let's fix those other two memories."
The Space Battle
The memory of the civilian defence returned as did the reason even the current fantasy outshined the truth. "FOR FUCK SAKES! WE NEED FIRESUPPORT! Mishu attack on our position!" "Negative, hei. That damaged shuttle is in the way, marking it on HUD. We cannot fire!" A couple more shots peppered her position and Ryuko became enraged, lashing out, “Gunner, the shuttle is fucking damaged, it’s no longer usable so therefore it’s best to sacrifice it for the greater good, it can become useful in that way, but we need fire support, and we need it badly, or else we will all die, and not just us, but the civilians we are damn well sworn to protect.” Ryuko said in reply to the Gunner.
The gunner relented with a wavering voice, "aether shock beam inbound- danger close." As the burning shuttle's portside engine flamed out it began to spin, pushed only by it's right engine. Looking to the new markers on her HUD Ryuko locked eyes with a terrified little Abweran boy pressing his hands against the transparent-durandium window. A moment later a bright pink aether beam enveloped the shuttle in pure energy as it passed through into the bow of the NMX frigate. The frigate went dark as the beam lanced its hull, fires forming and filling its hull as it found every tiny crevice to escape from until exploding in a collosal fireball of molten metal and radation. The shuttles were saved, but at a cost and a face that would haunt Ryuko's dreams for years to come.
Ryuko closed her eyes, Barone could see what she did now, how would he react, she didnt know but she knew she had to go through this all again. "Kaspar" was the only word she said as the scene ended.
The Repair Yard
Ryuko charged out from the tank, and ran as fast as she could, when the Mishu lunged at her with its tentacles Ryuko dipped and ducked dodging the attack as she ran as fast as she could. The Mishu tried to grab her, only for its tentacles to become destroyed as her two remaining squad mates covered her while shooting at the Mishu causing a distraction for the Mishu to deal with. It's sparked and crackled as her squad caused it light damage granting Ryuko just enough time to throw the bomb. Falling the 15 meters into the open engine vent and reporting with a BOOM the Mishu looked back her direction scornfully.. knowingly.
"Tell your masters, Ryuko says bye bye!" Ryuko said with an emoticon with a tongue out, using volumetric over her helmet.
Location Unknown
A moment later the pit below erupted in a collosal aetheric blast, atomizing the entire repair yard in a flash. The intense brightness of the explosion consumed her vision until the infinite brightness began to subside, the outline of a birdcage with a finch came into view, it being the only visible thing in sight. The bird tweeted happily, cocking its head and gazing at her it said in a child-like voice, "are you here to let me out?"
Ryuko blinked as the bird spoke to her. Her eyes blinking in surprise. "You can talk, who are you?" she asked not remembering this at all. The finch ruffled its feathers at the question and chirped, "I'm just a poor little bird and I cannot get out of this cage. I wish I could just be able to fly again. Please. Come closer."
Ryuko blinked her eyes again. Something about this was strange to her. She'd heard of MiniNeko's before but Mini Neko's didnt look like that. Ryuko knelt down, closer to the cage. "who put you in there?' she asked the little bird. It cocked it's head to the side and answered, "I'm not entirely sure. I was a person once. I was free. Do you know what that's like? To be truly free? I just want to be free again." A muffled sound came from what Ryuko could only perceive as her real ears, possibly the sedative wearing off. "We don't have much time," the bird said as the bright light began dimming.
Ryuko blinked as she became distracted by the muffled sound she'd heard. "I know freedom, freedom is a right of all good and noble people." she said, as something didnt seem right here. She trusted her team, though her paranoia was making her worried for her safety. "Why dont you get free?" she asked the bird.
"Isn't it obvious? I have no hands. If I did, I could open the latch and leave. I could find my body and be a person again," the little bird answered eagerly, "I would owe you everything, we could be friends!" The bird began twitching axiously. "You said freedom is a right for all people. I could be a person again. won't you set me free?!" More thumping could be heard in the real world and a muffled scream as the brightness began to fade even further. The bird became agitated in it's cage.
"Do it!"
"You dont need hands, not in this place," Ryuko said to the bird as once again, she became distracted by the sounds she was hearing. "Think about it, in this area, given what i have learned our minds control everything, here." Ryuko said to the bird, then closed her eyes, and willing herself to be free of what was trapping her in this environment. Forcing herself mentally free from what was keeping her in this place the darkness crept forward even more and the dream wouldn't end.
"This isn't a dream and it's not your mind," the bird chirped angrily, "you're in my mind, and it's falling apart." As an even louder cry of pain came through even clearer the visage of creeping darkness shattered like glass to reveal walls of steel pressing in on them, the entire illusion disintigrating to reveal a monsterously huge dragon, it's skin battered and scarred with steel gray eyes. "I saw your memories and I can see who you are. You suffered the same fate that befell myself as well," the dragon growled, it's voice gravely and vicious. "within your mind is a similar trapped soul. Barone is unable to know what I've learned as he does not know what death truly is. For any of us to survive we must achieve synthesis. You're life depends on this as well. Please... open the gate and I'll ensure we both survive and save the others who are like us."
Ryuko blinked her eyes when the illusion disintegrated to reveal the steel walls pressing in on them. "how.." Ryuko said her eyes blinking "How do i know i can trust you?" She asked him hesitatingly a part of her wanted to trust Barone, he was her superior afterall, but there was a large part of her a paranoid part, affected by her ST Fragmentation that was pushing her towards trusting this rather scary looking dragon.
It looked scarred and battered to her eyes. A hand moved up lifted for a moment unsure as she stood there. The dragon became eager as Ryuko reached towards the lever, but the question visibly pained him. "Beyond my word I have nothing to offer to secure your trust," he admitted, "in my life I would have asked the same of you, but then I was not aware of this growing illness. Take this as my bond, my enemy is niether you nor Barone. I must finish what I started. The fragmentation must be stopped. Barone is full of hope, but he hasn't the knowledge of death to know what to do when the time comes- and that time will come."
The walls pressed in even further, the ground beginning to shake as the connection became unstable. As the shaking began the dragon became anxious once more. "Shinobu is activating a PSC. The time is now. What will you do Ryuko-hei?"
Ryuko lifted her hand, she wanted to be free of ST fragmentation, she wanted to be the best soldier she could be so if the dragon can help her. She pulled the lever as it were, and waited to see what happened next.
The collosal cagelike structure that contained the dragon shattered like glass and the beast reared up, it's wings stretching the size of buildings. With a groundshaking roar it took to flight and with that the nightmare ended. Ryuko rose off of the table with a start taking in her surroundings, still coming to terms with the experience she'd just had. "What did you do?!" Dr. Shinobu yelled as he worked frantically over Barone's unconcious body, streaks of dried blood marking where Barone had been bleeding from every facial orfice.
Ryuko blinked her eyes in surprise as she saw the sight before her. "Restored memories to rightness, and talked to a dragon," she said in confusion, "what happened to him?' she asked the doctor. in confusion. She didnt like the blood marking his body that she saw. "Oh what happened? I'll tell you!" he shouted, you locked him in a massive psionic attack and cooked several thousand of his nuerons! And it took me years to get him to even open his eyes."
Abandoning his patient he viewed a monitor and continued his rant. "He'd dropped all of his defenses to see what you were seeing. You had no idea the kind of psionic attack you just performed?! Look, it's off the charts." The monitor in question was indescipherable to Ryuko, but had sure bothered the doctor into a frenzy as he returned to Barone with needles of chemicals and electrodes. "Just.. go get some lunch. I can start him back up in a few hours."
HOURS LATER
It was yet another day of scorching heat at the Black Sands Testing Range, yet one could hardly tell in the depths of the sublevel Dr. Shinobu occupied with his "mad science" lab. The procedure had been rough on Ryuku, who was still shaking off the heat as she entered, but it couldn't compare to Barone who was fresh out of a hemosynth tank sipping electrolyte water in a dark corner of the lab, an icepack on his head..
Ryuko stared at Barone as she entered paranoia high on her mind as she saw him. Worries and concern of whether he now hated her extremely high up in her mind as she stood there. Did she really see a Dragon did she help him or was it all a figment of her imagination. She stood there fearful unsure whether to turn and run like she had never ran before or stay and take what ever punishment was coming like a warrior.
He gestured to the chair beside him. "Well.. that escalated quickly. I've been hit by a psionic attack before but that was crazy. Almost like I was hitting myself," he said, his pain visible, "I knew what I was getting myself into, but how did you do that? You're not in trouble, I'm just curious."
Ryuko moved over to sit on the chair beside him. "Ryuko didn't do that.. atleast.. not alone.. She found herself in this.. caged area, with a dragon. They needed my help to free them, and that they can help rather help me with you know.. it, and weren't our enemy. and especially weren't your enemy either.. They said only by Synthsis can she be helped so since she wanted help to be treated she thought it a good idea to help Dragon-person. You weren't aware of Dragon?" Ryuko asked him her head tilted slightly.
Barone laughed quietly, "Ah Ryuko, you can't trust what you see when the drugs start to wear off. Look, in my 'past life', before Candon Suites died, there was a voice in his head that would talk to him when he used combat stims. It was just a figment of his imagiation and he called it just that. This voice even suggested he try to bang Hanako!" Laughing he winced in pain, "I know it felt real, but it really wasn't. You hit me with a psionic attack that ranks in the top hundred recorded attacks, and many of those records span back to the first Mishu War.. Trust me. That dragon was nothing more than a figment of your imagination. It's odd though that you would imagine having a conversation while performing a psionic attack though. I tend to see data streams myself, but this isn't an exact science. Next time a dragon talks to you, just remember.. it's all in your head."
As she listened to Barone she had to admit what he was saying made logical sense. Though as he was telling her of the attack, her eyes widened when he mention that the attack ranked in the top hundred recorded attacks. "hmm.." she said softly to herself. "should Ryuko impolitely ask the dragon to fuck off?" She asked him. Though it was strange, it had felt real to her when she was talking to the Dragon.
Barone rubbed his chin thoughtfully, pondering the question. "You know, I'm unsure what to do. Look, what you need to do is keep a rational mind. In the theatre of the mind, everything is symbolic. What happened between us, don't worry about it and don't worry about the future. Something tells me we're going to be just fine.."
Ryuko found herself relaxing, with relief that he didnt seem to be mad at her, and indeed everything was fine. "ok" she said.
