4Hello, everybody! starforcebigbang here! This is my first fic, and boy, does it show! I wrote this during my Chinese New Year break, and I didn't have much time to edit, but still, I'm going to post it. Even though I've finished, I'm going to first post one half of the story first, read the reviews, and then post the second.
Enjoy!
Destiny
Prologue
Technology has advanced incredibly. Military forces now use pulse-beam rifles and hovercraft to battle. Civilians-and from the age of fourteen, teenagers- drive personal hover cars through the air of the cities, with their towering glass skyscrapers.
A big feature is the NetSoul.
Every person in the world, at the age of five, receives a watch-like device issued by the government. On this watch is an artificial intelligence with a user-assigned appearance, ranging from ninjas to frogs, cats to dogs. They can speak to the user and are aware of the situation around them. They have proved useful, helping young children find their friend's house, teenagers to find that video game or clothes shop in that huge mall, or businessmen to perform complex calculations.
They have other uses.
A new video game platform: Cyber-Battle. The player is plunged into a virtual reality where they are their NetSoul. Users can assign custom weapons, skills, and functions-however, this is balanced so one NetSoul is not too powerful. Battles take place when two players are placed into capsules, diving into a hypnotic state. The five senses are heightened, and reflexes are increased. Various maps are available, with the current most popular being in space, a barren void full of stars in the distance and huge meteors. Other places include the Washington Monument, and Great Wall, or the Great Barrier Reef. Oxygen is overlooked, and flight is a default ability. Once defeated, NetSouls are simply sent back into their watches and users are let out of their hypnotic state. When in battle, the mind of the player and NetSoul become one, enabling them to use telepathy to create brilliant tactics and tricks to overcome their enemy. It should only be fair-they are one person in cyber-battles.
Our story takes place in the year 2022.
Chapter 1: Meet the Team
…
…
…
2022
June 30th, Thursday
223, Forest Road, Senotekai City
I typed rapidly on my flat-screen monitor, Destiny on the screen. I was redesigning him, changing his red cylindrical armor into detailed ornamental battle gear-blue arm guards with yellow holo-shields projectors, red bars on his back that split and created his soon-to-be wings of light, and an adorned helmet with a golden v-fin, along with white armor on his legs and forearms, topped by red shoulder armor shaped like triangles.
I had to put him in standby mode so he wouldn't feel strange or anything. He, of course, had also wanted a redesign.
My name is Kirisaki Eins, fifteen years old. I am a civilian in the city of Senotekai. It's a great place. Placed atop a mountain of the Alps, the air is clean and fresh, thanks to the new energy system that turns pollution into clean resources with ease. Water can be reused forever, and air can be breathed for eternity. There's a new heating system that keeps the whole city safe from the cold, mountain snow. It's actually an energy shield made up of heat surrounding the city. Snow is the only thing that can't get through. I live on Forest Road. Its name is fitting, as it's a maze in a forest full of beautiful trees. My house, 223, is atop a small hill. It's not too special, just the standard building pattern-rectangular house, flat roof-made of wood and bricks, giving it a warm, cozy home feeling. Forest Road is actually a lot different than the downtown, the section of the city with all of the towering skyscrapers and skies filled with hover cars. People use hover cars here, but only if their destination is on the other end of the neighborhood. Most people here bike around the neighborhood, to the park, the small grocery and supermarket, even the Forest Road cyber-mall.
I'm a normal kid. Well, actually I take that back. I'm the champion of cyber-battles in this city-took the championship two years in a row! Destiny, my trustworthy artificial intelligence, and I have an unbreakable bond, making us even stronger in battle-our mind is literally one. In battle, we use our signature weapon, the Arondight blade. Named after the sword of Sir Lancelot, its shaped like a broadsword, with a blade made of green, purified energy. Lot's of my class and battle-mates at school focus too much on power and offense, while others think of shielding and defense. Destiny and I are smarter. We use our custom ability, energy compression, to compress high amounts of weak energy into the Arondight, making it incredibly strong. We then gave up power and strength for speed and maneuverability, making us a hard target for snipers.
Knock knock knock. Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in!" My deepening voice called out.
Creak. I heard the wooden door give its usual squeak as the guest entered.
"Hi, big brother!" said a high-pitched female voice.
I finished the last customization and pressed ENTER, finishing the redesign. I then spun around in my chair to face my younger, eleven-year-old sister.
"Hey, Natalie!"
Natalie's favorite color was white. She had either wore a white dress or a white shirt and skirt. Her hair was a light blonde, and her eyes a bright green. Natalie was always happy-no matter what happened, even if there was a thunderstorm, she always had a smile on her face. Her NetSoul, Angel, was just like that. Angel was a female, with the standard, cylindrical armor, only a shimmering white. Her helmet exposed the back of her head, where her long hair floated into six, long strands, floating out at her sides like wings.
My bond with Natalie was strong. Ever since she was born, we had played with each other everyday, playing tag, building Legos, and playing Wii. We fought occasionally, but that was just like those anime-style arguments between a boy and girl, and we laughed minutes after.
Behind her stood my three best friends-Jake, Mitch, and Amy.
Jake is the cool guy at school with his red, spiked hair and flashy clothes-black shirt with vertical neon red stripes and black track pants with bright orange stripes. He could make people laugh with his corny yet funny jokes, and knowledge of AI's. I had known him for a while since the beginning of middle school. We were both pals, and lots of people thought we had quite a bit in common. His AI was Slash. It had the same physical appearance as him, but his armor was a light blue. He wielded a red, katana-shaped energy blade which had weak power, but Jake and Slash used a quick strategy with high speed to land a large number of small cuts to slow down the enemy, and then perform a half-moon slash to delete the opponent. This special move is called Hangetsu, the Japanese words for half-moon. He was calm and smart, knew what to do, and when to do it.
Mitch was the strong one of our friends. He could win weight lifting, tug-o-war, and arm wrestling contests. Strangely enough, he wasn't a bully, but a nerd. He had an average build, as well. His hair was black and smooth, and he wore plain clothes-either a red shirt and black pants, or the other way around. He always wore two colors. I had known him since last year. We had met when I accidently hit him with a soccer ball in the head. His AI got ticked, and he got into a fight with Destiny. It eventually turned into a cyber-battle with a large number of bets on it. His AI, Guts, was strong, just like his user. He looked like a normal AI, with cylindrical armor, except it was a flashy gold, and his helmet revealed his mouth and had a red visor, showing his fiery eyes. Unlike his user, he wasn't the brightest of the group and had an obsession with fighting. Like I said, he was dumb, and never used weapons, just his oversized fists to punch the guts out of his enemies. He did have a special combo where he first gave the enemy an upper-cut punch to launch them into the air, and then flying up to give them a punch in the stomach or chest, making them fall down, and then finally giving them a powerful punch to the face, knocking them out and deleting them from the game.
Amy was the closest of my three friends. We had known each other since elementary school. That day we met…
FLASHBACK
Second Grade Class 2-A Recess, EXES Elementary
Children ran across the playground, from structure to structure, the swings to the jungle gym.
One girl sits at the swings alone, sitting there with a sad look on her face. She has black hair in a braid hanging down to her back, wearing a purple shirt and black skirt, with white and purple sneakers.
I ran up to her and asked, "Are you lonely?"
She stared at me with that same, sad look.
"Can you hear me?" I waved my hand in front of her face.
She raised her hand and lowered mine down.
And smiled.
"Hm?" I cocked my head.
"Thank you," she whispered with a quiet, sweet voice.
"For what?" I asked her.
"For being friendly, of course," she continued in her quiet voice.
"Hm." I grumbled. "Nothing to thank for, it's just common courtesy," I replied, turning around and scratched the back of my head, blushing a bit.
She hopped off the swing, brushing her skirt as she did so.
"Do you think we can be friends, then?" she asked in a hopeful voice.
"Huh?" I turned back to her.
She stuck her hand out and said, "My name's Amy. Amy Haley."
I grasped her hand and shook it, saying, "My name's Kirisaki Eins-and one day I'll be champion of cyber-battling!"
END FLASHBACK
We had both never thought that it would have really happened, but it did. I guess dreams could become reality.
Anyway, back to Amy. She still wore that same outfit-purple shirt, black skirt. The only thing that changed were the sneakers, which were now just white. Her AI, Lily, I swear she has a thing for Destiny. I see her sneaking looks at him. Lily looks like a standard NetSoul. Her armor, however, is purple, and her helmet lets her long, black hair flow down all the way to her back. Lily is a special NetSoul-she has a custom pack that is attached to her in battle-it's just a pair of jet boosters. They increase her maneuverability so she could fly around the field quickly. She would use her blue beam saber to first melee with her targets, then dash off and use her precision aiming to obliterate them with her beam assault-sniper rifle. It's a weird strategy, but deadly. I've fallen for it countless times and lost fifty dollars from it.
Natalie peered over my shoulder and giggled. "Destiny! He's getting a redesign!"
"Yep," I said, pushing my hand through my hair. "I've given him new defense systems. Holo-shields, and…"
I stopped.
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" I asked my three friends with a sly look.
They all put up their hands and said, "No, no, no! We're not trying to find your weakness or anything like that…"
They all looked at each other with "uh-oh" faces.
The monitor beeped.
Chapter 2: Destiny, The Hyperactive Knucklhead
A hologram of a NetSoul with blue arm guards donning a single yellow hexagon, red bars on his back, a white helmet with red, yellow, and a gold v-fin, and armor with the colors blue and red on his legs and arms appeared on my desk.
He looked angry.
"Geez! You guys are gonna barge in here and try and get our weaknesses and strengths down, you're gonna hafta beat us in a cyber-battle!"
Destiny had a split personality. Sometimes he was quiet, and others he was raging. But he was always thoughtful and considerate, with the brains of the group. He was a tactical genius. The other NetSouls also respected him like an older brother-but Lily might think of him as something else.
I checked my watch. It was two o'clock P.M.
"It's not too late, and school's out," I started.
"Kirisaki and Destiny, we challenge you!" Jake, Mitch, and Amy all shouted while doing an "Oh yeah!" pose and pointing at me.
Destiny leapt and his hologram landed on my head. "You're on, busters!" He yelled, pointing at them.
I face-palmed and sighed, "What did I do to deserve this?"
Chapter 3: Cyber Battle!
2:15 P.M., Same Day
Cyber Battle Mall
Cyber Battles always took place at a Cyber Battle Mall. The Forest Road Cyber Battle Mall looked bleak and plain from the outside, just a square building with two floors, but the inside was shiny and clean, with capsules everywhere. You could sign in for a certain number of capsules. It didn't cost anything. Lot's of people bet on the battles, especially on extended weekends. The largest battle yet had been fifty capsules reserved. It was crazy-I had competed in the chaotic free-for-all. It was last year, and I had risen as the victor-of course.
As we entered the mall, we were bickering, while Natalie tried to separate me from the Time-To-Trap Triplets.
"Let's go to Asteroid Belt!"
"No, not flying rocks again! How about Underwater?"
"No, no, no! Final Destination!"
"Space Gadget," Destiny said, with an air of finality.
Space Gadget. One of the most hazardous maps, a space station in its destruction sequence, players could either obliterate each other to win, or get to the station's core and stop the detonation command. Meteorites fly in at random times, and lasers from stray turrets can catch the player while they're off guard. Not to mention the station's guards that are programmed to kill anything but themselves-armed with beam gatlings, they're versatile at close and medium range, as their gatlings can rip you to shreds, but at long range you can pick them off with projectile-based weaponry.
Personally, I agreed with Destiny. It was my favorite map, with all of its dangers, not to mention the corridors leading to the core. It was a literal obstacle course for flight, with pieces of debris flying in, knocking you out if you lose focus for a split second.
Natalie tapped my shoulder. "Big brother, you do realize that I'm playing, too?"
Angel popped up and "punched" my forehead. "You can't let us miss out!" She smirked.
"Alright," I agreed. I turned to my friends and announced, "I get Natalie."
They didn't argue. Although Natalie was known for her cuteness and kindness, she wasn't known for her close-combat skills. However, she had a steady hand, and could fly around while sniping targets. Heck, I've seen her go at Mach 1 and score a headshot on Mitch and Guts.
"Space Gadget it is," Destiny said.
We reached the sign-in counter. The lady there smiled and welcomed us as we signed our names. After that, we walked in.
The capsules sat there, waiting for us. They were like huge eggs with windows in the front. They opened in the front, and had a headgear and data port for the watch. The AI entered through this port and was sent into the battlefield with the player.
We got into the capsules and closed them. Dim lines of red light ran along the sides and reached the data port. I unstrapped the watch and plugged it in. The watch flashed and Destiny appeared. He saluted me and disappeared.
I set the teams and everyone else approved them.
I placed my headgear on and closed my eyes.
My eyes fluttered, and I plunged into the hypnotic state.
Chapter 4: Team Battle
Space Gadget
2:20
I cursed under my breath.
Natalie and I were fighting Jake. He had gotten better and faster. His sword clashed with mine, and Natalie's sniper rifle cracked a shot at him every now and then.
I called over the radio, "Formation Alpha!"
She immediately stopped firing and flew at me. I followed and eventually overcame her, so that we were a single file line. Jake was behind us. We turned around and dashed towards him, Natalie stopping at the right distance.
I clashed with Jake again.
Clang clang clang.
Our swords created sparks as the energy repelled itself. The air wavered with the heat. We kept on clashing until I managed to block him with one hand.
I grinned. My left hand was free.
"Blinding Palm!" I shouted.
My left hand shined as a ball of light formed in it. I plunged it forwards into Jake's face, and he cried out as the light blinded him.
I dashed out of the way, and when he regained his sight, he saw Natalie pointing her rifle at him.
Boom.
Headshot. Jake shimmered and disappeared.
A female voice announced, "Slash and Jake: Defeated."
I glanced at my motion sensor. Only Natalie appeared.
"Where are Amy and Mitch?" I wondered aloud over the radio.
"Should we go for the core?" Natalie asked.
I shook my head. "No. Not enough time."
Suddenly, something on the station platform caught my eye. It was a sphere with the words APPX-4869 printed on it.
"Hmm…" I said thoughtfully. "Maybe not the core, but I think I know the next best thing…"
Minutes Later
Natalie and I had rigged a detachable laser turret so that it would fire according to her sniper rifle. I had the sphere ready in my hand.
Natalie looked down the entrance to the corridor and froze in her position.
"Ready." She stated.
I gave the word.
"Fire."
She pulled the trigger, and the turret's green laser burst from the barrels and into the corridor, incinerating everything in there, debris, walls, you name it, nothing was left except a charred tube.
I pulled out my saber and adjusted it on my HUD, turning its effect from slash to hit. In other words, it was more of a club now.
I placed the sphere in the air and it floated. I then opened it and entered 2:00 into it. I swung my saber back and struck the sphere like a baseball and a bat.
It hurtled through the corridor, bypassing and avoiding everything, spinning out of control to the core of the station.
I grabbed Natalie's wrist and pushed my boosters on my feet to the max, getting us at least one mile away from the station.
I checked the mission counter on my HUD.
0:05, 0:04, 0:03, 0:02, 0:01…
0:00
"Homerun," I whispered.
Boom.
The station exploded from the Nova-class nuke we had hurled in. Debris hurtled outwards as the huge fireball enveloped the remnants of the station's structure and plating. Technically, before destroying the station, it cut the detonation command, so our team won.
The female rang through the map. "Amy and Lily, Mitch and Guts, defeated. Team A has cut detonation command. Team A wins."
Real World
I pulled off the headgear and pushed the capsule open.
I was immediately mobbed by my friends.
"You used the nuke?"
"How did you win?"
"You freakin' destroyed the station!"
Natalie dragged them off me. "He's smarter than you," she said with an annoyed expression on her face. "He thinks outside the box."
Amy yelled at me. "You left us to get eaten by that big fireball! Geez, tell me when you're going to do something like that, big jerk!"
Destiny popped out. "You wanna pick a fight, lady? Cuz you just picked the wrong guy!"
Lily bolted in from Amy's watch and "punched" him, actually connecting.
"Ow! That hurt, woman!"
"Well, maybe you should respect the pretty lady!"
They launched into a full-fledged argument while we ignored them.
"Good game!" Jake congratulated.
"Thanks," I said. "You've gotten better at swordplay!"
"Guy's, c'mon!" Amy dragged us away from the capsules and to the snack shop next to us.
Mitch stretched. "Good idea, Amy. I'm sort of hungry."
The snack shop was a great place to eat after a cyber-battle, with many choices like chili cheese fries, hotdogs, and sandwiches, not to mention a great assortment of desserts.
We all ordered different things-I ordered chili cheese fries and shared with Natalie, who ate them with ketchup, Amy got a small strawberry cake, Mitch ate a meat-lover's sandwich, and Slash got a bowl of ice cream.
As we ate over the tasty food, we talked about different abilities and weapons.
We suddenly overheard a television ad. "Come and join the second annual team cyber-battle! Sign in with a team of five with your team name, members, and captain by July the 10th, Sunday!"
We all turned to each other.
Jake grinned. "Team cyber-battle? Sounds fun to me! We have five ideal members right here, and we can hone our skills and upgrade ourselves to our liking."
I nodded. "We have one long-range sniper, one close and medium-range range unit, two close-range units, and one powerhouse. Not to mention…"
All eyes turned to me.
"I'm adding a new feature to Destiny," I said in a low voice. "We should finish our snacks and go back home. I don't want anyone finding out about it."
Chapter 5: Form Transfer
3:00 P.M.
My House, 223 Forest Road
Amy and Mitch sat on my bed, while Jake stood by the door and Natalie stood next to my chair, peering at the screen.
Data lines ran down the computer while Destiny sat on top of the monitor, dangling his legs. Lily sat next to him, while Slash and Guts crossed their arms and stood in front of the screen. Angel floated above Natalie's head.
"I've spent an entire break making this program," I started. "The commands are insanely archaic-"
"What does archaic mean?" asked Natalie.
"Old," Jake said.
"Oh."
"As I was saying, the commands are incredibly archaic, old, and long-forgotten. Destiny managed to get them while fooling around in the government's database."
"When did he do this?" Amy asked.
"Uh…" Destiny and I looked at each other and blinked.
"Anyway," I quickly went on, "The program consists of at least fifty abilities combined-a few are energy compression, energy transfer, and form change, along with more small abilities."
Everyone looked and listened intently.
"I call this feature Form Transfer."
"Form Transfer?" Everyone repeated simultaneously.
"The form change system can be transferred into anyone else in your team."
"Eh?" Mitch scratched his head in confusion.
"In other words, the Form Transfer grants you the ability to let your teammates and yourself form change, with two other forms: For people who focus on speed like Jake and I, the Form Transfer gives us an all-around and power form. For people like Mitch, it grants him a speed and all-around. Natalie gets a close-combat focused and multifunction form, and Amy can get both a speed form and power form."
"The Form Transfer doesn't change your physical appearance, but changes your weapons. For example, if I were to switch to a gun form, my saber would be gone and replaced with some long-range weapons. If Lily or Natalie switched to a sword form, their gun is gone, and replaced with a sword or close-range weapon. I've already set these weapon changes, and hope you'll be happy with them."
"I'm still trying to get it so that you can choose to form change at will without my help, and I'm almost done."
Guts stood on the desk and scratched his head. "Guts is confused."
Slash sighed. "Instead of just one form change, we have two, doofus. And Destiny controls it."
Guts punched his fists together. "Guts understands! Everything OK!"
Angel whispered into my ear, "If Mitch is so smart, why did he give Guts such a simple vocabulary?"
I ignored her occasional joke and continued, "I just need a few more hours and then we'll test tomorrow."
"Kirisaki Eins get your little butt down here right now!" An angry, female voice screeched from downstairs.
I cringed, and Destiny's hologram sweat dropped.
"Uh-oh," I muttered.
The door crashed open as my mom slammed it into the wall, missing Jake by an inch and making him sweat with fear.
Mom stomped into the room and glared at me with eyes full of fire.
My mom, Alexandria Eins, looked like me. Her black hair flowed to her neck, and her green eyes usually blazed with spirit-or in this case, anger. She usually wore something comfortable, like jeans and a t-shirt. My mom was known throughout the city as being "the cyber-battling champion's mom," and was nearing status as a celebrity. Honestly, who knew she could get so famous from me being so good at cyber-battling?
She glared at me as I scrambled under the desk. "Y-y-yes mom?"
Her eyes burned and her nostrils flared. "What do you mean, y-y-yes mom? If you're going to go cyber-battle, then leave a note or something! I was worried sick about you!"
She then noticed the cowardly poses of my friends.
"Oh!" She blushed in embarrassment. "Did I interrupt something important?" She scurried out of the room, muttering, "Better get some lemonade…"
I sighed with relief as she left for the first floor. Mitch glanced at the door. "Why does she yell at you just like the way Rachel does at Jimmy in Case Closed?"
I scratched my head. "Search me. At least she doesn't kill me,"
I changed the current of the conversation. "Anyway, I'm going to finish the program this evening. If it's not finished by then, I'll go as long as I have to. Oh, and by the time it's finished, it won't be controlled by me. You'll have control over your own forms.
Amy clasped her hands and giggled. "Ooh! Kirisaki's doing something to help us cyber-battle! How sweeeeet!" She used that girly-girl voice, too.
Natalie clapped appreciatively. "If big brother's staying up to finish the program, I guess I'll stay up to refine Angel."
Angel spiraled around her head. "I have a great idea for the customization."
Jake peeled himself off the wall and grunted. "I gotta go redesign Slash's weapons. Where should we meet?"
I checked my watch and schedule. "Meet here at nine in the morning tomorrow. We'll start here and then head to the mall after I take a look at the customizations."
Everyone looked at each other. Amy smiled, and said, "I guess our team captain is Kirisaki!"
"Wh-what?" I stuttered. Team captain? I had to keep them organized, know their strengths and weaknesses, and even their likes and hates!
Jake slapped my back with pride. "I'll see you tomorrow, captain!" He walked out the door while waving his right index and middle finger. Slash disappeared from the desk and went back into Jake's watch.
Mitch patted my arm. "Make sure to save some of your mom's pancakes, sir!" And with that, he left the room, Guts disappearing from the desk with him.
Lily hopped off the monitor and onto my head, giggling, "Well, I guess your wish is my command!" I waved my hands around my head, trying to swat her off, and she leapt gracefully onto Amy's head.
Amy smiled with a blush and said, "You'll do fine as our captain, Kirisaki. You have my full support."
I was taken aback. "W-well, I guess I have to live up to your expecta-"
I stopped mid-syllable as she pulled me into a hug. My eyes widened, and then relaxed. Her arms wrapped around my shoulders. I had a feeling of warmth and comfort.
She let go and smiled. "Just thought the brave captain needed some encouragement!" Walking to the door, she called over her shoulder, "See you tomorrow, Kirisaki." Lily floated with her as they left the house.
I stood there for a moment.
"Big brother?" Natalie asked. "Your face is red…"
"Huh?" I turned to my mirror and saw that indeed, I was blushing madly.
"U-uh, it's nothing! Now, could you go get me a bag of chips? Oh, and you can have some of my gum in the pantry."
"Yay!" Natalie hopped with delight and ran downstairs full of energy and happiness, Angel floating after her. I heard her singing, "Trident Layers, best gum!"
I sat down and sighed. First, not only had I been assigned captain, but hugged by my closest childhood friend. Geez…
Part 1 End
So what do you think? I've based it off of the Gunpla Builders Beginning G OVA series. Next time is the introduction of Form Transfer, a talk between Kirisaki and Amy, and the tournament battle!