[FFML] [Higurashi/SHnY/Bokurano][Dark] Our Inevitable Fate 1/3
Brian Randall
durandall at gmail.com
Wed Jun 22 20:11:48 PDT 2011
This is completely readable even with no prior knowledge of Bokrano/'Bokura no'.
I'm really unsure about the tag, but then ... my judgement is probably
pretty bad, so, I'll err on the side of caution.
Enjoy!
Our Inevitable Fate -- Part One
A Higurashi/Bokurano/Haruhi crossover/fusion.
Disclaimer: Higurashi was created by Ryukishi07. The novel
series begun with 'Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu'/'The Melancholy of
Suzumiya Haruhi' is the creation of Nagaru Tanigawa. The 'Bokura no'
universe, as demonstrated here, was envisioned originally in the manga
by Mohiro Kitoh, and then adapted for the anime by Morita Hiroyuki.
I'm borrowing their paints (more Morita's than Mohira's).
No disrespect is intended by the posting of this fanfiction, as I
do not own the characters or settings involved. For fans of
Bokurano's characters specifically, I'll warn you now that not so many
of them show up (apologies).
Note: I was told to keep this style on the back-burner for the
day I might use it again. That day has just arrived. Let's see if it
still works.
------------------------------------------
I) Outlier
1.) Boredom
a.) Hinamezawa
b.) Nishinomiya
2.) Meeting
a.) Chance
b.) Fate
c.) Challenges
3.) Invitation
a.) A new game?
b.) Registration
c.) Penalties!
4.) The Path of a Hero
a.) Training
b.) The Chosen
c.) Battleground
5.) Logical Progression
a.) Closed Hearts
b.) Fixed Minds
c.) Speculation
d.) Consequences
6.) I Want to go home
a.) I can fight too!
b.) Re-Organization
c.) Unfamiliar ceilings
7.) The "Best of all Worlds" Club
a.) Dress up
i.) nakama
ii.) strategy meeting
iii.) a best guess
b.) For me...
c.) ...and for you.
8.) I came to terms...
a.) ...long ago, but not so far away
b.) ...a yesterday many tomorrows from now
c.) ...with my friends
9.) Ain't Youth Great?
a.) Spread the joy
b.) Share the love
c.) A borrowed smile
10.) The Masterminds
a.) Brighter than light
b.) Stronger than force
11.) Echoes
a.) Let me borrow him, just a bit!
i.) Recursion
ii.) Gods
b.) Deeper meaning
c.) Inevitability
12.) I don't like this game anymore
a.) Stay with me...
b.) An unlucky day
c.) The last challenger
b.) The prize
e.) The price
f.) The only survivor
13.) The story's end
a.) Boredom
b.) Meeting
c.) Invitation
d.) The path...
~fin
***
[[[ Outlier ]]]
This is the story of a wish for a break from an endless cycle.
The desire to have fun. The joy of playing games. The goal of saving
the world.
The summer vacation of the second year of school -- snap the
timeline off right there.
This is a story of those who wish to escape.
Matsuribayashi-hen -- add a few more weeks to the thread, then snip it.
It is not a happy story. It may not even be the story you've just read.
After the Earth that Ushiro Jun fought so hard to protect -- one
more turn of the page.
There; it is the story you are reading now.
***
[[ Boredom ]]
It wasn't precisely that the group of people who were closer than
merely a club were restless. That would have been too simple.
***
[ Hinamezawa ]
"It's decided!" Mion announced, slapping one hand on the desk
before her, the other holding her cards at her side, out of sight. "I
got my family to agree to it."
"What's decided?" Keiichi asked from her side, looking up from
his cards with eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I forgot to mention? Oh, well, I've decided that after
everything that happened in July we should spend the August vacation
at the beach! We're going to relax and unwind!"
Opposite Keiichi, glancing across her own cards demurely, Rena
asked, "Who all is 'we'?"
"All of us," Satoko said, glancing around the room. "Obviously."
"Not Hanyuu," Rika murmured quietly.
The room was empty, save for the five of them.
"Hmm, where is she, anyway?" Mion asked, one fingertip tapping
the side of her chin absently.
Rika's eyes tracked to one corner of the room, and her smile
deepened a tiny bit. "She's with family," she finally answered.
Mion's face fell. "Oh...? Well, I already got the arrangements
made for all of us!
Deciding that this matter superseded finishing out the round,
Keiichi set his cards down. "What kind of arrangements?"
"Eh ... I got us rooms at a hostel and everything," Mion
grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, I suppose that's
alright.... Shion didn't want to go -- but I'll make her come with us
anyway. I'm sure it'll be good for her!"
"Okay! All together -- beach trip!"
In one voice, cheerfully shouted back: "Beach trip!"
"Ah! Keiichi set his cards down? He forfeits! Penalty!"
"UNFAIR!"
***
[ Nishinomiya ]
"So, in summary, last year's summer vacation was adequate -- ONLY
adequate, and obviously we have to have a better one this year!"
"Only adequate?" a tired voice rumbled in response, heard by all;
commented by none.
"Oh? Forgive me if I was mistaken, Suzumiya-san, but wasn't the
island mystery a success?"
"Oh, that was fine, Koizumi-kun! But it didn't cover the rest of
the vacation, so it ended up being somewhat dull in total."
"So, now it's Koizumi's responsibility to keep you entertained
the entire summer instead of just most of it?"
"Kyon!" Eyes narrowed in irritation, focusing on the one who
uttered such words. "I'm doing this for all of us! It's not just to
keep myself entertained -- that type of behavior would be grossly
incompetent in a Brigade Chief -- it's to amuse us all!"
"Um.... Um.... What did you have planned already, Suzumiya-san?"
"Hmm? Oh, well, actually, Tsuruya-san decided to help us out!
Tsuruya-san, why don't you go ahead and explain it?"
"Okies! So, everyone, for Mikuru-chan and me, this is the last
year of summer vacation! So my family has some nice exclusive access;
we're going to stay in a nice hostel at the beach! It's supposed to
be fun; there'll be fireworks, we can swim in the ocean, and I hear
there's a cave by the sea we can explore! We're going to have the
best time ever, nyoro!"
"Hey, Haruhi...."
"What?"
"I can't go."
A nickname called out in surprise by three voices simultaneously,
but drowned out by the plaintive cry of, "You're kidding me!?"
"We have a family tradition. Just like Golden Week, there's a
cousin-gathering, and my parents are too lazy to go. Naturally this
means I can't opt-out because I have to take my sister with me. You
hardly expect my parents to let her travel alone at her age, do you?"
"The Brigade is more important than that! Kyon, you have to come
with us for this trip!"
"I can't go anywhere without my sister! You can argue all you
want with me, but as long as she wants to go to meet our cousins, I
don't have a vote in the matter! Then again, given that this is you,
I don't really have a say in the matter anyway...."
"Okay! Everyone, we have to focus all of our club's power on
convincing Kyon's little sister that she wants to come with us!"
A weary sigh sounds, unheard beneath the mostly united cheer that
roars out following the proclamation.
***
[[ Meeting ]]
The bright summer day reflected off the gleaming beaches and
shining waves. Members of two clubs eyed one another sidelong.
***
[ Chance ]
"Eh?! What are you doing here? And who are you?"
"Haha! I'm here because my family sent me here! I'm Tsuruya!"
"Eh ... well, be that as it may.... I mean, setting that all
aside.... Usually only families of...."
"Hmm? Oh, this is a vacation for us! No family business going
on this trip, nyoro!"
"Well, that's good! It's just vacation for us, too! Hey, are
you guys a club?"
"Ooh, well, the rest of them, they're the SOS Brigade, but me and
little sister over there are just honorary members."
***
"Um, hello! I'm Ryugu Rena! It's nice to meet you." She kept
her hands clasped behind her back, lowering her face and peering
upward slightly at him with a smile on her lips.
"Ah, I'm Koizumi Itsuki." He stood straight and bowed low to
her, one hand at his chest in a departure from the traditional bow.
"I hope we don't trouble you in any way."
"Mmm.... I don't think that will be a problem." One of her
hands rose to her lower lip thoughtfully as he straightened. "I
suppose that this must be a popular place for people to travel on club
vacations?"
"Even though you say that, there's only two clubs present, aren't
there?" He had no need to look across to beach again to discern this.
"Hehe...." Her fingers came together before her, and she
fidgeted nervously. "Do you by chance like mystery games?"
"A deduction?" At her headshake he laughed softly. "Just a
lucky guess, then? But yes, as a matter of fact I do."
***
"Hiya! Want to play catch with me?"
"Um ... okay, I guess. Who are you here with?"
"My brother's girlfriend wanted him to come on this trip, so she
convinced me to come here instead of visiting my family. But that's
okay!"
"Brother...."
"Ah, but who needs him; he's just a big dummy. Let's play!"
"...yeah, okay."
***
"Hey! What's with that funny look?"
"Who are you to ask me that?!"
"Bah! Such impudence!" Standing straight, arms crossed over his
chest as he thrust it upwards imperiously, he announced, "I'm the
unstoppable magician of words, Mebara Keiichi! Now who are you?"
"Oh, titles, is it?" She could feel her irritation and annoyance
rise with proximity to the boy before her. Shorter than her and
mouthing off like that? "I'm the mystery-solving, movie-directing,
trophy-winning, first-place test scoring commander of the SOS Brigade,
Suzumiya Haruhi!"
"Haha! Really sure of yourself for someone who spends so much
time staring at the other girls! Sure you didn't make that up?"
"Eh!?" She felt her face heat up. He'd never understand anyway.
Logically, she knew that ponytails were a reasonable hairstyle for
going to the beach and swimming in the ocean. But even so.... "Who
are you to judge a girl? You're just a stupid boy!"
One eyebrow twitched, and she knew she had scored a verbal hit.
His grin, if anything, widened. "Heh, trying to distract me from the
main point, are you? Well, fine. Your secret's safe with me,
Suzumiya-san ... I won't tell your friends that you prefer girls."
***
[ Fate ]
An umbrella had been set up, a large beach towel beneath it. The
umbrella was a dark green, the towel a dull red. Seated perfectly in
the center of the umbrella's shadow, her eyes fixed on a book, was a
slight figure with short, light hair.
The very young girl with long purple hair could only stare,
wondering at the eerie fascination the reading girl evoked within her.
Satoko was happily playing with a brown-haired girl that she didn't
recognize. Rena was distracted by talking to an unknown pretty-boy
... though she had thought that Rena was deeper than that. Mion and
Shion were talking with a third girl that could have been another
long-lost sister.
Keiichi was being Keiichi, picking a fight with some other girl
who wouldn't even realize that she wanted to be his friend until the
fight was over. Watching warily from the sidelines, another
unfamiliar boy just surveyed, his eyes lingering occasionally on a
brown-haired girl that she didn't know, then the girl playing in the
waves, and more often, on the girl with short hair.
She tried to look away; she really did. But her eyes kept
tracking to the girl on the towel, reading the book. She was so
distracted that the surveying boy approached her before she even
realized it. "Hey," he said softly, unsmiling, but looking at the
same girl. "She won't bite. Go say hello."
Even thirty yards away, the girl on the towel turned to look
unerringly at him. "Umm..." she answered, slipping on her
long-familiar mask of youth.
"Hmm. I can introduce you, if you like. What's your name?"
Bad policy to give your name, when someone else didn't offer
theirs first. "Niiii...pah?"
He seemed somehow able to read her expression, even through her
mask, and a tiny smile flickered across his face. "My name's probably
too much trouble to pronounce for you, but everyone calls me--"
"KYON!"
He shrugged slightly at the call, sighing softly. "And I suppose
I can't introduce you yet. But she's my friend; Nagato Yuki. Go say
hello." Straightening up, he turned to where the unknown girl who was
going to become Keiichi's friend was fuming, stomping one foot
repeatedly in the sand.
***
Even if it was supposed to be a vacation, there was no way Haruhi
wasn't also going to find a way to make it trouble for him. Either
intentionally, or unintentionally. "What's this, then?" he asked,
trying to put less interest than usual in his voice. "I'm supposed to
be on vacation."
"There's no time for that! This boy doesn't believe who I am!"
He turned to regard the somewhat shorter boy with the wide grin.
Softer than the Sneering Bastard by any stretch. "What's she told
you?"
"Pssht!" the other boy said, straightening up and turning his
back to the pair. "Resorting to backup already? I'm disappointed,
Suzumiya-san, you couldn't even beat one of the lower ranked members
of our club, and you say you're the commander?"
His eyes narrowed. "Hey, Kid, ease up," he said dryly. "The
commander commands. She doesn't fight on the front lines. I expect
plenty of generals could lose a fist fight but still win a war."
He could practically _feel_ the tension around them explode away,
Haruhi's eyes widening, the intensity and focus switching from growing
anger and frustration to amazed joy. And like that, the switch was
thrown. "Exactly right!" she agreed, giving the other boy back his
own grin and then some. "Though, I'd win a fist fight anyway. But
this is Kyon! We don't even use his real name, and he's our
absolutely lowest ranked member!"
He glanced back at the girl, frowning. "Hey, Commander, the
troops may be here to support you, but don't you think you could boost
morale a bit?"
"Don't need to," she replied flippantly, her eyes locked on her
new enemy. "If I tell you to win, you'll win. So, win!"
"Alright, then, 'Kyon'," the other boy said, ignoring Haruhi to
focus on his new enemy. "If it's nicknames, then for today, I'm 'K',
and I'll be your opponent!"
"Exactly right! Beat him down, Kyon!"
A strange gleam rose in K's eyes, and his smile lessened, hardened.
"Hey. I'm not beating anyone up," he retorted, focusing on the
girl at his side. "Especially not someone younger than me, and
shorter than you."
"What!?"
The gleam faded, replaced by something sharper, though the grin
was much softer. "Challenges. Two of three. You can nominate two
games, and I'll nominate two games, then we'll use ladder lottery to
see which ones we play."
One hand rose to his forehead and he shook his head sadly.
"Agreed," the girl said sharply. "Now let's get things set up!"
"No cheating," Kyon said, just as sharply.
K opened his mouth to retort, and saw that Kyon's eyes were
directed elsewhere, somewhere over his shoulder. "No cheating," he
agreed.
***
[ Challenges ]
Her attention was unfocused, initially, haphazardly offline while
she used the smallest modicum of herself to examine a minimalist
portion of the world around her. Limited to only her organic senses,
outside of his voice calling her name, she tried to immerse herself in
the book. She had concluded the ending only three chapters in, but
many details were still undefined. Even so, she doubted that what she
had achieved qualified as 'immersion' in the human sense of the word.
But he had asked, so she tried. When his voice broke through
those barriers she had set up, she turned her senses and sensors and
etherical data collection arrays and looked at the girl who he was
standing next to.
Anomalous.
Many facets were scanned and recorded instantly. Face, height,
probable weight, volume. A few more moments staring yielded base
genotype information. All within parameters. And yet ... something
else was there, too. Something just beyond the range of her abilities
to identify. Some other sort of data-entity on another wavelength,
slightly out of synchronization with the baseline physical reality?
She probed invisibly and remained physically motionless, only
blinking until he went off to tend Suzumiya Haruhi, and the girl
hesitantly approached her. In response, she folded her book away and
shifted to face the girl.
"I'm Furude Rika," the girl finally said after staring for a long moment.
"Nagato Yuki."
She distantly observed the discussion between him and Haruhi, in
the distance, noting his command to avoid 'cheating'. When Rika did
nothing more than stare, she finally gestured to the towel. "Sit."
"Um.... Thanks. A...are you okay?"
"I am fine."
"A...are you mad at me?"
She blinked several times. "No."
***
"Okay," Mion announced happily, reading off the results. "Round
one: Poker! Round two: Shogi! Round three: Othello!"
"Ack!" Keiichi groaned. "Only one of our games got in? Well, fine...."
"Just be glad we aren't doing this with rock-paper-scissors,"
Kyon said. "Anyway. This is a proper challenge, but do we have all
those games?"
Keiichi smiled. "Well, I do have a deck of cards--"
"I got an unopened pack of cards!" Tsuruya announced just as
cheerfully as Mion had made an announcement earlier. "Perfect for
tournament challenges! Koizumi-kun and that girl he was walking with
went up to the lodge to get Othello and Shogi!"
"Hmm," Mion mused in an almost leering voice. "Rena-chan seems
to be interested in that boy ... you'd better pull a big win to get
her attention back!"
"H...hey!" Keiichi protested.
"Alright, let's get this over with," Kyon said dourly. "K-san
... just so you know, it's nothing personal."
***
"H...how can this be?" Keiichi gasped, falling to his hands and
knees, bowing his head. "I've been crushed."
"HAHA!" Haruhi roared proudly, crossing her arms over her chest.
"That's what you get! Crushed by our lowliest member!"
"It's okay," the older looking girl with the long brown hair
said, comfortingly. "Kyon-kun doesn't lose strategy games.... So,
it's not your fault!"
"When was this a standard?" the dour-faced Kyon asked. "I've
never been a gaming legend."
"Well, to be fair, Kyon-kun," the pretty-boy said thoughtfully,
"I've never managed to beat you at any strategy game more than once.
Even when I taught you chess, you beat me the first time!"
"Hmm," Kyon mused, contemplative. "I thought you just sucked."
The pretty-boy didn't seem the tiniest bit cut by the jibe, just
chuckling softly. "And as well, your luck is unparalleled at poker.
Your only real weakness is Old Maid."
"That all aside," Kyon said, putting a restraining hand on the
dancing Haruhi's shoulder, freezing her in place with an alarmed look
back at the boy. "That's enough gloating. Haruhi, their club came to
this beach to relax, just like us. Be a gracious winner, why don't
you?"
"Fine," Haruhi grumbled, shifting her shoulder free of Kyon's
grip. "It's not like we settled on any terms, anyway. This was just
to see which club was better--"
"It doesn't even count for that," Kyon interrupted. "This was
just a match between myself and the mysterious 'K'."
"Eh ... well, you've beaten me," Keiichi allowed, rising to a
kneeling position. "I should have known I'd end up picking a fight
with a master strategist."
One of Kyon's eyebrows ticced, as though he didn't like the
title. "Anyway."
"Okay! Since you accept our defeat gracefully, let's be friends
from now on! This beach is big enough for all of us to play on, isn't
it?"
"Agreed," Kyon said, before Haruhi could object, offering a hand.
Keiichi accepted it, and was pulled to his feet before the two shook
on the deal.
"Kyon!" Haruhi protested. "Ah, letting him off so easy!? That's
weak! What about cultivating a rivalry?"
"Keiichi," Mion observed, eyes locked on him, her smile hungry.
"You fought well and admitted defeat like a man."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Rena asked thoughtfully.
"Only on the surface," Satoko chortled, her smile matching Mion's.
"Because you lost," Rika said, her own smile forming.
And then, in one voice, almost all of girls on the beach:
"PENALTY!"
***
[[ Invitation ]]
"Ooh," Tsuruya said suddenly, once the novelty of Keiichi's
'swan' swimming trunks and scribbling more graffiti on Kyon had faded,
"hey, before we forget, shouldn't we check out that sea cave? The
tide just finished going out, so now would be the best time!"
"You go on ahead," Keiichi and Kyon said simultaneously. "If
it's all the same, I'd like to change/wash." The two exchanged a
sidelong glance, and Kyon furrowed his brow, while Keiichi grinned.
"Hurry it up," Haruhi snapped. "We don't want to take all day!"
Keiichi quickly added, "We'll hurry and come back with some flashlights."
***
[ A new game? ]
Ten club members and three honorary members trooped in through
the cave, until it suddenly opened up into a square level area with
canvas walls. Desks had been set up along the canvas, with overhead
lights flickering occasionally, and glowing computer monitors provided
further illumination.
"What...?" Keiichi faltered, unable to form the question that
should follow the query he'd begun.
"I have a bad feeling," Rika murmured. "I think we should leave."
"What are you talking about?" Haruhi asked excitedly. "This
stuff doesn't belong here! Something way, WAY out of the ordinary is
happening! Ah, Yuki, stop trying to hide behind Kyon, come out and
tell me what these computers are doing! It's not that scary."
The slighter girl broke off, as though she were trying to whisper
something to Kyon. Taking a handful of steps into the level area and
glancing at the computers, she answered, "Nothing."
"They're just idle? You didn't even try to play with one--"
"Please..." a new voice interrupted. "You don't want to play
with that." Everyone turned to face the man that had arrived in
surprise. Standing in the tunnel leading back to the surface there
was a man in clean looking casual clothes, with a large travel
backpack on his back. His expression looked worn, pained. He jolted
suddenly, then shook his head. "I mean ... not yet."
"What is this place?" Haruhi demanded.
"Ah ... well...." The man straightened up and set his backpack
down. "This is ... a publicity stunt for a ... limited release game.
A beta test, actually." He surveyed the room, flinching when his eyes
lit on the smallest girls. "Thirteen of you?"
"That's all of us!" Tsuruya called cheerfully. "But this is
private land! You can't expect to have people find this hidden in a
cave on an exclusive beach like this!"
"Y...yeah," the man agreed. "It's very exclusive."
"Could I ask your name?" Koizumi queried politely. "If you don't mind."
"...for this game, please call me Kokopelli," the man answered,
his eyes drifting to the ceiling. "And I can't tell you which company
is making the game ... it's a limited beta release, so they need to
keep that a secret to avoid the competitors determining what they're
doing."
"Well, that all aside," Haruhi said, looking around the room, "I
only see three monitors and one keyboard. How are thirteen of us
supposed to play?"
"You'll ... take turns. Piloting a giant black robot." The man
reached behind one of the canvas walls and pulled a metal stand with a
flat face out. "Did you want to play?"
"Setting aside the suspicious circumstances so far-" Kyon began.
"The SOS Brigade is in," Haruhi overrode him without hesitation.
"Humph. Well, do we want to be left out?" Keiichi asked his club mates.
***
[ Registration ]
"To register, I need each of you to put your hand on this plate,"
the man explained, gesturing to the face of the stand. "Then tell me
your name. This is the contract to declare yourselves chosen heroes."
When contact with the plate was made, there was a loud chirp.
"Suzumiya Haruhi! Kyon, you're next."
"Fine...." Another chirp. "Tadamichi Kyousuke."
"Buwahahaha! That name is way too much for you, nyoro!"
Another chirp. "Koizumi Itsuki, at your service."
Contact, then silence. A blink of her eyes, and the chirp
sounded. "Nagato Yuki."
Another chirp. "A...Asahina ... Mikuru."
"Hey, Kyon, you're not going to let your little sister play?"
"Eh? Hmm.... I think if she wants the chance to skip out--"
"Too bad!"
Another chirp. "Tadamichi Sanae!"
"Haruhi!"
"That's what you get for being a jerk and trying to exclude your
little sister from having all the fun! Hah-- Hey, Kokopelli, why the
long face?"
"I...it's nothing. Please, continue."
"Hehe, well, if imouto-nyan is going to be playing, then I will
too!" Another chirp. "It's Tsuruya Kaede, so hiyas!"
"We're up!" Another chirp. "Sonozaki Mion!"
Another chirp. "I'm Ryugu Rena."
With a sharp salute with his free hand, another chirp. "Mebara
Keiichi reporting!"
Another chirp. "Houjuo Satoko."
"Mmm.... Mister, is this safe?"
"The plate is harmless," he answered, giving a weak smile.
"Well ... in any case, so long as I can be with my friends."
Another chirp. "Furude Rika, nii~pah!"
"You dragged me all the way out here, so I may as well join in.
Right, Satoko?" A final chirp. "Sonozaki Shion!"
Kokopelli rubbed at his eyes. "So ... there are going to be
thirteen enemies who will appear to try and destroy your Earth," he
said.
***
[ Penalties! ]
His eyes drifted open slowly, then his gaze sharpened abruptly.
Even in the darkness that had suddenly come over the beach, he could
recognize the faintly luminous glow in the eyes of the girl above him.
"Nagato?" he managed, sitting up and looking around. Nearby him, all
of the other contractors lay in the sand.
"The others will awaken within five minutes," she answered him softly.
He rubbed at his face with one hand, gritting his eyes when he
realized he brushed sand onto himself. Eyes closed while he tried to
clean himself off, he asked, "Is this Haruhi's doing?"
"...uncertain."
He opened his eyes and looked at the girl warily. "What the hell
is it, anyway? Some game should be fine, even if that cave was
totally illogical ... but then, I would expect her assumed common
sense to not create something so obviously out of place anyway."
"Agreed."
His gaze sharpened. "Even you can't ascertain what we're
involved with?" He hesitated, hating to invoke them, but: "What about
the ... entity?"
"Alarm and fear," she answered. "Trans-dimensional aggressors."
"So, not Haruhi's fault."
"...uncertain."
"It came for her?"
"Possible."
"Ech ... alright. We'll need to think about this, I guess. We
may as well start waking everyone up and head to the hostel."
***
[[ The Path of a Hero ]]
As they walked up the path from the beach to the hostel, arguing
if the experience had been a dream, a familiar sensation; that slight,
almost absent tugging at his shirtsleeve. He stopped and turned, only
one of the green-haired twins and his younger sister behind he and
Yuki. Haruhi was up the path, unlikely to notice. The unfamiliar
girl paused, glancing between him and Yuki in question.
But while she had called for his attention, her gaze was over her
shoulder, off the shore. His eyes turned to follow, and he couldn't
help the words that escaped his mouth: "Impossible...."
"What is it?" the girl with his sister asked, before the turned
and saw it too.
Then everyone saw it, and Kyon's hand was captured in Haruhi's.
"It's real!" she shouted, her voice shrill with excitement. "It's
_real_! Something amazing is finally happening!"
"Something," he echoed, staring.
"It's hard to see in this lighting," Rena remarked, peering
intently. "But I think it's black. That's ... the robot we have to
pilot?"
"So, where's our enemy, then?" Satoko asked, scanning the horizon.
"There," Rika said softly, pointing. A halo of glittering golden
sparkles described the outer edges of some strange shape as it
descended.
***
[ Training ]
The thirteen of them were in a strange space with a soft floor of
some reddish brown material, in the single illuminated circle. Beyond
the edges of the circle was darkness, but the space felt small,
closed, despite the question of its true size. Within the illuminated
ring, fifteen different chairs hovered in a perfect circle a meter or
so above the floor.
His glasses were gone, and his clothing had changed to a stark
white militaristic uniform. Turning sad eyes over his shoulder at the
children, he explained, "We don't have much time. Try to pay
attention to the robot's abilities. This is the cockpit."
The blackness around them gave way to a panoramic view of the
surroundings -- from the height of the giant robot. Even the floor
had been replaced, to all senses, with a sheer drop to the waves
below.
"Wow! This looks completely realistic!"
"It is real. This is not a simulation or a game," the man in the
floating chair said. Before them, just off the coast, stood a strange
four-limbed robot of nearly equal size; the shape that had been
forming before they were somehow moved into the cockpit.
One question, in many voices: "What?"
Stepping forward, slightly away from the group, Rena asked, "You
mean to say that this isn't a game at all?"
"That's correct." The robot they were in began to lurch forward,
towards the four-limbed somewhat spider-shaped robot opposite them.
"You don't need any controls. You just will the robot to move, and it
does. Before us is one of the enemies."
Even though the man made no visible gestures and didn't call out
an attack, a hundred brilliantly glowing lines of light blossomed out
from the robot's chest, striking the enemy and staggering it back a
handful of meters. "Though, a weak attack like this won't do much.
So because of that...."
The group stared in amazement as the four-limbed enemy spat back
a brilliant bolt of electricity, only causing the cockpit the mildest
of shudders.
The black robot surged forward, quickly overturning the enemy and
tearing plates of armor off. "Who are you then?" Koizumi asked. "Did
you make all of this?"
"I'm just a pawn in the game, like you," the man answered. "Your
enemy is heavily armored -- to defeat it, you must locate and destroy
the vital point." After tearing aside some final obstruction, the
robot plucked what looked like nothing so much as a giant metal flower
bud from the center. A long wire or cable led from the flower to the
rest of the enemy robot.
"Don't take too long," he added, "they regenerate. When you
crush the vital point ... that's it."
Before them, on the panoramic view, the robot's long needle-like
limb had splayed into three tines, wrapped around the metal flower.
The grip tightened, until the flower's metal 'petals' had been pressed
out of alignment in a sudden burst of smoke and crackling energy.
"All that's left is for you to protect the Earth. I'm sor--"
***
[ The Chosen ]
The early morning sun streamed in through the windows of the
common dining area, both clubs deciding to eat together in light of
the bizarre shared experience. Rika's eyes flickered across all of
the newcomers, trying to gauge their reactions.
The older chestnut-haired girl -- Asahina -- seemed a nervous
sort anyway, easily startled, but was the most visibly on edge.
Suzumiya nearly bounced in her seat excitedly, providing a nearly
constant background chatter that everyone had tuned out -- but she was
so absorbed in the excitement, she didn't particularly seem to care,
except to occasionally shake Kyon (his name was just too complicated
to say, even in her head), and demand that he agree with her on some
point.
Kyon himself looked pensive and irritated, exchanging knowing
glances between the silent Nagato and Koizumi. Koizumi ... she didn't
know the boy as well as she'd like to, but could tell by his attitude
and posture that he wore a mask -- just like her own, if not nearly as
well practiced. It didn't slip enough for her to see the whole truth
of his thoughts, but she deduced that he was anxious. The girl who
could have been a sister or cousin to the Sonozaki twins looked
thoughtful, focusing most of her attention on taking care of Kyon's
little sister, who merely looked shell-shocked.
Ultimately, she didn't think any of their reactions were quite
what she would have expected from people suddenly thrust into the
situation they found themselves in. "We all remember it," Keiichi
finally said, breaking the silence once the hostel's serving staff had
withdrawn. "So I guess there's no point to trying to pretend it was a
dream."
Rika nodded, trying to focus on other people's reactions, and not
think about things herself; the situation wasn't that bad, but she'd
like to know these new people better. Something about them....
"Of course it wasn't a dream!" Suzumiya snapped. "We're the
chosen defenders of the Earth! Who wouldn't want to believe something
so wonderful when it finally happened?!"
"Oho, she gets it," a new, unfamiliar voice remarked.
Rena turned to see who had spoken -- though it was not a who ...
it was a _what_. Shaped like a gourd with a rounded base, and a
smaller domed cap, eyes and nose appearing drawn on, and comically
over-sized perfectly circular ears. Two additional perfect circles
marked the thing's cheeks in a permanent flush. The join between the
base and the domed cap widened, showing jagged teeth that didn't
separate when it spoke, and Rika smiled openly when her friend spoke
to the strange new interloper: "So cute! I want to take it home!"
Rika scanned the others again. Nagato stared at the newcomer the
same way she had studied Rika herself the day before. Koizumi's mask
slipped more and he looked surprised himself. Suzumiya was swept up
nearly as much as Rena, leaping to her feet to stare at the creature.
Asahina allowed a tiny, alarmed squeak. Kyon's eyes narrowed in
irritation.
For all that this was strange, she found his reaction the most
unusually understated.
"Oh?" the creature asked, its teeth vanishing, though it seemed
to speak without moving its mouth at all. Except for that widening
and closing of the gap showing its teeth, it didn't seem capable of
expression at all. "Hmm, I like that. I'm not just cute, you know,
but it's a good start!"
"Who are you?" Suzumiya demanded. "Another enemy?"
"Enemy?" the creature asked, voice indignant. "I'm your guide!"
"Are you an alien?!"
"Heh. None of your business."
"You are! What's your species called?"
An eyeroll from Kyon. His reaction wasn't pronounced enough to
be denial. There was _something_ to the boy. "This one, I don't like
as much," it answered, showing Suzumiya its teeth. She looked stung,
flinching back slightly. "Show me some respect, hmm? I'm gracious
enough to watch over you! Now ... any questions?"
"Of course!" Suzumiya all but exploded. "First of all, where are
you from? What's your home-world--" She cut off abruptly when Kyon
rose to his feet and clapped one hand onto her shoulder. "K...Kyon?"
she asked, bewildered and annoyed. "What the hell are--"
"Who are you?" Kyon asked. "I'm guessing you have our names from
registration."
"Ooh, a sharp one," the creature said in a soft, contemplative
voice. "You might do very well. I'm Koyemshi."
An explosion of questions from everyone in the room, but Kyon
raised his hand, and everyone fell silent. "Let's take turns," he
said, mildly, before returning to his seat and reassuming his pensive
contemplation. Rika decided she did not agree with Kyon's friends;
his name was not too great for him, even if he managed to appear less
commanding and notable most of the time. He had a very Keiichi-like
quality, she decided, though it seemed that Keiichi might be a better
speaker.
Hands rose from around the room, Suzumiya hopping and waving for
Koyemshi's attention. The creature ignored her, bobbing slightly
before Satoko's raised hand. "Yeah?"
"If ... this gets to be too much, can we withdraw from fighting?"
"Not an option," Koyemshi replied. "You signed the contract,
didn't you? Give up, run away, or lose, and your world is destroyed."
Rika blinked, unsettled at the transition to the giant robot's
cockpit once more. Everyone was standing or sitting in the same
arrangement they had originally been in the hostel, except there were
no longer any chairs present.
"I hate these monochrome worlds," Kyon muttered, so quietly Rika
doubted anyone but herself or Nagato caught it.
"So ... show-time!" Chairs appeared around the room in a new
circle, slightly smaller than the original circle. "These should
bring back some memories for you!" Rika blinked, somewhat surprised
to see her cushion from the house she and Satoko usually shared.
There was a cushion she recognized from the Sonozaki house -- flatter
than her own, but less faded. A chair for each of them, she guessed,
as everyone moved to stand behind their chosen chair contemplatively.
The chairs slowly began moving, rotating in their circle, as a
strange pattern of red squiggles appeared on the floor, a single loop
stretching out beneath the seats. As though they were on a wheel,
they stopped together, a short chair that Rika thought she recognized
remaining in the loop.
"Did someone call my name?" Keiichi asked, glancing at her, then
back towards the darkness surrounding the lit circle.
"Hmm," Koyemshi mused. "Looks like you're the one, then. You
heard the voice?"
"Yeah...."
"Then you'll be the pilot."
"Lame!" Suzumiya grumbled, crossing her arms and glaring at the
chair directly next to Keiichi's seat.
"Haha, now _our_ club gets a chance to show yours up!" Keiichi
said, grinning and striking a pose.
"Dream on!" Suzumiya retorted. "Anyway, Koyemshi, what's this
giant robot named?"
"Doesn't have a name," the creature responded.
"Oh? Can we name it then?"
"If you like."
"Hmm.... What's a good name.... Something about defending the
Earth, right? Kyon! You watch giant robot anime all the time!
What's a good name?"
Kyon stared at her, raising one eyebrow, then shook his head.
"I'm drawing a blank," he answered. "And, anyway, there's more than a
dozen of us -- why does the choice fall onto you and me?"
"Why don't we think about names together?" Keiichi asked,
grinning. "We can put it to a vote and find out what we like!"
***
[ Battleground ]
She hadn't needed to be a spy for Rika since they had finally
broken the time loop. But she agreed with her friend; something was
strange about these people, and when some of them had sneaked out, she
followed, drifting invisibly behind them. In the hostel, the
remaining club members discussed whatever confrontation was upcoming
... why would these three opt out?
Tadamichi rubbed at one temple and turned to the girl who made
her nervous. "Anything?" he asked.
"Teleportation of individuals is achieved through folding of
space in concentric circular shapes. Mass accumulation is
accomplished via direct transmutation of energy to matter. In this
way the combat vehicle is assembled."
Koizumi frowned. "Obviously technology far above ours. What about yours?"
The girl blinked, said nothing.
"Anyway," Tadamichi murmured. "That's not the important thing
here. The bigger issue is that Nagato told me earlier that this
probably wasn't Suzumiya's doing."
"Are you certain?" Koizumi asked.
"No data creation was observed that can be attributed to be
responsible for this outcome. Suzumiya Haruhi therefore most likely
manipulated probability of being involved in the event, but she is not
responsible for the event occurring."
"Are you saying that this situation with the giant robots was
going to happen _anyway_?"
The girl gave a tiny nod, her eyes fixed on Tadamichi.
"It's somewhat beyond our direct control, but I have to admit
that I don't like it in the slightest," Tadamichi murmured. "So, it's
not the Sky Canopy Domain?"
"Negative."
"Alright. Might be a lot to ask for, but ... can the Entity do
anything about it?"
The girl's eyes turned to Koizumi, then back to Tadamichi.
"Mmm. I'm going to take that as a no."
It wasn't quite a nod, but Nagato's head lowered a tiny amount.
Tadamichi cursed softly, then began pacing. "Is there much of
anything we can do?"
"I will try."
"Anything on your front, Koizumi?"
"It's early to say, but no closed space yet. It's reaching, but
because she's found something that she's looking for, I'm going to
guess that she won't -- that frustration no longer has a reason to
exist. She's found the fantastic, and she's going to be a part of
it."
"And she's going to expect it to be a regular part of the world?"
"I.... Well. You probably know her better than I do, at this point."
Another soft curse, though his pacing stopped. "Alright. I
don't like it, but let's see where this goes."
She watched the three troop back into the hostel, wondering what
exactly she had actually gleaned. "Hauuu..." she moaned sadly,
jolting in alarm when Nagato stopped at her utterance, blinking and
looking back over her shoulder. Before the girl could fix on her
location, she fled, gliding ghostlike through the air to return to her
friend.
***
"Get it together!" Haruhi snapped, hanging onto her armrests as
the robot was jolted by the opponent. "You can fight better than
that, can't you?"
"Give me a break!" Keiichi retorted, his face contorted as he
concentrated. "The robot moves when I think it, but I'm not that
great at punching people!"
"Zearth," Satoko reminded him. "We named it Zearth, not 'the robot'."
The boy grit his teeth and clenched the fist that bore the
strange marking on it, but their opponent, a squat, brutish juggernaut
continued to assail them, sending Zearth staggering back along the
coastline. "Damn it! I won't give up!"
The only ones who hadn't remained in their seats were Rika,
Nagato, and Kyon. When the robot was staggered, the chairs jolted,
but those on the floor seemed unaffected, except for the boy crouching
lower. "Keiichi," Kyon said, watching their opponent, "you might try
turning the robot to one side. We'll have a narrower profile."
"Yeah?" Keiichi asked, as Zearth did just that, one of the
enemy's punching limbs missing by mere meters as it turned. "Oh! You
know how to fight?"
"Not really," Kyon answered, turning to look at the panorama.
"But I've read that's what you do in fencing, and the robot-- Sorry,
Zearth's arms remind me of fencing swords."
Keiichi spat out a curse as the next intense blow sent Zearth
tumbling down the coastline half a kilometer, smashing the robot's
left arm off just above the elbow. "Damn it! I can't fence, either!"
Improbably, despite being sideways in relation to the panoramic view
around them, they all maintained their orientation, the cockpit
demonstrating some form of gravity manipulation.
Haruhi rolled her eyes, grumbling, "What the hell _are_ you good at?"
"Baseball!" Rena sang out, grinning triumphantly. "Keiichi, grab
that arm that came off!"
"Good thinking!" he cheered, as Zearth rose, seizing the
broken-off arm. With the hundreds of meters of extra reach, Zearth
slowly stepped back from the other robot's range, smashing at it until
it tilted forward.
Once it pitched over, Keiichi piloted the robot forward, crushing
it over and over with the makeshift club until Koyemshi finally said,
"That's enough. You smashed the vital point."
The chairs lowered to the floor and the panoramic view faded back
into the murky brown darkness once more.
"Hahaha!" Keiichi chortled happily, jumping from his seat and
dancing victoriously. "Awesome! Koyemshi, can we go to the top of
the robot and see it?"
"Hmm. I suppose." Abruptly they found themselves standing atop
the giant robot, near a divot in the chassis from the fight. The
hulking remains of the enemy across from them slowly began to dissolve
from the bottom up without falling in the same brilliant shower of
sparks it had arrived with.
"Okay," Haruhi acquiesced, smirking. "We're still going to show
you up next time, but you did pretty good after all." So saying, she
clapped one hand onto Keiichi's shoulder companionably.
Wordlessly, he pitched forward, silently plummeting the hundreds
of meters of darkness to the sea below.
"N...no!"
--
Brian Randall
--
I write fanfiction. Too much of it. You can read it here, thanks to a
kind grant from the Larry F foundation:
http://www.florestica.com/brandall/
--
Together. Allegiance or death. BIGFIRE!
--
Haiku of my lament:
Forgive my spelling,
my U.S. education,
is the source of blame.
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