New fanfic: Rise of Zionus...

[Magus 84]

Hello, all. Some of you might know me from the Gamefaqs boards, but I doubt it. I have a fanfic, and several people have suggested that I post it here. Please be gentle...

It was a time of peace on Ragol. It had been seven years since X Launcher crushed Neifirst’s rebellion, and there had been no major incidents of violence since. Many hunters and most of the Pioneer 2 military had been dispatched to begin the exploration and pacification of a recently discovered planet, Vanadile. The few Hunters that were left had less and less to do, and many were enjoying their retirement. As the sun rose over the new settlements on the surface of Ragol, little did inhabitants know that it would be the last peaceful sunrise any of them would ever see.

The sunlight streaming into his room awoke Sye, a small boy of 10. His birthday was two days away, and he couldn’t wait. His parents had emigrated on Pioneer 2, and he was born about 9 months after X’s defeat of Dark Falz. He was an odd child in many ways, quieter and more introspective than his friends. He dressed and went into his family’s living area for the morning meal. He was getting to go with his Dad today to explore some ruins, and had been looking forward to it for months. As he ate breakfast, he thought about all the neat things he would soon see. Meanwhile…

Jonas Sage had just made it to his desk at the Pioneer archives, chugging down a cup of coffee and trying to rid himself of the legacy of his late night. He was the head archivist, and a fairly accomplished archaeologist. Although he didn’t like to mention it, he was also a retired Force. As he powered up the view screen on his computer, the “New mail” alert flashed in the corner of the screen. One new message… Sender: Elly Person.
Mail from the lab was usually never a good thing. He resigned himself to having his already bad day completely ruined, and clicked on the message, hoping it wouldn’t be yet another unwanted reminder of things in the past…
‘ Jonas, it’s Elly. I’m sure you’ve heard about the recently discovered ruin on Ragol dubbed the “Temple of Light.” We were going to detail a team of scientists to investigate it, but recent scans showed that is crawling with D-Cell monsters. Since unidentified ruins on Ragol have a nasty habit of spawning horribly deadly creatures, we decided to go with a different team for this investigation. Since you are one of the highest ranking hunters on left on Ragol (retired or otherwise), and the only one with archeological experience, you were nominated to investigate. Report to the Hunter’s Guild for more information. Have a nice day, Sage. Love… Elly.’
Having proved his intuition right, he left his office to head to the Hunter’s Guild… silently cursing Elly the entire way.

As Sye’s father came in, the look on his face showed that he had bad news. “I’m sorry Sye, but we can’t go see the ruins today. Scans showed that there are monsters inside, and they are getting a team of hunters to go in and clean it out first. It would be too dangerous to go right now.”
“But dad, why do we have to wait for the Hunters? You said that there was nothing bad left on Ragol.” “Why do you always break your promises!?” With that outburst, the young boy ran outside into the forest. He just wanted to be away from his dad, and to be alone for a while. Little did he know that he was not alone, and he was about to get a much closer look at the ruins…

As Sage walked into the Hunter’s Guild, he was surprised to see a short, slender, purple and green- colored Racast behind the counter. “Greetings, Mr. Sage” the Racast announced. “I am Labyrinth.” “Are you here about the ruins job?” Sage replied in the affirmative, and was handed a PDA with the mission information on it. He entered in his security code, and the screen began displaying the coordinates of the ruins, and the results of the D-Cell scans.
“How did you know who I was, Labyrinth?” Sage asked, as he continued to scan the data. “I was informed before your arrival, and was told to give you all possible assistance. Ms. Elly seems to think quite highly of you.” Hmph… she would, Sage thought. “So, Labyrinth, are you one of the ‘highly skilled hunters that are supposed to accompany me?”
“No sir, I am not a combat model. I was originally a prototype military model, but I have been assigned to be a supervisor for the Hunter’s Guild. My combat modules were removed, and I was reprogrammed after the defeat of Neifirst.”
“Yeah, when there are no more wars, there’s usually no need for weapons.”
“Precisely, sir.” “Do you know how to get in contact with the hunters listed on the mission briefing?” “Or would you like me to summon them?” Labyrinth asked.
“ I know how to contact Megatron, but you may need to contact this ‘Lucca’ for me.” “Oh, and… whoah!” Sage broke of his scanning of the data with a loud exclamation.
“Sir, what is the matter?”
“This must be important, if they’re actually bringing HIM in on it…” Sage had a look of surprise on his face, puzzling the android.” I thought he retired after the whole Neifirst thing.”
“ ‘He’ who, sir? Are you referring to the hunter known as X? He is being brought out of retirement for this mission. The Principal feels it is important to make sure that everything in the ruins is ‘taken care’ of. “
Sage’s only reply is a look of amazement. “Ok, Lab… you contact X and Lucca, and I’ll go see where Megs is hiding. I’ll be back in about ten minutes…” With that, Sage turned and strolled out of the Hunter’s Guild, leaving Labyrinth to the task of contacting the few remaining hunters.

In the forests of Ragol, Sye was awakening as if from a dream The last thing he remembered was running away from his kitchen table after a fight with his father. The next thing he knew, he was standing in this clearing… looking at the vine-covered entrance to what looked like an old temple. It was the ruin his father had told him about, but he had no clue where he was. ‘Oh well,’ he thought. ‘Since I’m here, I might as well look around.’ There didn’t seem to be any guards, or anything. He slowly approached the darkened entrance of the temple, looking in wonderment at the mural carved on the pillars supporting the ceiling. As he came to the massive doorway, his head began to hurt. Right before he passed out, he read the words carved above the door: “ Here lies the path to the Great Light. In times of peril, the Espers will appear to save us all.” He then blacked out again. Any outside observer would have seen an eerie glow begin to emanate from his eyes as he stood and strode confidently into the temple. To Sye, however, he was having the same dream he had been having off and on for the past few nights. A dark man in mage-style robes was chasing him, looking for something. Each night, the man got a bit closer, but was stopped short every time. This time though, it looked like the man would catch him.

Sage had returned to his apartment to retrieve some gear from his hunting days, then used a nearby communicator to contact his friend Dante, a retired hunter and the creator of Megatron. Megatron was a highly advanced combat droid, programmed with free will and the combat skills of a veteran hunter. He was currently residing at Dante’s house, since the recent peace had left him without much to do.
Sage: “Hey Dante, it’s Sage. How are you?”
Dante: “I’m fine, bro. You wanting to talk to Megatron?”
Sage: “Well, yeah. He’s supposed to go with me to explore some ruins.” “Apparently, the powers that be think that it’s too important to leave to hunters, and they are afraid regular scientists would get shredded.”
Dante: “I know. Elly contacted me. Some type of ‘top secret’, very important mission. I wish I could go with you, but I have to watch the kids. And the actuator on my arm’s acting up again. You really think you’re gonna need Megatron to deal with some dumb Dimenians, though?”
Sage: “The administration sees it as ‘better safe than sorry’. “
Dante: “Yeah right, you’re just out of practice. Wuss…”
Sage: “Bite me, Dante. And let me speak to the hunk of bolts, please.”
Dante: “Alright, just a sec…”
Sage arranged for Megatron to meet him at the Hunter’s Guild, then went back inside to wait for his android companion. As he walked inside, Labyrinth fixed him with what, for an android, would be a questioning glance.
Lab: “Any luck contacting Megatron, sir?”
Sage: “Yeah, he’s going to meet me here. Any luck with X and Lucca?”
Lab: “Yes, sir. They will meet you at the coordinates in thirty minutes.”

When Megatron arrived, he and Sage left immediately. Materializing on the surface of Ragol, a few minutes away from the coordinates, they took time to ready their weapons. Sage removed a few capsules from the pockets of his coat, and released the Red Handgun and Yasminkov Handgun from inside of them.
Mega: “If you’re a Force, how can you use the Yasminkov 2000? I was under the impression that only Rangers were licensed to use them.”
Sage: “I’ve completed the Ranger certification course, and I’m licensed to use them. And I have ways of making sure I actually hit with it…”
Mega: “Yeah, Dante mentioned that you were ‘weird’. How long did you two work together? I’ve known you since I was created three years ago, but Dante seems to have known you longer than that.”
Sage: “Dante and I used to be partners, hunters working together. Then his arm got messed up, and work for hunters died out. We both retired, after a two-year career together. We’ve known each other most of our lives, however.”
Mega: “That’s interesting. He programmed me with parts of his personality, and fighting skill, but didn’t put in any of his memories.”
Sage: “He wanted you to learn on your own. That, and we made a drunken bet that even with bits of his personality, you wouldn’t be half as much of an ass as he is if you didn’t have his memories.”