Chapter 12: Sisterly Love
Max Jure limped through the elevator doors with not many souls staring at him. They walked passed him as he spoke aloud, "my future? What do you mean by that?"
"Don't worry about it, just get to the doors," the voice commanded him. Max squinted his eyes as he weakly made his way through the lobby. He thought more about what he was really doing, and he missed his parents.
"Wait," Max stopped before the doors in front of him.
The voice spoke with worry and confusion, "wait what? Why are you stopping?!" Max wasn't the one to answer this time. "Keep moving, you're running out of time. Can you hear me? Hana, is something wrong with the... No? Max! Answer me. Or at least keep moving, your future depends on it... Max!"
"Answer my questions first," Max whispered to himself. "It's obvious you're only in my head. Who are you?"
"I can't answer that."
"Where are you?"
"I... can't answer that either."
Max shouted, drawing the attention of others, "what can you answer damn it?! I'm not going anywhere until I know what's going on! Hey!"
"Max, stop yelling and get away from there," the voice hushed him with a calming voice. "You're drawing too much attention to yourself. Things will only get worse if you do, so please. Listen to me, and leave."
"Why though?! Then answer me! Just fucking ans-" Max walked past the doubled doors and held down his hospital garb as wind blew past it. He stopped talking as he looked around the many bright lights and listened to the bustling city around him. He was left speechless.
"Wait a second... Max, where are you?" the voice asked, once again with a worried tone.
Max turned around and looked to the hospital he had been staying at, "L-Lenox Hill? That's not Japanese."
The voice seemed to turn away from whatever mic he was using, "Hana, we're late. He's in New York! Get ahold of Lukas, now! Nano Tech is probably already on the way!"
Suddenly, a black van screeched to a stop and pulled Max in before screeching away. Hospital staff rushed out to look around confused, then proceeded to walk back inside.
"Good luck to you too," Psytrin waved back at Chumbus and bolted away. He ducked looked besides him to see an arrow land by his side. Psytrin looked back to see multiple players running after him, Psytra to his far left and grinning as she ran another direction.
"Stop him!" the player in the lead cried out, "he knows where the statue is!"
Psytrin turned around again and shouted out as he kept running backwards, "who fed you that bullshit? I have no idea where the thing is, hop off me, bro!"
Another player shouted out, "the mistress with orange hair! Said you're going to grab it and run off with it!"
"Sorry to break it to you buddy, but she's half right," Psytrin turned back around to focus on where he was running, "no, I do not know where the damn turtle is, but yes. I am going to find that statue." He looked around and smiled as he ran towards a large magma lake. "See you later boys!" He dove into the magma as the players stopped and watched him resurface as if he swam in normal water.
"H-how the hell are you-"
"Peace out dudes," Psytrin dove back into the magma and swam to the other side of the large lake. He crawled onto the red and black rocks, and slit back his now wet hair. The blue haired boy sighed as he looked around the barren red landscape, and wondered. Where to start, where to start. His eyes widened as he grinned. Ah! There! The boy ran towards the large mountain to his left, watching carefully as it spewed out large chunks of rocks and lava the moment he grew near it.
Under numerous rocks and crevices in the mountain itself, he found nothing. He shook his head and stomped his foot out of frustration. He decided to keep moving, and continued to scale the volcano. He exhaled sharply out of relief as he looked up to see the volcano stopped erupting, and the debris stopped coming down. Unfortunately, ashes also filled the air, causing him to cough uncontrollably. His eyes stung as he swept away the smog. This stuff's too strong! He quickly opened his inventory and pulled out goggles. As he put them on, his vision cleared but the air did not. Psytrin pressed a piece of cloth to his mouth to breathe a little easier, but it didn't do much. Minutes later, he grew even more frustrated and ignited his blade. He shouted out loud, "Igneous, ignite!" The blade glowed an eerie red vibe within the smog. Psytrin put his hand over his mouth and held his sword with the other. He quickly spun in circles, holding the sword out as he cleared the air. He quickly gasped for air before the ash in the air covered him up again. As he reached the top, Psytrin squinted his eyes to see a small beam of black and green light emitting from an object in the ground. As he wandered closer, he stopped himself the moment he realized it was in the middle of the volcano. He looked down and felt the magma, only to quickly retract his hand and blow on it. The hell? Why does this magma have different properties?
"It's because it was programmed with more harmful properties, it's supposed to shoot out, remember?" stated a female voice from behind him.
Psytrin stood up and swayed with his sword, "who's there?!" He watched as a girl emerged from the cloud of ash with her hands pointed up. The black clouds ascended as if the girl controlled the air flow. She had nothing but a black pauldron on, as well as a black chestplate that only covered her chest. She wore a brown leather belt with a white tome attached to it. The belt wrapped around small black shorts that stopped in the middle of her thighs, and she also wore gray boots on her feet. Psytrin smiled and ran up to the player, only to get shoved to the ground.
"You're not my brother," Psytra sighed as she looked away.
Psytrin glared at her as he stood up, "what do you mean by that? I thought you were dead, aren't you-"
"I thought you were dead, Claus. I thought you died, but I barely made it out. How the hell are you here?! Who are you really, and why do you look like my brother?!" Psytra shouted with tears arising in her eyes.
Psytrin's eyes widened as he shouted back with confusion, "I could ask the same about you, Luna! Where the hell did you go?! Why did you leave me alone?!"
"Leave you alone? What?! I never left your side, you ran off!"
"Wait," Psytrin stopped shouting and stared at her with his blue eyes, "something's not right here."
"What do you mean, Claus? Of course something's not right here! I thought you were dead!"
"Shut up! We should be over that!" Psytrin looked closer and shook his head, "you're a fake."
Psytra's wet eyes glowed with anger, "what?! You're calling me fake?! How do you know that? How do I know that you aren't a fake yourself?!"
"Your armor, your sword. It's all from TWO," Psytrin sighed as he looked down in sadness, "I guess you really are dead. You're just a program here, aren't you?"
"Claus, do I look like a program to you?" she pointed to her red player indicator above her head. She then pointed to her clothes, "and data transfer is available in this game. This whole event is adding stuff from TWO. How the hell are you here...?"
"I'm betting that you're like that Arso guy, a fake player. I'll be removing you from the game immediately," Psytrin pointed his sword to the air before bringing it down to guard himself.
Psytra sighed and looked to the ground. She looked back up as she glared with piercing orange eyes, "no, I'm sure you're just some imposter! People like you disgust me, the Hearts will fail."
Psytrin charged with his sword over head. He slammed it to the ground, causing blue flames to ripple on the ground as Psytra jumped away. As Psytra landed, she shot a beam of water towards him, striking him and throwing him back Psytrin tumbled towards the volcano cliff, but quickly rolled out of the way as Psytra shot out more water. He leapt into the air, only to be sent further as she controlled the air around him to raise him up. Psytrin screamed as he free fell, but put his sword beneath him. He slashed the air, creating a bed of flames to cushion his fall. He dashed towards her and sliced at her gut. As she backed away, the flames from the sword erupted from the blade, burning her torso. Psytrin looked to his sword in amazement, and smirked as he slashed the air to create flame projectiles.
Psytra lifted the volcanic rock around her to block the flames, and smacked one towards him. Quickly, Psytrin smashed the rock, only to see her blast another beam of water straight to his legs. As he fell forwards, Psytra controlled the rocks to surround him. He dug his sword into the small cracks in front of him and shouted out as he sent blue fire along the red rocks' cracks. A blue explosion erupted from Psytrin's rock tomb, sending Psytra back. She extended her hand out to catch herself and watched as Psytrin dashed through the clearing smoke.
The ground beneath them shook, and the volcano began to erupt again. Psytrin screamed out as he dug his sword into the ground and blew it away from their feet. A huge hole opened beneath them as lava popped out of the earth and into the sky. In the corner of his eye, Psytrin noticed the statue falling with them. He gripped a falling rock and held on tight as he crashed onto the dark volcanic surface. He looked around and sheathed his blade, "we seem to be inside the volcano. Must be a glitch. Look, I don't really want to figh-" he looked to Psytra and ducked as she sent another beam of water towards him.
"It doesn't matter, you're dying here, and I'm leaving with that statue," she glared as she ran towards the small beam of black and green light.
"Luna! Wait!" Psytrin dashed up to her and tackled her to the ground before rubble from the ceiling caved in on her.
Psytra looked at him with confusion, "w-why did you save me?"
"Like I was saying, I don't really want to fight you," he scoffed and looked away. "You remind me too much of my sister."
"Funny coming from an imposter," Psytra pushed him off and grunted. "Do you think it's funny to play as a dead person?"
Psytrin stood up and glared, "I never said I trusted you."
"Then why don't you kill me already? My powers are drained, Tome of Elements has exerted too much. I can't move the rocks to get the statue," Psytra chided.
Psytrin sighed again, "kill you, then what? I'm stuck here with no-way out."
"You really aren't my brother," she chuckled as she sat down against a rock.
Psytrin scratched his head and sat down besides her, "Chumbus is rubbing off on me... " He looked around the dark and cold cave-like area they were trapped in and squinted as he saw the sun still over head. "What is this place?"
"Cave underneath the volcano. It's a two way thing, but one exit is up there," she pointed to the hole where they fell in. "The other is right there," she then pointed to the large hole that was covered in debris. "I'd move the rocks but my pow-"
"There you go again about those powers, what do you mean by that. I've never seen that in this game before."
"It's this right here," she took off her armor and pulled on her collar.
"Whoa! Hey! I do not want to see any of that! Sorry, but I am not from the South or anything..."
"No! Fucking idiot. This necklace," she pulled out a small rose that lacked color, signifying that it was drained.
"Oh, uh," Psytrin blushed and scratched his head again, "my bad."
She continued, "this necklace is a Legendary weapon too. But it's the power within it, the Elements of Nature. Essentially, I can control whatever I will, but it only works with the tome of elements on my side."
"Seems fucking broken," Psytrin pulled out a bread roll from his inventory and started munching. Psytra stared with wide eyes as she began drooling. He looked to her with full cheeks and smiled as he pulled out another roll for her.
"Y-you're giving me this?"
"Mphf, yeah. Why not? We're stuck down here any way. At least until either the structure regenerates or when your necklace, element thing gets enough juice."
"R-really? You really don't think I'll leave you down here, or anything?"
"Like, I said," he swallowed and looked back to her, "I don't trust you."
She looked down at the roll of bread and smiled as she took her first bite. She moaned as she chewed, "oh jeez, feels like I haven't eaten for days. I forgot the last time I ate." She scarfed it down briskly and exhaled sharply.
"S-slow down! I have more food," he re-opened his inventory and pulled out more bread and some cooked meat. He gave her half of his rations and laughed as he watched her inhale it, "you really are just like my sister."
"That's weird," Psytra said with a full mouth. She kept her eyes on her food, failing to look back at Psytrin. "You don't seem like my brother at all."
"What makes you say so?"
"You're too kind right now. My brother would've-"
"-finished you the moment I got to," Psytrin finished her sentence. He put his hands behind his head and looked up to the sun setting sky above them. "I would've but, you come too close to my Luna... Say, what is your real name?"
"Well it is Luna. What about yours?"
"Claus. That's my name, always has been."
Psytra scooted closer to him and wiped her mouth. She squinted her eyes and ruffled her hand through his shaggy blue hair. "I don't get this at all dude, I'm sorry."
"Well I know I'm real. I'm here to save Osra anyway."
"Osra?"
"Damn, you really don't remember anything at all, don't you? Do you even remember Soarin or Lexio? What about Cordelia?!"
"Soarin? Sorry, these names don't really ring any bells."
Psytrin stood up and squinted his eyes, "then that settles it. You must be a program, or some fake player pretending to be you."
"Can you stop saying that? I'm as real as you are!" she stood up and shouted back.
"What do you mean? You're clearly a program if you can't even remember Soarin or Cordelia or... anyone! I bet you don't even remember Ben!" Psytrin shouted back. The two's bickering echoed off the quite walls.
Psytra squinted her eyes to see that the Edgar Statue still beamed from the rubble. She looked down to her necklace and shook her head as she blaster water towards Psytrin. Psytrin cut through it with his blade, before igniting it himself. He slashed towards her with more blue fire, only for her to shoot them back.
"I need that statue, Luna," Psytrin glared as the two stood in front of each other. He panted heavily, and struggled to keep his sword up.
"You need to die," Psytra snapped, "you're still some imposter. Some fake. I cannot let some kid play as a dead person."
Psytrin shouted out as he shot more fire slashes towards her. She grunted as she moved the flames aside with her hands and pushed him back with air. He fell against staggered rocks and coughed as he felt pains in his back. He stood up and held his breath. Suddenly, the flames on his blade turned black, and later into some weird dark matter.
"N-no..." Psytra's eyes widened as she watched the black flames move chaotically, "dark matter?! That's not possible, how... how can you control that?!"
"Control this!" he shouted as he slashed through the air. Dark bubbles filled the air, and shot towards Psytra with immense speed. She quickly held her hands up, but they had failed to do anything. The dark matter shot through her like bullets, letting her body to fall to the floor as Psytrin finished. He slumped over his sword as it reverted to its dormant state, exhausted from its constant use of power. He walked over to her body and frowned. He walked passed it and picked up the statue. Before he could do anything, the rocks on each side of him smashed together smashing him flat. He fell to the ground with multiple bones crushed, and groaned as he watched his health quickly fall to zero. Before everything turned black, he looked up to see Psytra limping away with the statue in her hand.
Psytrin spawned minutes later in the same spot to see that the rubble that trapped the cave entrance had been lifted. He dashed outside and looked around to see Psytra still limping away from the volcano and towards the plaza. He ran towards her and shouted out, "get back here, you boneless chicken nugget!"
Psytra looked back with grief. Blood dripped from the multiple holes in her body, but were blocked by the armor she put back on. The blood had already began seeping through her armor. She held her arm with one, and an Edgar Statue in the other, "never mind, you're exactly like my brother." She held her hand out as she leaned forwards, and closed her hand to make a fist. "You're an annoying little shit!"
Psytrin laughed as he looked around to see nothing happen, "looks like you're out of juice."
"Am I?" she thrusted her fist into the air, sending the rock beneath him flying upwards. He quickly jumped off and slammed his sword into the ground, rippling blue flames around the ground again. The fire consumed her, causing her to drop the statue. Her screams were covered in the popping noises that came from her skin.
"Yup," Psytrin snickered as he picked up the statue from her roasting hand. "All out of health too. See you around, sis. Oh, fake, sis. Cause that's what you really are, just some copy of what my sister was." He walked towards the plaza entrance and whistled with happiness. People are fucking heartless. Who makes an account like that? Pretending to be my sister... Psytrin shook his head as tears made their way to his eyes. I've never seen Josh in combat, let's just see how well he fares.
"I-I'm not-" Psytra stood up, her body charred black. She watched him turn around before entering the plaza's safe-zone. "I'm not dead, you idiot." She threw her hands into the air once again, catching him off guard. The rock lifted him into the air before she thrusted her hands to the ground, causing him to splat on the ground. She limped over and grabbed the statue from his hand as he he slowly vaporized and re-entered the respawn zone. She cried softly as she walked into the plaza, restoring her health and securing herself statue for Red Thorne.