[IC] - All the World's a Game

[S121]

Beach

"Such is the life of a Spartan.", John responded to Nera.

"I'll be less stressed when the mission is done."



"I see. But listen up. I've been studying up on his actions a bit, and all I have to ask is this: was he touching anything electrical before he died?", Huey asked Jason.

"Yea, that wire over there.", Jason said as he pointed at the wire.

[Kristia]

beach

Hearing that response gave the chance to the fox --Oh really? then its ok to go on suicidal missions and be the humanity´s last hope and be awarded with insignificant medals, when can you actually enjoy some time with your friends or atleast your comrades?-- she asked without regret

[wonderweiss]

... Alright. I guess I'll be taking my leave.

Hey, listen... I like you. I come in here telling you that I not only failed, but I also screwed over your robot. By the way, that robot is freakin amazing. Survived everything that they threw at me. Well, except the darkness, whic is pretty fucked up in many levels. And yet after all that, you choose not to eliminate me. I'll remember this.

And with that, I left. I went over to the resort that everyone was in to listen in on their little plan. I snuck into a radio and stood by.

---

Huey

---

"Then... If what I know is true... The battle is indeed no over as he says."

[S121]

Beach

John thought about his life, or at least the missions he went on. He was awarded every single medal, except the the Prisoner of War medal. The awards and medals never really interested John, all that he asked was the loyalty and respect of his fellow soldiers.

("Records show Spartans routinely exhibited mildly sociopathic tendencies, difficulty with socialization...")

John thought back to his childhood. He never really talked to anyone except when spoken to. His only friends were Samuel-034 and Kelly-087. Samuel was dead and Kelly possibly met the same fate as him, John didn't know. In fact, John was the last active-duty Spartan-II. There were only 3-4 surviving Spartan-IIs left. John was alone. At the very end, John had nobody there for him, they all died.

After a moment, John spoke.

"That's because Spartans are the only ones capable of completing suicide missions. We were trained to be soldiers.", John said with emotion now slowly seeping through his words.



"Then... If what I know is true... The battle is indeed no over as he says.", Huey said to Jason.

"Then we'll just have to delete him next time.", Jason said.

"That b*stard ruined my Mantis. I'll need to modify it for next time."

[Kristia]

beach

--So you can´t control your own life?, just follow orders, what would you do if you on a mission if the person in charge woulld order you to leave an inocent person, yet you know that person would die by leaving him or her? what would you do?-- the fox asked facing the soldier´s visor

[wonderweiss]

"Maybe so, but you need to understand what we may be dealing with. And under no circumstances are you to tell John. Let him think that his battle is over. Now then, Jason... Have you ever heard of a story called MIHI?"

[S121]

Beach

(John)

John thought about it.

There were many times when he directly disobeyed protocol, and even superior officers that ordered him to do things that he thought was wrong.

Even as a child, he was like this. When he was 8, he and all the other Spartans in training, were dropped into a forest, where they had to find a Pelican dropship that would take them back to the training facility.
The only catch, the last child to enter the dropship was to be left behind. The punishment for being left behind was a painful one. John could not live with that. John told the Spartans where to meet, which made all the others look up to him. He was chosen to be the leader by his peers. It surprised John, but he accepted the role.

Once they found the dropship, John noticed that there were armed men standing around it. John didn't know that they were actually Marines, due to the fact that they were not in uniform. John created a plan to subdue the gunmen, take the Pelican dropship, and ensure that nobody would get left behind.

After the Spartans beat down the men with stones, John made sure that he was the last person to board the dropship. If anyone was to be punished, John would rather take it than let the others suffer. Using the onboard AI, the Spartans flew back to the training facility. The trainers were displeased, but recognized John's initiative and promoted him to squad leader.


John came back to reality and stared at Renamon.

"I would disobey and carry the person to safety. At the end of the mission, I would accept my punishment.", John said in a serious, but somewhat quiet tone.





(Jason)

"Maybe so, but you need to understand what we may be dealing with. And under no circumstances are you to tell John. Let him think that his battle is over. Now then, Jason... Have you ever heard of a story called MIHI?", Huey asked Jason.

"No.", Jason replied.

[Kristia]

Beach

--So now in this time that you have seen other beings and you have been with Yuuka, Aqua, X, and Yukari, have you had any good feeling for them? Would you let them in your life? or do you see them only as allies for your mission?-- the fox got up and felt a spark of pain on her arm´s bones (damn.. this will hurt to heal) she thought closing her pained paw

[wonderweiss]

"Well, it's a documentary on the MIHI project. It stands for Manually Input Human Intelligence. It was a recent project that costed millions to carry out and many lives. It was an unsuccesful project. Some say that the project is still undergoing under the radar. From what I learned, a MIHI would be considered the perfect bond between man and machine. It is immune to all viruses and human needs. It can possess any electrical appliance and travel from wherever using that ability. He put pieces of himself in our machines in order to disable it. But I know that if he abandoned the suit, he could have taken our machines altogether and used it for himself. I have the book somewhere."

[S121]

Beach

John thought about his brief, yet intense time with his friends.

X was a person that was open with his life and was willing to listen as well. He was selfless and even if he was a pacifist, to a fault, he was a good person. John remembered when in Base 3, X was being attacked by Neo-Yakuza members. John smashed through a wall and defeated the enemies, just to keep X safe. X was perhaps the most innocent of the group.

Aqua was not a part of the team for very long, but in the time that she was there, she cared for those around her and helped when people were in danger. John wasn't about to just let her disappear and be taken over by an evil entity, John was determined to bring her back.

Renamon, she was the kind of person that would sometimes get on John's nerves, but in the end, she was loyal and protected those around her with every fiber of her being. John was thankful of that. She helped him on Parsee's Bridge and despite the danger, stuck by him until the job was done. She was a person that was selfless, and despite what people said about her being an animalistic humanoid, John regarded her as an equal, a human.

Yuuka may have been reluctant when joining the group, and she may have a sharp tongue, but John knew that despite he sadistic side, Yuuka was a nice person. She may have the tendency to rub people the wrong way, but that was just her way of showing that she cared. Her jokes might offend other people, but even if the jokes were at his expense, he didn't mind. John remembered fighting off an army of Characters and Neo-Yakuza members, just to keep her safe. John may have been heavily injured, but that didn't matter to him, he was going to make sure that Yuuka could see her friend again. John made a promise to return and meet her back in Gensokyo, he wasn't about to break that promise.

Yukari... Even though they knew almost nothing about each other, something sparked inside of John. He didn't quite know what it was, but it was something that had never happened before. John couldn't tell if the feeling was pleasant or unpleasant. It was both, at the same time. She actually broke his calm demeanor. She was kind, resourceful, creative, a little bit crazy, but John was okay with that. She did try to hit him with suppositories, but that was just for training purposes. John wanted to know more about her. John was uncertain about what he felt, but good or bad, John willing to see what could happen.

They each did something that John was grateful for. In this past week, they had made him feel more alive than he had ever felt before in his life.

John teared up slightly.

All of a sudden, john was snapped back to Reality when he saw that Renamon was still injured.

John pulled out one of his spell cards and pointed it at Renamon.

"Galaxy in a Pot!", John called out the spell card's name.

Renamon's wounds then started to completely disappear.

Once it was done, John put away the spell card and stood there.

[Kristia]

Beach

Her body was healed, yet her soul was tired, she thanked him

--So again I will ask you, are we your friends or your mis- gah- she stopped as her exhaustion finally got her

Nera got her and continued --you have the fear of losing the ones close to you and feel guilt for the ones yiu lost, but what you need to understand is that we are here as your friends, we know tge risks and thats why we keep going forward, because we see you as our friend-- she said helpung the tired vixen

[S121]

Beach

"..."

John remained silent.

He knew that Nera was right, but he didn't know if his friends could help him.

He had gone through so much and there were so many things out of place inside of John.

there were so many things that he didn't understand and so many things that he wished he didn't experience.

Finally, John spoke.

"Let's go home.", John said with an almost emotionless tone.

It was almost emotionless, except for the slightest traces of sorrow underneath.

[Koishi]

Beach

---

"Aww, how sad." A higher power appeared. "Oh, I must be interrupting your little 'heart to heart'."

[S121]

Beach

John snapped his attention towards the Higher power and covered his fists in light and darkness.

"Which Higher Power are you?", John asked as he snapped back into a combat mentality.




Jason received the book that Huey had given him.

"So, does it say how to stop him?", Jason asked Huey.

[Koishi]

Beach

---

"Oh, it's all a matter of perception. I could be..."

The Higher Power emitted a burst of light, reappearing as a man with a great white beard. "The Christian God. Or..."

Another flash of light, and he was a man wearing a monocle, along with a hat on top of a hat on top of a hat.

"A true gentleman. All a matter of perception." THe Higher Power said.