//------------------------------// // 24 The Major Quest Pt.1 // Story: Hard Landing // by Flash_Game //------------------------------// Chapter 24 The Major Quest Pt.1 *Beep* Wha... *Beep* Beep? *Beep* Beep! *Beep* Hospital... ohhhh, right, I get a feel of my body, At least I'm not numb... but... there is a weight on my stomach, I open my eyes and blurrily see a blob on my torso, How long have I been out? I think as I sit up and use my free hand to rub my eyes, Still blurry, but at least I can tell it's Noctis... The door opens and a nurse walks in, I signal her to stay quiet as she seems to almost scream in joy, I can only assume. She quickly leaves the room, and I take the blur out of my sight, Cool Noctis is a mess, her mane is completely uncombed, her vest is a bit dirty, and her shirt isn't tucked in. I free my other hand and start to fix her mane, straightening rogue hairs and stuff, fixed her collar too, You know what? I start to braid her mane Wait what??!!! What? Nothing... A doctor and the same nurse from before, I think, come in, "Prince, glad to see you awake," he notices what I'm doing but ignores it, "You had us worried for a second" I continue braiding Noctis's mane, "How long was I out for?" "Ten days..." I pause for a second and look at the doctor, "I see..." I continue my work "It was near impossible to find a suitable donor for a blood transfusion" "I can imagine," I get to the end of the braid, "Do any of you have a hair band?" The nurse steps forward, taking one out of her pocket and giving it to me, "Here you go, prince" "Thanks," I finish my handy work, "How long has she been here?" I look back at the doctor "Every day, but last night it was near impossible to get her to leave, so we let her stay the night" "I see. Has she eaten anything since then?" "She ate the food we brought her, but... It appears she wasn't eating well before, and she was slightly dehydrated too" I look at her, Noctis... "Could you...?" "Food is on its way," the doctor and the nurse turn to leave, "I will check on you after you have eaten something" "Thank you. By the way, who donated blood?" he smiles at me with a look that screams 'you'll see' and leaves, "Okay..." Noctis begins to stir awake, her bloodshot eyes look at me, "Good morning sunshine," I say with a smile She tackles me in a hug, "Thank Celestia!!" her tears hitting my soulder "I'm glad you feel better now," I stroke her head while in the hug After a while, we break the hug, "I got some news..." Noctis says a bit unsure "What is it?" I'm intrigued "I remember everything now, my life, my duties..." the happiness in her voice is rivalled by the sombre tone accompanying it, "But... but I quit the Royal guard..." What... I just stare, perplexed of what she just said, "I don't think I heard that right... like at all" There is no way... "I quit the Royal guard" "Why?!!" "So... so I could do this..." she kisses me right in the mouth, but breaks the kiss too soon, "Now that I got it out of my chest, you can hate me-" I kiss her, interrupting her speech, "I couldn't hate you..." she hops on the bed and gives me another hug with a barely audible 'thank you', "But now you're unemployed," Playful tone aside. What is she going to do now? She smacks me upside the head, "I'll find something, you second rate prince," she jokes There is a knock at the door. As I'm about to say 'come in' but stop myself, Noctis also covers my mouth and then jumps on her chair, nodding at me, "Come in," She's shy about it, how adorable! And you're not?! Shut up! A stallion nurse comes in with a cart with trays of food and water on it, "Good morning, prince! Good to see you awake today," he gives me a tray, "And you too, Ms Umbra," he says giving her food as well, "Divine smiles on both of you" He's awfully cheerful... I think to myself, and he leaves, I take a spoonful of mush, 'You have been poisoned' appears on my HUD, I try to warn Noctis but my body goes numb and everything turns black I wake up in the hospital room and frantically look around, I'm alone, and I find a letter on the chair Noctis was Splendid day friend, I will first mention that this it is not personal, it is, in fact, business, someone wants you dead but have asked to make you suffer first, that's why you are still breathing right now. If you want your precious batpony back, then you know where to find us. Enjoy the trip! Oh, no... I jump out of bed and rip the medical equipment from my body, then head for the door Wait, they have a gift for you What? then a smoke grenade appears in front of me You are not to use it until you get to their place I store it, What is it? I don't know Do you know where I need to go? It said you should know Well, if it's those guys... the train station... I sneak my way out of the hospital since there is no way they would let me go so soon, and make my way to the train station. I seems that even the princesses wanted me back on the hospital, because when I bumped into some guards, they immediately told me I needed to go back. Long story short, it was very similar to my first day. I managed to lead them away from the train and lose them, but I knew I needed a disguise, so I just equipped my hoodie under the cape, that somehow did the trick I walk up to the ticket booth, "Hello, I need to know if you have seen a 'friend' of mine" "Who might you be?" I remove my hood, "Prince! Yes, of course, he left you a ticket and a letter" I take them, "Thank you," the letter reads: Well, it appears you are not a stupid as you were described if you managed to get this far. Unless it's too late. Take the twelve o'clock train to the station in the swamp. You'll get more instructions there Fuck. You. I look around for a clock "The twelve o'clock train for Appleoosa is leaving in five minutes," says the conductor, I guess I'm on time... I show my ticket and hop in, "Happy travels, prince" "Thank you," I take a seat and look through my inventory, A sword, heavily damaged armour, my clothes, some healing stuffs... I am so under prepared for this... What are my buffs? I go to my status window, Let's see, 100% resistance to disease by lycanthropy, low light vision and +1 INT at night by friend of the night, +15% magic resistance and affinity plus +1 to all SPECIAL stats by... 'Alicorn blood'... oh... that's who gave me the blood... Thanks mom, or aunt, or both... Wait! That brings my luck to... eight... nice Just what you needed, more luck... It is what I need. More luck, means better drops Just so you know, those stats are somewhat exponential So I'm not just one point stronger, but instead several time so? Not several times, but it's a bigger jump from eight to nine than three to four Can I use the drop yet? Uhhh... not yet When then? ... When they tell me to tell you Are you like on the phone with them? Pretty much Huh... cool The next six hours, I spend in anguish. I tried to distract myself with the laptop, but there was too much in mind to enjoy any of the games or movies. I noticed black smoke as the train went down the mountain, so I guess 'Dragonshy' is happening right now, although, the smoke didn't extend to the mountain, so maybe it had just ended? Whatever. After Ponyville, my stop came. I got off the train and was greeted by the nastiest smell I could imagine was naturally possible; also the weird ticket pony was there... Now that I think about it, wasn't he stationed at the peaks of peril stop? Maybe he rotates between the two? I'm going off topic. He gave me another letter with a riddle, which I could only guess the location to be a cave, why else would the answer be 'echo'?. Now I've been walking through a swamp for about half an hour looking for cave, holes, ravines, if it can connect to an underground system, I'm looking for it "Muck everywhere..." I sink to my chest, "Goddamn it!! At least I had the decency to use my human clothes," And not ruin the royal ones. Jesus fuck! "And where the hell is that smell coming from?!" You're talking with yourself again "Well, sorry. I do that when I'm pissed. It's difficult to synchronize my thoughts and mouth when I'm angry!!" You don't have to yell into the nothingness "Fuck. You." The hell do you even do huh? "You're just like 'mee mee mee mee, look at me I don't have to do shit, blah blah blah, you are not doing things right, mii mii mii' so shut up for once" The hostility... Sorry, sorry, that was out off line Oh you think? "If I ever see you... I'm going to knock you out" Are you even seeing where you're going anymore? Well, it's flatland for mil- I step on nothing, "FUUUAAAAHHH!!" "... A bush prevented fall damage..." I get more leaves out of my hair looking around the glistening cavern, "At least I found my cave..." Don't you love video game logic? So... Can I use the smoke yet? Ummm... not quite I'll trust you, light hoof steps resonate from inside the cave, Getting ready... I get my gear on, sword in one hand and PKE in the other You're going to break that thing... If I can find good loot, so be it, the PKE beeps red, pointing to a large crystal a few meters further in, "I know you're there," I get no response, "Seriously..." again, nothing, "Okay then... I'll walk by your crystal oblivious to your presence so you can have the enjoyment of stabbing me," I fake foot steps and a pony jumps out, "Got ya!" he rushes at me, I block his sword and trip him, "I don't want to do this" He rolls to the side and gets back on his hooves, "But I do," he steps closer, "If I kill you..." he licks his lips, "It's payday...!" Great, I can't stop thinking about clown masks, "Let's not fight. You have things to do, I have things to do... We could spend our time doing something better" "There is nothing better than bits!" The more he talks the more I want to stab him... "You almost sound human. Money this, money that... Just back down" "I am NO COWARD!" He sprints full speed at me, sword overhead, "I'll take your bits too!" I leap fowards a bit off-center from him and slash him across his unprotected chest, "I don't want to do this..." I turn around just in time to dodge, Shit that was close! his continuous attacks start to push me back, "With that cut you won't last long... Just stop" "I'll cut of your head and give it to him It'll be PAYDAY!!" his slugishness seems to retreat "Again with the money??!!" How much am I worth? Don't ask me... I have no idea! I let his sword brush me, then I use my own sword as leverage and kick him square in the chest, I have his sword. Move successful, "We don't have to do this" He tries to sit up but falls back, "I... I can't lose... must... win..." he passes out competely I think he lost too much blood, I squad down, open his eye and use my illumination spell, Pupils are slugish, I look at his cut, Not bleeding too much. If he stays still he'll survive, I think You and what medical degree? Me and my doctorate of Hollywood medicine, now shut up. We have to keep moving I'm not physically there... You know that, right? You know what I mean, with a sword in hand and high determination, I head deeper into the cave system Apart from a few cliffs, nothing too interesting happened. So much so, that I ended up going through the three plus hours of Skyrim's soundtrack. Like holy crap, this cave is huge, good thing the pip-boy is chartering the local map of the place, otherwise I don't know how I wouldget out How long have I been walking for? Uhh? Oh, at least three hours and forty minutes "Of course..." I whisper under my breath At least you powers don't let you get tired from walking I'm not that out of shape! I turn a corner and see a door similar to a dungeon imbedded in the crystal, "Cool... only took all day, but I made it... somewhere" You can use the grenade now Okay, finally! I use it, but the crate stands two meters taller that usal, and a several inches wider, "No way..." I release the locks and the walls fall down, "Yes way..." infront of me stands a full suit of T-60 power armour, "It's beautiful..." I pass my hand over it's cold armour plating Stop drooling already! Sorry, I take out my fussion core, my stomach starts dancing because of the excitement as I go behind it, Oh, there is a letter in the slot, I grab the letter and a green holotape falls to the floor, Oh shit! I pick it up and read the letter Hello Luis, We regret to inform you that the trouble you are currently having might have been cause by our neglect of a few duties. To compensate for your troubles, the coucil settled in giving you a fairly powerful set of armour and a few abilities. We hope this is enough to be forgiven for starting the end of that world Our Sincerest Apologies, The Council of Worlds ... 'End of that world'... Well... shit... I feel the prusure on my shoulders, I slowly insert the holotape into the slot, Did you know anything about this? I was informed earlier today... I can't believe I'll witness the end of this world. I was starting to like it Oh no no no no... This world ain't ending on my watch. Specially if there's anything I can do about it Not to be negative, but... This was cause by them, accidentally, but by them. The entities they deal with are... overwhelming to be in the presence of. I wonder which on it was this time This time??!!! How many worlds has their incopetence ended?? You don't want to know... Fuck me... I return my attention to the pip-boy, this holotape has several links, much like the last green one, 'Quest', 'Mark', and 'Modules'... Quest, I guess... I select it, but it doesn't take me to another page, instead a quest announcement comes up on mu HUD, Cool, now 'Mark', whatever that is.... It takes me to a page titled 'Mark of Power', I turn my attention to the controller mark on my other hand, So that's what you're called I could've told you Why didn't you- Oh, I never asked... Eh-xactly Don't quote AJ... I go back to my pip-boy and read the description on the screen [...] So miblie games too now... cool Why don't you check the modules you got? Yeah yeah. Let's see here... Blacklight virus from Prototype, cool cool... wait, no limit?? Shapesift to what comes to mind, full control, no need for live prey. I'm so loving this. Next is- WAIT WHAT??! I made those to be near impossible to get! Full control mudules have like a million zeros before the number! And they gave it to me, so suck it up buttercup. Next is a grappling-hook-wingsuit-parachute combo from Just Cause, no booster though, oh well. And lastly, 'In-Game' store... my life is pay to win now... holy shit... They gave you a store? Yeah, on the PKE like in the game, simply because the loot module creates bits from out of nowhere, I take out the PKE and click the store button, FIVE THOUSAND BITS!!! That's just for a bicycle! What the hell?! And the modules... ... Well, how much? ...That's a lot of zeros... Ah, that much. How much for a portal gun? You don't want to know... At least there's no premium currency... Don't you have a damsel to save? "Oh shit!" Yeah, I do! I insert the fision core into the armour and hop in, it's surprinsingly comfy inside considering it's a war tool, Wait... I have no guns... This is going to be ridiculous! Nice! You can use the PKE from inside What? I notice a little widget with the shape of the meter on the HUD, Huh, nice... Is there a starting weapon I can afford? I open up the store, Oh cool, mental controls! Now, filter by type, order by price... cheapest gun is 300 bits, it's a one shot pistol with 3 damage, from... starforg- oh, no wonder it's so bad Everyone really hates that game, don't they? I have like 40 hours on it. It's not that it's bad, it's more of the promise was not only not delivered, but also abandonded and downgraded. Everyone was literally ripped off, specially since the game was more unfinished than Fallout 76... Wait, I got distracted again!! I go to the door and kick it down, "KNOCK KNOCK MOTHERFU- It's empty... Goddamn it," I walk further into the room What now? We keep on moving... I sigh, Noctis's bar flashes and her health goes down a bit, FUCK!! Where is she?!! I start to run as the the room turns into a hallway with cells on either side, "Come on come on! Where are you...?" I turn a corner and see another metal door, which I happily kick off it's hinges. Inside is a large room with shackles on the walls, and racks in the middle full of all types of torture tools What the fuck... a couple of ponies grab my arms to stop me, but I just throw them, Of course, more of them, the ponies rush at me again, swords in hand and try to cut my head off *Clank* I grab them and smash their heads together, knocking them out, and throw them aside, I don't have time for this...! I keep running through the room, Have to find her, on the other side of the room, I see a stage of sorts with a large figure in a suit looking towards the wall "HA HA HA HA HA!! This too much! HA HA HA!! He's not coming for you! You are to much of a burden to him. Splendid! I could not have planned it better myself" "OH YEAH?! Who's not coming for who?!" the figure turns to me and- Hoolyy shhhiit... The figure is a fucking demon! "By any chance, are you Vlad the impaler?" "What??" "You look like a bearded Vlad, but with horns, a tail and... bushier eyebrows too?" "As great of a tool as he was... I go by many names, Asmodai! Hashmedai! ASMODEUS HIMSELF!!!" His name sounds familiar... "Then I'll call you 'Ass', how does that sound?" "YOU DARE MOCK ME, MORTAL?!!" "Sorry, you're right. That's an insult to donkeys..." he fires a fire ball at me which a barely block, the HUD flashes telling me the arm's armour is at less than 75%, Holy shit! That's strong..., "How about hand to hand?" "You are an insect compared to me," he start to walk down the stairs, "I know how you humans are, honour is not part of your being. Alas, I will amuse you, mortal. We shall fight in hand to hand combat" Good, that'd be easier to dodge, "If I am such an insect compared to you, am I allowed the armour?" as his bulk gets down the stairs, I see Noctis chained to the wall "HA! Not even that will protect you from my wrath," he stops in front of me and extends his fist, "You shall," I still have to look up to look at him on the face I don't like his tone... I extend my hand, and we touch fists, "Thank you" "What is your name, mortal?" "Luis" "You shall be remembered as a challanger to the God of Wrath" It was nice knowing you Fuck me...