The metal clanging of my hands and footsteps echoing as I climb the metal ladder up to the roof, I was sent to provide over watch from the designated building as my squad made its way to the main building to take out the HVT.
As soon as I made it up to the top I saw an Iraqi sniper looking out at the other side of the rooftop.
“Dagger, watch out for the sniper to the west of your location, I’m taking him out,” I quietly say into the radio.
Dagger, was the designated squad call sign for this mission.
“Roger that,” Dale replied.
Sliding my military knife from its sheath barely making a sound, I walk on the soles of my boots to reduce the sound of my footsteps.
Reaching the soldier, I pounce and wrap my hand around his mouth, kick his legs from under him and stab the knife into his throat, take it out, and stab it in his heart for good measure.
I drag the body to the center of the rooftop so no one can see the body from here. I grab the sniper rifle he was using and adjust the scope so I can see the target building and my squad.
“Silver, confirm visual on the target building and the squad,” I hear the radio crackle.
“Roger that, I have visual, I count two hostiles at the front doors of the building, five inside the first floor, also note there is a sniper on the rooftop,” I reply into the radio.
“Roger that, ready to move on your kill” The radio crackles once more.
I attach a suppressor to the L96A1 I took, and carefully aim at the rooftop, finding the sniper patrolling around the rooftop,
'Wind speed is...23mph to the west of me, Target is...56 meters away from me...Coriolis effect will cause the bullet to veer a little bit to the upper left. Not much to screw up my shot, but I will need to make the necessary changes to guarantee my shot will enter the T range'
Taking a breath I aim at the correct area that would guarantee my kill.
Slowly exhaling, I squeeze the trigger, and feel the recoil bounce into my shoulder, after regaining my senses, I look back into the scope to the body of the sniper fall down into the rooftop.
“Kill confirmed” I say into the radio.
At that sentence my squad enters the compound and takes out the two soldiers guarding the entryway, signaling the real mission has begun.
“It seems there is more to you than we thought, Silver” I hear behind me.
Quick reflexes coming in, I turn around with the sniper raised, expecting a soldier, but what made me stop in my tracks was that it was Luna standing behind me.
It wasn’t long until I noticed the dream starting to dissipate into white, I was wondering what was going on and if it weren’t for my military training I probably would have started panicking.
I drop the weapon and let it rest to my side.
Luna summons up two couches, and gestures for us to take a seat. I set the weapon down, and relax in the couch, I was surprised at how comfy it was, and if it wasn’t for Luna gaining my attention again, I probably would have drowned out the world again.
“With respect Luna, can I ask what are you doing here?” I began.
“Well for one thing I assumed that you had more questions for us, so I came into your dreams to talk with you,” she replied. “And there are certain matters we need to discuss pertaining to your training coming up soon.”
“All right then, I’ve been meaning to ask, what are these blue-tipped bullets in my assault rifle and pistol?” I ask, beginning the Q&A.
“Ahh, those, they are actually sapphire bullets, enhanced with a certain spell, allowing it to charge lighting-
“Sorry, but I need to cut you off there before I lose another chance to ask this,” I begin, “What are these lighting powers I have that appear when I run a certain speed?”
“To be perfectly honest, I only know a little more than you.” Luna admitted, “You see, because you are human and not from this dimension, I theorize that because you are technically the original form, meaning your DNA isn’t co-opted with another species, and that you don’t have magic, this dimension had given you these powers to balance things out, so to speak. Either that or the device I gave you made it a side effect, maybe both,” Luna ended sheepishly.
“…I guess… that makes some sense,” I admit. “But to what extent do these powers hold?”
Luna summons a screen to her side, it shows me, except I’m in third person.
“To my knowledge, if you can perfect these powers you can run faster,” The screen begins to show me running with the lighting showing with every step I take. “Hit harder,” the screen changes to show myself, punching with lightning around my arms, and kicking with lighting around my legs, “and endure stronger attacks, or in this case here, an above average punch” the screen changes once more showing me blocking a direct hit to the center of my area from a kick.
“Wait a second, that was a kick, there is no way I could just block it directly, I should only be able to redirect it, or swing it away.”
“Ah, we have found another contradiction between our worlds, you see, whenever you are in a fight, with the exception of a firefight, if you were to block in anyway, besides evading, countering, or redirecting, you would generate a magical field in the area you are blocking. The strength of the magical field would depend on your endurance, willpower, or strength.”
“Hmm…Makes sense, kinda,” I reply, motioning for her to continue with her previous explanation.
“In any case,” she began again, “this is pretty much the basics of your powers, anything else you want to know about it, you will need to find on your own.”
“Well, all right then,” I reply, “But wait, what do my powers have to do with the sapphire bullets?”
“The sapphire bullets have been enchanted to charge lightning and store it in the bullet for later use,” she began explaining, “what the lightning will do will be based on how you shoot it, for example, if you were to activate your lightning and hold the trigger, the bullet in the chamber and other bullets ranging from one to five, will begin to charge up the lightning at a fast rate, if you hold onto the trigger to the maximum of five bullets, and release, the gun will release a charged shot, capable of penetrating a meter thick stone, and taking out an enemy behind it, or if you fire at an enemy out in plain sight, the bullet will penetrate and go through any other enemies behind him.”
“And the other style?” I asked, slightly unnerved by this power.
“If you were to activate your lighting but used it on the magazine itself, the bullets will be charged with the lightning, however the difference being that instead of a penetrating blast, the bullets will only stun, the advantage to this is that the lightning is the only thing being shot, the bullets will stay within the casing unaffected,” she answered.
“If I were to do neither, the weapon will act just like it was made to? Act like a normal bullet?”
“That is correct; the bullet will leave the casing and exit out just like any other bullet.”
“Hmm…All right…I think that’s all I need to know, for now.” I say, “Let’s move onto your discussion.”
“Very well, this should only take a minute or so,” At the instant, three screens twice my size began appearing around the white room. Surrounding us, underneath these were subtitles each saying: “Ninja” “Samurai” “Ranger”
Underneath the titles were bullet points describing the Class details, attributes, Etc.
“What’s all this?” I ask.
“Simple, these are classes that you can choose, and as soon as we receive an answer, we will base your training to head up that class,” Luna explained.
I observe the class descriptions and they go as follow,
Ninja:
• Learn to ninja run and be able to run over obstacles with ease
• Be able to sneak up on your enemy and deliver a silent death
• Learn to use not only your hands for your sword, but your feet for extended reach
• Double your speed so you can attack faster.
• Run swiftly and silently to avoid enemy detection.
I raise my eyebrow at the feet bullet point and move onto the next one.
Samurai:
• Learn to draw out your sword and attack at the same time. (Batto-Jutsu)
• Learn to dodge enemy attacks with ease.
• Learn to solidify air in mid-jump to double-jump.
• Learn to dash in mid-air.
• Double your speed so you can run faster
Without a word I move over to the last one and it kinda made me almost want to face palm.
Ranger:
• Learn to handle a vast array of weapons ranging from bows, to rocket launchers.
• Learn to make your own ammo.
• Use your surroundings to your advantage to allow camouflage to the fullest extent.
• Recoil will barely affect you
• Learn to pick your targets in a millisecond time
I turn back to Luna and ask her a question.
“This is all there is?”
“Yes”
I summon up my sword and begin studying it.
“Is there a problem?” Luna asked.
“…Maybe…” I reply.
“What are you going to do?”
I smirk and raise my sword toward the screens.
“I’m making my own class.”
I rush over to the screens and in a flash of light I had cut off sections of each of the classes. (Because it's my dream, i can make special effects if i want,)
Before they could fall to the ground I grab the bullet points and summon up a blank screen, after that I throw the bullet points and they immediately sink into the screen and fall below it.
The end project was my own class, and for the occasion, I had named it: Maverick.
Maverick:
• Be able to sneak up on your enemy and deliver a silent death
• Learn to draw out your sword and attack at the same time.
• Learn to ninja run and be able to run over obstacles with ease
• Learn to make your own ammo.
• Learn to pick your targets in a millisecond time
I turn over to see Luna smiling at me; I put two and two together and became amused.
“You knew I was going to do that from the start didn’t you?” I said.
“Mmaaayybbe,” She dragged out childishly.
‘Clever girl’ I thought.
“You do realize the drawback of this will be that the training will last a little bit longer,” Luna advised.
“I can deal with it,”
I step over to the screen a press it, the screen began changing and turned to a video showing what is to be expected after the training, showing me silently killing enemies from behind, drawing out my sword fast with a blue ring behind erupted around me and attacking the enemies around me.
Showing me running over obstacles sliding under it, diving in between, then It showed me making my own sapphire bullets and other rounds.
And lastly it changed to me shooting my HK416 at an enemy holding a hostage; the bullet went past the hostage unharmed and into the enemy’s head.
After the video it erupted in a flash of light and dissipated, as did the other screens, Luna approached me and began speaking.
“We will get started on the curriculum of your training session; unfortunately it will probably get delayed another two months or so because of the variation of the attributes.”
“One last question, will this affect any or all previous knowledge of my abilities, like basic shooting, stealth, etc.?”
“No it won’t, your memories will be fine. Now then, if that’s it, I think it’s time for everybody to wake up, don’t you think?” Luna finished, and with that my vision began to darken, signaling that I was waking up.
Feeling my consciousness returning to me I slowly open my eyes to the blurry vision known as my room, blinking away the remnants of sleep I precede to get up and at least look decent.
One combing, one shower, and one brushing later, I exit out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
I look out the window to see the sun hasn’t even come up yet… And the moon signals it’s a couple hours past midnight.
“Figure Luna would do something like that to get me back at dinner.” I surmised.
Finding nothing better to do I decide to head outside, I grab just the sword and leave my other weapons in their respected cases. I figured I would head out to the gardens and practice.
As soon as I exit my room a thought came to mind.
‘Wait, how did Luna know about my lightning fast enough to make the sapphire bullets?’
*sigh* “Just more questions than answers I guess” I concede.
I begin making my way down the hallway, careful not to disturb the girls in their rooms. After walking for a bit, I realize the scarcity of guards in the castle.
‘Odd, where are they?’ I thought.
I make my way into the main hallway and I was about to make my way to the front entrance to the gardens when I was stopped by an unknown voice.
“Greetings, human,” it said.
Instincts kicking in I hold the sheath to my side and grab the handle of the blade ready for an encounter if the voice is hostile.
I search the area for the voice, looking left and right for any signs of life. However instead I heard something from behind me, and then it sounded like something got launched toward my direction.
In a successful attempt to deflect it, I turned around and swung my sword and it collided with an unknown object, when I hit it with my sword it glowed yellow for a moment, unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to figure out what that weapon was, as the assailant charged me.
Not enough time to dodge I decide to block it by stopping it by its tracks.
As soon as the attacker hit my hand I was sent back a couple steps but I was able to slow it down to a stop, It then decided to try and hit me again with the unknown weapon.
I dodged two horizontal slices by ducking left and right before getting tired and blocked it by holding the sword upright behind me. The attacker stepped back from my grip and I almost stumbled from the loss of balance, I was able to compose myself and jump backwards, narrowly avoiding a chainsaw like blade, from slicing my face in two.
As soon as I reached the ground, I saw the chainsaw blade get dropped heavily into the ground, burying it a couple inches.
“The hell are you?” I ask.
As the figure stepped out of what appeared to be a cloaking spell, it began to speak, “I am SQ-741, an MC prototype with a conversational interface.”
The figure looked to be some kind of metal robot, but instead of wires and electricity it was running on magical powered crystals, the exoskeleton seemed to resemble a wolf, except it was outfitted in what seemed to be Anthracite armor, only the face seemed to be uncovered. And in place for the eyes was just a red bulb, that shone every time it spoke, the tail was exceptionally long even by regular dog standards and the tip was replace with three long wires moving around like the tail, and on the back of the construct was the chainsaw blade it attacked me with.
Laughing at how it looked but not deciding to let my guard down, I kept my distance.
“Heh, heh, heh, a talking robot dog basically?" I taunted, "Why are you here?"
“I am here to kill you, and then move onto Celestia and Luna, by my superiors’ orders” it said.
“Now, why does your “superiors’” want the Princesses dead?”
“Directive 05 states that my supreme objective is to ensure freedom for this country, and in order to do so, is to eliminate all government officials. That is what my superiors want for me to do.”
“….Do you know what would happen when you achieve your objective?” I try to reason with it.
“Easy, freedom for the whole country.” It replied
“No, what would happen is that they would take over, then do much more bad than good that the princesses are doing,” in order try and convince it I make a risky move and sheath my blade and attempt to walk passed it, “Why don’t you try thinking for yourself and see the truth behind most words your hearing,”
“For..Myself?” 741 seemed to look like he was pondering for a moment.
Unfortunately the persuasion didn’t work, SQ-741 back flipped and landed in front of me. “If I disobey a direct order my memory will be wiped, even if I were to try and escape they would still catch me... I have no choice…” the tail ends wrap around the chainsaw grip, “I am sorry…You must die…”
Accepted the inevitable fate of a battle I began to unsheathe my sword and pose a battle stance, “Then, I am sorry, as well.”
(Author's note: Music will be added in for major battles, they also fit in with the storyline a bit, i Highly recommend listening to it)
Silver vs SQ-741:OST music (CLICK HERE)
741 started off the fight with a torpedo like launch towards me, yellow and orange waves of lightning swirling around him. I noticed the attack and decided to block it and counter with a high arc kick, it stunned him for moment and I slashed at his armor before jumping away.
“So, he’s deadly, he’s fast, but there has to be a weakness on him,”
741 regained his bearings after my train of thought ended; he ducked down and attempted to slash at me with his metal claws, fortunately enough for me, his attack was all too predictable, and I blocked it.
What I didn’t expect is for him to try and shove my blade out of my way, I still had my grip on it but it got sent backwards from me, leaving me open for an attack, in which 741 took the chance on and double-slashed at me, leaving a couple of cuts in my chest, and sending me flying.
I landed in the wall of the main hallway, and I was able to look forward just in time for 741 to begin charging at me again.
I jumped forward, blade at the ready and met 741 with blades crossed. Somehow the chainsaw blade isn’t able to cut through my sword, lucky for me I guess.
It was a battle of strength and 741 seemed to be winning it, but I was a deceitful boy, I shoved the chainsaw blade to the side and spun around and countered with vertical upper-slice leaving 741 stunned and some of his armor cut off.
‘His strength is his weakness, use my speed to counter-act his strength attacks, than counter, leaving him stunned and open for his armor to be destroyed.’
“I will obliterate your consciousness” 741 intimidated, and began launching his next attack which was a new one.
He started jumping from place to place, making it hard for me to track him, he jumped on walls, the ceiling, I got too caught up in his movements I didn’t notice his delayed jump towards me.
He pinned me down and grabbed my left arm so I couldn’t shove him off, but for some reason he left the arm with the sword unpinned, He started launching his blade towards me from above, intending to chop up my chest. I met his blade with mine, but since I was only using one-hand he was winning the battle fairly quickly, but I was able to stall him long enough for him to release my left arm to try and stomp me into the ground.
In between the time of the attack, I used my left hand and joined it with my right hand and gave a forceful push forward, unbalancing 741, I brought my blade down again horizontally and sliced off his side armor. Leaving an entire side of him uncovered, showing the exoskeleton plate, designed to cover up the inside crystals.
I put distance between us once again while 741 regained from his AI-error.
‘He’s attacking differently, he’s not following up on his attacks fully, and he’s leaving dozens of openings, what’s wrong with him?’ Just then it all clicked.
“I have no choice, if I escape they will catch me again” 741 said.
‘He wants to be free, free from his captors’ I realized.
At that moment, my visor kicked in and showed the main HUD, showed a new objective.
“Subdue SQ-741”
It also seemed to be showed a red square on 741’s back showing a power source.
‘If I cut off the armor covering it, I can reach in and disable him.’
741 regained from his error and looked around for me.
As soon as he found me behind him he began charging again his pinning attack. His body glowed yellow, and he began jumping from place to place once again.
Instead of watching him, I decided to hear his movements and attempt to find a difference between the jumps.
After hearing three normal jumps I heard a delay in one jump behind me.
‘There’
Noticing the incoming attack, I turn around and hold the sword up just in time to block the pounce. The strength of the attack knocked the sword backwards behind me and left 741 open for an attack, using the new position of the sword I use it as a balance and set it behind me in the ground and deliver a stronger high arc kick to the head, rendering 741 with another AI-error.
I get to the side of 741 and deliver the final slashes and destroy the armor covering the exoskeleton plate covering the power crystal.
I turn on the visor again and it shows the red square showing where the crystal is located at.
Finishing the battle, I shove my sword into the plate and stab the power crystal and then pull it out. Leaving SQ-741 out for the count.
“Cannot…Continue…” he said.
(You can end the music)
741 Then collapsed onto the floor, I thought he was dead but I thought otherwise when all of sudden a call appeared on my visor.
I answered it hesitantly and a holographic screen showing “ERROR” popped up in front of me.
“Directive…Liberate…Nation….Ensure freedom…” 741 was sputtering, “Must obey directive….…. Ensure Freedom…Freedom, undefined….” SQ-741 ended with a last breath, which is quite odd for a construct to do.
“What would an AI know about freedom? Huh…” I said.
‘He’s different….Somehow….He deserves this freedom, he should be able to make his own choices’
I kneel down next to 741 and begin examining him.
It wasn’t long before the girls came and spotted me.
“Chris! What happened? Are you all right?!” I heard Twilight yell.
I look up and showed them my blade with the power crystal still lodged on it, they got the meaning but I still decided to speak.
“Assassination attempt, took him down…Can you get Luna here? I want to ask her something,”
“A-all right,” Twilight replies, to stunned to notice my mistake of not saying the titles of the princesses.
She left the rest of the girls behind to go get the princesses; I then realized that there were no guards around still.
“Where are the guards?” I ask.
“We found ‘em knocked out in some bushes outside of the castle, we brought ‘em to the medical wing so they can git fixed up from whatever attacked us ‘ere” Applejack explained.
“…” I didn’t even bother to reply, too focused on the future of this construct.
‘So humanlike, yet still treated like it can’t speak and make its own choices…’
It wasn’t for a little bit before the Princesses and a couple guards showed up, flanking them on both sides.
“Chris, what has happened here?” I heard Luna ask.
“Assassination attempt, targets; you, Celestia, and I, I subdued him before he could get to you…”
‘Yet, however I want to let him go and start fresh,’ I continued in my mind.
I didn’t notice the gasps of horror come from the girls I was too focused on 741.
I then noticed a pulsating feeling coming from the blade, the power crystal, it was diamond shaped and yellow, the area where its impaled seem to be leaking magical residue.
I did happen to notice the gasps of surprise from everyone around me; I turn around to look at the girls.
“What?”
“Is that a Prehnite power crystal?” Twilight asked.
“I think it’s Prehnite, not sure about the other properties though” I reply.
“Why, that gem is one of the rarest gems in Equestria! The capability it has when it’s used for enchanting is astounding!” I hear Rarity exclaim with glee.
“Then why does it feel like it wants me to crush it?” Twilight and Rarity gasp in horror. “I’m just joking; however it does feel like it wants me to absorb it somehow.”
I turn to look at the Princesses but stop when I feel a tingling sensation coming from my left arm. I look at it and see the magical lightning being emitted from my hand.
“What’s going on?”
I pull of the gem from the blade, and grip it in my left hand; my visor comes on with an examination sequence showing properties of the gem.
“Gem: Prehnite Power Crystal; Rank 92
Ability: Blade mode
Charge: ¾
Upgrades: None
Description: This gem gives you the ability to enter Blade mode (Abilities in help section 34) it requires the charge of raw magical power or other charged mini-crystals to perform.”
“What’s Blade mode?” I ask Luna.
“From what I have heard it’s a rare ability given to swordsmen, Back in the old times Swordsmen would train for years to get this ability to use it in battle, now all you need to do is find a gem that can hold the attribute and drain the gem to acquire the ability, Blade mode is when everything except for you stops in time or slows down dramatically, allowing you to deal heavy damage to an vulnerable opponent.
The drawback is that the gem requires charge from other magical crystals that hold magical power, otherwise the gem doesn’t activate and you can’t enter blade mode”
“So, how do I drain the gem to acquire the ability?” I ask.
“Normally you could crush it like other power crystals” more gasps from Twilight and Rarity, “Or you can spend a couple of minutes draining it into your visor,” Luna finishes.
I decide to go with the slow draining, for Twilight and Rarity to use later, I sheath my blade and walk back over to SQ-741.
“What are you going to do with him?” I ask.
“We are probably going to either reverse-engineer it or destroy it, whatever seems best.”
“…”
“Is something the matter?” Celestia asks.
“….Can you repair him?”
“WHAT?!” They all shout in unison.
“Are you crazy?! This thing just tried to kill you! Why would you want to let it live?” Rainbow asks and yells at the same time.
“I don’t know…It didn’t follow up on its attacks, it left too many openings, it didn’t seem like it had a choice when he was fighting, almost as if he never wanted to fight me in the first place…” I explain.
“…” an uncomfortable silence enters the room Luna and Celestia pondering what would happen next.
*sigh* “Very well, we will repair it. We shall replace the exoskeleton, gem, and plates, but you will need to provide for the armor, and if anything bad happens and it’s the cause, it will be your responsibility,” Celestia warned.
“Consider it done.”