//------------------------------// // Report #4: PMS(Personal Memory Sequence) // Story: My Little Pony: The Claymore Legacy // by MidnightRain //------------------------------// May 22nd, 2015, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2:35pm I laughed, pressing the trigger buttons repeatedly as I shot up an enemy player, whose username read as 'CoDBAWS1811'. "Hey, CoDBAWS, I hope you enjoyed the taste of lead!" I jeered, grabbing the red DogTag icon that fell from his corpse. "Screw you, Chaos! If you weren't using that damned Pytaek, I'd have gotten your tags!" His voice cracked over my headset, full of anger. "Sometimes you just can't go wrong with high fire rates!" I retorted, swapping weapons. I checked the scores, and frowned. "Damn noobs. Why does the score have to be so unbalanced? sixty-five to one-thirteen?" The phone started to ring, and I swore. "Dammit! What's with the timing, huh?" I jabbed at the Options button on my controller, and said, "Hang on guys. Somebody's calling me. I'll be back in a minute." I watched, as a friend of mine on PlayStationNetwork killed me with his over-powered XMG. "Damn it..." I said again, picking up the phone as the ringing became more insistent. "Hello? Is this Joshua Grimm?" asked the caller. It sounded like a girl, which wasn't much of a surprise; Most of my friends were girls. I didn't get along well with the other guys at school, or anywhere. I couldn't figure out why, and neither could my dad. "Yeah, it is. Who's calling?" I replied, sounding bored. It was something I did a lot, and it helped in ending phone calls really quickly. "I'm just somebody who knows you like anime. There's a convention in town this week, and I thought I'd mention the gift shop has props for almost any cosplay. If you're interested, I'll email you the venue." She sounded sincere, but something felt off. "Uh, yeah. My email address is..." As I told her my email address(One of them, since I had four or five to keep spammers away), I thought about the possibilities. One, this lady was telling the truth, in which I needed to put together a cosplay, or two, she's lying, and I need to report her to the cops. "Thanks! I'll send you the address now." The girl hung up, and in seconds, my computer pinged with a new email notification. I looked, and sure enough, the girl held true: The subject said 'Anime Venue'. "Nice!" I tapped the circle button on my controller, and went back to playing Call of Duty. "Delta! Give me some cover! I'm calling in a ScoreStreak!" I said, selecting my second ScoreStreak: The XS1 Goliath. It landed several seconds after, and I had to laugh. "Ouch! What happened, BAWS? You were standing in a bad spot!" I pressed the square button, claiming my Goliath. Almost immediately, a rocket flew my way, demolishing me. I swore, and tapped the X button quickly. I respawned, but it was too late. "You're here to win, Sentinels. Not play." My team had lost, ninety to one-twenty-five. "Shit. Well, that's it. I'm done with CoD for now. Later, guys. Be sure to win next round, okay?" I left the lobby, and turned off the game with a sigh, turning my chair to my computer. "Alright, Mrs. Mysterious. Where is this place?" "So, this is it, huh?" I looked up at the Convention Center, adjusting my clothes. I was cosplaying a character from Claymore, and feeling a bit odd. My cosplay was Isley, one of the Abyssal Beings, with only my backpack being out of place. I knew exactly what was inside the bag, but no one else did. I still needed a sword, so my first stop after paying admission was the gift shop. As soon as I went in the gift shop, I was awe-struck at how many props were in stock. Ignoring the props for the moment, I snuck into the employee bathroom, and locked the door, changing out of my Isley cosplay and into a custom cosplay of my Claymore character, Tamora. I took a deep breath, and made sure no one was watching, and snuck out of the bathroom, carrying my Isley cosplay in my bag. "Hello! Is there something you're looking for?" An employee jumped out from behind one of the shelves, and I jumped in response, startled. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Something about her voice was familiar, when I pieced it together. Wordlessly, I pulled out my cell phone, and hit redial. As my call went through, I looked around, before my attention snapped to the employee who startled me. Her phone started ringing, and I shouted, "Ah ha! You're the one who called me!" She blushed, and smiled faintly. "Who, me?" "Yeah, you." I stared at her, before shrugging. "I'm looking for a prop styled after the Claymore manga. Clare's sword, to be exact. Do you have one in stock?" I asked. "Go check the front. I honestly wouldn't know." The girl shrugged, and started sorting the shelf we were standing next to. "Alright. And next time, don't try to hunt me down." I went to the front counter, and asked the guy standing behind it if he had the prop I needed. "Hmm...Yes, we have something like that." He turned around, and pulled the prop from the display shelf behind him. How come I didn't notice that sitting there? I thought to myself. It was confusing, but when the guy told me the price, I wasn't gonna argue. "Twenty dollars and it's yours." He looked at me questioningly, as if to say, You need it for your cosplay, but how badly do you want it? "Deal." I forked over the twenty bucks and accepted the prop and receipt. Sliding the sword into the slot on the cloak, I stepped out of the gift shop, ready to see just what the convention was all about. Seven Days Later...May 29th, 2015, Santa Fe, New Mexico I was sitting in my bedroom, kicking ass(And getting my ass kicked) on Call of Duty. I didn't have the mic on this time, because I had Linkin Park blaring in the background. I was just sitting in a corner with my XMGs on Lockdown, and every time someone was stupid enough to run past me, they got shot up. Eventually, I grew bored, since the match was set to no time limit, and no score limit. I left the match, and the lobby, before turning on another game on my console. I didn't have time to play it, because the phone started ringing. I checked it, and grimaced. My dad was calling. I picked up the phone, and made sure to hold it away from my ear. "How are you failing your Computer Applications class? You should be passing with flying colors, not flunking!" My father's voice was still understandable, even from the distance the phone was from my ear. I waited a second, and held it to my ear. "Sorry, Dad. The teacher rushes through explaining the assignments, so I can't really understand what he's explaining." "I don't want to hear your excuses anymore, Joshua. Call Tiffany, tell her to arrange a trip to the building. Make sure she knows it's an order from the top. One of the game devs for that Virtual Reality idea of yours is screwing up the system. I want you to come and see how we fix that sort of thing, if you'll ever take my place as President of the company." My dad sounded pissed, still, but at least he wasn't shouting. "Alright. I'll call her and let her know." I hung up the phone, and hit the speed dial for my dad's assistant. "Hello, Microsoft Offices, this is Tiffany speaking. What can I help you with?" Tiffany sounded bored, like she'd said that line a hundred times already. Which, she probably had. "It's Josh. Dad wants me down at the complex immediately." I knew better than to argue with my dad, so I didn't bother trying to lie or prank call Tiffany. "Oh, hey Josh! I'll send a car to go get you then. Did he say why?" "I don't think it really matters. Just something about the VR idea I pitched to him." "Oh. Okay. Somebody should be there in about an hour, so you've got some time. Is there anything else?" I was tempted to ask if she could send me some emulators, but I decided against it. "No, nothing else. You have a nice day, Tiffany." "You too, Josh. I'll see you in a while." Tiffany hung up the call, and I set my phone down. "Now what?" I asked myself, before realizing what I could do. I went over across the room, sitting at my computer desk. I logged onto my computer, and signed into my favorite website, the best place to still find Pony fan fiction anywhere on the web: ponyfic. I checked the current listings, and fell into reading. Almost too soon, someone was knocking at the door. I turned around, and pressed the power button on my computer, putting it in sleep mode. "Alright, hang on!" I shouted, going from my room, to the door. "Better hurry. We all know how your dad gets when he doesn't get immediate results." I opened the door, and shrugged at the man, whose Eurasian complexion looked out of place when you compared him to the blue of the door. "Yeah, and we know from personal experience, Dominic. You the chauffeur?" "Yep." I locked the door behind me, and walked quickly to the car, a 2014 Chevy Camaro, colored crimson red with black racing stripes. I was heading off to the offices, and had no idea what was laying ahead of me. With a scream, I jolted upright, breathing hard. "Just a dream...just a dream." I muttered to myself, but I knew I was lying. That was barely seven days ago, two if I hadn't walked the five day journey to that Yoma-infested town. I checked over myself with a tremor of unease. Weapon, check. All of my limbs were attached? Check. Was I still a girl? Check. So why did something feel like it was missing, like I had forgotten something important? With a shiver, I couldn't help but wonder: If I had just lied, or not even made the call, I wouldn't even be here, would I? Assessment: I shall continue to watch the Claymore. But if things get out of hand, I will send one of the others in to exterminate her. Do not expect mercy, should killing her become necessary. Isley frowned upon receiving the latest assessment. "You would jeopardize the plan just because you think you know what needs to happen? You have no orders to intervene if required. Thus, I forbid you to intervene. Let things unload on their own. She will destroy herself, and we will feast on the blood of these horses, in place of humans, until we can return to our true feeding stock."