Status: Work in progress but active
Prototype Zero
Chapter 36: Room For Improvement
Prototype Zero Chapter 36: Room for Improvement
Zero is in disbelief form the letter that he had received from Genesis in the form of a sneak attack. The other Machina are in shock at the recent discovery of the news. Zero grits his teeth in anger as he marches off. Mirage starts off behind him but Misery grabs her arm and shakes his head.
Misery: “Let him go. This is something he has sort out on his own. He has to accept this on his own and move forward. But you just gotta give him time.”
Mirage: “Maybe you’re right. I just hope he’ll be okay.”
*Meanwhile back in the hospital room*
Shun: “Well first things first, we need to come up with a preparation plan so we can get ready for this tournament. I’ll be out of commission for about 2 weeks so I’ll have to cram my training in a shorter time than you guys. Since we don’t have school until after the tournament’s over, we have plenty of time to practice and work on our techniques.”
Takashia: “While Shun is resting and you guys are training; I’ll be coming up with the pairings for the tournament as well. Hotaru should be back from his trip in about a couple of days as well so I’ll be filling him in on the detail as to what’s going on here. He’ll be excited to hear about it.”
Iteza: “I’ll get started on my training as soon as possible. But mine will be mostly in the evening due to the many errands I run during the day. You know I don’t sleep a lot like most people.”
Kohana: “Well I have an idea that might benefit everyone. We can use our “usual spot” as a training grounds. I have some virtual reality programs on my main computer and some projectors and cameras to record and analyze all of our progress. I can utilize that data and come up with fighting strategies and combinations…the possibilities are endless!!!”
The twins’ each put one hand on her shoulders.
Daijiro: “Don’t worry about all that stuff for now.”
Daitaro: “We’ll help you set up and use some of the tech from our Father’s company to help out with the research and training.”
Kohana squeals in excitement and grabs both of their hands.
Kohana: “I can’t wait! Let’s go get started now!”
Kohana drags the twins out of the hospital room at breakneck speed.
Daitaro: “I didn’t mean now as in this second…”
Daitaro’s voice can be heard as it fades away. While the rest of the group stood in the hospital room, the Machina began to enter the room. All of them, except Zero. Raijin and Terra poked their heads into the room to see if Daitaro and Daijiro were in the room.
Terra: “Where’d the boys go?”
Raijin: “Did they leave us behind?”
Iteza: “No they didn’t leave you guys. Kohana took off with them a few minutes ago. They’re headed towards her and Takashia’s house first. You might be able to catch up with them if you go now.”
Terra: “Alright. Let’s go.”
Terra and Raijin depart.
Shun looks around and notices that Zero isn’t among the other Machina.
Shun: “Where’s Zero?”
Mirage: “He’s talking a little walk right now. He received a letter form Genesis-.“
Shun interrupts and tries to get up from his hospital bed but Takashia and Iteza rushed to force him back down.
Shun: “Genesis is still around?!”
Takashia: “Calm down, Shun! You’ll end up hurting yourself!”
Iteza: “You have to get some rest and recover!”
Shun is continuing to push hard against Takashia and Iteza as they are trying to put him back down. But Shun gives in and sits back down in his bed.
Shun: “I don’t care about that right now! Zero is out there fighting as well and I’m sitting here useless in this bed resting. I need to be out there training as hard as Zero is to get ready for the next time we meet Genesis!”
Takashia: “I know how you feel and everything but you can’t do any of that for yourself or Zero if you’re still stuck in this hospital?! Think about it! You have to get better for yourself and Zero. There’s nothing you can do right now but rest.”
Aione looks at Shun with a look of worry in her eyes.
Aione: (Shun…Zero)
Kaida: “Well for the time being we all have to get to our training and get started as soon as possible. Kohana and the Twins have gone ahead to get preparations ready for us to train in. We should all get some rest for today and start fresh in the morning.”
Iteza: “Kaida’s right. We already have a game plan ready so we should just follow her advice.”
Takashia: “Yeah. Let’s call it a night from here. Let’s get going guys. Get some rest, Shun. See you tomorrow.”
Iteza: “If you need anything you know I’ll be up late as always.”
Kaida: “We’ll drop by before our training.”
Aione: “I think I’ll stay for a while longer guys. You can go ahead without me. I’ll be fine.”
Tri: “You should talk to Zero as well, Shun.”
Misery: “Zero should still be wandering around here somewhere.”
Shun: “Where did he head off to?”
Misery: “I don't know really. He shouldn't be too far according to my sensors. He turned down his signal so that it'll be hard to find him. Want me to go look for him?”
Shun: “No...I'll look for him myself. I need some fresh air anyway. I'll be right back.”
Takashia: “Well I guess we'll head home and get some rest for our training tomorrow. Get better Shun.”
Iteza: “I'll be up tonight as usual. Just call if you need me or Tri.”
Misery shrugs his shoulders.
Misery: “I'll be getting myself rested instead. Don't really feel like doing much tonight. Take care, Shun.”
Takashia, Iteza, Tri, and Misery had left the room and proceeded to leave the hospital. Shun was preparing to stand up and get one crutch under his left arm when Aione had came to his side and helped him adjust it under his arm.”
Shun: “I've got this.”
Aione: “Don't be ridiculous! You're clearly in no condition to be walking around right now.”
Shun: “I know but...I don't want to be a burden to anyone. I don't want to hold anyone back anymore.”
Aione: “What do you mean?”
Shun: “All this time I haven't been able to do things on my own cause someone has been helping me. I've got to stand on my own feet and handle things on my own. I can't let everyone down. I'll be back.”
Shun walks out of his room with his crutch intact. Aione watches him as he walks out his room with a look of worry on her face. After about 10 minutes of walking, Shun finds himself at the fountain in the hospital courtyard. He stops and sits on the edge of the fountain and begins thinking to himself.
Shun: (Maybe I was too hard on Aione. She was only trying to help only. But I've got to learn how to handle things for myself. I can't afford to be a burden to anyone else. I've got people that are precious to me that I need to protect. But maybe I need my friends and family to help when they can. We all need to help each other sometimes and I need to learn to let them help when I can't do it on my own. Maybe I should go back to apologize to Aione.)
After resting for a few minutes, Zero appeared from the other side of the courtyard. Zero approached Shun and sat next to him. They didn't look at each other but sat side by side staring into the water of the fountain without saying a word for a few minutes. Shun broke the silence.
Shun: “Everyone's starting their training for the tournament tomorrow. I have about two weeks for a full recovery before I can start training myself. You can start on your own training before I recover if you want to. I'll just rest up and try and come up with a strategy for my training that I can start on once I get out of here.”
Zero: “No it's fine.”
Shun: “What do you mean?”
Zero: “We have to get stronger...together. Genesis is still out there. Looking for his next victim. His next life to ruin. We have to get stronger so that we can take him down together. We can't let him continue to run rampant out there doing whatever he likes. I know my purpose.”
Shun: “Purpose?”
Zero: “Yeah...my purpose is to stop Genesis. He was the first of our kind of Machina to be made. He was the first in a new generation. But I know that I was made as a safety precaution. I was made to stop him in case he decided to turn against those who created him. My destiny is clear....I must stop Genesis. I must stop my brother.”
Zero turns his back as he begins to walk away when Shun places a hand on his shoulder and forces him to turn around.
Shun: “No...We must stop Genesis. I told you I would be here for you to find out everything about your past and your purpose. I think there's more to your existence than to just stop your brother.
Zero: “Huh? What do you mean?”
Shun: “You were made for more than just a stop measure for Genesis, you have a purpose here just as much as I do. It may be greater than us ourselves. We may be able to change the world forever, or even change our lives forever. But whatever reason it is, I told you form the first day we met: we're in this together!”
Zero picks his head up and looks Shun in his eyes. Zero smirks at Shun and punches him lightly in his side. Shun hunches over a little from the hit with a smile on his face. Zero smiles back.
Zero: “I hope so, Shun. You know if I had tears I'd probably shed a few by now. I hate emotional moments like this.”
Shun: “Let's make this partnership work, Zero. We need to get some rest. It's getting really late. Let's get back to the hospital room.”
Zero: “Yeah. We both need to get some rest. How's the rest of the guys taking the news?”
Shun: “They're just as surprised as I am to find out about it. Come now, Aione's waiting for us.”
Shun and Zero head back to the hospital laughing the whole way. Once they get near Shun's room door, Shun stops Zero and signals him to be quiet. They tiptoe into the room as quietly as possibly. Aione was still in the chair on the other side of the room. She opened one eye and saw them walking back in. A smile came across Aione' s faceas she adjusted herself and went to back to sleep.
*The Next Day*
Kohana is sitting at her table in front of her computer punching in some keys. She is typing in some final keystrokes and takes a sip from her cup.
Kohana: “Mmmmmm, a smoothie in the morning is the best way to get the day started. Now to just upload some last minute encryption files and last minute updates aaaaannnnnnddddd....done!”
Kohana makes a few clicks on her computer and she makes a conference call.
The members of the team answer one by one.
Iteza: “Morning everyone. Tri and I checking in.”
Takashia: “Man! It's morning already. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up too late playing video games.”
Kohana: “Yeah I could hear you and Misery form the next room laughing it up. You were distracting my work a bit. Wake him up to hear this as well.”
Kaida: “Gab and I are present. Good morning everyone.”
Aione: “Morning guys. Me and Mirage are up. Its a lovely morning.”
Kohana observes the background a bit closely.
Kohana: “Is that the hospital? Did you spend the night in Shun's room?!”
Shun rushes to the video screen and smiles nervously.
Shun: “No! No! It's not like that. She fell asleep here looking after me. Me and Zero spent most of the night talking and chatting it up. That's all.”
Shun chuckles nervously. Daitaro and Daijiro ring in just in time to break the awkwardness of the situation that Shun has found himself in.
Daitaro: “The Saito Twins checking in.”
Daijiro: “We even made some renovations to Our Usual Spot. Our boys work really fast in the dead of night. We can't wait to show it to you guys.”
Kohana: “Well now that you're all here I've got some news for you guys. Our new state-of-the-art training program is now complete!”
-End
Zero is in disbelief form the letter that he had received from Genesis in the form of a sneak attack. The other Machina are in shock at the recent discovery of the news. Zero grits his teeth in anger as he marches off. Mirage starts off behind him but Misery grabs her arm and shakes his head.
Misery: “Let him go. This is something he has sort out on his own. He has to accept this on his own and move forward. But you just gotta give him time.”
Mirage: “Maybe you’re right. I just hope he’ll be okay.”
*Meanwhile back in the hospital room*
Shun: “Well first things first, we need to come up with a preparation plan so we can get ready for this tournament. I’ll be out of commission for about 2 weeks so I’ll have to cram my training in a shorter time than you guys. Since we don’t have school until after the tournament’s over, we have plenty of time to practice and work on our techniques.”
Takashia: “While Shun is resting and you guys are training; I’ll be coming up with the pairings for the tournament as well. Hotaru should be back from his trip in about a couple of days as well so I’ll be filling him in on the detail as to what’s going on here. He’ll be excited to hear about it.”
Iteza: “I’ll get started on my training as soon as possible. But mine will be mostly in the evening due to the many errands I run during the day. You know I don’t sleep a lot like most people.”
Kohana: “Well I have an idea that might benefit everyone. We can use our “usual spot” as a training grounds. I have some virtual reality programs on my main computer and some projectors and cameras to record and analyze all of our progress. I can utilize that data and come up with fighting strategies and combinations…the possibilities are endless!!!”
The twins’ each put one hand on her shoulders.
Daijiro: “Don’t worry about all that stuff for now.”
Daitaro: “We’ll help you set up and use some of the tech from our Father’s company to help out with the research and training.”
Kohana squeals in excitement and grabs both of their hands.
Kohana: “I can’t wait! Let’s go get started now!”
Kohana drags the twins out of the hospital room at breakneck speed.
Daitaro: “I didn’t mean now as in this second…”
Daitaro’s voice can be heard as it fades away. While the rest of the group stood in the hospital room, the Machina began to enter the room. All of them, except Zero. Raijin and Terra poked their heads into the room to see if Daitaro and Daijiro were in the room.
Terra: “Where’d the boys go?”
Raijin: “Did they leave us behind?”
Iteza: “No they didn’t leave you guys. Kohana took off with them a few minutes ago. They’re headed towards her and Takashia’s house first. You might be able to catch up with them if you go now.”
Terra: “Alright. Let’s go.”
Terra and Raijin depart.
Shun looks around and notices that Zero isn’t among the other Machina.
Shun: “Where’s Zero?”
Mirage: “He’s talking a little walk right now. He received a letter form Genesis-.“
Shun interrupts and tries to get up from his hospital bed but Takashia and Iteza rushed to force him back down.
Shun: “Genesis is still around?!”
Takashia: “Calm down, Shun! You’ll end up hurting yourself!”
Iteza: “You have to get some rest and recover!”
Shun is continuing to push hard against Takashia and Iteza as they are trying to put him back down. But Shun gives in and sits back down in his bed.
Shun: “I don’t care about that right now! Zero is out there fighting as well and I’m sitting here useless in this bed resting. I need to be out there training as hard as Zero is to get ready for the next time we meet Genesis!”
Takashia: “I know how you feel and everything but you can’t do any of that for yourself or Zero if you’re still stuck in this hospital?! Think about it! You have to get better for yourself and Zero. There’s nothing you can do right now but rest.”
Aione looks at Shun with a look of worry in her eyes.
Aione: (Shun…Zero)
Kaida: “Well for the time being we all have to get to our training and get started as soon as possible. Kohana and the Twins have gone ahead to get preparations ready for us to train in. We should all get some rest for today and start fresh in the morning.”
Iteza: “Kaida’s right. We already have a game plan ready so we should just follow her advice.”
Takashia: “Yeah. Let’s call it a night from here. Let’s get going guys. Get some rest, Shun. See you tomorrow.”
Iteza: “If you need anything you know I’ll be up late as always.”
Kaida: “We’ll drop by before our training.”
Aione: “I think I’ll stay for a while longer guys. You can go ahead without me. I’ll be fine.”
Tri: “You should talk to Zero as well, Shun.”
Misery: “Zero should still be wandering around here somewhere.”
Shun: “Where did he head off to?”
Misery: “I don't know really. He shouldn't be too far according to my sensors. He turned down his signal so that it'll be hard to find him. Want me to go look for him?”
Shun: “No...I'll look for him myself. I need some fresh air anyway. I'll be right back.”
Takashia: “Well I guess we'll head home and get some rest for our training tomorrow. Get better Shun.”
Iteza: “I'll be up tonight as usual. Just call if you need me or Tri.”
Misery shrugs his shoulders.
Misery: “I'll be getting myself rested instead. Don't really feel like doing much tonight. Take care, Shun.”
Takashia, Iteza, Tri, and Misery had left the room and proceeded to leave the hospital. Shun was preparing to stand up and get one crutch under his left arm when Aione had came to his side and helped him adjust it under his arm.”
Shun: “I've got this.”
Aione: “Don't be ridiculous! You're clearly in no condition to be walking around right now.”
Shun: “I know but...I don't want to be a burden to anyone. I don't want to hold anyone back anymore.”
Aione: “What do you mean?”
Shun: “All this time I haven't been able to do things on my own cause someone has been helping me. I've got to stand on my own feet and handle things on my own. I can't let everyone down. I'll be back.”
Shun walks out of his room with his crutch intact. Aione watches him as he walks out his room with a look of worry on her face. After about 10 minutes of walking, Shun finds himself at the fountain in the hospital courtyard. He stops and sits on the edge of the fountain and begins thinking to himself.
Shun: (Maybe I was too hard on Aione. She was only trying to help only. But I've got to learn how to handle things for myself. I can't afford to be a burden to anyone else. I've got people that are precious to me that I need to protect. But maybe I need my friends and family to help when they can. We all need to help each other sometimes and I need to learn to let them help when I can't do it on my own. Maybe I should go back to apologize to Aione.)
After resting for a few minutes, Zero appeared from the other side of the courtyard. Zero approached Shun and sat next to him. They didn't look at each other but sat side by side staring into the water of the fountain without saying a word for a few minutes. Shun broke the silence.
Shun: “Everyone's starting their training for the tournament tomorrow. I have about two weeks for a full recovery before I can start training myself. You can start on your own training before I recover if you want to. I'll just rest up and try and come up with a strategy for my training that I can start on once I get out of here.”
Zero: “No it's fine.”
Shun: “What do you mean?”
Zero: “We have to get stronger...together. Genesis is still out there. Looking for his next victim. His next life to ruin. We have to get stronger so that we can take him down together. We can't let him continue to run rampant out there doing whatever he likes. I know my purpose.”
Shun: “Purpose?”
Zero: “Yeah...my purpose is to stop Genesis. He was the first of our kind of Machina to be made. He was the first in a new generation. But I know that I was made as a safety precaution. I was made to stop him in case he decided to turn against those who created him. My destiny is clear....I must stop Genesis. I must stop my brother.”
Zero turns his back as he begins to walk away when Shun places a hand on his shoulder and forces him to turn around.
Shun: “No...We must stop Genesis. I told you I would be here for you to find out everything about your past and your purpose. I think there's more to your existence than to just stop your brother.
Zero: “Huh? What do you mean?”
Shun: “You were made for more than just a stop measure for Genesis, you have a purpose here just as much as I do. It may be greater than us ourselves. We may be able to change the world forever, or even change our lives forever. But whatever reason it is, I told you form the first day we met: we're in this together!”
Zero picks his head up and looks Shun in his eyes. Zero smirks at Shun and punches him lightly in his side. Shun hunches over a little from the hit with a smile on his face. Zero smiles back.
Zero: “I hope so, Shun. You know if I had tears I'd probably shed a few by now. I hate emotional moments like this.”
Shun: “Let's make this partnership work, Zero. We need to get some rest. It's getting really late. Let's get back to the hospital room.”
Zero: “Yeah. We both need to get some rest. How's the rest of the guys taking the news?”
Shun: “They're just as surprised as I am to find out about it. Come now, Aione's waiting for us.”
Shun and Zero head back to the hospital laughing the whole way. Once they get near Shun's room door, Shun stops Zero and signals him to be quiet. They tiptoe into the room as quietly as possibly. Aione was still in the chair on the other side of the room. She opened one eye and saw them walking back in. A smile came across Aione' s faceas she adjusted herself and went to back to sleep.
*The Next Day*
Kohana is sitting at her table in front of her computer punching in some keys. She is typing in some final keystrokes and takes a sip from her cup.
Kohana: “Mmmmmm, a smoothie in the morning is the best way to get the day started. Now to just upload some last minute encryption files and last minute updates aaaaannnnnnddddd....done!”
Kohana makes a few clicks on her computer and she makes a conference call.
The members of the team answer one by one.
Iteza: “Morning everyone. Tri and I checking in.”
Takashia: “Man! It's morning already. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up too late playing video games.”
Kohana: “Yeah I could hear you and Misery form the next room laughing it up. You were distracting my work a bit. Wake him up to hear this as well.”
Kaida: “Gab and I are present. Good morning everyone.”
Aione: “Morning guys. Me and Mirage are up. Its a lovely morning.”
Kohana observes the background a bit closely.
Kohana: “Is that the hospital? Did you spend the night in Shun's room?!”
Shun rushes to the video screen and smiles nervously.
Shun: “No! No! It's not like that. She fell asleep here looking after me. Me and Zero spent most of the night talking and chatting it up. That's all.”
Shun chuckles nervously. Daitaro and Daijiro ring in just in time to break the awkwardness of the situation that Shun has found himself in.
Daitaro: “The Saito Twins checking in.”
Daijiro: “We even made some renovations to Our Usual Spot. Our boys work really fast in the dead of night. We can't wait to show it to you guys.”
Kohana: “Well now that you're all here I've got some news for you guys. Our new state-of-the-art training program is now complete!”
-End