Advanced Variable Geo - Variable Nu
Chapter 10 - Collision of Memories
by A-kun
Note: You don't _have_ to know about Variable Geo (or Advanced Variable Geo as the game is called) to read this fanfic. Expect spoilers for the Anime and some self-made decisions on outcomes.
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Last Episodes: Fights. Pay attention. If you need anything else pointed out to you, go back and READ the actual chapters instead of looking for a summary.
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Memories are funny things. One moment, they can be all someone has. In the next, they can be all the person wants to forget. Some are cherished, others scorned and despised, but they are important. They make up the individual and are private, despite what science and mystics may say. No memory can be truly erased, as they are ingrained into the very spirit of every creature. In a way, memories are literally the sum of someone's life and individuality. In other ways, they are only a small part of someone, part of a greater whole.
Scientifically speaking, it is literally impossible to find out where to find the memories of a person and remove them, because the instant something is important enough to remember for a long time, the brain makes a back up and a back up to the back up. Once remembered, it is impossible for anyone else to make a person forget, because the back ups may be stored anywhere in the brain. Not only that, but thanks to the numerous sections of the brain, every aspect of that memory must also be forgotten as well or else the memory might return in full. And even if the all copies are forgotten, the body may be reminded, bringing the memories back once more.
The only real way to have someone forget something would be to either kill them or seal them up and have a clone replace them. Even then, however, the clone may remember it as the similiar brain waves might allow the original to 'connect' with the clone. Not to mention that every clone carries the possibility of being possessed by the spirit of the original, returning the memories to the land of the living and revealing to the world once again what was forcibly removed.
With these facts in mind, dear reader, we return to our story, already in progress...
Yuka and Satomi had never known the real secret behind their general connection to others. All they truly knew was that they could feel what emotions, memories or thoughts were surging most strongly in those they fought. In some cases, they could touch the deeper memories.
However, neither had really tried to utilize this talent outside of combat, let alone teaming the ability with that of the other. They had suspected what the results would be, but never truly knew what to expect, otherwise they would have had a better idea of what would happen. It was quite surprising to both of them to find themselves standing by a ring.
The fight was frozen as was the audience, as if someone had hit some sort of universal pause. Miranda Jahana and Mariko Asamiya were the two frozen, Miranda's hand was flat and posed to penetrate Mariko's body. Both Satomi and Yuka turned to see a young Azumi Asamiya standing next to the ring. Azumi's face was pale and covered in horror as she stared at the frozen fight. Across the ring, an equally young Reimi with the same pale skin and look of horror on her face.
"Go, mom! Win!"
Yuki Asamiya was in the ring behind her mother, stomping her foot and yelling enthusiastically. Then, as if someone hit the unpause for Miranda only, Miranda's hand punch into Mariko's stomach and exited through Mariko's back.
"NO!" Yuki protested.
The world was slowed as Yuki continued to protest the act, raging around the two fighters, unable to change the outcome.
"I remember this..." Satomi whispered.
"What?" Yuka inquired to her friend.
"Right before you helped me free of that machine, I saw this image in Miranda's mind... and I remember grief at the loss of someone who was one of the few people that could match her..." Satomi mused, memories of her experience under Miranda's control began returning to her enmass.
As Mariko fell to the mat, Miranda's face contorted first into that of confusion, then an unreadable emotion, followed by pure rage. The room abruptly became encased in flames as the older Yuki vanished, the audience screamed and swatted ineffectively at the flames, only allowing them to spread until everyone save those around or in the ring was completely immolated. Miranda, also seemingly on fire, screamed furiously, eyes darting around the room, and locking on a single target.
"What's going on?" Yuka asked.
"She..." Satomi began to answer, shaking her head as the memories began to return more forcefully.
"Children of Mariko! FIGHT ME!" Miranda roared, clutching at her head furiously before charging forward and lashing out at Azumi.
A younger Yuki blocked the strike before kicking Miranda in the jaw. Stumbling backwards in surprise, Miranda watched as Yuki leapt into the ring and proceeded to punch her across the face with a haymaker. However, the surprise wore off and Miranda's hand clutched the small girl by the throat before gravity could pull Yuki down even a millimeter more. Yuki thrashed, kicking wildly in a vain attempt to shake free, coughing out a plead for help.
"You must be the one the Goddess gave to Mariko. No normal child at your age could have done that." Miranda mused, glaring into Yuki's eyes.
Satomi gasped, staggering backwards, before collapsing to her back, her eyes refusing to focus. Yuka was torn between watching the scene that tormented Yuki and helping Satomi.
"You-ghkk-hurt my mom!" Yuki choked out, clawing at Miranda's arm as Miranda's hand clenched tighter.
Miranda laughed, then pulled Yuki close and whispered, "I wish you were my daughter instead."
The world went black. With nothing else showing up, Yuka turned her attention to Satomi.
"You okay, Satomi?" Yuka inquired.
"Yeah, it's just....... intense...." Satomi huffed, sitting up.
"What was?" Yuka asked.
"I saw Miranda's mind... you won't believe it, Yuka, but it seems that on occasion, the Goddess of Battle gives.... a gift to those who fight her...." Satomi began, her face growing flushed.
"What kind of gift?" Yuka inquired.
"Well..." Satomi hesitated, before blushing even more intensely, "Let's just say Reimi has two mommies....."
Yuka stared blankly at Satomi.
"There was no male involved in making Reimi." Satomi tried to explain.
Silence, save for Yuka using the toe of one shoe to scratch the back of the opposite heel. Finally frustrated, Satomi just decided to say it, "The Goddess impregnated Miranda!"
"Oooooh. Why didn't you just say so?" Yuka queried.
"I- nevermind. Anyway, Miranda believed that one of Mariko's children was also a product of the Goddess, because Mariko was only officially admitted to the hospital once. The two girls are three years apart in age, but both looked about the same age." Satomi noted.
"So, Reimi is a half-goddess? And either Yuki or Azumi is also a half-goddess..." Yuka pondered.
"It would explain why Reimi and Yuki are both so powerful." Satomi agreed.
"Hmmm, I've got this funny feeling that Yuki isn't the half-goddess." Yuka stated.
"What makes you say that? I mean, she already showed quite a bit of power in that fight..." Satomi said, motioning to the ring.
"It's just this feeling that there's something only half-true in what Miranda told Yuki." Yuka responded.
The two pondered the information as they waited. And waited. And waited. Suddenly, a monkey-shaped penguin wearing a hotdog ran past, being pursued by Yuki in a catgirl outfit and Ayako wearing nothing but chocolate chip cookies over her naughty bits.
"I think we've outstayed our welcome." Satomi noted.
"WHOA! I never knew you could do that with a cucumber!" Yuka said, finding herself staring at the sight.
"Come on, Yuka, let's go." Satomi ordered, grabbing Yuka fiercely by the arm and tugging her away.
"Aw!" Yuka protested.
As reality returned to the two VG warriors, they took note that Yuki was sleeping peacefully. Ayako and Jun were both sitting nearby eating Cup'o'Ramen.
"About time you two got out. Yuki's been sleeping for a good hour!" Ayako huffed.
"Sorry, we weren't sure." Yuka apologized.
"S'okay. Her fever went down a little before then, so I figured you three were doing all sorts of metaphysical things." Jun responded.
"Actually, I think Yuki just needed someone else to know about what happened. I mean, what we saw was more disturbing that RG made it out to be." Satomi noted.
After a minute of Jun and Ayako silently slurping away at their ramen, Satomi growled, "Hey! Where's ours?"
Jun handed her and Yuka two extra cups. No one noticed Yuki unconsciously moving the pillow under her head around her ears as all four of the VG fighters began slurping simultaneously.
RG sat on the windowsill of his apartment, waiting for Angel to finish healing from her battle, a process made easy by the training and skills taught by their former master. He was focusing on nothing in particular. Already he knew what being an Endless was really like. He needed no food, no water, no sleep, no rest. His power would stay at any level he set, no matter how much he burned up in a fight. Literally, he would live forever at this age. No wonder his master had been waiting for someone to take the power. Truly, life was boring as an Endless.
"Ah, rain. Something relaxing about it." RG murmurred to himself, finally taking note of the world outside.
Then, as always, with the rain came reflection of the recent and distant past. Back in the early days, when he was just the second disciple of the master, he and the first battled constantly, always seeking a greater power. There was no real animosity, but there was a strong determination to find something stronger. For a long time, they were equals. When RG discovered the power of his spirit, the first found himself lacking the same talent.
[It must have been his inability to use his spirit to fight that drove him to follow Miranda.] RG mused.
The master had met with the Goddess one day and agreed to be the Goddess' messenger to the victor of the most difficult tournament. The master sought the best of tournaments, seeing those that took to the streets and those that were professional. The King of Fighters, the Street Fighter, the Tekken, all of the tournaments they checked had a fair level of difficulty. But, the master was still unsatisfied for some unexplainable reason.
The brand new Variable Geo tournament showed more promise than most others. Mainly because of it's champion, Mariko Asamiya, the fiercest warrior with the kindest heart. It was at the very end, when Mariko took on Miranda Jahana for the first time, that the master felt the potential for a true fight. It was then that the Goddess first descended to meet Mariko. Every time the two fought, Mariko drew closer to gaining a victory over the Goddess.
[But until she transcended above even my former state, she would never gain a real victory. Yet, I always felt she had it in her to win.] RG sighed.
Then Miranda stole a victory from Mariko. Despite the almost completely obvious cheating involved, Mariko accepted her loss, promising a better fight. Then Miranda met the Goddess. RG snorted at the memory. Miranda's moves were devastating and could no doubt be crippling, but there was a lack of conviction in Miranda's technique. There was no fire of passion, no true desire to transcend to the next level of combat. There was only a fire of hatred and while Miranda did make for a good show with it, she lost all the same. The first decided to work for Miranda for a reason RG could not comprehend. And there was the gift of a child to both the VG fighters.
[Why did the Goddess chose to give Miranda and Mariko children? It doesn't make much sense...] RG pondered.
The next year, Saki joined the master in the first's absense and, RG snarled, Mariko was murdered in the ring. Unfairly stripped of her life because Miranda was cheating. RG pleaded with the master to keep Miranda from fighting the Goddess again. A cheater and a murderer nothing of the real fighting world. The Goddess still descended. However, Miranda was only fighting to weaken the Goddess so that her assistants could try and grab the Goddess in a primitive trap.
[As if the Goddess would fall to such things.] RG sneered.
Not to mention that with more opponents, the Goddess became more powerful. That's when the master told RG to flee and meet again in five years time. The Goddess and the master both fled in one direction with RG and Saki retreating in another. For five long years, RG and Saki traveled, making the most of their training. At the end, Saki felt she didn't need any more guidance. She tried to convince RG of the same, but RG knew he still had a lot left to learn.
[Not as much as I had thought, but still some.] RG told himself.
Saki, angry at his decision, vowed that she would find a way to defeat him. It made no sense to him at the time. What did defeating him have to do with anything? Upon reflection, he realized he had spent five years ignoring her advances. She wanted him to get out and live with her.
RG sighed, suddenly coming to terms with his own stupidity. Then this whole fiasco began. RG had been furious at the idea of Miranda being able to return when Mariko remained dead. Even if the master hadn't ordered it, RG would've burned the VG tournament hall.
[The world isn't fair. How can it be when people like Miranda are allowed to come back and the good like Mariko are left in their graves?] RG asked no one.
He snorted at his own whining. Of course life wasn't fair. If it were, no one would ever truly get anywhere. It was dealing with the hardships as best as you could that the truly strong could arise. In a way, that was the fairness. To all things came pain and suffering. And the wheel of reincarnation and life made sure that in due time, the pain and suffering was spread evenly.
"Nah, that just sounds silly." RG chuckled to himself.
Sagat was used to seeing many extraordinary feats of power. M. Bison was one of the few who did plenty on a regular basis. Extraordinary feats usually took exceptional fighters to perform them, like Ryu Hoshi. In Sagat's prime, there were maybe six to eight exceptional fighters, and he knew their names by heart. They were the only fighters he considered equals or superiors. It was infuriating for the world's finest kick-boxing ex-champion to find so many exceptional fighters emerging. It was even more infuriating to be made into a punching bag for one of them.
Sagat slammed his feet into the ground and skidded to a halt before falling to one knee. Miranda Jahana, one of the few Sagat had on his list of exceptional fighters, had 'cobbled together' a tiny tot of about eight years of age that was mostly pure power. And while the girl, Material as Miranda called her, had more than a fair bit of punch to all of her attacks, she could take very little damage. Sagat and Balrog were supposed to toughen the girl up, but Sagat wondered how they were supposed to do that when she would blast both of the fighters back twenty feet when they came within three inches of hitting her.
"Material, they're supposed to help you get stronger." Miranda informed the tiny titan with a frown on her face.
"But momma..." Material whined.
"No buts. Both of these fine gentlemen have come a long way to help you toughen up for your upcoming fights. If they can't test your physical defense, how can we know if you can stand up to your opponents?" Miranda inquired.
Material sighed.
"It'll be a new experience, Material." Miranda soothed.
Material huffed and folded her arms in a definitive pout.
"Not my fault they can't break through my energy barrier." Material whined.
Sagat's right eye twitched. He had launched over fifty attacks at the girl and all of them had been blocked by an energy barrier? Even M. Bison couldn't keep raising a such a barrier that many times. A normal human would have collapsed.
"Where did you get her?" Sagat demanded.
"Like I said, I made her." Miranda answered.
"Who did you use for her energy? I've never seen anyone in the world who could use that much power without breaking a sweat." Sagat inquired.
"It's a secret. Can't have everyone knowing, now can we?" Miranda sneered.
Sagat frowned. Only four people could use anything close to that much power. The first was Bison. Then Rose and Ryu Hoshi. After that was...
"You used Mariko Asamiya, didn't you?" Sagat asked.
Miranda flinched a bit at the name, then smiled.
"I did. And you don't mind, do you, Mariko?" Miranda inquired.
Sagat had seen a number of things that would chill an unprepared man to the bone. He was fully prepared for much of what the underworld had to provide, but one of the few things even he was uncomfortable with was mind control. As the shadows seemed to melt away from Mariko's hiding form, she stepped forward, allowing the light to glint off of the XKB-9000 attached to her head. While Sagat didn't even so much as flinch, he felt a certain amount of disgust at the sight of Mariko kneeling behind Miranda.
Mariko Asamiya was and always had been special in Sagat's mind. After all, before M. Bison or even Ryu had come around, Mariko was the only fighter that could deal the Muy Thai Kick-Boxing Champion his defeat. And she had been at the precious age of sixteen back then.
The aging kickboxer would refute it later, but he had a crush on Mariko. Of course, his blush would always make it apparent as to what the truth was.
Satomi stood outside of Jun's apartment, looking out at the city. It was late at night and the others had gone to sleep, but Satomi found herself wide awake. The events following Yuki's abrupt yelling at them to stop slurping had been almost as troubling as Yuki's thrashing in her sleep.
Yuki's words echoed in Satomi's mind, "I know where her base is. Tomorrow, I'm going there to end all of this."
Satomi couldn't really blame Yuki for her despisal of Miranda. For weeks following Miranda's possession of her body, Satomi had been plagued with nightmares of Miranda returning and using her body again. And just as the nightmares in her mind were fading, the nightmares of reality were returning.
"Can't sleep either, eh?"
Satomi turned her head quickly, relaxing as she saw Yuka exiting Jun's apartment, holding two sodas.
"No, not really." Satomi answered as Yuka handed her one.
Yuka smiled as Satomi took the can and opened it.
"Well, I can imagine. I mean, with all that's been going on, I can hardly sleep either. Of course, Jun's squirming and moaning of my name doesn't help." Yuka agreed.
"It's more than just Daisuke and Miranda. I mean, I'm worried, but it feels like... nothing is in my heart. Like all this has been doing is messing up my mind, but my heart's still fine." Satomi explained.
"......" was Yuka's response.
"It's weird. I should be overwrought with grief and agony, like Yuki is. I mean, all of us were cloned, Daisuke's gone, Miranda's probably setting a trap, RG's a REALLY creepy guy.... and yet, I can't help but feel like everything will work out in the end. No matter what happens, everything's going to turn out all right. And _THAT'S_ what's troubling me." Satomi declared.
"You're worried BECAUSE everything will turn out okay?" Yuka inquired, not quite understanding her friend.
"It just doesn't feel right. It's too much like a comic book or something. The villian hasn't planned ahead, so when the heroes charged into the hideout, the villian fights back. Someone gets captured and the villian gets away with the potential to do even worse things." Satomi sighed, slumping against the railing.
"You've been reading too many comic books." Yuka teased, hovering her can over Satomi's head just as the sweat that had formed on the can dripped down.
"AAAAH! Don't do that!" Satomi whined, jumping away after the cold moisture hit the back of her neck.
Yuka began giggling. Satomi began chortling. It wasn't long before they were laughing uncontrollably. Their laughing went well into the night.
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Chapter 11 - The Next Level
The plan is set, but how well can they do against Miranda and her minions?
What other surprises can A-kun hack out?
Will there be anything really surprising, or is this going to fall into the lame plot outlined by Satomi?
Stay tuned!
Here's some links to other VG related sites. I'll add more as I find them.
If you can read German and want to find out who the german actresses are or just if you just like looking at the pretty pictures, here's the web address: http://jasms.freepage.de/anime/vg/vg_start.html
If you want to see the original company's webpage, visit http://www.tgl.co.jp/
Here's some more interesting VG links, to either learn about the wonderful world of VG or to see some cosplay and stuff like that.
My site is now listed at Akemi's Anime World Link List.
Here's where you can get some large downloads for video clips and to find some information on the VG cast - http://www.stuart.iit.edu/students/adamadr/images/avg/avgvideo.htm
And here's the actual homepage, if you feel like linking to the actual index - http://www.stuart.iit.edu/students/adamadr/images/avg/avghome.htm
I forgot what this was, but this has to do with Advanced Variable Geo 2 - http://www.ncsx.com/ncs092198/avg2.htm
The VG girls are used for MSTing! The first MST is of a bad Fatal Fury story - http://voidstar.tripod.com/msts/vgmst.html
VG art work. If you've seen the story, this stuff's pretty good - http://www.page.sannet.ne.jp/ta152/vg.htm
Here's some cosplay stuff - http://cosplay.girlsofanime.com/cosplaygirl/yuka.html
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