---Ryujin Kel/Ryudo Kelekolio---

It was really convenient that I managed to pick up some gear before the shit hit the fan. My image had been projected onto every screen that was hooked up to the station’s internal network. Centering this whole thing around me was some really self indulgent crap on my parents part, but making the best of a weird situation is what would have to happen.

That same voice came through every loudspeaker again as the woman cackled again. “Five! Four! Three! FUCK IT! Leave Ryujin alive! Kill everyone else~!” I winced at the noise blasting out of a nearby speaker as I rocketed around a corner, the energy-grapple flinging me around using the pulse jets on my boots as propulsion. Dang, this was actually a really fun way to travel.

When the PM from Webby came in it drew my attention to the highest number of cameras focused on me that I’d seen so far. Eighty fucking cameras, sweet zombie jesus on a pogo stick, that almost threw off my concentration.

Spindra: I’ll work on getting station controls back. You join the opposition near the airlocks. They’ve got a fleet parked outside, we need to get station control back, I’m coordinating with a team here. They’re...after you, apparently, so make as big a ruckus as you can to draw them off us so we can get to the Battleframe hangars. Guess I’m acting captain while Achilles is logged out, huh? 

You: Roger that, Captain. Engaging in...hallway 7 A.

Spindra: Dang, cool as a cucumber.

Could they be prepared for my illusions? I wondered. Nobody but me knew I had them. Coming around the opposite corner as I rounded were figures I recognized as Vulper, raising pistols to fire before their eyes went wide at sighting me. If they killed me it was mission failed, and I fully intended to take advantage of that fact. My HUD recognized them as NPC enemies, so I didn’t feel quite so bad as I twisted in the air and threw a knife at him, catching him in the shoulder and causing him to howl with pain and attempt to pull the knife out.

These guys weren’t armored, I noticed. I pulsed the boots to slow myself, landing flat-footed on the corridor wall then springing off, unsheathing and extending my spear and slicing across the chest of a second man. My spear crackled with more energy this time, sending out a sort of...shockwave. The vulper man’s body fell in two parts from the nipples up.

Holy shit. Was that what they meant by Tranquility Level 2 Modifier?

An armored figure stepped out of cover and leveled a gun at me, before shaking its helmeted head and cursing. It turned its pistol on the man trying to pull the knife out and blew his head off. “Capture him alive, maggots!” He killed his own man? That was a stupid decision. That left three against me, two unarmored. The other two looked significantly more motivated, though. Taking a deep breath, I smirked at them. I took a feint step forward, then darted to the side as they rushed forward to meet me, sweeping my spear towards them and splattering their commanding officer with some really nasty bits.

“Highness, I don’t want to hurt you, but you only have to be alive. Not whole. Peasants lives can’t be worth betraying your family!” As he continued trying to persuade me to join the ‘True inheritors of the galaxy’ I figured I should probably interrupt him with a cool one liner. Even more cameras were focusing on me now. Instead, because I couldn’t think of anything, I stepped forward, putting him just inside my territory.

There were two of me. Then three. Then five. A ball of blue fire in the hand of each. I was causing this and it felt surreal to look at. I felt the heat of the flame in my hand, but my gloves and skin didn’t burn. I walked towards the armored man. Slowly and deliberately. He looked at one, then another, leveling his rifle at one, then another, shaking. I almost felt bad as he retracted his visor to get a better look, apparently whatever sensors were in the visor couldn’t tell the difference between the six Ryujins standing in a circle around him.

I shoved the fire into his visor, then generated a gout of the flame directly into it. His body jerked up stock straight, and the armor slumped boneless to the ground, the smell of burnt flesh leaking from the open visor. 

My hunger meter had only emptied by about a tenth from that. I grinned, reaching into my canvas bag and grabbing a meal bar, eating as I took off towards the bulk of the fighting a little more carefully this time.

---Spindra Welkin---

“Shit shit shit!”

 

The encryption on this shits wasn’t remotely strong, there was just a lot of it. I only had three other players helping me with this, and I was the one leading the charge. Everyone else was keeping waves of idiot foxes from breaking into the station security booth we’d commandeered.

I saw Sakura log on in the corner of my eye as I did more magic hacky bullshit. As my little helpers to my left and right were getting control back of the video screens, I wished computers were this easy to use IRL. The interns at my clinic wouldn’t have nearly as much work to do. The Battleframe hangar was still locked, though, and they had a whole ass fleet outside. This was the norm for this game, though. Cutthroat as heck, but as soon as big events happened, everyone banded together. Mostly for the rewards; we’d all be getting shit tons of StarCred for this. I was the low-key member of Rabbit’s Foot when I wasn’t flirting with someone for the fun of it, so  I wasn’t used to the fifty cameras focused on me.

Sakura: Uuuugh, shit, the event was timed to Ryujin’s login, I think. What was he thinking logging in right at midnight? I don’t think there’s anyone but NPCs on the enemy side so they’re easing us into the war.

You: Jeez, it’s like one AM for you, Foxy. Achilles and Frida are moving in with Leslie, right? I guess it’s just us?

Sakura: Yep. I- holy shit did Ryujin just rocket past on jet boots? He’s covered in gore and none of it looks like it’s his. Big change from the other day. Well, chain of command and all that, orders?

You: Ryujin’s causing as much chaos as possible to draw the enemy off as much as he can. You go assist with that.

I could practically feel her hesitation. She was never any good at taking orders. As much as she was the Team Mom, she was incredibly hot headed.

 

Sakura: Roger.

“Miss Spindra! We’ve got control of the airlocks, they can’t vent the atmosphere now.”

“Good plan, they’ll probably try to vent the place if they grab Ryujin.”  I said, tapping away at the holographic keyboard in front of me, the datajack cable in my middle-left hand connected directly to the console in front of me. “Still trying to get the hangar doors open, you focus on regaining station control.”

A loud howl came from outside, followed by screaming. HellHound was leading the charge in keeping the Vulper off of us, but it sounded like she’d gone a bit feral. I really hoped our performances in this war didn’t end here, though, that would hella suck.

---Sakura Kel Vulpes/Yua Kelekolio---

Another cackle blared out through the PA system as I let out a low growl, sending a shockwave down the hallway, bisecting seven of the cannon fodder soldiers and knocking over one of the tin can suited Marines. I was heavily in character, and whenever I got this way, Sakura and Yua became the same person.

And we were mad as hell.

That irritating voice came again, my cousin Yukina’s irritating cackling laugh following a little speech.“Little brother~! How many more have to die? I mean I’m just gonna vent the station’s atmo as soon as we have you in custody, why would I let these savages live? Oops, I shouldn’t have said that out loud!”  I wanted to break her in half.

“Kill the Peon!”, the tin can shouted over the speaker in his helmet, and I rushed forward as the cannon fodder opened fire. Round plinked off my armor, and one shot took me in the forehead. Pain exploded and my head snapped backwards, my run slowing for a moment, before I leaned forward, the bullet falling to a crumpled mass on the ground as I screamed in anger, dancing a bloody swath through the enemies with my photonic saber. My spirit cut through the powered armor like butter. I felt my hunger catching up with me, though. My healing took it out of me after a while, wounds started to add up. With the corridor empty, I pulled a meal bar from my pack and ravenously ate it, straining my ears for any clues as to where to head next. I was well away from the bulk of the fighting at this point.

“We’re at the Promenade, you little traitor. Let’s be real, I might let your new friends live as palace servants if you surrender peacefully. Except for that filthy lesser. I want her head on a pike.” Oh, goodie, she meant me. She was huffing instead of laughing now, her voice had gone from manic to cold like a lightswitch.

“Promenade then? On my way, you demanding little…” came a grumble from nearby. Familiar fox ears poked out from behind a corner before the gore covered figure of Ryujin rounded and grinned at me. “Sakura! Are you hurt? Your face is covered in blood…” He trotted up to me, looking slightly winded but unhurt despite the mess. “I got turned around, which way is the Promenade?”

“Most of it isn’t mine. I heal now,  I guess the Vulperian Empire’s experiments woke something up, I’ve seen a lot of people flinging...magic around today. You’re covered in blood, too, but it looks like you're not hurt.”  I gestured down the corridor. “Follow the signs. It looks like they want you alive, take advantage of that and tear that bitch apart. I’ll be a while,  I need to recharge.”

He took off like a shot, hitting a dead sprint then boosting off. Grapple steering was a common strategy for skip boots, I was slightly surprised he’d figured it out so quickly.

“Godspeed, kiddo. I’ll catch up soon.”

Goddamn, chucking down this many meal bars sucked. These were bland as hell and tasted almost like sawdust, I should have bought some pastries or something,

---Ryujin Kel/Ryudo Kelekolio---

Food meter was topped out again, I was lucky I hadn’t choked shoving those bland ass meal bars down my gullet as I rocketed through the station. I was going to need to learn to manage my magic a lot better, foxfire took more out of me than illusions as far as I could tell. I’d been blasting gout after gout of the stuff at groups of the unarmored guys. Effective, but the smell would haunt me.

I clicked my earpiece, satisfied to hear Webby swearing at whatever she was working on. We could make our communications canon to the show now, because I knew Rabbit’s Foot had a show, and this event was gonna kick off at least one series. The audience knowing what we were up to would make the drama that much more palpable. “Webby, what’s your progress on the hangar?”

“We’re making headway. The fleet outside is huge but it’s been engaged by the Royal Justinean Navy and three groups of pirates that have called a truce. If we get out there with enough frames we just might stand a chance.”

“I’ll leave it to you. I’ve got a plan, relay to Sakura that I’m challenging their boss to Divine Judgement, she’ll know what I mean. It’ll buy you some time, too.” I practically hear her incredulity as she swore under her breath, then clicked her fangs in satisfaction at another node bypassed, probably.

“No idea what that means, but I’ll pass it along.”

“Over and out.” I affirmed, rocketing around a corner. The promenade was in view, as was the besieged security booth. There was a hell of a fracas going on, I needed to assess this on the fly or I’d be fucked. Nine assorted players laying into the tide of Vulper cannon fodder with small arms, one with some kind of laser minigun. I could see Webby frantically flailing all six arms at a holographic display inside the booth with two other people, and a wolf-like woman howling as she tore into the hordes with claws and a flaming katana. They were holding back the tide for now, but sheer numbers would win the day eventually.

I was calculating wolf-lady’s chances in my head as I grappled along the walls, pulsing my boots as I bounced up the corridor, when I noticed some kind of riot control trooper come into view. More lightly armored than the clunky guys, his shoulder-mounted howitzer being loaded up with some kind of capsule by the rank and file. That had to be some kind of explosive, and they were aiming it right at her.

I did the only thing I could think to do in the moment, and shot my grapple towards the weapon as I zipped past the woman, latching onto it and ripping it off the man’s shoulder before turning in mid-air and firing it towards the oncoming tide of soldiers. It halted my trajectory, bringing me to a stop about ten feet from her in midair, as I turned myself around to land on my feet. This body was a lot more agile than my real one.

I really should have plugged my ears, the explosion rocked the corridor. I heard a high pitch expletive come from the security booth over the ringing in my ears, somehow, as bits of Vulper rained down onto the corridor. The masked woman turned to look at me as I was turning back to see if everyone was okay. Everyone was staring at me wide eyed, and I could practically feel the masked woman’s eyebrow raise. A cool one liner would really help here, but I could already tell I was terrible at those. I made a ‘finger guns’ gesture towards the masked woman before rocketing off down the corridor again, I was already covered in gore, a little bloody mist wouldn’t hurt. As I rushed off, I heard an incredulous voice from the masked woman, and it made me smirk.

“It...It’s that nub!”

Dunno where she recognized me from, maybe she’d been one of the people I’d gawked at on my first day? This was literally my third day, though, and I was expecting to get my shit wrecked any minute. But hey, just a game, no use getting mad. Enjoy the moment, right? I was living out my action movie dreams.

I rocketed over the heads of the next wave of trash mobs, who turned weapons on me before lowering them and continuing their march. I pulsed my boots as I landed on the platform housing the enemy I was after, sliding across the floor and unlimbering my spear from its sheath on my hip with my left hand as I unholstered my sidearm with my right.

I came to a stop in front of her, hearing Sakura roaring in the distance, having nearly caught up. Stalled at the security booth...I was alone up here.

“So, little brother, you finally join us. Put down your little toys and come along, then, I’ll make it quick and just have my men bombard the station on the way out.” The gaudily dressed Vulper woman glowered at me for a moment, then resumed a cocky smirk, taking a leash and collar from the belt of a red and gold trimmed jumpsuit and motioning for me to come to her. As if to punctuate her unspoken statement, small blades began to hover up from the floor, arranging themselves into a winglike pattern behind her. “They said you had to be alive, not whole, little brother. Come along before I get testy.”

“Two words. Divine Judgement.”

As soon as I spoke the words, every Vulper soldier was encased in a shield and standing motionless. The bladed wings fell apart and clattered to the ground as the woman in front of my yanked he one long blonde braid and screamed in an inarticulate fury. I tossed my pistol to the floor and took a traditional Vulper dueling stance as she threw the leash on the ground and did the same, unlimbering her own telescoping spear. Spear held aloft and pointed downward, left foot forward, right back. She broke stance to dash forward, her stab finding purchase in my gut...as the illusion vanished in a puff of white smoke.

“What the fu-”

I unloaded my sidearm into her from behind. Her character model vanished in the same blue phasing effect as a normal player’s did before she hit the ground.

As the shields disengaged, the Vulper soldiers all stred, stunned. It didn’t fit with real tactical sense to send only one commander into a boarding situation but this WAS a video game. I slotted a fresh magazine into my sidearm, pointing it at the nearest grunt and blowing his head into chunky salsa. 

I put a finger to my earpiece to turn it back on. “Webby, progress on the hanger door?”

“That...wasn’t very sporting, you know. Also that illusion was heckin’ siiiiick.”

“Life or death situation. Progress on the hangar door?” I calmly intoned as I turned and fired on another soldier as he raised his weapon in shaking hands. They seemed...despondent after I had killed their commander. She was apparently my character’s sister, but her name wasn’t in my backstory. Very few names were, my character had basically been locked in a box.

“Aaaand open! Are those guys...oh holy shit...” Webby’s report devolved into retching 

A cacophonous parade of weird sloshing and glooping noises surrounded me. My stomach turned at the weird vicious sound as the rank and file surrounding me melted, schlorping into the ground in piles of fatigues and cheaply made weaponry now covered in a weird meat colored goo.

“What the fuck?” I stammered in surprise, feeling a bit nauseous. It passed quickly when I repeated my just a game mantra in my head. I heard Sakura pipe up, snorting a derisive laugh in my earpiece.

 

“Vulper common folk aren’t allowed off their home planets, but they’d never risk a noble like this. Quick clones. Commoners get paid to donate genetic material for them.” I was stunned, but that did explain why so many had looked so similar to each other. Lore reasons for NPC reuse, probably.

“Patch me into the station PA system.” I croaked, after taking a minute to regain my composure.

She gave a grunt of affirmation, sounding slightly sick herself,  and soon I heard my breathing crackling over the PA system.

“This is Ryujin Kel. The Frame hangar’s been unlocked. Let’s get out there and kick some ass!”

This was usually the time the action hero would hear a cheer erupt from the crowds of fighters milling about. Instead, the throng of players that were now trudging through the was smirking or laughing. Oh well, I was going to get to pilot Jackdaw, finally.

Oh shit.

As the PA system turned off, I began reading up on Jackdaw’s control scheme in my HUD as I jogged towards the hangar.

As my stalwart companions trotted up to me, I nervously informed them of something I probably should have started with a long time ago. “Webby, Sakura. I think I know why they were after me. When Achilles gets here I Need to show you all some data I uh...stole, on my way out.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow. Webby just slapped me on the back with three hands, and we kept moving. We weren’t out of danger yet. But I was suddenly whirled around by the masked wolf woman from earlier, One hand on each of my shoulders, visored helmet inches from my face. When she spoke it was...annoyed sounding?” Th-thanks. For helping me back there. Pretty sure I would have been fine, though, I’m fire and explosion resistant.”, then she patted my cheek twice and ran off before  I could even mention that the security booth probably wouldn’t have been.

She was probably right, though. I’d been showboating, drama club was my thing in school and  I tended to run away with acting roles. While I was lost in thought, the station shook again. My earpiece picked up a distress call from one of the Justinean battleships, and I took off faster towards the hangar.