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The Rise of the Phoenix Corporation; Not So Instant Transmission
Topic Started: Jun 19 2011, 10:26 PM (101 Views)
Keroth
Member Avatar
The Phoenix of Earth
[3,200+/3,000 Words]
[3 Days]
[420 Exp, 150 Zenni]

[Quest Reward: Instant Transmission]

Landing the Frontier on the greenish yellow planet of Yardrat was a refreshing experience to Keroth and Fred. As he docked in the Prapra Hamlet nobody scanned the ship for stolen property or smuggled criminals, nobody harassed him about passports or citizenship, nobody even bothered to see if he had a license to pilot his ship, which is good because he didn’t.

“Well, Fred, looks like you didn’t have to hide in the vents today after all. C’mon man, let’s go check out the city.”

The two traversed the city streets, visiting a few restaurants (Fred had an enormous appetite), buying some replacement clothes to replace the damaged uniforms they had trained in, and admiring the enormous skyscrapers that erected up on all sides of the city streets.

“This place seems…really nice. Kind of like the war hasn’t reached it at all. I wish all the planets around here were peaceful like this…”

Fred gave Keroth a disbelieving look. He wasn’t buying it. Looking back at Fred, Keroth sighed.

“Yeah…You’re right. I was thinking I could take over the planet; stupid Saiyan blood in me, I guess.” He chuckled as the two wandered down the street. Keroth couldn’t help but notice that the Yardratian race was extremely short. He was almost twice their height and, as a humanoid from Earth, he felt that their skin color was a bit awkward. To his surprise, however, the city was only about 60-70% Yardratians. For once in his life, Keroth had finally found a peaceful port city that actually succeeded in mingling other forms of life into the population.

”I think we could learn a thing or two from the Yardratians.” he said, with a hopeful look in his eye.

Fred was surprised by Keroth, not expecting him to be a peaceful type. He grunted in approval. ”What? No I mean literally there is something of use to learn, as in techniques. God, Fred, you can be naïve sometimes. Let’s go, I hear the greatest trainer of teleportation in the universe is somewhere around here. If Commander Forwell can learn to traverse planets in seconds, so can I. I mean come on, I’m kind of a big deal. Fred shook his head in disapproval; Keroth’s arrogance was letting his heritage show.

After hours of research, Keroth finally found the location of the universe’s greatest trainer in teleportation, Gresash. As it were, Gresash lived in an isolated village in the Esahu Desert.

”A desert? God damn it, looks like we can’t take the ship. All the sand would muck it up. Come on Fred, let’s go buy some barrels and rope. We’ll pick up water at any lakes or rivers we pass by.”

Travelling through the night, the two had strapped two barrels of water to each of their backs. As they flew about the planet, they received strange looks from everyone that they passed.

I wonder what they’re staring at; the city seemed pretty diverse, it even had some Saibamen. We shouldn’t stand out too much…

After four hours of flying through the air, the two finally saw why everyone was giving them such odd looks; the Esahu Desert was truly unique. Not only were the sands blue and the skies yellow, but there were rivers littering the landscape of the region.

Fred began to snicker at Keroth. ”Oh shut up, how was I supposed to know? Just put the barrels down over there.” The two hovered low to the ground and dropped the barrels. As they ascended again, Keroth heard a high pitch noise for a split second. When he looked down to see what caused it he saw that there were only three barrels on the ground, when there were four a second ago. What made the situation shadier was that his scouter didn’t pick up any power levels within a mile.

”What the…but I could have sworn...Hey Fred! Keep your eyes peeled. I think there’s somebody following us.”

Despite their cautious trip, they didn’t notice anything suspicious for the rest of the journey. It was a shame, really. Keroth would have loved the scenery of the foreign desert, and the sky set a marvelous silhouette on the rivers. Unfortunately, Keroth was raised to be a soldier, and he was forced to keep his attention focused on any possible pursuers.

The shack of Gresash was not what Keroth expected; it was simply an ordinary shack, made of the same sandstone as most of the others, with a thatch roof. The home of the master trainer was so ordinary that Keroth actually flew over it three times before realizing that he was already at his target location. The Half-Saiyan and his Saibaman ally slowly hovered down to the front door of the Yardratian’s yurt.

*Knock knock*

”Gresash, are you at home? I heard you were the master of Instant Transmission, and I’m looking to train under you.” The door opened, and a Yardratian’s head popped out.

“Training, huh? That’ll cost you 5,000 zenni.”

FIVE. THOUSAND?! This guy is cheating people more than Fred at a poker table!

”What the fuck? How am I supposed to have that kind of money?”

“Whoa, ok, no need to yell. Alright, I’m not Gresash.” His eyes seemed to shift all constantly, either searching for something or lacking focus. “I’m his son, Xerash.”

”Then why bother lying to me? And can you train me instead? Keroth felt oddly desperate, and it was an unsettling feeling that he wasn’t used to.

“Yeah, I can train you. I just figured I’d get more payment if you thought I was dad.” Keroth noticed that inside of the yurt, behind the Yardratian, was a barrel of water. ”Oh, so that was you taking the barrel from us earlier. You knew we were coming and wanted to impress us with foresight, huh?” The Yardratians eyes widened and focused on Keroth.

“What? I didn’t steal that barrel! …Ok, I stole that barrel. But I didn’t! It’s not stealing! You put it down, shut up! It’s mine!” He slammed the door, locking himself inside.

What the fuck? I thought he was being wise and trying to make an impression but…could he actually just be stupid? Keroth banged on the door. ”Hey, let’s make a deal! You train me, and I won’t go to the authorities about you stealing my shit.”

The door didn’t open. After thirty seconds, he repeated the offer. After thirty more, he ran out of patience. Turning to his green, vertically challenged friend, Keroth decided to let the Yardratian know that he meant business. ”Fred, put your game face on. I’m tearing this door down.” A loud, high pitch noise came from behind the two, as if the air was being cut at an immense speed.

“Wait, wait! There’s no need to break down my house or anything! We’re a peaceful planet, come on inside, I’ll make you some tea. Oh, and by the way, I’ll train you for free since I um…borrowed your barrel. Without asking, that is.” Xerosh lead the two into his yurt and put some tea on the stove. It seemed suspicious that his attitude had shifted so quickly, but Keroth decided to let it pass. He didn’t really know the customs and culture of the Yardratians yet, and he needed the training badly. Taking a seat by the table, Keroth began to daydream about the potentials of learning this new exotic technique.

Teleportation…It’s hard to even imagine that it’s becoming a reality. Fred felt a drop of rain on his shoulder. He was confused by this, as the thatch roof should stop any incoming rain, and it also hadn’t rained since they got to the region hours ago. Looking up, his face shifted to an expression of disgust when he realized the rain drop was actually Keroth’s drool; the daydream of teleporting has actually caused him to salivate.

“Nng!” Fred grunted out, shoving Keroth’s chair over. With a loud crash, the chair had broken and knocked over the barrel of water, soaking the entire floor of the yurt and ruining most of the food.

”What the fuck, Fred! Damn, Xerosh, I’m sorry about that. We completely trashed your place.” Keroth wasn’t normally one to apologize, but he really felt that he had crapped on the Yardratians hospitality. To his surprise, however, the purple alien turned around with a blank expression, barely even recognizing the damage. “Oh, don’t worry about it. Tell you what, how about we go start the training outside right now?”

Fred looked a bit nervous, and Keroth could tell that he didn’t trust the Yardratian. Fred always had a sixth sense about people; a literal sixth sense. Perhaps it was actually a seventh or eighth sense, considering the fact that he could tell power levels and locations as well. Whenever Fred got a bad feeling about somebody, he was almost always right. Unfortunately, Keroth was a stubborn jackass, and he really wanted to learn Instant Transmission. ”…Sure, if you say so.” Following the native outside of the hut, Keroth had no idea that his life was about to change forever.

Stepping out onto the orange grass of the plains, the Yardratian turned around to face Keroth and Fred. Now’s my chance to get rid of these guys before dad get’s home, these jerks ruined my barrel! What was that speech that dad always said…Oh yeah. After clearing his throat, the Yardratian began the speech. “Alright, the first thing to know about Instant Transmission is that it’s not entirely physical. Nobody is actually fast enough to go from one planet to another in an instant; you have to know how to do it with a secret style, a secret technique of the mind. It took our people thousands of years of conscious effort before we actually figured it out.” His face shifted to an expression of mischief, Now I’ll just dump them off in the nearest underground tunnel! Sensing…Sensing…Found one! “Now, give me your hands, and I’ll begin the training. I’m going to take you to a ‘sacred’ training ground.” He snickered, “And there you will learn the secrets of Instant Transmission!”

Fred gave Keroth the ‘Are you seriously going to go with this guy? If you do, then you’re an idiot’ look; it was really quite impressive how many facial expressions this Saibaman could give. ”Oh come on, don’t be a pussy. No risk, no reward, right?” Keroth tried to act unshakable, but the reality was he was simply desperate. He could blow up state forests, but teleporting was a whole different world from his current powers. He needed this.

Grabbing the Yardratians hands, the two felt the world change around them. It was not as if they were moving through everything they encountered, it was simply that nothing in the way was truly an obstacle. When they finished their journey, which actually only took a fraction of a second, the three found themselves in a metal hallway. The dark grey metal was illuminated by dull orange lights built into the wall.

“Weird…This was supposed to just be a cave. Oh well, you’ll not be getting out of here! I tricked you, idiots! Haha, you’re stupid and I’m smart! Enjoy being stuck underground for the rest of your lives!” With that, Xerash disappeared. Fred sighed; he knew something like this would happen. Fred surveyed the dark grey metal. It was extremely well preserved, and the lighting was still on, but the whole area had an ancient feel to it. ”Ne-F..D-…Help.” Keroth fell over onto his side, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Fred’s eyes widened in shock; he realized that the area had no oxygen! Once being a Changeling, Fred’s anatomy still didn’t need air to breathe; Keroth was half-human and half-saiyan, both species needed air!

Panicking, Fred grabbed onto Keroth and flew down the hallway as fast as he could. In a few seconds he reached a large circular room with dozens of control panels around the sides accompanied by hollow areas that look like they once held some sort of contraption at one time. Around the inner parts of the room were many workbenches and tables, as well as a section containing four pods full of liquid. Fred’s shady memories of his past life recognized these to be the healing centers once used on Frieza #79. He opened one up and threw Keroth inside, attaching all of the proper nodes and air tanks. Praying that the system still had enough power to work, Fred booted up the healing pod and thanked whatever Gods there are that it activated properly. After a few minutes, Keroth’s eyes opened again. He recognized that he was in a healing pod; he’d seen a few on Rein. He also knew that he couldn’t speak, and the area outside had no oxygen. It looked like he was stuck in here for now.

If we’re on a space ship, then I am truly fucked. Hopefully we’re just on some underground base or something. I just need to get Fred to get some air in here.

Using pantomiming skills that he had learned on black ops missions, Keroth instructed Fred on where to go to try and get the ventilation system of whatever they were on to work. Unfortunately Fred didn’t know what most of the signs meant, and he wasn’t really getting anywhere. However, a few hours of troubleshooting later, Fred had tried everything he could in the room that Keroth was held in and had moved on to a different room where he finally found the controls for ventilation. When the ventilation came on, the lights also became a bit brighter.

Keroth’s healing pod released him, spilling him onto the floor. Fred came running into the room to check on him. ”Hey buddy, great job on the whole Saving-My-Life thing. I owe you a drink. Let’s scout the place out and…What? Is there something on my face?” Fred was staring at the brown, furry, swishing tail attached to Keroth’s lower back.

”OH SHIT!” Keroth screamed, grabbing onto his tail. ”It must have been cut off when I was a kid! Oh…Fuck man, this might be bad. What if I go Oozaru on the base at Rein? Would they even let me inside the premises?” Fred slapped him across the face. While he was too stunned to respond, Fred pulled Keroth’s head down to his level and pointed his finger at him, grunting a meaningful speech and lesson. ”You’re right, Fred; we’ll cross those bridges when we come to them. I needed to hear that, thanks.”

Keroth surveyed the area, checking with Fred whenever he wasn’t sure what a particular machine did. After a few hours they discovered that the immense cave system had over 34 large rooms. In the final room, Keroth found a chair with a helmet attached to it. In front of this particular chair was a large screen and a desk covered in various buttons, knotches, and switches.

“Hey Fred, are you thinking what I’m thinking? This looks like the control room to the facilities.” He cautiously approached the control pad and sat down in the chair. He checked Fred to see if his pseudo-psychic sense was going off, but Fred was preoccupied by picking his nose. Idiot savant, I swear… Sitting down in the large chair, Keroth pulled the helmet over his head and began hitting buttons on the control pad. “Hopefully one of these will turn this thing on, if it has enough power. Maybe it can give us directions to get the hell out of here.” While Keroth was tinkering with the controls, Fred noticed that the giant device had a large number of plugs in the back connected to the metal wall, the largest of which had the plastic ripped open and the wiring was frayed. He walked over to the chord and melting the wires back together with his Ki.

*FWOOM*

The brightness of the room intensified as the giant screen came on, revealing a vibrant red background to a large number of browsers, video feeds, and information folders. A loud hum could be heard as the rest of the lights in the facility reached 100% brightness and the other machines received power from whatever was generating the facility. The control panel emanated the voice of a mechanical woman.

“Significant power level detected. Welcome, User, please enter a name for the database.”

Surprised, and mildly confused, Keroth decided to skip the confusing control pad and try just responding. “Uh...Keroth?”

“Uh…Keroth? Accepted into the database.”

“Wait, no! Delete that user! It's just ‘Keroth’.”

“User Deleted, ‘Keroth’ accepted into the database.”

“Wow, that actually worked…Awesome! Computer…What is this place?”

“This is Facility #37 of the Phoenix Corporation.” “Alright well what is th-” “The Phoenix Corporation is a company/organization based on the creation and modification of existing technology. The purpose is to constantly supply existing companies with competition, so as to prevent universal monopolies and stagnant marketplaces within the societies of the Galaxy.”

Keroth quirked an eyebrow. “…Awesome. How come I’ve never heard of this place?” How did he find something like this? Where was he?

“The Phoenix Corporation has been on a frozen status since the death of the previous owner in 761.” 761? That was almost two hundred years ago. Everything here is still operational though...What the hell did I just walk into?

Keroth rubbed his temples, trying to take this all in. “So uh…Who owns the place now?” “The only active User at this time is Keroth. However, facilities have spent the last century in a low-energy growth, to adapt to the problems that they have come across. To accommodate for the lack of Users, forty five percent of the facilities are now fully operational by droids and AI usage.”

Well that's cool, so the place can run itself. Maybe I can get a droid to dig me a tunnel-Wait a second, WHAT?!

“So you’re saying I just inherited a self-supplying company that makes technology? Holy crap lady, you should manufacture yourself a body so I can hug you!” Keroth figured that he was probably dreaming, but he didn’t really care; it was best to just go with it and pray he doesn’t wake up. “That is correct. As the only User in the database, you are the sole proprietor of the Phoenix Corporation. The User control panel is now injecting you with a nano-chip that will allow you to monitor nearby facilities, as well as interface with their mainframe computers from a distance.”

“Nano-chip?! Wait just a se-” A sharp pain stung the back of his head as a needle in the helmet injected the chip. He could feel his mind accessing the computer in front of him. It was a weird sensation, but not too far from using a computer in the first place. “Fucking A! Careful damn it!" He rubbed the area where the pinprick had hit him. He really hated needles. "Next time don’t do anything to me unless I say so. What’s your name?”

“Primary Artificial Intelligence Unit.”

“That's a mouth full, let's give you a real name instead. From now on you’re Janice; it’s easier on the tongue. I need to go for now, but I’ll take a look at all these files later. I’m still coming to terms with this…How do I get out of here?”

“AI Name "Janice" Accepted. Next query: The nano-chip in your head will allow you to access the mainframe computer, which has access to the Pheonix™ Teleportation System.”

Keroth grinned, looking over to his Saibaman ally. “Fred, I think I’m in love with this AI.” After checking through the wireless mainframe via his thoughts, which was weird as hell and kept accidentally taking him to porn, Keroth finally came across the programming required to use the teleportation system. He closed his eyes and told it to begin the transport. A blue light appeared around the two, and they found themselves on their own ship.

“Holy shit, it worked! YES! Hahaha! That was awesome! I can't believe this is real. Fred, we're gonna be rich. This is amazing.” Fred just stared at Keroth, open jawed. What kind of life was this guy leading?
Edited by Keroth, Jun 20 2011, 01:11 PM.
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