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Self Discovery; (Easy Quest - Mirror Evil) finished
Topic Started: Dec 23 2010, 04:56 PM (228 Views)
Aethos
Member
Location: Namek
Difficulty: Easy (5 posts)
Reward:+400 zeni, +2 DP, +10 all stats, +2 Rp Credits
Bonus: +2 on alignment scale
Available: Yes

You have battled your inner demons for years, trying to stay on the righteous path. Your powerful evil side has managed to break free, and take shape as an identical character. He is now reeking havoc on the Namekian population. Stop him without collateral damage, and reclaim your true purity. 
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The Namek village that Aethos was staying outside of had become incredibly warm and accepting of their extra planetary visitor. The village Elder in particular seemed to be quite interested in the cyborg's actions, both under orders and what he had done since being stranded on Namek.

“Aethos, why exactly did you agree to all these destructive acts? The murder, the arson, everything. From conversation with you it would seem that you're not an angry or bad being.”\ The Elder said, seated at a table in his tent. Across from him sat the Saiyan-Android, his face looking simply confused.

“I was created to do these things. To follow my orders from the leaders. It... does not make sense for me to ignore my duty, my reason for being.” He said flatly, head cocked to the side. “If I disregard what I was meant to do then what is my purpose?”

The Elder looked crestfallen, having hoped that he had somehow touched the cyborg and caused him to realize that he could be what he wanted. “You were...created for a task, yes.” The elder didn't like to refer to the warrior as something simply created, but if Aethos saw himself as a simple tool for his creators then there wasn't anything he could do about it... yet. “But you were granted sentience, the ability to choose what to do, how to do it, and the ability to learn, grow as an individual. Surely in your time away you've realized that you have partaken in none of the actions that were ordered upon you. Why is this?”

The hybrid thought for a moment, silent and completely unreadable. “I do things because I have to, not because I want to. I must follow orders in the same way you must eat, breath. It is simply wired into me as something that must be done. The cyborg averted his eyes from the Elder. The green skinned man looked sad much of the time that he talked to Aethos, and the look on the Elders face had a way of getting to him that nothing else he had seen did. “I enjoy it here, I like the calm. People here are willing to help each other, teach each other. Where I come from is filled with strife, back stabbing and plots, all of which are nonsensical to me. Why pretend to be something you are not? Do they not wish to help their people as much as they can, even if they help themselves a little less?”

The Elder let out one of his rare smiles. “Yes, it makes little sense to me as well. There are some in every culture, yet the Saiyans seem filled with it. Please, if you would let me, I believe we have a ritual which may help you realize your true calling.”
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Aethos
Member
Seated in a smaller hut, this one made of clay bricks around a small fire, Aethos was cross legged on the floor, across from the standing Elder. The Namekian was lighting candles, each with unique scents and each adding to the other, changing and becoming more than the sum of its parts. In the ceiling was a small chimney hole, large enough to allow the fire to burn constantly without filling the hut with smoke, yet small enough to block sunlight from coming in and flooding the small ceremony with light.

“You've seen our people as peaceful, accepting. But we are not always this way.” The Elder said, finishing with the candles and turning to pour the contents of a jug onto the fire. Aethos' advanced mind could identify multiple herbs within the billowing steam that rolled off the fire, but soon even that was ignored as the Elders calm voice soothed him into a trance. “This is a ceremony that we hold for our people at their coming of age. It allows them to look into themselves, find what it is that they want, what they truly believe in.”

The Namekian handed Aethos a small bowl, filled with a light blue paste substance, even the database Aethos's was attached to could not identify the contents. “I want you to rub this on your neck, front and back. It will relax you and help you go into the next stage of the ritual.

As he began to follow the instructions, he could feel a slight tingling on his palms as he rubbed the poultice onto himself. “So what is this stuff going to dooo exaaaaaaaactlyyyyy Aethos started to say before swaying, tumbling backwards. It would appear that he could not move anything below where he had placed the mystery poultice.

The Namekian appeared above him, moving in and out of focus randomly, his voice only sometimes being heard. “Please …. not alarmed this …. normal. …. hurt a bit but …. on my voice ….”

Hurt? Aethos thought, it had been a long while since he actually felt pain, his systems surpressed all but very intense pains. Even as he thought this agony licked up his body as he felt something being poured onto his prone body. Opening his mouth to scream no sound came out, as it would appear that his vocal cords were just as paralyzed as his body. The feeling was as though every fiber of his being was aflame, muscles cramped and spasmed, yet did not move due to the intense paralysing agent. In what seemed like the distance, outside of the agony, the hybrid could hear the Namekian speaking something, but could not understand the words.

Just before he blacked out from the pain, Aethos felt as though he was shifting, moving sideways though he wasn't trying to. His head flopped down to the side and laying there, though he hadn't noticed it before, was a body, dressed exactly as he was. It's face turned towards him, and Aethos felt as though he was looking in a mirror, the eyes of the man beside him, the man that looked just like him, showed the same intense pain as he did, just before rolling back into his head. Aethos fought the pain, but eventually succumbed, shutting down to save himself from it as best he could.
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Aethos
Member
With a gasp and a start, Aethos shot up to a seated position. The poultice had dried on his neck and came off in flakes as he moved, surveying the inside of the small hut. The fire was now just glowing embers, and there was no steam to speak of anymore. Before his eyes was a scene of carnage, and his scanners picked up the fact that their was traces of energy heading out of the tent, and as he followed them, heading north towards the caves that he had made his home.

“Whatever caused this is looking for me?” The Android-Saiyan muttered, looking at the smoking village. “How did it miss me?” He added as he shot off towards his cave, instinctively knowing that this was the place of the confrontation.

Landing lightly and silently, Aethos crept forward into the cave, but he didn't need to go far to see he was in the right place. He could hear movement inside, and saw the flickering light of a fire in his fire pit within. Bracing himself for a fight, the cyborg darted around the corner, expecting to find a Saiyan who had come looking for the lost member of the Royal Army.

Instead he found himself face to face with a smirking version of himself. As his eyes widened and mouth dropped open in shock, the mirror image laughed. The cruel, cold sound bounced off the rock walls and seemed to amplify itself. “Hello... me, I suppose. Was wondering when you would get here.” And the laughter rang out again.

Wary of tricks, Aethos kept his eyes glancing around, sure this was some sort of hallucination or illusion. “Who are you? What do you want here?” He demanded, his voice unemotional and flat.

The alternate version of Aethos' smirk split into an ear to ear grin. “Why, I'm here to get rid of you, of course, and take over. It's about time we returned to the Army, don't you think?”
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Aethos
Member
Before Aethos could respond, his doppelganger had already charged up a hand behind his back, flinging it forward and throwing with it a tightly focused beam. Twisting to the side to avoid it, the cyborg fell into a defensive stance, ready to defend himself and retreat, but not wanting to attack this unknown being. “Where did you come from?” He demanded, his voice angry rather than its natural calm. “Who are you, why do you look like me?”

The mirror image leaped forwards, kicking at Aethos' knees, but the cyborg deftly flipped backwards, back out of range of any physical attacks. “I thought it was obvious when I woke up, didn't you? Looks like I'm the smart half.”

Aethos' face turned to a frown, how could what this imposter be implying be true? The ritual that the Elder completed split him into two beings? And why did he suddenly feel these desires, urges to act on instinct and emotion rather than logic? “Half?” He asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “So you're me, are you? Can't be, I would never destroy friends, hurt innocent people for no reason.” The anger was dripping off his voice. Just as he had found people who accepted him, this thing had come and destroyed them, driven them off and no doubt made them think that it was he who was doing it.

As the evil version of himself laughed, Aethos felt something inside him snap, felt something that he had never felt before. It was almost as if the wiring in his body was changing, like he was becoming different, not just feeling a little changed. A golden yellow aura flared around him. “You'll pay for what you did to those people!” He growled, throwing himself at a blinding speed across the ground towards his counter-part.

The Evil Aethos laughed yet again. “Don't you mean what we did? After all, I am a part of you as much as you are a part of me. And after I destroy you and absorb our power back into one, I'll show you some other things I've been dying to do since we were activated.

The two warriors met in a clash of light, the yellow glow pushing into the red as they exchanged blows, pounding the legs and arms of each other, trying to get the upper hand on an opponent who was perfectly matched. Single and multiple blasts shot off out of the blinding center of the battle as each fired beams at each other, only to find that their speed and evasiveness was equally matched. Even as Aethos landed a thumping blow to the skull of his doppelganger, he felt a solid impact in his ribs that threw him backwards, both combatants skidding to a halt a few dozen meters from eachother.

“Don't you see? You can't win. We're the same in every way. Every way but one.” The Evil Aethos said, the same smirk on his face. Neither one was sweating, and no blood dripped from his cyborg body despite the split on his cheek. “I will do whatever it takes to win, because you care too much about life. About the greater good that you always preach about. The words came out with a venom that shocked Aethos, were these really feelings that had been buried within himself?

Before he could react, the malicious Aethos shot into the air with no warning, streaking across the clear blue sky. Sure that his counter-part was heading to hurt someone else, all that was on Aethos' mind was how to stop him. With a cry of anger Aethos leapt after the imposter, tracking him through the empty sky as the doppelganger went on some unknown mission away from the fight.
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Aethos
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Despite Aethos' ki beams and shouts, the imposter did not stop his flight until he landed on a gigantic spire in the sky. The cyborg's eyes widened in shock as he realized that his doppelganger was planning on attacking Guru's Landing. When the evil version landed on the platform, Aethos did not slow down, barreling into his enemy as it tried to charge blasts in either hand. The two tumbled and rolled together, trading blows as the spun towards the edge of the platform.

“I won't let you hurt anyone else needlessly!” Aethos grunted out, punctuating each word with a blow to the adversary as he rolled atop him. Sitting astride the cyborg, Aethos rained down powerful shots, beating the exoskeleton of evil-him until the synthetic flesh began to peel back from the metal that made up the majority of their bones.

Even still, the clone's smirk never faded, turning into a disgusting slash on his face as it was torn away by the ferocity of the shots. “Don't you see.” It said, when there was time for it to speak. “No matter what you do, I'm a part of you. Eventually you will let your guard down, and I'll come out. And when I do, I will have fun.”

Aethos grabbed the ruined face of his inner evil, charging ki into his hands. “If you ever come back I will deal with you then. But now?” With a cry and a rush of energy the head of the double evaporated into mist. “You won't hurt anybody else.”

And as the smoke cleared, Aethos found himself lying in the center of the small clay hut, the village Elder finishing his chant over him. Sitting upright with a start, Aethos' eyes darted around for a sign of the carnage he had seen last time he was here, for a sign of his double. The Elder smiled softly at him. “You look scared. This is the first time I've seen you look... well, seen any emotion in your face since you started coming here.”

Aethos shook his head, reeling from the effects of whatever had just happened to him. “I'm not like that. I... I'm not mindless. I only do what is necessary...” He muttered to himself.

The old Namekian placed a soft hand on his shoulder. “You're right, you aren't like that. You've been kind to those who showed you mistrust. Aided those who needed it. And from the look of you, avenged those who deserved it.” The Elder drew the cyborg to his feet. “No matter your past, your true nature is just. Sometimes hurting people, even killing them is necessary. And you are one of the few I know who are strong enough, brave enough, to do so only when necessary. Despite your past, you are a good person, Aethos.”

“How do you know that? How do you know what I just... what just happened?” He said confused, staring into the Elder's eyes.

With a smile and a wink, the old Namekian turned to leave the hut. “Well if the evil side of you had of won, had been the one to return to this body from your journey, I'm sure you wouldn't be as calm as this.” As he left the hut, Aethos saw a half dozen burly Namekians outside, dispersing even as he exited the ceremony hut. “And it would have been a sad order for me to command Guru's guard to destroy you. But I would have done it, as you say, for the greater good.”

Aethos watched as the Elder walked away. The experience had been terrifying, but strangely enlightening. He felt a certain degree of calm knowing that, at his core, he was not nearly as evil as he thought him to be. Or as the Saiyan Army had trained him to be.

----
2633 words
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