Terror Infinity Side B
Chapter 25, Apocalypse Alice Intermission Next
Misaki and I were making our way back to the ski lodge where everyone was staying to report what happened. What had happened in town after speaking to the man called Drebin to be exact. I, for one, was quiet and was fine with keeping it that way until we made it back, but Misaki felt compelled to speak up.
Misaki: Shin, what do you make of all of that? What Drebin had to say forces us to reconsider what the people, the NPC's in this world really are.
Shin: I think we had this talk before, but it doesn't really matter... although I understand what you mean. What Drebin had to say doesn't change the way I look at things or my past actions, yet what he said just makes me feel that another storm is coming, comparable to when we learned of the Four Pillars.
That's right.
What Misaki and I learned in our first meeting with Drebin made me convinced of that. Not only the pressure Drebin release that made me almost certain that he was as strong as Sozin. What he told us of his organization and how he and it came to be... was the shock of a life time.
Drebin and the organization that he works for, DREBIN, were once your typical NPCs that my team and I have encountered. Between NPCs and human beings there was very little difference between them, yet the fact they followed the rules of God and were at the mercy of his control. Like Ryuta Sakamoto in BTOOOM, and the main characters of Apocalypse Alice, having their world setting changed or recreated for each Player Team within God's Dimension.
It wasn't strange for Player like us to see them as not real. Fake people to ignore or kill. That was the kind of existence that they had until recently.
Drebin893: What we believe happened was that an error occurred when God made the change from Horror Movies to Manga, Anime, and Video Games. The former Team New Guinea, a powerful team belonging to Blood Crusade was wiped when they had Metal Gear Solid 4 as their first mission in the new experiment. DREBIN was following them during their mission as they had come to an alliance of sorts and claimed their corpse since they seemed strange and appeared out of nowhere. I was there as well. That was when we found THAT and learned the truth of God's Dimension, and from there... we decided to not follow the fate that God had given us... even if the start of it all was a bug in the system.
I recalled what Drebin said next.
They found the watches that the Players had on them. He and a few others slipped on the watches out of curiosity, and from that point on God considered the NPCs as Players and they reappeared in one of the Terminal Lobbies. From there they learned the truth of their existence and became self-aware.
Unlike normal Players they had a lot more freedom, which was reflected in their team name, Team Freedom. They had to go missions like everyone else, yet they were able to freely recruit a fellow NPC into Team Freedom after completing a mission. Drebin obtained four Player Watches from the fallen team and so far had two missions, which brought up their total Player count to six. They also used a certain item from the exchanges to recruit a further three NPCs. Two died, so they currently had for seven members.
Drebin: There's is an item within the exchanges that has a similar power to recruit NPCs. It's a watch that allows an NPC to join one's team as a Human Creation/Player. Both the watch and we have the power to recruit others long as we explain the truth of God's Dimension that we learned of and they agreed to join. Also, Team Freedom isn't limited to twenty Players and so for each mission we can select members to go on the mission as representatives. Of course if all of our representatives die on a mission we all fall with them as well into hell.
Then Drebin went on to explain his appearance before them in the world of BTOOOM. Drebin wouldn't go into how he was able to appear within Team Japan's BTOOOM Mission World, which surely couldn't have been anyone else's even if other teams had the BTOOOM mission as well.
I was very interested in such a power, especially if this group could go to any world, even back and forth between God's Dimension and the real world, a power that even the Four Pillars do not have for their retired Players, but Drebin called it a trade secret and refused to divulge any further information.
Drebin893: What I'm here for is like I said, to talk business. DREBIN, which has become the core of Team Freedom, are still at heart merchants of death, so in other words we sell exchanges like God which is another power we have come to acquire that no other team has. They are just the low level item exchanges from the Sci-fi Weapons, Magic Tools, and Support Category that don't cost rank rewards, just points which are what my team needs for a project we are working on. We are even capable of delivering items to you and your team during your missions.
Drebin said what his very tempting business offer was. He also went on to say that they are not like the Four Pillars who wish to harm Team Japan, and because God is always watching them and knows their end goals he doesn't restrict their movements like when he took the Guide away.
The Guide was an essential existence for any team in the past. The Guide pretending to be a Player would watch over the team and wait till someone unlocked their Genetic Constraint. Then if the Guide judge that individual as acceptable they would test them. If they passed they would be granted the Leader Position and a one level increase in that person's Genetic Constraint stage.
The latter was a good thing, but it was the former that was important. The Leader Position allowed an individual and their team many benefits that beginner team don't possess. The Player with the Leader Position can quickly search through the wide sea of endless options called the Exchange System with a direct link to God, sort all the exchanges with ease, and most importantly have access to important information.
The information now available to a team was to know what world the next mission will take place in, if it's a Team Battle, and general information about other team of God's Dimension. It wouldn't tell you who you were facing off again next, but information like how many teams have Awakened (Team with three or more, or used to have three of more Unlocked Members) and the number of individuals who have Unlocked their Genetic Constraint and how many at each stage was made available.
The Four Pillars have Pillars been sending numerous team into God's Dimension for year and have learned a lot, but the knowledge and access of the Leader Position was near absolute for a team to survive God's Dimension. There were many reasons, but the biggest was that you wouldn't know what mission was next. Whether or not you were going into a cold tundra, the burning desert, the middle of the ocean, or space itself.
Drebin893: Now back to my group. The guide was taken away since the Four Pillars are abusing God's Dimension and the vast majority of team are connected to them. God allows the existence of Team Freedom simply because they were just another test sample of evolution. My team has their own ultimate goal, but like Team Japan, Team China, and Team U.S.A we have to play this game of God's. We're all equally bugs in its eyes in this experiment testing evolution.
Drebin then wanted to get into more details of this possible deal between Team Freedom and Team Japan, yet he noticed that all the new information he handed to us needed time to sink in and was for rescheduling until tomorrow. I agreed with Drebin’s suggestion since this was too big for me to decide alone. That's why I wanted to bring along the others tomorrow.
Misaki: That guy told us to come back tomorrow at a coffee shop nearby before we all go back to the Terminal Lobby, but are you sure this is a good idea? It doesn't feel like a trap, but-
Shin: We have to go, Misaki. If the NPCs within the Mission Worlds have, or are beginning to have the power to affect God's Dimension, then it is safe to say they are a new power in this world. The NPCs! I have no idea how far Team Freedom’s powers reach, but if the truly powerful NPCs like the ones we have to fight on our missions join them... it's best if we view them as people of equal importance and not brush them off as mere programmed by God fake humans as we have for others.
Misaki: Yeah. We are already dealing with the Four Pillars and Team Battles, so we shouldn't make enemies of them. Of course I'll beat them down if they threaten us. I haven't powered up recently for nothing!
Shin: Then I'll be relying on you then, but don't provoke them Misaki. I would like it if we could become friends, or at the very least not enemies trying to kill each other. That Drebin893 who was originally just an underground gun launder felt incredibly powerful, so I don't want to fight him at our team’s current level. For now we'll tell the others what we found out and then tomorrow well figure out the rest.
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Misaki and I had returned to the ski lodge our group was staying at and, although it was getting late, I called for an emergency meeting to tell everyone about what happened when we were in town. Wasting no time I got into the heart of the matter and told them about we encountered an NPC named Drebin893 from the Metal Gear Solid 4 Video Game who was possibly as strong as Sozin as far as I could tell, about Team Freedom, and how Drebin wanted to make an offer to Team Japan to sell Exchange Items.
All the others had shocked looks on their faces as I told them everything I learned of the NPC team of Players called Team Freedom. I also mentioned that he wanted to meet with us tomorrow at a coffee shop before our team returned to the Terminal Lobby and how I thought we should definitely meet Drebin again.
They were all worried about this meeting since Team Freedom was a team potentially made up of powerful NPC main characters and villains, but for those very reasons I believed that we had to meet Drebin again.
Whether or not we take him up on his offer is not a very important matter. What was important is that although they were just starting up Team Freedom was more than likely to be one of the more powerful teams of God's Dimension. Learning as much about them as we could on the off chance that we could end up facing them in one of the Team Battles was critically important for Team Japan.
In the end our group agreed to meet up with Drebin the next day at the coffee shop decided on beforehand. Our group arrived on time and a few minutes later Drebin walked in alone and sat down at the table we were gathered at as if it was the most natural thing in the world. How he didn't feel threatened as he was surrounded by an entire Player team didn't sit well with me. For him to show that much confidence that we couldn't kill him if things go wrong with this meeting made me lose confidence instead.
Drebin893: Good morning everyone. It nice to see that you came.
Shin: We wouldn't be able to relax if we didn't come. We do not know much about your side and all that we do has come from your mouth alone, so let's get down to business alright. We have to leave this world soon after all.
Drebin893: Then let us cut to the chase then. I don't need to go over what I told you and your friend again, right? If not, I'll tell you what DREBIN's, no what Team Freedom is all about? Ah it's kind of confusing since we go by both names, so how about when I'll use the name DREBIN when I am talking about my teams business dealings? Team Freedom will be for when I'm representing my Player team.
Aqua: It doesn't matter either way, so continue. Don't waste our time.
Hikari: Aqua!
Jin: Aqua's right, Hikari. Whether we accept this deal with this guy it won't change the fact that he is Team Freedom, a dangerous enemy team we could be fighting against one day. I'm suspicious as to why he hasn't just killed us, but no matter what the reason is, there’s no reason to bow our heads to them. Well, if we have to I'll do it for the sake of the-
Shin: Shut up Jin. Please go on Drebin.
Drebin893: Ok then. The appeal of making a contract with DREBIN is that any team can make item exchanges from us during a mission. We don't sell original products, but you do not need rank rewards, just points. I'm sure all of you realize the advantage of this since without the role of Guide to pass on the position of Leader, no team can know in advance what the next mission is. You may end up in a city, desert, a snow storm, or even up there in space. It's impossible to prepare for any environment unless a team is willing to spend a large amount of points and rewards. Also, to carry it all would require a much bigger subspace item like Shin here's Na Ring or the lady there's RPG Bag, both of which costed you thousands of points and valuable rank rewards.
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Aqua: So your offer is that we can only bring with us the bare minimum of items with us on the mission and if we need anything else we can call on you to supply us with goods.
Kampa: So how does that work exactly? Not telling us how you can sneak into another team's Mission World, how will you know when to come to deliver supplies? Will you be there from the start to finish?
Drebin893: No, but once you make the deal every member of your team will have the ability to call us. Just like when you are making exchanges with God you can use your minds to call for us and we will come, but because of a few restrictions there are rules to it.
Shuai: Like what?
Drebin893: First is that you can't call for us or have us deliver supplies in a battle state.
Misaki: Battle state?
Jin: It's a gaming term Misaki. In some games you’re not allowed to access your game menu during a fight. You can't change out equipment or skills and can only do so after the battle is over and you’re safe. I've actually played a game called XXXXX where you weren't even allowed to pause in a fight!
Drebin893: The game champion's understanding is right on the mark. Battle State. Meaning if you are in a fight or are being chased by a monster, DREBIN won't come. Next, your team as a whole can only call for us once per mission and we won't stay in the Mission World for more than twenty-four hours, and if staying in the world itself is dangerous then we will leave immediately afterwards.
Kampa: Makes sense. Even salesman of death who profit off war won't actually won't to take part in a war and suffer loss.
Drebin: We definitely won't as we value our lives. Now third, DREBIN is a neutral party and as such we won't go beyond the role of a shop. Whether it is combat or something else less dangerous, we won't interfere. And lastly, DREBIN only accepts Points and we don't accept IOU’s or ranked rewards, and so all exchanges will be paid upfront and in Points.
We heard what Drebin had to say and took a moment to digest all this new information, yet there was one of us all to ready to ask a question.
Jin: Thank you for explaining everything.
Drebin893: No problem.
Jin: No, no, no, it was very informative, but... do tell me if I have this wrong, but rules 1 and 3 are restrictions placed on you by God for interfering in another team's mission? Rules 2 and 4 are your own organizations rules. I can't be 100% about 2, but for rule 4 that is definitely the case. Shin told us that you points for a large project after all. Do you mind telling us what it is?
Drebin893: Both the rules and our end goal are things I can't tell you anymore about. Anyways, I'm done with my sales pitch, so what will you all do? Will Team Japan accept and enter into a business deal with DREBIN?
Hikari: Before that I have a question. Our team has become recently eligible for team battles. If our Team Japan were to fight against your Team Freedom what will happen? You won't still supply us with goods, right?
Drebin893: Correct and at that time we will permanently break our contract, yet under such a circumstance there is a provision for my side breaking off our contract. Here.
Then as Drebin said that we all heard the voice of God in our heads explaining the details of the contract and if we wanted to accept.
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- MERCHANT'S CONTRACT HAS BEEN CREATED.
CONTENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS: PLAYER DREBIN893, THE REPRESENTATIVE OF TEAM FREEDOM WISHES TO OFFER ASSISTANCE DURING MISSIONS TO TEAM JAPAN WITH EXCHANGE ITEMS FOR POINTS. WHEN THIS AGREEMENT IS CONFIRMED, TEAM FREEDOM MUST RESPOND WHEN CALLED FOR, UNLESS IT VOLATILES ANY OF THE FOLLOWING RULES.
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1. TEAM JAPAN CAN'T CALL FOR TEAM FREEDOM OR HAVE THEM DELIVER SUPPLIES IN THE BATTLE STATE EITHER AS A TEAM OR AS INDIVIDUALS.
2. TEAM JAPAN AS A WHOLE CAN ONLY CALL FOR TEAM FREEDOM ONCE PER MISSION. TEAM FREEDOM WON'T STAY IN THE MISSION WORLD FOR MORE THAN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS AND WILL NOT STAY LONGER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. ALSO TEAM FREEDOM WILL NOT APPEAR IF THE MISSION IS DEEMED TOO DANGEROUS, MEANING HAVING IMMEDIATE RISK TO LIFE.
3. TEAM FREEDOM WILL REMAIN A NEUTRAL PARTY WHEN ENTERING ANOTHER PLAYER'S MISSION WORLD.
4. TEAM FREEDOM ONLY ACCEPTS POINTS AND MUST BE PAID UP FRONT.
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TEAM JAPAN PENALTIES: A PLAYER WHO ATTACKS A MEMBER OF TEAM FREEDOM WHEN THEY ARE CALLED FOR SUPPLIES WILL BE ERASED. IF TEAM JAPAN FOR WHATEVER REASON DECIDES TO CANCEL THE AGREEMENT THEN TEAM JAPAN MUST PAY A FINE OF EACH PLAYER PAYING 5,000 POINTS TO TEAM FREEDOM/DREBIN893. THEY WILL ALSO NOT BE ABLE TO RENEW THE CONTRACT.
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TEAM FREEDOM PENALTIES: TEAM FREEDOM MUST RESPOND WHEN CALLED FOR LONG AS IT DOES NOT VIOLATE ANY OF THE ABOVE RULES. TEAM FREEDOM IS ALSO FORBADE FROM SELLING COUNTERFEIT/DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS TO TEAM JAPAN. TEAM FREEDOM CAN NOT ATTACK TEAM JAPAN UNLESS THE CONTRACT IS TERMINATED. TEAM FREEDOM CAN NOT DISCLOSE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT TEAM JAPAN OR OTHER TEAMS EXCEPT THEIR OWN. VIOLATIONS WILL RESULT IN TEAM FREEDOM BEING ERASED. TEAM FREEDOM MAY ONLY TERMINATE THE CONTRACT IF THEY FACE TEAM JAPAN IN A TEAM BATTLE, AND AT THAT TIME THE CONTRACT WILL ALSO BE TERMINATED AUTOMATICALLY. AT THAT TIME, TEAM FREEDOM/DREBIN PUST PAY A FINE OF 2,000 POINTS AND C RANK REWARD TO EVERY PLAYER OF TEAM JAPAN, AND FAILING TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN THE DEATH OF EVERY MEMBER OF TEAM FREEDOM.
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CONTRACT AUTHORIZED BY: DREBIN893.
CONTRACT ACCEPTED BY TEAM JAPAN: YES/NO
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Drebin893: That's about it. There's a Merchant Contract skill within the exchanges God provides. It's an expensive B rank reward that is worthless in direct fights, yet when negotiating with others it comes in handy as God enforces the rules and penalties for breaking the contract. This includes both NPCs and Player alike.
Shuai: I guess so. God itself has confirmed the contract real and legit.
Drebin: Of course! Also, as a signing bonus I will give you these. It is one of the more popular items in the consumable exchanges.
Drebin reached into his pocket and took out a few slim metallic cylinder objects. Shin recognized them as epi-pens, yet their contents were vastly different from the standard.
Nano Machine Accelerator Package -
Raring 70.
A nano machine injection that increase Muscle Density, Cell Vitality, and Immunization Strength by 100 stat points temporarily for three hours. Only one may be taken per day without risk of overdosing and death. Consumables: 5. Requires 1000 Points.
Shin: Hmm, nice item. This would be very helpful for a newbies to have as they will be able to temporarily have the stats of someone who’s enhanced. Also Hikari, Shuai, and Jin who don't enhance their physical specs would need these in emergencies... everyone, if no one has any issue with me agreeing to these terms please speak up. If not I'll accept Drebins deal.
I looked to my left and right at Aqua, Hikari, Misaki, Kampa, Shuai, Connor, and Jin and they were all for this deal. Now confirmed, I accepted Drebin's deal and chose yes to the Merchant Contract. At that moment Drebin and everyone on my team had an aura of light golden surround them. This must have been a sign from the powers that be, God, that each of us were bound by the rules Drebin created, including himself as well.
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Drebin:893: Ok, the deal has been sign and dotted figuratively speaking. I won't hold your group up with my unexpected visit for any longer, so I'll be-
Aqua: Wait. Before you go can you tell us what you know about the other teams we could face? You obviously didn't make this deal with just our team, right? If your role is to offer support and you have no competition then it would only be good business to contract yourselves to more than one team in God's Dimension. So that's why you should know a lot about them.
Drebin893: Sorry, but that would be a betrayal of trust to give out another teams battle tactics, abilities, power levels, items, or how many people they have that have unlocked the Genetic Constraint. Such information is well guarded by my organization. In fact, it's impossible for you to even get it out of me with force as it is in the very contract if you look. Additionally, not only am I enhanced, as you might have guessed, but also my brain has a powerful seal placed on it. Neither Magic nor Psychics could hope to break through my mental defenses unless you’re Trinity of Dove United.
Aqua: Really? That's good to know then.
Drebin893: Ah, so you were testing me?
Aqua: Of course. I would have liked it if you had told us, but if you did we all would have been forced to kill you no matter the risk. As they say, 'Rats don't live long and don't tell tales'. I wouldn't take the chance for another team to find a way to get information about us from you even if it was in the contract.
Drebin893: I'm impressed. Are you sure that you shouldn't be the leader here?
Aqua: I'm not suited for the job and Shin passes as a leader... barely. He may be a fool, but he's a fool who risk his life for everyone so we'll all make it back alive. Fools like him make surprisingly good leaders.
Shin: Am I being complimented or not? Also, who's a fool!
Aqua: Are you anything but that?
Then Aqua, with the most sincere, clear eyes that I have ever seen in my life, looked at me like a pitiful child. Fuck! Not one. Not one of my girlfriends look at me with respect. Maybe I should just create that anime Human Creation already.
Drebin893: Calm down Team Japan leader. You should take what the fine lady said as a compliment. Also, for impressing me here today I will tell you all something good. I can't give you specific information, but I can tell you this. Each team is different. Nationality, race, gender, language and personalities. They all come together to form teams here in God's Dimension, yet they can almost always be generalized into three types of teams.
Drebin then when on to explain the three most common types of teams within God's Dimension that were the following:
THE DICTATORSHIP TEAM - A team lead by an absolute leader and the rest follow him due to fear of being killed. The members can be ordered to do anything, but if the leader is taken out or is away from the team for too long they are likely to panic and prioritize their individual survival. Also, there's a clear difference in power between the leader and other members since the leader needs to maintain the position of strongest, so the others won't be too outrageously powerful unless they have the full trust of the leader which is rare.
THE COOPERATIVE TEAM - A team where they discarded individual survivability for the sake of the team’s victory. If separated they can be picked off, but when together they become an incredible threat.
THE ELITE TEAM - Are few in number, but each member possesses power equivalent to an entire team. There are not that many teams like this, but they have the highest chance of surviving God's Dimension. The team that would go on to found the Four Pillars was an Elite Team.
Drebin893: Well, I think it is about time that I leave, as my ride should be here. If you need to find me from now on I'll be around somewhere. I'll even support you on the missions, but remember that I am a neutral party in your conflicts, so don't ask me to side with you and fight together. This is business. So long as you have the Points for us we'll come.
Shin: Okay then. I never expected you to become that kind of ally, so just being able to make some exchanges while in the middle of a mission is good enough. Also... did you say ride? Does that mean whatever method you use to cross world is a vehicle?
Drebin893: ... That's not a conversation for today. Another time. I'll be going now, so remember... EYE HAVE YOU.
Then in a puff of purple smoke Drebin disappeared right before our eyes. Aqua and I even had enhanced our eyes with our respective energies the moment the smoke appeared, yet neither of us were able to figure out how Drebin disappeared.
Shin: He left in a puff of smoke like a magician... I’ve got to learn that.
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The next chapter will be the end of the Apocalypse Alice arc. Unfortunately nothing special happens and it isn't too long either. It is just a wrap up before the next mission. Hint, it is a very popular Manga/anime and had a movie. Also, has a steadfast main character... wait! That's almost every one, so I guess that isn't a good hint.
Next chapter will posted in 8-12 hours.