Nikke: Godess of Victory {Lose Yourself}

Chapter One- You Got One Shot, Do Not Miss Your Chance To Go.

"Hey, what's taking so long? You promised we'd take the hoverboard out today!" Someone calls, knocking loudly on my quarters' door.

I bolt upright in my chair, one of the report papers sticking to my cheek. I pull it off and set it back on my desk with the other reports and files before glancing at the clock embedded into the wall to my right.

It was twelve thirty. I must've fallen asleep doing the paper work.

There's another loud knock at the door and I swear aloud. I was supposed to meet Epinel at the skatepark an hour ago. I check my phone and see I've missed 7 calls, only one not being from Epinel, but rather Anne, or N102. 

I hurry to the door and slide it open. "Sorry, Epinel." I say quickly. "I fell asleep finishing reports for the Commander while he's on the surface.

Epinel gives me a disappointed look. "It's not fair that you have to do all the reports when the Commander isn't here." She grumbles as I start to change into some street clothes.

Epinel had always liked the hoodie I wore when we would go out for fun stuff like this, so that was the one I'd wear today. Once I was dressed, I play the voice mail Anne had left me.

"Hey, Teacher. . . It's me, N102. . ." She says in her distant dreamy voice. "I guess you call me Anne, don't you. . . I like it when you do that. I called to tell you. . . to tell you. . . I- um- I forgot. . . I guess I apparently miss you." She goes on rambling for a few minutes, as she typically does, and when I check the run time of the message, I'm not too surprised to see that it's over an hour long.

I skip through most of it, making sure there's no real issue within the message, and finally I hear Anis in the background scolding her to go to sleep. I chuckle and delete the message, making a mental note to call her back. She was on the surface with the Commander and his squad. They'd been gone a week now, but the message lets me know that they're still alive.

"Ready to go now?" Epinel asks eagerly as I shove my phone into my pocket.

"Ready." I agree, smiling when her face brightens up and she grabs my wrist, dragging me along.

As we exit the outpost and make our way into the Ark, I can't help but admire the beauty of the place where Nikkes and humans co-exist in safety from the Raptures who'd taken over the surface.

As for me, I was the Epsylon Manufacturing Company's first attempt of turning a Human into a Nikke, which wasn't necessarily legal to the Central Government, but they allowed it for some stupid reason. It was something of a success, but came with one side effect. As the years go by, even the months, the tech inside of me slowly wears on my sanity until I become something of a Heretic, where upon I'll be put down like a feral dog.

The only people that know about this 'side effect' are Epsylon Manufacturing, The Commander, Rapi and Anis, and the Ark's Scientist, Ether, who's been working to find a serum to counter the 'cyberpsychosis'- as she calls it.

The idea of turning humans to half Nikkes was thought up so there wouldn't be so much time wasted mass producing Nikkes, or designing specific ones, which they still do anyways. Plus, the Commanders and normal troops would be able to do that much more against Raptures.

Raptures, simply put, were machines that gained sentience, or just aliens, and attempted to wipe humanity from existence. And they almost succeeded.

We aren't entirely sure why, but they follow orders given by their 'Queen' as Heretics call her. We've never seen the Queen in person, but we know she's capable of turning Nikkes to her side. Nikkes that go corrupt and join the Raptures are known as Heretics.

As far as we know, there's an entire city on the surface full of Heretics and even humans who aren't in their right mind. The city is called Harvest and is only a few miles short of one of the Ark's elevator ports. It's a miracle that the Heretics haven't found it yet. If they ever did, there'd be a full scale invasion and we'd be cornered. That would be it for humans and Nikkes. It'd be a slaughter house.

I'm snapped out of my thoughtful reverie as Epinel nudges me with her elbow. "Watch this." She says giddily, resting her skateboard on the ledge of the bowl at the skate park.

Despite our races being at risk, I was glad to see that everyone was still able to enjoy themselves some. Dozens of kids were here, all skating and laughing.

At first, they didn't notice Epinel as she drops into the bowl and zips into the air on the other side, tucking her knees and grabbing her board as she drops back into the bowl and stops back where she'd started out- just beside me.

"Well, what'd you think?" She beams up at me with a confident air to her as she puffs out her chest and holds her board at her side.

Despite being bred for war- as all Nikkes were- she was an idol all across the Ark. Not just because she was a Nikke, or made music, but because she was the Ark Wide Champion of Mustang's Skateboarding tourney. She's won it two years in a row now.

I go to reply before I'm interrupted by a group of fans who seemed to just now notice she was here. They drawl on about getting her autograph and her teaching them some tricks, but they were all so loud and annoying. At first, Epinel smiled and gave a few autographs, but as more and more were arriving, she was clearly getting stressed, so I decided to take a step forward.

My frame easily towers above the kids, though I'm only a few years older than the oldest of them, which was mostly due to the Nikke transplants. "We're done now." I say, holding a hand out in front of Epinel. "It's her day off."

A few of the kids hesitate, but simply nod and ditch, returning to the skatepark's entertainment, while others linger, as if gathering courage to ask something, which Epinel- of course- encourages.

"Do you have a question?" She asks with a kind smile.

The small group of kids that had stuck around look amongst themselves for a brief moment before nudging the oldest looking one. She hesitates before glancing sideways at me- she can't be much more than 14 years old- and then back to Epinel. "Is he your boyfriend?"

There's a deadly pause of silence before Epinel makes a small noise, as if she was trying to talk and I glance over at her. She ducks her head beneath the collar of her jacket before spinning on her heel, throwing down her skateboard and taking off.

It was all so sudden that it takes me a moment to realize what had happened. I watch her hurry off before she rounds a corner and exits the park and enters the Ark's city. I turn back to the kids who give me a mixture of ashamed or embarassed looks. "Sorry, sir." They mutter sheepishly.

I wave a hand through the air at them. "Don't worry about it." I say with a patient smile, knowing I should set some sort of  military-like example in public. "It might be better to ask her questions like that in a letter, maybe then it won't be such a vague answer." I laugh before waving to them and making my way back to the city streets.

I don't bother to look for her, because I knew she'd be fine on her own, and plus- if someone wanted to get lost in the Ark and not be found, that was rather easily done. Though, I was slightly worried, so I attempt to call her, though of course she doesn't pick up.

I let out a exhausted sigh, though I hadn't done much, and it wasn't later than 2 in the afternoon, and decide to throw in the towel and return to the outpost. If anything, I could simply just finish those reports I'd slept on.

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Author's Note