Enter your search terms Submit search form

Ultratech Brazil

     “Kain!  Kain!”  Anna called out, dashing down the old dirt road that led to Kain’s house.
     Kain poked his head out of the door.  “Oh, Anna!  Good afternoon!”
     “Hi!”  She came to a stop in front of his house, breathing heavily.
     “Where’s the fire?”  Kain asked, coming out of his house.
     “Fire?  What?  I don’t understand…..”
     “Oh nevermind.  What can I do for you?”
     Anna took a moment to catch her breath.  “Well, I wanted to start planting my garden today.  I need several large holes to
be dug and I was wondering if you –“
     “Say no more.”  Kain said.  “Just show me where you want them.”
     “Thank you.”  Anna turned and started for her house, with Kain at her side.  “I’m sorry for troubling you; I just figured it
would be much easier for you to do it, what with your power and all.”
     “Don’t worry about it; I’m glad to help.  Actually, I’ve been wanting to use my power, but I haven’t come up with a good
excuse for it.”
     Anna shot him a look.  “Trigger happy, eh?”
     Kain’s eyes widened.  “Oh no, I just, I mean, I’m just curious, that’s all.”
     Anna grinned.  “You don’t have to explain.  I understand.  I mean, if I had lightening bolts coming out of my hand, I’d find a
way to use it everyday.”
     “It’s not that great.  It’s just destructive power, not good for much unless you want to blow something up.”
     “Or dig a hole.”
     “That too.”
     Anna and Kain entered Anna’s house, going all the way through, out the back and into the back yard.  There were a few
plants sitting in pots around the area, along with some simple garden tools, and a large wicker hat.
     “Right there.”  Anna said.  “I’d like one right there, please.”
     Kain held out his right hand, pointing his palm at the spot that Anna pointed at.  Suddenly, a bolt of blue energy shot out
from his hand, striking the ground and creating a hole.
     “Another, there.”  Anna said.  Kain repeated the process.
     “You know,” Kain said, “I should start a garden of my own.”
     Anna smiled.  “Yeah right.  You just wanna blow holes in the ground.”
     Kain forced a laugh.  He created another hole in the ground at the spot where Anna was pointing.
     Anna turned serious for a moment.  “You know, I’m really going to miss you when you’re gone.”
     “Gone?  Where am I going?”
     “Well, I imagine you’ve got a life of your own, right?  Once you’ve got your memories back, you’ll probably want to go
back to that life.”
     “Hmm.  I never really thought about it.  But, I’m not entirely sure that, even when I do know who I am, that I’ll want to go
back.  It’s so nice and peaceful here.”
     “You mean I’ll be stuck with you indefinitely?”
     “’Fraid so.”
     “Wonderful.”  Anna said, in a mock sarcastic voice.  She tried her best to hide a smile.
     “Fulgore-X!”  A voice called, from out of nowhere.
     “What?”
     “Fulgore-X!”

     “Fulgore-X!”
     Fulgore-X opened an eye.  He wasn’t in the village on the edge of the Rainforest.  Instead, he was sitting in a dark and
damaged hallway of Ultratech Brazil, with a plasma shield, a security door, and several well-armed mutants keeping him
imprisoned.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, he sat across from an enemy who could potentially be worse than Gargos; a human
woman named Orchid.
     “What could you possibly want?”  Fulgore-X asked, his voice dripping with irritation.
     Orchid shot him a look.  “I just wanted to know if you had come up with a plan yet.”
     Fulgore-X sighed, as if he was building up rage to be unleashed in a violent outburst, but calmed down instead.  “As I said
before, there is no plan to be thought of.  All we can do is rest, and wait for that plasma shield to fall.”
     Orchid pouted.  She looked up at the video monitor on the wall above Fulgore-X’s head.

     Fifteen minutes had passed.  By Fulgore-X’s estimation, the plasma shield protecting them from the remaining genetic
mutations would fall any minute now, but it only had fifteen minutes more power at maximum.
     Orchid rubbed her right hand, which had been badly burned from the firefight.  She had torn material from her pant leg off in order to make a bandage.  She wrapped the once white material around her hand, but after only fifteen minutes, it had already turned dark red.
     Probably the worst thing about the waiting was the silence.  Except for the short exchange a few moments ago, neither one
of them had spoken since they had been trapped in their current predicament.  Fulgore-X seemed perfectly content with the
silence.  He sat there cross-legged, hands on his knees, palms up.  He had closed his eyes, and they had been closed up until
Orchid got his attention.  It almost seemed like he was meditating, but that was impossible.  How could a robot meditate?
     Orchid had spent the time thinking more about Fulgore-X than she wanted to.  He was completely cybernetic, yet
somehow, he was alive.  Orchid wondered if it was the same “alive” feeling that she experienced.  What was he feeling, what
was he thinking?  She still hated him passionately, but she couldn’t help but to think about his existence.  If he weren’t so damn
evil, she would ask him some questions, try to learn more about him.
     Even though he was both a cyborg and the enemy, Orchid felt compelled to talk to him.  She had spent most of her life
avoiding people, so she had never really experienced something people called “awkward silence”, but if such a thing existed,
she was sure that she was experiencing it now.  Unfortunately, there was nothing to be said.  Orchid looked at him, trying to
figure out some way to start a conversation.  Eventually, she noticed something that she hadn’t before.  The right side of
Fulgore-X’s jumpsuit was soaked with liquid plasma.  Was he injured?  He had to be; there was a little pool of liquid plasma
gathering on the floor near Fulgore-X.
     “Christ, you’re-“  Orchid stopped herself before she finished the sentence.  She couldn’t say the word she had in mind; it
made him seem too human.
     Fulgore-X opened an eye.  “Bleeding?”
     “Leaking.”  Orchid corrected him.  She tore off another piece of material from her pant leg.
     “That will accomplish nothing.”  The cyborg said coldly.
     “Maybe it’ll keep you from leaking all over the place.”  Orchid moved in closer to him.  “Will you let me…..?”
     “Very well.”  Fulgore-X crossed his arms, exposing his sides.  Orchid lifted his jumpsuit top and stuffed the fabric in
between his armor plate and his stomach joints.  She restored the jumpsuit and backed away.
     “What you do care, anyway?”  Fulgore-X asked.
     “You’re my ticket out of here, remember?  Don’t forget our deal; you help me survive, and I’ll help you survive.”
     “I remember.  After we leave this building, though, I get to kill you.”
     Orchid half smiled.  “Don’t underestimate me, Fulgore-X.  I’m a better martial artist than you think.  I did win Killer Instinct
7.”
     “Yes, and I won KI8, big deal.”
     Orchid snorted.  “You think you’re some kind of super warrior, huh?  You don’t even know what the true meaning of
martial arts is.  It’s just some subroutine among many other systems.”
     “Martial art:  any of several Oriental arts of self-defense or combat, as karate, judo, or tae kwon do, usually practiced as
sport.”  It was the dictionary definition of “martial art.”  Fulgore-X did it to annoy her.  It worked pretty well too.
     Orchid snorted again.  “You don’t understand the true meaning of the martial arts.  That’s why you can never hope to beat
me or Jago, or any other serious martial artist.”
     Fulgore-X forced a laugh.  “You know, I had a conversation along these lines with Gargos.  He said almost the same thing
you did.  Now, if I recall correctly, I sliced him up pretty good.  But really, I’d love to hear your take on this.  Please, enlighten
me.”
     “Martial arts is a way of life.  It drives a person to become their best, to overcome the ego while still developing
self-confidence.  It teaches us to strive for perfection, both physically and spiritually.”
     “Is that so?  I thought your ‘Organization’ taught it to you to make you a better killer.”
     “See, that’s where you have you and I confused.  I learned it on my own.”  Orchid drifted off for a moment, forgetting
where she was and whom she was talking to.  “Actually, Mikhal forced me into it.  Mikhal is the agent who found me, and took care of me after my parents were killed.  Even though I had forced my entire life up to that moment out of my head, part of it still remained.  It made me reluctant to get close to people.  I thought that, the farther away I kept everyone, the less chance
that they could hurt me.  Mikhal was worried about me, so he enrolled me into a martial arts class when I was only six.  He
thought it would help my self-confidence, and maybe I’d make a friend or two.  Instead, I could retreat even further into my
shell, go into some isolated corner and practice my forms, while the other kids built sand castles.  I earned my black belt very
quickly, and after Mikhal died, I started practicing even harder.”  Orchid suddenly returned to reality.  “But I don’t know why
I’m telling you any of this.”
     Fulgore-X looked at her sideways.  “You know, they say that there’s a very fine line between friend and enemy…..”
     “You are most definitely no friend of mine.”  Orchid shot back.
     “And I did not suggest that I was.”
     Orchid let out an exasperated sigh.  She didn’t know why she wanted to strike up a conversation with that…..thing…..in the first place.  However, she did notice that the plasma puddle near Fulgore-X was getting bigger.
     “How bad is that injury?”  Orchid asked.
     “I’m fine.”  Fulgore-X said flatly.
     Orchid let her curiosity get the best of her.  “So, did that happen when you fought Jeremiah?”
     “No.  It was re-opened during that fight.  The original injury was caused by a certain baseball bat wielding lunatic.”
     It took Orchid a moment to realize who the “baseball bat wielding lunatic” was.
     “I did what I had to.”  She said.
     “Really?  It was me against Gargos and you choose to attack me…..yes, that was quite a choice you made.”
     “Gargos had possessed my brother.  I couldn’t attack him.  Besides, I’d gladly take my chances with him rather than let you win.”
     “Why do you say that?  You don’t even know what my agenda was!”
     “Sure I do.  Gargos only wanted to enslave everyone.  You planned to murder the human race, and build a cybernetic
utopia in its place.”
     “That was not my plan!”  Fulgore-X snapped.  Orchid’s eyes widened.  She had touched a nerve.  “That wasn’t my
intention, wasn’t my intention at all.”  The cyborg continued.  “That was Fulgore 2’s plan.  I am not my predecessor.”
     Orchid cut her eyes towards him.  “Then, what was your plan?  Tell me; what would you have done if you won Killer
Instinct…..and didn’t end up here?”
     Fulgore-X looked away from her.  “I…..I don’t know.  I just want…..to live.”
     His words hit Orchid like a roundhouse kick.  It made the cyborg seem less evil and more…..human.  But that just wasn’t
possible.  He was still a Fulgore cyborg, a cold-blooded murderer.  And as some of that “cold-blood” leaked out from his side
onto the floor, it became increasingly harder for Orchid to hate him.  She still did though.
     “Tell that to some of your victims.”  Orchid said.
     Fulgore-X narrowed his eyes.  “I could say the same to you.  As an agent in your ‘Organization’, just how many people
have you killed?”
     “That’s besides the point.”
     “Is it really?  I don’t think so.”  If Fulgore-X could, he would be smiling.  “At least I’m fighting for survival.  How many
people have you assassinated?”
     “Shut up!”
     “It must have been so simple.  You receive your orders, you go get your gun, and you pick off some innocent dictator from
at least one hundred yards away.  Then you go back to headquarters where you get high-fives from all the other agents.
Meanwhile, your superiors tell you that it’s for the good of the world, but you don’t really know one way or the other, do
you?”
     “Shut up!”
     “Such blind obedience.  I almost feel sorry for you.  But I guess ignorance really is bliss.”
     “Shut up!”  Orchid almost lunged at him, but she realized it would accomplish nothing.  “Whatever I did, I did for the good
of the world.  I may not have known exactly how or why, but I trusted in my superiors, and so far, I don’t see any evidence
that any of their decisions were wrong.  But I have never, ever, injured or killed an innocent man.  I can’t say the same for
you.”
     “What are you talking about?”
     “That plasma bomb you used to take Gargos out, it destroyed an entire city block!  Thousands could have been killed!”
     “Nobody was though…..”
     “But they could have.  And let’s not forget that explosion you also caused, that destroyed Central Park.”
     “Once again, no casualties.”
     “Maybe.  But perhaps the most grievous of all your crimes is what you did to Shadow!”
     “Shadow?”  Fulgore-X’s eyes widened.  “That ninja I fought with in the first round of Killer Instinct 8?”
     “That’s right!  You had that fight won, but you killed him for no reason, no reason at all!  If that isn’t the definition of evil,
then I don’t know what is!”
     “That’s it, isn’t it?  No matter what else you accuse me of…..that’s the root of all your hatred for me.”  Fulgore-X gave
Orchid a look.  “You had a thing for him, didn’t you?”
     Orchid pouted, and turned her head away from him.
     Fulgore-X continued.  “And that’s why…..”  He suddenly stopped himself.
     “That’s why what?”  Orchid asked.
     “Nothing.”  He said.
     “Now it makes sense.”  Fulgore-X thought.  “Why I fought him in the first round, why Gargos wanted him dead so badly.
He knew that Orchid liked him.  With his death, at the hands of a Fulgore cyborg no less, Orchid would be more than
distracted, and less of a threat.  And it would make me an enemy to her, and she would concentrate more on me and less on
him.  Damn that Gargos.  But, I can’t tell Orchid that her feelings for him are probably what killed him.  That just might push her over the edge; and that’s the last thing I need right now.”
     “There is more to that situation than you can understand.”  Fulgore-X said.
     “You murdered him; what more could there be?”
     Fulgore-X sighed.  “I guess there’s no other way.”  Internally, he accessed his communications channel log.  He found the
transmission in which Gargos forced him to kill Shadow; he then copied it onto a miniature compact disk.  That disk emerged
from the control panel on his left forearm.  “Here, take this,” he said, holding the disk out, towards Orchid.
     Orchid took it suspiciously.  “What is it?”
     “The truth.  If you get out of this alive, I want you to listen to it.”
     “Why should I?”
     Fulgore-X narrowed his eyes.  “Promise me Orchid, that you’ll listen to it.  Promise me.”
     Orchid was taken aback.  “I…..I promise.”
     Before anything else could be said, the constant sound that the plasma shield had been making changed.  There was a
strange, fluctuating quality to it.
     “What was that?”  Orchid asked.
     Fulgore-X rose.  “The plasma shield is failing.  It’s time.”  He moved closer to the bend in the hallway, only a few feet away
from where the plasma shield has been established.  He assumed an advanced fighting stance this time; both knees bent, left
shoulder facing out, palms open and facing upwards.
     “Well, at least the waiting’s over.”  Orchid stood and readied herself behind Fulgore-X.  If possible, she would let him do all the fighting.
     The plasma shield fluctuated a few more times before finally giving out.  Orchid breathed heavily, waiting for the eminent
attack.  An attack that was taking an eternity to come.  Fulgore-X stood still, constantly ready.  Orchid fidgeted.
     “Maybe they gave up.”  She suggested.
     “Unlikely.”  Fulgore-X responded.
     Orchid could feel her body’s every movement; the blood tumbling through her veins, sweat dripping down her skin, the
constant gnaw of hunger, and the potent sting of the burn on her hand.  Moreover, her eyes noticed every movement, no matter how slight, and her ears picked up the slightest sound.  This allowed her to hear a sound that she had not heard before.
Perhaps masked by the hum of the plasma shield, it sounded almost like a laser cutter.
     “But why…..” Orchid thought, “…..oh no…..”  As she spun around to face the other direction, her suspicions were
confirmed.  A square portion of the ceiling dropped down from above; it hit the ground before Orchid completed her spin.
Hearing the noise from the fallen panel, Fulgore-X also spun around.  Before he could complete his spin, two particularly
grotesque rejects dropped down from the hole in the ceiling.  They pounced on Orchid, clawing at her ferociously.
     “Orchid!”  Fulgore-X exclaimed.  Suddenly something grabbed him from behind and held on tightly.  It felt almost like a
gigantic jellyfish.  It was conducting energy through its body, inflicting pain on Fulgore-X.
     “Annoying pest!”  The cyborg reached behind him, grabbed a handful of the gooey mass, plucked it off his back, and
slammed it into the ground.  It splattered horribly.  In front of him, Orchid lay on her back, desperately struggling with her two
attackers.  Fulgore-X was just about to pluck them off when he heard growling behind him.  He turned around to face an
enormous human-bear hybrid.  It stood at least 7’5 feet tall, no less than 350 pounds in weight, and incredibly intimidating.
     “Aw geez…..”  Fulgore-X whined.  The bear creature grabbed him with both paws and shook him violently, squeezing him
at the same time, trying to get his head to pop off.
     Meanwhile, Orchid struggled for dear life against her assailants.  She pushed both her feet into their chests, trying to keep
them away from her.  They clawed and slashed at her vigorously; one of them opened up a nasty cut across her chest.  Orchid
kicked her feet out, tossing them backwards.  She got up quickly, and faced the two monsters.  One was another dog like
creature with mangy black fur; the other looked like a super human.  He was a massive man covered in black clothing and a
metal facemask.  It threw a tremendous punch at Orchid; she managed to dodge it and thankfully so.  When his fist missed and
slammed into the steel wall, it created a hole.  The super human seemed completely unaffected.  Orchid tried a jumping
roundhouse.  It connected, but had no effect either.
     Fulgore-X wasn’t having any better luck.  With his arms restrained, he couldn’t get off any plasma shots, and his eye lasers
were still off-line.  Fulgore-X squirmed the best he could, finally freeing his right arm.  He began to pound into the forearms of
the bear creature with his fist; when that didn’t work, he unsheathed his claw and began to dig into its skin.  Finally, the bear
creature dropped him onto the floor.  Shaken, but pretty angry, Fulgore-X charged into the monstrosity with his right shoulder.
Not only was the bear creature unmoved by the attack, Fulgore-X went involuntarily tumbling backwards.  He sat up just in
time to see its foot trying to stomp him through the floor.  The cyborg barely rolled out of the way.
     “Okay, I need a new plan of action.”  Fulgore-X thought.
     A few feet away from him, Orchid had had the same thought.  She turned her attention away from the super human, and
tried attacking the dog creature.  Unfortunately, it had mastered the skill of dodging.  Orchid was fighting herself tired.  From behind, the super human grabbed her by the shoulders and began to squeeze.  Orchid shrieked in pain.  The dog creature knew not to waste an opportunity; he slammed Orchid with three good fierce punches to the stomach.  Having had his fun, he backed off, pulled a plasma rifle from his back, and aimed it at Orchid’s head.
     “Oh no you don’t!”  Orchid thought.  “I’ll not be beaten by the likes of you!”  Although in great pain, she hoisted her knee
up to her chest.  She then pulled the plasma taser off the strap on her shin; from there, she jabbed it into the base of the neck of the super human.  It only hurt him slightly, but it was enough for his grip on her to loosen.  Orchid looked up to see the dog
creature about ready to fire at her.  Orchid hesitated for a risky second, then ducked just as the dog creature fired.  The shots
hit the super human in the face, destroying his mask and sending him reeling back.  Orchid spun around and shoved the end of
the taser into the exposed face of the super human.  He howled in agony, as sparks flew from the taser.  Surprisingly, the titan
fell, and it didn’t look like he would ever get back up again.  Orchid stood over him, her head bowed and her hair hanging down, covering her face.  The dog creature, somewhat in shock for just having shot his partner, raised his rifle again and prepared to fire another volley of shots.  Before he could, Orchid spun around; her hair whipped to the side, exposing a startlingly psychotic look in her eyes.  She charged at him, knocking the gun away before lunging at him, trying to force the taser down his throat.
     Unlike Orchid, Fulgore-X still wasn’t having much luck with his adversary.  Risking a further drain to his systems, he shot a
few plasma storm shots straight into the chest of the bear creature, but they were wholly ineffective.  With no other options,
Fulgore-X began backing away, desperately trying to think of something that would actually harm this beast.
     “If only I was at full power!”  Fulgore-X agonized.  “This thing would be a spot on the floor by now!  I just don’t have
enough plasma in my body…..”
     “Then use the plasma around you!”  A voice said, from within Fulgore-X’s head.
     “What?”  He said aloud.  He began to wonder if the bear creature didn’t dislodge something important in his cybernetic
brain when he shook him..
     “Use the plasma in the walls.”  The voice repeated.
     “The plasma conduits…..”  Fulgore-X continued to talk aloud, to no one visible, “but that’s not possible!  I can’t manipulate plasma unless it’s within my own systems!”
     Fulgore-X noticed he was getting close to the end of the hallway.  With no left turn, and Orchid raging a war of her own to
his right, he didn’t have any other options left.
     “Guess I don’t have a choice.”  Fulgore-X extended his right arm with his fist closed.  He tried his best to ignore the slow
approach of the bear creature, and instead concentrate on a task that was scientifically and logically impossible.  He tried to
imagine what it would be like to do the attack, yet not do the attack at the same time; he tried to invoke the attack.  He tried to
make the plasma in the walls follow his will.  It was an extremely improbable, if not impossible, but it was all he had.  Fulgore-X almost kicked himself for trying it.  A strange voice, from somewhere inside of his head, telling him to violate the laws of nature and physics.  It would not work.
     Yet somehow, it did.
     Fulgore-X screamed, and opened his hand.  Instantly, the entire hallway filled with blue light, as there was a tremendous
outburst of plasma energy.  It was the plasma flare, an attack whose potency is second only to the plasma bomb.  When the
light dispersed, only Fulgore-X remained.  He stood, wide eyed, as falling cinders floated down in front of him.  That was all
that was left of the bear creature.  Around him, giant holes had been opened up in the walls where the plasma energy burst
forth.
     “That…..could not…..have just…..happened…..”  Fulgore-X stammered.  “How did I do that?”
     Down the other hall, the light of the plasma flare had caught Orchid’s attention for a few moments, however, she quickly
resumed her attack against the dog creature.  Having been distracted by the plasma flare himself, the dog creature had
unwittingly let his defenses down, as Orchid struggled on top of him.  She took her taser and rammed it down his throat.  He cried out in pure pain.  Orchid pushed down even harder, making sure not to stop until the dog’s creature’s head had become a gooey mess on the floor.  Triumphant against the odds, Orchid stood with her head bowed and hair in front of her face again.
     Before she could do anything else, another attacker jumped down from the hole in the ceiling, pouncing on her.  Orchid’s
head hit the floor hard, but she managed to open her eyes to see who it was.
     “Riptor?”  She said, groggily.
     Riptor stood over her, his hands clutched around her neck.  Whatever humanity he had at the start of the day had taken a
little vacation.  His eyes gleamed and his jaw dangled, with a small sliver of drool hanging down.  He squeezed harder and
harder, trying to force the life right out of Orchid.  With her previous two opponents and mild head trauma, Orchid couldn’t put up much of a fight.  Her taser had been knocked away when Riptor pounced on her.  She could feel her breath being trapped inside of her, forced back down her throat.  She would only be able to last a few more seconds, at best.  Fortunately, an unlikely savior spared her from death.
     Riptor’s eyes widened and his tongue curled, as the same fate he was inflicting on Orchid was being inflicted on him.
Fulgore-X grabbed his neck from behind, applying all the force a cybernetic being could.  He lifted Riptor up, off of Orchid,
and a few feet above the ground.
     “Fulgore-X…..no…..”  Riptor managed to mutter.  They would prove to be his last words.
     In a fraction of a second, Fulgore-X tightened his grip, crushing Riptor’s neck; it crumpled not unlike a sheet of paper.
Green blood sprayed out from both sides and onto the walls.  Riptor’s head dropped, and hanged morbidly from his string like
neck.  Fulgore-X loosened his fingers, letting Riptor ooze down to the floor.
     Orchid took a moment to gather her breath, then sat up.  Fulgore-X stood menacingly in the dark hallway; with his body’s
plasma drained, the only noticeable feature about him was his blaring red eyes.
     “You know,”  Orchid said, slowly standing, “sometimes you can be downright scary.”
     “Thank you.”  Fulgore-X responded.
     Orchid panted for a few seconds, exhaling volumes of trapped air and inhaling a little bit of stale, damp, Ultratech Brazil air.
“So…..we survived.  What now?”
     Fulgore-X walked past her, back towards the hallway they came from.  “Now we leave this place.  But first, I have to go to the bathroom.”
     Orchid’s head tilted.  “Okay, I know I hit my head a little hard back there, but what did you say?”
     “I have to go to the bathroom.  Are you coming or not?”  Fulgore-X started to leave without her.
     Orchid threw up her hands.  “Don’t even want to know…..”  She slowly followed him back down the battle-scarred
hallway.
 
 

Return To Main

---