Ultratech Corporation: Cafeteria Lounge # 2
 
      The Ultratech Cafeteria was dimly lit by a medium light above the grand oven near the back of the room.  Like most
other Ultratech rooms, this room was also mostly just cold, gray steel.  From the oven all the way to the door, were round
tables, also steel, accompanied by about three or four chairs.  Sitting around one of the tables in the middle of the room were
Jago, Glacius, Kim Wu, and TJ Combo.  In the darkest corner of the room, near the door, Orchid leaned against the wall,
hidden to anyone to who didn’t previously know that she was there.
      “I mean, is there really any danger if we should lose this tournament?”  Jago asked to no one in particular.  “Is this really
as serious as the last two?  Look at what we’re up against.  Gargos and a handful of Ultratech rejects.  Sure, they may be
formidable in hand-to-hand combat, but they’re after the whole world!  What chance do they have of actually succeeding?”
      “A good one.”  Kim Wu interjected.  “Gargos is a master of his inner power; if he wants to take the world, there would
be nothing to stop him.”
      “Inner power?”  TJ Combo said.  “What’s that?”
      Kim straightened herself.  “It is the ability to manipulate and control your own life force and the awesome power of
nature.  This energy can be used to control or modify objects, create things, or can be manifested as pure energy.  With
Glacius’s assistance, he has helped me to look up a little human history.  I had wondered why, when you first came to my time,
that you were such powerful warriors but did not know about the inner power.  I know now that the practice of the inner
power, or chi, died out sometime after, what do you call it, the ‘medieval ages.’ Back then, it was called magic, or sorcery.”
      “Are you saying that Gargos is a master of magic?”  TJ asked.
      “If you want to put it that way, yes.”
      “Even still, what chance does magic have against today’s technology?”  As he said this, TJ uneasily rubbed his new
cyborg-like arms.
      “Chi is the most powerful force in the universe.  Nothing you have on this planet even compares.  Not even your
‘nuclear energy.’”
      “You’re telling me that Gargos could single-handedly defeat, say, an army of tanks with chi?”
      “That is exactly what I’m saying.  All your armaments would be useless.  Before those tanks of yours ever reached
Gargos, he would have stopped them in their tracks, made them explode, or have them turn on themselves and blast each
other, all with a single thought.”
      TJ went to scratch his forehead, and then remembered that with his Ultratech enhancements, such an act would have
been fatal.  “What if worse came to worse, and we launch a nuclear missile at him?  How is he going to stop that one?”
      “Knowing Gargos, he’d probably make it turn around and send it right back to where it came.”
      “By the Tiger...”  Jago said.
      Glacius raised his hand in front of him.  He concentrated, and turned his arm from the elbow up into a double-edged
blade.  “So, if he can do that, what chance do we have in this tournament?”
      Kim looked directly at Glacius.  “We have a good chance, because we are not programmed machines.  We have our
own chi, to control.  If we concentrate hard enough, Gargos won’t be able to use his chi influence over us.  Then, it will come
down to who is the better fighter.”
      Glacius turned his blade back into an arm.  “The way I see it, there are only two fighters who have a chance against
Gargos.  Fulgore-X, and Jago.”
      TJ nearly jumped out of his chair.  “Fulgore-X!  Forget it!  He’s on their side!”
      “Not necessarily.”  Jago jumped in.  “Back in the past, Fulgore 2 hated Gargos.  Did you notice the way Fulgore-X
acted towards Gargos, and vice-versa?  And Fulgore 1 didn’t have a warm place in his heart for Cinder, either.  If any of that
has carried over to X...”
      “But that doesn’t mean that he’s on our side.”  TJ continued.  “Even still, he’s probably got his own agenda, just as bad
as Gargos.”
      “Yeah,” Jago said, “but I’d much rather have to fight Fulgore-X than Gargos.  And why Glacius, do you say I am the
other one who has a chance against Gargos?”
      Glacius turned to face Jago.  “Out of all the other fighters, you seem to have more peace with your soul.  More spiritual
harmony.”
      “That’s true.”  Kim said.  “Even though humans can no longer use their chi physically, the power still lies deep within.  It
takes a lot of training and discipline, as well as the right teacher to help it surface.  You seem to be the closest to accessing your chi.  It’s still a good twenty or thirty years away, but you’re still the closest.”
      “Great.”  Jago muttered unenthusiastically.  TJ yawned and Kim stretched.  It was getting pretty late.
      “Look,” Jago said, “it’s been a long night.  A very long night.  About the tournament, for now, we play it Gargos’s
way.  But when the time is right, we’ll all strike, try to take down Gargos however we can.  Then we’ll worry about Fulgore-X
and Cinder and the rest of them.  For now, let’s all go to bed, and get some rest.”
      No sooner than Jago finished the sentence, Glacius, TJ, and Kim left the table, and exited the room.  Out of the corner
of his eye, Jago saw fleeting movement in the corner of the room.
      “Wait!”  He called out.
      Jago jumped up from the table, and caught up with Orchid, who was standing just outside the door.  Orchid began
walking down the hallway, with Jago next to her.
      Jago reached behind him and pulled his sword case from his back.  He gripped it tightly.  “Orchid, what’s up?  I mean,
you’ve been really distant tonight.  More than usual.  What’s going on?”
      Orchid said nothing.
      “C’mon, I know something’s up.  I mean, ever since we found out that Shadow would be fighting Fulgore-X, and then
after he was killed - ” Jago cut himself off.  Orchid still said nothing.  “That’s it, isn’t it?  Shadow.”
      Orchid stopped walking.  Jago stopped too.  Orchid only glared at Jago.
      “It’s Shadow.  I know you tried to recruit him to help us, but there’s something more.  You cared for him, didn’t you?”
      Orchid continued to stare at Jago, and then suddenly, she took off walking down the hall again, at a pace so fast that,
Jago would have to maintain a slow jog to keep up.  Jago only watched her sail down the hallway.
 
 
Unknown Location: JD Stamper Building
 
 
      Fulgore-X hovered in front of one of his birthplaces; the JD Stamper building.  The building was created solely for the
Fulgore Project.  It was where Fulgore and Fulgore 2 were created.  Since Fulgore-X was supposed to be a secret, only some parts of him were made in this building.  Other components were created within the Ultratech Corporation, and inside the house of Dr. Parkins, the head of the Fulgore Project.
      Since this was home of the Fulgore Project, for security purposes, it was surrounded by a vast ocean of molten lava.
Even Fulgore-X didn’t know how far it extended.  He didn’t even know where the building was.  He only knew how to
teleport there.
      Fulgore X adjusted his foot booster power, and reduced altitude to just a few feet over the lava.  He glided over to a
door and entered in a security code.  The door slid open and Fulgore-X entered.
      Fulgore-X looked around.  The building was massive.  Extending at least thirty stories high, behind him, as well as in
front of him, and to the sides, were doors on the walls.  They were numerous and in no particular order.  From each door was
a steel grating walkway, which went randomly to another door or even another walkway.  This network of walkways
crisscrossed all across the inside of the building.
      Behind the doors were different Fulgore Research and Development areas.  Since the Fulgore cyborg was so complex,
it’s many different nuances were divided up into different departments.  A team of six to seven engineers was assigned to each
department.  Occasionally, one department would interact with another, and components would have to be carried over to
another door for more detailed work to be made.  To do this, one would have to leave their area, climb down a flight of
completely vertical stairs against the wall, carry the component across the floor, and climb up another set of vertical stairs, to
the appropriate door.  Sometimes, sensitive components didn’t survive the trip, so the walkways were created to solve the
problem.  Each door got a walkway, which could be connected to any other door across the building, or to another walkway.
      Fulgore-X noticed that an entire set of walkways was missing on the right side, as well as skid marks on the wall.  A
flashback suddenly zipped through Fulgore-X’s head…
 
 
      Fulgore looked around for Glacius.  He was hiding somewhere in these walkways.  Fulgore couldn’t detect him though,
because Glacius didn’t show up on heat scanners.  Something else did.
About twenty-five stories below, there were four heat signatures.  Using normal super-sight radar, Fulgore detected that they
were TJ Combo, Orchid, and Chief Thunder carrying Jago.
      “Heh.”  Fulgore thought.  “If I can’t get Glacius, I’ll fry his friends.”
      Fulgore built up a massive stock for a super powerful eye laser shot.  He aimed, and a small laser discharge emerged as
he prepared to fire the big shot.
      Just before he did, Glacius came charging down.  Having turned his fists into battering rams, Glacius thundered into
Fulgore.  The two began rocketing downward, crashing into one of the steel walkways.  The walkway was nothing compared
to the two giant competitors, and it caved under them, not even pausing their descent.
      They continued to fall, crashing into walkways, and taking the walkways with them, eventually hurtling towards the four
fighters below...
 
 
      Fulgore-X shook his head.  It was a memory of the original Fulgore’s, back in KI7, shortly after his fight with Jago.
Somewhat disturbed, Fulgore-X activated his foot boosters and rocketed up to the door he wanted.
      Inside, the room was almost bare.  There was a table in the center of the room with all kinds of metal and electronic
parts.  At the back of the room, there was a small capsule.  It was a Fulgore regeneration pod.  When the first Fulgore was
completed, the one known as Fulgore 2, the engineers didn’t know how to level out the plasma/energy conversion levels.  As a
result, every twelve hours or so, Fulgore had to get into this capsule to reenergize.  During the process, Fulgore was
temporarily deactivated.  It was the cybernetic equivalent of going to sleep.
      Even though Fulgore-X didn’t need any capsules or regeneration pods, he didn’t feel well.  Both from his fight, and
what he had to do afterwards.  Fulgore-X put himself in the regeneration pod.  Maybe twelve hours of unconsciousness would
do him good.  Fulgore-X activated the capsule, and “went to sleep.”
 
 
Ultratech Corporation: Orchid and Jago’s Quarters
 
 
      Jago dragged himself through the door.  All the lights were off in the room, and Orchid lay in her bed.  Jago could see
her black leather trench coat dropped carelessly on the floor, but nothing else.  Jago assumed that Orchid had entered, taken
off her coat, and jumped in the bed, clothes and all.  She seemed to be asleep.
      Jago carefully entered the bathroom and changed out of his fighting attire.  Slipping into his silk pajamas, he tiptoed past
Orchid and into his bead.  He took another glance at Orchid.  Sometimes, she would pretend to be asleep to escape
conversation.  However, she looked to be asleep this time.  She even looked like she was dreaming.
 
      Orchid stood in the middle of a dark alleyway.  Nothing seemed to exist beyond this hallway.  Near the end of the hall,
was an open door, with a faint light escaping from it.  Orchid was strangely drawn to this hallway, as if she had been there
before...
 
      “Where am I?”  Fulgore-X asked himself.  He stood in the middle of some apartment.  The room was just about bare.
The carpet was white, and there were a few tables and chairs scattered around the room.  Behind Fulgore-X, was an open
door, leading out to a dark alleyway.  In front of him, were a man and a woman.  The man was wearing a scarf around his
head, green shaded glasses, and a brown leather jacket with blue jeans.  The woman had long, dark, flowing hair, and she
wore a white shawl.  She was crying.
      “Please don’t hurt us!”  The woman cried.
      “What makes you think - ” Fulgore-X started to say, when he was cut off by his claws involuntarily unsheathing
themselves...
 
      Orchid continued to walk down this strange, dark alleyway, being pulled towards the door.  As she got closer, she
pressed herself against the wall, inching herself closer to the door.  As she got there, she stopped and craned her neck around
to peer into the room.
      “Oh dear God.”  She said.
 
      Fulgore-X stared at his claws.  As he did, he felt himself moving closer to the man and woman.  “Hold on!  I’m not...why am I...”
      The woman continued to cry.  The man held her tightly.
      “Wait a minute!”  Fulgore-X cried.  “I know what...I know what this is.  No.  No!  This isn’t my history!  This isn’t
my...”
      “Oh yes it is!”  A familiar voice cried out.  Fulgore-X looked over to his left.  Fulgore 2 stood a few feet away, with his
arms crossed.  He was smiling.
      “You!”  Fulgore-X exclaimed.  “This is your past, not mine!  I had no part in this!”
      “You do now.  You see, even though you weren’t actually here, I was.”  Fulgore 2 began approaching Fulgore-X.
      “What are you doing here?!  You’ve been destroyed!”
      “Maybe my body was, but my great mind lives on...right there, inside of you...”  Fulgore 2 pressed his finger against
Fulgore-X’s head.
      Fulgore 2 smiled again.  “But I’m keeping you from carrying on our little task, so please carry on...”
      “I’m not you!”  Fulgore-X insisted.  As he did, he looked down and noticed that his armor had turned into a metallic
light brown.
 
      Orchid was stunned to see Fulgore 2 slowly approaching a man and a woman.  The woman was hysterical.  Fulgore
2’s claws were exposed.  Suddenly, a cold chill came over Orchid, and she knew exactly what was going on.  She tried to
scream, but no sound came out.  She tried to move, but she couldn’t.  She was helpless; all she could do was watch history
repeat itself...
 
      “No, no, no!”  Fulgore-X’s cries were in vain, as he approached the man and woman.  They stood up and closed their
eyes.  Fulgore-X felt his arms draw themselves backwards.  Fulgore 2 smiled.
      “No!”
      Fulgore-X couldn’t stop his claws from thrusting themselves through the man and woman.  Their eyes rolled back, as
their blood trickled down from Fulgore-X’s claws, staining the white carpet.  Finally, Fulgore-X was able to retract his claws,
but it was too late.  The two corpses fell into a grotesque heap on the floor.
      “No!”
      Standing in another door, in front of Fulgore-X, was a little girl, with an exotic flower in her hair.  She watched the
whole scene in horror.  Her big eyes looked up at Fulgore-X, and the only word she said was “why?”
 
      Orchid could do nothing as Fulgore 2 thrust his claws through the man and woman.  He dropped them in a bloody pile
on the ground.  Fulgore 2 backed off into the shadows, and the spell over Orchid was broken.  She ran to the horrible scene of death.  The man and woman lay dead on the floor, Fulgore 2’s claws still sticking out of their stomachs.  Through tears, Orchid looked up to see a little girl standing in the door in front of her.  The little girl, also in tears, said to Orchid, “why?”
 
      The little girl started to walk towards Fulgore-X.
      “Keep away!”  Fulgore-X commanded.
      The little girl ignored him as she continued to approach the scene.  As she came closer, Fulgore-X was horrified to
discover one of his claws sticking out of her stomach.
      “Why?”  She repeated.
      “What the...no!  No!”  Fulgore-X shouted.  “It didn’t happen like this!”
      The little girl looked directly at Fulgore-X.  “Didn’t it?”
 
      Orchid and the little girl could only stare at each other.  Before anything else could happen, Fulgore 2 came back.
      “You murdering bastard!”  Orchid cried.  “Haven’t you done enough!?  Get out of here!”
      For the first time, Fulgore 2 turned to face Orchid.  Orchid could see now that it wasn’t Fulgore 2, but Fulgore-X, in
Fulgore 2’s armor color.
      “You!”  Orchid said.
      Orchid felt herself trapped, unable to move again, as Fulgore-X approached the little girl.  Smiling, he unsheathed
another claw and drove it though the little girl’s stomach.  Fulgore-X turned, bowed, and teleported away.  The little girl, with
the claw still through her, staggered across the room, and fell on top of the bodies of the man and woman.  She opened her
eyes and looked into Orchid’s eyes.  “Why...” she said weakly, “why didn’t you save me?”
 
      Fulgore-X felt physically sick.  To make matters worse, Orchid came out of the shadows.
      “You killed them!  You!  You!  You!”
      “No, it wasn’t me!  It wasn’t me!  It was Fulgore 2!  He did this!”
      “Fulgore 2 is inside of you!  He’s a part of you!  You did this!”
      “Argh!  It wasn’t me!”  With an uncontrollable surge of rage, Fulgore-X drove another claw through Orchid.
      Except it wasn’t Orchid.  Not anymore, anyway.  It was Shadow now.  He looked into Fulgore-X’s eyes, and then fell
into the bodies of the man, woman, and little girl.
 
      Orchid stood up uneasily.  Someone else came out of the darkness.  It was Shadow.  He had a claw through his
stomach.
      “Why?  Why did you drag me into this?  I just wanted a normal life!  Now I have no life!  Why?”  Shadow said.
      Orchid fell to her knees.  “I didn’t mean to...I...I...I’m sorry, I’m...”  Orchid could say no more, as tears got the best of
her.  Shadow stumbled over to the pile of the dead, joining the man, woman, and little girl.
      “Who’s next?  Who else will you kill?”  A chorus of voices sounded from the darkness.
Kim Wu, Glacius, and TJ Combo came out of the shadows, with claws in their stomachs.  They also joined the pile of the
dead, after giving Orchid a dirty look.
      “Who else will you kill?”  A familiar voice questioned.  Jago came out of the darkness.  He also had a claw through his
stomach.
      Orchid dropped her head in disgust.  “You too?  I...I...no!”
    Orchid screamed.
 
      Fulgore-X stood in the center of the room, with his head bowed.  “I...have had...enough...of this…”
      Fulgore 2 reappeared.  “Aw, poor baby, post killin’ depression got cha down?  Fix it by murdering someone else!”
      “This...must...stop...now...”
      Fulgore 2 smiled.  “Boy, you’re more psycho than I am.”
      Fulgore-X raised his right arm.  “This must stop!”  Plasma energy began swirling around his hand.
      “Hey, what are you doing?!  Stop it!”  Fulgore 2 ordered.
      Fulgore-X glared at him.  “Super…Plasma...Storm!”
      Fulgore-X thrust his arm outward.  A massive plasma energy burst exploded from his hands, completely annihilating the
whole room.
 
 
Unknown Location: JD Stamper Building
 
 
      Fulgore-X “woke up” suddenly.  He looked around, disoriented.  Finally, he remembered where he was.  To settle his
mind, he looked down at his armor, to see if it was still black.
      Fulgore-X left the capsule, shaking his head.  “Ugh, it wasn’t real.”  He said to himself.  He then froze for a few
moments.
      “But...cyborgs...don’t have dreams...”
 
 
Ultratech Corporation: Orchid and Jago’s Quarters
 
 
      Orchid woke up screaming.  It was a scream so loud that, at least half of Ultratech had to have been awakened by it.
One of the half was her brother Jago.
      He sat up quickly, rubbing his eyes.  As his vision returned, Jago glanced over to see Orchid sitting up stiffly in her
bed.  Her eyes were open wide.
      Jago quickly left his bed and took a seat on Orchid’s.  “Orchid, what is it?”
      Orchid said nothing, her eyes glazed over.  She blinked, in an unnatural fashion, then turned to Jago and said “nothing.
It was a nightmare.  I’m fine, go back to sleep.”  Orchid sat back in her bed, her eyes still open wide.
      Jago stared at her.  “It was not nothing.  I’ve seen you have nightmares before, and none of them have affected you like
this.  One time, you had a nightmare that would have scared most mortal men and women into a heart attack.  I know, I heard
you.  You woke up, then went right back on to sleep.  But this...this has got to be one hell of a nightmare, which is more than
just a random dream.  Besides, you’ve been strange all day, ever since...the fight.”
      “I said it was nothing.  Go to sleep.”
      “It’s not nothing!  Dammit Orchid!  I’m going to sit right here until you tell me what’s going on!”
      “Suit yourself.  Make yourself comfy, ‘cause you’ll be here awhile.”
      “Fine.  I’ll sit right here and I’ll sing ‘Barbie Girl’ over and over until you tell me.”
      “You wouldn’t...”
      “‘I’m a Barbie Girl!  In a Barbie Wul-uh-uhrld!’”
      “Okay!  Stop!  Fine, you win!  Just stop!”
      Jago couldn’t hold back a smile.  “Works every time.  Well then, now you’ll tell me what’s up?”
      “Fine...I guess it’s about time anyway...about time you know the truth about what happened to our parents...”
      “What do you mean, ‘what happened to our parents’?”  Jago asked.
      Orchid took a deep breath.  “Well, it all started back in the past.  It was sometime during the middle of the
tournament.”
 
 
2132 Years In the Past
Ultratech Corporation: Orchid’s Quarters
 
 
      “Argh!”
      Orchid kicked her pillow across the room in frustration.  She couldn’t sleep.  After trying for hours on end, Orchid
finally gave up.  She had long since kicked away her sheets believing that the heat prevented her slumber.  She then abandoned
her nightshirt.  From there, she relocated to the foot of the bed.  She even tried sleeping on the floor in a vain attempt to fall
asleep.  Nothing worked.
      Orchid got out of bed, rubbing her eyes.  “Might as well get some work done.”
      She found her “Dragon Ball Z” nightshirt lying under the devastation in her room that she had caused.  She put it back
on and quietly left the room.
      The Ultratech hallways seemed even larger at night.  The gray steel appeared to be black, stretching endlessly into the
shadows beyond.  Most people would be terrified of such a scene.
      Not Orchid.
      She walked upright and quickly, in total defiance of the menacing darkness.  Finally, she came upon an open set of
doors, with faint light spilling out from within.  It was the Control Room.  The light came from the many computer monitors.
      Something was different.
      In the middle of the light was a shadow that was completely out of place.  Upon closer examination, the shadow turned
out to be the outline of a person.  Orchid stopped dead in her tracks and pressed herself against the wall.  She inched closer to
the door, careful not to give away any sign of her existence.  As she reached the door, she got on one knee and craned her
neck around to see who was in the Control Room.
      It was Fulgore 2.
      A million questions ran through Orchid’s mind, none of which had answers.  What was he doing here?  Why was he
here?  What could he possibly be doing this late at night?  Does he always do this?
Orchid shook her head.  “Only one way to find out.”  She thought.
      Orchid dropped to all fours in an attempt to enter the room.  No sooner than she did so, Fulgore 2 finished doing
something at the main computer terminal.  Orchid nearly leaped back to her original hiding place.  She pressed herself as firmly
into the wall as she possibly could.  Fulgore 2’s heavy metal footsteps started approaching.  Orchid prayed that wherever he
was going, a right turn wasn’t part of the plan.
      Fulgore 2 emerged from the door, and headed left.  Orchid let out a silent sigh.  Then, she took a quick peek inside the
Control Room.  Fulgore 2 had left something running.  There were some white and red letters on a black screen, and there also appeared to be some numbers.  Orchid couldn’t make out any characters because of her distance.
      Orchid then took a glance down the hall at Fulgore 2.  He moved swiftly down the shaded hallway, quickly
disappearing from sight.
      “What do I do?”  Orchid thought.  “Do I go inside and look at what Fulgore was doing, or do I follow him to see what
he’s up to?”
      With less than two seconds to decide, Orchid quickly left her wall and silently followed Fulgore 2.  He seemed to make
his way down the hall without actually moving.  Every half second, Orchid believed that Fulgore 2 would hear her footsteps or
her heart beating, turn around, and blast her into ashes.
      Fulgore 2 turned into a room.  Orchid pressed herself against the wall again.  Creeping up against the wall, she peered
inside to see Fulgore 2 activating a TimeShift gate.
      “Dammit!  He’s going to try to screw with time!”  Orchid thought.  She hid out of sight until she knew she heard
Fulgore 2 enter the TimeShift gate.  She then dashed into the room.  Standing in front of the gate, she waited until the temporal
energies started fading before she jumped in.
 
 
20 Years In The Past
New York City: Unknown Apartment
 
 
      The room was mostly bare, save a few chairs and tables.  The carpet was a pure white.  The owners of this base floor,
New York studio loft were minimalists.  There was a man, roughly 6’4, who wore a blue bandanna around his head, a brown
leather jacket, and blue jeans.  There was also a woman with dark hair covered by a white shawl.  The two sat cross-legged on the floor.
      “I just know something bad is going to happen tonight, it’s in our cards.”  The woman said.
      “Yeah, I feel it too.  I wish I could say we’re wrong on this, just being paranoid, but the sensation is too strong.”  The
man remarked.
      “You took care of our little baby, right?”
      “Yes.  I hid him in a dumpster a few blocks down.  Put him in a nice, clean box, surrounded by warm sheets and I put
his favorite bottle in with him.  We can get him out of there tomorrow morning, providing...”
      “And the girl?”
      “I told her that she could stay out as long as she wanted tonight.  I insisted on it.  She should be safe, as long as she’s
anywhere but here.”
      “Good.  Now all that’s left is to wait and pray.”
      The sun was beginning to set.  It had already turned into it’s crimson red, igniting the sky as it retreated downwards.
The falling darkness did not impede a group of children from having fun a block away.
      There was a little girl with black hair being pursued by three boys.  The little girl carried a red ball, and she shouted,
“Can’t catch me!”  as she ran.  As the boys gained ground on her, the little girl ran up a set of stairs leading up to a bank,
leaped over the railing, off the stairwell and into a soft pile of garbage.  The boys had to reverse momentum, while the little girl
flew from the garbage pile.
      She sailed over to an ice cream truck.  The driver knew she had no money, so he didn’t attempt to serve her.  He
knew what she was doing.
      “I’m in the safe zone!  I’m in the safe zone!”  She yelled enthusiastically.
      The boys finally caught up with her, exhausted.  They all asked if the little girl could teach them how to leap off
staircases like she did.  As the little girl was explaining it, a mothers voice was heard.  One of the boys face dropped, as he
trudged back towards his home.  Another mother chimed in, and the other two walked off in defeat.
      “Wait, where are you goin’?”  The little girl asked.
      “It’s late, we gotta go in, sorry.”  One of the boys replied.
      “Aw, but I don’t hafta go in tonight, please stay!  Besides, this is your ball!”
      “I’ll get it from you tomorrow.”  The boys waved goodbye to the dejected little girl.  She pouted for a few seconds,
and then ran down the street throwing the ball.   As she ran, she noticed an old woman pushing a cart full of flowers.  The little
girl let the ball roll down the street as the old woman caught her interest.
      “Whatcha doin’?”  The little girl asked.
      The old woman smiled.  “Oh, I’m selling these here flowers.”
      “Oh.  They sure are pretty.”
      “Why thank you.  Would you like to buy one?”
      “Yeah!”  The little girl’s face dropped.  “But, I don’t have any money...”
      The old woman smiled again.  “I’ll tell you what.  Girls as pretty as you should always have flowers.  Why don’t I give
you one?”
      “Really?  Yeah!”
      The old woman began searching her cart for the right flower.  “A daisy?  No, too simple.  So, tell me, why are you out
so late in the evening.”
      “Daddy told me I could stay out late tonight.”
      “That so huh?”  The woman looked dissatisfied at her selection of flowers.  “Hold on a minute, I know...”  She bent
over and opened a cabinet under the cart.  She pulled out a three pedaled, purple flower with black spots in the center.
      “Ooo...that’s pretty.”  The little girl said.
      “I knew you would like it.”  The old woman put the flower in the little girl’s hair.  The little girl tried her best to roll her
eyes upwards to look at it.  The old woman patted her on the head.
      “It’s a Black Orchid, from the tropics.  A pretty flower for a pretty girl.  Now, why don’t you go home now, it’s getting
late.  I’m sure your daddy won’t mind.”
      “Okay!”  The little girl smiled and skipped off.
 
 
      Orchid came tumbling out of the temporal vortex.  She landed abruptly on her chest.  She was certain that Fulgore 2
heard her, and would turn around and gut her.  Fulgore 2 was too focused on his task to notice Orchid’s noise.
      Orchid picked herself up.  She was in a dark alleyway, somewhere in New York she concluded.  But when?  Fulgore
2 was ahead of her, approaching a door on the left side.  A dim light fell out of the room and was lost in the darkness of the
alleyway.
      Orchid pressed herself against the wall.  As Fulgore 2 entered the door, she made her way there swiftly.  As she
reached the door, Orchid craned her neck around to look inside.  From there, she froze.  Unable to move, as forgotten
memories came flooding back...
      Fulgore 2 approached the man and woman.  They cried and pleaded with the cyborg, but he was locked into a
mission.  He held out his arms and unsheathed his claws.
      Orchid wanted to scream, but she couldn’t.  She wanted - she needed - to run in there, distract Fulgore 2 for even one
second, and let the man and woman escape.  But she just couldn’t move.  Orchid pleaded with herself, trying to unlock herself,
with no success.
      With no place to run, the man and woman stopped backing away from Fulgore 2.  He pulled his arms back, and then
thrust his claws into the stomachs of the man and woman.  Orchid felt tears swelling in her eyes, and a lump in her throat.
Fulgore 2 suspended the man and woman in mid air, almost showing off.  He then dropped them in a pile of death.
      Fulgore 2 noticed a little girl with a flower in her hair in the doorway in front of him.  Had Fulgore 2 run a simple
analysis on the type of the flower, he would have known whom the little girl was, and he would have killed her.  Instead, he
eyed the girl, whose eyes were large and filled with tears.  Orchid caught sight of the little girl, and feeling completely sick, she
pulled her head away, unable to watch any more.
      Fulgore 2 laughed.  “Poor girl.  She’s going to be messed up for life.”  He stuck out his claw at the girl and fired a short
plasma storm shot at her feet.  The little girl, who was already beyond terrified, jumped back from the shot and ran away.
      Orchid, who had at least partial senses, pressed herself into the wall.  For all she knew, Fulgore 2 would detect her,
and kill her too.  As Fulgore 2 left the apartment, he was still too locked on his intent to notice Orchid.  Standing in the middle
of the alleyway, he pressed a few buttons on his arm panel, and the temporal vortex reopened.
      Orchid was violently sick.  She threw up in the alleyway.  She staggered over to the temporal vortex, and as it started
to close, she pulled herself through.
 
 
Present Day
 
 
      Jago was speechless.  “Orchid...I...”
      Orchid stared into space.  “After Fulgore 2 had scared me, the little girl off, I ran.  I ran as hard and as fast as I could,
until I could run no more.  I stopped and curled up on a stairway leading up to an apartment building.  When I woke up, I was
inside on a couch.  There was a man, who had helped me.  He tried to ask me who I was, and where I came from, but I guess
my mind had blocked out everything in my life from before I woke up on that couch.  I couldn’t remember anything.  Not
where I came from, not what happened...not even my own name.  The man nicknamed me Orchid because of the flower in my
hair.
      “The man didn’t know what to do with me, so he kept me.  He wasn’t around much.  Sometime he’d be gone for
days.  Sometimes, I’d fall asleep on his bed, and he would be gone by morning.  He could never tell me what he did or where
he was.”
      “Was this...the secret agent that took care of you?”
      “Yes.”  Orchid paused.  “All I knew about him was his name, or at least his code name, Mikhal.  He tried to raise me
the best he could, circumstances considering.  When I was ten, he finally told me that he was a part of a top-secret
organization.  After being sworn to secrecy, I knew that I wanted to be a part of this organization.  I spent all my free time
reading texts and documents on being an operative.  I picked up a good amount of weapon skills.  I did everything necessary to become a secret agent.
      “When I was sixteen, Mikhal told me about how he found me on the staircase.  About how he didn’t know where I
came from or who I was.  He told me that if I wanted, I could undergo a simple hypnotic procedure to regain those missing
years.  But I didn’t want to.  I was who I was, and whatever led me to his staircase didn’t matter to me.  When I was eighteen,
Mikhal died on a mission, and by the time I was nineteen, I took his place in the organization.  Little did I know that I was just
setting myself on the path to come full circle.
      “After I returned to the past, after Fulgore 2 murdered...”  Orchid choked on the words.  “I went into Ultratech’s
computers.  I found out that you were hidden in a dumpster a few blocks away.  A few Tibetan monks, who were touring the
city, found you.  They didn’t know what to do with you, so they took you back to Tibet to become one of them.
      “God, it’s all my fault.  All I could do is stand there like an idiot while Fulgore 2 slaughtered our parents.  Then, twenty
years later, I did it again.  As soon as I looked in the door, all those missing memories came flooding back.  But that’s no
excuse.”
      “Orchid...”  Jago said softly, “you can’t possibly blame yourself.  You were three years old the first time, what could
you do?  The second time, you had a whole missing part of your life come back suddenly, and it overwhelmed you.  If I had
been in your place, I probably would have frozen too.  It’s not your fault...”
      “Yes it is.  I could have stopped him!  I should have stopped him!  I could have changed history for the better...and
what did I do?  Just stand there…watching.  I feel sick.”
      “Orchid!”
      “After Mikhal told me what happened, I should have undergone that procedure.  If I realized what was going to happen
in advance, I could have stopped it.  Even at the scene, I had plenty of time to collect myself and stop Fulgore, even for the
slightest second, and our parents could have lived, and we could be normal...oh God how I’ve failed…”
      “Orchid...”
      “Every one who dies now in this tournament, it’ll be my fault...”  Orchid was crying uncontrollably now.
      “Orchid!”  Jago wasn’t used to this.  Orchid was usually such a rock.  To see her crying like a baby was like seeing a mountain step aside to let a mouse pass by.  “It’s not your fault.  Fulgore 2 hated me, remember?  He was probably going back in time to kill our parents before I was born.  When I gave Ultratech a birth date in order to enter the tournament…I had to make one up, since I didn’t know when I was born.  Obviously, he used that inaccurate guess…he went back in time...to try to wipe me out of existence.  And, how could you know that those missing years of your life were so important?  In your place, I would probably avoid getting them back too.  Orchid, it’s not your fault...”
      “If not for me, we’d be normal.  I had ten chances to stop all of this, but I passed them all up.  Why didn’t I just put the
pieces together!  We’d be God knows where, but certainly not here.  Dammit Jago, we’d be normal!  Maya wouldn’t be in the hospital!  Shadow wouldn’t be dead...”
      Jago dropped his head.  “Orchid...I know this is hard for you to believe, but all things happen for a reason.  When our
parents were killed, Orchid and Jago were born.  Even if that never happened, and we turned out ‘normal’, Ultratech would
still be here.  Try to imagine what would have happened in KI7 if there were no Jago or Orchid.  Ultratech would probably be
controlling the world by now.  We’re in the fight of our lives here.  Me, you, and all those fighters down the hall are willing to
give our lives in order to stop Gargos and Ultratech.  I’m sure that if our parents knew what would happen twenty years later,
they’d give their lives too.  And they did.”
      “But...”  Orchid was still sobbing.
      Jago gently pushed her down in her bed.  “Shh.  Go to sleep.  Please.  We can talk more in the morning if you want.”
      Orchid closed her eyes.  Jago got up and returned to his bed.  After a few minutes, Jago could sense that Orchid was
asleep.
      However, this time, it was Jago who had the trouble sleeping.