Prompto Argentum (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hashtag_chocobro) wrote2022-06-24 02:41 pm
hashtag_chocobro) wrote2022-06-24 02:41 pm
Entry tags:
Undisclosed Imperial Base; Nifleheim, Eos. ???????, ??/?? ET [06/24 FT].
First things first, Prompto had to track down Aranea, but however long that whole fever dream had taken, it thankfully hadn't taken too long, and he was able to catch her on her way back to the facility to make the appeal to join her.
"I'm ready," he told her. "I thought about what you said, and I've decided to face my fears, once and for all. I can't choose where I came from, but I can choose where I'm going."
"Alright," Aranea said, with a small, impressed sort of smile as she looked him over. "But slow me down, and you're going to get left behind."
"Then I better not slow you down," said Prompto. He'd been going for lightness, but it came out more determined than anything else, with a nod, and they went to climb back on that snowmobile and be on their way.
Plowing through MTs on a snowmobile was made a bit easier with second person wielding a gun, so with Prompto behind the wheel and Aranea pulling the trigger, they had no problem approaching the base…and very little issues getting into it, too. A little stealth here, a few explosives there, no problem-o! The handy use of a bazooka (gotta get himself a bazooka!) and some encouraging words from his partner in crime ("Rise and shine, Shortcake!"), and this Bust-a-Base was well on its way to success.
If anything, now that they were in Niflheim proper and heading even deeper into Empire territory, the fact that Prompto's barcode apparently gave him access to any of these facilities with ease would be worth the price of dragging him along and then some, too.
"According to my intel," Aranea offered, as they slipped inside the base and started heading down the tunnel leading to the interior, "they're housing the new model here."
"It's some kind of magitek armor, right?" asked Prompto. "What's so new about it?"
"This one's got a ghost in the machine," Aranea explained. "Chief Besithia himself managed to fuse his soul with the core. The daemons this guy created are the ones that destroyed Insomnia. If we don't take him out now, he's liable to destroy the whole world next."
Besithia. So it looked as though Prompto wasn't finished with his creator after all.
Things were going fairly smoothly as they made their way through the base, until one of the same sensors they'd dealt with in the last facility picked up on Prompto's signature, and the guards were alerted to the presence of the 'compromised unit' in the area. But even with the heat turned up, they were ready for it. They'd even found a place to rest for a moment, to steel themselves before moving forward, although Prompto felt significantly less confident about things when he found a little recorder waiting there on on a table.
But of course he still played it.
"Research Log: Year 724, Day 297. Mass production of the Magitek infantry was a success. We've overwhelmed the Lucians with our numbers and surrounded Insomnia, but to rest on our laurels now would be unthinkable. On occasion, harvesting the plasmodic miasma produces some…'side effects.' The daemons borne of this process have been disposed of on sight….until now. How foolish I was to let those sublime creatures go to waste! What they lack in adaptability, they make up for in sheer power. I realize now that I ought to channel my efforts into exploring the true potential of the daemons for the sake of the Empire. Perhaps this has been my true calling all along…"
And another:
"Research Log: Year 756. Day 190. At long last, my life's work is complete. Not only have I found a way to preserve the ego, I've also manage to sustain that consciousness through the sublimation process and transfer it into my magitek troopers. The prototype has proven slightly less powerful than the Diamond Weapon, but this presents no real problem. After all, one's consciousness can be transmuted again and again and again. All that remains is to fully surrender myself to my research and become my own final test subject. I will conclude my mortal life by offering a word of thanks. Chancellor Ardyn Izuniamy beloved, your assistance has proved invaluable. You have my eternal gratitude and my undying love. It is through your aid that I have completed my work and have begun my ascension to an existence beyond divinity."
"Of course it was Ardyn," Prompto murmured with a shake of his head. "Everywhere we go, his name just keeps popping up. Everything that's happened to us....it's all his fault..."
And even with everything he'd been through, everything he heard, nothing had prepared Prompto for the moment of the reveal when he and Aranea continued and finally found what they thought was this new weapon she was searching for. Hanging from the rafters when they entered the room, this thing dropped down to reveal its odd form, part machine, part organic monster, and entirely all rage. It smashed its massive mechanical hands down onto the ground and let out a roar that sent it long, wispy blonde fur flying about its mechanical mask of a face, bright purple eyes glowing lifelessly but with intent.
He and Aranea sparked into action, while the creature itself took advantage of the space to climb on the walls and the rafters to avoid their shots and swings and swing out attacking on his own. It moved like a giant ape, with the resilience of a tank, and, right around the time it felt like they were finally going to take it down, the whole thing burst into flames and started raging against the whole room while alight, spitting flames at them as they attacked, as well.
Which meant Prompto was honestly a little surprised that thing hadn't exploded once they'd finally reduced it to a smoking pile of wreckage. But once it stopped moving and the usual explosion that he'd gotten accustomed to following taking down an Imperial mech didn't follow, he slouched over, hands on his knees, to catch his breath.
"Whew," he said, "made it out alive!"
But he may have spoken too soon, as the entire room began to rumble and shake as sirens went off in the distance.
"Unit XDA-1002: Immortalis," a voice called out over the intercom. "Plasmodic miasma transfer complete. No psychic obstructions detected. All systems operational. Activating Immortalis."
"W…wait," Prompto realized. "So that," he gestured toward the heap of a machine they'd just put to rest, "wasn't even the new weapon?"
"Apparently not," Aranea murmured.
"It's outside!" Prompto gasped, eyes wide, and they both turned to quickly head toward the door.
Spinning out from the ground, like a great giant arm of centrifuges and rotating parts, a massive mechanical worm of terror, nothing could have prepared Prompto for what he witness emerging from the Imperial base at that moment. "It's gigantic!" he gawked as the thing moved across the sky like a serpent, and, at its very front, large glowing cylinders like a cluster of eyes glaring down at them. "So that's the new model...And that means....he must be inside that thing!"
Suddenly, Aranea was at his side, on another snowmobile, with an order. "Hop on!"
But not just any snowmobile, he realized, but one outfitted with a gatling gun on the back. Once he saw that, he really didn't need much convincing.
Aranea raced forward, with Immortalis churning and smashing through the forest around them with screams of screeching metal and grinding gears. "Ready for round two?" she asked.
Closer to the ground, the sheer enormity of Immortalis and its destructive capabilities was overwhelming, but Prompto steeled himself, gripping onto the gun in front of him. "You bet!"
Even over the sound of Immortalits' destruction and the steady thunder of the machine gun with Prompto at the helm, Verstael's voice rang out over them. "Long have I waited to smite the world that denied me the glory I rightly deserve! And now, all shall tremble before me, man and maker alike!"
"That maniac's taken biological warfare to a whole new level!" Aranea remarked, swinging the snowmobile to the side as Prompto kept up the steady stream of bullets.
"If that's really him in there," Prompto decided, "then I want to be the one to take him down!"
Especially since once already was apparently not enough!
Immortalis snaked through the landscape, tearing up the snow and trees and rocks with its multiple whirling blade heads, while Prompto just kept shooting and Aranea kept maintaining their distance. "Fall to your knees before me!" Verstael cried out, with a rippling laugh of triumph that carried over the carnage.
It seemed almost hopeless, the more they kept moving, the more Immortalis kept charging on. It lifted off the ground for a moment to come smashing back and sending an earthquake rattling them even more than the constant gatling gunfire had. It dove underground, and emerged again; Prompto continued his barrage of bullets. It dove for them again, and started to gain speed.
But as he shot, Prompto started to notice that enough shots aimed directly into the center of each of the heads did, in fact, effectively seem to shut that head down. And so he threw all of his focus into aiming at those spots. "Sharp shootin', kid!" Aranea called out her encouragement as one, two, three, four of the lights on the heads went dim from his attacks, just a few more to go, he was almost theeeere…..
Finally, the last one went dim and Immortalis' heavy body smashed into the ground, where it now lay motionless and smoking and finally put to rest....
....for a brief second. The core at the center of it all suddenly flared back to light, igniting the cores of all the heads Prompto had just shot out, and it started to move again.
But the words that now emerged from it were startled and confused.
"How can this be?" asked Verstael. "I will not allow it!"
It reared up, and, like a hooded snake flaring out its jaws, the various cores and heads flared out and rushed forward in a new hot pursuit. It attempted to generate energy between the cores, but if Prompto kept his aim on the center one, he could keep the energy from gathering too much, knocking Immortalis down and forcing it to start over. He knew for sure if that energy blast had even a second to coalesce, they would be goners. So he kept on, he kept steady, he didn't relent for a moment. "This is it!" he shouted, feeling himself getting closer and closer, and letting out a primal yell as he felt the continued trembling of the gun between his hands rattle him to his very bones. "Rrraaaarrrrrhhhhh!!!!"
The energy between the cores was gathering, gathering, it was glowing so bright that it almost blinded Prompto, but Immortalis was still not turning away….
But all that burst forth was a frustrated scream of agony from Verstael inside and a puff of deep black smoke from the center. And this time, when Immortalis fell, it stayed down, still and motionless and finally quiet as they sped away.
"You alright?" Aranea checked, once they'd put in some good distance and got off the snowmobile to feel a little solid ground beneath their feet again.
"Y-yeah," Prompto said, wishing his voice wasn't so shaky when he said it, but he nodded along, to help sell the point. "This is...this is what I wanted."
"Then say it like you mean it," said Aranea with a smirk. "You did good, kid."
"Mmm." Prompto gave a soft grunt of uncertainty, hesitated a moment, and then...
"Couldn't have done it without you, guuuurl!" he announced, turning toward Aranea, to fire off two of the world's most awkward finger guns at her, followed by the world's even more most awkward chuckle. He felt his face blazing red the moment it had left his mouth, but it was too late to walk it back, and he cleared his throat a little.
"Seriously, though," he added, softly, with a small nod, and a turn toward the horizon.
"Guess I better catch up with Noct and the guys," he said, turning back toward Aranea. "He's...got a lot on his plate, and I figure he could probably use a hand taking back the Crystal, and all that. And who knows?" Aranea had given him a soft smile, and so he couldn't help but flashing her a broad one in response. "Maybe I'll take it back before he does!"
With that, he shook a little warning finger at Aranea, as if to tell her just you wait and see before skipping back over to the snowmobile.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," she said with a faint laugh.
"Honestly?" Prompto offered, a moment later, settling in on the vehicle and looking over at her thoughtfully, "I don't know for sure if they'll really accept me for who I really am when I get back. But I'll never know if I don't speak up. And I'm not sure if all the things I want for for myself are even possible at this point. But I'll never know if I don't try. After all...it's my life to live."
"The boy has become a man," said Aranea, a little bit of actual pride maybe slipping out through the wry comment. "Anyway," she quirked her chin toward the mountains, "Gralea's straight ahead."
So Prompto gave Aranea his thanks, and he set off in the direction she'd indicated, the snowmobile cutting through the tundra with an ease and a lightness he hadn't felt in what felt like ages. Onward, toward the Crystal. And with the Crystal, they could get their home back. And with their home back, Prompto could get back to Fandom, and finally try to live that life he wanted to live.
But it was a long way still to Gralea, and Aranea was not the only one watching as Prompto sped off to the north.
Someone was not quite done with this particular prodigal son yet. And as the cold Niflheim wind rustled his long coat, pushed his long hair, and ruffled his long scarves, Ardyn Izunia settled his crumpled hat back on his head and followed.
[[ Featuring the ULTIMATE Prompto Cringe Moment and my absolute shameless Ardyn/Verstael shipping. Anyway! That finally does conclude Episode Prompto! Thanks for sticking through it. It's all totally gonna be sunshine and daisies and rainbows from here on in, too, just you wait and see! NFB, NFI, OOC is divine, and now we try to do what we can to pretend that FF XV isn't a total goddamn mess in the endgame ]]
"I'm ready," he told her. "I thought about what you said, and I've decided to face my fears, once and for all. I can't choose where I came from, but I can choose where I'm going."
"Alright," Aranea said, with a small, impressed sort of smile as she looked him over. "But slow me down, and you're going to get left behind."
"Then I better not slow you down," said Prompto. He'd been going for lightness, but it came out more determined than anything else, with a nod, and they went to climb back on that snowmobile and be on their way.
Plowing through MTs on a snowmobile was made a bit easier with second person wielding a gun, so with Prompto behind the wheel and Aranea pulling the trigger, they had no problem approaching the base…and very little issues getting into it, too. A little stealth here, a few explosives there, no problem-o! The handy use of a bazooka (gotta get himself a bazooka!) and some encouraging words from his partner in crime ("Rise and shine, Shortcake!"), and this Bust-a-Base was well on its way to success.
If anything, now that they were in Niflheim proper and heading even deeper into Empire territory, the fact that Prompto's barcode apparently gave him access to any of these facilities with ease would be worth the price of dragging him along and then some, too.
"According to my intel," Aranea offered, as they slipped inside the base and started heading down the tunnel leading to the interior, "they're housing the new model here."
"It's some kind of magitek armor, right?" asked Prompto. "What's so new about it?"
"This one's got a ghost in the machine," Aranea explained. "Chief Besithia himself managed to fuse his soul with the core. The daemons this guy created are the ones that destroyed Insomnia. If we don't take him out now, he's liable to destroy the whole world next."
Besithia. So it looked as though Prompto wasn't finished with his creator after all.
Things were going fairly smoothly as they made their way through the base, until one of the same sensors they'd dealt with in the last facility picked up on Prompto's signature, and the guards were alerted to the presence of the 'compromised unit' in the area. But even with the heat turned up, they were ready for it. They'd even found a place to rest for a moment, to steel themselves before moving forward, although Prompto felt significantly less confident about things when he found a little recorder waiting there on on a table.
But of course he still played it.
"Research Log: Year 724, Day 297. Mass production of the Magitek infantry was a success. We've overwhelmed the Lucians with our numbers and surrounded Insomnia, but to rest on our laurels now would be unthinkable. On occasion, harvesting the plasmodic miasma produces some…'side effects.' The daemons borne of this process have been disposed of on sight….until now. How foolish I was to let those sublime creatures go to waste! What they lack in adaptability, they make up for in sheer power. I realize now that I ought to channel my efforts into exploring the true potential of the daemons for the sake of the Empire. Perhaps this has been my true calling all along…"
And another:
"Research Log: Year 756. Day 190. At long last, my life's work is complete. Not only have I found a way to preserve the ego, I've also manage to sustain that consciousness through the sublimation process and transfer it into my magitek troopers. The prototype has proven slightly less powerful than the Diamond Weapon, but this presents no real problem. After all, one's consciousness can be transmuted again and again and again. All that remains is to fully surrender myself to my research and become my own final test subject. I will conclude my mortal life by offering a word of thanks. Chancellor Ardyn Izunia
"Of course it was Ardyn," Prompto murmured with a shake of his head. "Everywhere we go, his name just keeps popping up. Everything that's happened to us....it's all his fault..."
And even with everything he'd been through, everything he heard, nothing had prepared Prompto for the moment of the reveal when he and Aranea continued and finally found what they thought was this new weapon she was searching for. Hanging from the rafters when they entered the room, this thing dropped down to reveal its odd form, part machine, part organic monster, and entirely all rage. It smashed its massive mechanical hands down onto the ground and let out a roar that sent it long, wispy blonde fur flying about its mechanical mask of a face, bright purple eyes glowing lifelessly but with intent.
He and Aranea sparked into action, while the creature itself took advantage of the space to climb on the walls and the rafters to avoid their shots and swings and swing out attacking on his own. It moved like a giant ape, with the resilience of a tank, and, right around the time it felt like they were finally going to take it down, the whole thing burst into flames and started raging against the whole room while alight, spitting flames at them as they attacked, as well.
Which meant Prompto was honestly a little surprised that thing hadn't exploded once they'd finally reduced it to a smoking pile of wreckage. But once it stopped moving and the usual explosion that he'd gotten accustomed to following taking down an Imperial mech didn't follow, he slouched over, hands on his knees, to catch his breath.
"Whew," he said, "made it out alive!"
But he may have spoken too soon, as the entire room began to rumble and shake as sirens went off in the distance.
"Unit XDA-1002: Immortalis," a voice called out over the intercom. "Plasmodic miasma transfer complete. No psychic obstructions detected. All systems operational. Activating Immortalis."
"W…wait," Prompto realized. "So that," he gestured toward the heap of a machine they'd just put to rest, "wasn't even the new weapon?"
"Apparently not," Aranea murmured.
"It's outside!" Prompto gasped, eyes wide, and they both turned to quickly head toward the door.
Spinning out from the ground, like a great giant arm of centrifuges and rotating parts, a massive mechanical worm of terror, nothing could have prepared Prompto for what he witness emerging from the Imperial base at that moment. "It's gigantic!" he gawked as the thing moved across the sky like a serpent, and, at its very front, large glowing cylinders like a cluster of eyes glaring down at them. "So that's the new model...And that means....he must be inside that thing!"
Suddenly, Aranea was at his side, on another snowmobile, with an order. "Hop on!"
But not just any snowmobile, he realized, but one outfitted with a gatling gun on the back. Once he saw that, he really didn't need much convincing.
Aranea raced forward, with Immortalis churning and smashing through the forest around them with screams of screeching metal and grinding gears. "Ready for round two?" she asked.
Closer to the ground, the sheer enormity of Immortalis and its destructive capabilities was overwhelming, but Prompto steeled himself, gripping onto the gun in front of him. "You bet!"
Even over the sound of Immortalits' destruction and the steady thunder of the machine gun with Prompto at the helm, Verstael's voice rang out over them. "Long have I waited to smite the world that denied me the glory I rightly deserve! And now, all shall tremble before me, man and maker alike!"
"That maniac's taken biological warfare to a whole new level!" Aranea remarked, swinging the snowmobile to the side as Prompto kept up the steady stream of bullets.
"If that's really him in there," Prompto decided, "then I want to be the one to take him down!"
Especially since once already was apparently not enough!
Immortalis snaked through the landscape, tearing up the snow and trees and rocks with its multiple whirling blade heads, while Prompto just kept shooting and Aranea kept maintaining their distance. "Fall to your knees before me!" Verstael cried out, with a rippling laugh of triumph that carried over the carnage.
It seemed almost hopeless, the more they kept moving, the more Immortalis kept charging on. It lifted off the ground for a moment to come smashing back and sending an earthquake rattling them even more than the constant gatling gunfire had. It dove underground, and emerged again; Prompto continued his barrage of bullets. It dove for them again, and started to gain speed.
But as he shot, Prompto started to notice that enough shots aimed directly into the center of each of the heads did, in fact, effectively seem to shut that head down. And so he threw all of his focus into aiming at those spots. "Sharp shootin', kid!" Aranea called out her encouragement as one, two, three, four of the lights on the heads went dim from his attacks, just a few more to go, he was almost theeeere…..
Finally, the last one went dim and Immortalis' heavy body smashed into the ground, where it now lay motionless and smoking and finally put to rest....
....for a brief second. The core at the center of it all suddenly flared back to light, igniting the cores of all the heads Prompto had just shot out, and it started to move again.
But the words that now emerged from it were startled and confused.
"How can this be?" asked Verstael. "I will not allow it!"
It reared up, and, like a hooded snake flaring out its jaws, the various cores and heads flared out and rushed forward in a new hot pursuit. It attempted to generate energy between the cores, but if Prompto kept his aim on the center one, he could keep the energy from gathering too much, knocking Immortalis down and forcing it to start over. He knew for sure if that energy blast had even a second to coalesce, they would be goners. So he kept on, he kept steady, he didn't relent for a moment. "This is it!" he shouted, feeling himself getting closer and closer, and letting out a primal yell as he felt the continued trembling of the gun between his hands rattle him to his very bones. "Rrraaaarrrrrhhhhh!!!!"
The energy between the cores was gathering, gathering, it was glowing so bright that it almost blinded Prompto, but Immortalis was still not turning away….
But all that burst forth was a frustrated scream of agony from Verstael inside and a puff of deep black smoke from the center. And this time, when Immortalis fell, it stayed down, still and motionless and finally quiet as they sped away.
"You alright?" Aranea checked, once they'd put in some good distance and got off the snowmobile to feel a little solid ground beneath their feet again.
"Y-yeah," Prompto said, wishing his voice wasn't so shaky when he said it, but he nodded along, to help sell the point. "This is...this is what I wanted."
"Then say it like you mean it," said Aranea with a smirk. "You did good, kid."
"Mmm." Prompto gave a soft grunt of uncertainty, hesitated a moment, and then...
"Couldn't have done it without you, guuuurl!" he announced, turning toward Aranea, to fire off two of the world's most awkward finger guns at her, followed by the world's even more most awkward chuckle. He felt his face blazing red the moment it had left his mouth, but it was too late to walk it back, and he cleared his throat a little.
"Seriously, though," he added, softly, with a small nod, and a turn toward the horizon.
"Guess I better catch up with Noct and the guys," he said, turning back toward Aranea. "He's...got a lot on his plate, and I figure he could probably use a hand taking back the Crystal, and all that. And who knows?" Aranea had given him a soft smile, and so he couldn't help but flashing her a broad one in response. "Maybe I'll take it back before he does!"
With that, he shook a little warning finger at Aranea, as if to tell her just you wait and see before skipping back over to the snowmobile.
"Don't get ahead of yourself," she said with a faint laugh.
"Honestly?" Prompto offered, a moment later, settling in on the vehicle and looking over at her thoughtfully, "I don't know for sure if they'll really accept me for who I really am when I get back. But I'll never know if I don't speak up. And I'm not sure if all the things I want for for myself are even possible at this point. But I'll never know if I don't try. After all...it's my life to live."
"The boy has become a man," said Aranea, a little bit of actual pride maybe slipping out through the wry comment. "Anyway," she quirked her chin toward the mountains, "Gralea's straight ahead."
So Prompto gave Aranea his thanks, and he set off in the direction she'd indicated, the snowmobile cutting through the tundra with an ease and a lightness he hadn't felt in what felt like ages. Onward, toward the Crystal. And with the Crystal, they could get their home back. And with their home back, Prompto could get back to Fandom, and finally try to live that life he wanted to live.
But it was a long way still to Gralea, and Aranea was not the only one watching as Prompto sped off to the north.
Someone was not quite done with this particular prodigal son yet. And as the cold Niflheim wind rustled his long coat, pushed his long hair, and ruffled his long scarves, Ardyn Izunia settled his crumpled hat back on his head and followed.
[[ Featuring the ULTIMATE Prompto Cringe Moment and my absolute shameless Ardyn/Verstael shipping. Anyway! That finally does conclude Episode Prompto! Thanks for sticking through it. It's all totally gonna be sunshine and daisies and rainbows from here on in, too, just you wait and see! NFB, NFI, OOC is divine, and now we try to do what we can to pretend that FF XV isn't a total goddamn mess in the endgame ]]