| GCB Fanfics: Vs. Mode |
Vs. Mode - Snake vs. RaidenHe continued running down another shadow-filled path, looking for his opponent. He could feel his heart beat go faster as his lungs slowly burned from exhaustion. How long has it been since this battle started? Ten minutes? Thirty? An hour? Two? A gruff voice echoed from behind him. "Are you going to keep running from me, Raiden?" The young spy raised his SOCOM and fired blindly at the general direction of the voice. "Get away from me!" "You can't keep running from me Raiden." The voice continued, still trailing him, "In the same way that you'll never be able to catch me in this twisted maze." "Shut up!" He took out a grenade and threw it behind him as he turned another corner. The loud explosion rang in his ears but he didn't mind. "Can't you see, rookie? No matter what you do, you can never be as good as me." This time the voice came from somewhere ahead. "Shut up! Shut up!" Raiden screamed as he drew his high-frequency blade and slashed wildly in front of him. "I am not a rookie! I'm as good as you! Stop looking down at me!" "Keep telling yourself that, kid" The blond secret agent felt something pull his sword away from his grasp and suddenly, he found himself lying on his back. The darkness drew away revealing the face of Snake holding his sword. "Because no matter how often you say it, you will never get out of my shadow." Raiden felt cold steel scrape between his ribs and stab through his heart. There was no pain but his head felt woozy as he felt his muscles stiffen. He tried to draw breath but he found it so hard to do. He tried to say something, anything, but blood bubbled up his throat, preventing him from even doing that simple thing. As he lay there, helpless and dying, he heard laughter. First, a coarse chuckle coming from the man in front of him, then an insane cackle from someone by his head. From above him, the figure of the maniacal clown Kefka formed, his body shaking with sadistic glee. A poorly hidden snicker and a soft giggle followed this as the figures of Aeris and Cloud appeared. Soon the entire room was filled with laughter. There was Koopa, roaring in a boisterous guffaw, accompanied by Ganondorf, chortling in delight. Mario and Luigi was there, slapping backs with Sonic and Knuckles as they doubled over in hysterics. Even the usually reserved Sephiroth and Alucard were there, having great enjoyment at his expense. He heard them laugh at him as he lay there helpless, and slowly the laughs turned to taunts. Rookie, amateur, greenhorn, kid, child, loser, pretty boy, weenie, wuss, waste of flesh, fodder, pathetic fool, the insults ranged from childish to cynical to condescending, but each one struck like a blow and felt like a thorn within. And he took them all, unable to do anything, as he was too weak, too helpless... ---- Raiden wakes up from his nightmare, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. His hand flies up to his chest where he felt his heart beating rapidly against his ribs. Slowly, he calms down, his breath and heart rate returning normal. Breathing a sigh of relief, he withdraws his hand and flops back on his pillow, trying his best to get back to sleep. The time for his battle was coming and here he was, a nervous wreck. He had heard the people here talk, saying that he had no chance to against Snake, that the older secret agent was more experienced and more skilled than he was, that he was outclassed in every way possible, and that the fight will be completely one-sided. Maybe he was, he thought, but I'm not just a copy of Snake. I'm not just someone stuck in his shadow. I was able to beat Solidus and I should be able to beat him as well. Snake was something of a lesser clone, so I should have a better chance against him, right? The night did not answer the young spy's queries, and soon, sleep reclaims him once more. ---- Somewhere within the remote region of Alaska, in the Bering Sea, the Fox Archipelago can be found and within it, Shadow Moses Island rests. The place once housed the mechanical monstrosity Metal Gear Rex, controlled by the elite members of FOX-HOUND and an army of genetically enhanced Genome Soldiers, posing a threat to world-wide security. But Snake came and put an end to the nuclear menace, saving the world once more from a threat, thou almost no one noticed or cared. Over the past years, Shadow Moses Island and the structures erected on it had had several different things. A nuclear disposal facility, a civilian base, a weapons factory, the island has recently been put under wraps by the government due to its rather shady history. Today, the public shall have a glimpse of the island and the facilities within shall be used once more. "Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you once again to Vs. Mode!" Brock screams while the camera pans over the screaming crowds comprised mostly of soldiers on off-duty. "We are live on pay-per-view in Shadow Moses Island, where a section of a former nuclear weapon facility has been remodeled to create a make-shift arena for the first half of the West Division." "Not just any section, Brock." Lucca adds, "This hangar once stored one of the Metal Gears that threatened to throw this world to chaos. Fortunately, Solid Snake was there to save the day, get the girl, kill the big evil bad guy and live happily ever after. At least, until his next mission came." "Speaking of Snake," Brock says as large monitors hanging from the ceiling at various strategic spots blink on, "he's up first in this division, and he's going up against his student, some-time partner Raiden in a special hide and seek match." "It's basically a seek and destroy battle." the time-traveler explains, "Standard rules still apply with the added twist that they'll need to get the drop on their opponent first. If you would look at the monitors showing where the battle will take place, you'll see that the familiar arena that we've been using in the past matches has been replaced by a large area filled with walls, halls, boxes, crates, pipes, catwalks, water tanks, trucks, a pool of water and a whole lot of other additional features that the fighters can use to hide and sneak around their opponent. Multiple cameras have been installed in that particular complex to help us attempt to keep track of both fighters." The Pokemon breeder continues Lucca's explanation. "Unlike the previous fights, the battle will not begin with the fighters facing each other as that would defeat the purpose of this match. They will enter the area, hide in whatever location they want and inform the Ref-Bot via Codec when they're ready." "And it would appear the match is about to begin" Lucca announces as the image of Ref-Bot appears on the monitors. "Before we begin," Brock interrupts as he pulls out a sheet of paper that he reads from, "Vs. Mode would like to give special thanks to the Patriots, without whose help, this installment of Vs. Mode would not have been possible. Remember, the government hides nothing from you and they always have your best interests in mind." "Combatants ready. Close all exits of this section. Match 25, Solid Snake vs. Raiden. 3, 2, 1... fight!" "Power's on; game's started and while we can't see the combatants right now, this promises to be a match for the ages." Brock says with his usual enthusiasm. "A match for the ages." Lucca repeats sarcastically, "Right, if by match of the ages you mean total slaughter. While Raiden has his little escapade in Big Shell under his belt of accomplishments, he was only able to pull that off with the help of his current opponent. Snake on the hand has the Outer Heaven, Zanzibar, Shadow Island and Big Shell incidents to his name. Simply put, he has a lot more hands-on experience and while I hate to put down the power of technology, all of Raiden's VR Training could never hope to match-up to that." "True, but that doesn't mean Raiden won't give it his best shot to topple the grizzled veteran. But whatever the result, this match will definitely prove to be an exciting one and things should start getting intense any minute now!" Brock nods knowingly. ---- Thirty minutes pass ---- "That's right, any minute now..." Brock repeats, although his tone is not so sure as before. "You know, I really should have expected this." Lucca remarks, "We have two of the greatest secret infiltration specialists in the multiverse here, fighting a match where the first person to give away his position would most likely die in a painful manner. They've dodge, evaded and disarmed cameras more sophisticated than what we have here. I should have known that we'd just be staring at a seemingly empty room for the majority of our time here. This was a really stupid idea." Brock bangs his head on the table and starts sobbing. "Are they even in there? I think this is the fiftieth time the monitor has cycled through the different camera views and we still haven't seen any action!" The speakers roar with the sound of a large explosion, surprising a good half of the audience, and a small amount of smoke can be seen on the monitors. This was immediately followed by the noise of two rifles being shot on full auto and the clangs of missed bullets hitting the various pipes found in that area. Lucca glances at Brock with a small smirk. "Does that answer your question?" Brock regains his composure almost immediately. "And after a long time of silence, the action has finally started. The video crew is frantically going through the different cameras positioned looking for the combatants. There we go! It looks like we finally have a good shot of the fi-" "Scratch that, Brock. It looks like a ricocheted bullet shattered that camera. We can't see any of the action yet folks, but based on the sudden decrease of noise, both mercenaries have discarded their respective rifles for their SOCOM pistols. The crew is having a hard time looking for an undamaged camera showing the intense battle between the two." "The sound of bullets bouncing off metal appears to have stopped, so both fighters are probably going melee now. Ah, there we go! What the? How is Raiden even standing?" "And we finally have visual. Raiden is covered with wounds all over his body but he's still attacking Snake with all his strength. Raiden's trying his best to slice Snake with his sword but the older agent is too slippery for him. Raiden overextends himself and Snake grabs the opportunity and Raiden's wrist, and forces him to drop the blade. Snake then judo throws him into a stack of crates, further aggravating his injuries." "But Raiden continues to stand, even though he's losing blood by the gallon. He's charging Snake again and ignoring whatever pain he's probably feeling right now. Where is he getting all that strength? Just what the heck happened in there?" ---- Ten Minutes ago ---- Crawl under the pipes then slide between the tower of crates and boxes. Slowly make my way through the row of water tanks, making sure to hide in the shadows as much as possible. The silence unnerved Raiden as he stalks his way around the area. An indeterminate amount of time has passed since the start of this match and he has yet to find any sign of Snake. Crouch my way past the scattered boxes, making sure my footfalls are silent. Roll into one of the side halls, and check it as quietly as possible. Raiden could feel beads of sweat roll down his face as he carefully searches the place, looking for any strange shadows, straining to hear any unnatural sounds, hoping that he could find any trace of Snake's whereabouts. Move through the halls without making a sound. Get out of there and roll behind the truck. Climb inside, hide behind the cardboard box within, and scan the immediate surroundings He wonders where the older secret agent was, and whether or not he's having as much difficulty going through this compound. Consoles, water tanks, forklifts, crates, nothings suspicious so far... wait. Raiden almost smiles when he sees the thin trail of smoke rising from behind the pile of crates he passed earlier. He carefully drops down from the truck and carefully walks towards the area, silently drawing his M4 assault carbine while doing so. "Freeze!" He shouts as he turns the corner and points his gun at thin air. Surprised, Raiden looks down and sees a lit cigarette on the floor, lying beside a claymore mine that just became armed. ---- From within the truck, the cardboard box Raiden was hiding behind is lifted and discarded as Solid Snake walked out of the back of the truck. Taking a long-drag from his smokeless brand of cigarette, he crouches in front of the mine's blast zone, calmly inspecting the wreckage. "That was very sloppy of you kid. You got too eager and you jumped blindly at that blatant trap. You didn't even check to make sure if I was there." A groan was heard from the debris of wood and cardboard as the younger spy pushed his way out of the clutter. His body is littered with wounds and some shrapnel is still sticking out of his flesh. Snake takes one look at Raiden and offers a hand to his fellow agent. "You're a mess, kid. C'mon, let's get out of here and get you patched up." Raiden slaps away the hand of Snake and stands on his own volition, still clutching his M4 carbine. "I don't need your help Snake, and this match is far from over." He mumbles in a barely audible tone. "Don't be stubborn, Raiden." Snake replies, his eyes narrowing, "You need those wounds dressed immediately or they're going to get infected or worse." The younger mercenary lifts his head and glares at the veteran, he was able to protect his face for the most part, but there are still some gashes on his forehead and blood streams down his cheeks like tears. "I can still fight can't I?" he utters behind gritted teeth while taking a few steps back "I can still stand and fight." "Stop fooling yourself kid. You can't continue fighting in that condition. You're liable to get killed." "Stop looking down at me, Snake!" Raiden shouts as he raises his M4, pointing it at his mentor's head, "I'm not a kid, so stop treating me like one! I was able to win against Solidus and his Metal Gears and I sure as hell can beat you!" A stream of bullets flies through where Snake's head had been just as the grizzled veteran rolls to the side, grabbing a broken piece of wood along the way. He chucks the piece of debris at Raiden as he lands in a crouch, making the younger mercenary dodge by instinct. The laboratory-borne soldier takes this opportunity to dive tackle Raiden off his feet and hopefully pin him to the ground. Unfortunately for him, Raiden uses his momentum against him as he goes with the fall and uses his feet to throw the veteran over his head. With finely honed reflexes, Snake twists in the air and lands safely on his feet. However he was too far away from Raiden to tackle him a second time and the younger agent has recovered pretty quickly for someone with those kinds of wounds. Cursing his luck, he dives to the side and runs as the former African civil war soldier opens fire again. Raiden tries to follow Snake, but he could feel his wounds slow him down. He knows that he wouldn't be able to catch up to him like this and that if the other agent gets away from his sight, he's done for. He couldn't just hide like before, his blood would give Snake an easy clue on where he is. He will need a way to increase his range of vision. Raiden takes a quick look-around and sees the catwalk above him. Decision made, he heads straight for one of the ladders and climbs up, ignoring the heavy protest his arms and legs make. Snake was running through the maze of obstacles, looking for a suitable ambush point for Raiden when he heard the telltale sounds of someone running across a metal floor above him. He immediately ducks behind a generator just as bullets rain on the area he was standing on. No choice then, he thought as he drew his FAMAS rifle, and takes a peek at Raiden when the barrage stopped. The younger mercenary is crouching on the catwalk, making it pretty hard to hit him at this range with an assault rifle. Snake curses a bit for not bringing a sniper rifle with him, but no use complaining about that. The spy continues scanning the area and sees a few pipes running overhead the metal path a couple of meters ahead. His eyes follow where the pipe comes from and slowly, a plan forms. Up on the catwalk, the blond mercenary was busy reloading his M4 when he sees Snake reappear from behind the generator with assault rifle in hand. Quickly, he flattens himself on the cold metallic surface; biting back a scream of pain as he felt some shrapnel get pushed deeper into his flesh. Crawling a little closer to the edge, Raiden returns fire at Snake, forcing the other mercenary to run again. Getting back on his feet, the young agent gives chase and a running battle between the two begins with high-speed projectiles flying back and forth. Metallic clangs are heard as bullets ricochet all over the place, piercing pipes and shattering lights and cameras along the way. The shooting match didn't take too long however, as Snake shifts his aim from Raiden to the pipes when the VR trained soldier runs under them. Steam bursts from the punctured pipes, bathing Raiden in scalding air. The younger spy screams in pain as he felt his wounds simmer and boil. His finger contracts on the trigger of his rifle, making bullets fly everywhere as he thrashes around the catwalk wildly. Unfortunately for him, catwalks do not exactly have that much thrashing room and he falls over the railing, straight into the pool of water in a loud splash. Worried over the condition of his sort-of student, Snake runs over to where the mercenary fell. Left, right, and straight past the row of tanks, the grizzled veteran turns the corner just as a bullet grazes his arm, making him drop the rifle more in surprise than in pain. Raiden stood there, dried blood caked over roasted flesh with one eye shut beneath a puffed-up eyelid. He holds up his SOCOM Pistol though his grip was far from steady due to his body shivering from the numbingly icy water he fell into. "Stop this Raiden!" Snake barks, "This is just a contest! You don't have to do this!" "That's easy for you to say." Raiden says between quick gasps of breath. "You're the legendary hero who's saved the world. You don't have to prove anything. Me? I'm just some snot-nosed punk kid trained to be your replacement." "Raiden..." "Just shut up and die Snake!" Raiden shrieks, his blood-shot eyes widening in anger as his pistol lights up over and over again. Snake sidesteps the first shots and kicks his rifle at the currently blood lusted fighter. The FAMAS smacks the young mercenary on the face, making him stagger back a bit, giving Snake enough time to draw his own pistol and shoot back. Two bullets strike Raiden on the arm, making him drop his pistol, and one more damage his right leg, making him fall to the side. Walking over his downed opponent, Snake aims his at the young man's head. "Give up Raiden, you can't go on like this." Raiden's leg lashes out, kicking away Snake's weapon. He then unsheathes his High-Frequency Blade and slashes at the grizzled agent in one single stroke, forcing him to jump back. Slowly, he rose once more, favoring his left leg. He holds his sword in front of him and mutters back to his former mentor. "I'll only give up when I'm dead." ---- Back to the present ---- "Raiden's in pain folks," Lucca screams to her microphone, "and Snake doesn't even look like he's breathing hard. Not that it stops the hot-blooded pretty boy as he throws a clumsy punch at the well-aged veteran." "Snake easily blocks the blow and he punishes Raiden with a punch-punch-kick combo." Brock announces, "He's not done yet though, as he knees him hard in the stomach and karate chops the back of his neck." "Raiden's on his hand and knees, but he just refuses to stay down. This kid must be running on pure determination now because I honestly cannot see how he's staying up. He rises yet again for the umpteenth time since we've seen them and sways in place. Snake rushes in to beat him back down and he stops inches away from his former pupil. Huh?" Lucca watches in confusion "Snake looks to be calling the Ref-Bot," Brock announces as he listens to his headset, "it seems that Raiden has fainted on his feet." From the speakers, the tinny voice of the referee is heard, proclaiming the end of the match. "Winner: Solid Snake" Hearing the announcement, Solid Snake carries the unconscious body of Raiden over his shoulder and makes his way to the infirmary. "I can still fight" Raiden mutters, "I'm not just some throw-away 16-seed scrub. I can still fight..." "You're not, Raiden." Snake answers back, "You've fought well today. Now get some rest." In his sleep, Jack Raiden smiles. "And an impressive showing by both fighters today." comments the eccentric scientist while the audience claps for both secret agents. "Snake completely slaughters Raiden, but not without trying as the other former FOX-HOUND member proves to be too stubborn an opponent." "Next up is another strange match-up as an anthropomorphic echidna battles a summoner in a traditional kimono. Stay tuned!" Next Entry Back |