Forgotten Hero

"Forgotten Hero" is the first of Reflection's "session zeros", a series of preliminary episodes recorded before the start of the campaign but not released until the conclusion of Act 1 of the series.

## Summary

Two years before Above and Below, Willow Wisp is awoken in her bunk at Station One by her friend Ruth Galatine. As they walk through the bunker, they notice the Director dragging a sack of unknown objects deeper into Station One. Moving past him, they encounter Rio Fenrir in an ESPer suit. She calls the pair "rookies", which angers them due to having been at Station One as long as they have, but Rio says that until their kill count equals or surpasses hers, they're still rookies. They head down to where Ridill is working, although Willow is unable to recall what she looks like. They ask her for permission to go train, and she begrudingly lets them, even if Verona asked them to stay inside. They head outside with practice weapons, Ruth bearing a greatsword and Willow wielding a lance, and begin to train. As they train, they notice Verona heading towards them, and go to hide in a nearby bush, but she easily notices them. She tells the pair that she isn't really mad, and is happy to watch them practice. After some more training, the group is suddenly approached by a Demon. Ruth and Willow prepare to engage it in combat.

Suddenly, Willow's consciousness is wrenched into the present. She finds herself floating in a containment cell as an entity of pure Flame. Ridill and Verona, who are on the other side of the cell, explain to Willow her current situation, and that they need to construct a new body for her out of new Elements before she burns away entirely. Assisting in the process is Treble, who is not there in person but is communicating with the group over a loudspeaker. Ridill opens the cell and lets Willow out, telling Willow not to hug her because the Flame will harm both of them if she does so. Willow, who was about to do exactly that, is upset by this.

Ridill leads Willow across the hall to a room full of miscellaneous objects rich in various otherworld Elements that OPIA has collected in the meantime from the Coda and elsewhere. Given free reign to choose her own Elements, Willow inspects several of the objects, eventually deciding upon a body comprised of the Elements of Tomorrows, Survival, and Promises. With her Elements now chosen, Ridill puts Willow back into a state of unconsciousness as she begins to craft Willow her new body. While unconscious, Willow dreams of another memory, where Ruth is telling Ridill about how Willow sent her flying through the air with a single punch. Ridill doesn't believe such an event is physically possible, but Ruth tells her that it's expected of Willow to be able to do physically impossible things. After Ridill leaves the kitchen, Willow cooks some canned spam for her and Ruth, and manages to actually make it taste good.

The memory ends and Willlow wakes up in a bed in the OPIA dorms. She sees Mic standing above her. After making eye contact with her, the AI gets nervous and runs away. Circuit then comes into the room and explains to Willow that she and Mic are both OPIA AI, and Mic was supposed to wake Ridill up, but she got scared, so Circuit is here to do it. After she wakes Ridill up, Ridill, still half asleep, doesn't even notice Willow is in the room and goes to make herself breakfast. After several minutes in this fugue state, Ridill finally realizes that Willow is behind her, and embraces her in a hug. Verona then enters the break room and sits Willow down to explain to her the situation. Since Willow's days as a member of Station One, their organization has recieved immense amounts of funding, which has allowed them to build a much nicer hospital, create the AI, and store many Reflections. However, in the months since, most members of the original Station One team, now retroactively called "Wave One", have died or gone missing, including Ruth. This deeply saddens Willow, but she regains her composure and asks to rejoin the fight. Ridill explains that they are currently training the second Wave of fighters against the Coda, and she wants Willow to join them, which she readily accepts. Ridill asks Willow if she remembers her Reflection, and she suddenly recalls that fight against the Demon with Ruth, where the two of them bound to their Reflections for the first time and fought it off. Ridill explains that she's unsure if Willow can still use that Reflection after her previous body disappeared, but either way, Willow will be able to bind to a new one after joining Wave Two.

Ridill then runs a few physical examinations on Willow in VR, which she passes. They then head through the OPIA garden to the Undercity to get Willow a present. They head to the Rangers' garage, where Willow is presented with the Beetle. Willow greatly appreciates the vehicle and its ability to transform into a backpack. After this, Willow returns to OPIA HQ to undergo an ESP evaluation test. After answering a few questions asked by Treble, she is put into a VR simulation where she has to escape from a prison. She manages to make her way to the exit with ease, impressing Cast, who is still "Sophie" at this moment in time and is overseeing the simulation. But as soon as she approaches the elevator, the simulation is suddenly hijacked by the Hunter of Mortals, who attacks Willow in an attempt to reclaim her Flame. She manages to fight him off as Cast hastily ends the simulation, which knocks Willow unconscious. As Willow dreams, she comes to the realization that she did, in fact, die in the Coda, like most of her Wave One companions. She experiences one last memory with Ruth and Ridill, who is now fully visible in her memories.

Willow wakes up in another dorm, with Ridill and Verona watching over her. Ridill explains that, because she cheated death, the Hunter of Mortals is likely after her still, and he gets more powerful each time someone fights him. As such, she won't be able to present herself as a member of Wave One, and OPIA is going to suppress as much information about her as they can. Willow accepts this, and commits herself to continuing the fight against the Coda. As the conversation ends, she experiences one last flashback, in which the Director, burning up, drags Willow's Flame back to station one. From a crack in his helmet, he tells her to hold on, and that they've almost made it.

## Characters

### Party

* Willow Wisp
* Ridill Arondite

### FLOW

* Ruth Galatine
* Rio Fenrir

### OPIA

* Dr. Verona
* Director
* Treble
* Circuit
* Mic
* Cast
* Cursor

## Trivia

* As no player besides Tiny was allowed to participate in the session, Roma recorded it instead of Aloha.
* "Forgotten Hero" is the name of Willow's Green Attribute.