Don't expect to see this continued, even if you like it...I doubt 
I'll get enough C&C to care about finishing the story.

Foreword: this is an original work of fiction which attempts to 
emulate anime/manga style. Nothing used in this story is copyrighted 
or otherwise owned by any organization or person besides the author 
of this story.

Yume to Kibu
an original fiction by The Eternal Lost Lurker

Prologue

	In 1999 AD, an event occurred which almost totally devastated 
mankind. It began when observatories began detecting an odd 
electromagnetic signature with their radio telescopes. As scientists 
scurried to determine the source and nature of the signal, the entire 
planet began suffering technological chaos: telecommunications broke 
down, the satellites fell out of orbit, electric power plants began 
grinding to a halt.
	Within a week, the technology of the entire planet had become 
useless, as the effect now known as the Blanket continued to cover 
the world.

	As the world slowly began dying, too dependent on its technology to 
continue without it, scientists began looking for an answer, an 
alternative to electricity and magnetism. For the first time in many 
years, looking out into the void was no longer an option, and science 
was forced to instead look within, into the planet and into 
themselves. 

	Within ten years of the crisis, with the Blanket still in place, 
scientists in Japan made a breakthrough, even as the rest of the 
world began to fight with the weapons of their ancestors over 
territorial disputes and the extremely limited resources of the world.
 Earth's population had been cut down to a fifth of its former number.


	The breakthrough came almost by accident. The scientists were 
attempting to create a device which would tap the electrochemical 
energy of the human body.
	By pure chance, they succeeded in tapping a much greater power 
source: chi.

	It is now 2055 AD. Much of the world has been forced to ressurect 
ancient power sources: steam, pneumatics, and hydraulics, without the 
aid of any form of electricity, to get by, while the three major 
powers of Earth: the Shin Nihon Empire, the American Union, and the 
European Alliance wage war against each other aided by powerful yet 
limited devices which rely on individual chi and therefore can only 
support single pilots. Scientists on all fronts continue to refine 
the device which has revived the three empires, as well as look for 
new alternatives. 

	But there are those who are sick and tired of the wars, who believe 
that the world would fare better if everyone concentrated on 
rebuilding rather than destroying...

	Chapter 1: Dare to Dream

	"Ohayou Futaba-sensei!" A cheerful fifteen-year-old girl bounced 
into an underground laboratory, forcefully hugging a middle-aged 
scientist. The scientist, whose two-day beard growth and frazzled 
greying hair indicated he hadn't left the lab anytime recently, 
smiled at the young girl's energy. "Ohayou, Yumemi-chan," he said.
	Aokaze Yumemi, a healthy, cute girl with sky-blue eyes and long, 
silky indigo hair, smiled brilliantly at the aging scientist. The man 
had been her protector and her mentor ever since her parents had been 
killed in the crossfire of a skirmish between a group of drunken 
Japanese soldiers and an invading party of American troops. Her 
cheerful attitude belied her deep-seeded pain and her hatred of the 
stupidity of the rest of the world. "So, whatcha workin' on, sensei?" 
she asked.
   Futaba smiled. He held up a small device, which looked something 
like a blue metal bracelet. "It's a personal communications device," 
he explained. 
	This interested and confused Yumemi. "Personal communications? That 
shouldn't be possible. The Blanket blocks any electronic transmission.
.."
	"Ah, but this isn't electronic."
	Yumemi's eyes widened. "It's chi-based?" Futaba nodded. "How...how 
is that possible? How does it work?"
	Futaba began turning the device in his hand. "It's a project I've 
been developing with an old associate of mine, Hongo Kenji."
	"I remember Hongo-sensei. I haven't seen him since I was little," 
Yumemi said.
	Futaba nodded. "I've been in contact with him via the pneumatic 
messenger system for a while now." He smirked. "Not the most reliable 
way to send messages, but it's held up." Brightening, he continued, 
"This device takes the concept of chi-tronics one step further, and 
uses chi to boost the power of a less frequently used portion of the 
brain."
	Yumemi was a good student, and knew a lot about how chi-tronics 
worked, and about the human body in general. Now she stood completely 
slack-jawed as the last statement registered. "Not...ESP?"
	Futaba grinned. "You're as quick as always, Yumemi-chan. Hai, this 
little device makes it possible for the user to send a communication 
telepathically."
	Yumemi blinked. "Sugoi..."
	"Now, we're going to test it soo--"
	Suddenly, an air horn went off in the other end of the complex. 
Yumemi sighed. Futaba cursed. "Blasted raiders..."
	"I'll go take care of it," Yumemi said. She ran out of the lab and 
into a locker room nearby. There she met up with three other girls 
her age who lived in this complex. The other girls were already 
suiting up in specially designed combat suits. Yumemi stripped off 
her clothes and began to put on her blue combat gear. The suits 
themselves were skintight, and made of a special fabric--it was woven 
with chi-tronic threads. In combat, it functioned as armor, and the 
more skilled the wearer, the better protection they received.
	Geared up in her chi-tronic combat suit, Yumemi tucked her hair into 
its hood, and snapped on her faceplate. Now suited up, she removed 
two devices from her locker. One resembled a skateboard with no 
wheels; she slid her left foot into the strap attached to this device.
 The second one she clipped onto her left forearm; it was oblong, 
with a flat opening at one end. 
	Finally, she retrieved a sheathed katana from her locker, and 
attached it to her belt. The hilt of the sword was made of gleaming 
blue metal, and seemed to hum as she gripped it.
	Concentrating, Yumemi rose off the floor of the locker room, 
followed by the other three girls, wearing similar devices on their 
feet. A faint blue glow surrounded Yumemi's board, and she shot out 
of the locker room at high speed, the other three behind her in tight 
formation.
	As they exited the locker room, Yumemi stopped as Futaba ran into 
the corridor before her. "Take this, Yumemi-chan, and be careful," he 
said. He held out the communications device. Yumemi thanked him, and 
clipped the blue band around her right wrist. Immediately she could 
feel its power, similar yet different to her other gear.
	The small defense force shot down the corridor, and soon ran across 
a squad of no less than a dozen armored trooped, weilding katanas and 
naginatas, all surrounded by a faint glow. "Kuso," Yumemi spat. "What 
the hell are Japanese troops doing here?"
	"You, the girl in the blue uniform," bellowed one of the troops. 
"Are you in command here?"
	"And what if I am?" Yumemi asked defiantly.
	"You and your companions are under arrest. Your encampment has been 
identified as a rebel base. Come quietly, or die."
	Yumemi smirked. "Kill us if you can." She raised her left arm, and a 
stream of disc-shaped projectiles erupted from the launcher she wore. 
The soldiers mostly dodged or ducked, some attempting to parry the 
discs with their katanas. "A powerful warrior, to use a chi-
projectile cannon like that," the lead soldier said. "Perhaps we will 
spare you." 
	By this point, Yumemi had drawn her katana, which was glowing blue. 
"Maybe I'll spare *you*," she said.
	"You little BITCH!" The soldiers charged their group. The four girls 
entered the melee gleefully, their energized swords clashing against 
those of the first wave of soldiers.
	A trooper weilding a naginata attempted to sneak up behind Yumemi. 
Without warning, she shot upwards, her right heel connecting solidly 
with his faceplate, cracking it. Spinning, she slashed once with her 
katana, sending his head tumbling across the floor. "Weak," she 
muttered, and turned back to her first opponent just in time to avoid 
being skewered. 
	The battle continued for a while, the Japanese soldiers proving to 
be little contest against the four girls. Yumemi grinned...this would 
teach the Empire to mess with their encampment.
	As she beheaded the last of the soldiers, Yumemi heard one of her 
comrades scream. She spun, and froze.
	The girl who had screamed fell to the ground twice--first her upper 
torso, then her lower torso. The other two girls shrank back in 
horror. Yumemi cursed. 
	A black shape flitted out of the shadows for a moment, and Yumemi 
watched in horror as another of her friends was dismembered before 
the girl could react. The attacker radiated a black aura. "FUCK!" 
Yumemi shouted. "They sent a High Ninja..."
	Yumemi barely had time to use her powerboard to escape as the Ninja 
attempted to kill her also. She concentrated on the bracelet on her 
right arm and thought, <Futaba-sensei...there's a High Ninja loose in 
the compound.> Spinning, she unleashed a stream of her projectiles. 
At least one struck its mark, as the Ninja grunted before 
disappearing again.
	Yumemi shifted warily, as did the other girl. She wasn't about to 
let this Ninja cut her down.
	Another person, wearing a dark blue combat uniform, erupted into the 
chamber at high speed, weilding what appeared to be a rifle. The 
remaining girl from Yumemi's team screamed in horror as a glowing 
black weapon appeared out of thin air and knifed through the crotch 
of her combat suit. She fell to the ground, weeping, as her blood 
began to pool around her, and the weapon struck again, neatly slicing 
through the chest of her combat suit. Yumemi blinked as the girl's 
dismembered breasts smacked into the wall of the corridor with a sick 
thud. "This Ninja's a hentai," she remarked. 
	Futaba, the new arrival at the battle, raised his rifle, but he 
couldn't get a clean shot in time. The black weapon appeared again, 
chopping off the hand holding the weapon. As Yumemi screamed, the 
Ninja stabbed Futaba through the gut, and once again vanished.
	"NOOOOOOOO!!!" Yumemi yelled. Her aura began to glow brighter. As 
the Ninja appeared again to make the killing stroke, Yumemi shot 
forward, holding her sword like a lance. A bright blue beam shot from 
her katana, piercing the Ninja through the heart. His black aura was 
consumed by Yumemi's blue glow, and his body completely disintegrated.
 The weapon he'd used to kill Futaba and the three girls clattered 
uselessly to the ground.
	Futaba's eyes widened. "Remarkable...power..." he rasped. 
	Yumemi knelt by his side.  "Futaba-sensei...hang in there..."
	Futaba shook his head weakly. "This...is where we say goodbye, 
Yumemi-chan. Listen...carefully," he said.
	Yumemi, eyes brimming with tears, leaned closer. "I'm listening," 
she said.	
	"You need...go to Kyushyu," he said. "Hongo-san is there." He 
coughed, then continued, "Look in my desk...get the key. Open the 
safe...there's something for you inside. Go..." Futaba's eyes became 
unseeing, and Yumemi began to sob.
	"Futaba-sensei...how could this happen..."
	
	Yumemi had now lost everyone she ever cared about to the stupidity 
of the Empire. Still weeping for her mentor, she walked into his lab, 
found the key, and opened his personal safe. Inside she found an 
ornate blue metal rod about the size of a katana hilt, and a note. 
"Yumemi-chan," she read from the paper, "If you are reading this, 
something has happened to me, and you are alone now. This device is a 
special weapon I have been developing for you. I know you have the 
power to control it...very few would, but I've seen the strength of 
your spirit. Take this weapon, and find Hongo-san. You've got to stop 
the Empire, Yumemi-chan. I know you can do it. I believe in you. 
Without you, and a select few like you, there is little hope left for 
this world."
	Yumemi wiped her eyes as she finished the letter. "It has to stop...
I'll do it. If it kills me, I'll try..."
	Taking the weapon, she activated her board, and abandoned the 
compound.


	

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"Zankoku na Tenshi no you ni, shounen yo shinwa ni nare....."

The Eternal Lost Lurker
squn29c@prodigy.com
EtLostLurker@hotmail.com
http://pages.prodigy.com/EtLostLurker