BUBBLEGUM RIFT
by
Damien Hailey
(But you may call me SAMAS)
Welcome Ladies, gentlemen, D-Bees, and Boomers to the first chapter. As
I
said before, this is my first fanfic, so I'll probably rewrite it later,
hopefully with the help of your comments.
This is an alternate version of the story, just trying to try out
different
things.
This isn't really a self-insertion fic. One of the characters does have
my
name and mind, and a close approximation of my face, but that's it.
Otherwise, he's 100% fictional..... Okay, 80%. Besides, I wouldn't last
five days in either world!
Fine, DragonBard, it's me, happy?
Rifts is owned by Kevin Seimbieda. Bubblegum Crisis is owned by (Insert
name here) I don't own them and I'm broke, so don't even think of suing
me.
We'll be going into dimensional travel this time, and we'll be running
into
the omnipresent Language Barrier. so here are a few guidelines:
" " Means Japanese
// //Means Another language (Dragonese, Trade 3, English/Trade 4,
etc....)
Italics denotes thought. { } around it means telepathic communication
[ ] Means X is talking, a dual discordant voice with a slight reverb (a
'Soundwave' Accent, remember Transformers?) that can carry over sound,
radio,
and cyberspace simultaneously. If you've played Warcraft II or Dark
Reign,
it sounds like a Human Paladin or the Basic Imperium Unit Voice,
respectively.
Once again, thank you to my prereaders: Chaos-san and DragonBard.
===============================================================================
Chapter 1
DarkFire Dawn
Intro: "Apocalypse" By Wyclef Jean (Owned by Sony Music Entertainment,
inc. Used without permission for nonprofit purposes. I'm currently
broke,
and losing even more money. Please don't sue me.)
Apocalypse
One Two, the Headline News just broke through
Apocalypse
Three Four soldier, a hundred horsemen at your door
Apocalypse
Five Six, ya wanted dead or alive, in the mix
Oui oui Y'all (x4)
Arrival of the Carnival, new beats I never recycle
While you lookin for samples you might get trampled
Suprise, hate, I'm back with lightning and thunder
I heard you oversaying I'm a one hit wonder
You dumb or something, I went with refugees to infinity
When I bill collect royalties from record companies
Sky gettin darker, sun gettin nearer
I turned an atheist to a God-fearing believer
The back of a building, your body's found by children
Playin Hide 'n-go-seek, what we found was you skeleton
In the back of a car, you spar with the wrong guards
You know my Empire Strike Back harder
Missiles launch. War! It's the day after ashes
Project cannons being launched at the palace
Visual revelation, Skywrote Apocalypse
Enemy pilots kamikaze into the Abyss
POW!
Apocalypse
One Two, the Headline News just broke through
Apocalypse
Three Four soldier, a hundred horsemen at you door
Apocalypse
Five Six, wanted dead or alive, in the mix
Oui oui Y'all (x4, fade out)
"Ha! How's that for a welcome back party, Sylia?" Priss laughed,
removing
her helmet and sitting in the KnightWing(tm)'s passenger bay. "Three
boomers up, three down!"
"And not a scratch on the armor!" Linna added. "We're in top form
tonight!
When we get back, I'm taking everyone to dinner, I'm starved!"
"Great....." Nene sighed. It's been five years.......
"Nene, is something wrong?" Sylia asked from the cockpit.
"Wha... Oh, nothing!" Nene said, brightening up. Why have I been
thinking
about that this past month? And why is it suddenly making me depressed?
"Can we go to Scirocco?"
"Why," Priss teased, "so Sylia'll have to let your hardsuit out?"
"WHAT!!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=Two months later=
"C'mon, Priss! I wanna show you this cool place that just opened up!"
Sho
tugged on Priss' arm, trying to drag her down the street. It wasn't
very
often she would visit since his mother died, and he always had someplace
new
to haul her to.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Priss grumbled. At least Nene was with them,
so
she wouldn't suffer alone. Too bad she wasn't suffering, as the place
Sho
was taking them to was a new arcade megaplex that put the Gamecenter to
shame.
The building was huge, consisting of two buildings, each taking up the
entire block they were on. The first part was the Arcade and a
nightclub,
while the second side was a restaurant and Shopping center. A third
block
was the construction site of a hotel to be connected to the other parts.
It
was reminiscent of the mega hotel-casinos of Las Vegas, but on a larger
scale.
Suprisingly, the building wasn't owned by Genom. Some new company just
showed up, put down the money for the property, and deployed the
buildings
in no time. They just flew in these giant vehicles that opened up into
the
Pyramids, then they simply filled them up with whatever they needed.
According to Sylia, the local construction companies were not too happy
about that. The hotel was expected to arrive tomorrow. Naturally,
Sylia
asked Nene to check up on this new company, named Darkfire Industries.
Nene
came back with very little, except for a series of recent property and
company acquisitions, none earlier than an month ago. For Nene, this
means
either some damn good security, or they didn't even exist a month ago.
Either one meant something wrong.
Inside, the Arcade was a firestorm of light, sound, and activity.
Pillars
throughout the interior contained extremely realistic holo-images
ranging
from dragons to high-tech robots and battlesuits in action. Various
games
were everywhere, from classic games such as the ultra-flash Marvel vs.
Capcom
vs. SNK 2002, to the brand-new exclusive Axis-5: an interactive VR
wargame
set on a faraway world.
Nene was awestruck. "I'm in Heaven, and I haven't even died yet!" She
quickly ran over to a mech sim, leaving Priss to the tender mercies of a
young child with sugar in his veins, which is to say, none. Swiping her
card
Through the slot, she put on a VR helmet and Dataglove. Within moments,
she
was immersed in a 3-D battlefield, facing off against enemy forces
attacking
her convoy.
*****************************************
Above the arcade, in the darkened head office, two of the complex's
managers
were looking over the crowds. The multitude of shadows concealed their
identity, but each knew the other.
//You know, I've always wanted a place like this." The one by the window
said.
"The energy, the atmosphere......//
//The games you can play for free because you own the place.// The other
chuckled from her desk. Behind her, a pair of large eyes flashed in the
low
light, accompanied by a deep hiss. //Although, I must admit, this is
the
best cover we've had so far. Kind of like the Center job.//
//Well, I can do without the pissed-off Imperial Legionnaires, thank you
very much.// The first one retorted. //It feels good to be back,
doesn't
it?//
//How should I know, I've never been here before in my life.// The
female
reached over behind her and scratched under the chin of the beast behind
her.
A low, soft clucking voiced it's pleasure.
//Too bad, MegaTokyo's a great city.// The male answered. //I'm gonna
check
on the others and then go 'out'.//
//Can't hold it back anymore?//
//I'm afraid not.// he grinned sadly, a soft blue glow growing in a
newly-
revealed pair of fangs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Knight Sabers stood over the shattered body of a Bu-12b Advanced
battle
boomer. For those few to witness the Sabers in action, this was not an
unusual thing. If those lucky few could've heard the discussion between
them, however, they would've noticed something was not right.
"So who the hell did this?" Priss asked. "Who could've beaten us to
this
thing?"
"I have no idea." Sylia replied. "Something's not right...."
"Think someone's trying to show us up?" Linna said, picking up what was
left
of the rouge boomer's left arm. Whoever it was, they had mangled it
pretty
bad. This thing looked almost chewed up. "This is the third time this
week!"
"Can you find anything, Nene?"
"Nothing yet, Sylia." Nene said, scanning the area, looking at her
feet, she
noticed a clean sheet of paper. "Wait, what's this?" Picking up the
paper,
she read it to herself. "It's in English! It says, 'Don't look up'."
Naturally, all four of them looked up. Spraypainted on the ceiling was
another message, also in English. 'We TOLD you not to look up!'
Suddenly, a
grenade rolled into their midst and exploded, a bright flash blinding
them.
"What the-" Priss' curse was cut short as something bodychecked her
into a
wall. As their vision cleared, the Knight Sabers found a large boomer
among
them. The boomer had the appearance of a metal man encased in heavy
armor.
The right arm had a pair of foot-long blades extending over the wrist,
while
the other hand ended in a four-pronged claw surrounding a large gun
barrel.
"Ambush!" Sylia cried, "It's a trap!" Her suit's warning lights
started
flashing all over her helmet. Turning, they jumped at the last second
as a
pair of missiles detonated on the ground under them. "Linna, help
Priss.
Nene, stay close, and find whoever launched those at us!"
"Gotcha, Sylia!" Linna leaped at the boomer attacking Priss, harpooning
it
with her Wire-daggers. Before she could activate the electro-shock,
however,
The boomer turned around, grabbed the cords, and pulled, yanking her off
her
feet and into it's iron grip. A powerbomb did nicely to reintroduce her
to
the concrete. Priss used this time to get to her feet and counterattack
using her wrist blades. the attack forced the boomer away from Linna,
who
got back up and continued the attack. The boomer's eyes flashed red,
and
twin beams lanced out, striking Priss in the shoulder. It followed up
with
a punch that drove her back and gave it further room to deal with Linna.
***************************************
"Two incoming bogeys right above us!" Nene cried, "16 meters and
closing!"
//LET'S GET READY TO RRRUUUUUMMMBLLLLLLE!!!!// Two battlesuits dropped
from
the rafters. both were painted in a glossy black. The first suit had
red
trim, and had a single amber sensor in the center of it's face. The
second
one was leaner, with an ornate crest on the helmet and Blue-green trim.
The
red suit carried a rifle with a large magazine hooked up from the front,
the
blue had a larger gun with a sword hanging from a scabbard at the waist.
The blue suit fired it's gun, a stream of hot plasma energy separating
the
Sabers. The red suit went after Nene while Sylia faced the blue one.
"So you must be the infamous Knight Sabers," Blue spoke in an odd
accent,
shouldering his gun and drawing the sword. "May I have the honor of
this
dance?" he said as he bowed, keeping his eyes on Sylia. Red hadn't
even
bothered to speak, instead extending a blade from his right arm and
going
after Nene with a vengeance.
While the red hardsuit frantically dodged her attacker, Sylia decided to
take the initiative. Extending her suit's own blades, she lunged at her
opponent. Blue parried with the sword and pushed her back, swiping at
her
legs with his foot. Sylia flipped back and rushed forward again,
crushing
his block with a Knuckle Bomb to the arm. Blue staggered back and
ducked as
Sylia's blade came searching for his head, losing part of the crest.
"Who
are you? Why do you attack us?"
The battle suit responded with a roundhouse to the gut. "Sorry, but we
can't
tell you that right now." He then continued with a lightning series of
attacks that had Sylia fighting just to keep herself from getting
skewered.
Nene ducked under yet another blade swipe. No doubt about it, she was
in
trouble. Her opponent's armor was too tough for her lasers to be very
effective, and he moved too fast to use her Pulse-Strikers.
Desperately,
she lashed out with a kick, and actually connected. Quickly, she raised
both
arms and rapidly fired shot after shot at the red battlesuit. Not all
of
them hit, but it drove him back and gave her enough space to charge up
the
Pulse-Strikers. Not hesitating, she released the EMP blast. When she
opened
her eyes, the suit was nowhere to be seen.
************************************
Priss ducked under the boomer's fist. With a flick of her wrist, an
energy
sword popped out of her wrist, the blade crackling to life. She
immediately
slashed the boomer twice across the chest before the Combat Torch's
power
ran out. Priss jumped back as Linna's Wire-Daggers shot forward, one
finding
it's way into the slash Priss had just opened up. Linna quickly
activated
the charge, and the Cyberdroid dropped to it's knees as a few thousand
volts
found it's way into it's inner circuitry.
Priss brought up her Spike-Shooters, preparing to make this boomer do a
great
impression of a pincushion, when it suddenly stood and leaped into the
air.
She just barely had enough time to dive out of the way as he came down
right
where her head would've been. It's eyes flashed bright red, and a
second,
smaller pair of arms folded out of it's body, under the main arms. A
hidden
launcher popped up from it's left shoulder, and four tiny missiles shot
out.
Two each going after Priss and Linna.
"Oh shit, MOVE!" Both Knight Sabers jumped to avoid the missiles. The
boomer leaped after them, kicking Linna to the ground and grabbing
Priss.
Raising her above it's head, it's right arm extended, crashing her
through
the ceiling. Pulling her back, it then cut off it's thrusters and
piledrived
her into the floor.
"Priss!" Linna threw out a single wire-dagger, stabbing the boomer in
the
eye. Priss rolled painfully away and got back to her feet. "How are we
gonna beat this thing?"
"I don't know, but get ready to move, I'm reading a huge energy buildup
in
it's arm!" As if on cue, the boomer raised it's left arm. The two
Sabers
jumped as a huge burst of plasma energy fired off. They barely dove out
of
the way as another pair of micro-missiles streaked after them, blowing
them
off their feet. "I'm getting tired of this! What are we, Sabers or
Sailors?
Linna, move around him while I keep him busy!" Linna ran behind a
broken
-down power loader while Priss provided covering fire. When she got
behind
the boomer, She quickly rushed in, ribbons twirling. She barely made a
few
cuts before it tuned and belted her with a thruster-kick. This opened
it up
to a series of spikes from Priss. The boomer threw it's right arm
forward,
extending it until it was a few inches in front of Priss' face. The
hand
opened, and a wave of force slammed her into a pillar.
***************************************
Nene looked around, scanning the building for any traces of the
black/red
battlesuit. Suddenly, her arm was grabbed and twisted behind her back.
Turning her head, she came face-to-sensor with the red-trimmed suit.
"Let go of me!" Nene cried, trying to slip out of his hold.
"Come on," Red replied, not letting up, "I'm just trying to get to know
you a
little better."
"Sorry, but you're not my type!" Nene finally was able to position her
free
arm behind her. praying silently, she launched a cord into an elbow
joint.
Within a few moments, she was able to access the other suit's targeting
systems. Dropping to one knee, she loosened his grip and messed up his
balance enough to turn them around to face where the boomer was
advancing on
a stunned Linna.
"Eat this you JERK!" she cried as the activated a pair of launchers
folded
behind the battlesuit. Both popped up and released a pair of canisters
at
the Boomer. The canisters attached themselves to it, and exploded in
three
seconds. The bombs damaged and stunned the boomer enough for Linna to
recover and rejoin Priss.
Red grabbed Nene again and slammed her into the ground. His sword blade
reextended, and he sliced off her cord. "If you EVER do that again,
I'll
forget I'm not supposed to kill you!" Raising his hand, an ultra-sticky
sheet flew from nowhere out of his hand and wrapped her up against a
large
steel pipe. "Now stay put like a good girl!" He pressed the faceplate
of
his helmet against the cheek of hers, making an exaggerated kissing
sound,
then ran off, leaving her tied there.
************************************
Sylia slid through the doorway, palm lasers searching through the
darkness.
Abruptly, the blue-green trimmed battlesuit had broken off his attack,
and
was now switching to a 'Hide-and-Seek/Laser Tag' battle, slipping out of
the shadows, striking, and melting back into the darkness. The other
Sabers
were fairing just as badly, if not worse; Priss and Linna were just
about
even with the boomer they were double-teaming, but the red suit had
trapped
Nene in some sticky covering and left her there, saying he wasn't to
kill
her. This night was getting strange.
A sudden movement caused her to turn around, a laser blast lancing
through
the dark. Sylia ducked and returned fire. Blue jumped out of the way
and
unshouldered his Plasma cannon. Sylia backed through the doorway as an
entire section of the wall was slagged and melted away. That was
another
thing. no handheld weapon, not even of that size, she had heard of had
THAT
kind of power. These three were not your run-of-the-mill mercenaries.
Not
even the Illegal Army had this kind of weaponry, and they were almost
twice
the size of this group. The two suits exchanged laser fire for a few
more
seconds, then Blue disappeared once more. Sylia took off after him,
catching
him as he attempted to jump into the rafters. The dark battlesuit
turned
it's plasma cannon at her, but she knocked it out of his hand. Blue
blasted
the support beam out from under Sylia with his wrist laser, and dropped
down
after her.
Sylia leapt out of the way of a vicious chop and countered. Blue
parried and
swung again. Sylia extended her swordblades to parry the attack, then
realized that she wasn't the target when he changed in mid-swing, his
sword
slicing her right Lasersword in half. Sylia backed off as an aircraft's
searchlight swept through the nearby skylight. In the distance, she
picked
up the sounds of approaching ADP sirens. Blue turned and flew off
through
the skylight. Sylia followed, and saw as he, the red suit, and the
boomer
climbed into a black, unmarked tiltrotor. Two ADP Hornet aerodynes
pursued,
but the red suit fired two missiles at them, damaging their lift fans,
and
forcing them to land. The craft turned, and shot off into the night.
********************************************
Sylia dropped inside as Priss and Linna were helping each other get up.
They limped over to Nene, who was still stuck.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!"
"Quiet already, Nene!" Priss snapped. "You're louder than the police
sirens! Only you could get tied up in a fight!" Reaching over to help
pull
Nene out, she got her hand stuck on the carpet. Priss tried to get
herself
free, but only became further entrapped. Sylia tried slicing trough
with
her remaining blade, but the blade also got stuck. a moment later, the
carpet disappeared.
"What was that stuff?" Linna asked, touching the pipe Nene had been
stuck
to. "I can't see any trace of it!"
"We'll worry about that later," Sylia answered, "right now we had
better
leave before ADPolice shows up!"
**************************************************
Inside the tiltrotor, The two battlesuits collapsed into a pair of
chairs in
the passenger bay. The blue-green suit removed his helmet, revealing
shoulder-length hair the same blue-green as the trim on his suit. Most
of
which was currently hanging in front of his face.
//Well that explains why your fighting stank so bad tonight!// The red
suit's pilot laughed. His skin was much darker, and his hair was now
cut
close to his scalp. //You should've had the one I was playing with!//
//Shut up, Damien. What did you do to her?//
//Not much,// Damien replied, //I used a Carpet spell and stuck her to a
pipe. I tell ya, she was too easy!//
//So why is your suit covered in laser burns?//
//You can tell? X, status report!//
The battledroid's eyes flashed blue. [ALL WEAPONS FUNCTIONAL. MODERATE
DAMAGE TO FRONTAL AND REAR ARMOR, MODERATE ELECTRICAL DAMAGE TO MOTOR
SYSTEM. ESTIMATED REPAIR TIME: FOUR HOURS.]
//Man,// Damien whistled. //Can he take a hit or what? I saw you in
action, X. You were getting pounded out there! You even took two of my
fusion blocks, and you're still going!//
//And just how did he happen to get hit by our own weapons?// Turner
asked.
//Hey, it wasn't my fault!// Damien protested. //That red one shot a
plug
into my armor and took over the firing system! It was a lucky shot!//
//Ha!// Turner retorted. //The only luck is the kind you make, boy.//
//Don't call me boy. And you can actually say that after we pop through
a
weird-ass Dimensional Vortex to my old training grounds, of all
places!//
//Good point. Lucky, how long 'til we get to the Factory? My feet are
killing me!//
//Two minutes.//
//Good. I'm looking forward to a long sleep after debriefing.//
//So what's planned for tomorrow?//
//Nothing after morning exercises. Just be back by 2100 tomorrow.//
//Perfect! I got some business to take care of since I was last here.//
//Fine, as long as it doesn't involve the use of fireballs!//
//Noting the fact that you said nothing about Carpets of Adhesion,
lightning
bolts, or Sensory Deprivation spells, consider it done!//
//Oh, no. None of that either!// Turner said.
//Okay, Okay!//
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=The next day=
"Hey, Leon!"
"What's up, Daley?"
"I got the report on last night's incident!" Daley called. "Oooh, boy!
Looks like things are getting a whole lot hotter in the old town!" With
that, he slapped a thick folder down on Leon's desk.
"Man, look at this!" Leon whistled as he shuffled trough the photos
taken
of the scene, "I thought that was just a battle boomer?"
"That's the bad part, Babe. The boomer had been taken out earlier, but
I
don't think the Knight Sabers had anything to do with it. For one, they
were seen leaving the area, but they didn't leave their calling card.
Two,
there was way too much collateral damage for it to be their handiwork.
And
three, this is the clincher, a black tiltrotor aircraft left the area
before
the Knight Sabers, we tried to give chase, but a battlesuit in the craft
shot down the pursuit choppers!"
Leon paused, thinking. So far, the evidence was not pointing to
anything
good for the city, or the Knight Sabers. "Tell me this won't turn into
some
ultratech gang-war or something!" He moaned, head dropping into his
hands.
"Leon, are you okay?" Nene asked as she stopped at his desk. "You look
ill. Maybe you should take the day off."
"That's my line." Daley quipped, "Next thing you know, you'll be
trying to
chat him up!"
"I don't think I'm that desperate yet!" Nene replied, scooping up the
report folder. "Chief wants a copy of this, and _somebody_," with a
glare
at Daley, "sneaked it off my desk!" With that, she turned and left.
"Well, excuuuuse, me, Miss Thang!" Daley said in a voice that was too
fruity, even for him (you know the one, and apologies to anyone offended
by
that.) and snapping his fingers. Leon looked strangely at him, and they
both burst out laughing. "Oh by the way," Daley continued, "Personnel
says
they got a new applicant that they want you to see."
"Applicant?" Leon asked, "Why do they want me to see him?"
******************************************
Back at her desk, Nene looked over the evidence photos and reports of
the
battle. Finally, her eyes came upon a shot of the red-trimmed suit that
she
had fought as it fired a pair of missiles at the pursuit choppers.
According to the reports, the missiles hit only the rotor blades; doing
minor damage to the frame, but forcing both to land. She stared at the
picture, finally understanding what others must think when they see
pictures
of her and the others in the news: What kind of person lives under that
armor? Is he a professional soldier, or does he have a life behind the
helmet? Why did they attack? Who do they work for?
"Nene!" Naoko called out, punctuated with a TWAK of her ruler. "Focus
yourself!" Picking up the photo, she smiled. "Ah, now I see! The
mystery of the armored rouge has captured the heart of the fair maiden.
Will she adhere to duty, giving information and directions that could
very well mean his downfall, or will she watch over her love from the
shadows, protecting him, even though they may never meet face-to-face?"
"Stop it, Naoko!" Nene cried defensively, grabbing the picture. "It's
nothing like that! I have more self-control than to go pining over some
armored renegade! Not like those fanboys over in the Comp Lab.........
or you!" Grinning, she avoided the ruler, whipped one of her own out of
her desk, and smacked Naoko on the tip of her nose, all in one motion.
"Ow! How did you do that?"
Nene looked at the ruler in her hand, semi-shocked. "Oh, my....." How
in the Three Galaxies did I do THAT? Idly, she wondered what the Three
Galaxies were. Another sudden movement from Naoko's direction caused
her to instinctively(?) parry the incoming ruler yet again. "What is it
this time?" She asked, annoyance showing through her amazement.
"There's someone here to see you down at the front desk. Jeez, Nene,
why are you so distracted all of a sudden?"
"Really? Who is it?"
"How should I know? It's some guy. Kinda cute though."
"I wonder who it is...."
"Go find out, then!" Naoko said, hustling her out the door.
********************************************
Damien sat in the ADP lobby, waiting. Not quite sure if he was up to
this. Maybe he should leave. After all, it _had_ been..... how many
years? Six? She might not even recognize him, or worse yet, she does
recognize him, and proceeds to vent six-or-so years of anger on his
skull. Naaaaah.... Nene wasn't that kind of-
"Damieeeeeeen! When I get my hands on you...........!"
Uh oh. Damien tried to get up, but was immediately plowed back into the
couch by a somewhat upset red blur. Shaking the cobwebs from his head,
he found himself face to face with a (very) cute redhead, who didn't
look entirely happy with him, but didn't have the gleam of murder in her
eyes yet. "Um...... Hi, Oneechan...."
"Don't 'Big Sister' me!" Nene said angrily, hugging him at the same
time. "Where have you been? It's been so long since I last saw you!"
"Ow. Glad to see you too." Damien replied, catching his breath. "Why
you sitting on my lap?"
Suddenly realizing where they were, she quickly got up blushing
slightly, but still smiling. "Because you've gotten too big to sit on
mine. Look at you! I see you've forgotten to stop growing since you
left!" Grabbing him by the hand, she started leading him out the door.
"C'mon, I just got off for lunch, and I want you to meet some of my
friends! You can explain where you've been there!"
"Waitaminute! Didn't come by myself." "Hey EDGE! We're leaving!"
"Coming!" A dark-haired young man in his late twenties, carrying a stack
of papers and an ADP officer's uniform in his arms, ran back into the
lobby.
Damien stared at him, wide-eyed. "That was quick! How do you do that?
Your Japanese stinks, and you get a job in less than an hour, at AD
Police no less!" Reminding himself to figure it out later, he dropped
the subject. "Anyway. Nene, this is Edge. I guess he's a new recruit,
then. Keep an eye on him for me, willya? And since we're on the
subject, how did my favorite anarchist end up in the Police? You
haven't been maturing on me, have you?"
"A little." Nene said, grinning. "It's a long story. Speaking of long
stories....." She added, with a glare at Damien, "I believe _you_ have
one you're just dying to tell!"
"Oh, yes," Edge said, ears perking up. "this ought to be worth
hearing!"
"You know, for such a 'noble spirit', you sure are nosy!"
"Stop delaying the inevitable!" Nene snapped, happily, somehow. "I
wanna know what you've been up to!"
"Fine." Damien said, surrendering. "Edge, you drive."
"I don't have a choice, seeing as you can't drive!"
"Whatever." Damien said as he opened the back door. Their vehicle was a
large van of a design Nene couldn't recognize. the van's color was
light gray, with a black underside. If she looked closely, she could
make out a subtle flame design at the line where the car changed colors.
Inside the car was a large black mass that suddenly shifted.
"W-what is that?" Nene gasped even as it raised it's head, revealing it
to be an impossibly large black panther.
"What the-" Damien said, peering into the car. "Selene? Quit taking
naps in company vehicles, you could've given us a heart attack!" turning
back to his friends, he scratched Selene on the head. "Aw, this is just
Selene. You can call her our supervisor's...... pet. Don't worry,
Nene. If you treat her right, she's just a pussycat, if you'll pardon
the pun. Sit on her tail, though, and she'll shred you into pasta and
slurp you down."
Selene put her head in Nene's lap as she sat down. Nervously, she began
stroking the feline's neck. The resulting purr nearly shook the whole
van. "W-o-o-o-o-w" Nene stuttered. "I-I've never seen a panther this
big, is she a boomer?"
"Er.... Sort of." Damien replied. "I think we should tell Turner about
that spot." he whispered to Edge. "Now be nice to Nene, Selene. She's
not a snack." "So anyway, Nene, you're probably wondering what I'm doing
in MegaTokyo, right?"
****************************************
"Hey, Nene, since when did you become a pimp?" Priss called out as the
three entered the restaurant
"It's always the one you least expect..." Linna added.
"I/She am/is not a pimp!" Nene, Damien and Edge chorused. Having
agreed to leave Selene in the van (as causing a panicked stampede is not
a good way to spend lunch), Both guys decided to escort Nene to her
table. Of course, they knew the reaction they would get, and planned
the response accordingly.
"Hi, guys!" Nene piped up, "Look what I found! And they were on sale,
too!"
Damien and Edge rolled their eyes. "Hi." "Edge, say something. It's
rude to just stare at someone, no matter how beautiful they are!"
"Oh, sorry." Edge said, flushing slightly. "Hello."
Damien sighed. "Forgive him. Too nervous around women. So Big Sis,
when are you going to introduce us?"
Priss and Linna nearly facefaulted. "H-he's your brother?" Linna
asked, "But-"
"He's not my _real_ brother!" Nene replied, "It's a long story. This
is Damien Hailey, and his friend, Alexander Blade."
"Call him 'Edge', get it?" Damien smiled. "And you are?"
"This 'mercenary,'" Nene said, pointing to Linna, and ignoring her
protest, "Is Linna Yamizaki. And the Ape-woman here is Priscilla
Asagiri."
"What did you call me?"
"Geez," Damien said, "What a 'Priss-y' attitude!"
Priss shook her head. "Just call me Priss, okay? And enough with the
bad jokes, please."
Damien and Edge pulled out Nene's chair, and each got their own chairs
from the next table. "Truce then. So what do you do for a living? I
know Nene works at AD Police, and Edge is going to be, too."
"ADP?" Priss asked, "You gotta be kidding!"
"Frontline officer." Edge said, somewhat proudly.
"But you'll get yourself killed!" Linna protested.
"What?" Damien asked, "Why?"
Nene sighed. "Because we're always outgunned." she said sadly. "We're
the one fighting and dying out there, trying to keep the city from being
destroyed, but everyone treats us like an unwanted stepchild." Raising
her voice, she continued. "They refuse to give us better equipment,
then they complain that we can't protect them! We're constantly stuck
between a rock and a hard place! Our officers fought hard during the
Boomer Revolution this year, and the public still treats us like a joke!
Our chief is too afraid of upsetting the corporate ass-kissers in the
government to even allow us to do our jobs right! Every minor boomer
incident, we lose too many good men and women, and even fewer enlist to
take their place, some officers are even talking of quitting, even Leon
is getting discouraged! If it wasn't for the Knight Sabers, this city
would've been destroyed a long time ago! The situation's getting worse,
and WE CAN'T DO A DAMN THING ABOUT IT!"
By the time Nene finished, both she and Damien were almost quaking with
anger. Of course, Nene's last outburst caught the attention of everyone
in a twenty foot radius of the table, but she was too angry to be
embarrassed. Finally, Damien spoke up.
"I can't believe this! Of all the stupid, quasi-political......"
Just then, a soft beeping made Priss, Linna, and Nene reflexively check
their watches. "No, this one's mine." Damien said as he pulled back his
sleeve, revealing a small bracer-like device on his arm. drawing an ear
piece and putting it on, he tapped the comm. "What's up? ............
Naw, she's with me and Edge, she decided to take a nap in the van.
........... She's probably asleep again. ........... Okay, Listen. I
wanna discuss something about the Advanced Police with you later, is
that okay? .................... Yeah, I found her.
..................... It's not like that! ......... Ha, ha, very
funny. ............ Okay. ............... You want to talk to her?
..................... Hmph, cute. .............Well, she is!
.................... Okay, here she is." Removing the communicator, he
handed it to Nene. "It's the boss. He wishes to speak to the lady, as
he put it, 'that I went to the ends of the earth, and a few other
planets, to find.'" He said, rolling his eyes.
"Really?" Nene took the bracer and put it on her own wrist. It
suddenly shrank to fit her slimmer arm. a small screen popped up, and A
darkened image of a young man with shoulder-length hair appeared.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Miss Romanova!" The voice on the other end spoke in an odd
accent, almost a dialect. Nene realized that Damien had been speaking
the same way, but to a lesser extent.
"Call me Nene."
"Okay, Miss Nene."
"Hey boss," Damien cut in from over Nene's shoulder, "what's with the
'Shadow Master' bit?"
"Security. Now go away. We need to discuss embarrassing things about
you." While Damien returned to his seat, mumbling various threats, the
man returned his attention to Nene. "Greetings, Nene. Call me Turner.
Nice to finally meet you. Damien's been talking about you almost
nonstop since we arrived. I hear you're an AD Police officer."
"Operator." Nene corrected, "And Lord and Master of the ADP computer
system!"
"And so modest." Turner deadpanned. "But I digress. I was hoping that
you could assist us in a few matters from time to time. I've noticed
your attempts to hack into our system, and although my boss recommended
bloody retribution, I have a better method of dealing with potential
foes: make them an ally. I'm not trying to pay you off to get an
insider into ADP, I have enough of those."
Nene's eyes widened. They traced me? But How? "I'm listening..."
Nene said cautiously.
"I hope so, I'd look silly talking to nobody. Basically, I'd like to
use your hacking skills. Despite your failure at cracking our system,
even though you got almost twice as far as Genom's best operators, you
have considerable raw talent. You'd be more of a freelance operative.
You can still work at ADP, and in fact I would prefer that you do, and
you would receive pay for whatever services you render. This in no way
obligates you to divulge any information about AD Police."
"I'll consider it." Nene finally said after some thought.
"That's the best I could hope for on such short notice. Contact Damien
or Alex when you reach a decision. Thank you for your time. And you
really should put those, 'pictures,' in a more secure file."
"You rat!" Quickly, she removed the armband and returned it to Damien.
It re-expanded, and he put it on. Shortly, the waitress-boomer returned
with their orders, and they basically made small talk about their jobs
until the boomer returned with a carton containing a pair of large
steaks. Damien took the box and the three of them left to take Edge and
Nene back to work. Damien let Selene out of the van and they walked a
short distance from ADP HQ, then Damien climbed onto her back, and the
panther climbed to the rooftop and bounded across back to the Megaplex.
Nene and Edge stopped to watch them bound off across the street. "Quite
a guy, Isn't he?" Nene said, smiling.
"Is that why you watched over him all those years ago?" Edge asked.
"He loves you for that, you know, and he will repay you somehow."
"He was worth it." Nene replied. "Come on, let's get back to work."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=That night=
MegaTokyo has always been a place full of shady deals, not all of them
in the shade.
This is particularly true of the back alleys of the abandoned portions
of the city. Police presence is less than nil, with the exception of
the corrupt one involved in some of the aforementioned deals, and that's
as bad as no cops. Consequently, alot of deals between gangs, drug
dealers, and low-level corporate executives that prefer their business
out of the public eye come here to do business, such as this case.
An unmarked Mercedes rolled onto the sidewalk, cutting off any escape
from the alley. Out of the car stepped two men in gray suits. Their
boomer bodyguards got out of the front seats. Inside the alley stood
two thugs. One carried a submachine gun, and the other a long lead
pipe, which was currently smudged with the blood of the unfortunate
young boy doubled over on his knees between them.
"You thought you could run from us, boy?" The first man said, walking
up to them. "Now I'm only gonna ask this one more time: Where is the
goddamn CHIP?!" he yelled, punctuating that last word with a vicious
kick to the ribs.
The kid coughed up a little blood. "I-I told you, I d-don't know what
you're talking about!"
"Liar!" The man said, lifting the boy up by his collar and slapping him
across the face.
"Calm down, Kain." The second said, strolling up to his partner. "The
kid obviously isn't going to tell us. Besides, we can always make more.
A shame really, now the child knows too much." Turning to the boomers,
he spoke in a cold voice: "Kill him." The boomers moved forward,
shredding their disguises.
"No." A voice spoke quietly. Everyone looked up to see a shapely young
woman standing on top of the car. Around her body was a form-fitting
black bodysuit covered in what looked like blood-red claws wrapped
around her. In her hands she carried a halberd with a forked blade and
a pair of cables at the butt leading to a pack at her back. A pistol
hung at her belt, with a gun that had a wide barrel. Dark brown hair
flowed in the wind that had suddenly picked up. "Don't do it."
"Fine then." Kain said, "Kill her first!" One of the boomers raised
it's arm, firing a burst from the laser machine-gun mounted there. The
woman leaped high over the shots, Coming down in front of the boomer
with a grand sweep of her blade. She spun around, and faced the two
thugs. The boomer behind her split in a diagonal across the shoulder,
and she knocked it to the ground with the end of the spear.
The second boomer opened it's mouth, preparing to fire it's laser, but a
red flash knocked it behind a pile of rags and refuse. An inhuman hiss
came from behind as a reptilian tail violently whipped back and forth.
Finally, the sounds of struggling ceased with the sickening crunch of
metal and synthetic tissue. A moment later, a large, raptor-like
creature jumped on top of the dumpster, covered with nutrient fluid from
the boomer it had just mangled. The boomer's head was currently hanging
from the lizard's mouth. With a roar that shook the few remaining
windows, the creature pounced on one of the thugs, lower claws shredding
his flesh even as it knocked him to the street. His screams didn't last
long.
The woman quickly speared the other thug and let his body fall to the
ground. Turning to the suits, she grinned. "Trying to kill an innocent
child." She sighed as the lizard slid quietly next to her, blood now
mixing with the boomer's fluids. "What should I do with the two of
you?"
"Screw you, bitch!" Kain yelled, pulling out a pistol. He quickly
fired, aiming right between her eyes.
The bullet ricocheted away. The woman's eyes flashed, and a wave of
force hurled them both into the wall. "Shut up before I kill the both
of you!" she snapped. "If this is the best Genom's got, you won't
stand a chance against us." Gently, she picked up the unconscious child
and threw him over the lizard's back. Taking hold of one of the small
spines on it's neck, she climbed on herself. //Let's get out of here,
Sangre.// She said in Spanish as they rode off.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shortly after she and Edge returned to work, Nene had called Sylia to
tell her what happened. Sylia told her to accept, and called the others
for an operation into the Darkfire Megaplex. Nene was still on duty
that night, so it was just the three of them.
Slipping into a delivery truck as it entered a side loading bay, the
Knight Sabers ducked into an empty corridor. At the end was a lift
going down. Sylia considered going back, but the sound of metallic
footsteps quickly changed her mind. At the bottom of the lift, the
doors opened to reveal a small warehouse of military equipment. Four
high-tech tanks occupied one corner of the area, while twenty
battlesuits stood silently on the other side. On the far side of the
room were four aircraft, twenty Bu-12b Battle boomers and half a dozen
GD-42 "Genki" Battlemovers. These stood among hundreds of metal and
ceramic crates of various sizes.
"My god!" Linna breathed. "Look at all these weapons! What do you
think they're going to do with them?"
Priss pulled a clipboard with a small screen on it off a tank. "Hey,
what's this say? I can't figure out a thing on here."
Sylia looked at it, then punched a few buttons. If one could have seen
through her helmet, they would've seen a look of comprehension come
across her face. "According to this, All this is supposed to go to
someplace called, Sanattan-3. They're storing it for transport
elsewhere. But for who?"
"How could you tell?" asked Priss, "I couldn't understand a damn
thing."
Sylia turned the screen to face Priss. "The data's repeated in six
languages, one of them's English, another's Japanese, but it has an odd
accent."
Suddenly. a sharp tapping on the metal floor caught their attention.
Standing in front of the lift they had come out of was a young black
girl about thirteen years old, wearing a red cloak over red-orange
street clothes The cloak was closed at her neck by a large brooch
containing an equally large ruby. In one hand she carried a wooden
staff that was taller than she was. The staff had gold capped on both
ends, with a sculpted phoenix on the top.
"Hey!" the girl gasped, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Get lost kid!" Priss said, lowering the plasma handcannon she brought
along in case of a certain boomer "We're not gonna hurt you."
"Hold up, you're the Knight Sabers!" The girl shouted.
"Oh, great." Linna sighed. "Grab her!" Linna leaped forward, trying
to catch the girl before she could alert the base. The girl lowered her
staff, and a blast of fire shot out of it and blew the hardsuit to the
floor.
"What the-" Priss cried as Linna rolled onto her stomach and climbed to
her knees. The front of her suit badly scorched and partially melted on
some spots. Suddenly, a wall of flames encircled them.
The girl hit a large button on the wall, and six small robots hopped out
of niches in the walls. The robots resembled large disks on four
insectlike legs. Their domed tops raised, revealing dual laser lenses.
Alarms blared as they began to surround the Sabers.
"Let's get out of here!" Sylia cried as she took to the air. She fired
on one of the drones trying to cut off their escape while Priss and
Linna shot off past it. Sylia watched, wide-eyed, as the girl created a
ball of swirling flame on the tip of her staff and fired it at her
teammates. Before she could wonder how that happened, however, she
found herself under laser fire from the drones.
The Sabers headed back to the lift, just as the doors opened, revealing
a woman in a black bodysuit with crimson claw-like plates. Next to her
was a large raptorlike monster, with a sleeping twelve-year-old boy
slung across it's back.
"What the hell is this place?" Priss asked out loud, "And how do we
get out of here?"
The monster snarled and moved to join the fray, but the woman placed her
hand on it's shoulder, making it stop. Instead, it leaped over everyone
to land near the girl.
"Get him out of here!" The older woman yelled, "We'll handle this!"
"But-" The girl tried to protest.
"No buts, now move!" Grumbling, the girl slid the boy off the lizard's
back and onto a nearby dolly. With another mighty leap, the lizard
rejoined the woman, who climbed on it's back. As the girl wheeled the
boy off, the flames in the room died out. "Attention all Shadow squad
members! The Knight Sabers have infiltrated the base and are in
Transport Station 4! I repeat, the Knight Sabers have infiltrated the
base! Report to Transport Station 4!"
"Oh, shit," Priss swore, "We're really in it now!" Raising her plasma
cannon, she blew the left legs off one of the drones. the Sabers
quickly ran for the other side of the warehouse, Priss and Sylia
providing covering fire. Suddenly, all the doors leading out of the
area slammed shut, trapping them. One door reopened, and two familiar
battlesuits entered, adjusting their helmets.
*************************************
Damien activated his HUD, scanning the hardsuits. The blue suit had a
new cannon attached to her right arm. "Somebody's missing here." He
said to Turner, "I don't see the red suit anywhere."
"Then we gotta keep this session short." Turner said, disappointed.
"But we can't just let these three leave without some kind of workout."
"Tonight's lesson," He said out loud, "Is dealing with
'unconventional' attacks. To your right is your first assistant
instructor. Here is your second." He said as the young girl reentered.
"Class, begin!"
With a bloodcurdling roar, the Sangre charged the Knight Sabers. Sylia
fired on them, but the beast sidestepped, and was on her in a second.
The jaws snapped shut, crushing the manipulator on her left arm.
Quickly, Sylia pressed a button on the inside of the suit's arm, and the
rest of the manipulator blew off. A small blade folded out, and she
jabbed the reptile in the side of the neck. As the lizard screamed,
Sylia swung across the neck, inadvertently twisting the blade, and
kicked the rider off. She immediately found herself riding a lizard
that was very pissed off for three very good reasons:
One: Someone other than it's rider was on it's back.
Two: That someone had just attacked it's rider.
And Three: Said someone had also twisted a knife in it's neck.
Snarling, Sangre twisted, intent on getting this woman off his back and
between his jaws. Before the hardsuit could get a better handle on his
back, he quickly rolled onto his back. Suprisingly, he soon found
himself being lifted into the air by his enemy and thrown to the ground.
Sangre hissed and sprang forward, slashing Sylia in the chest with the
razor-sharp claws in it's feet.
Staggering back, Sylia leapt into the air to avoid the raptor's next
attack, and found herself under heavy fire..... literally. The girl
who had returned was now firing fireball after fireball at her. Trying
to disarm her, Sylia shot back, knocking the staff out of her hands.
Yelping, the girl fell back, but got back up and drew a pistol out of
her cloak. Angrily, she began firing more bolts of fire out of the
pistol.
**************************************
Meanwhile, Damien and Turner charged Priss and Linna. Linna threw out
her daggers, but Turner knocked them away and countered with his wrist
laser. Linna spun away from the blasts, then leaped forward. The two
suits circled each other, sizing each other up, waiting for the next
move.
Priss and Damien both extended their blades and went at it like old
enemies. Priss ducked a slash from Damien's blade and swept his feet
out from under him. Damien rolled back to his feet and launched a
series of kicks at Priss' head. Priss blocked the attacks, and swept
across with a roundhouse kick. Damien grabbed her leg and brought his
arm down hard on her shin. Wincing, Priss kicked him away, then jumped
to an overhanging catwalk. Damien took off after her, dodging the
plasma blasts she sent his way. He unholstered his laser rifle and
fired back, but the blue suit avoided those, too. Their battle soon
turned into a shootout, both combatants just barely dodging each other's
blasts. After a particularly nasty near miss, Damien pulled some white
grenades from his belt and tossed them to the side, using laser fire to
drive Priss closer to the target area. Priss jumped into the air,
trying to avoid the grenades' blast. When she landed, she immediately
slipped on the thick sheet of ice that had suddenly formed under her
feet. Damien ran up and kicked Priss, sending her sliding across the
ice to slam into a nearby console.
**ENOUGH!** A voice bellowed out, half in everyone's mind.
Sylia stopped from where she was trying to dissect the lizard while
keeping herself from being broiled.
Linna and Turner halted in the middle of their respective attempts to
slice each other up.
Priss and Damien were in mid-leap, and landed on the floor.
A giant ball of black flames erupted in the center of the room,
absorbing most of the light in the room. The flames dissipated,
revealing a man dressed in an all-black suit with a blue tie. The
man's skin was a deep black that was felt more than it was seen.
Pupilless white eyes contrasted greatly with the rest of his body, which
seemed to get darker the longer you looked at him. A few dark flames
swirled about his body.
The Knight Sabers stared as their opponents quickly saluted, even the
raptor. The dark man walked over to where the girl's staff had fallen,
picked it up, and gave it back to her. Walking back into the middle of
the room, he finally spoke:
//What is the meaning of this?// He asked calmly, turning to Turner.
//Um, well sir, these are-//
// The Knight Sabers, I know. So this is your project, eh?// Turning
to face Sylia, he smiled. "You'll have to forgive him, he's almost as
bad as I am with situations like this."
"Who are you?" Sylia asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry." he chuckled. "Where are my manners? I am Dr'kfir
Nova. CEO and presently sole stockholder of Darkfire Industries. If
you want more information, my men will challenge you one more time. If
you defeat them, We'll tell you everything you want to know. Now, I'm
afraid you'll have to leave." With a wave of his hand, the Knight
Sabers were consumed in a huge flare of black fire.
********************************************
Moments later, somewhere outside of MegaTokyo, a tiny spark ignited.
The spark erupted into a raging inferno for an instant, and was gone.
In it's place stood the Knight Sabers, unharmed but somewhat confused.
Priss looked around. "Great, now where are we?"
"I'd say about 30 miles west of the city." Sylia answered.
"This has to be one of out most humiliating defeats ever!" Linna
wailed.
"Who said we were defeated?" Priss countered. "I was just getting
warmed up!"
"That's because that girl was using you as a barbecue pit!"
"We can discuss this back home." Sylia said as she began walking
towards the city. "Right now we need to get
there. Unfortunately, Nene's probably still at work, so we may as well
start walking."
With a slight moan of dispair, the other two got up and followed.
Tonight had been so not their best mission, and
they just wanted to go home. Nene was going to tease them endlessy
about this.
===============================================================================
And........ Done! Finally, I can live again! At least until Chapter 2.
I still need to gather more information, though. but I will get it
done.
I would like to say now that I will be taking a few liberties with the
rules of both RPGs, mainly for story purposes. So a few restrictions on
abilities and spells may be stretched a bit, but for the most part, I'll
stick to the rules. (With the possible exeption of the Temporal Magic
spell Dimensional Pockets!)............Maybe.
See you later! and remember, comments go to me at "SAMAS_1@Hotmail.com".
______________________________________________________
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