G.I.Lina

Episode 1: Foreshadowings

(Opening theme: Shock-Fear Factory)

Lina woke up slowly. It was still faster than she'd liked, but even if 
you're immune to it, Sarin gives you a headache. Needless to say, the 
cloud of gas drifting across the campsite meant that there was a battle 
underway.

"Ohhh... my _head_... Xelloss, gimme some Asprin."

"There you go." Xelloss smiled again. For once, he wasn't saying that 
posession of asprin was a secret- which probably meant there was 
something up.

"OoooohhhhhyaaaaAAAHHHH!" Zel yawned as he woke up. Loudly. "Hey, Lina! 
I'm picking up a distress call. Spaceborne."

"Why tell me?"

"Because it's the supercarrier 'Revelation of Darkness', that's why."

*****

<High Orbit>

Here be dragons...

Correction, here be Dragon Dreadnaughts. If you're slow, they're 
indistinguishable from Dragons. But here we have the luck to see sixty 
of them at once, the pride of the Ceipheedian Alliance, attacking a 
Mazoku Empire supercarrier with all their slaved weapons. [:P] The one 
reason for all these to be attacking one supercarrier at once is because 
of the cargo.

Perhaps a little eavesdropping on ULF will help...

"Say again, Any Mazoku forces in area, assistance required-"

"All reactors overloading- those that haven't been hit..."

Not really, ne?

We'll have to go aboard.

A tall man, with black hair is walking down a corridor. He stumbles as 
the ship shudders; a pair of officers beside him grab his arms to stop 
him falling. As he regains his balance, we see that his eyes are 
artificial- and red. Ruby red. 

"Star-Marshal, you really should escape."

"Nonsense. I try to get out, I'll be shot down or captured. I'll take my 
chances in here."

"But Lord Sha-"

Back to an outside view, as crippling explosions run through the 
supercarrier. Chunks of hull metal fly through the endless void of 
space, and the Dragon Dreadnaughts head off towards the planet.
 
*****

"Woah. Transmissions just cut out."

Lina looked up. "Destroyed?"

"Hopefully. That was carrying a couple hundred MiG-115's for the war 
effort. Not to mention who would be on that ship as well."

"True. Hey, you seen Amelia?"

"She went for a bath."

"What?"

"There's a small lake ten minutes away- North-east of here."

"Right." Lina thought for a minute. It was far too long since she'd had 
a good bath... or a swim. Time to make up.

"Hey! Are we going to see Naga-chan again?"

Lina gave Gourry a very odd look. Naga-CHAN? Thank god they couldn't 
breed... the resulting offspring would try the patience of saints.

*****

"CANNONBALL!" The splash as Lina leapt off the ledge was impressive. In 
fact, someone monitoring from a spysat was frustrated that the splash 
disturbed the picture quite so much.

"HEY! Watch it!" Amelia was swimming slowly in the middle of the pool. 
It wasn't big enough to be called a lake- not any more.

"Y'know, this pool should be teeming with fish."

"Yeah... there ain't much about. Deep, though, isn't it?"

"Extremely."

*****

Zel was waiting for the girls to finish. Lina had dumped her kit over 
the biochips, to stop any of them getting a cheap thrill, but their 
sensors were still operational.

Xel and Zel had noticed something nasty in the water. 

"I think we'd better tell Lina that there's something in there with 
them."

"Hey! I've got an accurate readout on what it is!"

"And...?"

"That is a secret."

For the next few seconds, there was a synthesised thumping as Zel beat 
his head against the front of his biochip.

*****

*giggle* "Hey, Lina, Stop tickling!"

Lina bobbed some five metres away.

"Eh? I'm over here!"

"Then who...BLUB!" Amelia was dragged downinto the depths suddenly.

"XEL! KNIFE! NOW!"

The knife was ejected over her head, into the pool. Lina grabbed it 
before it sank too far, and started swimming downwards as fast as she 
could, knife between her teeth.

Deep, deep down, the beast dragged Amelia. It was deep, as the pool was 
the top of a long-forgotten mineshaft. And due to radiation/bioweapons 
use, some of the creatures that normally lived in the area weren't... 
normal.

This thing had been a snake, some twenty generations ago. Now it was 
midway between a snake and an octopus. And it was not nice. It was 
feeding of anything that found its way into the pools around here, and 
was far too nasty to be killed.

So far.

Amelia would have been turning blue, but she was already blue, so she 
couldn't. A flash of desperate blue and red went past her, and Lina 
jammed her knife in the beast's back. Grabbing Amelia, she started the 
long swim up the shaft. Looking back, Lina saw the thing heading up 
towards them. Slowly.

Lina burst from the water, dragging Amelia with her. 

Two seconds later, so did the creature.

"PEEK-A-BOO!"

"EAT THIS!"

"OOOOHOOHOHOOHOHOOOHO!"

<Insert sounds of gunfire and grenades here.>

A few minutes later, Amelia and Lina looked with distaste at the pool.

"Ewww..." said Amelia. "I left my soap in there."

"Well, I'm not going to get it," said Lina. "It's... icky now."

That was true. The pool was red from blood, and most of the creatures 
insides were floating on the top.

"Um... Lina?"

"Yes, Zel?"

"Would you mind putting some clothes on?"

Looking round, Lina saw that Gourry was practically passed out, while 
Xelloss was not quite himself. Zel was looking away.

*****

Deep below them, something was swimming.

*****

Lina, half dressed, looked round and saw something that didn't seem 
right.

In fact it was one-hundred percent wrong.

The blue colour was coming off Amelia's skin.

Amelia looked round to see Gourry levelled at her head.

"Lina-san? What's up?"

"You're not a GI, that's what. Now who the hell are you and what are you 
doing here?"

"Okay..." Amelia sat down. "First, my name is Amelia, and I'm a trained 
soldier. Before the war," She sighed, "I was a scientist. Specialising 
in Genetics. I was on the program that created you."

Lina lowered Gourry. "So what are you doing here?" 

"I was assigned to keep an eye on the GI's. There was a mix-up in the 
drop zones. You were meaant to fight a big campaign in the Southern half 
of this continent, and the coordinates were snafued."

They were interrupted by cheering from Xel, Zel, Gourry and Naga.

"What's up?"

"I'll tell you what's up!" Zel, for once sounded ecstatic. "The Supreme 
Star-Marshal  of the Mazoku forces
is Dead! Lord Ruby-eye Shaburanigdo was officially killed in action when 
the 'Revelation of Darkness' was destroyed by a swarm of Dragon 
Dreadnaughts! HE IS DEAD! The War is officially over!"

*****

The thing swimming below them saw light.

It swam up.

*****

"So you were set to check on the G.I.'s. Just great. At least you can 
handle yourself."

"Yeah- I had to learn how to fight in all situations. Jungle, sea, 
trench..." Amelia trailed off looking behind Lina.

"What?" Lina turned slowly, as Amelia raised a trembling finger.

Something  with blue-gray skin was coming out of the water, looking 
roughly like a cross between a man and a shark. Bizarrely, it was 
carrying a backpack, and an SMG.

"Oh, man," whispered Lina. "Does this pool have a neverending supply of 
wierd stuff?"

Amelia scrambled for Naga, and Lina for Gourry. Whatever kind of trouble 
they were in now, they didn't want to be.

The beast saw them, and raised its hands. Obviously it didn't want to be 
shot. Then it went to the side and sat down.

"Hey! I know what that's about!"

"Really, Xel?"

"Unfortunately, it's a secret."

"I knew you'd say that," was the only response Lina could give.

"Woah... transformation!" Amelia was staring at the Shark-man, who was 
gradually becoming a man. The spines and plates gradually sank into his 
shin, and the gills disappeared.

"Morning Ladies!" Somewhat surprisingly, the youngish man had a refined 
English accent.

"I'm Mark Thorn. I'm formerly of the Mazoku Redwater Project."

"Formerly?"

"I did a runner."

"You don't have to run any more, Mark. The war's over, bar the 
shouting."

"What do you mean?"

"We just found out. Shaburanigdo's dead. Mazoku forces are in full 
retreat."

"Good to hear it. I'm heading to a shuttle facility... I was wondering 
if you'd like to accompany me?"

Lina glanced at Amelia. She shrugged.

"Why the hell not?"

"Great! Cup of tea, and then we'll make like dolphins."

"Eh?" This was from everyone except Xelloss, who'd heard the joke 
before.

"Act like we got a porpoise."

Gourry laughed. He was the only one who did.

End Part One.

Writers note:

Okay, I've got BIG plans at the minute for this. I'm trying to twist 
some of the spells into the storyline, as well as pulling out some of 
the obscure Rogue Trooper references.

You might just enjoy the ride...

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