Well, here it is. Chapter 2 of what, once completed, will probably be about a 100+ chapter story. ^_^; Oy. Well, much like the Xenogears game, nothing is gonna make sense, so if you're confused with the storyline so far, you may as well just relax and stay that way. You'll BE confused till probably about chapter 45, when a few things are explained. So anyway, here goes:
Chapter 2
By now, it is nightfall in the woods surrounding Tishre. Ryukumu is
leaning against a tree, sleeping. In his dream Ryukumu is standing at
the entrance of his marina, as the place that he used to call home is
burning. Ryukumu shakes his head and says, "Why me... Damnit, why did
this have to happen to me?"
A voice calls out to him saying, "It is for the greater good."
Ryukumu turns around to see who just spoke, but finds no one to be
seen.
The scenery changes to show a vast area of dry, parched land. The
land is so dry that cracks are forming in the ground. The sky is gray,
with frequent thunder piercing what would otherwise be total silence.
Ryukumu looks around and says to himself, "What is this place...?"
Ryukumu spots a group of people in the distance. Ryukumu starts running
towards the group to see if he can get an explanation. He's yet to
realize that he's dreaming.
Once he's near the group, it becomes clear that the group of people
is fighting. There are four armed soldiers in military uniforms, and a
single man wearing breastplate armor with long blue hair. The armed
soldiers have formed a circle around the single man, whom as he turns
around looking at the soldiers reveals that he looks almost exactly like
Ryukumu.
One of the soldiers says, "G... give it up! You can't escape!" The
soldier's tone of voice is hardly threatening.
The single man chuckles and says, "You think I would try to escape
from worthless men such as yourselves? Who are manipulated by weak
governments whose only concern is to increase their wealth?" The man
looks at the soldier who spoke, narrowing his eyes. "You make me sick."
The soldier replies, "Shut up! Attack!"
The other soldiers start to rush the single man. The man smirks and
says, "Heh heh heh... So this is what it comes down to." The single
man unsheathes a katana and charges towards the soldier who spoke. Once
in range, the man stabs the soldier in the mid torso, pushing his blade
through his body. He lifts up the man and throws him over his shoulder
then rushes forward to dodge the encircling mob.
One of the other soldiers watches as the first soldier is thrown and
with a horrified look on his face he says, "L-Lieutenant..." He grits
his teeth and says, "Damnit!" The soldier readies a machine gun and
after taking quick aim fires a stream of bullets at the single man. The
single man parries the bullets with his sword, then charges towards his
attacker and slashes the soldier's torso horizontally, cutting to the
spine, then twists the blade and slashes upward all the way through the
soldier's skull. The soldier's mangled and dead body falls to the
ground as some of his blood sprays on the man. Before the others could
react, the man runs towards another soldier and swiftly slashes
horizontally through his neck, decapitating him.
The remaining unharmed soldier says to the man with great hostility
in his voice, "You $#*ing monster!"
The man smirks and says, "You insulted me. That's quite rude." He
swiftly runs towards the soldier and slashes repeatedly from side to
side diagonally, cutting deep into the man's body each time. The man
falls back, lifeless.
The wounded lieutenant manages to slowly regain his footing and
says, "Just what the hell are you?"
The man cackles and says, "That is the question, isn't it?"
The lieutenant aims his machine gun at the man and starts to pull
the trigger, but before the trigger is fully pulled the man has sliced
vertically through the lieutenant's skull all the way down to his mid
torso.
"Fools..."
All the while, Ryukumu is watching in horror. Not fearing his own
life, unaware that it's not in danger as this is a dream, Ryukumu says
to the man, "What the hell is your problem?"
The man replies to Ryukumu, "I know no joy. The world has
persecuted me, and I choose to return that persecution with
destruction."
Ryukumu wakes up in reality with a cold sweat, realizing that it was
all a nightmare. "I wake up from one nightmare to a real nightmare...
just great..." Ryukumu sighs to himself.
Footsteps stepping on leaves and twigs are heard relatively nearby,
as well as several voices. One of the voices says, "The footprints lead
this way. Remember, shoot to kill."
Several other voices reply in unison, "Yes, sir!"
Ryukumu's eyes widen in fear, and he follows his first instinct to
run. He grabs the sheathed katana and darts towards the woods behind
him.
The first voice replies, "He's moving, get him!"
While running, Ryukumu looks behind him quickly to see a small group
of soldiers in pursuit, all armed with machine guns. "Damnit, why me?"
While running, one of the soldiers in the front fires a short stream
of bullets at Ryukumu. The stream misses, but in response Ryukumu tries
to run even faster. The other soldiers open fire, and while most of
their bullets miss or hit trees right by Ryukumu, one bullet does
connect with Ryukumu's right arm. Ryukumu covers the wound with his
hand and keeps running, but immediately afterwards three bullets hit
Ryukumu's back. While he does slow down for a moment, Ryukumu tries
with all his strength to continue his escape. Ryukumu looks forward and
spots something: there is a clearing up ahead with a log cabin. "A
house! Maybe I can hide... there..." Ryukumu's thought is interrupted
as he slowly beings to lose consciousness, falling to the ground.
The soldiers catch up with the now helpless Ryukumu. One of the
soldiers says, "Pretty tough kid... four bullet wounds and he was still
going. Sorry kid, this is the e-" The soldier is silenced as midway
through his dialogue an arrow flies from out of nowhere and pierces his
forehead. The other soldiers ready their guns, but are quickly silenced
by repeated shots to the head with arrows.
Ryukumu slowly reopens his eyes, regaining consciousness for a few
seconds, but only manages to see the faint blurry image of a blond-
haired man with a crossbow approaching before losing consciousness
again.
Hours later, Ryukumu awakens to find himself lying down in a bed.
He sits up in his bed and notices that his arm and torso has been
bandaged.
A voice from a nearby room says, "Are you awake already?" The
blond-haired man from before enters and says, "I was quite worried that
the blood loss would have caused you to die." Upon closer examination,
this man looks to be in his early to mid twenties, and wears glasses.
Ryukumu says, "You helped me?"
"Yes, I heard gunshots outside my home and came out to see what the
matter was. I saw the soldiers grouped around you and decided to help
you. You may call me Warren, you are...?"
"Oh, I'm Ryukumu Isora. I go by Ryu."
"Very well, I shall call you Ryukumu. Can you stand up?"
Ryukumu climbs out of bed and slowly stands up. "Guess so... but
god, am I tired."
"That's to be expected, you lost a large amount of blood. How are
your wounds?"
Ryukumu looks at his bandaged arm and then at his back, then says,
"The funny thing is that it doesn't hurt..." There are blood spots on
the bandages where the bullet impact was, but they're quite small.
"Good, good. Could you follow me?"
Ryukumu nods. "Sure." Warren walks out of the room; Ryukumu grabs
his shirt and quickly puts it on while following Warren.
Warren says, "Why were you running from those men?"
"They were trying to kill me."
Warren looks over at his shoulder at Ryukumu and says, "You aroused
the anger of Elsrum soldiers? What did you do to cause that?"
Ryukumu blinks and says, "They were from Elsrum?" Warren nods.
Ryukumu continues and says, "I didn't do anything, my home was destroyed
but I survived. I guess they want to kill me 'cause I'm a witness."
"I heard an incredible explosion yesterday afternoon, was that your
home being destroyed?"
"...Yeah."
"Interesting..." Warren leads Ryukumu to a well-furnished room with
two comfortable chairs across from each other near a wall. Between the
two chairs is a white leather sofa, set against the wall. The carpeting
is luxurious and thick. Along the walls are bookshelves, each one
filled with various books, many of which are on Gear mechanics,
medicine, and medical procedures.
Ryukumu looks around and says, "Man, you've got a nice place."
Warren chuckles and says, "At first I believed it was a bit too
luxurious, but I am pleased with it. The forest provides a quiet place
to study. Have a seat." Ryukumu sits down in one of the seats, but as
he does so the sound of someone knocking on an outside door is heard.
Warren says, "Ryukumu, I suggest you take cover and hide."
"R-right..."
Warren walks to the front room of the house, armed with his
crossbow, and opens the door to find that several soldiers were on his
porch. Seeing how their uniforms are identical to the ones the soldiers
from the previous night wore, they're obviously from Elsrum. Warren
greets the soldiers calmly and says, "This is unexpected, what can I do
for you?"
One of the soldiers replies, "A number of our soldiers came through
this area in pursuit of a fugitive. We've found their bodies nearby in
the woods, we'd like to ask you a few questions."
Warren walks out of his house and into the clearing saying, "There
is no need to question me. I killed them."
"What?!"
Once in the center of the clearing Warren readies his crossbow and
says, "I do not know what Elsrum wants with Tishre, but I know for a
fact from past experience that whatever it is will bring no good to
anyone. I will not welcome nor give mercy to anyone allied with
Elsrum."
The soldier says to his comrades, "Shoot him!" The other soldiers
take aim at Warren, who doesn't seem the least bit frightened. He
simply smirks and adjusts his glasses, a green glow surrounding his
index finger used to adjust his glasses. The soldiers each fire a
single round at Warren, but all of the bullets miss, as if they were
blown aside by an enormous gust of wind.
"What is the matter? You are trained professionals, are you not?"
"Shut up!" The soldiers fire at Warren again, but this time the
bullets miss by an even wider margin.
Warren says calmly, "I hate to act as if I were a bully, but this is
pathetic. As I said before, I offer no mercy towards Elsrum." Warren
raises his crossbow in the air and the crossbow quickly beings to emit a
green glow. The wind begins to blow, causing the trees to rustle.
Within seconds in the air above Warren, a large Gear begins to
materialize and slowly descends to the ground. This Gear has metallic
wings with multiple flight thrusters along its back and the bottom of
its feet. Its right hand wields what looks to be a very powerful
Gatling gun, although there is no ribbon of bullets feeding into the
gun. The Gear's coloring is varying shades of light green or white, and
its only apparent flaw seems to be that it's armor plating is relatively
light.
The soldiers are shocked, and Warren takes advantage of this
opportunity to quickly enter the Gear's cockpit. "If Elsrum is nearby
it means this retreat is no longer safe for me, and there is no harm in
destroying it. Pity I must destroy all those books, when I've yet to
read them all." Once inside the cockpit, Warren says into a nearby
microphone, "Ryukumu, exit the house immediately!" This message is
played outside through a speaker.
Inside the house, Ryukumu hears the message and quickly runs out the
back door.
At the front of the house, Warren's Gear points it's Gatling gun at
the porch and opens fire. The repeated streams of high-caliber bullets
hitting the porch cause the porch to simply shatter, along with killing
the soldiers. Inside the cockpit, Warren says, "This is the first time
I have killed with this Gear, 'Lebensfurst'. I doubt it will be the
last..." Warren looks to a nearby display screen, apparently for radar,
and sees that there are several objects approaching overhead.
Ryukumu runs around to the front of the house and sees Lebensfurst.
Not knowing its Warren controlling it, Ryukumu slowly raises his arms in
the air as if to tell the Gear not to fire. "D... don't..."
Lebensfurst's cockpit chamber opens to reveal Warren, who says, "Do
not worry, Ryukumu, it is me."
Ryukumu lowers his arms and blinks, saying, "Warren? Where the hell
did you hide this Gear?"
"There is no time to explain, Ryukumu. Hurry, climb in here."
"What?"
"Hurry!" Ryukumu runs towards Lebensfurst, who kneels down to let
Ryukumu climb in. Other Gears start to descend in the clearing. Warren
says to Ryukumu, "Take cover in the woods, I must defeat these first."
"R-right..." Ryukumu runs towards the woods to the side of the
house.
One of the four descending Gears' pilot says through speaker,
"Deactivate your Gear and exit with your hands raised. Now!"
Lebensfurst turns towards the speaking Gear and says, "Do you really
believe that a standard Strider Gear can compare to a Guardian?"
Lebensfurst points its Gatling gun at the enemy Gear and opens fire.
The enemy Gear explodes after receiving heavy fire.
One of the other Gears spots Ryukumu running for the woods and
starts to fire its machine gun. The bullets miss, as it's hard to hit
such a small target in comparison, but it causes Ryukumu to yell in
fear. Ryukumu's sheathed sword emits a blue glow, and a giant whirlpool
forms in front of Ryukumu. A dark silver Gear with blue highlights
rises from the whirlpool in a kneeling position, it's cockpit chamber
open. The Gear is wielding a katana appropriately sized for a Gear in
its left hand. It has less flight thrusters than Lebensfurst, but does
have enough to allow for flight. It also has considerably more armor
plating, though not so much as to lower its agility. Again following
his instincts to find shelter, Ryukumu quickly climbs into this Gear and
closes it's cockpit chamber.
Ryukumu looks around at the cockpit and says, "Oh God, now what? I
dunno how to pilot one of these things...?" Ryukumu stops and thinks to
himself, "Wait, this looks familiar... here's the control console...
here's the radar... there's the front display window..."
On the front display window, a small window pops up displaying video
feed of Warren from Lebensfurst's cockpit. Warren says, "Ryukumu, what
are you doing?!"
"Don't ask me! This thing just appeared out of nowhere! It'd be
safer in here than just out in the open, wouldn't it?"
"Do you have any idea how to pilot a Gear?"
"No... I panicked."
Warren sighs and says, "Perfect... just perfect. Refrain from
touching anything if you do not know what you are doing." The video
window disappears.
"Warren, wait!"
Outside, Lebensfurst is fighting off two of the other enemy Gears.
The remaining Gear approaches this new Gear and begins to open fire,
hitting the new Gear with numerous bullets. The bullets cause no
visible damage, but it's clear that if it were to continue for too long
it would cause damage to Hydra and Ryukumu would be in danger.
Inside the new Gear's cockpit, the cockpit shakes as bullets hit the
Gear. "Damnit, I can't just sit here!" Ryukumu presses a few buttons
on the console and the Gear begins to stand up.
The video window from Lebensfurst's cockpit appears again and Warren
says, "I thought you did not know how to pilot it. What are you doing?"
"Just lemme try! You've got your hands full, I'll try to take care
of this one." Ryukumu grabs two control sticks on the console in front
of him, taking control of the Gear. Ryukumu thinks to himself, "...We
finally meet again, Hydra." Ryukumu blinks and continues thinking,
"Hydra? What the heck am I talking about? Screw it, it's not
important."
The new gear, Hydra, turns to face its attacker and raises its
katana in a fighting stance. The attacking Gear continues to fire at
Hydra, which approaches its attacker. The attacking Gear stops firing
and takes a few steps back, it's pilot unsure of what to do. Hydra
raises its sword above it's head and slashes down vertically, cutting
diagonally downward through the attacking Gear. While not severing it,
it does cut through the cockpit chamber killing the pilot. The
attacking Gear falls begins to explode along where it was cut, and falls
backward.
Lebensfurst has by now destroyed the two Gears it was fighting and
walks over to Hydra. Warren says to Ryukumu through the video feed
window, "This is even more interesting... it is like you know how to
pilot it naturally."
Ryukumu frowns and says, "I guess so."
Warren raises his eyebrow and says, "What is the matter?"
Hydra looks over at the Gear it defeated. "Warren, I just killed
that guy."
"...I see. This is the first time you have killed someone."
Ryukumu nods. "Yeah... it feels terrible. I probably won't be
able to sleep tonight."
Warren says, "Ryukumu, he was after your life. I am not going to
say you were right in killing him, but if you had not killed him he
would have killed you. In any case, we must leave this place."
"Why?"
"There is nothing left here. In addition, we will be spotted if we
remain here, and reinforcements will be sent."
"Where will we go?"
"I do not know, but we must try to escape. We must hurry."
Hopefully I'll have chapter 3 revamped and posted here sooner. ^_^;;; C&C is very welcome, if you feel it's necessary I wouldn't mind if someone wanted to try an MST (so long as you lemme know first), though I try to keep a very serious mood to the story. I keep the stories archived at http://come.to/xgl as well as other information about the story. Hope ya liked it!
David Beach
Xenogears: Guardian Legacy- http://come.to/xgl