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Episode One: The Bamboo Forest
Steadying his stance, eyes closed and his palm over the hilt of the weapon, Raziel Kai concentrated on finding his focus.
The soft wind carried with it the scents of the early dawn and the clear drizzle of the calm river. The grass softly swayed with the breeze and rustled ever so slightly.
The sun's warming rays made their way through the endless green leaves that shot out of the bamboos surrounding the little clearing.
The android was motionless, standing in front of a thick broken and charred tree trunk. The tree had been like that for quite some time, since a great thunderstorm had hit it in the middle, splitting its great oak in twain.
One figure stood in silence behind the black armored android, holding his helmet in her hands.
A slim, sky blue frame, with definitely feminine curves and soft face, stood in complete silence. Her blue eyes looked at both warrior and tree trunk without blinking. Her fingers clutched the black helmet a little tighter.
<He has stayed in that pose for over 3 hours now...> she thought as she continued to study the scene <What is he waiting for?>
Another person was watching the whole scene, but from the cramped seat of a VR operator. Holding a coffee mug to his lips and taking a sip, Elian grimaced at the sour and cold taste of his drink, adjusting his microphone, he whispered:
"Is he all right?"
Faye almost jumped at the sound in her inner ear.
Looking alarmed, she saw Raziel still focusing and sighing in relief that she hadn't disturbed his concentration, turned ever so slightly and walking a step or two, she came close to the swaying bamboo shoots.
Faye lowered her voice almost to a whisper and responded, as she turned her head just slightly, so she could still see Raziel in the corner of her eye.
"He's okay, don't make me jump like that!"
Elian loved to be a complete pest with the RAcaseal.
He grinned and tapping the mike, he continued:
"Ooh... worried that me could throw off his focus or whatever?"
"I am not having this conversation with you, Elian!" she said hurriedly.
"You know you want me honey..." he laid back on his seat, putting his hands behind his head and smiling to himself.
Faye gritted her teeth, and with a quick turn of a small dial in her wrist, she turned off the volume completely from the comm.
"HEY!" Elian jumped from his seat. He quickly tried to punch in some commands to override Faye's manual command, but a gloved hand over his arm quickly stopped him.
"Let it rest buddy..." Vryce quickly looked from the monitor to the operator's grey eyes. He let go of the operator's arm after locking his gaze for a second.
Elian gave the red-haired man a glowering look, but quickly looking at the monitor, he grabbed his mug and emptied it in the trash bin.
"It's more than 3 hours, and the stupid android probably rusted himself from inaction!" said Elian as he got up and poured some more coffee in the mug.
"It's not cheap, you know, to have the VR system reserved for just a couple of people that are basically doing nothing all this time... why, I could be watching the latest episode of the KawaiiSenshi in th-"
"You are being well paid chump... you either shut that hole of yours or I'll get myself a new operator, ok?" Vryce didn't look away from the monitor, intent on catching each frame in his gaze.
Elian bit his lip. It was true that he was getting really well paid for just baby-sitting the pair in the VR field, but he just wished he could just be looking after the female one.
Before he could dip his mind into the sewer, another voice sounded in the poorly lit room. This one from another monitor in the upper left.
The red-headed, bespectacled face of the General Chief of the Pioneer 2's Research Facilities appeared on the fuzzy screen.
"Good morning gentlemen" said the General Chief.
"G'day boss" said Elian as he slurped some more coffee.
"Good day to you, miss Milarose" said Vryce, nodding at the screen, he smiled sideways and continued "What is the happy occasion of your most unexpected call at this early hour, ma'am?"
"Flattery won't get you anywhere, Lt. Vryce" she nonetheless smiled and lifted her hand to adjust her microphone.
"What is the status of the new HUcast trainee?" she demanded, clearly addressing Elian.
"Meh... not bad... I have his initial battle information sheets all here if you want them, boss" Elian waved some papers in front of him, but he didn't notice Vryce getting tense.
"Excellent. I will send for those in about a couple of hours, when the VR testing will begin with the other trainees" her eyes fixed on Elian's, who just shrugged and kept on drinking his coffee.
"Ma'am, would I suggest I drop these for you?" said Vryce, as a smile crept up his face.
"Hey! I'm the operator here, captain Klutz... I will send these to my bo-"
"That will be all right, Lt. Vryce" and looking over his exhasperated operator, she grinned and continued "but if you wish to pay me a visit, I would not mind at all. I shall send for both you and the documents in about an hour"
Vryce smirked and looking at the monitor, bowed slightly and said "It will be a pleasure, General Chief Natasha"
The monitor blinked out and Elian grimaced back at the ranger, who was looking pretty pleased with himself.
"Look... you may be paying me a lot of meseta for this, but you don't go over my head when it comes to the General Chief and-"
"So now, she's the General Chief and not the 'boss'?"
Vryce sat down in a comfortable chair, looking at some enviromental dials next to the main screen.
Feeling like an angry volcano about to explode, the young man sat down and tried very hard not to throw the mug at the man beside him.
Both, eyed the main monitor and waited for something to happen.
Vryce, suddenly reaching his arm to a sensor, said:
"Capture the next 20 frames of the image. I need those and don't-"
"What ar-" Vryce slapped a hand over Elian's mouth.
"Don't breathe..." he said in a whisper.
Faye felt it in herself. Suddenly, the calm before the storm swelled up around her, and flowed into the still form of Raziel.
She felt, in that instant, everything beyond her senses could perceive. She felt the river flow, the breeze dancing in the air, the smell of the bamboo around and above her.
She then felt a small leave drop from the air and fall softly on top of a small grey rock.
Raziel opened his eyes and with a lightning quick movement, yelled:
"ZAN!!!"
The air in front of Raziel shot out in every direction; the energy he had charged up all that time, in that instant suddenly stem in one flashing moment.
The blade had gotten out of the saya and back in so fast, Vryce, Elian and Faye thought they had blinked and missed the movement.
Raziel stood tall, and turning around, he walked over to Faye. Smiling, his hand went over hers and she came out of her shock.
The tree trunk suddenly split, a large slab on the top slid slowly; a straight, diagonal cut had appeared out of nowhere.
Slowly, the top slab dropped into the grass and stayed there.
"How... how could..." Faye started to stammer but Raziel turned around and frowned, before he put his helmet back.
A couple of bamboo shots some 15 feet behind also dropped, with the same diagonal cut the tree trunk had. These shots fell shortly afterward the slab.
"Buhbuhbuh...!" Elian looked at the main monitor and the secondary one, trying to replay the scene frame by frame. He couldn't believe the speed and power behind the attack. Only the most experienced and powerful hunters could possess such skill, and there were mostly none of them still alive!
"Shut the hell up kid" Vryce said bluntly, and ejecting a small disk out of the main system, he pocketed in his shoulder pad and sitting up, he smiled at the young operator.
"What was that?" he pointed at Vryce's shoulder pad, and noticing the secondary monitor showed, in big green glowing letters NO DATA, he suddenly punched several keys in his datapad.
"What did you do?" he got up, trembling in anger.
"Listen... this here is some info no one needs to see or know about, ok?" Vryce said, half-smiling, took out a large golden chip out of his leg pocket and handed it over to the man, "Here's a little bonus, you know, so you can take a good vacation out of this here joint and relax and watch all the KawaiiSenshii episodes you want"
Elian took the golden chip and quickly looking at it, noticed it had a 6 figure number on it. His eyes wide, he had to gulp down before his eyes could properly read '250,000 meseta' on the chip's LCD screen.
Vryce tapped the man's shoulder and grinning, he turned around to get into the VR entry room.
He knew that when Faye came into the VR room with Raziel, he'd better give them some space for themselves, but he needed to get those two out of here quick.
He didn't trust the boy and didn't like the fact that he had printed out Raziel's specs and statistics before he had a chance of checking those out or making sure the kid didn't read them. But taking note of Elian's indifferent attitude to the specs when they were talking to General Chief, he guessed the kid was either taking pics of Faye or not even doing his job as an operator seriously.
He'd need the money he had earned for looking the other way. An operator with that kind of attitude would be better off getting his kicks out by being a slacker.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw Elian connect to the network and looking for possible spas and fine hotels.
"That was incredible, Raziel! I didn't see the way the blade moved at all!" Faye put a hand on his arm.
Raziel stood silent, looking at the bamboo he had cut along the wood trunk.
"It wasn't focused enough... I should only have struck the trunk, not go beyond that" he said as he turned slowly, so he could smile at Faye.
"You didn't? But... anyways, I think it's great!" she said, smiling broadly.
"It wasn't that great, Faye... the cut should have struck only where I needed to strike. If we would have been in danger, and I have tried this attack, I might have hurt someone... I might've hurt you..." he suddenly let a shadow cloud his smile.
He seemed so sad lately, thought Faye. Ever since he got back at the Pioneer 2's Hunter Guild, there was something troubling him. She had seen him alone in the middle of the night, clutching the mysterious sword that a hunter had left for him. She felt he needed something, but even as she hugged him with all her strenght, it seemed he was holding back on something.
Reaching out, and placing his helmet on his head, Faye looked into his eyes.
"You won't hurt me. I know that you won't and I trust you won't" she said as she kissed him softly on his lips.
Raziel lowered the facemask and raising the weapon in his hand, unsheated it with the other.
A rusted, long steel blade rung with power.
However, the poor state the blade was in, made it quite plainly it had seen better days. Not only that, but the hilt was the only thing besides the saya that gave any indication that this finely crafted katana was once very mighty indeed.
Faye looked at it with a puzzled look and asked Raziel:
"What is that sword, Raz?"
"It is called the Agito, it is very ancient, and some say very powerful. As you can see, it's in bad shape. I've heard that there is someone in the Pioneer 2 that could reforge it as it once was... but if this one is a fake, then it is just that... a fake blade, forgotten and powerless"
"Fake blade?" Faye looked at the dulled edge and the rusted steel "Is there an original Agito?"
"Yeah, it's a long story, but to cut it short, there was once a single Agito that was so magnificent, that others made duplicates of it, trying to catch the power of the original into them" Raziel sheated the katana once more into its saya and looked at the sky. The sun still shone as brightly as ever.
"But a katana cannot be truly copied. It is after all, the soul of the samurai that wields it. And a soul cannot be duplicated" Raziel smiled at Faye now, putting his arm around her waist "Very few know which is the real Agito... but there is an old tale my old sensei once told me..."
He pulled her close and sat down with her on the soft grass.
"If the power of the samurai that wields the Agito, the real one, becomes worthy of the blade, then the katana will show its true face..."
"And that would be good, right? After all, I know you're the right person to actually wield such a weapon!" Faye said this, smiling at him.
Raziel sat in silence, holding Faye in his arm. He gazed out into the green forest in front of him and tried to focus into the little pit that he felt had grown inside of him. There was something strange about this, but he couldn't quite place it right now.
And looking at Faye, so happy and calm, he shook his thoughts out of his head and said:
"Let's go Faye... Vryce is probably growing roots from waiting for us"
Faye smiled and laughed a bit. She knew Vryce would have been picking them up when Raziel finished with the preliminary tests and that he wanted to give them something. She didn't have the slightest clue as of what that was, but he had his reasoning as of why keep them in the dark about some things.
The whole scenery winked and faded out of existence, leaving them both inside a large grey metal room with a dark floor. They got up and walked towards a large black door.
A large crate groaned and broke in twain. Light flooded the small hybernation section for the first time in seven years. As the pair of explorers turned on their flashlights, they saw huge glass containers leaned against the wall.
Some of them were cracked and dusty... others still hummed in the dank room. One of the two explorers walked right next to the containers, the other went straight to one of the portholes.
Looking at the containers with anxiety and glee, the newman flashed the light up and down, looking at one in particular.
It had a badly injured yet tall and well preserved female android inside of it. Most of the armor was rusted and cracked, and her face was frozen as if in pain.
Looking at her side, the newman saw a small tube containing a small creature in it.
"Weird, but cute in a strange way..." he said as he passed his hand over the dust of the cover.
"What did you say, Professor Fritz?" said the other person in the room. Her blue-steel hair moved softly around her oval face. Her red eyes darted from the porthole to the overly excited man near the capsules.
"Oh nothing my dear Alianna!" said the newman as he quickly retrieved the small creature from the container. It was a small MAG with a round head, big eyes and a blue body. He picked it up and held it gently in his palm.
"It's a small Chao. It looks like its hers" he pointed the other capsule with the female android.
"Mmmh..." the blue-haired woman approached the capsule and gazed intently in it.
"If we could retrieve her from stasis, she could very well tell us what happened to the Pioneer 1, you know... it could mean a breakthrough!"
"But..." Alianna felt a tinge of fear at what the doctor may be getting to, but she thought it would be better to try and talk him out of it.
"You know professor? That android could be dangerous..." said Alianna as she studied the frame's damage.
"But we'll never know unless I re-activate her, right?" said Dr. Fritz with a strange gleam in his eye.
"Professor!" Alianna stood up, long hair falling on her shoulders and shaking her fist at the smiling newman.
"Yes? What?" he said without giving her a second look, his fingers playing with the control pads next to the capsule.
Alianna could not resist herself anymore and grabbed the doctor's suit by his collar and raised him off the floor.
"STOP IT PROFESSOR!!!" she yelled at his face.
He just smiled back at her. Grinning, he simply said:
"You know, maybe that's why you're still single, Alianna, you have such a temper!"
Red-faced and truly angry, she flung the newman across the room, into some capsules and tried to breathe.
"Ouch..." said a small voice from the mess the female Hunter had made.
"Serves you right, you..." said Alianna in clenched teeth.
"Hey! Look at this!" said Fritz, waving his hand over his head and pointing at something beneath him.
He got up and between the two, they saw a strange panel depicting some sort of wiring needed to repair old android models.
He looked around and catching a glimpse of the rest of the unbroken containers, he saw two more androids in there.
One was really big and had a clunky armor on it. The other had a much more pettite frame, and it definitely looked female.
Smiling broadly and rubbing his chin with one hand, he began to entertain thoughts of creating more of his children. A big family! That's what he needed.
He felt very alone now that Gensy had decided to find out what emotions were... just before he got around to build her a chip to better understand those. Oh well. Such is life, so full of ironies.
Alianna made a sick smile at Fritz' look full of daydreams, and decided to let him have his way instead of just trying to bring some sort of tranquility in his lunacy.
"Alianna dear, could you help me getting these open?" said Fritz with the innocence of a child opening a gift.
"Yeah, sure..." Alianna answered, not too enthusiastic.
To be continued
 Tsunami K · Wed Sep 13, 2006 @ 09:32pm · 0 Comments |
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