They left the tent to find the mage floating in the air, flanked by two Spectral Daemons.
"Thissss isss greatessst potion ever, massssster..." One hissed slowly, the other remaining silent and watching what was going on.
The magus was painstakingly carefully telekinetically letting the holy water flow, in exact amounts, into a vial, which the daemon was mixing with clovers, bones, and some sort of power. The other daemon had several bottles of the mixture floating around it.
The mage smiled, but none could see it.
"Helter, Skelter, you are dismissed." He snarled, taking the potions and stuffing them into his robes. He approached Allen, and gave him a bottle.
"Last resort only." Was all he said before leaving to prepare more concoctions...
(OOC: It's late evening now, around 8:00 PM. The season is Summer, just like RL btw.)
BEGIN PROGRAM
RUN: ZERO Interface Diagnostic
RUNNING...
RESULTS: No errors found
BOOT: ZERO A.I. Matrix
A.I. Matrix Activating
Scanning A.I. Matrix...
WARNING! FATAL ERROR!
Reverting to backup drive "NINGEN"
NINGEN active.
The once lifeless eyes seemed to fill with life.
"Where am I? Who am I?" came ZERO's voice. unsurprisingly, it was human.
She glanced over her own body, alarmed at the 'alteration'.
"WHAT am I!?" she began to panic.
"ZERO, do you know your mission?" the doctor asked sternly.
"Wh-What mission?! Who are you?!" she looked terrified.
"I don't understand! She should know her creator!" the doctor, too, was terrified.
"I'm sorry, doctor, but I couldn't allow it," General Sanada said, "I had Mr. Suzuki program Yuka's personality into her. We couldn't save all of her memories, but what you see before you is less a war machine and more an amnesiatic teenage girl."
ZERO/Yuka turned to face the doctor, "You...did this to me?! You...turned me into a robot?!"
"Y-you were comatose! You would have never woken up! We...rebuilt you, made you better!" he studdered.
"I can't remember my name, what I used to look like, anything...all I remember is...Sae...my friend..." ZERO was deeply confused, lost in her own mind, "I...somehow 'remember' military procedures, mathematics, heh...I can...recite instruction manuals from almost any vehicle ever made...but...but...who am I?! You...STOLE my identity!!"
"N-no! I-I didn't!"
"Weapon system transmit: ZERO-1" ZERO'S hand changed into an arm cannon, strangely similar to Allen and the others, but very different, "I should kill you...but instead I'll just make sure you can't do this to anyone else."
An electric current rushed from ZERO's cannon arm and connected with the doctor's head. He screamed and fell back, but was otherwise seemingly unharmed.
"What..? I...can't remember...how...how did I...how could I forget...?!"
"As my 'creator'," ZERO said mockingly, "You foolishly programmed your own brain into me. Well, since I know your brain so well now, it was easy to kill the brain cells responsible for creating me. Have a nice life."
ZERO prepared to leave the room, but was stopped by the general.
"ZERO...I apologize for what happened to you. Mr. Suzuki tells me recovering your memories is completely up to you. Just outside that room is someone who knew you as Shiratori Yuka. Her name is Ukyo Sae, and she's now your commanding officer. However, if you so desire, you may leave at any time, but I ask that you please help us close these gates."
"...Fine," ZERO said, looking sad.
"When Tokyo is restored, if you still bear any animosity towards me, I won't fight back," the general continued, "but for now, we have a war to win. Now go, get a good night sleep."
"...hey you, weird guy..." ZERO said to Allen, "You comin too?"
OOC: Oh yeah, speech in <> means that Jay is using his translator. And if any of you have played Front Mission's 3 or 4, you should know where this ground skating thing came from.
BIC: Jay coughed a bit in surprise at the man having taken out one of the Oni's by himself. Then he sighed and punched a couple of buttons.
Laserblade crouched down and suddenly shot forward, skating along the ground. Smoothly jumping over the car, Laserblade landed right in top of the Oni and crushed it into the ground. The demon roared and smashed its club into Laserblade's chest, knocking the mecha onto its butt. Although Jay was annoyed at such a prat fall, he recovered and lopped off the club arm with his laser sword. The Oni roared in pain for a moment before Laserblade shoved his laser arm into its mouth and fired. The Oni's head promptly exploded.
Standing up, Laserblade's angular sensor head swiveled in Toshio's direction and looked down at the drunken master. There was a slight crackle of static and then Jay was talking out through the megaphone.
"<Hey there, nice to see another super around. You got a registered name or just a regular one?>"
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
Allen reluctantly packed away the bottle. He didn't believe in objects of power - they always let you down. Batteries went out at the worst possible moment, or you couldn't remember the activating word of power in a situation that warranted its use. Not to mention the damn things never came with an instruction manual, not to speak of even a simple label!
Still, he thanked the magus as he moved on, and put the bottle to his betl, where it attached to the suit. he carefully surveyed the Crawlers, which were now being arranged in a zig-zag formation. Satisfied, he smiled at the setting sun, almost gone, finally able to untint his visor. If the demons thought they had an advantage in the night, they would soon be taught much different. The darkness was THEIR territory, the shadows THEIR ally. Nothing would change that.
[ QUOTE ]
"...hey you, weird guy..." ZERO said to Allen, "You comin too?"
[/ QUOTE ]
Allen was startled, but when he saw the girl speak like this, it felt like a huge load fell off him. She hadn't been erased. Whether by design of fluke, her spirit was still very much alive in the robotic shell, this he could sense.
"Of course I am." he said to her gently, "Wouldn't be a party without me."
"General Fang..." a trooper stepped up beside him, saluting, which drew a cold glare, the trooper rapidly dropping his hand.
"Sorry, Sir. Won't happen again."
It was a good thing only Yuka was around to hear this. She probably wouldn't know what to make of it.
"Either way, we're ready to move out on your command."
"Good." Allen replied, turning back to the main building, "Now, where are Ukyo-san and her team...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Scanning..." ZERO announced, "Could you specify which 'Ukyo-san' you mean? My records show three registered workers in the Tokyo metropolitan area with the surname Ukyo, and another two with the given name Ukyo." (OOC: Ukyo, like quite a few Japanese names, can work as either a surname or a given name. And I mentioned the other two: Sae's brother in Akihabara currently in a holding cell, and their great aunt working as part of the war council. The two with Ukyo as a first name are just workers, unimportant to the story.)
"I think he means Sae," came Ryuji's voice. He walked up to the group, eating a bowl of noodles, "She wants to be alone right now."
Ryuji glanced at the assembled group.
"But if you're talkin about the mission, I'll assemble everyone. But I think YOU," he pointed at ZERO, "should go talk to her."
"What would I talk to her about? I've never met her..." ZERO said meekly, "Or have I? I don't know...I can't remember."
Ryuji patted her shoulder. He was a good deal shorter than her, despite being physically the same age.
"Trust me girly, just talk to her. She's in her room, if you know where that is..." Ryuji said.
"...I do now, Ukyo Sae is located at the-" ZERO was interrupted by Ryuji throwing his hand over her mouth.
"Just go, I've gotta talk to these guys anyway," Ryuji said.
"Ah...yes...okay," ZERO took off towards the east.
"OK, since we're gonna be going on a mission together, I think there's somethin' you should know about us. I can control temperature and slow down molecules. Essentially it boils down to making things cold. I'm considered a Class S metahuman by the SDF. Eichiro, whom you met earlier, is super strong and wields a hammer that can potentially smash atoms, not that he's used that. He's a Class A metahuman. Chihaya is a miko, and has a particularly strong resonance with the spirit world, enough to give her an S ranking as well. Kenta, whom I don't think you've met, is a reserve member with superspeed. He's considered Class B. Now...what classification do you think Sae has?"
Toshio straightened with a slight smirk, nodding his head to Laserblade. He spoke in English back to him, his voice gruff as the electricity dissapated from his fists.
"My name is Fujii Toshio. You are from Paragon?" Upon hearing himself being called a 'hero,' he laughed humorlessly.
"Not a hero." he said, shaking his head. "Just a man who wants peace for once. But they used to call me Pygmalion."
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
Allen's crew was already plotting a route from Shinjuku Station to the Ginza Portal. It wouldn't be an easy ride, but then again, it never was.
"Sae is a metahuman?" Allen commented, "That's news to me. Then again, she does handle that gun better than many an officer I've seen. Oh, but I did have a question - what kind of world are we expecting inside the portal? Or is that one of our unknown factors?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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"No, Sae is not a metahuman. Good thing you noticed actually. We, her team, are all extremely strong metahumans, but she is not. It's our responsibility to watch over her as well as her responsibility to watch over us. I've only known her since I started high school a year after her, and the same goes for Eichiro and Kenta. Knowing what she's gone through, we consider her to be stronger than all four of us combined.
"As for information? We have none. Like I said, no team has ever made it to a portal, and our information about the nature of them comes from people who studied the Rikti portals." Ryuji explained.
"<Yeah, I'm from Paragon,>" Jay said, some of his bitterness leaking through the translator. "<I'm Laserblade, nice to meet you. Could have been some better circumstances though.>"
Laserblade turned a bit and saw that the civvies had already packed up, fixed whatever must have been wrong with their car, and high-tailed it out of there. They looked to be heading for Akihabara base, which was good, since it meant Jay didn't have to chase after them and drag them kicking and screaming to safety.
"<You need a lift?>" Jay asked Toshio as he shut down his laser sword and slotted it into a holster on his hip. "<I go a little fast, but you look like you can handle it. I need to report back to base anyway, they always like telling the public about big dead demons.>"
OOC: Hey Plague, could you have one of your people or someone at the base where they're planning their attack from call up Laserblade and ask him to assist. I can't keep the name of whichever base you're at in my head long enough to write it out myself. -_-
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
Toshio nodded, upon Laserblade's introduction. When the gaijin continued in Japanese, Toshio lapsed into his native language.
"<Yeah, my memories of Paragon aren't the fondest either. And if you're going to the base, I'd like a lift. Those demons have something I need, and I don't think I can get it back alone.>"
With that, Toshio climbed up onto the Mecha, taking another swig of his flask. Just another day in Tokyo, he mused.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
(OOC: You'll need to actually reach Akihabara base first. I have something planned but need someone actually there for it.)
"<Hold on,>" Jay warned.
With a cough and a roar, Laserblade's jump pack switched on and propelled the mecha through a long and low leap that barely cleared several buildings to land in an empty street. The pavement cracked and broke under Laserblade's feet as it absorbed the impact and then jumped again.
It took several more jumps, one of them right in the middle of a pack of Greater Hounds, before Laserblade crossed the Akihabara perimeter. As soon as the mecha landed, it was confronted by another giant robot that was at least one half again as tall as Laserblade and painted in white and red. It toted a giant machine gun under one arm that was currenty aimed at the US produced machine.
"Hey Takibasha," Jay said, reverting to english so that the Japanese pilot would know who he was.
"<Aha! My favorite United States Gundam fanboy!>" crowed Takibasha. "<And I've heard that you had a run-in with some of our fearsome visitors from down below.>"
"Those civvies got here already?" Jay asked, his disbelief clear through the megaphone. "How is it that they always get here before me?"
Takibasha just laughed and with a tilt of his machine gun, waved Laserblade in through Akihabara's perimeter. Since more destructive travel powers like Laserblade's superjump was banned while inside Akihabara, Jay activated the ground skates and went down the road at a brisk clip.
"<We'll be there shortly,>" Jay said to Toshio. "<After we arrive, just hop down and you can do whatever you came here to do. And for what it's worth, good luck.>"
Soon the entrance to the underground mechabays came into view and Laserblade slowed to a stop just outside of it. The mecha crouched down to give Toshio less of a jump.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
Allen nodded to Ryuji, then asked him to gather the rest of the troop as quickly as she could. With night falling, it would soon be the perfect time to go.
"Any news, Sir?" the driver of the lead Crawler asked as he approached it.
"Zip. No intel, no nothing. I want everyone to prepare as if we were going to World 15..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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(OOC: ;_; Ryuji's a BOY!)
"\So we're in agreement then\," the commander of the Akihabara base, Uehara Mitsuo, said.
"\I guess so...we play music to keep the morale up and you forget the disturbing the peace and public urination charges\?" Kouhei asked.
"\Wait, public urination\!?" Shuji asked increduously.
"\I...had to go...really bad\," Pan replied.
"\All over the detective's desk\..." Shiina added.
"\Very well, you may go\," the commander finished, "\We'll give you a call when we have a date for your first performance\."
Once they were outside again, Shiina turned to Shuji.
"\Why didn't you just call your sister or aunt and have them get us out\?" she asked him.
"\I didn't wanna bother them. Sae's got some crazy mission goin on...of course she always says that these days\," Shuji said.
Soon, the American-made mecha stopped in front of the base, right next to the band.
"\Sweet\," Pan said, admiring the design.
"\It'll prolly fall apart in a week...\" Shiina said pessimistically.
"<It's been holding up fine so far,>" Jay noted as he walked past the band.
Laserblade swiftly walked past the band and headed down to his personnel repair bay in the massive underground stoorage structure. On his way down, he passed by several other Anime-themed mecha painted in bright colors and equipped with a variety of projectile and beam weaponry. After entering the base proper, Laserblade thumped over to his repair bay where a small crew was milling around a large pair of missile racks.
"Hey Jay!" shouted Bill Smith, one of the technicians that had followed him from the prototype labs all the way to Japan.
The rest of the crew, about half of which were American, also shouted hellos at the returning hero and scrambled around to prep the computers and pull out some equipment. Backing into the alcove, Jay shut Laserblade down and popped the hatch. Climbing out of the back of Laserblade, Jay scaled down the ladder rungs that were built into the back of the mecha.
"How're the missiles doing?" Jay asked as he hit the floor and looked over at Smith.
"They're up and running again," the big man replied. "Tetsubara's English may suck but he certainly knows his weaponry. We even managed to find a new focusing lens for the laser just in case the current one bites the dust."
"Great! The lens is much more fragile than the sword's focusing crystal. I was worried that any more fighting today would have warped it out of shape."
"Oh? I heard you took down a couple of Oni, no sweat."
"Geez, has everybody heard that?"
"Yep."
"Word travels fast."
"Uh-huh."
"Let's get those racks mounted."
"Right-o."
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
The Magus, who had been following Allen's crew silently, snarled.
"Are we planning to take action or wait for the demons to die of age, hmm?"
It was clear that this mage was used to commanding, not waiting for orders.
"The demons are twice as active at night. I thought that'd be obvious to someone like you who conducts rituals in the moonlight," Ryuji scoffed. He hated mages.
Meanwhile at Lookout Post 5 at Akihabara Base...
The lookouts never expected this. The automated guns and auto-piloted mecha would usually take out the demons that tried to enter, but this one was different.
It looked like a little boy, walking down the street, except its aura was of pure malice. Any mecha that got near it was smashed into scrap and hurled away.
When the soldiers finally saw it, they noticed too late that its shadow didn't match its image. The shadow they saw was of a massive, winged demon...
The alarm sounded in Akihabara...
"Fired up and ready to go, Sir." the lead Crawler's driver reported, "We're armed to the teeth and I'm willing to bet we can take down everything short of a Shade."
"Excellent." Allen commented, then turned back to Ryuji, "Let's get everyone together already, we've got a portal to take down."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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Lightning crackled from the Mage's hands upon the insult.
He was getting tired of these people's cocky attitudes.
Drawing up the skull of a dead demon from the dust, he babbles to it in a nether language, completely incomprehensible. The eye sockets of the skull glow.
"We can't leave without Chiyoko, ZERO, and Sae, none of which are here right now," Ryuji said.
Meanwhile, ZERO had finally found Sae. She was sitting down in one of the closed down train stations, rather than her room.
"Um, hello...Sae," ZERO said.
Sae's eyes went wide as she looked at ZERO increduously.
"Yu-Yuka?" she said.
"I don't know," ZERO said sadly, "maybe...I'll find out. But, right now we have a job to do."
Sae wiped the tears that had begun to form, and follow her friend. There was hope.
Back at the crawler, Sae was giving orders to the soldiers accompanying them, while Eichiro and ZERO began loading large casks covered with seals into the main crawler.
"Hm, where's Chiyoko?" Ryuji asked allowed.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," a stately man with a handlebar mustache and suit said, escorting a frail looking girl with a red blindfold over her eyes, dressed in a much fancier version of the miko robes.
"I had to use the bathroom," the girl said, smiling. Her voice was weak, small.
"So you really think we humans are a long way away from becoming an advanced society?" Chiyoko said to Allen in a language only he and his troops understood, "Well I find advancement comes in many shapes and sizes."
"Alright everyone, we're gonna roll out! My team is going straight into the portal, the rest of you are going to keep the demons occupied!" Sae announced before getting inside the crawler.
"Ready when you are, boss!" Ryuji said as he walked past Allen, with Chiyoko on his arm.
(OOC: Yes, Chiyoko is psychic, a POWERFUL psychic. She's not actually blind, and I'll explain why she wears a blindfold later)
"Before I forget..." Chiyoko said, turning around to face the mage's construct and holding up her hand.
She muttered something in a language far too complex for someone of her age to speak so well. The skull dissipated.
"Mage, your kind killed Ryuji's father and mother, and the encounter was what caused his power to manifest. Don't take it personal, he didn't fully trust Chihaya until she got that scar protecting him," Chiyoko explained.
(OOC: Thus why she's a national treasure...)
Toshio leapt off Laserblade with a nod of the head.
"<Thank you.>" he said. The man shook his head. He was sobering up...that's not good.
He walked through the base with a quick step, his face serious, looking for someone, anyone who looked like they knew what they were doing...
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
((Actually, Chiyoko wouldn't be able to real Allen's thoughts, or the minds of the other crew for that matter, at least not without severe resistance, which every single one of them would immediately notice.))
((And Essex, I think the base your guys and Laserblade are at is being attacked 
))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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The Magus snarled severely.
"You will stay out of my works, girl, and it will be the demons that are dying." With this, the skull snapped back to life, the mage moving away to Allen's tanks.
((Remember...he is, well, a thousand-year-old Archmagi...))
((Is it? Oo *scrolls up* Well, he's got other things on his mind right now anyway...))
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
At first, Allen had smiled when the introductions had passed. He had been tempted to speak openly with his 'fellow officer', but restrained himself. They were here to do a job, aside from that they were not to interfere in the development of humanity.
. Speaking of, what time of day is it now anyway in this thread?))
But when the doctor entered and introduced ZERO, Allen had quickly revised the notion of the worthy commanding officer. The girl looked like she had no mind left at all - and that was blatant murder!
Relax...this is a different world. You can't apply your culture's standards here. They are humans. They are young. You are not to interfere.
This he told himself over and over again in his mind until his body untensed again. Still, General Sanada had fallen heavily in his opinion - a General was to protect his forces, and especially civilians, not have them be made into mindless weapons. If these people were willing to go to these lengths, maybe they deserved to be slaughtered by the demons.
"Can't say I agree to this." Allen finally said to the old officer, "But I suppose it's not of my business. We're here to stop this invasion. In that respect, I motion that we move up the timetable. Seems to me that with every passing moment the enemy not only gains more ground, but more followers as well. We'll be ready to go in thirty minutes. I'd appreciate if your team was ready by then."
Allen tunred to walk outside again, but stopped for a second by the doctor, though he didn't give him the dignity of making eye contact, "Nature is balanced. You'll get what's coming to you."
With that he walked out...
((Also, I don't think everyone else wants to wail until 'tomorrow' for this
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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