Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina or Gears of War, I wish I did. I decided to scrap my original idea and create a new one that would fit more with the Gears of War genre, more action, destruction, and horror, anything you would find in Gears. I'll still have the characters from Love Hina, but the setting will be in Sera, and I'll try to tie in my story with the plot of the first GOW, as I've yet to play the second one. Okay, here comes round two.

"Move out!"- dialogue

'Locust!'- thoughts

Prologue

Tomorrow was August 31st, he remembered that dreadful day even fourteen years later. The young soldier sighed, currently lying on his stomach, his hands gripping the rifle. Currently, he was on the third floor of a desolate office building. Below him, the street was cluttered with debris, destroyed cars, and occasionally a dead body. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, his armored hand feeling cold against his skin. As he peered through the scope of his rifle, he couldn't help but reminiscence. His childhood was a happy one, at least in his perspective. He remembered playing in the park with his aunt Haruka, his parents smiling at his antics while talking with his grandmother. He remembered the girl he used to play with in the park, her face long forgotten from his memory.

'She's probably dead by now, just like all my loved ones.' He shook his head, erasing those morbid thoughts. Try as he might, he could never erase the memories of August 31st, Emergence day. It'd been traumatizing, to say the least, seeing one's parents killed in front of you. His father had been the lucky one, getting six rounds from a hammerburst killed him instantly. His mother had the misfortune of getting her skull crushed from of those creatures. Once again, he shook his head, ridding himself of thoughts; he had a job to do. To emphasize the point, his right ear began buzzing, his earpiece coming to life. "Keitaro, see anything yet?" He pressed his fingers to the earpiece, "Negative, nothing ye-wait, I see something."

There, 40 meters in front of him, Locust. He counted up to eight of the pale skinned, reptilian bastards. He braced his longshot to his shoulder, peering through the scope. The Locust consisted of seven drones, and one grenadier. The gnasher toting grenadier was obviously the leader, signaling with his hands to have the drones spread out over the street. The drones, all wielding hammerbursts, spread themselves over the street. Keitaro keyed his radio, "LT, got eight of them, one grenadier, the rest drones." "Roger, okay uhh, hold position until the squad is ready." He didn't bother giving a response, showing his disdain for the new lieutenant. Kentaro Sakata was incompetent, simple as that. The only reason for his rank was the fact that his father was one of the few politicians left on Sera.

"Shirai, Haitani, you in position?" Two affirmatives from his earpiece made Keitaro smile. Unlike Kentaro, Shirai Kimiaki and Haitani Masayuki could be counted on during a firefight. There were three other gears with his squad, rookies who needed the experience, but Keitaro hadn't bothered to learn their names. "Okay, Keitaro, we're in position, we'll open up after you take the first shot." "Roger." Keitaro stole himself a few seconds to look below. His squad was on the first floor, spread out to cover every possible angle on the incoming locust. He peered through the scope again, the locust were now 25 meters away, well within range for the rest of the gears. He braced the longshot against his shoulder, sliding a 20MM shell into the breech. A simple throw of the bolt, and he was ready to fire. Keitaro slowly aimed his weapon, his sights landing on the grenadier. He took a deep breath, then squeezed the trigger; the loud crack of the longshot boomed across the street. The grenadier's head simply exploded bits of bone and brain matter sprayed a nearby drone. Its body hadn't hit the ground before the rest of the squad opened fire. Two drones were caught in the middle, their bodies riddled with bullets.

The other five drones turned and ran, ducking behind cars as cover. He watched as the drones ducked into a collapsed house 40 meters down the street. 'What?! Why'd they take off like that?' Keitaro frowned; Locust usually weren't ones to shy away from a fight. 'Shit, they might be leading us in a trap.' That had to be it, Keitaro started to key in his earpiece when Kentaro's voice boomed. "Okay, they're running. Donaldson, Al-thani, Mitch, head them off. The rest of us will provide support." Keitaro swore, then keyed his mike. "Lieutenant, I'd highly advise against that, they're rooks. And besides, the Locust could be laying a trap." He heard Kentaro shake his head and sigh, "Urashima, when are you gonna learn. There is a reason why I'm a lieutenant, and you're still a corporal." Pissed off, Keitaro didn't dignify that statement with a response; instead he focused his sights on the three rookie gears heading towards the house.

Through his scope, he saw the gears stop just outside the house. The lead one looked at the other two, before nodding and leading them inside. Keitaro breathed deeply, hoping against hope nothing would happen. No such luck, "Lieutenant! There everywhere!" He heard a horrendous explosion, emanating from the house. As he looked, only one gear stepped out. His armor was covered in blood, and his left arm was a stump. As the gear struggled to move, a projectile slammed in his back, blowing the hapless COG in pieces. Keitaro's blood froze, 'Shit, they're gone. Wait, that shell looked like it came from a...Oh Fuck!' There, stepping out from the house; came not one, but two boomers. The eleven foot monstrosities strolled into the street, each wielding a 40MM boomshot. A dozen drones flanked the two boomers, unleashing a storm of bullets where the rest of the squad was. "Shit!" Keitaro kept his body low as multiple rounds smacked around him. Slowly, he backed away from the window. Rolling on his back, he brought his lancer assault rifle to his chest while keying his earpiece. "Damn, Shirai, anybody, status?" The radio sounded as he crawled out of the room, Shirai's voice boomed in his ear. "Situation's FUBAR, Kentaro's a wreck; we need to get out now!"

"Okay, fall back to rear of the building, I'll meet you there." Keitaro heard Shirai's acknowledgement, then took off. Placing the longshot on his back, he brought the lancer out, flipping the safety off. He turned towards the stairs, at the other side of the hall. Keitaro ran, taking speed over caution. So caught up in his race to the stairwell, he didn't hear or see the wretch until it slammed into his side. Keitaro found himself hitting the wall, his uncovered head smacking the hard granite behind him. Disoriented, he could only dodge the creatures slice to his head, the other claw digging into his left arm. "Fuck!" He kneed the wretch in the face, giving him enough time to bring up his lancer while the creature reared back. Gritting his teeth, Keitaro revved up the chainsaw bayonet while the wretch jumped at him. Lashing out, he caught the chimp-like monster in mid leap. Bits of blood and bone matter sprayed Keitaro as the wretch was sawed in half. No sooner had the body hit the floor then he dashed down the stairwell. Taking huge leaps at a time, Keitaro made to the ground floor in a few minutes. He bolted out of the back of the building, seeing his two other squad mates up ahead. Shirai and Haitani were in the street, hiding in the remains of a large fountain.

Keitaro ran over there, hopping over the edge of the fountain. He took several deep breaths, laying his back against the granite. "Evac called yet?" He asked between gulps. Haitani spoke up, "ETA five minutes, we need to hold here until then." Keitaro nodded, then noticed something, "Where's Kentaro?" Shirai shook his head, "No good, dumb bastard ran off when we pulled back, got mauled by a pack of wretches." All other forms of dialogue stopped when the three of them heard a low rumbling, close by. Keitaro swore as he swung around, crouching against the inner wall. He eyes scanned the nearby surroundings until they ended on a pair of destroyed cars. The cars suddenly shot off in opposite directions, causing the 20 year old gear to widen his eyes. "Emergence hole, ten O' clock!" His two fellow gears immediately went to his side, lancers brought to bear. Sure enough, the hunched form of a drone appeared, climbing out of the hole. The three gears didn't give the drone a chance; dozens of bullets tore the locust in pieces. A few other drones tried to climb out of the hole, only to meet the same fate.

The three gears kept their eyes focused on their surroundings. There was silence, unnerving Keitaro. The silence was broken by the sound of an approaching king raven. Keitaro let out a breath that he was unknowingly holding in. The raven circled before touching down in front of the squad. "Shirai, Haitani, move it!" The three hopped over the fountain, running towards the helicopter. Keitaro got in first, followed by Shirai, then Haitani. The raven took off as Haitani jumped in. Keitaro felt his stomach lurch as the pilot banked the helicopter to the left suddenly. He found out why, "Shit, boomers two O' clock low!" Sure enough, the boomers from before had followed the three gears, their weapons discharging 40MM grenades. The pilot jammed the stick forward, causing the raven to dip lower. The grenade rounds sailed over the helicopter, harmlessly exploding in the air. "Oh, screw this!" Keitaro heard the pilot shout before jamming the throttle forward. The raven picked up speed, losing sight of the boomers in a few seconds. He laid back against the hull of the raven, staring out into the city.

Ephyra was once a beautiful city, the streets teeming with life. As Keitaro looked down though, the streets seem to reek of death. The city was built on Jacinto Plateau, the last major stronghold for humanity. The last few years, however, saw the impregnable fortress being slowly diminished by the Locust horde. The entire city of Ephyra had been breached by the Locust, leaving only a few groups of stranded left. The feeling of the raven slowing down brought Keitaro out of his musings; he then realized that they were already at Jacinto. As soon as the raven touched down he hopped off, his squad mates following him. Keitaro then turned to them, "Okay, you two get something to eat; I gotta file a debriefing with major Noriyasu." Both at them nodded at Keitaro, before setting off for the mess hall. Seeing the two of them disappear from his view, Keitaro started walking towards the other side of the airbase. He needed to debrief on what happened.

Seated in his office, major Seta Noriyasu looked at the reports on his desk, 'Shit, we have the fudge the numbers with these?" His concern was the dwindling number of active gears fit for duty. Just a week ago, Colonel Victor Hoffman had instated a new law drafting the young, sick, and imprisoned into the COG ranks. He was brought out of his thoughts by a knock on the door, "Major, it's corporal Urashima of Bravo squad, you wanted to see me?" "Yes, come in." The door opened, revealing Keitaro in his gear armor. Seta took a look at the young gear. He was dressed in standard armor, one which could be found on most gears. He had an average physical build, similar to one private Anthony Carmine. His face was clean shaven, and his unmarked face wouldn't have suggested he was a gear. He took a seat across from Seta's desk, "You wanted a report on our ambush?" Seta nodded, "Yes, can you explain what happened." For the next 20 minutes, Keitaro explained to Seta the events surrounding the ambush. The setup, the initial shots, the fuck up caused by Kentaro, and the subsequent retreat from the Locust horde. At the end, Seta slowly shook his head, "I see why having Kentaro as an officer was a bad idea, I shouldn't have let his father strong arm me."

Just as he finished his sentence, a figure burst through the door. 'Speak of the devil.' Hideki Sakata looked at the two in disgust, before setting his sights on Keitaro. "You! You killed my son." He got up into Keitaro's face, "How dare you, because of you my son is dead!" What Keitaro did next shocked Seta; he got up into Hideki's face. "Me?! Because of your son's dumbass call, three rooks were killed. Your son got killed because of his stupidity." With that he stood up and saluted Seta, "Sir, if there's nothing else, I would like to be dismissed." Eyes slightly widened, he gave Keitaro a nod. "One last thing corporal, I'm sending you a replacement for Kentaro; expect the meet later this night." The corporal gave Seta another salute before walking out of the office. He waited until the door closed before turning his attention to Hideki, "Now, you and me need to have a serious chat."

In the mess hall, Keitaro sat down with a plate of food in his hand. "Spaghetti and meatballs, yummy." The food served here was supposed to be better than the standard MRE, but to him they all tasted like shit. He bite down on a meatball, ignoring the bitter aftertaste that followed. He took a gulp of water to wash it down. While it did taste bad, he was starving, and it was better then what he could find outside the plateau. He was about to take another bite when he heard a voice behind him. "Um, corporal Urashima of bravo squad?" He turned around, "Yeah?" The figure in front of him was dressed in standard gear armor. He had a boyish face, messy brown hair mixed with blue eyes. "Um, I'm Private Shinji Ikari, I'm your replacement." Keitaro stood up, fixing his gaze with Shinji. The private was slightly shorter then him, who was 5'11'', and about the same muscle build as him. "Private, you've just been out of the academy?" "Um, yes sir, just a few days ago." He sighed, 'A rookie might as well show him what he's dealing with.' He motioned Shinji to follow him out the mess hall.

The two of them stopped at the edge of a balcony overlooking Ephyra. The sun had gone down awhile ago, and the floodlights used to illuminate Jacinto were on full blast. "Ikari, I want you to look out there." Keitaro looked towards the city, Shinji followed suit. Shinji watched the city; he noticed swarms of kryll flying over the blackened parts of the city. He also noticed pockets of light, probably either locust patrols or stranded encampments. As he watched, a cluster of lights went out. The kryll swarmed the place; hundreds filled the dark space in less then a few seconds. As quickly as they swarmed, the kryll flew back up into the night sky. "You see private; I wanted to show you what we're dealing with. Simulated exercises do not make up for the real thing. You screw up out there, you're dead, understand?" The private meekly nodded, Keitaro's face softened, "Sorry to be hard on you Ikari, but I wanted to erase any thoughts of you trying to be a hero." Shinji nodded, "I understand sir." "Good, now let's head back to the barracks for some sleep, you're going to need it."

The barracks was semi-empty save for a few other squads who were dozing off their combat fatigue. Shirai and Haitani were already asleep by the time Keitaro and Shinji had arrived. He motioned for Shinji to take a bunk, which the private accepted. Shinji stripped off his armor, and in a few minutes was on a bunk and sound asleep. Keitaro took his time taking his armor off, dressing in a grey pair of sweat pants and T-shirt. He lay on his bunk, looking at the bed frame above him. There were some photos taped there, memories of his childhood. Most were of his mom and dad, but there was one that wasn't. He stared at the photo; it was a picture of him, his aunt, and his adopted sister in a group photo. Kanako Urashima had been with his aunt during Emergence Day. He had hoped he would find them on Jacinto; but had never had the time to look. In his 14 years on the plateau, he had mostly been doing manufacturing work before being drafted into becoming a gear. Even during the time he was a gear, which was two years, he spent most of the time fighting the Locust. Finally letting his exhaustion catch up to him, Keitaro closed his eyes and drifted off into slumber.

'Where am I?' He found himself standing a park of some sort; small ponds and trees decorated the landscape. "Kei-kun, you made it!" He spun around, vaguely recognizing the female voice. There was a girl standing in front of him, no more then six years old. He didn't see any recognizable facial features, but her shoulder length dark brown hair made him remember. 'That girl 14 years ago!?' She giggled, "What's wrong Kei-kun, don't you want to play?" He felt himself smile, and started to walk over where she was. All of his happy thoughts vanished when he saw a dark cloud emerge behind the girl. He heard a voice emanate from the cloud, "Dust to dust." 'No, Locust!' The girl seemed oblivious to the approaching danger, still giggling and smiling at Keitaro. He racked his brain for answers, looking around the landscape for any weapon.

His eyes landed on a discarded lancer assault rifle. His mind leapt into action as he ran for the weapon. 'Okay, grab the lancer, get between the cloud and the girl, and let whatever the fuck it is have it.' Arriving at where the lancer, he reached down to pick it up. To his horror and surprise, he found that he could barely lift up the rifle. Looking at his arms, he realized that his arms were that of a child, not a combat experience soldier. Unable to do anything else, he screamed; not one of horror, but one of frustration as he felt utterly useless.

His eyes snapped open; he quickly rose from his resting position taking in large gulps of breath. Keitaro slowed his breathing down as he looked, recognizing the barracks. He sighed, lying back on his bed, this wasn't the first time this had happened. His train of thought was derailed when an announcement was made over the PA system, "All available gear squads Bravo through Kappa, report to briefing by 0630." He heard some curses and grumbles as gears rolled out of their bunks. Keitaro looked to where his squad was, who were already out of bed. He gave them nod before heading off to the showers.

20 minutes later, Keitaro had washed up and donned his armor. He made a slight detour to the mess hall on the way to the briefing room. He finished up what was left of the breakfast sandwich. He took a seat next to his squad, Shinji seated right next to him. He looked up towards the front where Seta was standing, waiting for all the COG soldiers to be quiet before speaking. "Many of you are wondering why I called you here." Keitaro looked around, noticing most of the gears nodding in agreement. "Quite frankly, this matter is of the most importance. Now, we have a good chance of turning the tide of this war." That got the gears attention, Keitaro included. Seta turned behind him to turn on a projector, showing a backpack sized device. "This is what we call the resonator. Its' purpose is to emit sonic waves, which can be used to map the locust tunnels." One of the older gears raised his hand, "And what's the mapping to be used for?" Seta smiled, "Our trump card against these underground bastards." He changed the slide, showing what looked liked a bomb of some sort. "This is the lightmass bomb; the data from the resonator will be uploaded to the bomb. Once uploaded and deployed, we can destroy most, if not all of the locust horde."

All the gears went silent at this statement; all eyes were glued to Seta. "Now, the reason why I called you all is to inform you of you objectives for this operation." He paused to look at the clipboard lying on the podium. "All squads will resume their normal patrol and combat duties, as to avoid arousing suspicion from the locust. That'll be all, dismissed." His eyes trailed to Keitaro and his squad mates, "Except for Bravo squad." Recognizing Keitaro's look of confusion, he calmly walked up to them. "You have a different task, sergeant." Keitaro opened his mouth in shock, "Sergeant?!" Smiling, Seta placed one hand on his shoulder. "Yes, after you left my office yesterday, I recommended Colonel Hoffman for your promotion, he agreed."

"Now, you're mission is going to be different then from the rest of the gears." Nodding, Keitaro looked as Seta dressed down his squad. "Just outside the safe zone is the Jacinto freemason hospital, its located three kilometers west of the prison." He paused, "Against standard COG regulations, Hoffman has green lighted that one squad should be sent over to the hospital, to see if there are any survivors. Once you are done, you are to rendezvous with Delta squad via raven, to Embry square." Keitaro raised an eyebrow, "Why Delta?" "Delta is looking for Alpha squad; they were retrieving the resonator when we lost contact with them." Keitaro nodded, "Okay, when do want us to head out." ASAP, sergeant."

Ten minutes later, Keitaro had his squad run through the armory. Shirai and Haitani both picked up a lancer and a gnasher, followed by a set of bolo grenades and a snub pistol for a sidearm. Keitaro himself had forgone a gnasher for a longshot. Placing the sniper rifle on his back, he grabbed a boltok pistol, sliding the powerful sidearm in his hip holster. As he finished grabbing his weapons, he noticed Shinji picking a hammerburst over a lancer. "No lancer private?" He turned and smiled sheepishly, "During training, I always did better with this then a lancer." Nodding in understanding, Keitaro led the squad out of the armory, towards the helipads. There was a king raven, prepped and ready for take off. Keitaro was the first one on, followed by the rest of his squad. Shinji was the last one onboard, having been helped up by Haitani. The raven lifted, sending Bravo squad into the unknown.

Note: This is the end of the prologue to Love Hina: Gears of War. Awhile ago, several reviewers suggested that I should rewrite, or revise my original idea. I had to agree with them, as my original idea was more full of shit then Jack Thompson! Anyway, it took a lonnnng time for me to update, due to my lack of interest and utter procrastination. I'm planning to have one chapter for each act; I'm gonna shoot for 10K words per chapter. I would appreciate input on my writing, so I can work on my faults. Once again, I apologize for my incredible laziness for my revision.