A/N: A new story for a new year :D Crimson Wing begins now.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own. Coppelion belongs to the rightful owner.
Chapter 1: Puppets
Dear Diary,
It seems like something tragic has happened back in the year 2016...the year...what year is it now? 2036? Yeah that seems to be about right. It has been 20 years since that meltdown...according to the internet. Society has been thrown into turmoil, there hasn't been much of a purpose in staying here. Humanity has sunk down to the lowest of the low. I believe there's someone out there who would come and save us...someday. Now as I look out the window...casualties and destruction meets the eye. But you know, there's another casualty that is taking the world by storm...radioactive contamination that brought the living dead...back to life. Ha! I'm just exaggerating, there's no such thing as people coming back to life, that's just something to keep people engaged in the plot of a story. The entire city just turned into a giant ghost town with little signs of life...
Everyday there's occasional gun shoots that signal a struggle for survival but in all honesty...no one can live in Tokyo now. There are no antidotes...there are no cures for this radiation epidemic. There are miracles but you have to fight for them...believe in them. Who knows, maybe some day they will become reality and save us from the darkness that cover the world like a blanket...but for right now we have to fend for ourselves and hope for the best...
"Oi Kaz!" The pencil in my hand stopped putting graphite on paper as I turned my head to see my best friend Kaige standing near the doorway, a cigarette clenched between her teeth. She had long black hair with a hint of red highlights that reached the middle of her back while her eyes were sea green. She had goggles resting lopsided on her head and bandages wrapped around her biceps; a scar from a previous scrummage ran down her abdomen like a cross. Wearing only a tank-top, grey baggy pants and black combat boots she may look like a punk but she's actually a sweetheart once you get to know her. "What are you doing?"
"I'm writing a new entry in this diary, you know keeping track of our day to day activities." I smiled at her. I was wearing a plaid shirt with cargo shorts that were a bit too big so Kaige found a belt for me. My platinum blond hair came down to my shoulders, layered and spiked at the tips while my eyes were Caribbean aqua. Instead of boots I opted for red Vans with black laces that I found in a half-demolished shoe store. Kaige and I, we've known each other since we were young so she almost always calls me by my pet name Kaz instead of the long version Kaziah.
"Again? No one is gonna read it anyways." She sighed and walked over to where I was, ruffling my hair much to my disgust with a hand. "Sometimes I worry that you just love to waste time on all the little matters. It's starting to become a bad habit."
"How many times do I have to tell you I don't like it when you ruin my hair." I pouted and tried to fix the mess that she made. "Besides you never know when someone will come across it and would like to know how the world was before the nuclear disaster."
"Yeah yeah...whatever you say." She sighed with a smile before placing a fur hat on top of my head. It was a gift from my mother back when she was still alive. "Let's go see what we can find today. With any luck hopefully it'll be food that hasn't been touched by those dead people yet." She paused with a bored look on her face. "...sorry they aren't dead yet, they're just delirious and lost their minds due to the toxins. But most of them are gone anyway, all that are left are rotten corpses."
"Yup! I'm starving!" I grinned and shut my notebook closed, placing it on a worn-out table. Together we stepped out of the room and out the door, into the hazardous environment. Our eyes narrowed and our noses scrunched up at the scent of radioactivity and death as it blew with the wind. Our home was about 25 km north of Tokyo, the place where everything started.
"Are you ready?" Kaige asked as she lowered her goggles and tossed the cigarette butt to the ground, making sure to stomp out the remaining embers with her combat boots.
"Ready as I'll ever be." I held onto my hat as we jumped, the wind whistling past our ears. If there's something you might not have realized, we have lived in this hellhole for quite some time...but the radiation has messed with our DNA and mutated us into something unhuman...well actually Kaige is still human but she now has some sort of special ability. We were a different breed of specimen...more specifically our cells function beyond the knowledge and comprehension of a normal human being. We thought we were the only ones capable with this gift but...that's where we were wrong, there were others out there that were similar to us.
Outskirts of Tokyo...
A girl walked casually down the dirt path, her school bag swung lazily over her shoulders. She looks like a normal high school girl, with a white shirt and checkered skirt; a striped tie hung loosely under her collar as her sleek shoulder-length hair danced along with the wind. She also had a plaid jacket that was tied around her waist.
"IBARA-SENPAI!" A whiny voice cried out, causing the girl to halt in her tracks. She looked behind her to see her juniors lagging behind and out of breath. "Ibara-senpai, wait a minute! You're walking too fast..."
"It's you two who are too slow, you fool." Ibara said as they stopped in front of her, winded and catching their breaths from the long journey.
"But...we haven't arrived there yet. I can't take any more of this..." Aoi complained.
"Same with me..." Taeko stated, wiping the sweat off her brow and adjusted her glasses.
"Can you see that?" Ibara asked and pointed with her finger at a fallen telephone pole. On it hung a rusty sign with almost faded-out words but they were still readable.
"Tama-Town...Tokyo City!? That means..." The other two girls looked at each other before jumping up and down with glee. "Hurray! We've finally arrived in Tokyo!" Ibara smiled at them before feeling her phone vibrating in her pocket. Taking it out and flipping up the screen she noticed that the caller was someone important.
"Hello, Vice-Principal?" She asked as she placed her phone to her ear.
"Naruse..." The vice-principal's voice spoke through the device. "Where are you now?"
"We've just entered Tama-Town now." She answered casually but on the inside she was cautious; being near the epicenter of where everything started was a little intimidating, she didn't know what to expect.
"Okay...What do you see around you?"
"Fields, a school, apartments, a hospital, a pond, steel tower." Ibara listed off as she looked at the scenery around her, "Cumulonimbus's, trees, an electric pole, a scarecrow, and a Tokyo electric board."
"Do you see any people near you?"
"No." was her response. "Not even one. There's birds though." She commented as Aoi pointed it out to them with much enthusiasm.
"Maybe a pigeon..." Taeko guessed as the three of them stared at the animal as if flew overhead.
"Do as the plan says and go ahead into the city central." The vice-principal continued. "Hereafter you won't be able to use your phone, so use your radio, instead."
"Understood." Ibara acknowledged and closed her phone. "Let's go, Aoi, Taeko."
"But Senpai..." Aoi pouted lightly.
"From here on is..." Taeko added, looking a little uncomfortable at the idea.
"Don't worry." Ibara smiled, "Just think of this as a school excursion. Let's go, we shall depart for Tokyo sightseeing!" Aoi and Taeko shared a look before following their leader. As they entered the city, there were obvious signs that it turned into a ghost town; demolished shops as well as barren apartments with tumble weeds and other debris littered the streets.
"Senpai, it looks like the traffic light is broken..." Aoi pointed out.
"Of course it is. The electricity was cut a very long time ago." Ibara commented as she looked at a map of the city.
"So...where are we headed to now? Let's find a place to sleep quickly." Aoi commented as she lazily rested against her bag with a huff.
"First we'll cross Tama river. It's ahead of this road- No. 18." Ibara said as she glanced up to look for an indication which street they were on.
"You're not telling me to keep walking? Across this huge town?" Aoi released a huge sigh.
"Yep. You've learned it in our class." Her senior replied, "'We can't know the town's situation from air that clear...that's why someone had to actually go and investigate it,' or so the principal stated..."
"But that doesn't mean we have to make our way into this dangerous area. Does it?" Aoi asked as she shouldered her bag. "We aren't dolls..that only do as said."
"I know that." Ibara said.
"But really, are there any...survivors...?" Aoi looked around before looking up. "Hey! What's that?" The three of them looked up just in time to see a shadow fly overhead. It looked like a bird but it was much, much bigger...probably a dragon. "Is it a dragon?" That's preposterous, she thought, dragons are no longer living on this earth. Must be my imagination.
"I don't know but keep you eyes peeled and your guard up. Our job to search and find the survivors." Ibara replied as they continued their investigation. The train in the Tagayama station wasn't moving due to the electrical outage so they continued to move on foot. They looked at the shops that still remained standing even in ruins, spotting newspapers from 20 years that were already eroding away thanks to the radiation. Headlines and articles depicting pictures of people fleeing from the areas could only convey the horror that the citizens felt when they first encountered the radioactive waves.
"We received a radio signal just now." The principal's voice suddenly came out of the radio as they continued searching. "It's an SOS and it sounded urgent...something about a winged beast. It was transmitted from the area within Tamanagayama and Sekido. Go somewhere open and put a smoke pot there. That way he'll come to you."
"Understood." Ibara spoke then thought for a minute. "Um VP?"
"What is it Naruse?" He asked her.
"Aoi spotted what looked like a dragon flying in the sky earlier today. Do you have any information regarding that?" The radio was quiet for about a minute before the man's voice spoke.
"...I don't know what to tell you but your top priority as the Medical Unit is the survivors."
"Then what should we do if we encounter that beast?"
"You only have to find him. Nothing else matters." The vice principal's voice was firm in his order. "If you do meet the monster, do what must be done."
"Rodger." Ibara said and put the radio away. "Let's get going Aoi, Taeko. We have to find that survivor quick!" They took off, weaving in between the desolated stores to find an exit. The seemingly long maze irritated Aoi and she started to complain...a lot.
"AAAAARGH! How long is this place?! I want to eat a parfait, I want to have a bath, and I want to lie down and read a manga!" She was shouting as they finally manage to break through the maze and out into the open.
"You're noisy..." Ibara said with annoyance. Suddenly she was shoved out of the way as Aoi ran over and looked over the bridge.
"Look Ibara! This is so amazing! A large river!" She squealed with happiness, her energy rejuvenated at the sight of the river below her. "Can we rest here? Oh can we please? It's already noon."
"Ahhh, this wind feels great." Taeko smiled as the breeze played with their hair.
"Well, okay...this seems to be a great place for the helicopter to land..." Ibara thought before nodding for approval. After determining the appropriate distance from their camp, she set a smoke signal. "Alright! This can be seen from even 10km. The survivors will be here shortly." She turned to see that the others had set up a picnic and had proceeded to stuff food in their mouths.
"I didn't know you brought this many..." Taeko was saying as Aoi unraveled another box full of goodies.
"This is almost like hiking..." Smirking, Ibara just rolled up her sleeve and injected some fluids into her veins via a needle. "Well of course, I don't mind if you eat those...What...?" She asked when they looked at her in shock, the onigiri falling out of Aoi's hand. "This is lunch, of course. I've just gave myself a balance nutrient! It's much easier this way...Aoi, what's wrong?"
"Nothing!" Aoi replied quickly before stuffing her face with food. "I'm really lucky to be born as a human..." Taeko and Ibara looked at each other with sad expressions, the needle held stiffly in the leader's hand.
"Aoi, I'm sorry." Ibara apologized, realizing how much her companion strongly disliked the idea of just doping the nutrients into the body and opted to just stuff real food down her throat like a real person. "I understand how you feel but the three of us are..."
"Did you hear that?" Taeko suddenly turned her head to the side with confusion,"It sounded like a survivor." The other two fell silent before the sound of someone yelling for help reached their ears.
"Yeah, and he sounds like he's in trouble!" Ibara quickly placed a loaded magazine of bullets into her gun. "I'm going down to check it out, you two stay here and be on the lookout."
"Ah! Wait Ibara! The readings are off the charts!" The other two yelled as their leader dashed off.
In the field...
"S-s-stay away!" The man yelped as I landed, kicking some dust up with my talons as my wings folded nicely against my sides.
"Damn, it looks like another dead-weight." Kaige commented as she hopped off. "I thought I told you to ignore these kinds of trash Kaz. C'mon we have to look for actual food. I hate it when we act like vultures."
"But this guy's probably hurt or in distress." I protested, reverting back into my human form and gave her a pout. "We can't just leave him here to die."
"Kaz, listen to me." She placed her arms on my shoulders and looked deep into my eyes. "This entire world is like a giant game, a giant board game. I suspect the government might have a hand in toying with the lives of their citizens since the beginning. We are the pieces and the rule is simple: Survive. If we can't do that than what kind of hope does this guy have?"
"He has hope." A voice said and we looked up to see a girl standing with a gun pointed at us. "Who are you two? Are you guys survivors as well?"
"Survivors?" Kaige and I looked at each other with confused looks on our faces before turning to face her. "There hasn't been a single live person that we've met since 20 years. You're actually the first person we've met that hasn't gone nuts."
"But you two are...resistant to the radiation." The girl lowered her gun slightly. "The level is quite high and yet you two are standing there like it's nothing. Are you...like me?"
"What do you mean like you?" Kaige asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion. "Are you saying we aren't human? Because we kind of figured that out by ourselves..."
"Y-y-you are all monsters!" The man freaked out, holding his gun up but his hands were trembling. "How can you survive without a hazmat suit?! The radiation level is too high for a human to withstand."
"Tch, already putting a derogatory label on us and we just met." Kaige turned to give him her full attention. "Hey man, keep it down would you? This is a conversation between the three of us...if you can't do that," She held up her hand, what looked like molten lava started spewing from the tips of her nails and ran down her hand. When it dripped to the ground, there was a sizzling noise and the liquid burned easily burned a small hole in the dirt. "I'll burn you to a crisp."
"AIEEE!" He shrieked and pulled the trigger out of fear. Because his hands were shaking the shot went off its intended path and hit Kaige in the shoulder, causing her to fall back with a yelp.
"You bastard! What the hell?!"
"Kaige!" I knelt beside her, watching as she held her shoulder, the blood running through her fingers. The wound wasn't too bad but if we flew back home it could get infected in a matter of minutes and that's fatal.
"I'm gonna pay that guy back!" She conjured a fireball with her hand and sent it flying. The man scrambled back as the ball whizzed past his head, shaking with fear. "Stay still you little fucker!"
"Ibara!" Another girl shouted as she and a girl with glasses hurried to the scene, "Hurry up! Before that girl turns him into BBQ!"
"Understood!" The girl named Ibara replied and quickly injected the antidote into the man's arm while dodging a fireball that came too close for comfort. Soon some bubbly substance appeared and the man started to relax, the tension in his body gone and he lowered his gun.
"You're an angel." He told her, tears flowing out of his eyes.
"Damn this hurts..." Kaige had calmed down when she noticed the change in the man's behavior and tried to nurse her shoulder. "I know this is gonna get infected by the time I get back home.."
"Please, allow me." She looked up to see a girl offering her help, setting down a medical bag. I stepped back as she started to treat my friend's shoulder. Kaige's eyes scrunched up in pain as the girl removed the bullet head with some kind of instrument. After applying gauze on the wound and wrapping it with bandages, the glasses girl stood back with a smile. "There you go, all patched up."
"...thanks." Kaige said as she tested out her shoulder by rotating her arm gently. "Let's go Kaz."
"Yes!" I chirped and fell in beside her, leaning my head against her arm with a smile. She chuckled and rubbed my head affectionately.
"Ah wait!" Ibara turned to us after giving the man a quick check-up to make sure he was okay. "Why don't you two...join up with us?"
"Join up...with you?" Kaige repeated, the gears in her mind turning as she thought about it. "I guess that would be nice to have company besides the two of us."
"There's only two of you? Where are your parents?" Before Kaige could replied the sound of a helicopter descending caught our attention. We all turned to see it hover over the open area on the bridge where the signal from the smoke pot was located. Once it touched down, the door opened up and a man in a suit stepped out, his face hidden behind a mask.
"Where's Class Representative Ibara Naruse?" He asked. When he was pointed in the direction and saw us with a survivor he ordered our immediate retrieval. "I am Onihei Mishima, JGSDF colonel and the Coppelion's vice-principal." He introduced himself to us before turning to Ibara. "What do you think you're doing, Naruse?" He asked her once the survivor was on the helicopter. "Why did you give him the ether? That is the vaccine for the mild case patient only. I taught you how rare it is, and the number as limited, am I correct?" When she didn't say anything he continued, "It will give only a temporary effect. Giving it to a last stage thyroid carcinoma patient like him..."
"If that's the case, then please make more of it!" She snapped and pointing her gun in his face, aiming right between his eyes. "I will do the exact same thing once I find a survivor. That's our job."
"...I'll ask the ministry of defenses if they can start mass production with it." He replied before heading back to the helicopter. "Times up, we have to get back."
"Now that that's over, where were we?" Kaige asked, getting their attention. "I believe you were asking us about our parents..." She scratched her head with a grunt, "I believe it would be best if we show you where we live. Hop on."
"Hop on what...exactly?" Ibara asked, the two girls behind her looking equally confused. Kaige looked at her with a dull expression before turning to me.
"Kaz, would you please?"
"Sure thing." I replied and closed my eyes. My entire human structure started to rearrange itself; bones were cracking as they shifted into new positions and I am pretty sure one of the girls screamed...or maybe two I didn't really pay attention. My arms turned into clawed wings and dull burgundy scales started covering my skin. Soon I towered over them and I snapped my jaw twice before flapping my wings a bit. Two ivory horns curled up towards the sky from the crown of my head and my long tail twitched back and forth against the ground.
"She can change...appearances? Was it because of the radiation?" Ibara asked as I lowered my head so Kaige could sit on my back, holding onto my silver-colored mane like reigns.
"I'll explain everything when we get there but for now, hop on. There's enough room for you three even if she's still in her baby stage." Kaige replied and helped them up. "Fascinating that she is still big enough to be ridden...I would say she's in her teen stage but I don't get the growth spurt of animals that well."
"She looks marvelous...what kind of animal did she turn into?" Taeko asked as she held onto a spike.
"She turned into...uh what do they call them now?" She scratched her head before continuing, "Oh right! A wyvern. They're not from around here, in fact I believe they were extinct a long time ago before humans were around...maybe I'm not sure. I think she was watching a show and saw one of these babies flying across the screen. The only thing is though, she can't breathe fire...instead she makes it up with a venomous bite. Alright Kaz, time to go." She patted my neck and I unfurled my wings, the veins that ran through the membrane glistened in the sun's rays. Beating them powerfully I lifted off the ground and soared through the skies with the wind whistling past our ears.
Our home...
"As one of your hostess allow me to extend to you a warm welcome to our home." Kaige announced as we descended from the clouds. Everyone had a fun time enjoying the scenery and I could tell that they weren't used to being in the sky before since they were excited to have their feet on firm ground again. Once my talons scrapped against the rocks, I furled my wings back up and knelt down so that my riders could get off easily. Unlocking the door Kaige stood back and bowed slightly. "Please, come in." The three girls looked around with wonderment at our shabby shelter but there were no complaints yet.
"It's not much but...make yourselves at home." I replied, closing the door and making my way to the kitchen to wash my hands.
"Huh? But weren't you just-?! I mean we flew and you changed..." One the girls hit her head on the table with frustration. "My brain hurts."
"Let me explain then but first introductions." Kaige sat down and cleared her throat before continuing. "My name is Kaige, pleased to meet you."
"My name is Kaziah, but Kaige here calls me Kaz for short." I introduced myself with a small salute from the small window that opened up to the room. "It's an honor."
"I'm Ibara Naruse," Ibara said with a smile. "I'm also known as Class Representative and leader of this Medical Unit."
"I'm Aoi Fukasaku," Aoi spoke cheerfully. "Thank you for welcoming us to your home."
"I'm Taeko Nomura. " Taeko bowed her head. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Could you tell us more about your powers?" Ibara asked. "As well as why you live here for the past 20 years."
"That's fine, this was meant to be a long conversation anyways but I'll try to simplify things as much as possible." Kaige leaned back in her chair, promptly kicking her feet up. "Let's see...Kaz and I have been childhood friends since our birth, which was a few years before the radiation. In fact I believe I'm older than you Ibara by a year and Kaz is older than Aoi by a year. But anyways, our parents worked in Tokyo before the meltdown or whatever you want to call it as...um..." She looked at me for guidance, "What were they again?"
"I don't remember." I replied in honesty, shrugging my shoulders. "It's been too long to remember that kind of information."
"Well regardless they did live a life back in the city while we stayed at home." Kaige continued the story. "As we grew older we established a special bond between us, since our parents weren't usually home as much, in fact I'm pretty sure I snuck out of my home to visit Kaz everyday. It's almost like telepathy. Anyways when the meltdown happened our parents disappeared for some reason but I do believe they were killed by the radiation."
"So we were left to fend for ourselves." I cut in, resting my chin on her head and wrapped my arms around her neck. "At first we had no idea what happened out there; we were cut off from the rest of the world for so long. Soon after our ambitions and curiosity grew and we explored the ruined areas. What we weren't expecting though was the amount of toxins and contaminated rain when it gets into the wet season."
"We were running out of fresh water so when it rained...we assumed it was okay to drink it. We got infected almost immediately and not just internally, we were drenched head to toe with this liquid." Kaige said, reaching up to pinch my cheeks playfully. "The toxins, chemicals, radiation mixed in with our cells and DNA as a consequence. You would think that we would die from it but something strange happened."
"Yup! Kaige can produce molten lava at ease and I can change into anything I want." I grinned. "So far you guys have only seen my wyvern form but I can change two more times. Kaige's power is really useful though, when it's cold I use her as my personal heater."
"Your power is equally useful." She cracked a grin, "Especially when I get tired and have to have you be my mode of transportation."
"You meanie." I pouted and left to get some food for our guests.
"What about you guys?" Kaige asked once I disappeared, "How is it that you are immune to this radiation? That guy back there said something about a 'hazmat' suit...what is that?"
"We are Coppelion, the Ground Self-defense Force's Third division elite forces." Ibara explained. "We were born having antibodies that protect against radiation through genetics manipulation. We are actually the Medical Unit deployed to save the ones left behind. The clothing that man was wearing is called a hazmat and it's supposed to keep the radiation out."
"Is that so?" Kaige murmured as she placed a box of cigarettes on the table. "That's interesting."
"Lunch is here!" I announced, placing a platter of fruit on the table. "Eat up."
"Oh we also have some things to share as well." Aoi leaned down and pulled out some lunch boxes from her bag. "See?"
"Ooo! I've never seen these things before." Kaige said as and reached for an onigiri. "I wonder if it taste good..." She took a bite, chewed it and swallowed it. "Mmmm! Delicious!"
"Really? What about these then?" I asked and grabbed a croquette covered in some kind of cream. Nibbling on it like a mouse would with corn, my eyes lit up and I scarfed it down immediately. "This is so good! What is it?"
"These are onigiri and those are croquettes covered in crab-cream." Aoi explained.
"These fruit taste fresh, how and where did you get them?" Ibara asked as she bit into a peach, Aoi was already on her second apple while Taeko was munching on a banana.
"To be honest, these were all that we could save right before the meltdown struck. They were in the old fridge so it was preserved quite well surprisingly. It was brutal seeing everything crumble away." Kaige said as she took a bite out of her croquette. "All of the hard work of the farmers...gone in a heartbeat."
"Then you're willing to help us out?" Ibara asked with excitement. "As the Rescue unit, it's our job to find survivors and help them escape the radiation." Kaige finished her food and grinned.
"Sounds like an adventure to me so why not? And besides it would be a great stress reliever for Kaz to release her pent up energy. Sometimes I feel like she's like a wind-up toy ready to explode."
"Yay! Adventure!" I jumped on her back and pumped my fist into the air, "Let's get going!"
"O-Oi you're gonna break my back if you keep horsing around!" Laughing she dislodged me from her body and disappeared from the kitchen. "Let's get some of our belongings, can't go empty-handed."
"Yes!" I followed her out. We didn't have a lot of belongings so it didn't take us long to get ready. "Hey Kaige? How long do you think we'll be out?"
"Who knows, but it's okay." She replied as she threw in some medical supplies into a bag. Walking to a cabinet she took out what looked like a sword but without the blade, it was just the hilt. "Mom, Dad...Kaz and I are gonna go now. Please watch over us from above." She stared at the object for a minute before placing it in her pocket.
"Are you ready to go?" Ibara asked when we appeared.
"Yes Ma'am, we're all done." Kaige replied and led us outside. After closing the door behind her she pulled me into a hug. I stood there and didn't say anything, my arms reached up to grip her clothes tightly. This is our first time actually leaving the sanctuary of our home and never coming back...but now we have companions. We won't be lonely anymore.
"Let's get going." I whispered and she nodded. I stood back and changed shape, waiting patiently for my riders.
"Where are we heading to now?" Kaige asked Ibara as Taeko helped Aoi with the bags.
"Let's go back to see what else we can do in the city." The class rep said, tracing a route on the map with a finger. "There may still be survivors that we haven't found yet."
"Okay!" Kaige grinned as they climbed on and patted my neck. "Time to move out!"
