Chapter 1: Dreams and Reality
Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Armored Core games, just my OC and his NEXT.
Vandread Raven: The Second Stage.
Hibiki, Dita, Meia, Keith, and Jura are engaged with the Harvest fleet; Red Angel flew alongside Vandread Dita. Keith said, "Target locked on."
Hibiki cried, "No way these fools are going to get us. They got another thing coming!" A series of flashes can be seen from the distance.
Jura asked, "What's that?" All of a sudden a beam comes out of nowhere and blows off Vandread Dita's left arm, its pilots scream in pain. Inside the Vandread's cockpit Hibiki looks out the window to see Red Angel and Jura's Dread get badly damaged. Hibiki attempts to fire the working shoulder cannon but it fails. The blue machine gets hit again and the Nirvana is hit as well. One final hit annihilates the Vandread.
Keith screams as he woke from the nightmare, he hears a moan next to him. Meia wakes up as well, she sits up and the bed cover slides from her shoulders revealing her beautiful breasts to him but he didn't pay much attention to them and focused more on her face.
Meia asked, "I suppose it's not the right time to say good morning isn't it?"
Keith said, "No, it isn't." He still remembers what they did last night. The sexual pleasure they felt was beyond words, they get out of bed and took turns taking a shower before putting their clothes on. They walk out of Keith's room and head towards the hanger they meet up with Canis along the way.
Hibiki said to himself, "That light? What the heck was it?"
"Mr. Alien?" Dita asked to make him snap out of his trance and he turns around to see the others, something was clearly troubling them.
Hibiki asked, "What is it? What are you doing up so early in the morning?"
'He seriously needs to change that attitude of his or I'm going to change it for him.' Keith thought.
Meia said, "It was trying to communicate with us. Sending us a message, at least that's what it felt to me."
The young Tarak gasped, "Are you saying that you saw the same thing that I did?"
Dita replied, "Mr. Alien, you saw it as well?" Keith and Meia don't say anything but the seriousness in their eyes explained it.
Jura cried, "That's bone-chilling. I mean having the same dream all at once, that's weird!" She places a hand on her forehead.
Meia explained, "All of us here share something in common." She recalls the moment they fell into the light of the Pexis and other events leading up to now, "The modifications to the Dreads, Vanguard, and the two NEXTs that Keith and Canis pilot are the proof."
The blonde Dread pilot added, "But it's still weird. Having a dream like that…oh!" She is stopped when she felt a little woozy from the headache hitting her.
Dita asked in concern, "Jura are you okay?"
Jura waved it off, "It's nothing I am going back to bed." The others watch her leave.
Canis spots Barnette shaking, being the kind person that he is, he approaches the dark green-haired woman.
He said, "Are you okay, Barnette?"
She nodded, "Yeah, just a little shaken up."
The brunette begins to leave but then she felt Canis grab her wrist, "Listen, if you feel depressed or anything you can tell me. I'll try my best to help you."
Barnette smiled, "Thank you, Canis." He lets go of her wrist to let Barnette finish her sleep. The others couldn't so they did what they can to keep their minds off of the dream for now.
Hibiki walks through the hallways his mind still occupied about the dream.
'I know it was a dream but it felt so real. Was it a dream or some kind of premonition?' He thought.
Dita said, "Mr. Alien!" Hibiki sees her running to him.
He cried, "What do you want now? Why do you keep following me?"
The redhead fiddled with her fingers in the long sleeves of the pajamas she was wearing while blushing with a smile, "Well…I was just wondering when you have time to come to my room for a visit. You promised, remember?"
Hibiki blushed, "Dita! Just take a look at what's happening around you. A war is going on. You think I would want to come visit your room right now?"
Dita slowly walks closer, "But when then? Tomorrow? The day after?"
The young Tarak started to get nervous with her getting closer, "Sometime real soon, okay?"
The Dread pilot suggested, "Hold up, Mr. Alien. Let's eat breakfast together."
Hibiki thought otherwise, "I'll eat by myself, thank you!" Keith and Meia look on at the bubbly redhead with a small smile.
Then they heard Paiway saying, "And so another day begins. Dita chasing Hibiki." She pulled out her frog hand puppet, "I can't believe Dita would chase a guy. It's really strange, ribbit."
Pyoro said, "Actually it is quite normal." He hiccups after saying that.
Paiway pushed him downward with a tick mark, "What do you think you're doing interrupting a lady like that? How rude! Hold on, I just heard you hiccup but you're a machine you can't hiccup." The white robot proves her wrong as he hiccuped again, sending her to the floor. Meia stares at it in bewilderment. Inside the conference room Magno, BC and Gascogne are having a meeting.
BC cried, "We are approximately 90 days from Mejale, in regards to Operation Harvest where Earth plans to harness body parts as a source for new organs, our home world and Tarak should realize the threat we're facing."
Magno asked sternly, "Understood but what happened to the message pods we sent out earlier?"
BC answered, "They should've arrived at the two planets by now."
Gascogne added, "It looks like they're ignoring us."
The pirate leader assured, "I'm sure Tarak and Mejale will not ignore the message pods we sent them this time, not after they discover that Earth plans to take our reproductive organs." That's when Parfet appears on the monitor.
She said, "Parfet reporting."
Magno wondered, "Anything wrong?"
The engineer nodded her head, "I'm afraid so. The Pexis has started acting up again, we don't know the cause of it though."
The captain sighed, "Not this again."
BC speculated, "It must be reacting the same way it did when the male and female ship fused together."
The Reg leader added, "It feels the same way we do. Men and women are so different, we may not be able to understand one another." At the men's quarters, Bart is eating some pills that Tarak makes to ensure that the inhabitants eat enough to get them through hard labor work.
Bart said, "Women are weird. At first I believed that they eat a man's internal organs but ever since Keith revealed that he came from a universe where men and women live under the same roof peacefully, I am beginning to see females in a more positive light." Then he sees Duero reading a book, "What's that you are reading, doc?"
The doctor holds it up, "I found it in the storage room of the pioneer ship." He begins to read the book that was titled 'Hello Baby,' "The baby's life starts when the seed, which is the father's sperm, is accepted by the female egg called an ovum. The two of them join together to form a zygote which in turn develops into a fetus."
Bart looked at him strange founded, "You're really into that stuff?"
Duero smirked, "I find it fascinating." Hibiki comes in and tiredly collapses onto his bed the two wonder what made him so exhausted at the women's bathroom two crewmembers are busy powdering themselves.
The first one said, "It's amazing how things have changed over our journey. I mean eating with the men doesn't bother us anymore."
The other replied, "We thought they were barely human but then we found out that men and women came from Earth and use to live under the same roof. What's more is that Meia slept with Keith in his room last night what do you think of it? Why did Meia do that?"
Her companion answered, "I think she did it to comfort Keith after all, he did kill the man who took his parents away from him. I have to admit that Keith is really cute and what's his friend's name? Canis? He's cute as well! I even heard that him and Barnette are friends now. I wonder what the future holds in store for them." Barnette just entered the restroom about to take care of lady's business when she overheard the conversation about her and Canis. For some unknown reason it made her blush but she hides it as she walks past them.
She corrected, "A prisoner is a prisoner. Even though Keith is our sub-leader, he is still a man we can't go easy on them. We need to show that we are the ones in charge!"
The crew member panicked, "Do you think she'll start a riot or something? Do you think we should inform the Captain?"
Barnette snapped, "Oh, shut up you two! I'm not going to do anything!"
In the hanger Keith goes over the battle with Adam Archer and wonders what caused those dragon wings to appear. Suddenly Black Dragon's red eyes flash as if it was talking to its pilot. Strangely enough Keith understands it.
He said, "Yes I'm aware of that, Black Dragon. As it stands, I do not know what Earth will throw at us next." He begins to theorize that when the Pexis transformed his NEXT, it seemed that Black Dragon kind of became like a living thing. He believes that the tougher each battle becomes, the stronger Black Dragon grows. Canis hangs out with Duero and the other guys.
Duero said, "You promised? You promised that you would go to Dita's room?"
Hibiki nodded, "Yeah, it just came up at the heat of the moment you know?"
Bart suggested, "So what's the big deal? Just go ahead and see her."
The young Tarak cried, "You go and see her!"
The helmsman shook his head, "Uh-ah, you were the one who made the promise, pal!"
Hibiki grunted, "You got to be kidding! Going to a woman's room? A real man would never do that!"
Duero corrected, "What real men do is keep their promises, your other self should've realized that."
The young pilot struggled to find his words, "It's not that I want to break the promise but…"
Duero asked, "But what?"
Bart urged, "Spit it out!"
Hibiki snapped while keeping a blush on his face, "Look! If I go in there, what are we going to do when I'm in there? I mean what are we going to talk about?"
Bart and Duero said in unison, "Good point." Canis watched the scene with amusement.
He smirked, "I think all she wants to do is to get to know you better through conversation. What's the big deal of talking to a girl? It's not like she is going to eat you or anything that is not part of her personality. Take Keith and Meia for example. They talk to one another with no trouble at all. They're not shy to admit that they like each other. I think it's better just to get it over with instead of letting it hang above you." Hibiki leaves the place in frustration.
Duero said, "Well, I'm off to check on my patient. Later guys." Canis joins him but then spots Jura heading to the infirmary. He helps her to the room. Canis looks at the ultrasound to see Ezra's baby, if his memory is correct this means that Ezra is ready to give birth soon. Keith told him that Ezra was pregnant and explained how babies were born in this universe. Unfortunately, the Nirvana doesn't have the medical equipment needed for this task.
Jura asked, "Doctor, can I have something for my headache?" Her cheeks are flushed and she had beads of sweat running down her face. She could literally feel her head pounding.
The male said in a cool tone, "What's wrong?"
She started, "It all started with that dream."
Duero wondered, "A dream? Come to think of it, Hibiki did mention the same thing the Pexis also seems to acting strange too."
Jura then felt another throbbing pain, "My head's killing me! Can I please have some medicine?" Then she spots Ezra and apologized, "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell."
Canis helps her sit down and takes another look at the monitor while Duero said he was getting the proper medicine for Jura's killer headache.
She commented, "Your baby has grown." She smiled at the ultrasound.
Canis said, "Good luck on a safe delivery, Ezra. Well, I am leaving now. Good-bye Ezra, Jura."
Ezra smiled, "Good-bye and thank you, Canis." She waves at him and so did Jura then the blonde spots the book that Duero was reading earlier.
In the ship's garden Keith stares at the endless sea of stars. He contemplates over the things that have happened to him over the course of this journey. How he started off as a stranger then eventually became second in command of the Dreads. He also wonders if he will ever get back to his own universe along with his friend Canis. They believe that this era doesn't need to experience the dark, mysterious and bloody story of the Ravens, mercenaries that live off the battlefield to prove their existence, never able to live a normal life unless they are unable to pilot a NEXT anymore or retire. He next thought of Meia. Will he be able to bring her with him? If he can then where would they live? What would they do? He is so focused on this that he failed to hear footsteps approaching his location until he felt Meia placing a hand on his shoulder to make him snap of out his train of thought. He touches hers with his right hand.
She asked in concern, "Keith, what's wrong?"
Keith answered, "Nothing, Meia. Just thinking about how all of this happened. You know from the Ikazuchi raid to our current war with my home world while returning to Mejale/Tarak territory." They both sit down as Keith continued, "I remember that after our previous battle Barnette said that I could think of you and this crew as my new family."
Meia nodded, "Yes, I do recall that as well."
The Lynx furthered, "That was something I always yearned for, to be accepted it brought tears to my eyes. I never cried like that since visiting my parents' grave site. I also remember when we had sex last night, I have told you about how it felt and I never dreamed that you'd be my first. Heh, and while I was hovering above Tarak I heard the Prime Minister saying that women were a scourge to the universe and needed to be eradicated I never believed that. You and every other woman on the Nirvana are nothing like the monsters you were portrayed as in those Tarak propaganda films, though I know Magno is very old and that her time will come eventually where she'll pass on to the afterlife but I will say that I was proud to serve under her command, she reminds me of my mother Serena Oswell. The leaders of Tarak and Mejale think that men and women can't live together anymore; ha I beg to differ. They have let this gender war get to their heads their ancestors would be very disappointed that their descendants are fighting one another. It doesn't matter what your planet's people will say, I will always be with you, Meia."
The Dread leader smiled, "Keith." This touched her heart. Keith has shown Meia what it's like to have a heart. What it's like to be a human being.
He cried, "I care about you, Meia. Really I do with all of my heart." He feels Meia placing her hand on top of his then rested her head on his shoulder as they look at the stars. The relationship between them continues to grow each day.
In the shooting room, Barnette shoots a group of targets with a pistol, Canis watches her. He didn't need target practice because he was born with a natural talent for guns. He inherited that trait from his father who was an excellent marksman but once in a while Canis will do target practice for fun.
Jura stares off into space then said out of the blue, "You know, Barnette I want to have a baby." That announcement made Barnette miss her final target.
She shuddered, "What? A baby?"
Jura smiled, "That's right."
Barnette asked, "And who do you want to have it with?"
Her best friend replied, "With one of the men, of course." Canis and Barnette blush from that. Canis immediately became uncomfortable.
She stood and continued, "That's what I want. Making a baby with a man's seed. Think about going back to Mejale with that news, Barnette. No Mejalian has ever done it before! I'd be the first one! I would be Mejale's greatest heroin!" She looks at Barnette with a sparkling happy face and floating hearts.
Barnette cried, "That sounds like you. So this seed where would you get it?" She is embarrassed by where this conversation is going.
The blonde Dread pilot asked, "Why don't you ask Canis? You two seem to be getting close to each other." Barnette's face grows beet red.
Canis said, "Uh, well we haven't taken that next step yet. I think that is more of a decision for Barnette than it is to me. We are still working on our relationship we are still friends. I don't think she is ready to have sex with me. Right, Barnette?" He gives her a nervous smile while a bead of sweat began to form on his face. Barnette looks at him and sees that he is embarrassed by this conversation as well.
Barnette nodded, "Yeah, that's right." Before the conversation could continue the alarm goes off. On the bridge the Nirvana's radar picks up a signal.
Ezra said, "I have a confirmed life form signal, commander."
BC asked, "Do you think that pod could've escaped from the Harvest? Keith, Meia, don't fight unless you have to!"
Both pilots replied in unison, "Roger!" The fighter pilots take off to retrieve the object. They wonder what could be inside it. Gascogne secures the pod with her delivery ship's grappling arms under its belly by the time Hibiki approaches it.
Then the Reg leader looked at the radar and said, "Perfect timing." A swarm of cube-types attack the craft and Gascogne growled, "How did they get under us so easily?" These models are different from the previous ones.
Barnette exclaimed, "They're a lot faster than the other cube-types!" The machines take the pod, completely surprising the crew.
Belvedere said, "The enemy is retreating with the pod!"
BC cried, "What? You mean they are not after us?"
Magno smirked, "This is an unexpected turn of events. If that pod is so important to Earth, that they are willing to ignore us then by all means we have to get it back!"
Hibiki races toward the pair shouting that they saw the pod first and therefore belongs to the crew. Two cube-types break off from the group carrying the pod and attack the young Tarak.
Meia destroys them and said, "Hibiki, I think we should combine now! We'll get them that way!" As the two craft near a beam comes out of nowhere and hits between them, preventing any combination.
Hibiki gasped, "What's that red light?"
"The pod! You have to retrieve the pod and return to the Nirvana!" Meia ordered as her Dread's systems seem to have frozen up. She attempts to reboot them.
Black Dragon combines with Barnette's Dread to create Avenger. They are currently battling it out against Stasis, Otsdarva's NEXT. The blue machine had undergone some modifications it now had a beam saber for close-range combat, upgraded assault rifles and missile launchers. Avenger uses its double-edged glaive to deflect incoming shots from Stasis' assault rifles. Sensing that they can't gain a lock for Avenger's destructive missiles, Keith and Barnette execute a vector roll. They got straight up and hung on their back for a second then when the time was right, they came down in a swoop in downward curve and ended up right behind him. They gain a lock and fire one of Avenger's large destructive missiles. The projectile hits home and destroys Stasis in a massive fireball. They turn around to see Jura finish combining with Hibiki's Vanguard and secure the pod within Vandread Jura's shield.
Jura said, "Ta-da! Am I good or what?"
Hibiki looked at her deadpanned, "Well, better late than never I guess." Jura then scoots her seat over to Hibiki's, a little too close which made him uneasy.
Jura cried, "Listen, Hibiki." She tried to make her voice seductive.
Hibiki replied nervously, "Yeah? What do you want, Jura?"
The blonde spoke in an even more seductive tone, "I want to have a baby. Will give me what I need?"
"Look! We're in a battle surrounded by the enemy! We don't have time to discuss things like that right now!" Hibiki yelled as his face turned beet red and sweat started to pour down. Jura laughed at his anger outburst.
Meia ordered, "Hibiki, Jura, get back to the Nirvana now! The enemy appears to be in observation mode, meanwhile we'll…" She spots a new Harvest unit coming out of the darkness of space.
It resembles a sting ray it fired a beam of red energy and it hits Vandread Jura with so much force that it causes the crab-shaped machine to defuse. The Nirvana crew is surprised by this, looks like planet Earth has a new toy. The cube-types regain the pod and begin to retreat with the Vanguard hot on their tail. Two more disengage from the pair and attack Hibiki this time around Dita comes to his rescue. The two combine to form Vandread Dita, the cube-types get destroyed and the pod is in the firm grasp of the Vandread. The crew didn't want to crush the pod because it could contain valuable information about the Earth fleet's movements.
Inside the Vandread's cockpit Dita smirked triumphantly, "That's what I'm talking about!"
Keith came up on their monitor, "Save the celebration for later, you two. Get back to the ship if you don't want to be harvested!"
Dita saluted him, "You got it!"
Avenger defuses and Black Dragon combines with Meia's fighter to form Red Angel. He smiles but it quickly faded away as he saw the sting ray-like Harvest unit fire another beam attack at Vandread Dita and scores a hit on its right arm.
Meia asked, "Hibiki! Dita! Are you alright?"
Hibiki grunted, "What was that?"
Dita and Hibiki looked at the control sphere for the hit arm and noticed that it was flashing. The right arm started to deteriorate, turning from its normal shiny blue to a rusty red color. Hibiki wonders if that dream they had was going to come true. The Nirvana gets pummeled as well.
Bart screamed, "It never hurt like this before! I don't know how much more I can withstand! Hey, engineering what the hell is going on down there?"
Parfet answered, "That's what I'd like to know!" Vandread Dita attempts to fire one of the shoulder cannons it powers up but then swiftly goes dead.
Hibiki growled, "What's going on here? Damn it!"
Dita added, "It's just like before!"
Keith and Meia are so concerned about their two fellow pilots that they didn't hear Red Angel's missile warning system telling them that a Kojima missile is rapidly approaching. The projectile closes in and hits Red Angel in the back, its pilots feel the pain. The machine turns around to see a modified Eclipse Arms Fort. It now had Kojima missile launchers in addition to its single destructive Kojima cannon. Meia curses under her breath for not paying attention to the missile warning.
The sting ray-like Harvest vessel wraps a pair of tentacles around Vandread Dita and pulls it toward its mouth in preparation to harvest its pilots. Red Angel destroys the Eclipse and attempts to help Vandread Dita but it too get ensnared by the enemy.
Jura said, "We're done for!"
As the two machines are drawn closer Hibiki said, "Dreams may be real when you're asleep but I'm not sleeping and the thing is that I'll never let you tin cans win! Never!" Vandread Dita and Red Angel break free from their restraints.
Canis comes to his friends' aid and the three machines cock all of their ranged weapons.
After gaining a lock, all five pilots said simultaneously, "Die!" They fire their beam weaponry and the Harvest unit blew up. Once again they thwart Earth's plan to have them harvested. The three craft return to the Nirvana with Vandread Dita holding the pod.
Meia exhaled, "We may have gotten reckless but we got the job done."
Canis added, "It's better than getting harvested by Earth. That is the last thing I would want."
Keith laughed, "Ha ha, I agree with you, Canis."
Later that day Parfet struggles to open the pod, after 3 frustrating hours she manages to open it. A cold mist comes out as the pod opens, when the mist cleared the crew see its inhabitant.
It was a girl most likely in her early teens with deep blue hair tied into a ponytail, wore a yellow outfit and had earrings.
Hibiki hops up and down to try and get a look due to his short height, with no alternative he shoves the rest of crew out of his way eventually he lost his footing and his face landed in the pod. He immediately pulls his face out of it before the girl opens her eyes. They were crimson red and then all of a sudden one of her earrings glows and out comes a yellow hologram of a shapeless creature.
Pyoro said, "Did you see that?"
Hibiki wondered, "What is that?"
The girl stares and said, "It's you. You saved me. Thank you, my lord prince!" She starts hugging him.
Barnette started, "Lord…" She growled in slight annoyance.
Jura finished, "Prince?" This hugging sparked jealously in Dita and Jura.
Keith and Canis, along with their respectable girlfriends look on with confusion.
Paiway giggled, "This is definitely getting interesting. A red circle check!"
'This family continues to grow. I think we are going to see a rivalry over who claims Hibiki.' Canis thought.
A/N: Okay, that's chapter 1 of Vandread Raven: The Second Stage complete.
Man, what a wild summer this has been so far. This is probably the wettest summer I've ever seen because I don't remember the last time I have seen this kind of unexpected weather. There's been some thunderstorms with intense lightning, brief heavy rainfall and occasionally hail moving over my neighborhood. Other than being under a Tornado Warning twice, my house has seen some bad thunderstorms one night after another. The intense lightning it brought was awesome yet scary at the same time. The hail stones that my house got was about pea-sized. My neighborhood even experienced fall like temperatures for 3 days! But now it's been pretty hot and dry now. Definitely a wacky summer if you ask me!
Anyway read and review, everyone. I'll do lemons later on in the story.
Stick around for chapter 2.
Vader 23A.