The Pit, a bubblegum crisis fanfic

The Pit

The sun hung low in the sky, peering lazily between the concrete and steel monoliths that warred for dominion over the Tokyo skyline, as Linna Yamazaki arrived at the end of the road.

It literally was the end of the road; another hundred yards past the hazard signs just in front of her, and the street was physically interrupted by the huge chasm which split the city down the middle. Spotting a familiar motorcycle off the shoulder, Linna parked her minivan next to it, then gathered up her insulated cooler and climbed up the hill.

She reached the summit of the lookout point, the popularity of which was attested to by the number of broken beer bottles and empty cans littering the rocky ground. At the moment, however, there was only one other person present, sitting on the ground at the edge of the overlook with their feet hanging over the ravine.

"Took you long enough," Linna's friend called out, without turning around. "I was starting to think I'd lost you."

"It wasn't hard to figure out where you were headed," Linna replied as she gingerly stepped over shards of broken glass. "Still, you could've made it easier. Speed limits exist for a reason, you know."

The other woman snorted dismissively, then glanced over her shoulder and nodded toward a patch of ground next to her. "Saved you a spot. Had to fight off the crowds for it."

Linna grimaced. She was wearing shorts, and wasn't too eager to get her legs dirty, but…it was Priss, which meant there was no point in arguing. Resigned, she sat down at the edge, setting the cooler down next to her and trying not to wince as the gravel dug into the back of her thighs.

They sat there in silence for a long moment, then Priss pointedly stifled a cough.

"Oh! Right," Linna muttered absently, as she popped open the cooler and handed her friend a bottle.

Priss smiled in gratitude, but then peered suspiciously at the beverage. "This better not be that 'lite' shit you drink."

"It's not," Linna sighed, mildly annoyed at her tone, as she dug around in the cooler. "But this is," she added, producing another bottle for herself.

Priss stuck her tongue out. "How can you drink that crap?"

"Some of us actually care about our health, thank you very much," Linna retorted as, with a bit of effort, she twisted her bottle's cap off.

Priss chuckled as she easily snapped her own cap off with her riding glove. "What's the point of good health, if you're not free to really enjoy it?"

"Hmph!" Linna sniffed. "There's more to life than guzzling beer and racing motorcycles."

"Hell yeah," Priss answered readily, pausing to guzzle said beer. "There's also guns, and music."

"Honestly…" Linna sighed, shaking her head as she leaned back to rest on her elbows. It was Priss. There was no point in arguing.

They sat there in silence for a while, listening to the distant sounds of traffic and watching the sun's waning light dance over the concrete jungle that stretched before them as far as the eye could see. The yawning canyon at their feet was already draped in heavy shadow, with the only light to be seen being that provided by the buildings and streetlights which had been erected down there in the six years that had passed since the big earthquake which had created the pit, to begin with.

"I wonder if anyone ever thought about filling this thing in…?" Linna mused.

Priss snorted. "If they did, they didn't think about it for very long. I doubt anybody wanted to spend the time and money it would've taken back then, and GENOM was too busy laying the groundwork for their damn 'megalopolis' to give Old Tokyo a second thought. Of course, if they tried to fix it now, they'd have to kick out all the corps that set up shop down there after they were muscled out of Tinsel City, not to mention all the squatters who actually live down there, and then there's the gangs, and the junkies…" She took another drink from her beer. "Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't say that too loud. Those assholes might catch wind of it and decide it's a good idea."

Sitting up, Linna leaned forward to stare down at the scene below them. Timex City, as it was called, was equal parts new, cheap construction and restored ruins, partially reclaimed from the rubble of buildings which had literally fallen into the Earth when the crack opened up. A lot of what was down there was still just plain rubble, lying unused and unrepaired, but it was nevertheless clear that those who lived and did business down there were doing their best to make the place livable.

Still… "I think it would be awfully depressing to live in a big hole in the ground," she murmured.

Priss shrugged. "I guess it depends on how you look at it. The cops hardly ever go down there at all, but there's less crime than you might expect…sure, there are bad areas, but not that much worse than up here." She waved an arm to encompass their surroundings. "A lot of the people who live down there, legitimately, are just doing whatever they can to scrape by…and if somebody shows up and causes trouble for them, they have a tendency to disappear."

Linna frowned. "That's awful!"

Priss shrugged again. "Well it ain't pretty, but it works. Heh…" She smiled briefly, apparently lost in thought. "Y'know…after the quake, I went down there once…I think I was, like, twelve or thirteen. Busted out of the orphanage, 'cause I wanted to try and find my house. I didn't find it, obviously, or at least not anything I could recognize…but, I made it down there and back in one piece." She scratched her chin, and studied the bottle in her hand as if she'd just realized there was something novel about it.

Linna suddenly felt terrible. "Priss, I didn't mean to—"

"I know," Priss interrupted her, with a reassuring grin. But she didn't look up.

An awkward silence passed between the two women. Finally, Linna giggled nervously.

"So, uh…what do you think of the new girl?"

Priss nearly spat. "Shit…she's worthless. We were better off with just the three of us. You saw how many shots it took her to hit any part of the target; she'll be worse than useless in a real fight." She paused to finish her beer. "Plus…she's annoying."

"Well…Sylia said she's good with computers," Linna pointed out. "And, she'll also be going to work at AD Police, so that should be useful, in and of itself."

Priss shook her head. "Sylia'll never admit it, but I'll lay you any odds you want that that's the real reason she decided to bring her in. So, she's a computer geek. So what? Between Sylia and her brother, we've already got that covered, and then some."

"Well…maybe it'll free them up to do…other things?" Linna suggested, trying desperately to take a more positive tack. "As for her being annoying, admit it: you never like anyone, the first time you meet them."

Priss's head snapped around, and she opened her mouth to offer an indignant retort…then realized she didn't have one, and her expression settled into a sullen scowl.

"Aha! See!" Linna crowed, savoring her moment of victory.

"Well…I don't mind you," Priss muttered, pouting.

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Linna replied, with complete honesty.

"It's probably the nicest thing I ever will say, too!" Priss shot back, making an obvious show of being angry. "Anyways…what kind of idiot would want to join that crew? They're even worse than the 'Normal' cops."

"The AD Police? Well, they protect people from Boomer crime…which, from what Sylia said, isn't that different from what we'll be doing, at least some of the time."

"Geez. I can't believe you, of all people, would defend them. I mean, they hardly lifted a finger when—"

As if on cue, an ADP patrol chopper buzzed overhead, prompting Priss to jump to her feet.

"Hey, asshole!" she shouted after the offending aircraft. "Look, I'm littering! Come back here and give me a ticket, and kiss my ass while you're at it!" And she threw her empty bottle into the ravine.

"Honestly," Linna sighed, shaking her head. "I can't go anywhere with you."

Written by Corey W. Smith