Prologue: Beginning of the End
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...Planeptune's Basilicom, Day 1, Year 2013, 9:00 PM...
Histoire sighed as she trained a worried and slightly concerned glance at the young girl, who has been consistently and repeatedly pacing back and forth in the living room for the last 2 hours or so; clearly looking anxious and distraught.
Not that I'm any better in that regard. Histoire thought to herself. Granted, I am a bit less obvious in showing it and a bit more composed.
She could certainly relate to the young girl in front of her and she could certainly understand why said girl was in such a...state of subdued panic.
The little oracle could tell that it was probably taking the young woman in front of her every scintilla of her discipline and self-control to not go bursting out of the nearest window, commandeering the nearest vehicle, and riding off to her chosen destination.
That was certainly the case for her, at least.
Still, the tome felt that she should probably say something to reassure the young girl pacing in front of her, if only to stop her from actually doing such a thing, which would not only be rash, but incredibly dangerous too.
"Scarlet, I believe you should calm down, I'm sure that there's a perfectly good explanation why Neptune and Nepgear have yet to return from their investigation of the Gamindustri Graveyard, along with the other goddesses" Histoire said in the most reassuring voice she could muster.
The young girl in question, Scarlet, stopped her pacing at once and turned to face Histoire and the little oracle couldn't help but feel taken aback at the emotions playing through the girl's young and usually professional and focused face, namely: fear, guilt, remorse, regret, grief, etc.
Scarlet was no older than 15 years old, with long waist-length blonde hair with a few spiked strands framing her head, vivid scarlet eyes, milky white skin and a rather attractive figure for a girl her age, a very ample chest, cute butt and a curvy physique, which was emphasized by her choice of attire.
Scarlet wore what could only be described as either a sexier version of a soldier's uniform or something out of a fanservice-filled shooter game.
She wore a light yellow full body leotard under a lilac purple sleeveless form fitting kevlar vest/hoodie with a matching pair of boy shorts, gloves and military boots. One should also note that there was not only a pistol hostered on each of her cloth-covered thighs, but a wrist-mounted pistol on each of her forearms, as well, showing that this girl was definitely armed and probably deadly.
From her attire it was clear that this girl was a soldier or marksman of sorts or maybe even a high schooler who is training to be an armed detective.
Considering the color scheme though, which was probably terrible for stealth and/or camouflage, it was a safe assumption that she was a member of the Planeptune Armed Forces or PAF, despite the fact that she looked too young for such an assumption to be true. Perhaps she was still in school for said organization and was simply a special member or maybe she was a free lancer.
Afterall, 15 year old girls don't usually become members of a nation's military force.
Whatever the case maybe Scarlet wasn't just any regular member of the PAF, she was part of a very special squad, the N-Squad, that had the unique duty and responsibility of guarding and watching over their nation's CPU and CPU candidate, which was a more arduous task than some people would think, since either of the two were perfectly capable of defending themselves from any threats.
That being said the N-Squad made sure that their goddesses rarely encounter such a situation, except when it couldn't be helped, like when they were taking on monster hunt quests, by constantly keeping watchful eyes on them at all times, ensuring that their surroundings were safe, as well as, neutralizing any and all possible threats to their goddesses.
They made sure that their goddesses were safe during those times when their guards were down; during the instances when they acted less like the leaders of an entire nation and more like the little girls they looked like, which was actually more often than not, as you all probably know.
They were like the secret service for their nation's goddesses, only with a lot less black, a lot more purple, and a LOT MORE FANSERVICE-Y.
If there was a crazed stalker planning to kidnap either Neptune or Nepgear, they would throw them behind bars.
If someone was planning on poisoning either one of the goddesses, they'd knock him/her out.
If a rogue soldier fired a gun at their goddesses, they would slice the bullet in half.
The point is that members of the N-Squad were specifically chosen from the thousands of soldiers, recruits, and even students in the PAF and Planeptune Military Academy to protect the goddesses of Planeptune.
And with one of said squad's members, Scarlet, being forced to wait here in the basilicom, while the goddesses she was supposed to protect were investigating an ominous anomaly in unknown territory and could possibly face a potentially powerful enemy...
...its no wonder she's in such a state. Histoire finished the thought, feeling more than a little bit of sympathy for the young girl.
Scarlet was easiliy the youngest member of the N-squad, not to mention the PAF, yet she was also one of the most skilled. Sometimes, Histoire tended to forget that, despite how much she had achieved at such a young age, Scarlet was, above all else, still just a young girl, which meant that she was likely more sensitive to this kind of situation than any other member, because of her young age.
When a young girl, such as Scarlet, was suddenly handed a responsibility as huge as guarding the goddesses because of the skills she possessed, one tended to do everything in their power to live up to all that responsibility, but if something bad or unexpected happens, then the tendency was that she would convince herself that she was responsible...because she hadn't done enough or simply wasn't good enough.
It was a terrible feeling to be waiting here, when the people you wanted to protect could potentially be in danger.
But what was even worse was if you felt and believed that you were responsible for their current situation.
Neither of them were one hundred percent sure that something bad had happened to their goddesses, but Histoire was sure of one thing as she continued to gaze into Scarlet orange eyes.
Scarlet believed that they were in danger and it was all her fault.
Maybe it was because she couldn't stand to see such emotions on the girl's face, maybe it was because she didn't want the N-squad member to blame herself, or maybe this situation had simply awakened her innate maternal instincts.
Whatever the case, Histoire floated towards the young girl, who was looking more like an orphaned child at the moment, and placed a tiny hand on her head, before giving her the most reassuring smile she could muster.
"They'll be back soon, so please don't blame yourself for this little delay, Scarlet" Histoire said in a soft and kind voice, in hopes of putting such ideas of blaming herself out of the young girl's head.
Before the young blonde could allow herself to finally relax and smile thankfully at the little oracle's words, however, a sudden alarm sounding from the girl's phone made her eyes widen in alarm.
Histoire visibly jumped at the shrill sound and was more than a little concerned at the implication of said sound.
Scarlet had taken out her standard-issue N-gear and began fiddling with the interface's touch screen, her face a mask of determination and professionalism, reminiscent of a soldier ready to storm out in the heat of battle in the name of her goddesses.
"A monster wave has invaded the city walls and are currently terrorizing the streets at Points D-7 and D-8" Scarlet said in slightly pubescent, albeit serious voice as her eyes narrowed as she processed the information being displayed on her N-gear.
Histoire's eyes widened at this sudden revelation.
"Wh-wha-at? How did they get in?! Where are the guards?!" Exclaimed Histoire in a panic, feeling a rising sense of dread and anxiety at the revelation. She was having a very hard time trying to calm herself down.
"I'm not sure, I can't seem to contact any of the guards or any of my other squad members" Scarlet' revelation didn't help Histoire's condition as the fairy oracle looked to be on the verge of a heart attack.
Scarlet then pocketed the small device, before turning to Histoire with her pubescent features set in an expression of determination.
"I'm going."
Before Histoire could so much as react to those two words, Scarlet ran full tilt towards the nearest, quickest, and most convenient exit, which just so happened to be the window overlooking the entire city...
...which was roughly 18 stories off the ground, but that didn't seem to matter to the young blonde, since she continued her rapid sprint without even faltering or flinching at the inevitable danger she was about to face or the fact that she was several stories above ground.
Once she was a few feet away from the glass panel in question, she leapt forward with her arms crossed in front of her to brace for the impact.
Sure enough, with Scarlet' sheer acceleration and increased momentum, she burst through the window in a fashion reminiscent of an action movie, shattering the glass into tiny shards as she passed through.
Once Scarlet cleared the window frame, she was momentarily struck with the feeling of weightlessness that usually preceded the inevitable freefall. For a split-second, time seemed to slow down to a crawl to the point where the young blonde could see the entire city in crisp and pristine detail and Scarlet felt like she was flying.
In that small time frame, Scarlet mused if this was how the goddesses felt whenever they used their wings.
Naturally, this sensation only happened for a fraction of a second in reality, despite it seeming to be much longer from the young blonde's perspective.
So, in the very next fraction of the same second, Scarlet' stomach suddenly lurched as the air and G-force rushed past and pressed against her free-falling body respectively, making movement extremely difficult.
Miraculously enough, she managed to twist and reposition her body in mid-air so that she was facing the window frame she had just gone through, which made her next move all the more possible to pull off.
As the young blonde began to fall at a rapid pace, she took out a grappling hook with rope from her inventory, the item in question materializing in her hands a second later and attaching it on a harness at her hip, before throwing the hooked end like a lasso at the edge of the window frame.
The large hook found purchase on the window's edge and the rope it was attached to immediately went taut, causing Scarlet' freefall to abruptly come to a halt.
Scarlet found her body jerking painfully at the sudden halt, but managed to use the subsequent bounce from the rope suddenly going taut with tension to twist her body in such a way that she was lying down and horizonatlly with her stomach was facing the ground beneath her. She would've probably been dangling like a pendulum if she didn't manage to steady herself with the the side of Planeptune's basilicom at her feet.
For all intents and purposes, she looked like a spy from a mission impossible movie with how she dangled at the side of the building.
Scarlet, who barely flinched at what had transpired in the last 5 seconds, reached up to a small futuristic device on the side of her right temple and pressed a purple button.
Half of her face was then promptly covered by a furturistic, transluscent and purple-colored visor that was displaying several white inscriptions.
Afterwards, Scarlet brought up her inventory once again only to take out a black ultima ratio hecate II sniper rifle, which materialized in her hand as second later. From her awkward, yet steady dangling position, the N-squad member aimed her large rifle at the open streets of Planeptune...
...while simultaneously giving anyone, who looked out of the window where she had dangled herself in front of, a very clear and fanservice-y view of her lovely heart-shaped ass, since her boy shorts did nothing to conceal the contours of her bum, if anything they just emphasized and called said contours to one's attention.
Not that the girl in question seemed to care at the moment, if her determined and focused face was any indication. If anything, she seemed completely and and utterly oblivious to her compromising position as she lied in wait for her prey to show themselves. Like an apex predator waiting for its next meal, Scarlet' heartbeat and breathing were even, her body was frozen in absolute stillness, and her mind was carefully assessing the situation for any alteration, no matter how small.
Her silent vigil won't last for long, however, because after a mere five seconds Scarlet spotted the first vestiges of the monster wave her N-gear had located through the lens of her rifle's scope.
Conveniently enough, the monsters' locations were not only perfect for firing at from Scarlet' current position, but they also appeared to be completely unaware of her presence in the dead of night.
Perhaps this was the reason why she had jumped out of the window, instead of simply trying to look badass.
Whatever the case maybe, the young N-squad member wasted no time in firing at the first monsters that showed up in her sights, pulling the trigger and reloading so quickly that one would think she was firing randomly at the direction, that is until they realize that with each shot she took, one monster fizzled out of existence.
Naturally, this didn't sit well with the monsters, apparently not appreciating the fact that they were being used for target practice, so the monsters with ranged attacks started firing at the direction where the bullets presumably came from, while the others that only had melee ones charged towards the basilicom.
Seeing this change of tactics, Scarlet decided to prioritize shooting the melee monsters approaching the basilicom, while opting to ignore the ranged ones because-
One of the monster's fired a red-colored energy beam at the N-squad member, heading straight and true for the young blonde that was taking out the monsters, only for the red beam to fizzle out in mid-air, before it could so much as cover half of the distance.
-their ranged attacks couldn't reach her this far, while her weapon of choice most definitely could. Of course, the ranged monsters could get close enough to shoot her if given enough time, so Scarlet did have to keep an eye out for those monsters as well.
This little shootout would continue for a couple more minutes, but between the continuously persistent monster wave, the ever-increasing numbers, the speed of said monsters, and Scarlet' weapon's low rate of fire, the young blonde would be overwhelmed eventually, seeing as that she wouldn't be able to keep up.
Realizing this, Scarlet returned the sniper rifle back into her inventory and equipped a parachute/hang glider, which materialized on her person.
As soon as that was finish, she bent down her legs and pushed herself off the side of the Neptower, propelling herself forward with great speed.
Several things happened in quick succession in the next few instances, Scarlet released her belt harness from the rope, she started freefalling at high speed at an angle, the hang glider deployed, and Scarlet flipped in mid-air, hanging herself upside down from the handle of her hang glider by her feet, successfully pulling off a maneuver from a certain red-haired twin-tailed S-ranking butei's book.
At this point she was gliding above the ground and the melee horde of monsters that were running towards the basilicom.
Scarlet then pulled out her twin pistols from their holsters and aimed them directly below her and as soon as she was directly above the monsters, she opened fire, unleashing a torrential hail storm of bullets down on the monsters below her, some have even tried jumping at the young blonde, but they all met the same fate: A bullet to the head.
For the rest of her short ride, Scarlet wiped out the entirety of the melee monsters leftover from her sniping and as she closed in on the ground, she flipped off the hang glider before she could crash, allowing the glider to continue on without her, and conveniently landed a distance away from the ranged monsters who had stayed back.
Not giving the monsters the chance to charge up their respective attacks, Scarlet aimed wrist-mounted pistols and opened fire on the unfortunate monsters.
Bullet shells clattered to the ground as Scarlet systematically and accurately shot down the ranged monsters that had somehow got past the guards and were fulling intending to terrorize her home.
Her eyes narrowed as she continued her assault.
Not on my watch. She thought determinedly as she continued her little one-sided shootout, not stopping until every last one of the monsters fizzled out of existence.
After the last of the ranged monsters were defeated, Scarlet wrist pistols were smoking from the many bullets that it fired and the girl herself didn't look the least bit relieved as she turned her attention in front of her.
As she did so, her visor started analyzing the area in front of her, points D-7 and D-8, and almost immediately her visor started picking up incoming enemy monster signals and judging by the flashing red color of the visor and repeated warning signals, it was safe to say that there was a lot more where these monsters came from.
Wordlessly and with an unfaltering determined expression, Scarlet reloaded her wrist-mounted pistols with fresh bullets, loaded her holstered pistols with fresh mags, took out several mags from her inventory, placing them somewhere om her outfit, and equipped a black AR-15 assault rifle. With this she braced herself for the incoming onslaught.
"30 seconds until monster wave onslaught" a robotic female voice reminded the N-squad member as she took aim in front of her, ready to shoot with precision.
I may have failed to protect Lady Neptune and Lady Nepgear...
"15 seconds until monster wave onslaught" the voice reminded as it continued the countdown.
...but I refuse to fail my home!
Scarlet took a deep breath and closed her eyes in concentration, before chanting:
"Liberate: Acceleration!"
I will not fail Planeptune!
Instantly, a yellow magic circle appeared at the ground beneath young blonde's feet, her whole being then began emitting a powerful-looking light yellow aura, enclosing the AR-15 she held in her hands, making the firearm glow bright with intense magical power.
For the first time, Scarlet was demonstrating one of the reasons she was chosen to be on the N-squad, her Ancestral Acceleration Magic.
Her eyes opened as the light yellow glow grew more intense in response to the magic being casted. The countdown winded down to the final seconds as Scarlet took aim.
"3...2...1"
.
...Meanwhile in the streets of the capital city of Lastation...
In the quiet steampunk-themed and metal streets of Lastation in the middle of the night, a lone citizen wandered aimlessly with no decipherable destination in mind, looking like an outcast who was cast aside because of her ability to control the elements or someone who was Infamous.
The citizen in question was a 15 year old girl with milky white skin, magenta eyes and short black hair with a few strands in front of her face being dyed in magenta, orange, and purple.
She was wearing a plain white tank top under a plain steampunk-themed black hoodie and matching boy shorts to cover up her curvaceous figure and ample chest. She was also wearing a pair of sketchers with the same color scheme as her dyed hair.
She definitely looked unique and was completely unlike any of the generic NPCs that were usually seen. Her appearance seemed to suggest that she was the type who could make both good and evil choices that could affect her in more ways than one because being a hero was optional.
Unique appearance aside, it was quite peculiar for a girl of this young age to wander the streets at this late hour; what could she possibly hope to achieve by walking around Lastation at 9:00 at night and why was she doing this?
Was it perhaps because she was trying to evade an organization who wanted to imprison her and the rest her kind?
Whatever the case, the girl was clearly alone now and judging by her passive expression, the girl was more than used to such a state. In fact, one would even say that she was perfectly fine with being alone and being an outcast.
"This is what I get for being a freak, I guess" she muttered sadly with her voice cracking a bit as she raised up her hand, which began to glow brightly with purple, blue, and magenta neon lights.
The lights coalesced together and grew brighter with each passing second that the lights remained active and the girl looked at it with a mixture of bitterness and awe.
This was the reason why she was an outcast, but it was what made her special. This was disgusting, but it was also beautiful. She wanted to get rid of it, but she also wanted to treasure it. She hated this, but she also loved it.
She felt so torn right now.
It's true that if it weren't for her unique...gift or brand of magic, then she probably wouldn't be an outcast and maybe would've had a friend or two, but she just couldn't bring herself to resent it.
Truth be told, the real reason why she chose to walk the streets of Lastation at night was because it was the only time that she could explore the nation she grew up in without getting judgemental and disgusted stares and murmurs from the other citizens. It was a lonely life, but one she had no problem with living.
She sat on a nearby steambot bench and curled up into a ball, hugging her knees closely to herself as she took in the quiet atmosphere brought on by her own loneli-
"Miss, what are you doing all alone here in the middle of the night?"
The voice of a young girl startled the lonely girl and made her jump, nearly falling from her perch on the bench with how unexpected it was. The girl in question then turned to the source of the voice.
Staring at her curiously was a young girl who could be no older than 8 years old with milky white skin, straight waist-length white hair with a bundle of said hair on each side of her face, and lavender eyes. She was wearing a black and white gothic loli dress with long sleeves and was carrying a book that she used to hide the lower half of her face.
Her knee-jerk reaction was to simply ignore the little girl or simply walk away, since almost every person she that sees her automatically calls her as a freak, but seeing only curiosity in the girl's eyes made her stifle her initial response in favor of answering the girl's question.
"I-I was just taking a stroll and exploring Lastation" the loner girl answered evenly with an uncertain tone in her voice, since she was an outcast, she wasn't all that good with social interactions.
The young girl merely tilted her head questioningly.
"Isn't it dangerous to wander the streets at night, Miss...?" The young girl trailed off at not knowing her companion's name.
"Fetch, and I could say the same to you, it's much more dangerous for little girls like you to be out at night" the now-named Fetch said easily with a worried expression on her face. "Don't you have someone to look after you or something?" Fetch asked uneasily.
"I do, we were actually on our way home after our midnight stroll, but when I saw you all alone on this bench, I wanted to accompany you" the little girl hiding her face with a book replied shyly
Fetch, for her part, felt rather touched that someone wouldn't be afraid to actually approach her, but a more bitter part of her mind reasoned that it was probably because the girl was simply unaware of what made her special or wasn't warned by whoever was with her.
"I see" was all she said as she hugged her knees again, resuming her curled up position and ready to sink in her own depressed thoughts.
"Why did you look so lonely?" The little girl asked curiously.
"Because nobody wants to be friends with a freak" she replied in a quiet voice, but the girl, nonetheless, heard her.
The little girl in question, simply chose to sat on the bench and proceeded to scoot over to the lonely girl, who had been moping to herself. This prompted Fetch to tense up in alarm and shock, simply because no one had willingly put theirselves in close proximity to her before.
It was nice.
But certainly not as nice as the words that had been uttered by the little girl in question.
"I don't think you're a freak and I want to be your friend"
The words brought a tear to her eye, but it wasn't for the same reasons she had done so before. This wasn't a tear brought on by her sorrow, her loneliness, and her grief, it was out of joy. For the first time in a long time, she felt genuinely happy. She turned her gaze to the girl and found her smiling at her with wide smile, a gesture that she couldn't help but return.
Fetch's moment with the little girl was destined to be cute short, as she caught sight of what appeared to be an ancient dragon aiming its energy-gathering maw at the two of them from her peripheral vision.
Acting on instinct, Fetch's whole being began glowing and blurring with the coalescing neon lights, grabbed the little girl into a tight embrace and ran away from the bench and the dragon at full speed. As she did so, her whole being seemed to be completely replaced with a silhoutte made of the coalescing light energy that left behind a neon light trail and several after-images.
Not a second sooner, the bench they had just been occupying had been engulfed in a large fiery explosion behind them.
Fetch, then promptly stopped her run, returning to her normal human form and the neon lights brought on by her power fading away.
As soon as the neon powered girl realized what she had just done, her heart clenched with fear. Had she possibly scared away the only person who had willingly approached her? Was she going to lose the only friend she almost had? Was she going to be alone again?
As if to answer all these questions, the little girl in her arms spoke:
"You saved me."
Fetch looked down at the girl in her arms and didn't see a scintilla of what she had been expecting from the little girl, she found no fear of her or her power, she found no judgement, she found no disgust, she found no struggle to get away from her, she found no resentment.
Instead, she found awe, wonder, astonishment, and most of all, genuine gratitude shining in the girl's eyes.
The moment didn't last long, however, because the roar of the ancient dragon quickly brought them down to the danger of their situation. Thankfully, it was still a great distance away, so they were still safe, but it wouldn't be for long though, if they kept standing around like this.
Fetch gently laid the girl back on the ground and crouched down to her level with worry in her eyes.
"You need to get out of here now. It's dangerous. Go find your guardian and get to safety." Fetch said to the girl urgently, while constantly shooting glances at the ancient dragon, making sure that it was still far away from them.
The little girl looked at Fetch with plain concern in her eyes as she gripped her sleeves.
Fetch gave her the most reassuring smile she could muster and coaxingly spoke . "It's okay, I'll be fine. I can handle myself, you saw what I could do, didn't you?"
The girl looked visibly torn, not wanting to leave Fetch at the mercy of the ancient dragon.
Fetch had to admit, it was a nice feeling to have someone worrying about her well-being.
"Go, I'll be fine."
The ancient dragon roared once again, before ut began marching towards their direction.
The little girl, finally following the girl's instructions, turned to leave, but not without saying.
"Please come back safely, Miss Fetch. You're a hero"
With that, the little girl ran away in the direction she assumed her caretaker was in.
Meanwhile, the little girl's last words kept echoing in her mind repeatedly, like a broken record inside a cave; loud, clear, booming, and repeating.
You're a hero.
"Hero" she parroted the word, testing how it sounded, almost like how one would taste a food sample. It felt so foreign for someone to refer to her as such and yet...
"I think I like the sound of that"
Another roar sounded off in the direction of the ancient dragon, sounding much closer than it was a moment ago.
Standing up and turning around, Fetch faced her foe with determined serious expression gracing her features, clearly readying herself for a fight with one of the most dangerous monsters in existence. By her side, her forearms started glowing intensely with the color of neon lights with her eyes starting to do the same returned her opponent's glare with one of her own.
"Bring it on"
.
...Meanwhile in a small village on the outskirts of Lowee...
The booming sound of a traditional tribe horn resonated all through out the small village of Mofumoto as the villagers all started waking up and panicking in the next second for all of the residents of this village knew that the sound was a warning for an impending monster attack.
The villagers all scattered around their small tribal/eskimo village as they tried to relocate and find decent shelter, considering the fact that nearly every building they had were rather fragile in comparison to the Lowee standard because their houses and other such buildings were all made of wood, some thick fabric, ropes, and nails, maintaining the feel of another remote mountain village, where one takes quests to hunt down monsters.
Amidst this chaos, a 15 year old girl exited her modest home with nothing but concern and worry etched on her face as she saw the villagers, her family, panic and run around.
The 15 year old girl in question had milky white skin and long waist-length fiery vermillion red hair and eyes. She had a rather generous bust and a curvaceous figure, which was emphasized by her outfit...that looked rather counterproductive at first glance.
She was wearing clothes that were designed for this harsh and biting cold weather, as well as, appropriate for the design of her village, that is to say thick tribal eskimo-like clothes, but they were somewhat skimpy.
Her torso was covered by a long-sleeved form-fitting white sweater that ended just a bit below her ample bust, exposing her stomach. She also only wore a mini-skirt and a pair of thick fur boots with the same design. She was also wearing a pair of mittens and a beret-like hat with the same design as the rest of her outfit, but that could've hardly made a difference.
However, that was only what she wore underneath and upon closer inspection, one would see that there was more to the girl than what initially met the eye. Strapped on each of the girl's thighs was a holstered dagger with the holster and hilt looking like it was made of green scales or the hide of some wyvern. Attached to each of the girl's shins was a shin guard that was made of golden scales with blue stripes, like it was made from the hide of a Tigrex. Equipped on the girl's forearms was a pair of armguards made of bronze scales with a protruding dark blue horn. Clamped on the girl's waist was a belt made of pitch black scales with a silver pendant in the middle. Protecting and emphasizing the girl's ample bosom was a thin form-fitting chest plate made of silver scales. The girl also had some sort of headband made red scales and machalite covering her forehead.
Finally, strapped tightly on the girl's back was gigantic symmetrical great sword that was almost as large as the girl herself. The great sword had a hilt that was crafted from bronze and the blade itself was mostly covered by dark red scales, save for the metal cutting edge, which was glowing vermillion from the sword's attribute of fire.
It was plain to see that this girl was a Monster Hunter of sorts, judging by the fact that some of her armor is made of scales and hides from said monsters...which may not exactly exist in this universe.
At any rate, as the girl continued to look around her home, which was in complete disarray, a white cat wearing a silver suit of armor, of all things, and carrying a large backpack scurried over to her side.
The girl then turned to her companion and vice versa, they stared at each other meaningfully for a long second, before they nodded at each other in understanding and took off into the panicking crowd with only one destination in mind.
The village elder.
They didn't have to look for long, though because the elder, a short old-looking Eskimo woman with a headress and a tall staff, was guiding the panicking villagers to a safer shelter to wait out the monster wave.
"Elder-sama, what's going on?" Apparently, the girl still had no idea what was was happening. The elder turned to look at her and answered in an old raspy voice.
"Monsters, hundreds of them, are heading straight for our village, we've no choice, but to leave our home and evacuate, CapcomMH"
The girl, CapcomMH, stared wide-eyed at the elder after hearing her words, seemingly unable to believe what she had just heard.
"Monsters? If there's so many of them, then why don't we call for Lady White Heart, surely she could..." CapcomMH trailed off as she caught sight of the elder shaking her head with a forlorn expression.
"I had a vision. The goddesses...they have been...defeated and captured, currently being held hostage in the Gamindustri Graveyard" the elder spoke in a grim voice.
Just like that, Capcom's whole world shattered.
The goddesses...lady white heart...has been...captured? It was completely and utterly inconceivable to the monster hunter. She had believed that white heart was the strongest of the goddesses, she couldn't fathom the idea of her being defeated. Lady White Heart was her idol. The whole reason why she became a monster hunter in the first place was so she could be as strong as her idol, but now...
The elder laid a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder, getting her attention.
"I am well aware that this is hard for you to accept, but with lady white heart gone, we must leave the village and keep everyone safe from the monsters."
Capcom then looked back at the village, every memory she had of the place suddenly flowing to the forefront of her mind. She had been found by the village elder in front of her doorstep 15 years ago and ever since then she was raised in this very village. Her whole life so far was in this village.
Could she really leave it behind just like that?
Would there even be anything left, if they let the monsters ravage through their village? Would there be anything left of the place she called home? Would there be anything left of the memories she cherished in her heart?
Completely and utterly torn, she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes as unshed tears stung her eyes and her heart clenched painfully. She couldn't bear to do it, but what could she do? What should she do?
What would Lady White Heart do?
At those words, Capcom opened her eyes and her teeth relaxed, looking like she just had an epiphany, before she turned her gaze to the horizon; her thoughts being completely dominated by what her idol would do.
Lady White Heart wouldn't run away, she'd stay and fight. Lady White Heart wouldn't abandon innocent villagers, she'd stay and protect them.
As similar thoughts continued to flow through her mind, her resolve slowly became stronger and her infamous confidence slowly started flaring up, like her fiery red hair.
"So, if Lady White Heart isn't here to do all that..." She murmured with a growing smile on her face, before confidently raising her head up. "then I'll just have to be the one to do it for her!" She yelled out, before breaking into a sprint towards the direction where the monsters were going to be coming from, completely ignoring the panicked shouts of the villagers.
I'll protect my home because its what Lady white heart would do.
At the rate she sprinted, it only took a few minutes, before she saw the first vestiges of the monster horde in the distance, which only comprised of low-tier ones, much to her confusion.
"I suppose that with how many there are they could still cause a lot of damage even if they're not really all that powerful..." Observed CapcomMH thoughtfully.
Just then her unnamed cat magically sprang up from the ground after seemingly digging underground from the village to where she was now. The cat then turned to her and started waving its paws frantically at the monster hunter.
"Huh? What is it?"
Her answer would come in the form of a Fenrir crashing right in front of her and swiping its large claw in a mighty swing.
Fortunately, Capcom managed to bring out her greatsword just in time to block the strike, but the force of the blow made her stumble, regardless.
She then swung her mighty great sword at the giant wolf, only for the beast to block the slow swing with one claw and swing at her with the other.
CapcomMH just barely dodged the swing in time, but was unable to dodge the Fenrir's follow-up attack, a strike to the ground that made three balls of snow launch right at her, and was forced to the ground.
However, such a falter was not enough to demoralize the young monster hunter and as she gripped the hilt of her great sword tighter, she could practically feel the adrenaline-fueled determination that was not unlike rage course threw her system as her resolve strengthened even further.
"Lady White Heart wouldn't take that sitting down..." She said with growing confidence and determination as she rose up from the ground and raised her great sword to point at the Fenrir "She would bash you monsters into oblivion!" She shouted.
At that, the cat in armor blew a horn of its own, giving CapcomMH a status buff.
As Capcom took on a fighting stance, one could practically hear the climax to the cinematic opening of a famous monster hunting game franchise resonate through the cold night air. (A/N: Pick any of the cinematic openings they should all work and anyone who's ever played this game knows the climax I'm talking about.)
The Fenrir charged and Capcom did the same the two opponents in order to meet half-way across the battlefield. Capcom did a spinning swing with her great sword midway, successfully slashing at the fenrir's side.
The Fenrir roared before it turned to CapcomMH, who had strapped her great sword on her back. The angered Fenrir then charged at her once again with renewed vigor and before it could go any further, she grabbed her twin daggers and threw them at the approaching enemy, hitting the giant wolf right in the eyes, which made the monster roar out in pain as it flailed about.
Taking advantage of the monster's momentary lapse in awareness, Capcom closed the distance between the two of them and once she was close enough, as in right in front of the flailing Fenrir, she brought out her great sword, places it behind her and started charging her attack.
As the attack continued charging with intensity, the red hot glow grew more intense and the blade became visibly hotter as the air around it began to warp and the snow began to melt.
The Fenrir continued flailing about, completely unaware of the impending danger that it was in.
Feeling that her attack was about to reach its maximum limit, CapcomMH gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the handle in determination, anticipation and maybe just little bit of aggression.
The Fenrir had managed to finally recover and faced CapcomMH, but before it could do anything else-
"FOR LADY WHITE HEART!"
-CapcomMH swung down her super-charged great sword down on the Fenrir's unsuspecting head.
.
...Meanwhile somewhere in the capital city of Leanbox...
Inside a modest apartment various clutters and random doodads were splayed all around the apartments various rooms, ranging from the empty pizza boxes and empty soda cups to the discarded bras and panties, clearly indicating that the occupant of said apartment was likely a very slothful teenage girl or someone who brings home girls like they were lost puppies.
Speaking of said person, the occupant of said apartment was currently residing in their room and sleeping soundly on their equally messy bed...
A groan was elicited from a lump underneath the ruffled blankets covering the bed.
...or at least was trying to sleep soundly.
Truth be told, the occupant of said room was sleeping soundly just a moment ago, before the disturbingly jarring noises, like wolves barking, weapons slamming against concrete and laser beams firing, resonated just outside and throughout her apartment waking the occupant up from their slumber, putting them in a groggy state of half-sleep and making them toss and turn in hopes of finding a position that would nullify said noises.
No such luck though, as was expected from this situation, and just like any other main character (or any other person) put in this situation, the occupant was decidedly not amused.
As the noises continued, the occupant, finally fed up with the disturbance and accepting that she wasn't going to get anymore sleep for a while, sat up on their bed, revealing that the occupant was indeed a teenage girl...but whether or not she brings home girls like lost puppies still remains to be seen.
The teenage girl in question looked to be about 15 years old, judging by her young moe looks, she had milky white skin, black eyes and matching short straight hair that was a bit disheveled with some strands sticking out every which way.
From what was visible from her current position, that is to say her upper half, one could see that the girl had a quite generous bosom underneath a skin-tight gray tank top and anyone who kept focusing on her chest area would likely see that she also had dog tags hanging from her neck.
The girl groggily rubbed her eyes and yawned widely as she grumbled grumpily:
"Honestly, its the middle of the night, who could possibly be awake now" complained the black-haired girl.
Once she successfully threw her blanlets off her person and stood up from her bed, one would finally be able to see the lower half of the girl...and all one would really see are a pair of black panties on a pair of smooth and creamy white legs.
At first glance one wouldn't really think that this girl possessed the power to wield weapons from both heaven and hell or that she had the power of an angel and a devil...or that she was the Nephilim daughter of Sparda and Eva...or that she was a slayer of demons...or that, up until the fifth installment of her franchise, she had been in a mythical and medieval setting...or that her typical arch nemesis was her own blue-themed sibling, who used a katana...
Yup, as far as anyone who wasn't either her close friend or sworn enemy knew, Dennise Marie Claire or more commonly known as DMC was your stereotypical, lazy, and fanservice-y teenage girl, as indicated by her less-than-decent choice of clothing, which was right at home for this fanservice franchise.
Speaking of DMC, the girl in question had finally hubbled over to her window and peaked out of the blinds in order to finally see what the commotion was all about.
"Oh, so there are just some random monsters trashing Leanbox" mumbled the groggy DMC, before yawning once again and hubbling back over to her bed.
Apparently, she wasn't all that concerned about the fact that her country was being attacked by a bunch of monsters, but whether that was because she was still too groggy to properly register what she just said or her lazy personality remains to be seen.
"I'm sure the guards or lady green heart will take care of this, no need to get my hands dirty this late at night" As she said this the half-asleep and half-naked DMC plopped back on her bed, ready to fall asleep once ag-
Several more noises of destruction resonated throughout the apartment, reverbrating the wall with just how loud the sonic waves were. DMC wasn't too pleased as indicated her annoyed tongue clicking and groggy grumbling.
Of course, the noises would persist for several more minutes, never letting up or quieting down even once, much to the nephilim girl's growing irritation and annoyance.
"How long does it take to beat those monsters anyway?!" Grumbled an increasingly irate DMC. "Lady Green heart should be finished with them by now, even those guards shouldn't be having this much trouble!"
A particularly loud explosion chose that moment to resonate through the still night air and subsequently DMC's apartment, causing the whole building and the items cluttered inside to shake and jolt at the sudden shockwave.
"KYAAH?!"
The same shockwave was apparently enough to jolt the bed the black-haired girl was lying on to the point where the DMC fell onto the floor with a thud, landing face first on the ground.
"Owie..." Moaned the cute and busty nephilim as she clutched her face, before looking at the window with half-closed eyes, before looking at her bed with longing gaze.
A moment later, the black-haired girl sighed as she got up from the floor and stood up, before walking over to the dresser by her bed. She opened the drawer, took out what appeared to be a pair of gray denim boy shorts, and put them on unceremoniously.
DMC then walked over to ther side of the bed, pulling out a pair of gray and red color-schemed sketchers and a trench coat with the same color scheme.
She then walked over to her window, pulled the blinds up and opened it, before throwing one last longing look at her bed.
"I'll be back for you~" she promised in a longing voice, before blowing a kiss to her bed.
Another explosion's shockwave then promptly resonated through the apartment, followed by the sound of howling and several crashing noises.
DMC sighed.
"Alright, Alright, I'm coming, no need to get you monster boxers ina twist" called out DMC, before grumbling: "honestly, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself"
The girl then hopped onto the window frame and turned so that she was facing the interior of her room. Without another word, she let herself fall back out of the window, executing a backwards swan dive into the streets of leanbox below.
Luckily, she landed without incident...if you can call crashing down onto the monster-filled street on bended knees in a manner reminiscent of a superhero 'without incident', that is.
Needless to say, this got the monster's attention, but DMC simply chose to brush some dust off her trench coat as she glared at the monsters in annoyance.
"Honestly, I was having a really good dream about Pizza and C.C. couldn't you have attacked in the morning, instead? Can't we just do this tomorrow? We all get some sleep you show up here first thing in the morning and then I'll you kick your ass for making miss my morning coffee, how does that sound, any takers?"
DMC's negotiations(?) worked as well as one would expect.
The monsters all roared in outrage and anger at the sudden appearance of an enemy, not at the offer the black-haired girl just proposed, and were aiming their attacks at the girl in question.
"Really? No takers?" DMC then shrugged as the first monster came into range. "Suit yourselves"
Before the first monster's attack could even come close to hitting the nephilim girl, it found itself with multiple slash marks extending across the length of its body in random directions, before fizzling out of existence at its defeat and subsequently revealing DMC holding an ornate silver scythe in a post-attack stance, suggesting that she had comboed the monster into oblivion.
DMC then swiftly dodges a large and heavy fist from a monster behind her, however, such an attack made the creature's fist lodge onto the pavement and the crater it made, which left the random monster wide open for a counter-attack.
DMC's scythe, Osiris, was then replaced by a deadly and demonic-looking red axe, which she slammed down on the monster's fist in a wide arc.
The monster roared in pain as the heavy-hitting attack made contact and made its own crater and crack on the ground. DMC wasn't finished there, however, as she continued to swing out her axe, Arbiter, in heavy damage dealing attacks, which really did a number on the tanky but slow monster.
As soon as the monster fizzled out of existence, several smaller monsters jumped at her in quick succession, hoping to take advantage of the axe's slow attack speed.
No such luck though because DMC turned to the monster horde, aimed a pair of dual pistols, colored in ebony and ivory, and shot them out of existence.
This shootout would've continued longer if it weren't for the fact that a certain brown bipedal dragon made itself known with a fearsome roar that made several monsters back off to give the dragon room. Truly, the might of the ancient dragon was not something to be trifled with for even high-level adventurers and high-tier monsters alike would prefer not to encounter this colossal reptile in any dungeon.
DMC, on the other hand, well she just looked up at the ancient dragon and gave it her signature smug smirk that seemed to say: 'Really? Is that all you got?' without really saying it, before her signature silver demonic claymore, Rebellion, materialized in her hand.
In the next instant, the two opponents charged at each other at blinding speeds, ready to beat their respective opponent into submission with DMC looking like she was going to enjoy herself.
"You bet I am"
.
Phew, well that was certainly one whole whopper of a chapter.
I honestly didn't think it would get this long, but then again, I suppose it shoulde be expected, since dividing this into four separate chapters would be a little too short for my standards, so here you go the prologue to 'The Guardians of Gamindustri'
Also, I think I'm going to take a page from G.N. Over-Kite's book and start a contest (If you haven't checked out his story, Nepstation Plus Package: Season Two, Never Ending Tournament Arc, yet, then check it out, I highly recommend it).
Here's the contest, The first three people who guess what games and/or anime makes up all four characters can come up with a subject/adventure for the guardians of gamindustri. This'll be a piece of cake because at least two of these characters have pretty obvious references and also because of the obvious clues.
Your first entry will be the one that's counted, so choose wisely.
Please be specific with the games/anime you choose. The more accurate your guesses are, the better.
This contest will go on, until I can post a new chapter.
Post your entries via review or pm.
Also, here's a hint: One character references an anime and the other three represent games.
That's all for now, tune in to the next chapter.