A/N: TO ALL WHO READ MY PREVIOUS ARC THANK YOU. IF YOU HAVE NOT I WILL TRY AND FIT IN AS MUCH EXPOSITION AS POSSIBLE, BUT IF YOU WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING IN DETAIL YOU CAN READ MY PREVIOUS STORY, JUST GO TO FISCTIONPRESS AND SEARCH "THE MISADVENTURES OF KUROKO" OTHER THAN THAT THANK YOU FOR VIEWING AND ENJOY MY STORY INVOLVING MY VERY OWN CHARACTER WHO SHALL CROSS PATHS WITH A CERTAIN BOUNTY HUNTER. TELL ME WHAT YOU GUYS THINK :)
Chapter 1
The Final Frontier
Only a few weeks has passed since Kuroske has returned from Atharia. It was just like any other day for him, calm quiet, and BORING! The few people who saw him occasionally barely noticed he was gone and assumed he was on another assignment, which he was technically. The unexpected trip to another world was a good change of pace for him for he rarely has to get serious by releasing the first seal let alone the second. For you see ever since he received his birthright, The Shadow Being within him, his father had put four seals upon him in order to keep his power in check. Normally for any of the successors to the Shadow Being would only have one or two seals, but Kuroske was given four only because he was too young when he received it.
Today was unexciting and rather dull and Kuroske was on his way home to his little apartment from a night at the bar. He was in his casual attire, loose black jeans, a black hoodie, and a black scarf used as a mask to cover his face. There was a bright full moon to illuminate the darkened streets of Tokyo and the air was crisp, cool and refreshing. All was seemed normal as if nothing was amidst, but being over 1000 years old Kuroske is bound to pick up a thing or two. He was being followed.
"*sigh* These shadow senses really take the surprise out of life." Kuroske said to himself
Yup Kuroske's shadow senses allow him to perceive whatever it is that he cannot normal do so with his five senses. Though usually they let him sense danger, but other subtle things can also be felt including emotions of others.
"You know, if you're gonna tail someone you should make sure they're not aware of you." announced Kuroske calling out his pursuer
He turned around to see a Caucasian male with short brown hair dressed in a formal black suit. He had an ear piece with a wire running down into the neck of his shirt and what really stood out was the gun being pointed at Kuroske.
"Mr. shadow-san I'm afraid you'll need to come with me." said the man in an American accent as he gestured Kuroske to move
Kuroske decided to play along and slowly raised his hands careful to not draw any attention to his feet. However instead of following the man's instructions he stood still. The man became aggravated and began to yell.
"Did you not hear me I said move!" shouted the man
He raised his gun to hit Kuroske upside the head in an attempt to strike fear, but Kuroske saw it coming. The second he raised his gun Kuroske turned and caught the man's wrist with his left hand. Afterwards he gave him a clean right hook and a swift kick to the gut to finish him off.
"Hey what's going on?" asked another man dressed in the same attire
Kuroske saw that he too had his gun drawn and quickly threw his keepsake dagger at the man's gun knocking it out of hand. Instantly Kuroske disappeared then reappeared behind the man to where his dagger was and held it at his throat.
"How did you-"
Before the man could finish his sentence clapping was heard from behind them. An older man dressed in a white suit got out from a limo and appeared in front of them. He had greying hair a neatly shaven beard and had glasses.
"This must be the leader." Kuroske thought to himself
"Very good I would expect nothing less from the infamous Shadow Merc." praised the man "Or should I say Mr. Kage-san?"
"Who are you?" asked Kuroske while still restraining one of his men
"A simple man who is offering you a job, follow me if you wish to learn more." replied the man
Kuroske analyzed the situation. He had one of his men hostage and he approached him unarmed offering him a job. If he had other intentions it would have already shown by now so he agreed and let go of the subordinate.
"Alright fine, you've peaked my interest." Said Kuroske as he kicked the man he was holding away
"But Smith sir how do we know we can trust him?" asked man
"You're not dead are you?" replied Smith
With that said the one subordinate picked up his unconscious friend and got back into the front seat of the limo. Kuroske and Riley got into the back and the limo took off.
"Forgive my men they can be rash sometimes." pleaded Smith "Now then allow me to explain the details of the assignment."
Kuroske held up his hand signaling Smith to stop talking.
"In a moment." said Kuroske "I need a moment of clarity."
He sat down in a cross-legged position and began to meditate. His mind slowly drifted away as if his entire being entered in a state of tranquility.
Inside Kuroske's head
Kuroske was standing in a dark corridor with concrete-like walls on each side. At the end of the corridor was a barred cell with a large talisman on the front that said 'SEAL'. Behind the cell was a shadowy figure simply lounging about.
"So what mess have we gotten ourselves into this time?" asked the shadowy figure
"Too soon to tell Kagemaru, but the man did know my surname so whatever he's got for me must be important." replied Kuroske
"Ya know Kuroske it's been a while since we had a fun wager." said Kagemaru as he stood up
"Ah you're right, sure always fun to keep things interesting. What'd you have in mind?" asked Kuroske who was now intrigued
"Well since you've yet to get the detail on this assignment how about this, while the assignment is still in progress, no demonic overtake and you may only release the first seal for a total of one minute."
"Sounds like fun, what do I get when I win." asked Kuroske with a smug look
"If you win, I suppose there are a few more techniques I could show you." offered Kagemaru
"And if I lose?" asked Kuroske jokingly
"Hmmm then I get your body for one whole day."
Kuroske ponder for a bit then gave a big old grin.
"Okay deal." he said as he reached his hand through the bars and shook hands.
Back outside
Kuroske opened his eyes only to see a large luxurious building in the middle of nowhere. It was at least as tall as the Tokyo tower and had the letters 'FFED' one the front. Behind the building was what looked like a launch site. Smith got out from the limo and directed Kuroske to follow him. hHe walked through the building and down an elevator. Many things were caught his eye. There were many scientists in lab coats; some were rushing back and forth in a hurry to finish their work while others were pacing themselves examining their clipboards. As Kuroske kept going up the tower he saw testing sites, experiments being done, strange weapons, and more. They finally arrived at a large metallic room with a few tables all with interesting looking gadgets on them. Beside one of them was a man tinkering with one of the gadgets. He was at least in his 50's with grey hair, aged features, and the same lab coat.
"Dr. Johnson I've brought the man you requested." announced Smith
"Hm?" the man turned around and became distracted. As he did so his hand slipped and the device he was meddling with exploded in his face.
"*sigh* You really should be more careful." pleaded Smith as he shook his head
"Eh I'll fix it later." Johnson said casually as he tossed his tools aside "Kage-san can I offer you anything to drink?"
"No thanks." replied Kuroske, he examined the man before him "You must be quite resourceful to know my title let alone my name."
"We have our ways." answered Dr. Johnson "That aside based on your cautious approach I assume Mr. Smith didn't fill you in yet."
"No I insisted he wait." relied Kuroske
"Then I'll start with who we are. We are the FFED the Final Frontier Exploration Division." Dr. Johnson explained as he got up and signaled Kuroske to follow "Are you familiar with space at all, Kage-san?"
"Can't say I've been there before." answered Kuroske
As they walked they passed many different researchers working on different projects mainly rockets and other space gizmos.
"Well as you may have heard from the local media we have established contact with other lifeforms from other planets though we've only so far agreed upon issuing a trade agreement between other planets. Unfortunately the world isn't ready for interspecies mingling yet."
"Uh huh, where do I fit in to all this?" asked Kuroske who was increasingly becoming more intrigued
"You may not know it or perhaps you do, but you're quite well known by many higher ups around the world and rumor is you've never failed a job. "
"Heh you are well connected aren't you?" said Kuroske who was mildly impressed
"Now about the assignment." He went over and pressed a button turning on a large computer. On the computer was a layout of a planet and a humanoid figure in an orange power suit with a red helmet and green gazers where the eyes should be "We recently sent a small team of hired a bounty hunter to investigate some pirate issues we had with some of our trade routes."
"Go on…"
"It seems we've lost communications with her for a while now and our security forces are spread thin as it is."
"Let me guess you want me to check in make sure everything's okay?" replied Kuroske
"Precisely, do you accept?" asked Dr. Johnson
"Let's talk pay and compensation first." suggested Kuroske
"I am authorized to pay whatever it takes." replied Dr. Johnson
"1,000,000 yen."
For a moment Dr. Johnson paused as if he was pondering on what to do. He then smiled and turned to Kuroske.
"Very well." he said as he pushed another button "You'll be needing this then."
In the middle of the room a cabinet sized panel slowly rose from the ground. On the panel was a high tech looking black suit. It was sleek in design yet loose enough as to not restrict moment and looked quite similar to his normal ninja attire. It even featured a mask to cover the lower half of his face and built in gloves. Kuroske went into another room and emerged dressed in said suit although he still had his scarf on.
"Nice suit." complimented Kuroske "I assume I can keep it when I'm done?"
"Sure think it as bonus." replied Johnson "Let me just show you how it works." He gestured to the wrist which had a mini computer pad built in and many different buttons and features. "This is one of the most important features it materialized a small sleek helmet around your head enabling you to breathe in vacuums. It has an oxygen conversion system so you can breathe as long it can last. Next is your communicator."
Before Dr. Johnson could continue Kuroske gave a look and he could guess what he was thinking.
"Ah right before I go on I should mention that based on our recent scans the enemy base where our team was sent has something we call a 'smart jammer'."
"Which is…?"
"Basically any unregistered communication encryption key immediately tracked, located, and then jammed. However we've designed your communicator to remain undetected only for 2 minutes though. After that you'll have to resume radio silence for at least 30 minutes before you can talk again."
"Hmm I like it." said Kuroske as he performed a few punches and kicks "anything else I should know?"
"Well in case you need them it also features a multipurpose scanner and two terabytes of data storage." he explained "Now then if that's all your ship is ready for departure." He pointed to the spaceship behind the large glass window
"Right… space, how long will it take to get there?" asked Kuroske who seemed annoyed
"Roughly a three days." Dr. Johnson responded
"Three days!?"complained Kuroske "Why so long?"
"We do have a smaller ship that could get you there in a few hours." suggested Dr. Johnson pointing to another space ship beside the other one
"Great."
"That is if you don't mind being a human pancake. That rocket goes too fast for humans so it just used to launch recon satellites into orbit."
"Okay then I have a better idea." replied Kuroske as he went into the room and place his dagger inside the ship "There now set a coarse for their home base."
"What exactly is this supposed to accomplish?" Dr. Johnson questioned
"Hey this is my mission and I'll do it however the hell I want." Kuroske retorted "Now launch the ship to my destination and have it drop my dagger near their base."
"*sigh* As you wish." replied Dr. Johnson
Many works scurried around preparing for the spaceship to take off. After a few minutes the workers settle down and gave to okay.
"Okay recon ship three you're clear for takeoff." announced one of the workers
The room was now empty of employees and the ceiling to the room began to open. Slowly the ship rose into the air and outside the building. The force the ships rockets made caused the room to shake a bit and then in an instant the ship flew off almost too fast for the eye to see.
Kuroske waited patiently and after a few hours one of the scientists confirmed that the package has been successfully dropped onto the designated location.
"Okay now what?" asked Dr. Johnson who was clueless on what was to happen next
"Now when I'm done you send another ship to pick me up."
"What are you-?"
But before he could finish Kuroske vanished in to thin air. Not a trace of him was left as if he was never there to begin with. A few seconds later a message came on the big screen notifying everyone that there was an incoming transmission. The transmission was accepted an on the screen was Kuroske.
"This is Kuroske I've located the enemy base, commencing operation."
A/N: SORRY SAMUS DIDN'T APPEAR IN THIS CHAPTER BUT I PROMISE SHE WILL IN THE NEXT ALSO IF ANYONE DIDN'T FEEL LIKE READING THE PREVIOUS ARC JUST TELL ME WHAT EXPOSITION AND EXPLANATIONS I NEED TO PUT IN AND I WILL TRY AND INCORPORATE IT INTO THE NEXT CHAPTER. THANK YOU