Opening Note:
I don't own Psyren just the changes and continuations to that story.
This is my first fic so bear with me if it seems a little rough. Please enjoy!
The Second Psychiner War
"Two on the right!" screamed the sergeant through the din of guns, fire balls, artillery strikes, and projectile boulders. "Makodo, Dake, Shinee, get on it!"
"Yes, sir", replied the three privates as they moved into position against the Psychiners. The sergeant continued to bark orders to the rest of his men until one of the boulders crushed the squad. Saika watched in horror as Japan's Gold Line crumbled under the Psychiner onslaught. Saika had thought the Gold Line would be a safe place from which to report, since for the past year the WISE had avoided it like the plague. The sudden attack had taken the SDF divisions by surprise, allowing the Psychiners to break the first three defensive lines with relative ease.
"Saika, we're live in three." The director's call snapped Saika back to reality.
"R-right," came Saika's weak response as she prepared herself to report this disaster to the people of Tokyo.
"We're live," the director called and Saika began her report.
"Less than 30 minutes ago the WISE launched an assault on the Gold Line. The attack caught SDF soldiers off guard, allowing the WISE to break three of the five defensive lines. As you can see, behind me, the fight at the fourth line is very intense but it looks like-" —CRACK— Saika flinched as the ground behind her opened up swallowing a platoon whole before reverting to its natural form. She looked behind her to check what was going on before returning to face the camera again "Um, right, th-the fourth line looks like it will break soon, too. In fact, I think that my crew and I should be moving as well." The director voiced his agreement.
"Then I'm Kojiro Saika for Channel 4 News reporting from the front line. We are retreating before the WISE reach us."
"That won't be necessary."
Saika had been interrupted by a young man who was wearing a tribal mask. "Umm, wh-who are you? A-and w-what do you mean?" Saika stuttered.
"Who I am doesn't really matter but I suppose you can call me 'Yoyo'. As for why you don't need to move, I don't plan on letting the WISE get any closer to you or Tokyo." Yoyo responded plainly.
" How would you…" Saika stopped and took a step back "A-are y-you a Psychiner?" she asked her voice painted in fear.
"Yes," replied Yoyo. "Now please step aside and take cover, the WISE tend to be somewhat unruly."
Saika did as she was told and watched as the man calling himself Yoyo strode elegantly forward to the battlefield. When he walked past the soldiers hiding in the trenches they all turned to watch. Finally, he spoke. "I AM YOYO; A REPRESENTIVE OF THE DRIFTERS!" His voice thundered over the battlefield. At this point Saika's curiosity got the better of her and she moved up the forward trench. The camera crew followed her as Yoyo continued "I DEMAND A MEETING WITH THE LEADER OF THIS DIVISION. HE HAS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER." All of the fighting stopped and the battlefield fell silent as all eyes turn to observe how the WISE would respond. After a few moments the entirety of the WISE division appeared before Yoyo. A foreign man who seemed to be in his mid-thirties came forward; he had a claymore strapped to his waist and was very well built.
"I am commander James Canniss. I take it you're a Psychiner. Why didn't you use telepathy, or do you not know how? " Commander James asked.
" I am a Psychiner and I can use telepathy just fine, but I am a member of the Drifters. Why would I risk a mind hack through telepathy? What is a WISE division doing in the Demilitarized zone? This could easily be taken as a declaration of war," said Yoyo.
Everyone, even commander Canniss, looked confused by what Yoyo said. Saika wondered to herself what Yoyo was talking about. Demilitarized zone? Had the government made a deal with the WISE behind closed doors? If so what were the terms? And if not, who had? Or was it all a bluff to stall for time? Is this group 'the Drifters' behind it, and who are they? Furthermore, Saika wondered, why had yoyo said 'this could be taken as a declaration of war'? Wasn't all of Japan at war with the WISE?
"Sorry, but I have never heard of the Drifters or this so call Demilitarized Zone. Perhaps you could inform me?"
Yoyo was silent for a moment before responding, "You don't know about the Drifters? Miroku sent you here, and didn't tell you about the Drifters?!" Yoyo was blown away.
"Technically, we are here against orders. So no, the supreme commander did not send us here and, I will ask that you not refer to our leader so casually. Or we will get angry," threatened Canniss.
Yoyo was much calmer when he responded to Canniss this time. "Whether or not you're here against orders does not change the fact that you broke the treaty, but I suspect that you don't know about that either. As for angering you, I'm not the least bit concerned. I doubt that you could even touch me."
"That's big talk." Canniss sounded annoyed by Yoyo final comment. His comment caused both the SDF and the WISE to ready themselves for battle once again. Yoyo remained perfectly still. "Please remove yourself, I would like to get back to work."
"Sorry but I can't. I don't want to fight or hurt any of you, so I will warn you to retreat immediately, however if you continue to advance I will have no choice. Oh, but if you want you can stay right there until the Drifter Council has decided what to do with you," Yoyo said in an oddly happy tone. Then he jerked his head around and looked back across the remaining trenches and off in to the distant sky. "What is she doing?" Yoyo wondered aloud. But he was cut off by one of the WISE soldier shouting to his Commander "Commander, unknown incoming and fast".
Everyone was absolutely still waiting to see what was coming. After a few seconds there was a loud crash and a cloud of dust erupted in between the two armies. Some of the soldier flinched, others tensed. Even Commander Canniss' gazed hardened. Only Yoyo seemed unfazed, but Saika couldn't be sure because of his mask. As the dust cleared, Saika looked into the crater that had just formed. Kneeling there was a woman. She was rather small, and had silver hair. In her left hand she held sheathed katana, and like Yoyo she wore a mask to hide her face. The woman slowly rose and turned to Yoyo. "Unfortunately that is no longer an option Yoyo."
"Abyss, what are you doing here, I thought I was the only one on duty right now?" Yoyo said to the young women to his right. "Oh, did you come because you were worried about me? You're so kind!"
"You know that's not why I'm here. The situation has changed, Yoyo. Melchsee has declared a Code Orange. Junas is coming, and Grana and Uranus's divisions are waiting less than 30 miles from here," Abyss informed her partner. Yoyo visibly stiffened.
"But aren't there only four members that can respond right now? I mean Doc, the Rhythmist, and Tiger are out of the country, and No. 07 is currently at Root. Don't we need five people"?
"We have enough if Melchsee comes."
"Y-your kidding! Mel-melchsee's coming here? What are their E.T.A.s?" Yoyo asked Abyss as fear began to creep in to his voice.
"Dragon and Gunner are about a minute out, Junas is about the same, maybe a little less, and Melchsee is about three."
"Then we'd better hurry and finish them," Yoyo turned to Canniss and his soldiers. Abyss agreed with Yoyo and began to draw her sword. Canniss responded by ordering his soldiers to attack. Half of the WISE soldiers rushed into melee range and the other half attacked from afar. Those with burst abilities like pyrokinesis launched attacks of fire, lightening and light at the pair. Yoyo waved his hand, curving the attacks from the WISE soldiers, redirecting the barrage toward the charging half of the wise soldiers.
As the smoke cleared, the last few meleeists (1) continued to charge, but Saika noticed that Abyss was no longer there. She quickly scanned the battlefield and spotted Abyss amidst the WISE range attackers. (2) Her sword flashed everywhere, slicing off limbs and cutting open various other parts of the body. Yet through the crimson rain, her silver hair sparkled untainted. Abyss was about half way through the ranged Psychiners and was swinging to cut down another when Commander Canniss intervened. His claymore clashed with Abyss's katana. The sudden impact forced Abyss to take a step back. Not missing his chance, Canniss lunged at Abyss. The stab was easily parried as Abyss stepped in and ducked low, aiming for Canniss' legs. Canniss barely dodged the attack. Abyss continued to pressure him with slashes. Canniss fell back under her onslaught. Spotting an opening, Abyss swung hard and broke Canniss' guard, then thrust her blade deep into his left shoulder before bringing the blade down across his chest. While the wound was not life threatening, even Saika could tell that Canniss would not be getting up any time soon. Saika's gaze shifted back to Yoyo. He was standing in the middle of a large group of Psychiners whose relentless attacks could only barely be seen. Yet Yoyo's body wove effortlessly though the torrent of blows. Saika noticed that a number of the range Psychiners had recovered and fired off a volley at Yoyo. At the same time, those surrounding Yoyo backed off and prepared to rush in just after the bursts hit. In response Yoyo simply raised his hand. Then, right before he was hit, he plunged his hand into the ground and as the meleeist charged him, he leapt into the air. From where Yoyo's hand had touched the ground a bright white light poured. The light dragged those charging as well as the burst volley into the pool of white. The resulting explosion wiped out the rest of the melee portion of the division. Yoyo touched down again just in time to watch Abyss finish off her part of the division. He walked over to her as she sheathed her sword.
"Well, what do we do with them now?" Yoyo asked.
"Turning them over to me would be nice, but—" Saika looked for the owner of these words, and spotted him standing a few meters from the two Drifters.
"I doubt you'll be that generous." Junas finished his sentence, his cold expression unaffected by the defeat of his subordinates. Saika looked at the Second Star Commander (3) of the WISE and wondered how many of the rumors about him were true. He was supposedly Miroku's right hand man despite First Star Commander Grana being the technical second in command of the WISE forces. A Star Commander coming to the front line was a rare event and it did add some merit to the Drifter's story. But Saika couldn't be sure yet. After all, the WISE had never challenged the Gold Line before this and that alone could be important enough to warrant the appearance of one. A piercing roar interrupted Saika thoughts. She turned around to witness a glowing silver dragon descend from the heavens. On its back were two more people. Both were fairly tall and wearing masks similar to the drifters. One was fairly skinny and had straight black hair. The other was very well built and had long spiky light blue hair. The dragon landed and laid its head and neck down between Saika and the Psychiners. It was at this point that Saika realized that the dragon was translucent. Unfortunately, it did make it harder to see what was going on. The two riders dismounted and walked over to their fashion compatriots without a word.
Abyss and Yoyo turned and nodded at the new arrivals before responding to Junas. "Junas, they just killed a large number of our citizens. Regardless of whether or not they are renegades, this is a serious incident. Without a member of the Council's approval there is no way we could let them go," said Abyss.
"So we have to wait for Melchsee then?" Junas asked. The added hostility in his tone showed that he was annoyed. The Drifters all nodded their heads. Junas turned in the direction of Tokyo and waited with hatred in his eyes.
Saika, realizing the situation had reached a stalemate, made a very risky decision and turned to her boss. "I'm going out there. Have the camera man follow me." Then she crawled out of the trench before anyone had time to respond. The director looked at the cameraman, who shook his head. He looked at the rest of the crew; they all shook their heads. Then he sighed, grabbed the camera and followed Saika out of the trench.
As Saika approached, the dragon let out a noise similar to a growl but a little gentler alerting the Psychiners to her approach. Abyss looks over at Saika. After a moment she said, "Dragon", and the spiky haired Psychiner turned to his dragon and said "Raksha, let her through." The dragon growled a response before lifting its head. Saika walked past the dragon and her director tried to do the same but the dragon laid its head down to block his path.
"Sorry, but the camera will have to stay there as we would prefer not to reveal anything more about our appearances," Abyss inform Saika and the director. The director nodded but did not retreat. He put the camera on his shoulder and began filming. Abyss nodded to Saika one last time to let her know that she could approach the group.
"H-hello m-my n-name is Kojiro Sa-Saika. I-it's a p-pleasure to meet you." Saika stuttered. "I-if y-you d-don't mind I would l-like to a-ask you some q-questions." The man Saika believed to be Gunner spoke.
"I don't know how much we can tell you, but ask away. Also you don't need to worry too much, no one here is going to do anything till Melchsee arrives." His tone was friendly and somewhat disarming.
"What happens when Melchsee gets here?" Saika asked, still a little worried.
Gunner's voice dropped and he growled, "We'll kill you all." The blood drained from Saika's face as she was overcome with fear. The director was in the process of dropping the camera to go help his employee when Gunner burst out laughing. The director managed to catch the camera before it hit the ground.
"Oh my god, your face! Ahahahaha".
"Gunner!" Abyss reprimanded, "That was just mean. Why did you do that?"
"Seriously man, she almost shit her pants. You took that too far." This time Dragon criticized his partner.
"I know it was a joke but you could have given her a heart attack Gunner. Are you trying to make us out to be the villains here?" Yoyo asked Gunner.
After a few seconds and another round of complaints from his partners Gunner was finally able to apologize. "I'm sorry about that. I though it would be funny. As for what happens when Melchsee gets here… we have no idea. The only thing I can tell you is that WE have no intention of killing you."
It was Dragon's turn to speak, "I must admit it takes a lot of courage to get within a twenty meters of a Star Commander even for us. Do you have balls of steel or are you just stupid?"
"Umm, well I guess for someone like me, being within 1000 meters is probably no different from 20. So if I'm already here, I might as well do my job well." Saika responded. Dragon shrugs and then agrees.
"Probably true. So what did you want to ask?"
"I was hoping you would be willing to tell me more about who you are and what is going on here."
"That's a pretty broad question, Miss." Yoyo responded, "If you mean us personally, we can't tell you anything beyond our code names. If you mean us as a group, we are a group of Psychiners know as the Drifters, and we have a differing ideology from the WISE." Saika was about to ask another question but she was cut off by Abyss.
"He's here," she said calmly. A second later a young man appeared before Saika. He too had a mask and was also fairly sturdily built, but had short dark blue hair in contrast to everyone else's extended hairdo.
"Who's the woman?" Melchsee voice was low and rough there was a hint of anger in his tone.
"Just a reporter that was on the scene," Abyss answers. Melchsee nodded, then looked over at Junas "Its been a while, Junas" All of the Drifters tensed at the name. Melchsee was definitely not happy to see the man before him.
"I believe it has been 19 months since I had the pleasure of seeing the Raging King." Junas replied somewhat on edge. "I'm here to ask that you overlook t-"
"I know why you're here Junas," Melchsee cut him off. Junas's face twitched some as he tried to hide his anger. "But, the only reason you are still alive, is because some of the council is outside the country and I am not allowed to declare war by myself."
"I understand that you're angry but—" Junas grit his teeth as Melchsee interrupted him a second time.
"Angry?! I'm furious! You invaded my land, killed my citizens and now you want me to forget it ever happened! Who the hell do you think you are!?"
"I apologize for their actions but—" Junas' whole body tensed for his third interruption.
"Is that supposed to undo their actions? Return the lives they stole? This is war Junas, now leave before I kill you".
"Just listen to-" Junas fists began quivering with rage.
"I said war. Now le-" Melchsee stopped mid sentence. Saika couldn't believe her eyes, but it was clear that Melchsee was the most shocked as he looked down at Junas's kneeing form. Junas shook as he bowed his head.
"M-mel-melchsee I-I'm begging y-you," Junas stuttered, desperately trying to contain his anger "L-let this matter go, w-we had no hand in it."
No one spoke for a while, stunned from Junas' out of character action. A cold wind, too cold for late august, whistled over the silent land. The dust created from the battle was caught in the breeze and lifted away from the battlefield in a massive cloud. The remaining scars of the battle were laid bare and the defeated WISE troops stared at the Second Star Commander. Finally Canniss broke the silence.
"Commander Junas, Sir. Why do you bow your head to the enemy? Just destro-"
"Be quiet, Canniss," Junas roared. "You have never had to face the Raging King, if you had been there, if you had seen that incarnation of death with us you would understand." Junas paused, then continued more calmly "Canniss, I do not bow out of fear but out of respect. The man before you now is the most powerful man on the planet. His wish differs little from our own but it is enough. To achieve our goals we do not need to fight each other. However, the line we walk that determines whether we are at war or not is very thin, and the only way we could fail in achieving our goal is if we go to war. So DO NOT SPEAK CANNISS!" Junas raised his head and glared at Melchsee waiting for his answer.
"Junas, stand up." Melchsee sounded exhausted. After Junas was on his feet Melchsee continued, "I can tell you do not wish to risk war with us, but someone must answer for this incident."
"Miroku did say that I was to come back alive, if that helps you make a decision," Junas informed Melchsee, still glaring at him.
"It does. You may retrieve all of your soldiers except Commander Canniss. He will be judged by the Joint Council. I assume that is acceptable."
"Fine," Junas replied curtly. Then he turned around and looked northwest the direction of the WISE army. "Grana has sent some of his men to help carry the wounded but they will need to make two trips."
All of the Drifters except Melchsee let out a sigh of relief before taking a seat on the ground. "Well bro, what do we do with Canniss, who's got escort duty?" Yoyo asked Melchsee.
"Dragon, after Junas leaves, take Canniss to Root. Abyss contact No. 07 and have her clear it with the Tenjuin (4) Dragon, Gunner and Yoyo, secure the area of any remaining threats and bring Canniss over here so he can be loaded up."
"Roger that." The Drifters moved out and Melchsee stared at Junas for second before he turned to Saika. "What is your name reporter?" he asked.
"Uh, m-my name is Saika"
"I see. Then Miss Saika, I'll give you some advice. Don't go talk to Junas right now."
"Then would you mind answering my questions?" Saika was beginning to feel more comfortable talking to the Drifters.
"Some, yes" Melchsee answered.
"Who are you, and what is your relation to the WISE?"
"I believe that Yoyo already answered those question."
"He said that your ideology differed, what did he mean by that?"
"We aren't that different. Like the WISE, we want to create a country for Psychiners and destroy the old government. The only real difference is that the Drifters don't want to make it on a pile of human corpses."
"Why do you want to destroy the government?"
"The prosecution and witch hunts." Melchsee voice was getting more hostile but Saika pressed the issue.
"But those are a result of the WISE invasion, Psychiners started this."
"No, they did not start it. Saika, I will only say one more thing about this topic and that is the name Grigori."
"A name fo-"
"No more!" Melchsee cut her off.
Saika moved on as quickly as she could "Ok. Umm, then Junas called you the most powerful person on the planet, what did he mean?"
"What do you think?"
"What I meant was, is that power from your organization or from your Psy?"
"Frankly, either would work." Melchsee tone was perfectly flat. "But it is the combination of the two that gives me the right to negotiate with the WISE."
"Yoyo mentioned a treaty what was he talking about?"
"The Drifters, Root and the WISE have a two year peace treaty that splits the island of Honshu into its respective countries. It also states that none of us will extend our control outside of Honshu unless such a request is made by an outside party."
"Why have you hidden who you are and your organization?"
"Well, it's a little more complicated than this but regardless of how powerful we are, we're not omnipotent. While it's unlikely that any of the fanatics could harm us, it is quite possible that our friends and families could get attacked simply for knowing us. I think you can understand our desire to avoid that situation."
"There's more to it than that, isn't there?" It was Junas that spoke this time. "Now that people know that you exist and that you oppose us, many hot headed Psychiners looking to prove themselves will likely try to attack your lands."
"That would have happened anyways with you guys avoiding our territory" Melchsee respond.
"True, even so, I apologize for the inconvinces we caused you." Junas said
"Are you sick, Junas?"
"I'm apologizing because I know you'll defend that trash you call citizens. It truly is a waste of Psy. More importantly we will be sending an ambassador to the Joint Council to help prepare for the Honshu treaty meeting."
"I see, thank you, Junas."
"These are going to be the last of my troops, do you mind if I leave?"
"No, you can leave." After he received the answer Junas leap away from the scene and disappeared into the horizon.
"Are you leaving too?" Saika asked Melchsee.
"Yes. In a minute," he replied.
"Can I ask you a few more question before that?" she asked.
"You may ask one more." Melchsee answered.
"Junas said that you'd defend your citizens, but you said that you wanted to destroy the government. Should we fear you?"
"Should you fear me?" said Melchsee as he thought about his answer. "Mrs. Saika, I do not know the answer to that question. But I will say this, as long as you are one of my citizens and remain within my borders I will do everything I can to protect you." Melchsee turned around and spoke to his men "Abyss, can you give me an update on the other WISE divisions?"
"Junas has linked up with Grana and Uranus and the three of them are pulling back along with Uranus' division. Grana's division is the one accepting their casualties so they will be there a little while longer but will likely move on soon. Also No. 07 says that Root is a little unhappy that we're dumping Canniss on them. So, we'll have to repay them for their trouble, but they will have everything ready by the time Dragon gets there."
"Good, Dragon take Gunner with you and go, after you've dropped off the prisoner you're to go on standby. Abyss, stay here until Grana's division has left the area. The on duty schedule remains the same. I here-by drop security status to Code Yellow. That is all." And with that Melchsee turned and sped off toward Tokyo. Gunner and Dragon threw Canniss on to Raksha, and mounted the dragon, before she took off flying south. Saika walked over to Abyss.
"I'm sorry Miss Saika, but we can't tell you anymore," Abyss informed the reporter.
"That's Ok, I'm just surprised, you guys seem like normal, compassionate people."
"Really, how are you people so biased? Are you implying that Psychiners aren't normal or compassionate?" Abyss' outburst took Saika totally by surprise. "At least most of the time, people don't know I'm a Psychiner. But you don't even seem to care." Abyss continued to fume as Saika apologized profusely. Until Yoyo told Abyss to calm down, and reminded her that most people's experience and knowledge of Psychiner was based on the WISE, so that kind of opinion was to be expected. Abyss told him, "It doesn't change the fact that what she said was incredibly rude," but didn't continue the conversation any further.
After a little while, Abyss informed Yoyo that Grana's division had pulled back and that they could leave. So the pair disappeared. Saika collapsed. Her director ran over, "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Saika shook her head slowly; she was pale and shaking all over. "Saika what's wrong?" the director asked, his concern for her growing.
"That woman's outburst was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me."
A/N:
1. I made up this term because I don't have a better name for a melee fighter if you know one please put it in a review.
2. Same as above I don't have a good name for a range based fighter.
3. The Star Commander System is a little different now. It does not affect Grana, Junas, or their positions but it does affect everyone else.
4. Translates to "sky tree emperor".
Also big thanks to Celespiral who did the editing/beta reading/she is practically my writing mom/boss. Without her and her numerous red pens (and black pens… and blue pens… and green pens… an-and oh god, no more, please) you would not be getting this fic.
Chapter Notes:
Frankly this was a long scene and most of the rest of the fic will be more broken up. This is also largely a prologue. So the next chapter will probably be a while, like a couple months.
This story is set 5 years after the end of the first war against the WISE. So some of the characters have changed (as you may have noticed), however their powers are still similar to before.
Reviews:
If you review, please either write an actual review with lots of constructive criticism or just write "good job". DO NOT give me a review of all praise and no meat. I don't know how to improve my writer for you if all I get is praise. You can also just put down an answer to any of my questions, but please let me know which question you are answering.
Your criticism can be for a previous chapter (just let me know which one) because at this point I plan on doing a rewrite after I have finished the story to stream line it.
Questions:
If you know the ages of everyone in the future it would be awesome if you could tell me, because I was having a hard time finding that.
What do you guys think of Saika and Canniss? Saika is in for sure, but her character can use some fleshing out and Canniss is up in the air. So if there is a trait you like or a reason you think Canniss should come back, let me know.