Shadowstep, The New Battle - Intro

"Mushi mushi!" Silence on the other line.

"Takada, are you there?" Still no response.

Odd, must have been a miss-dial, oh well where were we? Oh yes that's right, greetings everybody, my name is Fuyu Tsuki. I am a college student living on an American-Japanese military base known as Misawa. I led a typical life, well rounded in all subjects, that is with the exception of military precision. Let me stop you there, you may be thinking "Oh, well he lives in the military, of course he excel's at it." wrong. In fact the only connection I have with the military is that it is my home. I was not born here nor do I have parents in the military.

As a matter of fact I am actually an orphan who took refuge at the base secretly for five years. That is until they finally caught me, hehe. For five years I remained hidden from them, perfecting my ability to sneak, erase my tracks, and survive. Once I was finally exposed, the commander of the base Major General Takada Urahara, took me under his wing and taught me everything he knew and more. He soon became my "father" and paid for my schooling. With the help of Takada by the time I was fourteen I was in college and breezing by class as if it were nothing. Three years later and now I am walking the stage at graduation, but that's when things get interesting.

It starts in the back of the ankle, then slowly moves up to engulf the calf. From there it attacks the knee and digs deeper into the bone. If, by some miracle, you are still standing it spreads to the hip. But not the whole hip, just the socket. If you are still mobile I congratulate from the hip it spreads to your other leg starting at the central knee. Then it spreads like wildfire throughout your entire leg. Pretty soon if you are dumb enough to still be moving, it targets your lower spinal cord causing extreme pain surges.

This, is Nerreo Stigma. the Torture disease. It is completely non-lethal, yet when it kicks in you may soon wish it was indeed lethal. Nerreo Stigma is caused by strenuous use of the lower back, and a exposure to Fermium, a radioactive metal used in now common military choppers. Many victims of Nerreo soon commit suicide after experiencing its pains.

The date is now AfterMass 132, Third Era, its been two months since I walked the stage and contracted Nerreo Stigma. No one knows of my suffering, they are all blind to my reality, my pain, my hate. Nerreo is not the only cause of this, why must the locals be tortured so? Why do they not revolt? What holds them back? Do they see? Do they hear? Do they feel? Do they live? No, they are all dead. All killed by Nerreo Stigma. All killed by the Soldiers, the had that poison's us daily, slowly eating away at our bodies, our sanity, our souls. The locals of Misawa are the rotting corpse and grave sites.

Why is it that mankind constantly thinks it control itself? One would think that we would have learned by now. But now it seems as though another Cesar must take the stage. The Japanese population is on the verge of being erased from mankind and a new hand of fate seems to have passed over the land.

"Their has been a lot of talk around the base Takada-san." I said as Mesa, Takada's only child, picked up our diner plates.

"Indeed there has, a lot rookies are talking about the riots in the Kanto Region."

"What are we going to do about it, if anything?"

"What do you mean by this Fuyu?"

"Well I guess I am just worried about the charisma of the new rookies. There are so few of them to begin with, especially the Japanese rookies."

"If the trouble comes to us then we will fix it, until then it is lights out for now."

"Yes sir, goodnight sir."

That fool! Doesn't he understand that the fight is already knocking at his door? He thinks we are all safe behind these steel walls of his, but in reality these walls are meant to keep us locked up in here with no hope of salvation. Someone needs to open Takada's eyes, the American's eyes. If only the riots were organized, maybe then they might accomplish something. The new Cesar needs to take his stage and begin the pending rebellion at hand.