AN: Welcome to the first chapter of "What Lies Beyond The Blue Sea". This story is based a few months after where the anime ended. The main character of the story is Akira Carvalho an american teen who volunteered on a top secret project which merged Humans with the DNA of the FOG. Along with him many others volunteered for the program but only a few managed to successfully merged. During his escape from the facility where he was being kept something goes awry and he ends up drifting alone in the sea only to be rescued by someone he never expected. Well read to find out more, now without further ado let's begin.
Text=Characters Thoughts
Disclaimer: I do not own Arpeggio Of Blue Steel or any of it's characters besides the OC's. I am just someone who really enjoys the series.
Chapter 1: They are the Mist
"This is Trident one to Trident Two, Trident Two do you copy" a voice coming from an earpiece which was in the ears of a young man who looked like he was about 18 or so called to him. The teen had white hair and he seemed to be wearing admiral clothes. The teen then let out a sigh as he scratched his head. "Trident Two are you there? Come on dammit answer already Akira!" the voice called out once more but this time in what seemed frustration.
"Much better" the young man finally said. "This is Trident two reporting in. Are you all in position?" Akira asks and awaits eagerly for an answer.
"We've taken over the hanger, we're just waiting for you to take out the remaining guards and open the gate" the voice coming out of the earpiece responded. "Hurry up, I don't know how long it will take them to find the unconscious guards and sound the alarm" the voice said once more and Akira nodded.
"Alright got it I will make this quick", the person who was on the other end of the line seems to hang up and Akira stands up and studies his surroundings. "There is two guard towers over there and the switch for the gate should be inside one of them. Hmmm, I better be extra careful", Akira slowly begins to slip in the shadow avoiding anyone and everyone he knew was not part of their plan. After all this was a secret plan which no one beside five of them knew about, and he was pretty sure it was one that the commanders and the scientists on the island would not approve of. While walking Akira comes to a halt when he notices two guards.
"Hey buddy doesn't it feel weird being on this island with these freaks?" the guard on the right asked the one on the left. This question made Akira flinch in both anger and frustration which he had to keep inside him if he didn't want to be found.
"I know right. These kids are monsters, I mean come on they can fly, hover or whatever over water and one of them can freaking destroy a battleship by himself. They're nothing but monsters" the guard begins to laugh and the other one joins in. Slowly and carefully Akira brings the weapon behind his back forward and aims at the two targets which stand before him.
"Stun mode" Akira simply said. The weapons as if interacting with him responded with a simple "Acknowledged". Akira than fixes his gun on the first guard to the right and fires the first shot to his targets chest and when the second one suddenly turns to see where the shot came from he gets shot in the head and falls over. Akira slowly walks towards the two guards who had fallen victim to him and looks at them in disgust. "In front of us you guys call us humanity's salvation, but behind our backs you calls us monsters" Akira spits near them and makes his way to the first tower. He slowly walks up the stairs and knocks on the door.
"Huh who's there?" the soldiers asked but there was no response. "Hello?" the soldier asked again but still no response. He then grabbed his gun and slowly walked towards the door. When he opened the door he was surprised because there was no one there, well that's what he thought. Suddenly Akira shot from under the staircase and kicked the soldier inside making him drop his gun. The soldier takes a few jabs at Akira but he simply dodges it and kicks him in the face then punches him in the gut knocking him unconscious.
"Nighty night" Akira said with a smirk. He then began to look around for anything which resembled a lever or at least a switch which could open the giant gate which was blocking his path to freedom. But to his disappointment there was nothing. "Damnit not here" he said as he hit the control panel. He then pressed a button on his earpiece and began to talk, "Trident Two to Trident One, I've immobilized the first tower but there's nothing here". He then let out a sigh of disappointment.
"Roger that Trident Two" the voice said once again. "It probably means the switch is on the second tower. But hurry up before they start getting suspicious" this then made Akira remember something and he had to ask it before he forgot.
"Any news on Trident Three?" Akira asked.
"They are still on look out for any sign of troubles, he reported in a few minutes ago and he said there was a bit more movement" the voice said and let out a sigh. "Anyways hurry up and immobilize the second target the switch should still be there if not we can just use the Gravity Gun".
"Let's hope it's there. After all we're trying to sneak out of here, we're not trying to wake everyone up" Akira said in an amused voice and the person on the other side of the line responded in kind.
"Alright then keep your fingers crossed, we're waiting for you squad leader. Trident One out" the line went dead again and the person on the other side seemed to had hanged up.
"Now then let's move to target two", Akira then slowly slid out of the first tower and made sure to close the door behind him so no one would suspect that anything was wrong. He made his way slowly in the shadows although his white clothes weren't what one would consider stealth clothing. He came to a stop again behind a bunch of boxes and what halted him this time was a guard pacing from one side to the other. "Hmm, taking him out with a gun would be easier but knocking him out might prove to be much faster". In a blink of an eye Akira was behind the soldier and did what seemed like a karate chop to the back of the soldier's neck. The soldier then feel on the ground like a lump of wood and Akira slowly dragged him behind the boxes then continued on to his target. This time he knocks on the door but to his surprise no one answers. After a few minutes he decides to head inside only to notice it was empty. But this didn't matter because he found the switch he was looking for. He pulled it down and the gate began to open.
"Good job Trident Two!" The voice from his earpiece said in excitement. "Now hurry up to the gate, the ship will be there waiting for you", Akira followed the instruction of the voice and headed outside. He reached the docking area where cargo ship left the cargo and he found two ships there.
"Looking good, Hiruge" said Akira as he looked at the girl who stood above the ship.
"Shup up pervert!" the young girl yelled with a slight blush on her face.
"Come on jump on" a young man's voice said and Akira jumped on to the ship. But when all seems to have succeeded a bombardment of lights surround the two ships and a man with glasses slowly walks forward with a grin on his face.
"Where do you think you're going?" the man asked and a frown forms on Akira's face.
"If you can't see we're leaving" Akira simply answers back.
"Oh my is our hospitality not good enough for you" the man said in a dramatic voice. Everyone could simply see that he was acting out the pained heart reaction. "I'm sorry to tell you, but even if you dislike our hospitality we cannot allow you to leave" the man said and all the soldiers which were around him pointed their guns the three people who stood on the deck of the boat.
"Sorry but from where I come from there's something called freedom of choice. Meaning just because I accepted this stupid experiment doesn't mean you own us" Akira then turned his head to the white haired girl and simply called out her name "Hiruge". In a fraction of a second lasers pointed on every single soldier which stood on the dock. "Sorry commander Hiroshi but we're leaving" an angered look clearly forms on the man's face and he orders the soldiers to fire as the ships began to move. A field which seemed to be black surrounded Akira and a green one surrounded Hiruge and the ship. The last person aboard the ship was surrounded in a red one and none of the bullets even seemed to touch them.
"Stop them at all costs deploy the battleships imbeciles, they cannot be allowed to escape especially Akira" the soldiers nodded and raced back inside the hanger. The ships began to speed up and more and more frustration seemed to fill the man who was known as commander Hiroshi. "Akira you have gone to far this time, I will make sure you suffer" a grin which almost seemed evil formed on his face.
"Phew close call Akira" the other boy on the ship said as both ships made it through the gate. The other young man which accompanied Hiruge and Akira was known as Shun Michibara. A teen from Japan who also accepted to take part in the experiment. He was the admiral of this ship which was also called the Hiruge Ichigo, named after the girl. Hiruge was also of Japanese descent.
"That was a brilliant idea you came up with, didn't think he would see through it though Shun" Akira said as he let out a sigh. "But guess that's what makes him fit to be called commander of that place" Akira said as he looked to the sky.
"They will be coming back soon" another voice said but this time coming from the other ship which was parallel to the Hiruge. "I don't know what they will send after us let's just hope it's just normal battleships and no MIST among them".
"Hey Bors nice of you to join in" Akira said with a smile. Bors was a russian and also 'Trident Three' the third member of The Trident Squad. His ship was the Rosanna which was the name of the girl it belonged to. Rosanna Walsh was German and like everyone else she also participated in the experiment. "Well I hope that that's what happens too"
"That's not something we should just hope for, but also something we should wish for" Rosanna said catching the attention of the others. "We have no ammo and besides the Klein field we have nothing to defends ourselves with besides the Gravity Guns which only the guys have" Rosanna said with a concerned look.
"That's all we need" said Akira as he touched the gun which was attached to his back by a weapon pouch. "If push come to shove I will use 'That'" Akira said and everyone gasped at the suggestion he had made.
"Are you nuts!?" Bors asked. "Using the Super Gravity Cannon can kill you idiot! Remember we boys don't merge quite well with the FOG DNA so using that is suicide" Bors then let out a sigh and looked at Akira again. "Yukianesa wouldn't want you to use, it puts a lot of strain on you"
"I know but it's worth doing if it means freedom" Akira said with a serious look which then softened. "But don't worry, I will only use it IF and only IF it becomes extremely necessary" suddenly an explosion was heard and the Hiruge began to tremble.
"Admiral we have take damage on the port side and the lower levels" Hiruge said as she looked at Shun. "It seems the blast penetrated through the Klein field meaning it can only be a Gravity gun or a Klein field based weapon" Hiruge stated.
"Klein field based weapons and also Gravity gun" said Akira as he looked through a binocular. "Seems Hiroshi brought out the calvary" Akira then grabbed his gun and jumped to the highest part of the ship, and since Hiruge was a Heavy Cruiser Akira could get a perfect view of the enemies of the other ships. "Time to work on my sniping skills. Scope" Akira called out and a scope appeared on his gun. Akira started raining fire on his enemies and Bors and Shun joined him in where he stood and began firing as well. The three were pro shots because with every gunshot they took out an enemy. Suddenly one of the ships began to open revealing a massive cannon and this was bad news.
"Oh shit it's a Super Gravity Cannon, scatter!" yelled Bors. Upon these words the Rosanna and the Hiruge broke apart and moved farther from each other. The ocean began to split and the cannon fired once fully charged. The blast stopped upon hitting an island and turning it into dust. The blast radius was quite large and Akira could only be grateful to Bors quick thinking for that would've been their end.
"Are they nuts!? What happened to them trying to catch us?" Shun asked in anger.
"Seems Hiroshi doesn't need us anymore, even if he kills us he can come up with a sorry excuse that we deserted or something" said Akira while shooting someone who was rapidly hovering over the water trying to catch up to the ships. The two other ships which stopped after the first one began to perform the same actions as the first ship. "Looks like I have no choice" Akira said looking at the others.
"Wait Akira maybe we can sti-" Bors sentence was stopped when Shun put a hand on his shoulder.
"Let him do it, It's not like we have much of a choice" Shun said with a look of pain on his face. He was too weak and that's why Akira had to do something that could kill him.
"I'm sorry guys" Akira said as he looked down. "Hey Hiruge can you scan and see if there's any sunken ships around these parts?" Akira asked and Hiruge nodded.
"There's plenty right below us" Hiruge answered. Akira then jumped to the deck and patted her head.
"If anything happens to me watch over these idiots" Akira then smiled at her and Hiruge nodded while looking like she was trying to fight back her tears. Akira the jumped of the ship and a black rectangle which seemed to be made out of hexagons formed under his feet. He raised his gun pointing straight at the two ships and electricity began to accumulate around him. Slowly pieces of sunken ships began to rise from the bottom of the ocean and slowly form a shape in front of him. The shape resembled one of the cannons which were installed in the other ships.
"Is he going to be ok?" Rosanna asked.
"We can only hope so" Shun responded. The cannon on the other ship seemed nearly ready to fire right about the time the cannon in front of Akira had done forming. Akira's began to charge and then the cannons of both ships fired. In a fraction of a second Akira's cannon was fully charged and he yelled.
"Super Gravity Cannon...Fire!" the cannon fired and it's size was unbelievably larger than those of both the ships upon contact between the three beams of light a large explosion happened creating a massive wave.
"Speed forward!" Shun called out. And both the Rosanna and the Hiruge moved forward. The large wave split in two and headed to both sides and upon impact Akira and both the ships were hit. Shun as the others stood in shock as they watched Akira vanish before them with a smile on his face. "AKIRA!" Shun called out as his friend vanished under the waves. After the wave dispersed the others returned only to find no traces of either Akira or the other ships anywhere. It took a while for reality to step in but they had to accept that Akira was gone...or was he?
5 days later somewhere in the Pacific Ocean...
"These days are rather lonely and boresome..." said a pale-blonde hair made into two spiky buns with two long locks framing her face. Her eyes were crimson and she sat looking at the sky. She was on the deck of her ship and with the only person she could call a friend gone she drifted alone in the seas. "What exactly was I fighting for?" she questions herself when she picks something up on her radar. "There's an object approaching the ship" she says to herself as she rises from the chair, her dark purple ballgown dragging behind her and she walks towards the rails to see what was in the water. To her surprise there is a human floating on what resembled to be a piece of a ship and he also seems to be unconscious. "A human?", she slowly uses her Klein field to descend toward the unconscious figure and uses her Klein field to help him onto the deck of the ship. "I really have changed...the old me would never help a human no matter the circumstances" she thought to herself when suddenly the figure begins to awaken.
"Where am I...?" Akira asked as he slowly opened his eyes. He looked around only to notice that he was on a ship under the blazing sun. This meant it was no longer night and also that he was probably not where the others were.
"Are you alright?" a voice asks him and when he turns his head towards where the voice was coming from he comes face to face with a girl who seemed to be in her late teens. "I found you drifting in the ocean...what exactly happened?", she asked having a pretty good feeling of what the answer was. After all judging by his uniform anyone could see he was an Admiral.
"I was trying to help my friends...and I got swept away by the sea" said Akira as he tried to sit up. It took quite the effort since it literally felt like every bone in his body was broken.
"I see" the figure said.
"My name is Akira Carvalho...What is yours?" Akira asked as he looked at the girl.
"My name is Kongou" she then took a deep breath because the words she was about to say next would clearly change the boy's attitude towards her. "I am from the FOG" a surprised look begins to form on Akira's face then it dies down revealing a smile.
"It's been a while since I met someone from the FOG who was this kind" Akira said with a smile stunning Kongou. It was the first time she had ever seen another human besides Chihaya Gunzou act like this to someone from the FOG. "Thank you" Akira said as he reached out to shake her hand. Kongou awkwardly grabbed it and this made Akira let out a laugh. This made Kongou slightly blush in embarrassment. "What day is it?" Akira asked. Considering how hyped he felt it could only mean he was asleep for longer than he thinks.
"It's year 2056, June 17. Why do you ask?" Kongou asked him only to see a surprised Akira.
"CRAAAAP! I'VE BEEN DRIFTING IN THE OCEAN FOR FIVE DAYS!?" yelled Akira in surprise, frustration and many other things. "What ocean am I in?" Akira asked hoping that this time he wouldn't get bad news but he had a feeling he was going to receive another bad news.
"Pacific" Kongou simply replied and Akira turned completely pail.
"I'm miles away from the Atlantic how far exactly did that wave take me?" Akira asked as he let out sigh. "Well doesn't matter knowing the others they probably are safe, and as long as I'm away from them I'm safe to"
"Away from who, your friends?" Kongou asked.
"Nope someone else who is a real pain in the neck" Akira said as he clenched his fist. "Now I wonder what to do. I have nowhere to go" Akira then let out a sigh and Kongou couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for him.
"You can stay in my ship for as long as you wish, but do not try anything funny for you will not be forgiven" Kongou said back in her usual voice making Akira tremble a little.
"Forgot the FOG can also be terrifying" thought Akira as a sweat drop appeared on his face.
"Follow me, I will show you to your quarters" Kongou began to walk ahead and Akira followed behind him. The arrived at a room which had a bed and many other appliances one would need.
"You may stay here, and I also think I might have someone who can help you" Kongou said and then started to walk away when Akira grabbed her arm.
"I'm really thankful, I will make sure one day I repay you for this" Kongou nodded and began to walk away and Akira headed inside the room and jumped on the bed. "Man that plan really went south just when I thought everything was going smoothly" thought Akira as he let out a sigh. "Leave it to Hiroshi to turn our most well thought of plan into a deadly trap, well I still got away and so did the others so all well that end well. Yukianesa...if you are watching this now I bet you're surprised" even with all the sleeping he had Akari slowly began to drift to sleep.
"He's a strange one" said Kongou to herself as she sat back at the chair on the deck of the ship. She then let out a sigh and looked towards the sky. "I said I would help him but the only person I know capable of lending him a hand is Chihaya Gunzou. I guess I must call him, I think I will do that a bit later for now I shall go back to resting" she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
"Ahhhh! I'm bored!" said Makie as she facedesked. They had been in the ocean for a while moving for place to place but they had nothing to do so they were getting pretty bored.
"Makie I know it has been pretty slow but there is no need to get so down" said Haruna as she put her hand on top of Makie's head.
"Gunzou is there anything there anything to do?" Makie asked as he looked at Gunzou who was sitting in the admiral's. His look clearly stated that he was as bored as anyone else in the submarine.
"Unfortunately we have no deliveries or anyone to save, so today is a slow day but since there is not fighting it's not that bad" Gunzou said as he yawned.
"Umm Gunzou...there seem to be someone trying to communicate with us" said So as he turned his head to look at Gunzou although his helmet can't let anyone quite see what expression he had on.
"Put it through" Gunzou simply said. The screen suddenly opened and a man wearing a suit and a wide smirk on his face.
"Hello there Chihaya Gunzou" the man said with his smirk still remaining. "I'm commander Hiroshi. It's nice to finally meet the man who controls l-401" the Hiroshi said with a grin.
"First off I don't control Iona and second off what exactly do you want" Gunzou said with an annoyed look haunting his face.
"You see a few days back a dangerous group of people escaped my facility" this began to catch the attention of Gunzou and the others in the submarine, even Iona became interested. "I would like you to catch them because they prove to be dangerous to humanity. I hope you understand what that means" the man said with a smirk on his face.
"I understand, so who are these people I am looking for?" Gunzou asked.
"They are Bors" a picture of Bors appeared on the screen. He had brown hair and blue eyes, he looked strong and was wearing the same admiral clothes as Akira was last seen in. "The next one is Rosanna" a girl with blonde hair appeared on the screen, her eyes were red and she was wearing a white dress. "The third one is Shun" a boy with black hair and dark colored eyes appeared on screen and like Bors he was wearing the same Admiral type clothes. "The fourth one is Hiruge" a girl in classic Japanese clothes appeared, her hair white and her eyes green. "The last one is Akira" an angry look then begins to form on Hiroshi's face at the mention of Akira. "Be careful around the girls and the last boy. So can I leave this to you?" Hiroshi asked.
"Alright I accept" Gunzou said.
"I leave you to it then" Hiroshi said. "Have a good day" the screen went black, then it closed.
"Hey Gunzou is this really a good idea?" Kyohei asked. "This seems kinda fishy, and I have a really bad feeling about this" Kyohei then scratched his head while trying to think about a good way to explain his gut feeling.
"If Gunzou is going then so am I" Iona said. This made Takao feel sort of angry and jealous but he didn't let it show.
"Thank you Iona, but before we go I need to do some research" Gunzou said while looking at So.
"On it" Sou simply said. He then began to punch some letters and numbers into the computer at a really fast pace and he let out a whistle of amazement. "Woah they have a high security on the files of these five" Sou said while turning his head towards Gunzou.
"Can you break through it?" Gunzou asked.
"Nothing I can't handle" So went back into punching in keys and codes and after a while he stop, frozen in what seemed shock and amazement. "Guys...you might want to check this out" Sou said while slowly turning his head to the others.
"Put it on the screen" Gunzou said and So did as he was instructed. The screen opened once more and on it appeared data of people and a project known as "The MIST Project".
"What is this!?" Gunzou asked in shock as he looked at the data which stood in front of him. "This project is mad!" thought Gunzou as a sweat drop appeared on his face.
"Humans were actually this desperate..." Takao stared in shock.
"This is really is unbelievable..." said Haruna
"The MIST...stronger than the Humans yet weaker than the FOG" Iona said as she looked at the screen. "The ones we were sent to go look for are some of the ones who were successful specimen... Gunzou this might be dangerous" Iona said while turning her head to face him.
"Gunzou we have another person trying to connect to us...I-it's Kongou!" Sou said in surprise.
"Put her through" Gunzou said.
"Hello Chihaya Gunzou" Kongou said.
"Well this is strange of you, I can't believe the almighty Kongou would contact us on her free will" Takao said with smirk on her face. "What is it so important that you would contact us?" Takao asked.
"Well...umm you see I found this admiral drifting along the sea and decided to lend him a hand" Kongou said with a slight blush.
"Kongou...helping a human!? It's the end of the world!" Kyohei said acting dramatic. This got him some laugh from the others but made Kongou slightly annoyed.
"I want to see if you would lend him a hand" Kongou said.
"I will see what I can do but, before that did he give you his name?" Gunzou asked.
"If I remember correctly, he said his name was Akira Carvalho" At the mentioning of the name Gunzou and the others eyes widen.
"Where are you Kongou?" Gunzou asked without hesitation.
"I am in the pacific" Kongou said. This was good for Gunzou and the others because they were in the same Ocean as her meaning they could reach her in less than a day.
"Send me the coordinates" Gunzou demanded and Kongou did as she was instructed although she had no Idea why he was in such a hurry. After receiving the coordinates Gunzou thanked Kongou then hanged up. "Iori fire up the engines" Gunzou commanded.
"Roger that, here we go" Iori responded and the submarine 401 began to move. This was going to lead them to a meeting that would change the face of the war. Although Gunzou and the others were still shocked about the horror which was known as the "MIST Project". With this the beginning of a new adventure was around the corner.
AN: Well there goes chapter one of "What Lies Beyond The Blue Sea". This is my first shot at a Arpeggio of Blue Steel fanfic. I hope you enjoy reading it and see you all next time. Thanks for reading ^^.