Chapter 1 – The Tragedy
*Ex-script from the diary of Haruka Rotama, August 3rd 2042, South Okinawa*
Joshiro, Yin, and my self, descended the rope that lead deeper into the cave.
"Why is it so damn hot down here? Is this hole damn island just a big volcano?" I heard Joshiro say. As our feet touched solid ground again, Yin spoke up next.
"Seriously, If we didn't need the money so bad, I would just bail on this job." Yin was right about this. None of use had a good feeling about this job, but we were very low on macca. Because we were freelance, our choice of jobs were very limited. I took another look around the cave.
"It's hard to believe a place like this exists on this tiny island," I said. Suddenly, I heard voices coming from the other side of the passage. "Hey, you here that? It's coming from over there." We moved to the side of the passage, which ended in a sharp drop. We peered over the edge, to try and pinpoint the voices. Three men and one woman were standing at the bottom.
"Well that was fun," said one of the voices. "Remind me why we are crawling around this awful pit? We all know this thing doesn't exist."
"Maybe because Takuya is paying a lot of macca?" Said another. "We can't afford to be picky about jobs." Sounded to me like they were in the same situation we were, but why had Lord Takuya not mentioned that he had hired other hunters? The first voice spoke up again.
"I've heard that one before, and after that last one, the new guy is dead, and you damn near lost an arm!"
The third man, who was wearing heavy armor, spoke next." "Will you two knock it off? It's bad enough that the demons are trying to kill us, I don't need you two adding to my headaches! Anyway, did you see anything up ahead, Lelu?" I assumed he was addressing the blue haired woman.
"Sorry, Kio. It's a real maze down here. I honestly can't even tell if we are just going in circles," she responded, and Kio sighed.
"Well, that figures. Even if this artifact does exist, It's not going to be found that easy. Come on, Sunanomi, let's move out. You too, Dasu."
"SIR, YES SIR! MOVING OUT, SIR..." Said the younger man in obvious sarcasm, and they left the chamber. I looked over at Joshiro, who seemed to be pondering something.
"Kio and Lelu... Now I remember. Back in Tokyo, there was this big rumor of a Gaian and Messian falling in love with each other. Apparently it caused a big uproar, and they left for Okinawa to get away from being persecuted. I never thought that it was actually real."
"Who the hell cares?" Yin responded. "It's obvious we aren't the only people Takuya hired, and they have a head start on us." Yin looked around, and spotted another rope that we assumed the other group had used to climb down. "I guess we have no choice but to follow their tracks." As we prepared to descend the rope, a groan from the far end of the cave caught our attention. A pair of slimes were moving in our direction.
"Slimes again?" Joshiro whined. "I was hoping for something a little more challenging."
"We can always use the practice," I said. "Joshiro, hit them hard and fast, Yin use your fire rounds. I'll cover you guys!" I drew my handgun from its holster. In the past, I usually stayed behind to concentrate on healing, but I had started to get a taste for combat. Though I didn't use elemental magic to charge my bullets like Yin.
"Here they come!" Yin shouted, and we jumped into action. Joshiro, a heavy armor and spear user, jumped at the nearest slime, and brought his spear down. The slime was knocked back, and I finished it off with a shot from my revolver. With a loud crack, Yin fired a shot from his shotgun, and the other slime burst into flames, due to his elemental rounds.
"Piece of cake." Joshiro said. "Let's seen what's down there." I nodded in response, and we climbed down the second rope. There were a number of different passages at the bottom, and we had trouble find our way around the cave. Several times we had to retrace our steps. This was not fun, due to the fact that the cave was also infested with Onmoroki. They proved to be easy meat for Yin's Ice shots, and Joshiro mostly took a defense stance during engagements.
Eventually, we came to an underground lake. "Man, I'm thirsty!" Joshiro said, and moved to to water's edge.
"Are you seriously going to drink that?" Yin asked. We managed stop him when I noted that the water was likely contaminated. Yin heartlessly told him that it was his own fault, and I gave Joshiro a sip from my canteen.
"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get payed and grab dinner," I said. We continued down the tunnels, when Joshiro stopped, and readied his spear.
"Come out of there!" He shouted. I looked over to where he was pointing, and saw a Pixie peaking her head out from around a corner. I always felt guilty about fighting these, though Yin and Joshiro didn't seem to care. Fairy types were usually the least hostile towards humans, and the pixies were just so cute! Hey, I like cute things! Don't judge me!
"M-more humans?" She said, as she flew out to us. "Hey, can you do me a favor? I got lost down here, and now I can't get back to the surface! I'll heal you, if you can get me out of here!" My partners looked at me to say no, but I ignored them and nodded my head. "R-really? Then let's go!" The pixie healed us with Dia magic, and we continued down the tunnels until the sounds of battle could be heard.
"Hey! I think it's those guys from before!" Joshiro said, and we sneaked up behind the other group. Kio and Lelu were fighting with a strange tree like demon, while the blue haired man covered them with a rifle. The young man with brown hair, used a ceremonial dagger, to cast the demonic spell of agi, which surprised me since demonic magic was more difficult to master than angelic.
"You want some more? Here yah go!" Kio yelled and struck the demon with his katana, but the demon didn't falter. "Why won't this thing die?" Joshiro took a step forward, but kicked a rock by accident. The noise caused the other group to whip around. "Who the hell are you!" Kio said. This brief moment of distraction, allowed the demon to counter attack. I watched Kio scream and get knocked back. Lelu let out a screech, and tried to come to his aid.
"Watch out!" Joshiro yelled, and before I could stop him, he rushed to Lelu, and pushed her out of the way. The strike intended for Lelu, hit Joshiro, and cut through is armor.
"Joshiro!" I yelled, and Yin held me back as I tried to run to his side. He collapsed on the ground as blood started to leak from his side. Kio stood back up, and reformed with Lelu.
"You there! Join up with Sunanomi and Dasu! Help us take this thing down, or we're all dead!" We nodded in response, and turned our weapons on the tree like demon. Before we could do anything, we were hit with a blast of mazan force magic. I cast a media to get every one back on their feet, and Kio jumped at the demon. His blade cut through the demon, and it let out a roar.
"Kio! Get out of the way, Man!" Dasu yelled. Yin and Sunanomi had finished preparing their fire shots, and Dasu began to cast another agi. The combined might of the fire shots and and demonic magic finally caused the creature to stagger. The demon cast another blast of mazan, and we were all knocked off our feat. All except Lelu. I aimed my handgun at the demon's face, and squeezed off several shots, as Lelu plunged her blade into the demons backside. The demon gave one final roar, before it collapsed.
"I think we got him," said the blue haired Sunanomi. "Yell if you're dead."
"Yeah, real funny." Kio responded, and turned to my team. "Thank you for the help, little lady. Since you saved our asses, go ahead and see what that thing was guarding." Kio pointed at the space behind where the demon was standing. A very old looking box was wedged into a corner. Dasu immediately objected.
"What? But, Kio-"
"Shut up, Dasu! We wouldn't have survived that if not for them!" Kio yelled. I made my way over to the box, and opened it. Inside was a single old key. I showed what I found to the rest of the group, and Kio looked it over.
"I doubt that's the artifact Takuya wanted, but that key should at least prove that we did the job of investigating this cave. He'll have to pay us something."
"Yeah, well let's get out of here before something else shows up," Yin said. Kio and Lelu lifted up Joshiro's unconscious body.
"He looks pretty beat up," Lelu said. "We need to get him to our doctor. You guys go first, and clear the way." Getting out of that cave was not an easy ordeal. Between the Onmoroki, and having to pull Joshiro up the ropes, it took almost an hour to get back to the surface. I breathed deep when we finally exited the cave.
"Woo! Finally!" Said the pixie, whom I forgot was tailing us. "Thanks, humans! I'll see you around." She flew off towards the town.
"Over there," Kio said, and pointed to a nearby cabin. "Our doctor can take a look at his wounds, while we sort out the artifact issue." We pulled Joshiro into the cabin, and were greeted by the voice of a young Chinese woman.
"Welcome back, guys. Um, who are they?"
"Xia, we got a problem over here!" Lelu said, and Xia walked over. "Oh, that's our doctor, Xia Fong."
"Damn! What happened to him?"
"We had a close encounter with an over sized and pissed off... you know, I don't even know what that was. Do you think you can patch him up?" Kio asked.
"It looks worse than it actually is, but he will be out for a while. Help me get him over to the bed." The guys hauled him to the bed, and Xia started treating Joshiro's wounds. I could have healed him with my angelic magic if I was a master, but since I was a novice, all I could do was watch, and hope Xia knew what she was doing. Kio walked back to the rest of us.
"Now then, let's talk business. I really do appreciate the help, but we can't just hand over the reward for finding that artifact."
"Took the words right outta my mouth," Yin responded.
"Here's what I propose. You two go back to town with Sunanomi and Dasu, and report to Takuya that it was a joint effort. We'll split the macca evenly. In the meantime, we'll get him stable enough that he can be moved back to town."
I thought for a minute, then decided that this was the best way to resolve it. "I will agree to this," I said. Yin did not look happy. Sunanomi responded with "That's fair", and Dasu just said "Whatever".
"When you get back to town, look for our coordinator. He's a European, so he should be easy to find. He should still be at the tavern. Just tell him I sent you, and he'll do the rest."
"Well, we should get going," I said, and we turned to leave.
"Hold on a sec," Kio said, and we turned back to him. "You guys are freelance, right?"
"Yeah, what of it?" Yin responded.
"Well why don't you join our unofficial hunter clan, Red Earth. With you, we would have enough to ask Takuya to grant us official status, and we could use more fighters."
"You won't find a more laid back group," Lelu chimed in. "Kio and I, try to be fair, so you don't have to worry about being pushed around." These two did seam pretty nice for hunters. Especially if what Joshiro said was true about them being Gaian and Messian. I thought for a few minutes, as this would be a life changing decision.
"Would it be okay if we tried it out first?" I finally responded. "Our last hunter clan didn't work out so well, and I'm a little hesitant to do this again." Kio seemed to accept this.
"I suppose that's fair. We can sort that out later, so just tell Connor that you will be joining us, and to ask Takuya to get us registered as real hunters." Sunanomi looked hesitant, and Dasu like he opposed.
"Are you sure we can trust them? I mean, we just met by chance," Sunanomi said.
"We need them. Otherwise we will be stuck with crap jobs like this. Do you really want to go hunting for ghosts in a volcanic cave again? I would say it's in all of our interest, and they don't seem like back stabbers." Kio responded. Sunanomi accepted this, and nodded.
"Then let's go and get our macca. I'm ready to go when you are."
"Great to have you," Lelu said. "We'll have to celebrate tonight, if Takuya agrees." She turned back to Joshiro. "Don't worry about him. If Xia says he will be okay, then he will be okay. We'll meat up at Gushikami inn." Sunanomi, Dasu, Yin, and myself, left the cabin, and made our way back to town.
"Looks like the tide is still low enough that we won't have to swim." Sunanomi turned to me. "It might be a little late, but my name is Sunanomi. That's Daisuke Hiragi, though we just call him Dasu." Dasu just grunted an affirmation. Sunanomi looked European, and wore a blue suit to match his hair, along with some basic body armor. His eyes were a light brown, and had a strange headset, complete with a microphone. Dasu had long brown hair, and wore glasses over his blue eyes. He wore a dark read sweater, and a pair of blue pants.
"Well, nice to meat you, I guess. I'm Haruka Rotama," I responded. I could hear Yin mutter something along the lines of "I still don't think this is a good idea". Ever since we were kick out of our last hunter clan, Yin had really become bitter. I hope this new clan will help him lighten up.
Exiting the tiny island, we made our way back to Gushikami, avoiding the occasional roaming pixie or haqet. The town itself, was rather small and didn't receive much attention from the reconstruction projects. The only real notable location, was a small mansion that Lord Takuya was using as a vacation home. The rest of the town was mostly rubble, and few rebuilt houses and shops. I saw the pixie from earlier fly overhead, much to the dismay of the local population. We headed towards the tavern, to mean up with the Red Earth informant. He was sitting at a table, while staring at some papers. His odd hairstyle and facial complexion was very much European.
"That's Connor Macky, our informant," Sunanomi said, as we pushed passed all the drunks. "He gathers information, and handles job negotiations. He can get get us in to see Takuya."
"And I hope you brought something to show him," Connor said, looking up. "Did you find it?"
"What the hell did you expect?" Dasu snapped. "Do you really think something with the powers of God exists? All we found was some old key."
"That should at least prove we searched the caves," Sunanomi added. "Doubt it will be of any use, but you never know. Either way, he owes us the dispatch fee."
"Okay, so are you going to tell me who they are?" Connor asked.
"Some freelancers that lent us a hand in the caves. Haruka and Yin, and they will be joining us. Oh, and there is another one that was injured. Xia and the boss stayed behind to patch him up, but they wanted you to request official hunter status."
"Then, let's get this over with. I really can't stand Takuya."
*The next few paragraphs are illegible, but they are assumed to detail Connor taking the others to Takuya's mansion. Legible content picks up during negotiations*
"I'm surprised you were able to cover that much ground in so little time," Lord Takuya told us. "I guess Gara's idea of hiring freelances will save us some trouble with the Federation." Lord Takuya, at age 30, was one of the youngest of the hero's ex retainers. Having control of all of Okinawa should speak for his strength. He sat in the middle of the room, while his assistant, Nakaido Gara, stood at his side.
"We took a look at that key you brought us." Gara said, "It may have something to do with that artifact the Federation is so keen on finding. Unfortunately, it's useless as it is, and we have no more leads."
"Assuming it isn't just an old piece of Junk," Takuya added. "Still, I'm sure we can tell the Federation something that will get them off my back for a while. For that, I'll give you your half of the finders fee. The rest goes to the Red Earth group."
"Thank you, sir!" Connor responded, and handed me our half of the macca. Oh, and macca is the currency we use in the new world. "Sir!" Connor spoke up again. "We wish to petition for the right of official hunter status. The freelancers are joining us, and we now fulfill all the requirements of doing so."
"Hmm, you do show some potential," Takuya responded. "But we have no available buildings for you to use as a base of operations."
"Actually, sir. 'THAT' building is still unused. You know, the one Clan Sabre used to use?" Gara said.
"Oh, that's true. Very well, Red Earth. I grant you official status." Takuya handed Connor a packet of papers. "Fill those out, and deliver them to me in Naha. You'll find Sabre's old house just outside the city." With that, we left Takuya's presence.
*Ex-script from the digital log of Takuya Yamato*
They seemed to accept that line we fed them about the artifact, though as Gara told me later, it didn't really matter if they did or not. Just keeping the Federation away was really all we needed. We couldn't waste anymore time on their wild goose chases. Still, it wouldn't work forever. We needed to accelerate our original plans, so we could move against the Federation, and their treacherous warlord dogs. Gara also pointed out that there were still some critical materials we needed, but I think I found a solution to that problem.
*Attached digital log entry ends, and Haruka's account of the day continues*
As we exited Takuya's mansion, we were met with a scream that still haunts me to this day. We looked over, just in time to see Lelu fly into the air, and land in front of us. Her neck was bent in an unnatural way, and she was leaking blood rapidly.
"Lelu! YOU SON OF A-" Horrified, we saw Kio jump at a demon that was attacking the town. It was the same demon that we fought in the caves. I will never know how it managed to survive our first assault. In a blind rage, Kio leaped at the demon. Because of his carelessness, we watched as a stake was driven into his chest. The demon lifted him up, and threw him towards us. He landed with a ground, and tried to sit up, as Sunanomi rushed to his side.
"Kio! What the hell happened? How did that thing follow us?"
"I don't... know but... have to run... too strong. Get Joshiro and Xia... leave me!"
"Too late!" Yin said, and we raised our weapons.
"You lousy bastard!" Dasu yelled and hit the demon with an agi blast, as Sunanomi tried to drag Kio away from the demon. The demon rapidly approached, while Dasu and Yin tried to hold it back as I attended to Kio.
"Damn it! His wounds aren't closing" I yelled. "My angelic magic isn't strong enough!"
"Back us up, you two!" Yin yelled and Sunanomi and I started putting rounds into the demon. Because it was already injured. It didn't take to long to bring it down. Dasu walked over to it's corpse and hit it with a few agi blasts to make sure it was dead this time.
"Did you.. get.. it," Kio asked, as he started breathing his last.
"Y-yeah. We got it, man." Dasu responded.
"Heh, n-nice.. work. Haruka, I.. leave my men... to you. Don't let... it end.. here. Wait for.. me.. L..e..l..u.."
"Kio? Lelu?" Dasu rushed over to them, but was stopped by Sunanomi.
"I'm sorry, but they're gone." I told them, while trying to hold back my tears.
*Several of the next lines are blurred due to water damage. Entry continues at Gushikami Inn.*
"No way! The deal is off!" Dasu yelled as we tried to calm him down.
"Dasu, I'm just as upset as you are. Hell, I feel like going on a rampage myself, but this isn't what Kio would have wanted. We can still salvage our group if we find a few replace.." That was a bad choice of words, as Sunanomi would later admit in his own audio log.
"WHO THE HELL CARES!" Dasu roared. "There's no point if they aren't here. I'm going to go find out what the hell is going on. You twits can do what you want!" Dasu stormed off, despite Sunanomi's protests.
"Seems he had the right idea." Yin said, and he turned to me. "Following you was a waste of time. I should have just stayed in Tokyo. I think you know the reason why."
"What the hell, Yin?" Joshiro said, who had recently woken up. "You know the Black Cats were on the verge of death when that happened!"
"Say what you want, but I would still have a place in Tokyo, if not for you two. I'm done here, goodbye." Yin left, and I felt my heart sink. The remaining members of Red Earth followed suit, until it was just Sunanomi. He turned to me before leaving.
"I'm sorry. I hope you have better luck than we did." Now it was just me and Joshiro.
"A-are you okay?" He asked.
"You should get some rest." I responded. "I need to collect my thoughts." I spent several hours thinking to myself, as well as recording the days events to my journal. After a while, I started talk to myself.
"What I'm I going to do now. Maybe I should just give up on being a hunter."
"I wouldn't say that." A sudden voice from behind made me jump. Sunanomi had returned to the Inn. There was an awkward silence between us, before he spoke up again. "H-how are you holding up?" He asked. I just shrugged in response.
"So, um.. about what happened." Sunanomi bowed to me. "I'm sorry for leaving. I wasn't thinking straight, and I doubt the others were either." He paused for a minute. "You seem like a decent person, and Kio seemed to see something in you. If it's alright with you, I would like to return and try to save our group. If we stick together, we may be able to stay as official hunters."
"It's okay, I'm not upset anymore." I responded with a small sigh. "But what can the three of us do?"
"I already talked to the others. Connor, Xia, and even Dasu agreed to come back. But for now, they want time to pay their respects to the boss and his girl."
"But what about you?" I asked.
"I think I'm okay now," He responded. "You know, those two were going to get married when we became real hunters."
"That's really too bad. They seemed like decent people, which is pretty rare these days."
"They actually saved me a while back. Found me in a pile of scrap metal with only a rifle and some broken armor. I have no memories past that point." Sunanomi had a pained expression on his face. "Yet they still took me in, and helped once my injuries healed. I've been working with them ever since. They were some of the few people I ever trusted."
"You don't trust others easily, do you? Are you sure you can trust me?" I wondered what was making him open up to me. He seemed so reserved.
"I think you're someone I can follow. There's something about you that..." Sunanomi paused again. "No, never mind. We should get to sleep, as we need to move out in the morning." I nodded at this and we headed upstairs to the rooms we rented.
"Amnesiac, huh?" I asked. "Is this the part where you reveal yourself to be a legendary dragon slayer?"
"Don't make me laugh," he responded. "Knowing my luck, I'll have the most boring past you can think of."
