NEVER Stratos Chapter 1: Training and a New Battle
"Again!"
"Hyah!" Shirou yelled as he landed another hit on the dummy. It has been a few days since Shirou had begun his training as a NEVER. As of now, his main weapon is the katana sword.
He wasn't being taught how to use just a simple katana, he was being trained on using Anti-IS weaponry to counter the device that made females dominant. They were able to purchase a few pieces of this technology from some using most of the funds they still had. As of now, one of the stronger weapons Shirou has in his arsenal is an Anti-IS sword.
"Even though you have just begun training, you're pretty good with that katana." Katsumi complimented.
"Arigatou, I remember that I learned kendo in my past life. I could remember my older sister teaching me, as well as learning from a dojo, but that is pretty much it."
"It's understandable. After you become a NEVER, you slowly lose memories from when you were still alive."
"I know…But I don't need a past to create a future." He said as his gazed drifted towards the floor.
"Those are words that are so true. Now then, instead of hacking away at a dummy, let's see how you do in actual combat." He said as he drew a combat knife.
"Is that what you are using? A combat knife?" Shirou asked as Katsumi twirled the short blade around his fingers.
"Yes. It's something I feel better suited for."
"Well, I'll just stick with my katana."
Katsumi nodded in understanding. "Let's go."
Shirou made the first move as he closed in quickly and swung his katana. Katsumi parried it with his knife as he side stepped and rushed towards Shirou and stabbed him through the ribs. However, the young boy didn't even flinch as he yanked the blade out and twisted Katsumi's wrist, causing him the drop the knife. Shirou aimed for a downward slash at the unarmed man, but he sent a sweep kick to knock Shirou off his feet. The older NEVER lunged for his fallen weapon and picked it up.
"You're doing pretty good so far." Katsumi complimented.
"Thanks."
"However, it's still not good enough." The elder Daido lunged forward and was bringing his knife down to slash Shirou, but the boy brought up his katana and blocked the smaller blade with the sharp edge and pushed it away. Seeing this chance, Shirou continued to press his attack by quickly slashing the man's body, leaving a rather deep wound across Katsumi's torso. A large red line was left from the attack as blood continued to trickle from the cut.
However, Katsumi didn't even register the pain as he continued the fight. He stepped in, but evaded Shirou's attack as he moved around and slashed the boy across the back.
Shirou simply flinched at the sharp pain as he performed a backslash. Katsumi simply jumped back as he expected the upcoming move. Both adopted siblings faced one another, weapons at ready. However, Katsumi just dropped his stance saying, "I think that is enough for right now."
Shirou relaxed his form as well.
It had been 5 years since Daido Shirou had become a NEVER, and barely even remembered some aspects of his past life. Since then, he has been trained through various methods to prepare him for combat purposes. However, his training is not based around only weaponry...
"Now Shirou, I want you to practice hand to hand combat." Katsumi said as they moved to a different part of the training room, this one with more open space.
"Okay." Shirou answered as he got into a fighting stance.
"Let's go." Katsumi started off with a spin back kick, which Shirou caught, but it knocked him back. Katsumi threw a hard punch top Shirou's head, dislocating his neck in the process. As the young boy fell down, Katsumi just stared at the body, knowing it wasn't going to kill him. And sure enough, Shirou began to move as he slowly stood up, grabbed his head with both hand, and proceeded to pop it back into place.
"Gah! Man, that was pretty uncomfortable." Shirou grunted as he rolled his neck.
"You get used to it after a while. Let's continue."
They charged in at one another to trade blows. Shirou went for a spinning back kick, but Katsumi just grabbed his leg and flipped him over. The young boy landed on his feet and as he jumped back up and threw out a right hook to the face. Again, Katsumi caught it, but Shirou followed up by headbutting him in the face, causing him to stagger as Shirou finished it with a strong side kick, sending the older Daido crashing into the wall.
The young Daido ran up to his surrogate brother as the battle ended. "Are you okay, Nii-san?"
"Yeah, that was a pretty good move otouto." Katsumi complimented as he stood up.
"Why are we going inside a giant freezer?"
"To test your ability for combat in different environments." Katsumi explained. He opened the door to the rather spacious freezer storage.
"Agh, it's cold." Shirou shivered, breathing in his hands to try to warm them.
"That is the point. It's to help you get used to the different environments. And don't worry, since we are already dead, we can't freeze to death."
"Oh yeah, that's right..." Shirou remembered.
"Now, let's go."
Just as Shirou was about to rush in and execute a jump side kick... he slid on a patch of ice.
"Itai." he groaned as he stood up. Katsumi just sweatdropped.
"We'll work on that later. Hopefully you can do better in the next environment."
They drove to the coastline towards the beach. It was empty, with not a single person in the area.
"Let's see how well you fight on sand."
"Is this really necessary?" Shirou questioned.
"Yes, what would happen if you face combat in a sandy area and not become used to it? Now let's start." Katsumi said as he lashed out a side kick to the unprepared Shirou as he was knocked back and fell face first into the sand.
After Shirou stood back up, he coughed and spat out a bit of sand. "Oh, it is on Nii-san!" Shirou said as he charged.
"That's the spirit, otouto."
They continued another bout of sparring. But just as Shirou was about to land a punch, his head had begun to throb. He stopped his attack mid-swing and clutched his head in an attempted to dull the agony.
"Otouto, what's wrong?" Katsumi went by his surrogate brother's side.
Shirou however, couldn't hear his words as his mind drifted towards a different setting. His mind painted an image of what appeared to be a doctor, a young woman in her late teens or early twenties with long black hair. The presumed doctor and woman were having a conversation...
"I'd say your brother Ichika is steadily recovering, miss Orimura. However, he is suffering a big case of memory loss." The doctor explained.
"What do you mean?" Chifuyu questioned.
"He still remembers his friends, but has no recollection of anything before meeting them. It is most likely trauma induced amnesia. He must take this medicine to keep away the nightmares. The mental strain could be too much for him to handle if he doesn't." The doctor gave Chifuyu a bottle of yellow serum.
"This amount should last for a few months. When you run out, be sure to pick up a new supply here as soon as possible. Understand?"
"Of course doctor. Thank you." Chifuyu then picked up Ichika, who was sitting in a wheelchair due to him still recovering from his injuries, and left the hospital.
And with that, the image slowly faded to black.
"...ou. Oi! Shirou! Shirou! Are you okay?" Katsumi shook Shirou in an attempt to snap him out of the trance he is in.
"Y-yeah. I'm alright."
"What exactly happened?" Maria asked.
"I think...I think I just received my clones memories."
Both Katsumi and Maria were surprised. But she smiled upon this realization.
"So...it seems that a NEVER truly is able to receive memories from their clone. Interesting. I'll have to look into this further."
"Alright mother. C'mon otouto, let's go."
"Hai." All three of them went back to the HQ.
"Hey Nii-san, what is this?" Shirou picked up a small wooden box on the desk after they entered the room.
"Oh, that? ...It was something I made when I was alive, but it's nothing to me anymore."
Shirou opened it and turned the small handle at the side, as it played a small tune. "I like the melody."
"Hmph."
"It was very skilled of you to make this, Nii-san."
"Thanks, but like I said," Katsumi took the box and threw it over his shoulder. "It is nothing to me anymore."
Shirou just frowned. "Even if we will lose our pasts, and even if we don't need them to continue on, don't you think we should keep the reminders of how we used to be?"
Katsumi just stayed silent for a moment before answering, "That may be, but we shouldn't indulge too much into our pasts, as we have to create our own future."
Shirou merely nodded in agreement.
After about a week, it was time for the two NEVERs to begin their presentation to have the NEVER project accepted by Foundation X. They arranged the order like this: Katsumi was to participate in each test first, then Shirou. This was done in order to prove that the NEVER project also works from children. Particularly to signal out the differences between someone who has been a NEVER for five years, and one who has been a NEVER for only one to two months, at most.
Test 1: Endurance.
Both Katsumi and Shirou stood in front of the Foundation X researchers to be tested on their abilities. Their first test was to determine if conventional weapons would have any affect on them. Katsumi went first.
The researchers retrieved what appeared to be a cannon from the far end of the room and aimed it at Katsumi. With a press of a button, a large weight was shot at the older Daido with enough force to shatter a man's rib cage.
"Urgh!" Upon impact, Katsumi's body crashed to the ground, and appeared to have lost consciousness. However, barely a moment later, his fingers moved as he opened his eyes. He then immediately stood up, not minding the fact his ribs were fragmented. The operator brought out a machine gun next as he begun to shoot Katsumi. However, despite the number of bullets embedding themselves into his flesh, he merely shrugged it off.
For the final test in weaponry, A young woman brought out what appeared to be a large suit of mechanical armor. It was black and had a katana-like weapon at its side; it also appeared to have wings. The entire piece of technology doesn't seem to cover the users entire body, but only parts of it.
Shirou widened his eyes in realization and cried out, "Nii-san! Be careful! That is a mass produced Uchigane model IS!"
"What?" Katsumi questioned in surprise. He never expected to go up against an actual IS. But he soon smiled, deeming this to be interesting.
The same woman who brought out the IS proceeded to enter the cockpit and activate the machine. Some parts of the suit shifted as the wings and parts of the armor folded out.
Katsumi just stood his ground and said, "Let's do this."
The Uchigane model flew forward using its wings and boosters to propel itself while it raised its weapon. As soon as its target was within range, the woman swung her sword down in an attempt to cleave the NEVER in half. The attack struck, and the older NEVER was sent flying to the far side of the room. He hit the wall hard and crashed onto the floor. It was miracle his body was still in one piece after facing a super weapon like the IS. However, there was a large gash across his left collarbone all the way down past his right hip.
"NII-SAN!" Shirou cried as he saw his surrogate brother's current state. But to his relief, Katsumi had begun to move. He rolled over so that he was lying face down and pushed himself up, not minding the fact there was a large wound across his torso as it continued to bleed.
"Phew...He's fine." Shirou sighed in relief.
"Of course I am, otouto. We have immortal bodies remember?" Katsumi reminded as he walked towards his family.
"Yeah, but against a super weapon like the IS, I couldn't help but worry." he retorted.
"Don't worry, those gadgets can't kill us. Now, it's your turn."
The observers had begun to write down their findings as the younger walked up for his own test.
After Katsumi, a cannon was aimed and pointing straight at Shirou. The operator carefully took aim as the weapon's barrel was aligned with Shirou's torso, and fired.
"Guragh!" Shirou cried from the impact equaling to be slammed by truck at full speed. The force of the impact also cracked his ribs. He crashed down to the floor. For a few seconds, he was lying there unmoving. However, his fingers began to twitch as his eyes snapped open. He propped himself up to stand quickly, as if he wasn't hurt in the first place. "Is that all there was?" he questioned casually.
Apparently, it wasn't over since the tester brought out a Gatling turret next.
"Oh...well, this may sting." Shirou mused. The weapon of mass destruction begun to rapidly shoot a barrage of bullets at the young NEVER. Every projectile made its mark as numerous holes leaking blood covered Shirou's body, but he was still able to move like normal due to his immortal body. While it had stung, Shirou felt no other pain besides that. Another weapon was rendered useless against the NEVER project. The observers scribbled down notes as the elderly man in a suit next to them seemed interested.
Now...it was time to face the IS. The same woman who used the weapon against Katsumi was using against Shirou as well. However, instead of using the IS's main weapon like with Katsumi, the woman is just using the suit's gauntlets. Shirou frowned from the fact that he was being underestimated. So he spoke up.
"Hey, instead of taking it easy on me just because I'm a kid, use that sword."
The woman was surprised at his instruction, so he glanced at the other researchers for help. They simply nodded as if confirming the decision. Rather reluctantly, she pulled out Uchigane's main weapon. She then entered the same stance she used earlier. A moment later, she lunged forward and slashed Shirou right across the chest, tearing through the flesh like a knife through butter.
The young NEVER was thrown back from the force of of the strike and slammed into the back wall of the room. The attack also exposed the ivory structure of his rib cage, which was dyed crimson from his own blood. He laid flat on the floor, as still as a corpse. The researchers were about to deem this subject to be a failure, but the NEVER begun to move. He slowly pushed himself up and shakily stood on his own feet. The skin on his chest was still cut open, and he appeared to be in major discomfort. However, he simply gritted his teeth and bared through the pain.
The Foundation X researchers were impressed he was still mobile, so they wrote their observations and data. Shirou made his way over to his adopted family. Unfortunately, as he made his way over the skin on some parts of his body, particularly his torso, were squirming and moving in an irregular fashion, as if they were becoming unstable. It meant that his cells were beginning to break down.
Shirou, Katsumi, and Maria took notice of this as he drew closer. "Mother, the serum." Katsumi said.
"Right." The professor took out the metal case and opened it, revealing several vials of the cell maintenance enzyme. She grabbed a single container and placed it into the injector. As Shirou stopped in front of them, Maria handed him the injector. Knowing what this meant, the young NEVER took the device and pressed it against his pectoral, where most of the damage was. He pulled the trigger and felt the soothing liquid flow into his system, repairing the damage that was done to his body as green lights danced around his flesh.
"Much better." Shirou said. "Nii-san, you should take some of this enzyme as well." He gestured to the elder NEVER's damaged body.
"Thanks." Katsumi said as he took his own dose of the enzyme.
The Foundation X researchers then took both NEVER subjects for the next test.
Next: Fighting prowess.
After discovering that conventional weapons were rendered useless against a NEVER, the researchers decided to test their physical ability.
Katsumi went up first. His opponents were two men that appeared to be wearing black skeletal masks. However, they were deemed to be Masquerade Dopants. Katsumi was doing well in evading their attacks, as well as landing a few heavy hits.
"Come and get it." Katsumi taunted. Taking the bait, both men plunged their knives straight into Katsumi's body, right into the vital organs.
However, instead of dying, Katsumi just laughed. He then pushed his opponents off and smiled, that their attacks are useless. Aggravated, one of the dopants lashed out a spinning roundhouse kick right at Katsumi's neck, causing it to bend at a 90 degree angle to the left as the back of his head was touching the front of his right shoulder. Both men believed their opponent to be dead since his neck was snapped. But to their surprise and shock, Katsumi just grabbed his head with both hands and bent it back into place. Soon enough, the first trial had ended.
After Katsumi was finished, it was Shirou's turn to fight against the masked men. One charged in swinging his knife around while the other just shot a barrage of bullets with a machine gun. However, Shirou rushed in and grabbed the arm that held the knife and snapped it. With a cry, the dopant dropped the knife as his wrist was broken. Shirou wasn't finished as he grabbed the man's other arm and dislocated it before kicking him aside. "Come on, is that all you have?"
Enraged at this child's taunting, one of them lashed out a strong punch to Shirou's head, causing it to snap backwards to the point of his occipital lobe was touching his spine. He stood still for a moment, before grabbing his head, and pushing it back up into place with a series of pops and cracks.
"Let's continue." Shirou then picked up the knife from the ground and twirled it around in his fingers. He then ran forward towards the first masked man and struck him in the temple with the base of the knife. He followed up with an uppercut into the man's sternum, causing him to bend down in pain as Shirou elbowed him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. He turned around to face the other one, only to see him swing the machine gun like a club. The masked man struck the gun across Shirou's back quite heavily, as his spine was severed. Shirou toppled to the floor with a portion of his vertebrae jutting out quite awkwardly. Thinking that it was over, the man turned to leave, only to hear a small grunt behind him.
He quickly turned around to see Shirou using his hands to push the jutting bone in his spine back into place. With a nauseating pop, the deed was done. The man then became quite fearful. Even though he appeared young, this child was a monster in his perspective. While seeing this moment of hesitation as an opening, the child charged in and sent a sweep kick to knock the man of balance before kicking him in the throat as he fell. Soon enough, both men were taken down by the young NEVER. He quietly walked up to his surrogate brother and mother as the elderly man walked past to give his presentation. His clothes were slightly battered, particularly his shirt being in shreds from being attacked with bullets and knives.
"Looks like we're going to win this," Katsumi said. Upon saying that, the elder man opened his briefcase to reveal numerous USB drives that had a rib cage casing and various letters of certain shapes engraved on. He took out USB drive that had a 'T' that looked like a screaming face and pressed the button.
"TERROR!"
A mechanical voice yelled out. All three members of the Daido family turned around to see where it came from, and saw a horrifying monster. It had black skin and a gold skull with tentacles on its torso and wore a black and silver belt with an orange buckle and a red robe around its waist. It wore a mask that had a white eyepiece and a gold mouth piece. There was also a large blue headpiece with a yellow cape flowing from the back of it.
"What is that?" Shirou questioned.
"…Gaia Memory…" The monstrosity proclaimed. The observing staff seemed greatly intrigued by this phenomenon as they directed their full attention towards it.
"That is some tough competition." Shirou stated.
"But NEVER is far superior," Katsumi assured. "Don't worry otouto."
A few weeks later…
Katsumi and Shirou were walking towards the former's car, which was a sleek, blue convertible, after Shirou bought some ice cream. As soon as they were within a few feet of the vehicle, a woman wearing a white business outfit showed up folding a folder. They immediately realized they were from Foundation X since all of its workers wore all white.
The woman that held the folder walked up to Katsumi and handed it to him. He opened it up to see that it was the report on the NEVER project. Curious, Shirou also looked at it. However, he frowned at what he saw since across the front page are large, bright red, office print letters that said: REJECTION.
Unnerved by this, Katsumi tossed the file behind his back and grabbed the woman by the collar of her jacket.
"It's not over yet…" he said. He then pushed the woman aside as Shirou followed. Katsumi got into the driver's seat while Shirou sat in the passenger seat.
"The NEVERs' battle has only begun…" Katsumi started.
"And we don't plan on losing it either…" Shirou finished as he ate the last of his ice cream.
And with that note, they drove off and left the Foundation X worker standing there.
"So, what exactly are we going to do to win this battle?"
"Well, if we are to be noticed, we would need to gather funds first." Katsumi explained as they parked in their parking lot of their HQ.
"Okay, but how are we going to do that?" Shirou asked as they got out of the car to meet up with Professor Maria. They proceeded to walk into the control room of the main building.
"Well, since we have immortal bodies, we could work as a mercenary unit. We would be unstoppable"
The room they entered with pretty spacious and high-tech. There were visual monitors and computers lined up along one wall of the room, with a large table in the center and a few desks along another wall. There were also a few doors on the other wall that led to storage rooms and more corridors.
"Yes, but first, we are going to have to recruit some new members to gain more strength and to make those jobs easier." Maria explained.
"Who do you have in mind exactly?" Shirou asked as he pulled up a chair and sat on it.
"It all depends, we would have to do some searching, and to divide them amongst you and Katsumi."
"Why?" Shirou wondered as Maria sat in front of the computer.
"If we are going to be gathering more forces, it depends on their skills and age group. For example, the ones who are closer to adults would be on Katsumi's team, while the children and teenagers would be on your team, Shirou." Se explained in a logical manner.
"Okay, I guess that makes sense."
"Now then, we should begin searching for suitable corpses for these teams." Maria then begun to search through various profiles to find suitable recruits.
"I'm all for this plan, but we should figure out a different way to gather funds before starting on gathering members for missions." Katsumi put in.
"What do you have in mind, Nii-san?"
Katsumi started to be engrossed in his thoughts, going over numerous possibilities in his head. Then the idea came to him a moment later.
"Hmmm...Shirou, how well can you play an instrument, particularly the guitar?"
"Maybe pretty good if I practice, why do you ask?"
"You'll find out soon." Katsumi replied cryptically before turning to his mother. "Are there any good drummers or other band members on those files, mother?"
Maria smiled, catching on to her son's intentions and began searching through the data for any suitable candidates, she had enough serum for a couple more NEVERs to be created after all and more than enough enzyme to last them a year.
Among those files were the ones labeled: Seth Tamonten and Rika Mitarashi.
To Be Continued…
Authors Notes:
I already have a full set of OCs, so I'm no longer accepting any as of now. However, it might change in the future.
And for those who would've thought that the IS would've completely destroyed Katsumi and Shirou...They have immortal bodies and can't die from conventional weapons. Even super weapons like the IS. However, they would need to take more of the serum to recover if that would be the case.
Next Time: Shadow of Justice.
