The darkness was heavy. The clouds rolled in from the north and engulfed an Exile Village with the inky darkness of the night.
Stumbling out of the village pub, an Exile had a few drinks with his friends after a hard day's work. Deciding to relieve himself on a wall, he took his position and relaxed. After answering the call of nature, he looked at his watch. It was almost midnight.
Suddenly, he felt as if someone- or something- was watching him intently.
"Who's there?!" He yelled. Silence answered him. He quickly fled the scene. There was something pursuing him, stalking him, and it wanted to kill him.
He turned to a dead end. Putting his back against the wall, he drew a pocket knife and faced his attacker. He was horrified.
It was a floating, formless mass of darkness. It moved like a black wisp of cloud, it had two blazing blue fires for eyes staring at him. Its mouth was lipless, and wide open, revealing its countless white fangs. It only had two arms. Two arms with nocturnal blades.
"Wh-What are you...?!" The Exile demanded.
"Darkness..." The Shadow groaned. Everything became dark. The Shadow pounced on its prey, as his shouts of death filled the entire village with dread.
The next day, Minato woke up and went downstairs for breakfast. After eating and making preparations, a knock on the door rapped twice. He opened it and saw Minako Arisato, the Exile. She wore the I.I.U. Uniform and had a slingbag.
"Yooooo, Minato." She winked, "Good morning. Ready to go?"
"Just a sec, I need to grab my bag; Feel free to come in." Minato said.
"Don't mind if I do," Minako said, stepping inside, "Nice place you have here."
"Thank you." Minato said.
"Huh. Interesting piece of design..." Minako mused, and took down notes.
"What's interesting?" Minato said.
"Nothing, nothing..." Minako said, "Apparently, Landers like to leave articles of underwear as 'art' and design."
"Say what?!" Minato fumed.
"Oh, sorry." Minako blushed, "It's this underwear by the lampshade titled 'Junpei'. I need to keep up with Lander culture if I'm to stay here long."
"Ehhhh..." Minato sighed, "That's not culture. That's just Junpei being a slob..." Minato said, picking up Junpei's underwear by the garter and tossing it. He then applied alcohol.
The two then set out.
Minako giggled, "You Landers are so funny..."
"Yeah, well..." Minato said, "What was your world like?"
"My world..." Minako mused wistfully, "To be honest, it's been so long since I lived in that world... I forgot everything about that place."
Minato looked at her with a deadpan expression, "It's been only three years, Minako!"
"Oh, yeah!" Minako said, suddenly remembering, "That's right. Hahaha! Well, my world... I lived in a land ruled by a Queen. Petty stuff. Nobles kept trying to kill her, but she flipped the script and executed them!"
"Sounds like Mitsuru..." Minato whispered.
"And-" she was about to begin, when she saw an Exile in his late teens, accompanied by Lee and another redheaded Exile. She groaned in annoyance and went closer to Minato.
"Ah, Arisato." The Redheaded Exile greeted, "Salutations!"
"What do you want, Quan?" She said coldly.
"Eh..." Quan faltered, "W-Well... Zen, tell her."
The Exile Zen cleared his throat, "We've come to fetch you for our meeting this afternoon."
"Oh yeah?" Minako said cooly, "What kind of meeting?"
The three looked at each other, "The secret kind."
Minako rolled her eyes, "Your meetings are a waste of time, Stryker."
"Yet you attended!" Quan cried.
"Yeah, once." Minako said.
Lee pointed at her, "You were once a fighter and a patriot. You've gone soft!"
"Say that again!" Minako demanded, shaking her fist, "Damn it, I came to this world to start again. And if I could live in peace, I will."
The three sighed, and walked away.
"What was that all about?" Minato said.
"Nothing. Those guys are trying to start a vigilante group to fight Shadows." Minako said, "It's a waste of time, of you ask me."
An Exile beggar came by Minako, "Spare change?"
"Look away, Minato." Minako suggested, "Look at the ground and keep walking."
After walking some distance away, Minato asked, "Why are you like that to your fellow Exiles?"
"Well..." Minako sighed, "I realized a while back that Exiles need to become Landers in order to help their fellow Exiles. Does it make sense?"
"A little." Minato said.
"Every Exile's dream is to either return home or become a citizen here. Since going home is an unlikely scenario, citizenship is our only option."
"Those guys mentioned you were a fighter. Is that true?" Minato inquired.
She nodded, "That's correct. I don't like fighting though." She sighed sadly.
Minato nodded as they entered school. After a hectic day, they returned home. Junpei was on the couch, as usual, watching TV.
"Hey bro." Junpei greeted.
"Hey man." Minato greeted. He poured out some cereal and noisily munched and crunched.
"What's with you and that Minako girl?" Junpei grinned, "You two dating?"
"No!" Minato cried, "I just met her yesterday."
"Suuuure, that's what you WANT us all to believe!" Junpei cried, and then stood up and pointed an accusing finger at Minato, "But in fact, you two had known each other for a long time and are in fact planning to elope!"
Minato plopped his mouth open in surprise, "What?"
"You can't hide from an Ace Detective. See, my suspicions were first aroused when you told me to 'go ahead to school'... It should have taken you no less than 20 minutes to run home and grab your stuff and head back!"
Minato scratched his head. He wanted to stop Junpei making a fool of himself, but he decided to listen to his hypothesis.
"Even taking your little 'detour' with the Exile into account, it's unrealistic that you took another 20 minutes to arrive at school, despite the fact you were already halfway there by the time of your detour! Or were you two planning your escape?"
Minato sighed at the insanity of the situation.
"And by the time you arrived at school, you were about to part ways with Minako, when I saw you two. With your plan foiled, you came up with a phoney-baloney alibi about recently meeting that strange hot redhead. Mystery. Solved." Junpei said, pulling out a pipe.
For a few seconds, Minato was speechless, "... Hey, Inspector Gadget, that sounds exactly like the plot of the anime you're watching."
"Aw, crap, man, how did you know?!" Junpei cried in exasperation.
"I heard the theme song on the way down. Good improv by the way." Minato said.
"Thanks!" Junpei said, "I just rolled with it."
Minato continued eating, "She seems nice."
"Oh, that hottie you met? Yeah, she's seems nice alright..." Junpei said, "Nice face, nice hair, nice body, nice a-" Junpei said lecherously.
"Alright, alright!" Minato interrupted, "Geez, man. Look at you! You're like a thirsty dog!"
"What?! Am I NOT supposed to appreciate a woman in her form? I'm a freaking man, for crying out loud!" He cried.
"I thought you wanted to get married with Chidori, settle down and have two kids?" Minato said.
"Well, of course I do!" Junpei said, "Jeez, Minato, you sound like the Dad I never had."
"Just keeping it real, bro." Minato said, "Hey, where is Chidori anyway? I haven't seen her since our Nyx Anniversary Party."
"Oh, she has a job at Mitsuru-senpai as a Secretary." Junpei explained, "Saving up for my- I mean OUR future." Junpei winked.
"Oh boy." Minato rolled his eyes. He flipped it on the news.
"This just in: Another dead body found on an Exile Village 3 miles away from Iwatodai. We have Mariko-chan live with the report."
The scene cut to Mariko, which made Junpei coo with passion, "A shocking murder has shattered the relative peace of the quaint village of Hiemstead."
The scene cut to a family of four crying over a heavily mutilated body, which luckily, was heavily blurred. The body was so brutalized, that the blur almost had no effect. The cameraman actually got sick and vomited offscreen.
Mariko, although visibly disgusted at the cameraman's vomiting, continued, "The man was identified by the Iwa Prefectural Police to be a male Exile in his late forties. He was walking home around midnight when he was assaulted and murdered by unknown assailants. Foul play had been ruled out and so was robbery. The man's wallet remained intact. The Police suspect Shadows are involved, and if that were true, it would mark the 14th time this month that a Shadow assaulted citizen's of Iwatodai and the Exiles. Time can only tell what would happen next. Back to you, Milly."
Minato took a deep breath, "The Shadows are getting bolder and bolder..."
"Oh, by the way," Junpei said, producing a letter from his pocket, "This came for you this morning."
Minato opened the letter, and read it, "Your love is like a bloom... It takes away all my gloom...?"
Junpei rose up and snatched it, "That's private! My daily letter for Chidori. This is the letter." He hands Minato a sealed letter, with the Kirijo Group Insignia.
"Must be important." Minato said with determination. He opened it and read the contents.
"Dear Minato,
You are formally invited for tea with CEO Mitsuru Kirijo this afternoon, signed Chidori Yoshino."
"Huh. Mitsuru wants to invite me for tea." Minato said in surprise.
"She wants the 'D'." Junpei said lecherously.
"Junpei, come on." Minato chided.
"Alright, alright," Junpei said, putting his hands in the air, "It's not like mere mortals like me could snag all the girls I want."
"Believe me, it's a damn curse." Minato sighed.
"You bite your tongue!" Junpei demanded, "It's one thing to resurrect from the dead and another thing snagging any girl you want. Jeez! That's like slapping the Lord in the face for giving you a beautiful gift."
"Yeah, whatever man..." Minato sighed and got ready after he was finished, he headed to the Kirijo Group. After ascending to the 21st floor, he was ushered in by Chidori.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Mitsuru said, "I trust you've heard to this morning's incident?"
Minato nodded.
"Now... I'd like to get down to business..." Mitsuru said, setting down her teacup.
"V-Very well!" Minato cried, thinking Mitsuru wanted him to work for her.
"As you probably know, the Shadow attacks have become bolder and bolder by the day. It will not likely diminish until we do something about it."
"You're right." Minato said, "But my fighting days are over now. I haven't picked up my sword since the Fall..."
"True. But these times are different. The Shadows have become more active in the Desolate Mountains north of here. I fear they'll strike the City if they remain unchecked and unchallenged." Mitsuru said.
"What do you propose we do?" Minato said.
"Right. I propose we reform the SEES and put an end to the Shadows." Mitsuru said, "But if I thought that alone would be enough, I wouldn't have called you here today. In World War 2, Adolf Hitler trained 3 million German soldiers in secret, using the pretense of 'Gun Clubs' and 'Youth Organizations' to conceal their paramilitary training."
"Your point?"
"My point is that we need strength in arms. No longer can we rely on a small band of fighters. No, we need an army." Mitsuru said.
Minato nearly choked, "An army?"
"Yes, an Army." Mitsuru nodded.
"The government wouldn't allow it. Even if it were allowed, the U.N. would go ballistic if we were to create an Army, other than the Japanese Self Defense Force!" Minato cried.
"Yes, that may be true. But who said it needed to strictly be an army?" Mitsuru said, "It's strikingly similar to how the Germans of World War 2 trained in secret. By bypassing local laws with loopholes, I've devised that if we were to make this 'Army' into a "Combat" Organization instead..."
"We wouldn't break any laws at all. Mitsuru, you're a genius." Minato cried.
"Yes, yes, I've been called that before." Mitsuru mused.
"But there's another problem..." Minato said, "We have no supplies, weapons, armor or training for the recruits."
Mitsuru merely smiled, "Are you forgetting who I am? I am Mitsuru Kirijo, CEO of the Kirijo Group. Both influential and wealthy. I have the support of the Iwatodai Council in one hand, and the other, the means of our victory."
"Good. So what's the problem, then?"
"Well... There is a bit of a manpower problem..." Mitsuru frowned, "I've taken a statistic of those within the Land with the 'Potential'... They number far less than we hoped. It's estimated around 1,500-2,000 or so."
"That doesn't seem so bad." Minato said optimistically.
"It is rather bad." Mitsuru said realistically, "The combined forces of the Shadows and Dark Exiles is said to estimate around hundreds of thousands, if not millions." She said grimly.
"... I'm sensing I have a bigger role to play here." Minato said.
"You always do." She winked, "Do you realize the number of Dark Exiles in the Shadow's camp is only 1/3 their total number? That's merely 5,000 Dark Exiles."
"So..." Minato thought deeply, "We need manpower. We have weapons, but not enough warriors?"
"That's where you come in." Mitsuru said, "You see, the SEES is quite popular among the Exile population, with you as their hero of sorts."
"I see." Minato said, "You want me to convince them to join us. But where will we house them? Do we have bases? Anything at all?"
"You let me worry about that. I have a meeting with the Iwatodai Council regarding that. Be back here tomorrow afternoon, with the Exile Leaders. I have a surprise of my own as well."
"Roger that." Minato said and went home.
Reforming SEES... He didn't think much of it before, but now he became excited at the prospect of reforming his team. He dozed away that night after eating dinner, thinking about what to do tomorrow.
A/N: Hey guys. Its me again. Second chapter done! Any OCs out there? If you're interested, just either mail or write a review (cheap jab, but its my job xD) of your intentions. The best is still yet to come!
As always, please take the time to review my beloved readers! Mwahahahah!
-C