The Stranded Boy and The Stranger.
A lot of strange and horrible things happened to Commander Amaro in his life.
When he was twelve he was accosted by what some neutral observers might mistake for a eccentric woman with a shota complex, and although it was fun at first, well, suffice to say it got bad fast.
After that, he dedicate his life to ensure no one else had their life ruined by the crazy pink haired woman/alien. One of his many regrets was that he couldn't do anything to prevent the kid from having his life blown to pieces by Haruko, although he was pleasantly surprised and ecstatic when he absorbed Atomsk and proceeded to hand her a new one...and horrified as he kissed her...
Well, at least the world didn't burn. That's always a plus, right? And the kid seamed to take it well enough to be left alone. If only he knew!
The little punk somehow curb-stomped five elite agents in a matter of seconds and actually manipulated the damn plant. Sure, it made sense with his abnormally high N.O, but come on!
And then he opened a portal to...somewhere. He felt like he really didn't want to know.
He also felt his teeth grinding to dust at the thought of the can of worms this opened. And all the frigging' paperwork!
His abnormal eyebrow twitched, making several of the personnel stop what they were doing to stare at it for the god knows which time that day. They tended to loose track of time staring at them, but he paid them no attention (and really didn't actually notice anything) and focused on the robot now sprawled on the ground, silent. Either dead or faking he thought. He spared a glance to his lieutenant, the dark skinned blond Kitsurubami, who was glancing at the robot with a slight googly look poking over her professionalism.
Dammit, what dose that hunk of junk have that i don't?
"Well?" he decided to ask to change his mood. "What do you think?" Quickly regaining her composer, she looked at him slightly embarrassed.
"Er...i don't know, sir." she answered honestly after a moment of hesitation.
Frowning a little, he looked back down to Canti then sideways to look over the city, the afternoon sun shining brilliantly and a faint rainbow in the distance. His frown deepened. "What the hell is that kid up to?"
Space Police Headquarters, Vilonis Capital
So, this day could have gone better, he decided. Thinking of who said that in order for something to get better, first it has to get worse, he also decided that the opposite is painfully true as well. Else he wouldn't be in a small room with no windows and only a door, two chairs and a table, strapped to the chair as if a criminal of death row, for sets of handcuffs and a few straps on his arms just in case.
He once again cursed his luck. After Haruko bolted away, several heavily armed men with intimidation looking body armor exited the crafts and demanded he surrender or be shot dead. Deciding that even if he could take them all out, starting his own personal war with this planet was probably not a smart idea. So he allowed himself to be restrained.
And now after what felt like days, still nothing. He was just dumped here unceremoniously while the authorities, he assumed, debated what to make of him. Interrupting his thoughts and overactive imagination of what they would do to him (up to and including naughty things) the door slide aside and a tall man, easily 6,6, with a long grey overcoat, spiky black hair and eyes, a goatee and mustache to match, entered and threw himself on the chair opposed to him. In one hand he had some kind of device not unlike an ipad, but cooler.
"Human, planet Earth, barley into puberty..." he recited in what could pass as a South African accent, not even stealing one glance at him and continued "and to much power in your hands." with that he locked gaze with him and stared him down for a few moments.
"So..." he began "what is a fine, lower, primitive lifeform such as yourself doing here and why in all that is sane in the galaxy were you picking a fight with a known, violent psychopathy?" he recited with heavy sarcasm dripping on every word, eyes tingling in amusement.
"Well..." Naota started after a moments thought "I was in the neighborhood" he said matching the man's sarcasm. Hell if he would be be left out. "And she had something that belonged to me."
"I see..." the man said thoughtfully "that something wouldn't be an admittedly badass bass guitar, would it?"
"No, it was my space ship" Naota sharked.
Smirking, the man began to scratch the back of his head "Come now, no need to be a smartass" he replied, the irony lost (or intentional) to him. "Just answer my questions properly and you might not, i dunno..."he trailed off "be exiled to the garbage planet of Hereas to be prayed upon by horrible mutants." he added the last part with a cheerful voice. "So, what's it gonna be?"
Realizing he wasn't going to go anywhere if he beat around the bush, Naota decided that he might as well tell him the truth. Not that he was trying to keep a secret, but his life story was to private to tell to a complete stranger. Nonetheless he gave the man the short version, leaving out the more personal details.
"So..." the man started after he finished narrating "She left you here to fend for yourself?"
"Pretty much." he answered flatly.
"Well, as touching the story was, I'm afraid we can't just let you free for now. Sew, my name is Zenolite, and I'm the man in charge of this district. Thus, I'm the guy who decides to let you free or not." he stood up and started to circled table "And when i head that someone was in our custody that fought the infamous Raharu, well i had to see for myself." he finished as he stopped behind Naota. "As impressed as I am, as someone who is strong enough to not get annihilated by Raharu in seconds, we can't let you go..." He said with sympathy, and started to walk towards the door, but the he stopped to look at Naota as he frowned deeply at Zenolite.
"The council of the Galactic Space Police Brotherhood would kill me if i just let you go..." he said, then the door slided and he walked out, leaving Naota alone once again.
Mabase, Japan.
Today's morning classes at Mabase High were interrupted by something that many in the city really wished to never hear again; the spine chilling sound of the Medical Mechanica plant. Seconds later, the cloud of steam signaled everyone to duck and cover, just in case. However, nothing came. No giant robot, no giant glowing bird thing, no giant nothing.
The incident was now the main talking point of the class during all the breaks. Eri simply stood in her desk and tried to ignore all the gossip and trying hard not to be worried about that idiot who actually went up there. Instead, she was busy reading next class' subject. Her thoughts were interrupted as Gaku and Masaki walked by in conversation.
"Do you think Naota has anything to do with this?" Masaki questioned. "Like the last time all those weird stuff happened?"
"How should i know?" Gaku shot back in his usually exited voice, shrugging. "That lady isn't around anymore so maybe not." he looked down to Eri who was still ignoring them. "What do you think, Ninamori-chan?" still ignored. "Ninamori-chan?" he asked again not getting the clue. At this she sighed and shot an annoyed aside glance.
"Wouldn't surprise me." she said casually. "As long as he doesn't get himself killed, I don't really care." it was true, to. Sure she liked him, but she had plans for her future and would chose them over having to do anything with him. Especially if he was crazy enough to get himself killed chasing some weird woman god knows where. However, she did care and didn't found funerals for a good friend appealing, so a little concern did slip in her voice, and the two boys knew her well enough to pick up on it. They exchanged worried glances before Masaki broke the silence.
"Do you know something we don't?" she cursed herself for the slip.
"Nope." She answered. It was also mostly true. She knew he was there, but had no clue in hell why. The bell ringed and the two boys cast one last glance and moved to their desks, leaving her to herself. Damn idiot...
Vilonis.
Haruko's day wasn't going as she expected. First Naota came crashing out of her head and provided a good workout for hear, and now the local police were hot on her trail. She knew her rights! She was an officer of the GSPB! Ok, an undercover officer, but still an officer. These idiotic locals didn't knew who they were screwing with. Nonetheless, she had to keep up an appearance and follow her superiors orders (even if she planed to keep Atomsk strength for herself, she still needed them to keep her out of any serious trouble). A police vehicle flew overhead and she ducked back into the alley. She just needed to wait for them to call off these dogs. Maybe even release Naota...nah, he would be fine on his own. He wasn't that dumb.
A few hundred miles away, Naota sneezed hard, followed by another one. He wasn't superstitious, but he could have swore someone was talking shit about him. More than one person, actually. He was still tired from fighting Haruko, he was hungry, thirsty and pissed, so he really didn't appreciate it.
In any case, at least he was no longer in that damp room, though he was being lead to one of those flying space cars.
About an hour after he left, Commander Zenolite returned and informed him that the GSPB council wanted him transferred somewhere else by a ship leaving later that evening. He also asked him, as a "friend" of Haruko, why they also ordered the local forces to cease chasing her. At that, he really was more surprised than he should have been. He thought she was under orders to come to Earth in search for Atomsk, but now it seamed like she was a fugitive of some sorts. Just another one of her deceptions, probably.
Meanwhile, not far from the police station
He, as a special forces assassin and infiltrator, wasn't the best choice for enacting this mission, though the protocol was there for a reason. He gazed over the massive city, the horizon obscured by its magnificence and glory. It was a shame what was about to happen, but endearing as this place was, it was not his masters, and so it might as well burn. Taking one last deep breath, he concentrated and with a flash of light his instrument manifested, a red Gibson.
He held it before him and marveled at its power, then he heaved it onto his back.
This was the day of reckoning for planet, and so he set forth to do his mission. He spread his arms wide and concentrated again. Another flash of red light...
Naota sat somewhat comfortably in the back seat of the car as it flew through the air past the impressive skyscrapers. Zenolite was in the passenger seat next to the pilot, and explained to him that the spaceport the ship was in was an hour away by cab.
He decided to break the silence and maybe uncover what the hell was going to happen to him.
"Hey." he called Zenolite, who turned his head slightly to look at him through the bars of the window separating them. "So, why exactly am i detained, anyways? I didn't actually commit any crime...right" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Zenolite only frowned a little and turned to look out of his windows.
"You used an N.O channel." he said matter of fact. "Its outlawed outside of military actions." he explained, sensing some confusion from the boy.
"Why?" Naota asked.
"Did that psycho not tell you anything?" the pilot interjected. "Do you even know what N.O is?" he asked a little more exasperated and mild disgust at his ignorance.
"No, not really." he admitted. "All i found out about it is pretty vague."
"N.O. is brain power, to put a long story short." Zenolite said. "Most people use less than 10% of their brainpower in everyday activities. People with N.O powers use up to 50, even more, to unlock reality warping abilities." he explained. "Enhanced strength, endurance, even opening massive doorways through space or creating objects out of pure energy."
"As to why it's illegal..." he turned around to look him in the eyes with a cold stare "its very simple. One reason: Medical Mechanica. Were at war with them, and they use people with N.O channels to open up invasions. Murder everyone on the planet and then enslave anyone who's left."
"War?" Naota asked a bit shocked. "So...is that why they were building that plant on my planet? preparing for an invasion?" he asked worrying. this did not sound good at all, if Earth was in the path of genocidal aliens, it was cause for concern. Maybe Amaro wasn't rambling paranoid delusions after all.
"Probably. Its what they do to planets who aren't aware of their existence or tactics. Build a plant with promises of riches and glory, secretly scouting out the place, the one day BANG! Global genocide." the pilot responded.
"Its a relay." Zenolite clarified. "It detects people with N.O potential to send MM's armies through. Sometimes they decide to not kill everything and just brainwash the planet, turn it into a factory world for their war machine. Its been going on for two hundred years now."
"Then...all those robots that came out of my head..." now he was getting really worried.
After a quick glance to the pilot, Zenolite responded. "Probably testing out the channel, scouts. But...you dd say they attacked you, right?"
Naota nodded.
"Then my guess is they were there to eliminate Raharu." he answered matter of fact. "She might be a fugitive, but she's no friend of MM."
Naota stayed quiet and tried to process all the information. What if...a sudden pang started to ring out at the back of his head, almost imperceptible but clearly there and growing, like the one two years ago. He looked over to Zenolite to ask something only to see him rubbing his temple. So he to was feeling it. Zenolite turned and made eye contact. This was definitely not just him... the pilot noticed the display and with an distressed voiced began to ask what was going on.
"Something's wrong." Zenolite stated.
"What?" the pilot asked again. His question however was answered when behind them, several miles back, not far from the police station, a massive red lightning pierced the sky.
When the portal activated, he could sense his entire being surge with power. It was an exhilarating feeling that few would ever feel, and he savored it briefly, as the GSPB would detect the massive power surge following it in just a few moments, and allowed the contents on the other side to pass through.
Out of his forehead, a mass of hundreds of human sized balls flew out at an amazing speed. Once they reached a certain distance they began to fall and hit the ground or the buildings below them, hundreds raining down on the streets with panicking civilians scattering to not be crushed in the impacts. Then, a few seconds after they began to unfurl, their outer metallic shell shell melting and from inside emerged his army, about 200 attack robots designed by Medical Mechanica.
At his mental command, the majority began marching towards the police station who were now scrambling to respond to the sudden invasion. Several others, however, flew up into the air on jet packs and stared to head towards the car Naota and Zenolite were currently riding on.
It toke just a few seconds for the fast moving robots to catch up, one of them shooting a laser at its back, missing only by a hair's breath, causing all three residents to scream "What the hell!?"
"Medical Mechanica." said Zenolite as another robot shot a laser but missed the car, which was now running even faster, its pilot pushing it hard to avoid the death chasing them.
"What!?" Naota screamed as he cached his breath from a particularly nasty turn giving off more G's than he was comfortable with.
"Funny..." said Zenolite "an attack by MM on a major planet like this, just a few hours after you and Raharu have a brawl. Should i put this out as just a funny coincidence?" he asked cheerfully as the car rocked hard when one of the robots cot close enough to hit it. The car started to lose control but the pilot managed to regain it and plunged it downwards to the lower levels of the city in an attempt to lose them, but they were still hot on their trail.
"You think i have anything to do with this?" Naota asked with a scowl.
"Well, these boys" he pointed to a robot which was just two or three meters from the car "seem to really have it out for us in particular, don't they?"
"Ok..." he conceded. "But...what would they want with me?"
"Well, kid, you did say you fused with Atomsk for a few minutes when he manifested on Earth. And that light show you pulled off was really something else. So, and this is only a hypothesis, someone who really wants Atomsk picked it up."
Naota mind was racing now. So Medical Mechanica was after Atomsk' power, that much he knew, and the double guitar just radiated his presence. So he figured that red lightning must have been his power manifesting. Shit.
"Ok...Ok..." he nodded to Zenolite. "Then let me help." he said with determination. "If this is my fault, then let me help fix it."
"And what the hell are you gonna do kid?" the pilot shouted as he once again attempted a high turn maneuver to put some more distance between them and the attackers, but still they were keeping up. Zenolite was only staring at him with a stoic expression, going over their options. Finally, he nodded. "I was gonna let you go either way if the higher ups didn't butt their heads into my jurisdiction." he said finally and pressed a button on a device attached to his wrist and the handcuffs fell of the wrists. "But you'll gonna need your instrument."
"Where is it?" Naota asked rubbing his wrists.
"In the back trunk." he said. "And mine as well."
Naota frowned and narrowed his eyes, then turned around to look at the pursuing robots. Well, he doubted he was going to get out of this alive otherwise, or he did and ended up some lab rat for MM. Might as well.
"Can you keep the car as steady as possible?" he asked the pilot, who didn't respond immediately.
"Why? You plan to sleep or something?" was his sarcastic reply.
"No, im gonna climb out and get my instrument." he answered.
"I'm not sure if you are being a smartass or are serious, but please, be my guest."
Naota nodded and shuffled over to the door, to which the pilot's face grew a bit pale. "You aren't serious!" he barked at him.
"Do you have a better idea, or are you gonna keep this thing steady?" The pilot just shaked his head and then added "Alright."
"Here." Zenolite said and pressed a button on the wrist device, to which there was a click from the door, indicating it was unlocked. The pilot was now struggling to keep a straight course with the robots in hot pursuit. Naota slideed the door back and a gust of cold wind flooded the inside.
"When you reach the trunk, you'll gonna need this." Zenolite called out before he could step outside and handed him a small key. With a final nod, Naota toke it and climbed out.
The car wasn't very smooth, more of a flying Jeep, and he thankfully managed to grab a hard hold onto the side and climb on top of its hood. The cold air was stinging his skin, but the adrenaline was now pushing his body beyond what it was normally capable and even if he didn't have his instrument, his N.O channel was still active and he drew upon its power to drag himself forward and onto the trunk. He looked up and saw that one of the robots was aiming its laser straight at him. Eyes widened he pushed himself forward again just in time for it to miss him.
However now he was dangling from the back of the car at several hundred miles above the ground. He hold on as thigh as his hands allowed him and scanned the back for a keyhole. He found it easily enough and quickly inserted the key into it. His whole body was acing now but he ignored it and turned the key. The trunk opened automatically and, soon enough, there it was, his Gibson V, strapped safely into a form fitting container.
As he grabbed it with his free hand, the car was hit by a laser beam in the engine compartment and lunged violently, and he loosed his grip on his other hand, only holding on to the guitar's neck as the car started to plummet towards the ground fast, trailing dark smoke and the robots on its tail.
He grabbed the neck with both hand and pulled himself down so that his feet were touching the floor of the trunk, channeling his N.O to open wide. With a grunt he pulled hard and the straps break, and momentum toke over as he flew back violently, right in the path one of the pursuing robots. Sensing it, he spun midair and brought the guitar around in a hard swing, catching it by surprise right in the side and causing its entire upper body to shatter violently, parts flying in all directions. A second later it was engulfed in a fireball as its remains auto destructed.
He began to panic as his mind was catching up to the insanity of the situation, now free-falling towards the ground. "Shit, shit, shit!"
But as he saw the now much heavier car slam hard onto the pavement below, he realize that panicking wouldn't serve him right now and forced himself to calm down. Holding tight to the guitar, he positioned his body legs first and channeled his N.O to absorb the impact as well as reinforce his body so it wouldn't shatter every bone in his legs.
Just seconds later he slammed hard into the ground, the force of it creating a small crater, rubble flying in all directions. Thanks to his fast thinking he would walk away, but damn it still stringed his legs like hell. He didn't have time to complain, however, as all the robots chasing him shifted their attention to him. He lunged to the side to avoid the closes robot as it swung one of its arms at him with a long metallic blade protruding from it. Landing hard on his side he rolled out of the way of a laser beam.
The robots, now numbering sex, were moving to form a circle and surround him, but moving to stand fast, he jumped hard into the air and landed behind the one who shot the beam. The robot swung around, blade arm out, but Naota was on him and swung his guitar right at the same time and caught the arm, which shattered on impact. Before the robot could regain its balance, or its buddies getting in the way, Naota swung the guitar again into its side and jumped away before the damage could make it explode, which sure enough it did.
Meanwhile, with a pained groan, Zenolite was starting to come out of the bout of unconsciousness that the heavy impact sent him into. Rubbing his side, he was glad to see that he was mostly intact. However, the pilot wasn't so lucky. While the inertia dampener protected them both from having their brain turn to mush, a single metal shard, maybe from the car, maybe not, penetrated the forward window and lunged itself into his chest, most likely killing him instantly. No ceremony, no pain, just like that. Now he was starting to really get pissed, an angry frown breaking his normally stoic face.
Angrily he unstrapped himself and pushed the door open with a hard metallic shriek. The first thing he notice was that the car was totaled and the smoke was making him dizzy. The second thing he noticed was that in the distance there was the sound of battle, laser beams and even an explosion.
Figuring that must be the kid, quickly moved over to the back to retrieve his instrument, an ebony Gibson Explorer. He quickly removed it from the trunk and started to move out of he smoke cloud and towards the sound of the fighting. As soon as he cleared the smoke, he could see not far that the kid was taking on the mechanical menaces. A pile of burning wreaks and many other scattered remains told him two of the attackers were already gone, leaving only five.
One of the robots spotted him almost immediately and moved to attack, swinging with a blade arm. He ducked and swung the guitar at it, but it blocked it with its arm and positioned its laser cannot to shoot him at point blank. He went down to the ground just in time for the beam to pass over his head and swung the guitar at the robots legs, knocking it off balance. As soon as its guard was down, he swung the guitar again catching it into its chest. Pieces blew out of it as it stumbled backwards and he swung again, this time into its head, smashing it to pieces together with its upper torso. As soon as he ran out of range, it blew up into flames.
Naota was moving as fast a he could, trying to not get incinerated or whatever by the laser beams. The robots were now laying suppressing fire in order to tire him out, not giving him an opening to attack. As he ducked one more beam, the sound of an explosion sounded through the street. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zenolite moving fast to attack the flank of the group of robots. He caught one of it of guard and slammed it off its feet. Its buddies quickly turned their attention as well, laser beams flying and swords swinging.
The two combatants made brief eye contact and with determination roared back into battle.
The battle was going in his favor, though only for now. His forces would be overwhelmed soon enough once the military mobilized, and so he needed to use the distraction to his advantage. With his small army keeping the local forces occupied, he figured he had at least half an hour before thing went south, so he willed his N.O to levitate his instrument along with him and roared high into the sky towards his target, several robots following closely behind, following the inescapable aura of Atomsk.
With great effort, Naota and Zenolite managed to gain the upper hand on their attackers by supporting each other and taking on one robot at a time, one distracting its partners while the other toke it out. Now there were only two left, one for each, and they too were dispatched quickly.
"That's the last of them." sighed Naota as the final robot exploded. "What now?"
"Now, we regroup at the station, hopefully the military garrison is already on the move." answered Zenolite. He then brought his arm device and pressed a few buttons, earning some static on his radio. "Randon Station, do you copy? This is commander Zenolite, transmuting code." he pressed a few more buttons and continued. "Need a status update."
A few seconds more of static later and a distorted voice pitched through. "Commander, this is Randon station. We are being overwhelmed."
"What of the local garrison?"
"Last we heard was five minutes ago, the brigade they sent was intercepted by a high number of drones. They won't arrive for a few minutes."
"Damn." cursed Zenolite. Before he could continue, however, the static intensified and the signal was lost, and from the sky a chuckle was heard. At the sudden sound, a presence was made known and the two turned their head upwards to a figure hanging from a levitating instrument, slowly descending.
"Now what?" asked Naota. What else this day would throw his way, he just didn't know.
"By that filthy aura he's giving...:" began Zenolite with a sneer "I'd say hes with Medical Mechanica." he finished and fell back into a stance.
"Now, now, 'm not here to fight you. I'm here for him" retorted the man, nodding towards Naota. "Why don't play with my associates while i discuss business with him." at that, about six more robots descended from the sky, landing in a circle around the trio, and began to move simultaneously to attack Zenolite, who quickly jumped out of the way of a sword, the robots hot on his heals. When Naota tried to move to assist, the man suddenly was in front of him in the blink of an eye, surprising him.
"Didn't i say we have business?" he asked "Its rude to leave like that."
Naota fell into a stance and in a quick dash tried to get him out of the way to help Zenolie, but the strange man quickly pared his blow and gave some swings of his own, which Naota barley managed to avoid. The two combatants were now moving at high speed as Naota tried to hit him and the man simply pared and wasn't even trying.
Meanwhile, Zenolite, overwhelmed six to one, could only try to run and dodge, jumping which ever way would put some distance between them. This however was taking him further and further from the kid, and he really didn't like the idea of leaving him to fend off that man by himself. The aura he was emitting told him he was dangerous, and now he knew for sure the attack was merely a distraction to get to the kid without anyone interfering.
Naota slammed hard into the wall, the force of the momentum leaving a small indentation in the building, and fell top the ground in a heap. As he tried to catch his breath, he could hear the man approaching calmly. He lifted his head and could see him standing there looking somewhat smug, as if looking down on an ant.
"Tell me, how dose a little kid like you get in contact with such a formidable power? How did you came in contact with Atomsk?" he asked with authority. To bad Naota never really liked any authority.
"Screw you." was the only answer.
The man's expression didn't falter in the slightest. In his hand, small wires of red electricity began to crackle, and with a swift movement of his hand a gust of electricity went through his body, and he fell back into a heap, body screaming in pain.
"I ask again. How did you come in contact with Atomsk? Where are you from?" he asked again, this time in a dangerously low voice.
However Naota, body aching and not all that able any longer, was still defiant. "Im not saying anything." He lifted his head to make eye contact. "Why would i tell you? What, you gonna capture him again?" he asked the man mockingly.
At this however, the man's eyes widen slightly and without warning sent another bolt of electricity into his body. In pain, he could only curl up his body, holding tight to the guitar.
"Very few people outside MM knew we captured him in the first place." the man added venomously. Shit, Naota thought, realizing he might have dug his hole even deeper. The man's eye now had a truly murderous intent to them, the red electricity sparkling around his hand was now increasing and surrounding his entire body.
Now very keen on thinking what was in store for him, Naota shut his eyes and waited for the pain to come. He really screwed this one up. He should have stayed home and not pursue that damnable woman. Now people were dying because of him, and he too would follow soon.
Instead of pain, however, a mad laughter echoed through the street. A familiar laugh, followed by a loud noise similar to a machine gun. Oppening his eyes wide, he was greeted with the sight of Haruko flying at high speed on her Vespa blasting at the robots attacking Zenolite with her's bass in-built gun thing. The projectiles passed clean through the robots armor, wreaking havoc and tearing some limbs. Moments later they were engulfed by flames, sending shockwaves into Zenolite, who was now trying to dodge stray bullets instead lasers and swords, knocking him down to the ground.
With another bout of crazy laughter, Haruko landed a short distance from the man, branding a wicket smirk and looking positiveness pissed. Now it was the man's turn to tense as she unsaddled the yellow vehicle.
"Tsk, Tsk, Takun." she mocked "Why do you look as if you are giving up?" she asked with a hint of genuine concern. Her eyes hardened as she toke in the scene, specifically the man. "And what do we have here?" she asked with another mocking voice. "A dog of MM."
At that, the man eyes narrowed. With a sift motion of his free hand, a large bolt of red lighting flew out towards Haruko. Instead of ducking or being overwhelmed by the electricity, Haruko simply lifted her bass in a quick motion to intercept the attack, its power simply being deflected in multiple directions. "How adorable." She began again, her tone even more mocking. "You really shouldn't have messed with my favorite play thing."
With anger growing inside him, the man tried to lunged forward, but before he made one step Haruko was by his side, Atomsk's guitar swinging. He barley managed to sidestep before it impacted his skull, and again sidestepped as she brought her own bass bearing down on him. Again and again, she swung her double arsenal at high speed, not giving him a moment to rest, and he tried to dodge.
As he tried to gather energy for another electric bolt, his periphery vision caught sight of Zenolite sprinting towards his direction, attempting to get a hit in, dodging it with just enough time to leave only a scratch on his arm. With two adversaries, the man was now force completely on the defensive, but he was not over yet. Summoning his N.O portal, he ordered all robot forces to converge on his location.
Naota was now standing up, just barley, his body still aching, tired after the battle with the robots and the shocking by the man. Summoning his N.O, he began to feel his body relaxing as the power surging through him soothed the pain away, enough to feel like joining the frey. As he began to sprint towards the man, revenge fresh in his mind, a blur fell down from the sky just behind him, the shockwave nearly toppling him over. A strong hand caught him and helped him balance. When he looked up, he saw that it was Zenolite, and looking around he now realized that the blur was one of several dozen robots now surrounding them. In seconds they were on them, attacking all three in groups.
With the small army distracting his opponents, the man quickly levitated his instrument and lifted himself in the air, just in time to miss one last swing from Haruko, who was wearing a deep scowl. As he flew high and landed on a building's roof, one which dwarfed most of the other skyscreapers, he looked in the distance and saw several lights approaching fast. The local garrison of soldiers. He summoned his powers to levitate again and flew fast into the opposite direction. He didn't capture the boy and got only some tidbits of information, but it was enough to piece together a picture.
The boy came in contact with Atomsk. He was fairly competent, but still a novice, at using N.O, so he wasn't using it for a long time. And now he knew that Raharu, the women largely responsible for freeing Atomsk from MM's prison, as far as they could tell, knew him. Thinking of where she freed him, he remembered a small, insignificant planet recently discovered by MM not far from their boarders. The place where she freed him, about two years ago. The kid couldn't be training for longer than that, plus she would need an N.O channel besides her own for the procedure to work...the gears in his head turning, he changed course when he was positive no one followed him and landed on the ground, dispersing the instrument back into his channel. He needed to check on his theory, and for that he would need help from someone higher up the chain of command.
The three combatants were in the middle of an all out brawl as the dozens of robots attacked in groups, trying to overwhelm them. Dodging and swinging their instruments whenever they could, the hoard of robots slowly started to dwindle, and then finally Haruko had enough and pulled the cord on her bass and began emptying the gun it possessed into the crowd of enemies, moving down row after row with a maniacal cackle, to the grim faces of Naota and Zenolite, sitting silently and watching the massacre with wide eyes, wondering if she could have done that sooner...
A noise brought their attention upwards and several vehicles were descending to their position, opening fire on the remaining robots. A few seconds and exploding robots later, the only noise in the wide street was the sound of the descending vehicles and the heavy breathing of the two combatants. Haruko, on the other hand, didn't look much worse for wear and just had a bored look on her face.
Naota, now thoroughly spent, felt like sleeping for a very long time, and so he collapsed and darkness toke over his senses.
Underworld Hideout, Vilonis, later that day
After wandering through the upper city and making sure he lost anyone who could have follow him, the man descended down a long elevator to the lower levels of the vertical metropolis, the Underworld, where most of the vital infrastructure was located, such as sewer pipes and energy lines, out of sight, as well as the poorer members of society resided. Thus, it was mostly a lawless land, perfect for hiding.
He quickly made his way to a mostly abandoned building where his main hideout was located, a relatively small building compared to the behemoths that gave the city its height. In his room was located a single computer, with access to all the information an infiltrator and employee of Medical Mechanica would need (encrypted, of course, with a self defense mechanism just in case).
At his rank, he would not have enough access to identify what the planet Atomsk was released. Thus, he first went back into a meditation to contact his superiors. A few moments later, he was given the proper clearance. It did not take much searching to locate his information. Just over two years ago, on a backwater planet recently located at the edge of explored space, called Dirt...or Earth, something really stupid, he concluded, highly unimaginative and inaccurate since its surface was mostly water.
In any case, the pieces were in place, and thus he returned to his meditation to contact his superiors.
"Report" the voices echoed in his mind with authority.
Sirs he said politely and retorted his findings. After a few minutes of silence, the beings on the other end replied
"This boy, how much of Atomsk's power did he come in contact with?"
The man paused for a few seconds to think "I am unsure, but it was quite significant to have left such an impression."
The other beings were again silent while they conversed "And there was no way to capture him?"
"No, sire. As I said, Raharu was there before i could do much of anything. But if i have your permission, i wish to scout out his planet and try to capture him there."
Again silence. "Permission granted. Shall we sent a ship to take you to Earth?" they asked.
"That will not be necessary." He said "I shall need to lure him back home anyway, so i might as well do something...flashy."
He grinned at that. He was good at infiltrating, but his real talent was wasted there. He much more preferred to do things the hard way.
"I shall need information on any other person with N.O on Earth."
Authors note:
Ah, so another chapter done. I really hope the action scenes came out as good as they looked in my head...They kinda looked good in my head. Unfortunately i don't have anyone to ask for opinions, so, seriously, if anyone out there actually reads this shit, please leave a review.
Even a "you fucking suck" is good enough. at least i know i should improve.
So next chapter in the final of the first arc. I'm hopping to have at least five arcs, and will also try to make longer chapters, each 3 chapters so a 15 chapters fic...if I can actually finish this before i get grey hair. Seriously, this chapter toke way longer than i had wanted.
Well see ya next time.