Note:
"Text" = Normal speech
"[Text]" = Speech in Japanese (sorry, too lazy to use an online translator, and unable to afford a professional translator)
Text = Thoughts
Enter the Other Half
The armored personnel carrier slowed to a gentle stop, kicking up a small cloud of dust as its engine quieted down to a gentle rumble, before choking out and stopping completely.
Everything was quiet inside; not a sound, not even of breathing from the lone occupant inside the cabin.
A small metal window slid open, flooding light into the darkened passenger area. A pair of dark brown eyes peered in, trying to see through the darkness. "What the... Oi, swordswoman! You still in there?" A gruff voice called, eyes narrowing in an attempt to accustom its sight to the darkness. "We're here, and for Pete's sake don't dim the damn thing, and -!" The voice abruptly stopped. "Put some clothes on, woman! You're gonna give me a heart attack!"
Nothing but the sound of shuffling cloth gave any indication that there was anyone inside. Shortly, light slowly entered the cabin area, showing a young woman wearing a pair of black pants with a v-cut slit on the hip area, held together by crisscrossing lines of cloth. Her feet were shod in what appeared to be black running shoes. She appeared to have just finished tidying her blonde hair inside a black beanie cap, accentuated with a wide red stripe that ran through its length.
The unnerving part was that she was topless, and a sniper top lay folded neatly beside a blue-and-silver blade. "I appreciate the concern about my decency. Please don't trouble yourself." Her low voice was heard replying as she dutifully turned her back to the still-watching eyes, bending slightly forward and both hands reaching to her back to clip on a strapless black bra. She turned her head sideways partly, the corner of her eyes glinting hard. "And please stop watching me like a Peeping-tom."
"Oh, right." She heard the window slide shut, its simple clip locking in place from the other side. Wordlessly, she picked up the long-sleeved shirt and slid it on, buttoning up only the second and third buttons.
Her right hand reached to the weapon laying on the long seat, held in place by simple leather straps. A small yank was all it took to free it from its bindings, then pushed the rear door open.
The vehicle did not move as she gently leaped off, her footwear crunching the light snow underfoot. The vehicle's driver stuck his head outside the window, yelling at her. "Oi, swordswoman! I'll be back after forty-five minutes, ya hear?"
A noncommittal nod was the only answer she gave as the APC's engine started, and drove off shortly afterwards.
"Little has changed," she mused to herself as she started walking towards the rendezvous point. "I wonder..."
.xxxxx.
The hard knock of a bamboo sword brought sense back into the blonde girl. "[Ouch! Dad!]"
The brown-haired man in front of her smirked, shouldering the three-foot long weapon. "[Pay more attention, daughter. I am not teaching you your cousins' reckless methods, I want you to learn to face your targets head on, like a true swordsman should.]" He shifted his feet and held the bamboo sword in both hands. "[Now, hold your blade with both hands. Your grip must be firm yet relaxed. Not like what you're doing now,]" he added with a chuckle.
"[Hmmph!]" The blonde girl gripped her hands so tight, her arms began shaking.
"[Karen, Karen, you have the idea but you're not following it.]" The elder man let go of his bamboo weapon and positioned himself behind the young girl, gently prying her grip loose.
He then pulled out a sheet of paper from his sleeve and rolled it up. "[Let's try it this way. Think of this roll of paper as your sword's nakago(1). However, it has been very badly damaged, so you can only do one last attack with it.]" He smiled as his daughter let her imagination take over, eyes widening. "[Yes, and the evil warlord is on his last legs too... Both of you have damaged swords, and you both know that each of you can do only one attack more. It's all or nothing.]" He then slid his bamboo sword, grip-first, into the paper tube, then held the paper grip to the young girl. "[You know and believe with all your heart that your Empty Sky Sword style will emerge the victor... But to do that, you will need to fall back to your basic training. The first of them all, grip your sword firmly yet keep your hand relaxed.]"
As the girl's hand closed on the rolled-up paper, her father turned serious. "[Your sword's handle is liable to break if you grip it too tightly. However, make it too loose, and your blade will fly from your hand. What do you do?]"
The little girl's brows drew together. [Grip yet not let it slip? How do I...?]
Her face brightened when she realized the solution. The girl let her hand wrap on the paper, keeping only enough pressure to not let the bamboo sword slip through the paper, yet making sure her hands don't squeeze tightly to avoid crumpling the paper.
The girl looked up, seeing a gentle smile beaming down at her. "[Good, Karen. Now, let us continue.]"
.xxxxx.
The blonde woman smiled slightly at the memory as her last target, a Vajratail, screamed its last while her dark blue Glacier Katana X slashed through its side. [As usual, Father's training served me well. If only I could get my asshole 'cousin' to cooperate with me], she thought to herself as the smile disappeared from her face, replaced by a scowl. [Sadly, that cheeky jerk doesn't care for anyone except himself. No wonder Mother and Father don't think highly of him. It's probably better this way, at least I won't have to worry about anyone suddenly leaving me open to attacks.]
She heard a faint growl behind her. Turning, her eyes locked with the Vajratail's.
For several seconds, they stared at each other, the only sound being the low rumbling from the Vajratail's throat. She turned to face the Aragami, both hands gripping the blade's handle.
"[Very well. I shall end your misery.]" She raised it up slowly, high above her head, the Aragami following the blade as if mesmerized. "[Empty Sky Sword Style... Judgment: Requiem]."
.xxxxx.
She was silent once more in the APC, only barely waving to the driver as she left the vehicle and entered the Den.
Going through the God Arc Storage Area, the young woman handed her weapon to the goggled mechanic. "Welcome back, Karen! Oh, looks like you didn't use your gun much this time."
"No, Licca-dono. I needed the sword practice." She turned to leave, but stopped partway. "I have a favor to ask, Licca-dono."
"What is it?" Licca had already placed the dark blue blade in its locking holster, and it was now being lowered out of sight.
Karen took a slow breath, and slowly released it. "Can you... Forge me a tantou(2) or an uchigatana(3), without Oracle Cell linings?"
"Why?"
"For... A friend." Karen's voice hitched slightly.
Both were silent for a short while. "You don't have to tell me anything else Karen. I'll need a few things to get that done." Licca placed her hand on the taller woman's shoulder in a friendly gesture.
"Thank you, Licca-dono."
.xxxxx.
The elevator doors opened with a soft hiss. "You're finally here," Tsubaki's voice broke through Karen's train of thought. "We have a new God Eater in the Den, and she's a New Type like you."
"She?" Karen asked in a monotone voice.
"Yes. She's been through her medical checkup and she will be here shortly. And speaking of her, here she comes."
The elevator doors opened again, Karen doing a 180-degree turn and bowing deeply. "[I am honored to meet you. I am Ogawa Karen.]"
"Kon'nichiwa to you too, Karen!"
"?!" Karen had to rise up and raise an eyebrow at the new comers energetic greeting.
Like her, this new girl was a native to these lands, however... the girl's appearance was a little more eccentric than Karen. While Karen held her head tall with noble's integrity, the way this girl carried herself seemed to indicate one of a lower birth. Even so, her features were a little strange for a native of the Far East Branch. Although her hair was long and silky like most born in this region it had a blue hue to it that one could notice even outside of the sunlight. Her face lacked the normal serious traditional look, as her big eyes revealed their baby purples. Perhaps that was a mutation in her gene pool, but Karen had yet to see someone else with the same mutation through her years at this Branch. Her skin had a slight touch of the sun, but unlike Karen it didn't leave her skin slightly tanned but instead a little pink.
However exotic she had turned out to be, she seemed to have a more... conservative style of dressing. Sporting nothing but a blue Medic Coat to tease the viewer with a shape but revealed nothing, and a blue Casual Bottom with a short mini skirt that still covered it all with her black tights. She was smiling at Karen as she stood in a hero pose with her hands on her hips, which then turned to a toothy grin.
"The name's Shōkan. Shōkan Maebure for long." The girl gave Karen a two finger salute. "Hey, are you the new member in my Unit as well?"
"?"
"She'll be joining your team as of today." Tsubaki explained to Karen as she saw the question raising with Karen's eyebrow. "Although she hasn't experience actual combat yet, her scores in the training room were phenomenal. I trust you two will look after each other, since you're both new-bloods here. Yuu and Alisa will both be looking after you both as well as your seniors."
"Hai, Tsubaki-sama." Karen nodded her head down in a bow in compliance to Tsubaki, soon after eying the girl that just became the new addition onto her team. Seemed like this Den was starting to fill with new members and New-Types.
"Since you're here, Karen, you can show her around. Let her get to know the Den and its members. Help her get along with her teammates." Tsubaki instructed. "You're her senior now, even though it's only by a couple of days. She's going to look up to you. Guide her through the ways of the God Eaters, take her on a mission with you if you must. Just not too much of a challenging mission, we don't want to over expose her on her first day."
"Hai, Okusama."
"Hmph, Good. That will be all." Tsubaki dismissed them as she walked off to the lower floor with her clipboard to go about another task, muttering something under her breath about 'not being that old'. With her gone, that left Karen and Shōkan alone together.
"Sooo," Shōkan said, elongating her word, drawing Karen's attention back to her. "You've been here longer than me, how far have you gotten with your God Arc?"
"As far as I need it to be."
"So you've been upgrading it, or perhaps you altered it to something more like you?"
"I've made it to fit my purpose."
"Ugh, you're no fun. It's like trying to see through a brick wall with you." Shōkan pouted before invading Karen's personal space by getting up and close to her face. "They say you can tell a person's character by their preference and style."
"..." Karen simply stared into Shōkan's purple eyes, remaining unmoved.
"Ugh," Shōkan sighed out as she backed away from Karen. "You've got a stone strong will there, almost like a Samurai."
Silence reigned between them for almost a minute, only to be broken by Shōkan as if the period of silence never happened.
"So then, Karen, how about you help me set up my God Arc."
"Very well, I will help with your God Arc once we get to the God Arc Hangar when I show you around."
"Whaaa, that will take like-forever."
"Have patience, Shōkan-dono. Time will not move faster for those who are impatient."
"Oh, how polite and well mannered you are." Shōkan cooed at her. "But I am no dono, nor am I of noble birthing. If you must, call me Shōkan-chan. We are peers now, are we not?"
"Very well... Shōkan-san."
"(Sigh) Well, it's a start." Shōkan sighed out in exasperation. Ignoring Karen's personal space again, she came into Karen's space bubble and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"..." Karen stared at the offending hand with bemusement. She had no fondness of being touched by others, especially strangers, but at the same time she saw no threat in the gesture from Shōkan. The girl was calm and disarmed, Karen could sense no evil intent from her. The girl had no sense of personal space, but she seemed harmless. It was just... in her nature; that much Karen could tell.
"So how about that tour you were talking about." Shōkan suggested, taking off her hand from Karen's shoulder.
"Mottomo na." Karen complied as she lead Shokan off the Entrance Floor and into the Residence Section Elevator.
"..." Tsubaki watched quietly as the girls walked off into the elevator from her spot at the lower benches. There was something off about those two; Karen was good at hiding it and Shōkan just showed if off for all to see. She had seen the odd girl's suspicious behavior so far...
.xxxxx.
It was a routine Amplitude Test, the new recruit was to stick her hand into the machine and tested whether she was a match or not. It was a simple task that she had seen the process of countless times.
But unlike all the other times, when the machine came down upon her hand when she gripped the God Arc she did not scream or cry out. Her eyebrow twitched for a second and her grin turned into gritted teeth, but her face remained strong, unlike most who had passed the Amplitude Test. By the time she was done, she was holding her standardized God Arc in one hand.
"This God Arc... is too small..." Was all the recruit had to say, she wasn't tired and she wasn't out of breath from the process. She was calm and unwavering in her voice.
Tsubaki found her first words after her test odd, most would react with 'glad that's over' or 'what the hell is this thing' as they looked upon their God Arcs for the first time.
"Congratulations, Shōkan Maebure, you are now official a New-Type Gods Eater of the Far East Branch." Tsubaki said down to her from the speakers in the observatory room. "Report to Dr. Sakaki in three hundred hours for your medical check-up. I will show you to your new room and we can begin your training later."
"Sounds fun, I can't wait..." Shōkan replied back to her, never taking her eyes off of her God Arc.
*** Some time later ***
Dr. Sakaki had reported her vitals as passingly normal for a New-Type, but was still quite ecstatic about the results from her data. However, she refused to fall asleep through the whole process, eying him with unnerving eyes. Hearing that she was 'passing' was good enough for Tsubaki as she pushed Shōkan to keep moving along as Dr. Sakaki rambled on.
"He'll ramble on forever if we let him." Tsubaki explained as they walked off into the elevator. "The day is burning, let's not waste anymore time."
"Alright."
"Hmm..." Tsubaki looked down at the girl, looking over her features. "Your hair is too long, it'll get in the way on the fields. You'll either have to tie it back or cut it off."
"What?! Come on, I worked hard for this hair!" Shōkan pouted out.
"..." Her whining had earned the slanted eyes of Tsubaki, that commandingly said 'no buts'. But Shōkan didn't seem to be intimated by her stare and simply sighed out.
"(Sigh) Fine, I'll tie it back into a ponytail." Shōkan didn't like tying her hair into a ponytail, that style belong to someone very close to her, it felt like she was stealing it.
Tsubaki nodded in approval at Shōkan's answer, exiting the elevator with her as they had reached their floor. She had taken Shōkan to her assigned room on the Rookie's Floor, where she would be rooming right beside her fellow new recruit New-Type team member. The room had the standardized furnishing, but it was still more than what Shōkan appeared to be use to as she stared at the room in awe.
"Get settled in if you want, or look around the Den at your leisure. Just be sure to report to the Training Grounds in two hundred hours." Tsubaki explained to her, bringing Shōkan back to their world. Shōkan nodded at Tsubaki's instructions and walked into the room, carrying a big hiking bag on her back. "We can send other free-hand God Eaters to help carry in the rest of your luggage."
"Huh? Oh, no need. This is all I brought with me."
"?" Such an odd thing for a girl. "You brought so little?"
"It was all I could carry. And it was all I need." Shōkan answered, looking at Tsubaki before turning back to look at the room. "It would be far too greedy to take more with me."
"?"
"..."
"Very well, do what you will with the time warranted to you." Tsubaki said, shaking off the odd pause from Shōkan's words. "I will see you in two hours."
"Peace." Shōkan waved back at her without turning around.
*** Hours Later ***
Shōkan had showed up in time, but with things she didn't expect. After Shōkan was done with whatever she redid in her room, she had made her way back to the Entrance Floor. Where Tsubaki saw her haggle some trading items with the Den's Merchant. She had somehow gotten a hold of some really good Aragami parts and she was selling them to the Merchant for a decent price.
Although Tsubaki could see that Shōkan had an amazing poker face, she could tell that the girl had no idea what the value of fc (Fenrir Credits) currency was. She was trusting that the Merchant would give her a fair price, while at the same time not giving him a reason to cheat her once he found out she had no idea what her items were worth if he wasn't being fair. The kid was street smart, Tsubaki would give her that, but where had she been that she didn't know how much a fc was worth?
She was even good about not giving out too much information. When the Merchant had asked her how she had gotten a hold of her items, she had simply responded 'That's not important. Selling the product is. You keep your trade secrets and I'll keep mine. Capisce?'
The girl had sold enough to buy her new outfit and multiples of it to last her for weeks, along with some Recovery Items and traps she would most likely need out on the field. Even Licca had reported with surprise when she had showed up in the Hangar to retrieve her God Arc and decided to look through one of the Floor's Terminal to see what she could craft her God Arc into or upgrade to. She had searched through the Terminal's options for a good ten minutes before she found what she was looking for. A grin rose on her face as she had spotted an option that had peaked her interest.
In a shock to Licca, Shōkan had appeared to have pulled out the items that she needed from her bag in order to change around her God Arc. Her Type50 Auto-Gun had turned into a Tigris Gun, which in turn upgraded into a Tigris Gun N II, to a Queen Tigris Gun, all the way to Queen Tigris Gun II. She would have gone further but lacked the items needed from a Prithivi Mata. Her Common Shield had changed into a Saint Germain, which in turn was altered all the way into a Trismegistos R. But she tsk'd in irritation when she realized she didn't have the items she needed to change her Blade into anything else and had to settle with just upgrading it into a Chill Blade EX. She would have changed it into a Forbidden Iceblade if she had an Empress Wreath and Aragami Crystals. But she sighed it off, most likely she could look for the items later.
Even so she was somehow able to still have enough money- and miraculously have the items needed for it- to make and equip a Surt Control Unit with a Freeze/Divine Kit and Stun Immunity Upgrades. How she got a hold of those strong Aragami parts, Licca would never know. Either she had made some shady trades before she had gotten to the Den, or she was hiding something from them; either way she would tell them nothing. And it was doing the Den no harm, so Tsubaki let her keep her secrets.
Tsubaki could see no harm in Shōkan, judging from her back records. Her records had checked out, and her slate was clean. But that didn't change the fact that the girl was strange, even as she entered the Training Grounds and updated her files to give herself a codename for the field. Not only was her name weird for a young lady but her codename was as well, she codenamed herself 'Redemption'. Even Shōkan's skill during the training course was good, that raw talent good. If anything, the girl was mostly street fighting the Aragami. Where exactly did this girl come from?
.xxxxx.
Karen had just given Shōkan a tour of the Den, ending the whole walk-through at the God Arc Hangars.
"That should be everything," Karen concluded in a matter-fact tone. "The team is out at the moment, so you'll have to meet up with them later."
"Fine, I like the occasional surprise every now and then." Shōkan replied as she looked around the Hangar. "Sooo, which one of these bad puppies is yours?"
"The blue blade," Karen simply answered as she pointed her finger at her Glacier Katana II. Shōkan couldn't help but whistle at it.
"Whoa, nice katana. But I think it could become better." Shōkan commented before turning to face Karen with a suggestive grin. "What do you say we go out on the field to look for our parts?"
"I would not recommend such rash action. Prithivi Mata's are not Aragami to be taken lightly. I cannot guarantee we will be enough to kill it, let alone if we'll find one."
"Pfft, if-smill, less worrying about the what ifs of the future and more focusing on the now." Shōkan just waved off, wrapping an arm around Karen's shoulders as she pulled Karen closer to her. "Let's just go, we'll worry about the details once we're out there. If anything it'll most likely be in a cold area so that narrows down our field of search."
"..."
"Think about it Karen. You need some Empress Fangs and I need an Empress Wreath. Why not help each other?"
"Hm..."
"If not that, it'll at least give us time to get to know each other. I want to see what the fellow teammate I'm trusting my life with can do."
Karen didn't know if it was simply an innocent statement or a challenge. Either way, it awoke the warrior's spirit in her. "Heh, very well. It should be a good field training experience for you anyway."
"Yay! That's the spirit, let's go show those Aragami what we're made of!"
"Hnh, It'll be a harder fight, dealing with them considering both our God Arc's element type."
"Heh, we'll need the handicap if we plan to give the Aragami a fair chance." Shōkan gloated before pulling out her God Arc from the Hangar. "Now let's go get ourselves some Prithivi Mata heads. I'm looking forward to finally changing out of this light weight blade."
*** Authors Notes ***
(1) nakago = grip for nihontou blades
(2) tantou = knife/dagger. More on Wikipedia.
(3) uchigatana = short blade. Check out the wikipedia entry for details.
... actually 'Tanto' is the meaning for short blade, but they usually are knife/dagger size. Be careful about Wikipedia, they're not always correct. Look it up in a book or ask a Sensei of traditional Kendo for the answer.
okusama= madame
Mottomo na= right (reasonable)