Maya Tsukiko 5
Maya was hanging around the Rank Battle booths, watching a few matches and watching for friends. She saw Yuki fighting someone she thought might be Minoru, but she wasn't sure.
Then she felt a tap on the shoulder and turned around to face a girl who looked around her age, with long, dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.
"Hey, are you one of the agents here?" the girl asked in slightly clipped Japanese. It reminded Maya of when she first met Shana.
"Yeah," Maya replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Do you speak English?" the girl asked.
Maya, being as dense as she was, thought the girl was probably in her English class and wanted help, so she replied, "(Yes.)" It would be good practice anyway.
"(Great! Someone who understands me!)" The girl sounded relieved, then proceeded to ramble on in fast English.
"(I am sorry,)" Maya said. "(It is hard for me to hear you.)"
"(Oh, I'll just talk louder!)" the girl shouted.
"I can't speak English well!" Maya shouted back in her native tongue.
"Why didn't you say so?" the girl chuckled. "I speak Japanese too!"
"Oh, what a relief," Maya said. "I'm really bad with English."
"It's fine," the girl said. "Anyway, my name is Gabe Ryder. Or would it be Ryder Gabe? Japanese names make no sense! Anyway, my first name is Gabe, my last name is Ryder."
"Nice to meet you," Maya replied. "I'm Tsukiko Amaya. (Uh, Amaya Tsukiko.) But you can just call me Maya, everyone does."
"Alright, Maya," Gabe said.
"So what do you need?" Maya asked. "Are you lost or something?"
"Actually..." Gabe said. "I want to battle you."
"What?" Her statement caught Maya off guard.
"I'm a Border agent too," Gabe explained. She partially unzipped her sweatshirt, revealing a modified Border emblem on her shirt. "The US has a lot of branches if you didn't know."
"I did actually," Maya said. "I have an American friend."
"Oh cool! Where are they from?" Gabe asked.
"New York City."
"Oh, that's across the country from me," Gabe said. "I'm from San Francisco."
"Enough chatting," Maya said, a determined smirk crossing her face. "Let's battle already!"
"Not one to back down from a fight, eh?" Gabe said, her face matching Maya's. "I like you already."
"Booth 14 is open. We can use that one," Maya said.
As the two girls walked towards the booth, Gabe asked, "Hey, mind if I choose the setting?"
"Knock yourself out," Maya said, internally thinking, An odd thing to ask, but I got this anyway.
Both girls were beamed in randomly. Maya straightened her jacket and took both Kogetsu from her belt.
It was at this time, as an electronic voice counted down, "3, 2, 1..." that Maya realized the setting. A Cityscape, she couldn't tell which, on a dark, cloudy night with little light. Visibility was horrible. Why would Gabe choose this setting?
Suddenly, a shock of pain shot through Maya's side, and she saw the leak of Trion. Was Gabe a shooter? She hadn't seen the tail, so the shoot had to had to have come from her right, where the wound was. Maya ran down a street section, the only light her swords. Another Trion bullet hit Maya in the back, a bullet going right through her chest. She yelled a panicked, "What?" before being brought back in a new location.
The electronic voice read, "Tsukiko down."
This marks the beginning of what I like to call the Newcomer Arc. I'm looking forward to this one, as I'm revisiting an idea from the end of my first run, but with my more mature and defined style. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
