Chapter 4: The Lark and her Protector
And here's chapter 4, were things actually really start to change.
Also I really hate having to pick out Japanese names. But having random English names in there would be even weirder were everything's Japanese, and I refuse to watch the dub, (I've already watched it in full, why should have to get used to new names?) and I guess it's not that big of a deal.
As for the choice to make Zero and Alouette stepsiblings…it was just an impulsive choice after played one of my friends zero games a while back. I was planning on giving him a sister from the start, so this just fit the personality I had planned nearly perfectly.
Ok, review response time~ (finally!)
Ok, to Ultimate Black Ace: First off, thank you for reviewing, and leaving more than just 'this is good, pls write more' or something (not that I don't appreciate those, but it's nice to see some structure and legit feedback once in a while). As for the review thing you mentioned…if you want to, I'm not going to force you. Yeah, I tend to have the same opinion about OC's, but mainly self-insert OCs, or ones that just take over the original character's role, steal the spotlight, etc. But in this universe there really aren't any characters that would fit the role, and I don't plan to make the OCs overly powerful/ stealing all the air time, but more as additional partners.
Omegaxis1: Quite glad you think that even the prolog is good, and I hope you continue to leave this story, maybe even leave another review for this chapter as well? As for the minimum speech…it wasn't really needed in that chapter, though I'm sure you'll notice that the later chapters get more dialog heavy.
Any disturbing conclusions you draw from what the Virus-Human says are probably on purpose, I'm just that messed up at times. Also, this chapter contains somewhat minor blood, and a good number of the ones after it will. Real life logic will apply to people, so if someone gets cut, they bleed something. I'll try not and go overboard on the details of those scenes, simply because I'm not trying to write an unnecessary bloody fic that'll turn people away. If I feel that a chapter contains any mentions of blood higher that something relatively minor (like Luna's hand in the prior chapter) I'll always mention it.
"And then he called out 'Battle Card! Predation!' and turned the ground to ice using umm…Ice floor? Ice field? Ice ground?" babbled one overly excited voice.
"Ice Stage actually," Another, much calmer and softer one supplied helpfully.
"Oh yeah, it was Ice Stage! And then he pushed the broken Skyway and used it to stop the other one that was speeding towards the people! And he managed to stop the other train with sheer strength alone! Can you believe that? Huh? Can yah? Huh?"
"Yes, yes I can, as it's been replaying on the News and other channels almost constantly. And you've been constantly talking about it as well," The young blond girl answered, adjusting her hold on her prized cat doll.
"Oh yeah, sorry Alouette, but you gotta admit it's really cool, I mean a real-life superhero!" The black haired boy continued, green eyes wide with excitement.
"It's fine Hisashi, and yes, it is nice," replied Alouette, smiling a little at her friends antics.
The two children, both only eight years of age, had been walking back to their respective homes from the local park. Alouette was a rather short girl with strait blond hair and blue eyes. The usual third member of their little ground, a young brunet named Aya, had already reached her home and left them. So the two had continued along their way, Hisashi babbling constantly about his new apparent hero, Rockman.
Alouette remembered when she had heard about what had happened at the Skyways only two days ago, though it had been surprising to hear about Rockman, she had been more worried about her old brother who had also been on the Skyway that day. Thankfully he hadn't been on any of the Skyway trains when the incident had happened, but she had still been scared for him.
"Nice? Nice, ha! How about amazing! I mean, I heard he managed to catch a Skyway cart like it was nothing!" Hisashi exclaimed, causing Alouette to smile at his seemingly boundless energy, "And he also managed to get us out of school for today to, how great is that?"
"Hisashi, you shouldn't be glad something like that happened you know…" Alouette muttered, trying her best to glare at him, "What if someone had gotten hurt?"
"Bah, no one will get hurt with that Rockman guy around, I mean, he's a superhero right? They always beat down the bad guys!"
Alouette just sighed at that, unable to bring herself to argue at him. Looking around, she once again noted how there were fewer people walking about than normal. The city was known for being exceptionally safe (if it wasn't her brother would never let her walk around like this, with or without friends) so people of all ages would be allowed to walk around freely without the fear of getting attacked or even having money stolen. And on a day with no school there should have been more people out, even at the park there were fewer kids than normal. Apparently the incident with the Skyway had shaken up people more than Alouette had originally thought.
"Hey, Alouette and her annoying friend!" The two looked towards the voice and saw a young teen boy jogging toward them, his shoulder length dirty blond hair kept back with a simple hair tie.
"Hey, I am not annoying!" Hisashi all but shouted at the taller boy, who just chuckled at his reaction.
"Relax kid, I was just messing with ya," the other teen, known as Tamotsu, replied, making sure to mess up the boys hair even more so before he looked over to Alouette, "Alouette, you have fun?" It wasn't necessary to ask, what with Hisashi being with her and all, but it was something Tamotsu did anyways.
"Uh-huh!" Alouette nodded happily as she all but skipped over to him, shifting the cat doll so she could grasp one of his hands tightly.
"Hey Hisashi," Tamotsu called to the other child, "Your mom called me and told me to ask you if you'd finished some project for school. It was something about planes or something…"
As Tamotsu continued to talk he saw Hisashi's face fall more and more with each word until there was only a look of absolute horror on it.
"Aw no! Gotta go Alouette, see yah later!"
Tamotsu just shook his head at boy, muttering under his breath about forgetfulness as he watched the retreating form. Looking down at Alouette, he asked, "And you haven't forgotten to do any projects or school assignments, right?"
"Nope, I thought we'd still have school today, so I did it all last night!" Alouette said happily as they started to walk.
"Well that's really good, lot better than Hisashi," Tamotsu praised, enjoying the way she beamed back at him.
When their parents had remarried almost three years ago, Alouette had been a terribly shy thing, always clinging to her doll and hardly saying much to anyone she didn't know extremely well. The two of them had ended up meeting on the cruise ship they had been on before even their parents had met each other, a group of older boys and girls had decided to pick on her for not going into the pool when her mom had gone off to the bathroom. They had stolen her cat doll, laughing as she cried and begged for it back, threatening to drop it over the edge of the ship. Tamotsu ended up getting fed up with the sight (he had never been one to take well to those more powerful bulling others with said power) and had intervened. Of course, the girls of the group helped to provoke a fight between him and two of the other boys.
It had been funny to see the little group's faces when Tamotsu had taken on both boys easily, throwing one into the pool and having the other on the ground with his arm twisted behind his back in seconds. But then one of the tougher girls decided to 'help' and had jumped on his back, tugging on his hair to pull him back and landing a solid blow to his shoulder that nearly dislocated it. From there the violence had quickly escalated.
In the end, both Tamotsu's and Alouette's parents had to pull them both off, as somehow even peaceful Alouette had gotten involved and had tacked one of the older girls (the look on her mother's face when seeing this had been priceless) and a few of the staff members to restrain the other kids. But in Tamotsu's eyes it was well worth it, having gotten back the doll with no damaged to it.
Even though it hadn't ended to well at the time, the long-term effects were well worth it, as now little Alouette was now his stepsister and his father was truly happy again. Tamotsu still wasn't sure why his dad had changed his last name to Alouette's family name of Merle, but hey, it wasn't that big of a deal in his eyes.
"Anyway, I got a message from dad, and apparently we need to go to the store for a few things." Even in a world where Denpa energy was used to make food, Alouette's mom still liked to cook things up from scratch from time to time.
"Oh, can we stop by the ice cream place afterwards?" she asked hopefully, looking up at Tamotsu with begging eyes.
Resisting the urge to sigh, he couldn't stop the smile that spread on his face. He always had a 'tough guy' attitude around other people without really meaning to, it just came from people messing with him when he was younger, and that followed him to middle school and would most certainly follow him to high school as well. He never tried to pick fights really, but he was known for sticking up for the ones who couldn't defend themselves (something that probably came from that time on the cruise) so that just tended to get him in trouble. But around Alouette he would let any coldness drop, as she was his sister, and blood relation or no, he was extremely protective of her.
God knows what he would do when she got older, as she was obviously going to be a very beautiful woman.
"I guess. But only after we get everything ok?" He answered, giving her a firm look, only to have it dissolve the next second when she let out a small cheer.
Unknown to either of them, a blood red FM life form was watching the two of them from a Wave Road high above them. It had been following the boy known as Tamotsu for a while now, making sure. Even though he had known that the boy could match his wave-length right from the start, unlike the others coming here, he wasn't interested in the one-sided parasitic possession that they seemed fond of. No, he knew that if the host was willing, that much more of a powerful form could be reach. He had also been adjusting his power so as to change the conciseness point he would have in the Denpa-henkan, instead of just blindly fusing at the first chance and hoping it ended well. And he had been checking, making sure that this boy wasn't likely to abuse the power soon to be bestowed onto him.
But not now, no. He was far more patient and could wait until the perfect chance revealed itself. So, with a single thought he left the golden Wave Road and took off towards the boy. But instead of striking him directly, he entered the red Transfer attached to the boys arm.
"Eh? The heck was that…" Tamotsu muttered, having felt a small shock go up his arm from the Transfer.
Stopping and flipping the screen open, he was surprised to see a black screen before him. Thinking not much of it, he simple pushed the 'on' button, though was surprised when nothing happened. Suddenly worried, the blond pushed the button again, and again, and again…
"Oh come on!" He shouted, spamming random buttons in an effort to get it to turn on, "Why has my Transfer gone and died on me now? I just charged it!"
"Maybe it's a…delayed reaction from when you dropped it?" Alouette supplied helpfully.
"But why would that effect it when yours survived being dropped down two flights of steps?" He shot back in annoyance, not wanting to admit that was probably it…
"But Tamotsu, you dropped it twenty feet up and into a river!"
"Sh-Shut it!" he exclaimed, flushing slightly in embarrassment at the memory, "These things are supposed to be waterproof anyway!"
"Water resistant actually…and there is a difference."
"…shut it and keep walking."
Twenty minutes and a short trip to the store later (Tamotsu had brought cash thankfully), the two of them were sitting at a small table outside the ice cream parlor that Alouette loved so much. Alouette herself was munching on the remains of her cone while Tamotsu was currently trying to fix his Transfer. But considering he couldn't even get it to turn on…
"God dam…god dang it…" he muttered, just remembering to catch himself in front of Alouette. Just because he swore didn't mean he wanted her to the same. "Forget this, I give up, I'll just take it to a repair shop tomorrow after school then."
At this Alouette looked down guiltily. It had been her fault Tamotsu had dropped his Transfer into the man-made river after all…
"I'm sorry…" Alouette said suddenly, making Tamotsu look over, "It's my fault that your Transfer is broken and…"
"Hey now," Tamotsu interrupted, placing a hand on her shoulder, "It's my fault for being careless and slipping off the edge of the railing, I mean normally, I have way better balance than that! Besides, it's probably just something simple that'll be easy to fix, the only thing that I doubt can be ever truly repaired is my pride…" he finished over dramatically, making Alouette giggle.
"Anyway, it'll be dark soon, so we should head back" Tamotsu added after checking the clock on the wall.
Hearing this, Alouette quickly stuffed the remaining cone in her mouth and chewed before she filled both hands with the groceries. Tamotsu shook his head at her behavior, though still smiled as he picked up the remaining bags and started the way home, Alouette keeping pace with him easily.
Neither of the two noticed the green cloaked figure watching them, or more specifically Alouette, from around the corner.
But a certain red FM life form sure did.
Tamotsu let out his fifth sigh in past two minutes, running a hand through his hair as he tried to solve the remaining problems of math he had left. He knew it was hypocritical of him to berate Hisashi over not doing his homework as soon as he could, when he himself was guilty of putting it off as well. But oh well, 'do as I say, not as I do' tended to be his policy with others.
His dad and Alouette's mom at both gone out on a date type thing a few minutes ago, which was disappointing to Tamotsu as he had been looking forward to a home-cooked meal…Letting out a grumble he scratched out another attempt at an answer angrily before taking a sip of water in an effort to cool himself down.
It really didn't work.
Meanwhile Alouette had switched on the TV, scrolling past the news reports that were either still showing the Skyway incident as an excuse to talk about Rockman (and many people still debating on whether or not he was on their side, something Alouette found silly, after all he saved all those people so what was there to question?) and the other boring channels until she reached a random cartoon.
Her attempts to watch the show and distract herself were all in vain, as she couldn't help but continue to shift. Simple yet stressing thoughts plagued her young mind causing her to grow more and more nervous.
She had forgotten her doll at the ice cream parlor.
Alouette wasn't even sure how she forgot her cat doll, it had been one of the last gifts from her father, and she carried it around with her everywhere. It had been a safety blanket of sorts and even though she didn't have any truly clear memories of her father, when she held it she just felt…safer. So not having it constantly made her more and more nervous, causing her to fidget and play with the dress she was wearing.
She knew that the man at the ice cream parlor would probably keep it safe for her (being a regular customer he knew her and Tamotsu quite well) but there was always the off chance that maybe someone else would get it, or he wouldn't see it, or…
It was so very tempting to ask Tamotsu to go with her and get it, but she couldn't help be remember how reliant she was on him. Not only the thing with the Transfer, but just in general. Sure she was only eight and hardly expected to be independent, but at times she felt like a burden to him, even when he said she wasn't. After all, he wouldn't get into half the trouble he did if he wasn't always doing things for her…
Filled with surprisingly strong determination for someone so young, Alouette stood up from the couch. Walking to the door, she made sure to grab her Transfer before she opened the door. A quick check outside showed that the sun was only just starting to go down, it would still be a good twenty or so minutes before it was dark out. And the ice cream parlor was only about five minutes away, maybe three if she jogged.
'Mommy told me to never go out when it was dark… but….it's not dark yet…' Alouette though as she looked at the still light sky, choosing to ignore the fact that she also wasn't supposed to go out alone.
So she figured that this wasn't something that Tamotsu needed to be bothered over, after all, the streets were amazingly safe, even at night around here, and she would be gone and back before he would even notice, much less dark. After all, she was growing up and she couldn't relay on her brother forever. So, despite her own mind telling her not to go, it was dangerous, things could happen, she should get her brother, she didn't.
She simply stepped out the door, making sure to close it lightly behind her.
"Damn it, I give up!" Tamotsu finally exclaimed, slamming the binder he was working in shut.
Pushing back on the desk a bit, he allowed the rolling chain to spin aimlessly for a second while he let himself lean back in it. After a moment of this, Tamotsu opened his eyes before sitting up so he could glare at the problems, as if they had offended him.
"…stupid teacher not knowing how to teach…" he muttered as he got up, ignoring that he still had five problems left. Grimacing at the headache he could feel from concentrating too long in the rather dim light, Tamotsu just let himself drop on to his bed, burring his face into the pillow as if that would help the now aching throb in his temple. He could have gotten some headache medicine, but the only stuff they had at the moment was the drinkable stuff, and goddamn it, that stuff was nasty.
After a few minutes of getting no results Tamotsu finally muttered a muffled "screw it" into the pillow before pulling himself up. Deciding to just bite the bullet so to speak, he walked of his room and to the bathroom down the hall.
As soon as Tamotsu was gone, his supposedly 'broken' Transfer suddenly booted up, and in a matter of seconds was fully functioning. As soon as this happed, the red FM life form that had been hiding in it zipped out, looking around absentmindedly. Even with the Transfer off he could hear and see perfectly fine from it, just by accessing the microphone and camera built into it directly. But while in it he couldn't truly use his other senses as fully…
Yes, now that he was out, he could confirm that that reading was a Denpa-virus, though its reading was so skewed that if he hadn't seen it earlier he would have never been able to find it. The reading it was giving off was strange and distorted, mingled with what the FM life form assumed was a human, almost like…
A Denpa-henkan, but it had a feeling of wrong, of…incompleteness to it.
Of course, it just had to be near the place he knew that the boy's, Tamotsu he reminded himself, sister would be heading. He hadn't known her for very long, but it was obvious that the doll was important to her, so it only made sense she would go and get it, though why she would go on her own was beyond him…
But maybe this could work in his favor.
Hearing rather angry grumbling accompanying pounding footsteps, the red FM life form fled back into the red Transfer, this time making sure to leave it on and fully functional.
Pushing the half open door with more force than necessary, Tamotsu walked back into the room and towards the desk, determined to finish the rest of the homework as soon as he could so he could go downstairs and fix some food for himself and Alouette, who had to have already started digging into the snacks at this point…
This plan went out the window when Tamotsu saw his Transfer sitting on the desk, working perfectly fine.
"Eh? When did this thing decide to…turn…on…?" Tamotsu started as he flipped open the lid of the Transfer, only for his grey blue eyes to meet shockingly green ones.
Of course it wasn't just the strange green eyes, but more what they were attached to that caused him to trail off. Whatever it was, it had a vaguely humanoid body, though the fact that it was missing fricking legs obviously stated that it wasn't, especially since its whole body seemed to be made of pulsing red energy the color of blood. Somehow it was wearing what looked like simple lighter red chest armor that stuck out a bit at the shoulders to form some strange half-guard looking things, what reminded him of jagged 'hair' sticking out the back of the helmet that covered its head.
The thing looked at his shocked face, crossing its 'arms' over its chest (Tamotsu vaguely noted the gold bracelets it wore) giving him a pointed look. Well Tamotsu assumed it was supposed to be that, as with strange red ridged helmet with that black stripe down the center, obscuring most of its 'face' it was hard to tell.
"Well? Have you finally noticed?" It said, voice distinctly male.
"Gah!"
Tamotsu attempted to get away from the…thing that had invaded his Transfer, throwing it forward and onto the table as he jerked back…only for the movable chair to also jerk back, causing him to slip into said chair and roll back with it until he hit the edge of the bed.
Managing to get over his shock, he pointed at the transfer before shouting;
"What the hell are you and why are you in my Transfer!"
"In order; I am an FM life form and the reason I and currently in this 'Transfer' is because it is the only way you can see and interact with me to a limited extent."
Tamotsu blinked at that, he really hadn't expected a response at all, much less one so specific. Well, it wasn't like that that meant a lot to him either, and for all he knew, this 'FM life form' thing could be making everything up…
"Are you going to sit there and stare all night, or are you going to go get your sister?"
That got Tamotsu attention. Despite not being a genius in things like school subjects, Tamotsu was very perceptive at picking up little things and putting things together. So it was easy for him to figure out that this FM life form hadn't just arrived, he had been with, or at least near Tamotsu long enough to know he had a sister…
And suddenly his Transfer randomly breaking made a lot more sense.
"Hold on a second, just why would I get my sister for…whatever you are, when you're probably planning something!" Tamotsu shouted, finally getting up from the chair and walking near enough to the Transfer that he could see the strange creature.
"Well, first off, do you even know where your sister is? Because, despite what you're thinking, she's not downstairs watching the TV that's been left on," the FM life form stated coolly, gaze never leaving Tamotsu.
There was a moment pause as Tamotsu thought over what the creature had said, and why Alouette hadn't come up to ask for anything to eat...
In a flash Tamotsu was gone, taking the steps two at a time before skidding the corner and all but sprinting into the living room. True to his word, the FM life form had been right that she wasn't there. The fact that he had known were his sister was supposed to be was bothering enough, but that she wasn't there…Tamotsu did a quick room-check, calling out for Alouette several times, just to make sure. When he found that he was alone in the house, he gritted his teeth and ran back to his room.
In a flash he had the red Transfer in his hands so he could glare at the screen, ignoring whatever things the FM life form could have done to it.
"Alright you…where the hell is my sister!?" He growled.
"Well, if I'm correct, she should be heading to the, what was that place known as?" The FM paused; thinking out loud for a moment and ignoring the glares Tamotsu was giving him, "Ah yes, that 'ice cream' place was it? I believe she left the doll she always carries around there"
Tamotsu blinked, trying to judge if the creature's words where true as he thought over the reasons why Alouette would head back there... And then with a shock, he realized that the FM was probably telling the truth, as he himself only just realized that he hadn't seen Alouette's plushie since they got home. "…Why did you tell me that? No, why are you here?"
Seeming pleased that Tamotsu finally asked that, he began, "I'll answer both those questions and a little more actually. I told you that because, unlike what I know you're thinking, I haven't planned some trap for you or your sister, in fact I wish to help you."
"Help me? How?" Tamotsu asked slowly, trying to think his words carefully.
"Well, one of those situations would be now. I'm not sure if your sister is specifically being targeted, but she was being followed earlier, by a Virus-Human if what I sensed was right."
"Wait, my sister was being followed by a Virus-Human? Why? And what's a Virus-Human anyway?" Tamotsu interrupted.
"Yes she was, for most of the day, though they kept out of sight most of the time. As for why, I'm not sure, though maybe you should, oh I don't know, go ahead and head off to that 'ice cream' place?" The FM said rather casually.
Without a second though Tamotsu attached the Transfer to his arm and took off. Whether or not the FM life form was telling the truth about her being followed, what was true was that his sister had gone out when it was almost dark. And though the city was perfectly safe even at night (except for in a few questionable parts, but they were nowhere near those parts) and Alouette was very responsible for a girl her age, Tamotsu's protectiveness of her shouted at him that he needed to find her, and the ice cream parlor was as good a place to start as any. And the FM life form obviously knew something.
Breaking into a run, Tamotsu looked down at the Transfer, "So you…"
"You can call me 'Zero', it's much easier than just 'you'" The FM, now dubbed Zero said.
"…Right, so Zero, what's this Virus-Human that's been stalking my sister?" Tamotsu asked.
"A Virus-Human is exactly what it sounds, a Denpa-virus that has forcibly fused itself to a human. This causes both the human and virus's power to grow exponentially, until they can cause mass destruction to the surrounded area with ease. Of course, in exchange for this power, the human loses all control, until they're focused solely on a single goal, often something they were thinking about before being fused, destroying everything in its way to achieving said goal." Zero explained, pleased that Tamotsu didn't interrupt again.
"Ok, I can kind of understand that, but what does that have to do with…" But Tamotsu found his voice catching in his throat as an all too familiar scream ripped through the fading day.
Alouette had made it to the ice cream parlor in about five minutes, plenty of time before it closed and leaving her about fifteen minutes of light.
Pushing open the door with a small struggle, the manager and a customer looked over from where he was working when the old-fashioned bell rung. Smiling he greeted Alouette warmly.
"Why if it isn't miss Alouette! What are you doing here so late; I don't see your brother nearby…"
"Ah well...you see, Mr. Itou my big brother doesn't know I'm here…" Alouette began shyly, looking up at the somewhat overweight man. Noticing his disapproving frown, she quickly scrambled to explain better, "B-but I don't plan to be here long, I just came to get my doll I left behind! Um…do you happen to know where it is?"
"Well…" Mr. Itou started with a sigh, not wanting to tell her this. He knew very well just how important that doll was to her, "A few minutes after the two of you left, I noticed that you had left your doll. So I planned to go out and get it, but before I could, some creepy guy wearing a green cloak walked up and grabbed it…I tried going after him, but as soon as I ran after him around a corner he was just…gone. No trace of him anywhere."
"Oh…" Alouette muttered, looking down at the ground as she felt tears build I her eyes. That was the last thing from her father, and it meant the world to her. To lose that was like losing a part of herself, it was irreplaceable.
But before she could really begin to cry, there was a tapping sound.
Both looked over to the sound as saw a rather eerie sight. Highlighted strangely by the setting sun, a rather short, apparently hunched-backed man was standing there, tapping on the glass. At least, Alouette assumed that it was a man, the jagged dark green cloak that covered his 'bowed' head and even trailed on the ground, obscured even his feet.
And dangling limply in a black gloved hand was a familiar white cat doll.
Without really thinking, Alouette ran past Mr. Itou and out the door, though thankfully the rather creep aura the man was putting out prevented her from just running up to the man. Mr. Itou was ready to run after her, only for a man probably in his mid-twenties to stop him.
"You don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him and step in if anything happens. Though I do recommend having anything you may have in the back ready, just in case."
With a reluctant nod, Mr. Itou cast another glace at the two outside before he went back behind the counter, hand resting around the hidden weapon set under it.
Alouette at the same time was debating on what to do. On one had she really wanted her doll back, but at the same time, she didn't want to get any closer to the strange man any more than she had to…suddenly she was regretting not having Tamotsu come with her, dealing with things like this was his specialty…
Working up her confidence, Alouette forced herself to remember why she had come in the first place, to show she didn't need to bother Tamotsu with every little thing, that she wasn't a burden. So, with a shaking voice she managed to ask;
"Um…excuse me….b-but that's my d-doll…can I please have it back…please?"
The strange cloaked man who had already been watching her (or at least, Alouette thought he was, it was hard to tell when she couldn't see much about him) replied in a strangely echoing double voice that made Alouette want to just turn run…
"Yes you can."
But despite saying that, the strange made no move to come closer, in fact he didn't move at all.
"Um…can I have it back no-" but was cut off as the stranger suddenly started to rant.
"Oh how much I miss my dear little Ami, they took her away from me you know? They took her away from me when all I was doing was showing my love to her! What's so 'sick and wrong' with showing your love to someone you love!" Taking a step forward, he, no it, tilted its head up a bit to reveal glowing bottomless yellow circles that severed as eyes to Alouette.
"…You know, you look so much like my beloved Ami…yes, yes, the two of you look almost the same, with your hair and eyes…the two of you are even the same age!"
As it had talked, its voice becoming more and more distorted with every word it said, and Alouette noticed that it hadn't even taken steps, more like it just glided closer, its back twitching sporadically. As it made exaggerated hand gestures, Alouette noticed with horror that it's hadn't weren't connected to its body, they just floated there…
Alouette stepped back more and more, trying to find it in herself to run, but just looking in the sickly yellow bottomless eyes she felt herself grow weak with horror and fear. And then with a yelp she tripped over one of the chairs set by the outside tables, the chair flipping over and falling onto the ground with a clatter.
Crashing to the ground, Alouette looked up only to see that the green creature had advanced even closer, floating off the ground several feet now with no feet in sight. And suddenly the cloak wasn't a cloak, but green fire that burned around it, the supposed shadow that had surrounded its face actually being a simple black face with a sadistic yellow smile on it along with the two bottomless yellow eyes. Two large bat wings had sprouted from its back in a torrent of green fire, having a wingspan of five feet each, blocking out the light above Alouette as it raised a jagged black scythe above its head…
"Yes…you're just like my little Ami! Just like her, and you know what? I won't let them take you away from me! No never, I'll kill them all!" It shouted in sadistic glee as it swung the scythe down…
…Only for there to be the sound of breaking glass as a crackling golden blast of energy zoomed out, nailing it and causing the round creature to go flying away. Stepping over broken glass, the same man as before stood in front of Alouette, holding a white energy ray gun in his hands.
"Are you ok?" He asked, looking over at the downed creature. Of course, considering its full height was over five feet, the blast that was meant to stun and incapacitate had done little that irritate it.
"Y-yeah…" Alouette managed to mutter, looking at him in awe, just who was he?
"Good. I've contacted the Satellite Police who should be here in a few minutes. Head back inside and hide, it's obviously after you." The man commanded.
Alouette wasn't given a chance to argue as there was an explosion of screaming black energy that swept out over her head, missing by only a few inches and tugging at her hair. Unfortunately it managed to hit the man who was standing over her in a spray of crimson blood as it cut him deeply in the stomach and arms, also slicing the gun in half in a shower of sparks. Thankfully for him, the gun he was holding absorbed most of the energy, really the only thing that prevented him from being cut to ribbons instantly.
The man was sent flying back so that Alouette wasn't able to see the full extent of what happened to him, but the warm blood she felt on her cheeks told her enough. Being so young she had never seen so much blood, even in a movie. A scrape here, a cut there, but nothing more than a few drops. But to suddenly see a man nearly killed…to be covered in his blood…
Alouette let out a scream as the creature appeared in front of her, not giving the downed man a second glance as it readied its scythe again.
Tamotsu just looked on in horror at what he saw. As soon as Alouette had screamed he managed to round the last corner, only to see a grisly sight.
A strange round…creature that looked like it was made of fire with black bat wings and a huge scythe it its hands that that was easily as tall as Tamotsu. Within the shop laid a bloodied man, the sparking remains of a ray stun gun scattered around him, while he attempted to hold his own stomach together while somehow still grasping onto consciousness. And then there was Alouette, who was scrambling back from the creature, rolling out of the way as the scythe dug a new trench into the ground as if it where nothing more than paper.
Reacting without really thinking, he ignored Zero's yelling at him, and ran towards the creature. Picking up a chair that had been flung aside, Tamotsu let out a yell as he bought the chair down on the creature as hard as he could…
…Only for the chair to crumble and melt slightly like it was made of cheap plastic and not steal. The creature (which Zero yelled at him at some point that that was the Virus-Human) turned towards him, the scythe glinting in the almost gone light.
Rolling out of reflex, Tamotsu felt the black energy rip over his head, letting out a screech as it cut through something behind him. Deciding that it wasn't worth checking, he let him momentum carry himself forward before picking himself up and sprinting to Alouette.
"Tamotsu!" she screamed, getting up just in time for Tamotsu to grab her hand and guide her away.
"Never let you take her away! No! Never, never, never!"
Tamotsu could hear the Virus-Human screaming madly behind him, so he trusted the screeching and possible even Zero (if he really did want to help) to act warnings if it attacked. Decided that they needed to go faster, Tamotsu picked Alouette up, somehow managing to maneuver the small girl over his shoulder and to his back where she wrapped her arms and legs around him to stay stable.
"Get the hell outta the way!" he shouted at any passersby's, who there seemed to be more and more of as people came to investigate the noise.
"Go left now!" Zero yelled suddenly from the Transfer. Not even questioning it since he had no idea where to go, Tamotsu skidded sharply around the next corner, just in time to feel the crescent shaped black energy screech by him, closely followed by Virus-Human, who was unable to stop its momentum as easily and make the sharp turn.
"Right then left!"
Pivoting on his heel, Tamotsu ran down the right corner he had almost missed, catching sight of the Virus-Human barring down the road towards him. Running even faster somehow, he almost fell as he turned the left as sharply as he could, smiling somewhat as he heard the Virus-Human not quite make the turn and slam into the wall over the pounding of his own heart. But that smile grew somewhat as he saw what Zero had been directing him to; a small group of Satellite Police cars. Pushing his exhausted body even harder, he gritted his teeth and ignored the burning stitch in his side as he gave one last push.
"Hey!" He shouted at the uniformed men who looked as if they were preparing to leave, (probably to the parlor they had just left) getting their attention. Seeing the thing chasing him, they let out yells before quickly getting ready as best as they could. Just in time, as Tamotsu ran past two of them, the Virus-Human only a few feet behind him.
When a scythe of black energy barley missed him and Alouette, and desiccated and innocent car, Tamotsu quickly ran behind one of the cars there before crouching behind there, letting Alouette down long enough so he could grab her and pull her trembling form closer, trying to block out the yelling and screams. But despite how tired he himself was, he refused to let himself relax, instead listening to the sound of the fight, trying to catch his breath so he could run if he had to…
Then all was suddenly eerily silent, with not a sound of either the Virus-Human or the members of the Satellite Police. For several moments nothing happened, and Tamotsu risked looking up and around, trying to figure out what had happened…
"TAMOTSU MOVE!" Zero suddenly yelled as loud as he could, shocking the boy into movement.
"I've found you!" The Virus-Human declared in maniacal delight, suddenly appearing above the car, scythe already wrapped in black energy.
The next few seconds were a blur of chaos as Tamotsu attempted to grab Alouette as best as he could and just move, but there wasn't enough time as the scythe swung…Thankfully it seemed as if this Virus-Human had horrible depth perception or something, as the black scythe buried itself into the car halfway, tearing up the metal frame like it was nothing, but still enough to stop it from cleaving the two below.
Unfortunately, the black energy was already present, and it had to go somewhere. Normally it would just arch out with the momentum of the swing, but since the swing was only half finished in exploded outwards from the bladed edge at a strange angle, destroying the car it was buried in.
Said car was completely obliterated in a blast of black, the force sending Tamotsu and Alouette flying, along with anything else nearby. Tamotsu managed to perform some kind of roll as he hit, absorbing most of his momentum.
Getting up quickly he swore as he saw that Alouette was nowhere to be seen…His eyes stopped scanning the area as he saw a small form lying half obscured in the smoke a few feet to the side of him, the perfect size to be the young Alouette.
Scrabbling over, he was about to pick her up and run when he saw it.
Blood, turning her beautiful light blond hair a sickly red.
Nearly panicking, he quickly tuner her over only to see her eyes closed as she didn't respond. Swallowing his fear, he let a hand hover over her mouth; he himself nearly collapsing from relief as he felt small breaths of air hit his hand.
"She's ok, she just has gash on her head," Zero informed Tamotsu seriously, making him look down at his Transfer, "But, she won't be for long at this rate. The Virus-Human won't stay down long."
As if to emphasize his statement, there was another explosion followed by the made cackling of said Denpa-Human. Tamotsu was suddenly very glad that the smoke from the prior explosion hadn't cleared yet.
"The only way that things going to stop chasing you two is if you defeat it."
Tamotsu looked at Zero in shock, how was he supposed to do that? It took out half a dozen Satellite Police (which he still wasn't sure what happened to them, but the vague scent of blood in the air and the collapsed bodies he could see somewhat made him somewhat glad Alouette was out of it) and then almost cleaved one of their reinforced cars in two!
"How the hell am I supposed to do that!?" Tamotsu hissed, trying to keep his voice down so the ragging Virus-Human wouldn't hear him.
There was silence for a moment (ignoring the yelling of the Virus-Human) before Zero simply asked;
"Do you trust me?"
Tamotsu opened his mouth as if to say something, but was cut off as the Virus-Human suddenly appeared in the smoke, slowly drawing closer to him, yellow eyes glinting.
"I've found you~!" it said in an almost sing-song voice, ignoring Tamotsu almost completely even as he picked up Alouette's limp body and ran as best as he could.
"At this point," Tamotsu began, "I don't have much of a choice do I? You told me that my sister was gone long before I would have known, told me where to go, told me how to avoid this Virus-Human thing…so if you know how to help me kill it, I'm all ears!"
As he Tamotsu let himself rant a bit, he ran as fast as he could down a random abandoned side street, glad people seemed to have used their heads and run away. Turning into an open door, he stormed up several flights of steps before turning into a random floor, hoping to throw the creature off his trail.
The exploding of the stairwell door a few floors down crushed that plan underfoot.
"Very well then, do you remember what happened two days ago with that…Skyway?" Zero asked as Tamotsu ran down the hallway before turning in. Apparently this was a closed office building, which gave plenty of places to hide.
"You mean that Rockman guy people won't stop talking about? Yeah but what does that have to do with anything?" Tamotsu asked, turning another corer and swearing as he heard the door to his floor being slashed through as the Virus-Human arrived.
"Well, if you'll let me, I'll do that to you." Zero said, meeting his gaze with Tamotsu who just stared at him from where he had hidden himself in a random cubical.
"So you'll somehow give me superpowers?" Tamotsu managed to ask disbelievingly.
"In essence, yes. But only if you're willing to let me." Zero answered, ignoring the fact that if it came down to it, he would just force the merging.
Tamotsu just looked at Zero for a few seconds, trying to gauge if he was lying or not, though that was hard considering he didn't really have a defined 'face' so to speak…the sound of the Virus-Human getting closer provided all the incentive Tamotsu needed. He couldn't keep running forever, not with Alouette in such condition.
"Ah what the hell," Tamotsu finally said with a sigh, resigning himself to whatever fate would happen within the next few seconds as he got up and walked out of the cubical, looking down the hall and staring at the approaching Virus-Human, "If you're gonna do something Zero, might as well do it now. I really don't care what anymore, as long as it lets me kill this bastard."
Letting the equivalent of a triumphant smirk onto his face, Zero nodded at Tamotsu's resolve. This may not be the idea situation to convince the boy to Denpa-henkan with him, but hell if Zero cared, it was working.
"Ok then Tamotsu," he said, watching the Virus-Human slowly advance to thing, scythe charging with the black energy. "You'd better prepare yourself then!"
Not wasting another second he zoomed out of the Transfer, turning sharply in the air in order to get a better angel, before shooting towards the boy. Though Tamotsu couldn't see Zero, he seemed to subconsciously know that Zero was drawing closer as he tensed his body even more.
And then the next thing Tamotsu knew there was a burning fire spreading throughout his body, attempting to consume his very being, yet energize him at the same time, his body attempting to reject the energy, yet still seeming to be unable to stop itself from absorbing it greedily as words spilled from his mouth without his consent…
"Denpa-henkan! Merle Tamotsu, On-Air!"
Aaaannnd…breathe!
I know, I know, horribly cliché place to end a chapter, but it was starting to get pretty long, and there's only so much I can go over in one sitting.
Whew, not quite the same length as the prior chapter, but damn this turned out longer than I thought it would, especially since it the events I listed in this chapter didn't seem like they'd turn out to be half this long. Oh well, next chapter will be my first 'real' fight, as unlike the prior chapter, where it was all an elaborate plot, this is just some spawned Virus-Human who's more or less like an introduction boss to Tamotsu, but minutes the five minutes of gameplay you usually get beforehand.
Oh and, obviously Tamotsu's a lot stronger than some damn Virus-Human, the only reasons it isn't a one-shot is A) that would be boring and B) he doesn't truly know what to do yet, though he'll take to it easily enough. And Zero will be a better teacher than War-Rock, who more or less explains the basics and lets Subaru fill in the gaps and minor things, like, yah know, not sinking through the floor, what the Battle Cards do beforehand, etc.
