Disclaimer: I do not own Excel Saga, or any of the characters used in this story. Cheers!
The trigger's pull broke cleanly, sending the triggering pin into the cartridge, igniting the powder,
and sending the bullet on its path to destiny.
Spinning as it accelerated, the bullet left the barrel of the gun milliseconds ahead of the expanding
flare of flaming gases, pushing the little slug to speeds that no human could survive.
As the flare of gases dissipated, the bullet hit, penetrated, and ricocheted through a piece of metal,
deforming it and causing pieces of the shell to peel away as softer metal began to expand from the forces
exerted on it.
The bullet continued onwards, into a softer material; flesh. Tunnelling through muscle, the bullet
smashed a bone into dozens of shards, many of which were pulled further into the body by the sudden
vacuum caused by the motion.
Slowing, the bullet deformed as it gouged a deep slash into an artery and tore open a lung, causing
the air inside to whistle and wheeze into the body, collapsing the other lung from the sudden change in
pressure.
Finally, the now-totally unrecognisable slug exited the body, punching a ragged hole through
another bone, tearing through some fabric, and finally ending its short flight by burying itself into a stone wall
fifty feet away.
Excel stared blankly as Ilpalazzo dropped to his knees, shock making its mark on his face before
he reached up and touched the gaping wound in his chest. She instinctively knew the bullet was lethal, so
Excel turned away from the wavering form of Ilpalazzo, walking purposefully towards the gaping hole that
had been blasted into the thick wall by a Ropponmatsu's self-destruction.
Standing at the exit to the mobile fortress, Excel looked back into the cavernous depths of the
destroyed base, wondering if she should stay with her only friends as the impressive edifice began to
crumble into chunks of concrete and metal, turning into a tomb of dreams and fantasies.
"I have lost everything. Ilpalazzo is dead by my hand, Menchi is missing, and that strange woman
who keeps on dying managed to escape with one of the people who found me after I had been hurt. I may
as well try to make a new life for myself."
With that, Excel slowly stripped off her dust and blood-covered vest, which had once been a light
aquamarine shade, but was now dull grey and brown. Despite the work and effort put into the vest's repair
work, much of it done by her own hand, Excel felt revolted by the touch of the thick, soft material, which
had so often symbolized her loyalty to Ilpalazzo, and had often survived most of her misadventures without
much wear and tear.
Excel did not care about any of that, as she viciously tore the vest to shreds, pausing only to pick
up a picture that had fluttered out of her pocket after the vest had been reduced to a small pile of fabric.
She looked at the picture, sighed, and placed the faded photo into a pocket in her shorts, before she started
to walk through the wasteland towards one of the surviving buildings in the distance. As Excel walked
towards the drunkenly leaning tower she had randomly decided on, the last few ruins of the mobile fortress
collapsed inwards, raising a cloud of dust, ashes, and a few scraps of light purple cloth.
The wasteland was unforgiving, the dry winds leaching the moisture from Excel's skin, and the sand
blown through the air made breathing difficult. As she walked away from the devastation, Excel, for the first
time in her life, was truly lost. She had severed all ties to her life as a member of ACROSS, and what ties
she would have wanted to keep had been erased due to her amnesia. Her only other companion, the puppy
Menchi, had been in the fortress when it had gone up like a roman candle, and Excel didn't count on the
small dog to not be blasted into its namesake.
Instead of complaining, Excel continued to walk, heading steadily south to where Pad and
Dominick's village lay. Eventually, stressed, tired, and extremely sore, Excel found an area where the air
was still, she wasn't getting constantly stung by grit being flung at her, and there was enough light to see
mostly around her. Sighing as she finally sat down, Excel pulled off her boots, stretching her toes out of their
cramped positions, and pulled the picture out of the pocket in her shorts. Under the moonlight, she could
barely make out the picture, but she knew almost instantly what it held within the confines of the coloured
paper.
The picture had been taken a few weeks after Excel had been viciously assaulted by a robot called
Ropponmatsu, and as a response, Ilpalazzo had let the two senior members of the Ideological Organization
ACROSS to take a break from their normal operations to further their plans of world domination. Excel
smiled as the bittersweet memories of her past life flowed through her, tinged by the pain of the bullet
wound that had nearly killed her. Raising her right hand, she felt the thick bandages that had stanched the
bleeding from the final act of betrayal against her.
Shaking off the memories, Excel again looked at the photo, amazed that something so small and
fragile could have survived everything she had gone through. The picture showed her in her casual clothes,
the baggy green cargo pants and yellow turtleneck that she always wore when the weather got cool,
grinning and mugging for the camera. Just beside her in the picture was a slightly shorter woman, wearing
a thick sweater and a pair of jeans and also smiling, just not as widely as Excel's grin.
"Ha-chan. I wonder what happened to you? I know you would have been concerned about me
ever since the city was destroyed, but your loyalty to ACROSS would have kept you from looking for me.
I wonder if you're really dead, or did you manage to escape from the explosion? I hope you're alive
somewhere out there, because you're my only friend out in this forsaken wasteland." Excel gently put the
picture back in her pocket, wondering what she would do, then sighed and looked up at the stars above
her.
"I don't know what I'm going to do. I have to rebuild my life, but I don't know where to begin.
Maybe I'll just try to find some other people first." Excel sighed again, leaned back against the ruined wall
she had taken shelter behind, and fell asleep, curled into a ball against the night's encroaching chill.
The trigger's pull broke cleanly, sending the triggering pin into the cartridge, igniting the powder,
and sending the bullet on its path to destiny.
Spinning as it accelerated, the bullet left the barrel of the gun milliseconds ahead of the expanding
flare of flaming gases, pushing the little slug to speeds that no human could survive.
As the flare of gases dissipated, the bullet hit, penetrated, and ricocheted through a piece of metal,
deforming it and causing pieces of the shell to peel away as softer metal began to expand from the forces
exerted on it.
The bullet continued onwards, into a softer material; flesh. Tunnelling through muscle, the bullet
smashed a bone into dozens of shards, many of which were pulled further into the body by the sudden
vacuum caused by the motion.
Slowing, the bullet deformed as it gouged a deep slash into an artery and tore open a lung, causing
the air inside to whistle and wheeze into the body, collapsing the other lung from the sudden change in
pressure.
Finally, the now-totally unrecognisable slug exited the body, punching a ragged hole through
another bone, tearing through some fabric, and finally ending its short flight by burying itself into a stone wall
fifty feet away.
Excel stared blankly as Ilpalazzo dropped to his knees, shock making its mark on his face before
he reached up and touched the gaping wound in his chest. She instinctively knew the bullet was lethal, so
Excel turned away from the wavering form of Ilpalazzo, walking purposefully towards the gaping hole that
had been blasted into the thick wall by a Ropponmatsu's self-destruction.
Standing at the exit to the mobile fortress, Excel looked back into the cavernous depths of the
destroyed base, wondering if she should stay with her only friends as the impressive edifice began to
crumble into chunks of concrete and metal, turning into a tomb of dreams and fantasies.
"I have lost everything. Ilpalazzo is dead by my hand, Menchi is missing, and that strange woman
who keeps on dying managed to escape with one of the people who found me after I had been hurt. I may
as well try to make a new life for myself."
With that, Excel slowly stripped off her dust and blood-covered vest, which had once been a light
aquamarine shade, but was now dull grey and brown. Despite the work and effort put into the vest's repair
work, much of it done by her own hand, Excel felt revolted by the touch of the thick, soft material, which
had so often symbolized her loyalty to Ilpalazzo, and had often survived most of her misadventures without
much wear and tear.
Excel did not care about any of that, as she viciously tore the vest to shreds, pausing only to pick
up a picture that had fluttered out of her pocket after the vest had been reduced to a small pile of fabric.
She looked at the picture, sighed, and placed the faded photo into a pocket in her shorts, before she started
to walk through the wasteland towards one of the surviving buildings in the distance. As Excel walked
towards the drunkenly leaning tower she had randomly decided on, the last few ruins of the mobile fortress
collapsed inwards, raising a cloud of dust, ashes, and a few scraps of light purple cloth.
The wasteland was unforgiving, the dry winds leaching the moisture from Excel's skin, and the sand
blown through the air made breathing difficult. As she walked away from the devastation, Excel, for the first
time in her life, was truly lost. She had severed all ties to her life as a member of ACROSS, and what ties
she would have wanted to keep had been erased due to her amnesia. Her only other companion, the puppy
Menchi, had been in the fortress when it had gone up like a roman candle, and Excel didn't count on the
small dog to not be blasted into its namesake.
Instead of complaining, Excel continued to walk, heading steadily south to where Pad and
Dominick's village lay. Eventually, stressed, tired, and extremely sore, Excel found an area where the air
was still, she wasn't getting constantly stung by grit being flung at her, and there was enough light to see
mostly around her. Sighing as she finally sat down, Excel pulled off her boots, stretching her toes out of their
cramped positions, and pulled the picture out of the pocket in her shorts. Under the moonlight, she could
barely make out the picture, but she knew almost instantly what it held within the confines of the coloured
paper.
The picture had been taken a few weeks after Excel had been viciously assaulted by a robot called
Ropponmatsu, and as a response, Ilpalazzo had let the two senior members of the Ideological Organization
ACROSS to take a break from their normal operations to further their plans of world domination. Excel
smiled as the bittersweet memories of her past life flowed through her, tinged by the pain of the bullet
wound that had nearly killed her. Raising her right hand, she felt the thick bandages that had stanched the
bleeding from the final act of betrayal against her.
Shaking off the memories, Excel again looked at the photo, amazed that something so small and
fragile could have survived everything she had gone through. The picture showed her in her casual clothes,
the baggy green cargo pants and yellow turtleneck that she always wore when the weather got cool,
grinning and mugging for the camera. Just beside her in the picture was a slightly shorter woman, wearing
a thick sweater and a pair of jeans and also smiling, just not as widely as Excel's grin.
"Ha-chan. I wonder what happened to you? I know you would have been concerned about me
ever since the city was destroyed, but your loyalty to ACROSS would have kept you from looking for me.
I wonder if you're really dead, or did you manage to escape from the explosion? I hope you're alive
somewhere out there, because you're my only friend out in this forsaken wasteland." Excel gently put the
picture back in her pocket, wondering what she would do, then sighed and looked up at the stars above
her.
"I don't know what I'm going to do. I have to rebuild my life, but I don't know where to begin.
Maybe I'll just try to find some other people first." Excel sighed again, leaned back against the ruined wall
she had taken shelter behind, and fell asleep, curled into a ball against the night's encroaching chill.