Hey, its me again! Sorry for the long update... but due to school and lack of reviews....but no reviews doesn't mean people are saying "CHUCK IT!", so thats good. Anyway, I'm back with the first REAL chapter of the series!! Hope I don't screw this up... anyway, there is gonna be a lot of action in this one! Now then, just so you know, this is AFTER the first Ley-line incident. Yes Hozanko is dead, blah blah blah.... you get the idea. Well, enough of my babbling, lets get on with the story!!
guy in background: about time!!
Where did he come from???
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Disclaimer: Outlaw Star is NOT mine, other wise I would be rolling in my big wads of cash right now. However, all characters not originally part of the Outlaw Star world are MINE, ALL MINE!!!! OK, my moment of idiocy has passed..... ^^;
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Chapter 1: Meet the Warriors
"Gene, we are approaching Blue Heaven."
Gene Starwind was in the pilots seat of the Outlaw Star asleep due to sheer boredom.
"Wake up Gene, we are nearing Blue Heaven." repeated Gilliam. Gene finally woke up and stared at gilliam, not completely awake, and the first things out of his mouth was, "Huh, wha???".
"Well, it looks like our inspirational leader finally decided to wake up."
"Oh can it Jim... we almost there yet??" Gene asked the 11 year old boy in the seat infront of him. Jim Hawking looked back and nodded to him. "Yeah, just need to select which dock we want.". Gene looked at the screen trying to remember which dock Swanzo was on. As Gene struggled to recall which dock he needed, a slender hand came from behind and pointed to dock 8 and a voice said, "Isn't this the dock we need??". Gene looked behind him to see Melfina standing there, then he looked back at the screen saying, "Yeah, thats the dock we need. Thanks Mel."
Melfina gave him one of her smiles and started to walk away. "Why are we going back here? Its boring here!!" a higher pitched voice complained right next to Gene. "AAAH!!! AISHA, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO DO THAT!?!?!?". Gene looked to his right to see the Ctarl-Ctarl, Aisha Clan-Clan, standing there. "You haven't answered my question yet Gene...why are we going back here?". Gene sighed shaking his head then looked at Aisha again. "Aisha, have you seen the shape the ship is in? We need ammo, food, AND repairs!! While we can't get ammo here, we can at least get food and repairs!!"
Gene laid a course in for Blue Heaven since, as of late, his ship has been under attack by pirates again, but the question was why?? It couldn't be Hozanko...after all, he is dead now.... but then again, these pirates did look different from the pirates he was used to facing, and they fought a little differently...they were more ruthless, and to make matters worse, they were also Tao Magic users. He was hoping he could load up on more stuff that he needed since they were getting low on food, and the damage to the ship was adding up from the constant attacks. But the problem now was finding a way to pay for all of this....while a good bit of people know of him now, even though he still has yet to make a name for himself, Gene was still in lots of debt....not as much as before but it was still pretty bad.
Gene looked at the screen as they started to begin docking procedures. "Hey Gilliam, where is Suzuka at?", and almost as in reply, Twilight Suzuka entered the room. "She just got out of the shower Gene." Gilliam replied, even though there was no need for that now. A few minuets later, the ship was docked, but as soon as it did, people that were waiting for them in the dock started firing upon the ship since there was no nothing it could do.
As soon as the first shots hit the Outlaw Star, Gilliam started shouting, "Warning! Warning! The Outlaw Star is under attack!". While everyone was looking for something to hold onto, Gene looked up at the ships computer and yelled, "Oh, really!? I COULDN'T TELL!!! Send out an SOS!!". In his mind, he was wondering if they were all stupid for firing in the station.
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Elsewhere in space, a gold ship cruised through the stars, a ship who's technology was unmatched except by others of its kind. Inside, a man in his early 20's was listening to some Rock and Roll music. He was about 5'8'' in size, had a slight muscular build, and short uneven blond hair. He was currently wearing some jeans with a camoflauge shirt with "Ha! Now you can't see me!" written across the front. As the music ended, the man stretched and a deep voice was heard behind him saying, "Hey Ken, you done yet, I wanna listen to something I LIKE you know!!"
The blonde man named Ken Takarano turned around to be face to face with a big black man. This black man was at about 6'3", had an easily recognizeable muscle build, and was bald. This mans name was "Zenith", and he was wearing jeans like Ken, and a shirt with a green spiral on the front with a quote below it saying "When I snap my fingers, you will forget about this entire conversation."
"Yeah yeah, I'm done Zenith. Geez, your always telling ME to be patient!!" said Ken as he pulled out a cigerette and started to light it. Zenith sighed shaking his head and replied, "Look buddy, there's only so much Rock and Roll a guy can take! Its not a question of patience, its a question of 'How long untill I lose my hearing'!!" Ken frowned then looked at Zenith and retorted, "Yeah well your country music isn't much better you know." Zenith opened his mouth to say something but a female voice spoke up saying, "Attention, I have recieved an SOS from a near by station called "Blue Heaven". It seems that a ship was attacked as soon as it docked and is completely defenseless due to the fact that a stray shot could let the air out of the place. Should we investigate??"
Both men looked up from their argument at the ships computer named "Beta", which Ken thought was completely un-original. Zenith was the first one to speak saying, "Well of course Beta, get us over there ASAP!!", and Ken added, "if we didn't go and help, we wouldn't be doing our job, now would we??". "You never seem to do your job Ken." Was all that beta said, and Ken gave his usual retort of "shut up" to the computer. "God I HATE that computer...", he complained while Zenith started cracking up. "Geez Ken, you just can't win against Beta, can you!?!?". Ken gave an icy glare to Zenith and started to say something, but decided against it. Zenith just kept laughing while Ken set in a course to Blue Heaven.
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Gene hid in the doorway of the main hatch in and out of the ship trying to figure out what to do, for things were getting worse by the minute. Not only were the pirates damaging his ship even more, now they were starting to advance to get in and take the ship. "Hey Jim, is anyone coming yet!?!?" Gene yelled, hoping that someone would answer the SOS they broad-casted, but Jim shook his head and yelled back, "Nope, no one! It seems nobody wants to get involved with these guys, and even if someone did try and save us, they have a heavy guard to block anyone from getting to us! It would take a miracle to get through!"
Gene looked back out the door to see a few pirates moving slowly towards the ship. "CRAP!!! They have us backed against the wall!!", cried out a frustrated Gene as he slammed his fist into the wall.....he had no choice but to return fire, as dangerous as that was while in Blue Heaven. He pulled out his gun and took aim....he would have wanted to use a shotgun or even his Caster, but the risk of using those weapons were so great, not even he was going to try it. In the middle of all this commotion, only Melfina noticed that another ship was coming out of Sub-Ether drive and was heading for the station....
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The gold ship in which Ken and Zenith traveled in, dubbed the "Golden Comet", came out of its Hyper-Jump with Blue Heaven in front of it. "Hyper-jump completed. We are now at Blue Heaven." Beta reported. Zenith straped on a small gadget to his wrist, which was pretty much a way to bring Beta with them and said, "Alright Beta, get as much info on the situation as you can.". After a moment of scanning, Beta was able to determine that the ship under attack was the "Outlaw Star", which was the red ship in Dock 8, and that the closest dock to it was Dock 5, which ment they would have to run a small distance towards the other dock, cutting through the main area.
Ken cracked his knuckles and neck, then put out the cigerette that was in his mouth while saying, "Well, lets get going! Its been awhile since I could beat the crap out of some people.". "The enemy attacking the ship has been confirmed as the "Zen" pirates.... it seems although they were part of the same major organization, they were rivals of the Kay pirates, which were recently disbanded since their leader was killed. It seems the Outlaw Star has a history with pirates.", Beta told them before they left. Zenith looked up at the computer and said, "Alright, if you stumble across any new information, tell us as soon as you get it.".
The ship finished docking, and the two men ran out like bats out of Hell towards their destination. "Hey Ken, you ready to smack around some more punks?". Ken looked at his buddy with a grin and replied, "Please Zenith, you know I was BORN ready for this!"
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Gene ducked out of the door way of the main hatch again, and fired a single shot at a pirate before ducking back in. The bullet hit its mark right in the fore head and the pirate fell as soon as he was hit. While Gene had plenty of gun shots left, he knew that he was only stalling them, for they just started sending more people in every attack wave, so that Gene couldn't shoot them all. Plus the fact they clearly had more people then he had bullets didn't help. Then to top it all off, every time he was able to squeeze off a shot, he had to duck back in since the guys in the back let loose with a barrage of machiene gun fire every time he poped out. Gene was sweating like mad now, he knew it was only a matter of time before the pirates boarded the ship, and it was all over. Gene was extreamly frustrated as he suddenly screamed out, "Damn!!! Why does this always have to happen to me!?!? I thought our pirate problems were over!!"
He peeked out and squeezed off another shot, making another pirate fall, but he also saw that the pirates were getting even closer. At least he had one thing going for him, and that was that they had to clear the walkway to the hatch, and being narrow, it would make picking them off as the pirates came much easier. However, he knew it would all be useless in the end, and all because of the fact that he was vastly out numbered. Gene looked over to Jim, who just arrived after going to get a gun of his own and began helping as much as he could. "Hey Jim, has ANYONE answered our SOS yet!?!?", Jim heard his partner yell over the noise, and he could merely shake his head replying, "Its just like I said before, no one wants to get involved!!"
Gene yelled after hearing this extreamly bad news. It was hopeless, and he knew it....but if he was going to go down, he was going to take as many of these pirate punks as he could with him!! It was then that he heard the best knews possible at this period in time. The small pink capsule of Gilliam came to Gene on the service rail saying, "Gene, the computer of a ship called the Golden Comet has contacted us saying that they have just docked and sent some help for us." Gene looked up at Gilliam with a spark of hope in his eyes as he asked, "How many men are they sending!?" Gilliam stood there for a moment, talking with this savior ship and then reported that only two men were coming to help. Suddenly that spark of hope left Gene's eye.....
"ARE THEY STUPID!?!? ONLY TWO MEN!?!? They better have some sort of weapon!!!!", Gene said as he suddenly reached out and grabbed the little pink capsule, ready to crush it with his bare hands. "They have no special weapons, in fact they are going with no weapons. The only thing the other computer would tell me is that 'they are talented'." said Gilliam, and Gene suddenly heard Jim whining, "WE'RE DOOMED!!!", and for once, Gene agreed with him.
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Ken and Zenith ran out of the dock as fast as they possibly could, trying to get to the troubled ship as soon as possible. As soon as they got out of the dock and into the main area however, they were already confronted by resistance. The pirates looked similar to the Kay pirates, but had green on instead. A larger pirate amongst them dressed in a darker green than the others walked out and shouted at the two, "STOP!!! Do not come any closer, for we have orders to kill anyone who dares get near our target, and we're just ITCHING for the chance to spill some blood...."
Ken and Zenith looked at the people infront of them, scanning them. Then they looked at each other, and to anyone's surprise, they just bursted out LAUGHING. "A....a...a-a-are you trying to tell me.....THIS is what we're up against!?!? COME ON, ITS TOO EASY!!!", Ken boasted, trying his hardest to make his speech understandable through the constant laughing. Zenith looked at his partner and nodded his head saying, "Yeah, I know what ya mean buddy!! This has GOT to be a joke, cause I'm laughing pretty hard!!!". They continued laughing like madmen while their foes infront of them we're surprised by this sudden outburst.
The one in dark green snarled and yelled, "DO YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE!?!? WE ARE THE ZEN PIRATES! ONE OF THE MOST FEARED PIRATE GUILDS AROUND!!!!". However, this only made the two men infront of them laugh even harder. Ken and Zenith finally got themselves to settle down, and Zenith looked at their enemy boasting, "Look buddy, we really don't give a rats ass who you are, so if your smart, you'll get out of our way, or we'll have to FORCE you out of our way. Thats your first and ONLY warning.", then his buddy Ken spoke up saying, "Yeah man, so get out of our way before we beat you into a bloody pulp.". This enraged the pirates to no end, and with out warning they leapt at the two foolish people who stood in their way. To any passer by, it looked as if the two poor souls didn't stand a chance.
One leaped right for Zenith's head, planning to kill him instantly, but Zenith simply grinned and ducked down, then when the pirate was right over his head, he drove his right hand up ward and slugged the pirate full force in the gut. Two attacked Ken, one diving low, the other jumping for the head again. Ken jumped up and landed on the first pirates back, then with amazing speed, he turned around and grabbed the others head while the pirate was in mid air. With one quick snap of his arms, he pulled the pirate over his shoulder and made him land on the other pirates head with his back. After dispatching the first attackers, Zenith and Ken got side by side, ready to take on the rest.
The others attacked all at once, trying to mob the two arrogent punks, but no matter what they did, both men simply countered their attacks and took them out with one shot. Soon all that was left was the one in dark green. The pirate charged the two, aiming for Ken first. Ken blocked a right hook, jumped over a sweep, then backed away from an upper-cut, then he attacked by shoving his palm into the pirates chest, then kneed him in the gut before jumping away. Zenith came from behind and gave him a hard chop to the back of the neck, then he delivered a kick to the pirates right side before jumping away and getting behind the man.
"Hey Zenith, how about we show this guy how bad we can be???". Zenith looked over to Ken with a small smile that soon spread to an ear to ear grin, then he replied, "Oh yeah, I'm all for it!!". The two men ran at their target, one from the front, the other from the rear. Zenith jumped up to hit the pirate in his upper back, while Ken jumped just slightly lower to hit the man in his gut, both going for a jump kick. Before the pirate could react, he felt something hit him in his lower gut and upper back at the same time, forcing his body off balance. His body was forced to go two different ways when its not supposed to, thus creating a sickening crack as the two fighters passed by, sending the pirate spinning forward in mid-air, then landing on the front of his neck. By the way the pirate was lying, it was clear to see his back was utterly destroyed.
Ken and Zenith stood up, and while Ken was getting ready to do something to the body, Zenith stopped him saying, "We don't have time for that! We don't know how much longer that ship can hold out!". Ken looked at Zenith and sighed saying, "Alright, alright.... geez, spoil sport.". Ken and Zenith made a break for it, staying as near to the docking area as they could, taking short cuts and making quick work of anyone who got in their way.
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A couple of minuets had passed, and the situation for Gene was getting worse, for the pirates were already rushing up the walk way. He picked them off as they came while Jim tried to take out anyone giving them back up with machiene gun fire. The commander of the pirate forces attacking the ship however was getting tired of waiting. The commander was a strange fellow, for he was dressed up like a Jester in armor, and he had the silliest grin anyone could imagine. The weirdo looked over to a pirate that rushed up to him and with a high pitched voice he demanded, "What are you doing here? I told you to watch our rear!!!"
The pirate apologized profusely and whispered something into the commanders ear, which really angered him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN OUR REAR GUARD IS SLOWLY BEING DESTROYED!?!? WHO IS DOING THIS!?!?", the weird commander barked at his inferior, and the pirate, clearly afraid of this mans wrath whispered some more into his ear. Suddenly the commander grabbed the pirate by the neck screaming, "TWO UNIDENTIFIED FIGHTERS!?!? YOUR TELLING ME THAT OUR REAR GUARD IS BEING DECIMATED BY TWO PUNKS WITH ONLY THEIR BEAR HANDS!?!? GET BACK TO YOUR POST NOW YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL!!!!!". The commander threw the pirate away and told some others to follow him back to reinforce the last line.
The commander then yelled to another pirate, "I'M TIRED OF WAITING! GET ME MY BATTLE WALKER, I'LL FINISH THIS NOW!!!". No sooner said, a walking machiene with two rocket launchers for arms, grenade launchers mounted on its shoulders, and various machiene guns planted on the body came forward, and the chest area opened up revealing a cock-pit. The commander laughed as he jumped in and the chest closed up. Then the commander turned the walker to its target....the Outlaw Star.
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Gene ducked his head out again, and noticed that some of the pirate forces were running away from the dock....he had a feeling they weren't retreating, they could easily take the ship at this rate.... but then a thought hit him. "Hey Jim, you don't think those two guys who said they would help us are actually breaking through, do ya!?", Gene asked his young friend. Jim looked over to him and shruged saying, "I don't know! Two men versus a small force of pirates and winning is a feat next to impossible!!", at that moment, they both ducked their heads in to avoid being shot, and Jim added, "But I'm ready to believe in miracles at this rate!!!".
Gene smiled at his buddy and took another pot shot. Could those two really pull it off? He didn't know, but he knew things were getting better now! Then he suddenly went wide eyed... a small machiene, big enough for a man to pilot came up, and a court jester reject hopped in. The thing that really scared him though, was the fact it was turning to fire on the OUtlaw Star!! Gene and Jim looked at each other and could tell they had the same thought.....things were about to get UGLY.....
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Zenith and Ken were finishing up another batch of pirates that attacked them. Normally no one should have been able to pull this stunt off....but the pirates saw that these weren't normal men.... they were stronger, faster, and over all supierior to most men!! The only thing the pirates could think of was that these two were a half breed of man and ctarl-ctarl! But they were FAR from the truth.....
Zenith slammed a pirates head against a wall, definetly putting him out of commision, while Ken was mercilessly beating the heads of two pirates who were on the ground with a lead pipe. Zenith looked over at his partner and sighed. "Good lord Ken....", Ken looked over at his partner with a confused look and asked, "What!?". Zenith shook his head and replied to his friend saying, "You know very well what Ken!! And with a lead pipe even! Geez man!!", but while Zenith was scolding Ken for how he was fighting, Ken just shook his head and told him, "Look Zenith, you know we weren't trained to play fair with these losers, we were trained to get the job done!". Zenith just lowered his head mumbling something then sighed. He looked back up to continue the brewing argument when they both heard cocking noises.
They quickly turned to see what it was, and their eyes widened. They were confronted with more pirates, but there was one teeny-tiny difference.....these guys had GUNS!!! Ken scanned the enemy in front of him quickly with his eyes.... mainly hand guns but a couple of machiene guns.... he opened his mouth and began saying, "Son of a....", but before he could finish his sentence, both men were forced to dive to the side in order to avoid being filled with lead. Ken dived behind a dumpster and Zenith ducked behind some crates. Bullets flew at the two as they hid, hitting the dumpster and crates.
Zenith looked over and yelled to Ken, "Well, aren't you going to rush them!? We don't have much time you know!!!". Ken looked over at his partner with wide eyes and screamed back over the weapon fire, "Are you NUTS!?!? I'm not gonna run out there and be turned into FRIGGIN' SWISS CHEESE!!!!". Zenith shook his head frowning and yelled, "What are you, some kind of coward!?!?". "Okay then, if your so brave, why don't YOU run out there!?!?" Ken yelled back with a smirk. Zenith looked over the crates then quickly ducked back down just as a bullet richocheted off of the crate in front of him. "No thanks man!!" was all that Zenith said, and Ken gave him one of his "I TOLD YOU SO" like smiles.
Then they heard a welcome noise.....the sound of clicks then clips dropping. The idiots waited for each other to empty their clips before reloading!!! Knowing this was their only chance, they ran out from behind their cover and rushed them. The pirates paniced, and tried to reload faster, but they were fumbling with their clips and soon, the two fighters were on them, doing their beat down routine. The pirates quickly fell in close combat. Ken and Zenith began stooping down, looting their victims of their weapons and ammo.
"Something tells me we'll be needing these Zenith my boy!", Ken called, and Zenith looked over nodding. "Come on, we're almost there!!", Zenith replied and began running. Ken quickly followed saying, "I hope they got some girls on the ship!!". Zenith almost tripped at Ken's remark, and Ken once again went "What!?". Zenith looked over at his partner and said in a scolding tone, "GOOD LORD BOY, GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE GUTTER!! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF COMBAT HERE!!!". Ken yelled back, "What!? A guy can wish can't he!?!?". Zenith groaned as they kept running.
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Gene couldn't even duck his head out of the hatch anymore because of how the commander was firing at the ship. If he did risk it, the chances were that he would be blown apart!! Oh well, at least the pirates who were coming up to the ship ran back since their commander was firing at the ship like a mad man, sending ordinance every where. However, those pirates that retreated started firing at the ship from afar again.... things were hopeless.
Jim was looking at the ground with pure fear in his eyes. Gene knew what Jim was thinking, cause he was starting to think it as well.... Jim was thinking that they were all going to die... every last one of them except Melfina.... and who knows what they would do with her.
Suddenly, a lot of the fire on the ship stopped, and it sounded like it was re-directed else where. Gene took a tiny peek out and saw that most of the pirates were firing behind them....AT TWO MEN WHO WERE RETURNING FIRE FROM BEHIND CRATES. "I don't believe it....those two guys actually broke through!?!? But how did they do it!? Oh well, I'm not complaining!! Jim, this game isn't over yet little buddy!!". With re-newed hope, Gene and Jim began to try and take pot shots again.
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Ken and Zenith were returning fire with what ammo and weaponary they looted off of the pirates they already faced, and were pretty sure they could pull this off. They would duck out from behind their crates from various points, firing off their hand guns first, and always hitting with great percision. However, they then saw the pirates loading a type of grenade launcher....which last time they checked was a BAD thing.
The weapon was aimed where Ken was since he had more cover. Ken looked over to Zenith, and both men nodded to each other, a plan already in their minds. A grenade was fired over the crates towards Ken's position, but rather than running, Ken held his machiene gun in both hands, and as soon as the grenade came into sight, he whacked it over to Zenith's hiding spot, who was waiting to use his machiene gun the same way.
The grenade zoomed towards Zenith and he too whacked it with his machiene gun. The pirates who fired the grenade gained a look of pure terror as they saw the very projectile the fired flying right back in THEIR direction. The pirates attempted to scatter, but didn't have enough time to react. The time limit on the grenade expired and exploded, making the grenade launcher explode, doing heavy damage to the pirates and creating lots of smoke. Through this smoke bullets from machiene guns began to fly, dropping what was left of the pirates.
Ken and Zenith looked at each other in triumph since all sounds of enemy fire on the red ship finally stopped. They came out from behind their crates and began to walk forward, when from the smoke, two rockets came and destroyed the crates that were once their hiding spots, leaving no where for them to hide. They both readied their weapons, prepared for the worst, but they had no idea just how deep in trouble they were.
A big green walker type thing approached them as the smoke cleared, and they saw the rockets and vulcan cannons mounted on it. Ken was the first to speak saying, "What in the HOLY BLUE HELL is THAT!?!?". Zenith looked over to Ken and told him, "Ummmm.... I doubt Hell is blue, and it sure ain't holy!!". Ken looked over at his partner and said, "It was an oxymoron you moron!! Now have Beta scan that thing!!. "Alright, alright, sheesh!! You heard him Beta, scan that thing and QUICK!!". The little thing on Zenith's wrists, which looked like a watch, began scanning the walker.
A voice came from the machiene and it sounded like it belonged to a psycho of sorts. "Well well.....so you two are the ones who took out my rear guard.... and I must say, I'm impressed!! That is a feat that an extreme few can do.... but your little rescue operation stops here! Nothing will stop the Zen pirates from taking the XGP!!!". Zenith looked at the walker and said, "Well aren't you full of yourself?? Looks like we'll have to show you just what your up against!", and as soon as Zenith finished that, Ken ran forward yelling and firing his machiene gun. The bullets merely bounced off so he ditched his weapon and jumped up, doing a flying spin kick to the side of the machiene....which also had no effect.
"Ummm.....thats not a good sign....nope....not a good sign what so ever....", was all that Ken could say. The man inside laughed again and aimed all his weapons at Ken. Without a moments hesitation, Ken scrambled to his feet and ran like the devil himself was after his butt!! Rockets and bullets flew from the walker, and Ken kept running, keeping it busy, untill it noticed Zenith was trying to go hand to hand on it. It fired a rocket in front of Ken, so he ran right into the blast. Ken was sent flying into the wall since he was barely able to stop him self from running too far forwards, and then the machiene kicked Zenith away.
"Ooooooh....my head..... I feel like a flying elephant landed on me.... Hey Zenith, this isn't going to work!!", Ken yelled over. Zenith got up holding his back with one hand and yelled back, "No friggin' duh!! Damn... we only have one choice, we'll have to show him what we can REALLY do!!!". Ken smiled as he cracked his knuckles. "Finally! I've been wanting to do this for a WHILE now!!", Ken replied, as he looked at the walker with its baffled pilot inside. He then started to run at the walker again, so it fired away at him. He jumped up into the air avoiding two rockets....but he was holding his hand up like he was going to do something, but he wasn't close enough for melee combat!
Ken seemed to be tensing up his right arm while holding it in the air. After he landed he shouted like some sort of idiot, "LIGHTNING STRIKE!!!!!", and slammed his hand onto the floor. The commander had no clue to what his opponent was doing.... untill his warning alarm for an electrical storm went off. "What the!? An electrical storm!? Impossible! There can't be one IN a space station!!!", the commander yelled, but when he made his walker look up, he saw bolts of lightning headed straight down towards his walker.
The lightning connected dead on, electrocuting the walker, and the pilot inside. "OOOOHHH!!!! THATS GOTTA HURT!!! Being surrounded with all that metal and all...." said Ken, as an ear to ear grin appeared on his face. The attack finally ended and the walker slowly got its bearings....just to see the other man doing the same thing. Zenith yelled, "METEOR MASHER!!!", as he slammed his hand onto the ground. Meteors appeared over his head and zoomed right at the walker.
The commander looked on in fear as meteors formed out of THIN AIR and zoomed at his walker!! How was this possible!? WHO WERE THESE PEOPLE!?!? Was all he could think. Then the meteors started connecting, putting large dents on his walker and making it spin around and fall on its front.
"Zenith, a weakness has finally been found. It seems that the engine in the upper back area is where you should attack.", Beta finally said. Zenith looked to Ken and said, "Your the mechanic between us, so you take care of it. Plus lightning and metal don't exactly go together well!". Ken merely nodded and jumped onto the back of the walker as electricity formed around his hand.
Gene couldn't believe what he was seeing!!! Did he and Jim just see LIGHTNING AND METEORS come from NO WHERE and attack this guy!?!? Who were these two, and how were they pulling this off!?! No matter, they were on his side, so he didn't care!! He looked over to Jim to give him a high-five, but Jim pretty much had his jaw dropped to the ground, and was in a blank stare. "Hey Jim, what are you, some kinda fish?", Gene asked his buddy, which snapped Jim out of his dumb-founded state.
Ken raised his arm up and plunged it into the small engine that was on the back, right were Beta said it would be. He then let loose the electrical charge he had in his hand, and then he jumped away just as the engine went critical. "How can this be....how did they do it....WHO ARE THOSE TWO!?!?!?", were the last words the commander yelled as the engine finally exploded, destroying the walker.
Ken and Zenith were doing belly bumps, high fives, and just plain celebrating over their victory. "OH YEAH BABY!!! WE ARE THE BEST!!", yelled Ken and Zenith replied, "DAMN STRAIGHT MAN! NO ONE CAN STOP US!!". The two finally stopped and Zenith looked up. "Hey Ken, watch your head.", was all Zenith said, and then Ken looked up going, "Huh, wha....AAAHH!!!!". Ken ducked down just as a piece of scrap metal missed his head.
"Good lord!! That thing almost took my head off!!", Ken yelled while Zenith laughed like mad. "Yeah man, that thing was speeding toward your head like a Homing Missle!!", Zenith commented, still laughing. Ken caught his breath and said, "Dude, that thing came flying at me like when the French guys launched that cow out of the catapault in Monty Python and the Holy Grail!!". Zenith laughed even more as Ken made that reference to one of their favorite movies.
Gene walked up to the two with Jim and said, "Hey guys, thanks alot. You have NO idea how thankful we are.". Ken and Zenith looked over to the guy with red hair and Ken said, "Hey no problem, just helping out where we can.". Zenith then commented saying, "It seemed like they REALLY wanted your ship in their possesion, or destroyed. So we're gonna stick around awhile longer just in case more show up.". Jim finally spoke up saying, "Thanks, we really appreciate it. Oh, and by the way my names Jim Hawking.". Getting the hint from his little friend, Gene introduced him self saying, "I'm Gene Starwind, captain of the Outlaw Star."
As Ken and Zenith began the hand shake bit, they introduced them selves as well. "Hi, I'm Ken Takarano, and this is my buddy Zenith. I would tell you his last name, but he doesn't like giving it out to people he JUST met.", and Zenith nodded his head. After the introduction phase, the part the two men were expecting came as Jim suddenly blurted out, "HOW DID YOU GUYS DO THAT STUFF!?!? PEOPLE CAN'T JUST FORM STUFF LIKE THAT OUT OF THIN AIR!!!!".
After making sure their hearing was still intact, they got ready to explain themselves.... untill Melfina came out to see what was going on. "Gene, is everything OK out here now???", Melfina asked, and Ken stood on his toes to look over Gene to see who spoke. Ken suddenly ran OVER Gene (He had the foot prints on his face to proove it) and went up to Mel, and no sooner had he stopped in front of her, he began to use one his best lines. "Did I just hear an angle speak!? I must have, for thats the only thing a being such as yourself could be! For if you were not an angle then....", but before he could go any further, Zenith grabbed his ear and began to pull him away from an extreamly red Melfina.
"Thats enough out of you lover boy.", Zenith told Ken, while Jim was trying to hold Gene back from using his caster on the blonde casanova. "What!? What did I do!?", Ken exclaimed. Zenith grabbed his friends head, and moved it to face Gene, and after he did so he said, "Boy, I think that she is taken by HIM.". Ken was staring into eyes that could have made the Devil himself run in fear! "Oh...I didn't know....otherwise I wouldn't have tried....sorry about that...heh heh....DON'T HURT ME!!!!!", is what Ken yelled as he began to try and run for his life thinking that Gene wouldn't buy it. And he was right in that thinking, for Gene was already loading his caster with the best shell he currently had.
Jim jumped on Gene's arm and hung there so he couldn't aim the caster properly, all the while trying to get Gene to stop. "Gene, I think he means it!! He doesn't seem like the guy who would try and steal someone elses girl!!!", Jim yelled, and to his relief, Gene lowered the gun....but mainly because Jim's weight didn't let him lift the gun high enough.... Gene's strong, but not that strong! "Geez Jim, have you gained weight!?", Gene teased his friend, then he looked back to Ken and said, "Fine, I'll let you go this time, but DON'T LET ME CATCH YOU DOING THAT AGAIN!!!!".
Jim shook his head, embarressed at Gene's behavior. Jim then explained that ever since Gene and Melfina got together after the lei-line bit, he wouldn't let anyone trying to hit on Melfina get anywhere near her. "Well, thats to be expected....I'm really sorry, I had no idea.", Ken said, trying to make amends.
"Yeah yeah....come on, lemme introduce you to the rest of my crew." Gene said as he invited the two men into his ship.
Once they were inside, Ken and Zenith looked around the interior of the ship. "Whoa....pretty cool ship..." Ken remarked in awe. Zenith nodded his head and then said, "Yeah, but ours is much better!". Ken just grinned as they both did a high five, but then a voice said, "I beg your pardon, but the OUtlaw Star is the best ship in the galaxy.". Gene sighed and said, "Guys, let me introduce you to Gilliam. The pain in the ass computer of this ship.". Ken suddenly gasped and exclaimed, "Hey, our ships computer is a pain in the ass too!!!". The next moment, the two were chattering about how much they hate their ships computers untill Zenith interupted them with a smack upside their heads.
While they were talking Melfina went to get Aisha and Suzuka who were hiding in the ship to ambush the enemy if they got in. "Guys, its ok to come out now. We were saved from the pirates!" Melfina called out, trying to find them. Aisha bursted out of a near by room scaring the hell out of Melfina shouting, "We were saved!? No way!! By who!?". Suzuka came out from where she was hiding and stretched since she was crouching the entire time. "I would also like to know who came to our aid." Is all Suzuka said.
The guys were all in the pilots area of the Outlaw Star (couldn't think of a better term. Heh heh!), just talking when Melfina came back in. "Ken, Zenith I want you too meet....", Melfina began, but she was interupted as Ken dashed straight to Suzuka saying, "Hello there! My name is Ken Takarano! Whats your name???". Suzuka was startled for a moment there but quickly snapped out of it replying, "I am Twilight Suzuka, but you may leave out the Twilight part.". Ken nodded while saying, "Ahhhh yes, a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.".
Needless to say, Suzuka quickly got away from him. It didn't matter though, cause next he was right infront of Aisha! How he got there so quick was beyond anyone! "And who might this lovely young woman be??". Aisha blinked a couple times before realizing that she was spoken too, but then quickly introduced her self. "I'm Aisha Clan Clan of the Ctarl-Ctarl empire!", she proclaimed. Ken didn't really care though, cause he was already about to ask her out on a date if Zenith hadn't stepped in.
"Alright Ken, thats enough out of you..." Zenith said while literally dragging Ken away from Aisha. Gene and Jim rubbed their eyes a couple times to make sure they saw right, for they could not believe that Ken just hit on Aisha! "Ummm....Ken....you do realize that you and Aisha are TWO DIFFERENT SPECIES!?!?", Gene suddenly yelled, but Ken just turned to him and replied, "Yeah, I know. Where we come from we don't really discriminate species and what not.... so if its humanoid enough, its good enough for me!"
Gene and Jim fell over while Zenith just formed a sweat mark. Melfina just started chuckling while Suzuka shook her head, and Aisha said, "Hey, I like how this guy thinks!!".
After the introductions were over, they got back down to business. After about 15 minuets of discussion, it was decided that Gene and Jim would stay at the ship to do what repairs they could with what they had, Aisha and Suzuka would guard the ship while they did so incase of any more attacks, Melfina was going to get the parts that they still needed, while Ken and Zenith were going to play body-guard.
"Alright, you guys be careful out there. Who knows if there are more pirates around or not.", Jim warned them. Ken beamed at the kid and said, "Hey, don't worry about it! There's nothing to be afraid of with us around!". Zenith looked over to Ken and said, "Hey man, I think the fact that your helping to guard her is EXACTLY why they're worried.". The others began to laugh while Ken punched Zentih in the arm.
The three began to walk away, while the other four remained at the ship. The last thing Gene said before he got to work was, "I sure hope they they come back ok.".
END CHAPTER 1
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Well, thats that! Chapter 1 is done!! I told you there would be a lot of action in this one!! And just think....this was only the FIRST chapter!!! Well, anyway, please send your reviews to me, otherwise I'll get sad and cry!! OK, so I won't cry, but still I would appreciate it! I'll begin working on Chapter 2 now, just in case. That way if you guys like this story, I can update soon! But if you don't....well then it was just a huge waste of time. Anyway, I'll see you next time! *Gets on a horse* HI-HO TIN-FOIL, AND AWAAAAAAY!!!!!!! *Gallops away eating jelly beans*.
-Sparda the Hopeful FanFic writer.
guy in background: about time!!
Where did he come from???
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Disclaimer: Outlaw Star is NOT mine, other wise I would be rolling in my big wads of cash right now. However, all characters not originally part of the Outlaw Star world are MINE, ALL MINE!!!! OK, my moment of idiocy has passed..... ^^;
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Chapter 1: Meet the Warriors
"Gene, we are approaching Blue Heaven."
Gene Starwind was in the pilots seat of the Outlaw Star asleep due to sheer boredom.
"Wake up Gene, we are nearing Blue Heaven." repeated Gilliam. Gene finally woke up and stared at gilliam, not completely awake, and the first things out of his mouth was, "Huh, wha???".
"Well, it looks like our inspirational leader finally decided to wake up."
"Oh can it Jim... we almost there yet??" Gene asked the 11 year old boy in the seat infront of him. Jim Hawking looked back and nodded to him. "Yeah, just need to select which dock we want.". Gene looked at the screen trying to remember which dock Swanzo was on. As Gene struggled to recall which dock he needed, a slender hand came from behind and pointed to dock 8 and a voice said, "Isn't this the dock we need??". Gene looked behind him to see Melfina standing there, then he looked back at the screen saying, "Yeah, thats the dock we need. Thanks Mel."
Melfina gave him one of her smiles and started to walk away. "Why are we going back here? Its boring here!!" a higher pitched voice complained right next to Gene. "AAAH!!! AISHA, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU NOT TO DO THAT!?!?!?". Gene looked to his right to see the Ctarl-Ctarl, Aisha Clan-Clan, standing there. "You haven't answered my question yet Gene...why are we going back here?". Gene sighed shaking his head then looked at Aisha again. "Aisha, have you seen the shape the ship is in? We need ammo, food, AND repairs!! While we can't get ammo here, we can at least get food and repairs!!"
Gene laid a course in for Blue Heaven since, as of late, his ship has been under attack by pirates again, but the question was why?? It couldn't be Hozanko...after all, he is dead now.... but then again, these pirates did look different from the pirates he was used to facing, and they fought a little differently...they were more ruthless, and to make matters worse, they were also Tao Magic users. He was hoping he could load up on more stuff that he needed since they were getting low on food, and the damage to the ship was adding up from the constant attacks. But the problem now was finding a way to pay for all of this....while a good bit of people know of him now, even though he still has yet to make a name for himself, Gene was still in lots of debt....not as much as before but it was still pretty bad.
Gene looked at the screen as they started to begin docking procedures. "Hey Gilliam, where is Suzuka at?", and almost as in reply, Twilight Suzuka entered the room. "She just got out of the shower Gene." Gilliam replied, even though there was no need for that now. A few minuets later, the ship was docked, but as soon as it did, people that were waiting for them in the dock started firing upon the ship since there was no nothing it could do.
As soon as the first shots hit the Outlaw Star, Gilliam started shouting, "Warning! Warning! The Outlaw Star is under attack!". While everyone was looking for something to hold onto, Gene looked up at the ships computer and yelled, "Oh, really!? I COULDN'T TELL!!! Send out an SOS!!". In his mind, he was wondering if they were all stupid for firing in the station.
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Elsewhere in space, a gold ship cruised through the stars, a ship who's technology was unmatched except by others of its kind. Inside, a man in his early 20's was listening to some Rock and Roll music. He was about 5'8'' in size, had a slight muscular build, and short uneven blond hair. He was currently wearing some jeans with a camoflauge shirt with "Ha! Now you can't see me!" written across the front. As the music ended, the man stretched and a deep voice was heard behind him saying, "Hey Ken, you done yet, I wanna listen to something I LIKE you know!!"
The blonde man named Ken Takarano turned around to be face to face with a big black man. This black man was at about 6'3", had an easily recognizeable muscle build, and was bald. This mans name was "Zenith", and he was wearing jeans like Ken, and a shirt with a green spiral on the front with a quote below it saying "When I snap my fingers, you will forget about this entire conversation."
"Yeah yeah, I'm done Zenith. Geez, your always telling ME to be patient!!" said Ken as he pulled out a cigerette and started to light it. Zenith sighed shaking his head and replied, "Look buddy, there's only so much Rock and Roll a guy can take! Its not a question of patience, its a question of 'How long untill I lose my hearing'!!" Ken frowned then looked at Zenith and retorted, "Yeah well your country music isn't much better you know." Zenith opened his mouth to say something but a female voice spoke up saying, "Attention, I have recieved an SOS from a near by station called "Blue Heaven". It seems that a ship was attacked as soon as it docked and is completely defenseless due to the fact that a stray shot could let the air out of the place. Should we investigate??"
Both men looked up from their argument at the ships computer named "Beta", which Ken thought was completely un-original. Zenith was the first one to speak saying, "Well of course Beta, get us over there ASAP!!", and Ken added, "if we didn't go and help, we wouldn't be doing our job, now would we??". "You never seem to do your job Ken." Was all that beta said, and Ken gave his usual retort of "shut up" to the computer. "God I HATE that computer...", he complained while Zenith started cracking up. "Geez Ken, you just can't win against Beta, can you!?!?". Ken gave an icy glare to Zenith and started to say something, but decided against it. Zenith just kept laughing while Ken set in a course to Blue Heaven.
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Gene hid in the doorway of the main hatch in and out of the ship trying to figure out what to do, for things were getting worse by the minute. Not only were the pirates damaging his ship even more, now they were starting to advance to get in and take the ship. "Hey Jim, is anyone coming yet!?!?" Gene yelled, hoping that someone would answer the SOS they broad-casted, but Jim shook his head and yelled back, "Nope, no one! It seems nobody wants to get involved with these guys, and even if someone did try and save us, they have a heavy guard to block anyone from getting to us! It would take a miracle to get through!"
Gene looked back out the door to see a few pirates moving slowly towards the ship. "CRAP!!! They have us backed against the wall!!", cried out a frustrated Gene as he slammed his fist into the wall.....he had no choice but to return fire, as dangerous as that was while in Blue Heaven. He pulled out his gun and took aim....he would have wanted to use a shotgun or even his Caster, but the risk of using those weapons were so great, not even he was going to try it. In the middle of all this commotion, only Melfina noticed that another ship was coming out of Sub-Ether drive and was heading for the station....
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The gold ship in which Ken and Zenith traveled in, dubbed the "Golden Comet", came out of its Hyper-Jump with Blue Heaven in front of it. "Hyper-jump completed. We are now at Blue Heaven." Beta reported. Zenith straped on a small gadget to his wrist, which was pretty much a way to bring Beta with them and said, "Alright Beta, get as much info on the situation as you can.". After a moment of scanning, Beta was able to determine that the ship under attack was the "Outlaw Star", which was the red ship in Dock 8, and that the closest dock to it was Dock 5, which ment they would have to run a small distance towards the other dock, cutting through the main area.
Ken cracked his knuckles and neck, then put out the cigerette that was in his mouth while saying, "Well, lets get going! Its been awhile since I could beat the crap out of some people.". "The enemy attacking the ship has been confirmed as the "Zen" pirates.... it seems although they were part of the same major organization, they were rivals of the Kay pirates, which were recently disbanded since their leader was killed. It seems the Outlaw Star has a history with pirates.", Beta told them before they left. Zenith looked up at the computer and said, "Alright, if you stumble across any new information, tell us as soon as you get it.".
The ship finished docking, and the two men ran out like bats out of Hell towards their destination. "Hey Ken, you ready to smack around some more punks?". Ken looked at his buddy with a grin and replied, "Please Zenith, you know I was BORN ready for this!"
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Gene ducked out of the door way of the main hatch again, and fired a single shot at a pirate before ducking back in. The bullet hit its mark right in the fore head and the pirate fell as soon as he was hit. While Gene had plenty of gun shots left, he knew that he was only stalling them, for they just started sending more people in every attack wave, so that Gene couldn't shoot them all. Plus the fact they clearly had more people then he had bullets didn't help. Then to top it all off, every time he was able to squeeze off a shot, he had to duck back in since the guys in the back let loose with a barrage of machiene gun fire every time he poped out. Gene was sweating like mad now, he knew it was only a matter of time before the pirates boarded the ship, and it was all over. Gene was extreamly frustrated as he suddenly screamed out, "Damn!!! Why does this always have to happen to me!?!? I thought our pirate problems were over!!"
He peeked out and squeezed off another shot, making another pirate fall, but he also saw that the pirates were getting even closer. At least he had one thing going for him, and that was that they had to clear the walkway to the hatch, and being narrow, it would make picking them off as the pirates came much easier. However, he knew it would all be useless in the end, and all because of the fact that he was vastly out numbered. Gene looked over to Jim, who just arrived after going to get a gun of his own and began helping as much as he could. "Hey Jim, has ANYONE answered our SOS yet!?!?", Jim heard his partner yell over the noise, and he could merely shake his head replying, "Its just like I said before, no one wants to get involved!!"
Gene yelled after hearing this extreamly bad news. It was hopeless, and he knew it....but if he was going to go down, he was going to take as many of these pirate punks as he could with him!! It was then that he heard the best knews possible at this period in time. The small pink capsule of Gilliam came to Gene on the service rail saying, "Gene, the computer of a ship called the Golden Comet has contacted us saying that they have just docked and sent some help for us." Gene looked up at Gilliam with a spark of hope in his eyes as he asked, "How many men are they sending!?" Gilliam stood there for a moment, talking with this savior ship and then reported that only two men were coming to help. Suddenly that spark of hope left Gene's eye.....
"ARE THEY STUPID!?!? ONLY TWO MEN!?!? They better have some sort of weapon!!!!", Gene said as he suddenly reached out and grabbed the little pink capsule, ready to crush it with his bare hands. "They have no special weapons, in fact they are going with no weapons. The only thing the other computer would tell me is that 'they are talented'." said Gilliam, and Gene suddenly heard Jim whining, "WE'RE DOOMED!!!", and for once, Gene agreed with him.
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Ken and Zenith ran out of the dock as fast as they possibly could, trying to get to the troubled ship as soon as possible. As soon as they got out of the dock and into the main area however, they were already confronted by resistance. The pirates looked similar to the Kay pirates, but had green on instead. A larger pirate amongst them dressed in a darker green than the others walked out and shouted at the two, "STOP!!! Do not come any closer, for we have orders to kill anyone who dares get near our target, and we're just ITCHING for the chance to spill some blood...."
Ken and Zenith looked at the people infront of them, scanning them. Then they looked at each other, and to anyone's surprise, they just bursted out LAUGHING. "A....a...a-a-are you trying to tell me.....THIS is what we're up against!?!? COME ON, ITS TOO EASY!!!", Ken boasted, trying his hardest to make his speech understandable through the constant laughing. Zenith looked at his partner and nodded his head saying, "Yeah, I know what ya mean buddy!! This has GOT to be a joke, cause I'm laughing pretty hard!!!". They continued laughing like madmen while their foes infront of them we're surprised by this sudden outburst.
The one in dark green snarled and yelled, "DO YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE!?!? WE ARE THE ZEN PIRATES! ONE OF THE MOST FEARED PIRATE GUILDS AROUND!!!!". However, this only made the two men infront of them laugh even harder. Ken and Zenith finally got themselves to settle down, and Zenith looked at their enemy boasting, "Look buddy, we really don't give a rats ass who you are, so if your smart, you'll get out of our way, or we'll have to FORCE you out of our way. Thats your first and ONLY warning.", then his buddy Ken spoke up saying, "Yeah man, so get out of our way before we beat you into a bloody pulp.". This enraged the pirates to no end, and with out warning they leapt at the two foolish people who stood in their way. To any passer by, it looked as if the two poor souls didn't stand a chance.
One leaped right for Zenith's head, planning to kill him instantly, but Zenith simply grinned and ducked down, then when the pirate was right over his head, he drove his right hand up ward and slugged the pirate full force in the gut. Two attacked Ken, one diving low, the other jumping for the head again. Ken jumped up and landed on the first pirates back, then with amazing speed, he turned around and grabbed the others head while the pirate was in mid air. With one quick snap of his arms, he pulled the pirate over his shoulder and made him land on the other pirates head with his back. After dispatching the first attackers, Zenith and Ken got side by side, ready to take on the rest.
The others attacked all at once, trying to mob the two arrogent punks, but no matter what they did, both men simply countered their attacks and took them out with one shot. Soon all that was left was the one in dark green. The pirate charged the two, aiming for Ken first. Ken blocked a right hook, jumped over a sweep, then backed away from an upper-cut, then he attacked by shoving his palm into the pirates chest, then kneed him in the gut before jumping away. Zenith came from behind and gave him a hard chop to the back of the neck, then he delivered a kick to the pirates right side before jumping away and getting behind the man.
"Hey Zenith, how about we show this guy how bad we can be???". Zenith looked over to Ken with a small smile that soon spread to an ear to ear grin, then he replied, "Oh yeah, I'm all for it!!". The two men ran at their target, one from the front, the other from the rear. Zenith jumped up to hit the pirate in his upper back, while Ken jumped just slightly lower to hit the man in his gut, both going for a jump kick. Before the pirate could react, he felt something hit him in his lower gut and upper back at the same time, forcing his body off balance. His body was forced to go two different ways when its not supposed to, thus creating a sickening crack as the two fighters passed by, sending the pirate spinning forward in mid-air, then landing on the front of his neck. By the way the pirate was lying, it was clear to see his back was utterly destroyed.
Ken and Zenith stood up, and while Ken was getting ready to do something to the body, Zenith stopped him saying, "We don't have time for that! We don't know how much longer that ship can hold out!". Ken looked at Zenith and sighed saying, "Alright, alright.... geez, spoil sport.". Ken and Zenith made a break for it, staying as near to the docking area as they could, taking short cuts and making quick work of anyone who got in their way.
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A couple of minuets had passed, and the situation for Gene was getting worse, for the pirates were already rushing up the walk way. He picked them off as they came while Jim tried to take out anyone giving them back up with machiene gun fire. The commander of the pirate forces attacking the ship however was getting tired of waiting. The commander was a strange fellow, for he was dressed up like a Jester in armor, and he had the silliest grin anyone could imagine. The weirdo looked over to a pirate that rushed up to him and with a high pitched voice he demanded, "What are you doing here? I told you to watch our rear!!!"
The pirate apologized profusely and whispered something into the commanders ear, which really angered him. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN OUR REAR GUARD IS SLOWLY BEING DESTROYED!?!? WHO IS DOING THIS!?!?", the weird commander barked at his inferior, and the pirate, clearly afraid of this mans wrath whispered some more into his ear. Suddenly the commander grabbed the pirate by the neck screaming, "TWO UNIDENTIFIED FIGHTERS!?!? YOUR TELLING ME THAT OUR REAR GUARD IS BEING DECIMATED BY TWO PUNKS WITH ONLY THEIR BEAR HANDS!?!? GET BACK TO YOUR POST NOW YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL!!!!!". The commander threw the pirate away and told some others to follow him back to reinforce the last line.
The commander then yelled to another pirate, "I'M TIRED OF WAITING! GET ME MY BATTLE WALKER, I'LL FINISH THIS NOW!!!". No sooner said, a walking machiene with two rocket launchers for arms, grenade launchers mounted on its shoulders, and various machiene guns planted on the body came forward, and the chest area opened up revealing a cock-pit. The commander laughed as he jumped in and the chest closed up. Then the commander turned the walker to its target....the Outlaw Star.
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Gene ducked his head out again, and noticed that some of the pirate forces were running away from the dock....he had a feeling they weren't retreating, they could easily take the ship at this rate.... but then a thought hit him. "Hey Jim, you don't think those two guys who said they would help us are actually breaking through, do ya!?", Gene asked his young friend. Jim looked over to him and shruged saying, "I don't know! Two men versus a small force of pirates and winning is a feat next to impossible!!", at that moment, they both ducked their heads in to avoid being shot, and Jim added, "But I'm ready to believe in miracles at this rate!!!".
Gene smiled at his buddy and took another pot shot. Could those two really pull it off? He didn't know, but he knew things were getting better now! Then he suddenly went wide eyed... a small machiene, big enough for a man to pilot came up, and a court jester reject hopped in. The thing that really scared him though, was the fact it was turning to fire on the OUtlaw Star!! Gene and Jim looked at each other and could tell they had the same thought.....things were about to get UGLY.....
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Zenith and Ken were finishing up another batch of pirates that attacked them. Normally no one should have been able to pull this stunt off....but the pirates saw that these weren't normal men.... they were stronger, faster, and over all supierior to most men!! The only thing the pirates could think of was that these two were a half breed of man and ctarl-ctarl! But they were FAR from the truth.....
Zenith slammed a pirates head against a wall, definetly putting him out of commision, while Ken was mercilessly beating the heads of two pirates who were on the ground with a lead pipe. Zenith looked over at his partner and sighed. "Good lord Ken....", Ken looked over at his partner with a confused look and asked, "What!?". Zenith shook his head and replied to his friend saying, "You know very well what Ken!! And with a lead pipe even! Geez man!!", but while Zenith was scolding Ken for how he was fighting, Ken just shook his head and told him, "Look Zenith, you know we weren't trained to play fair with these losers, we were trained to get the job done!". Zenith just lowered his head mumbling something then sighed. He looked back up to continue the brewing argument when they both heard cocking noises.
They quickly turned to see what it was, and their eyes widened. They were confronted with more pirates, but there was one teeny-tiny difference.....these guys had GUNS!!! Ken scanned the enemy in front of him quickly with his eyes.... mainly hand guns but a couple of machiene guns.... he opened his mouth and began saying, "Son of a....", but before he could finish his sentence, both men were forced to dive to the side in order to avoid being filled with lead. Ken dived behind a dumpster and Zenith ducked behind some crates. Bullets flew at the two as they hid, hitting the dumpster and crates.
Zenith looked over and yelled to Ken, "Well, aren't you going to rush them!? We don't have much time you know!!!". Ken looked over at his partner with wide eyes and screamed back over the weapon fire, "Are you NUTS!?!? I'm not gonna run out there and be turned into FRIGGIN' SWISS CHEESE!!!!". Zenith shook his head frowning and yelled, "What are you, some kind of coward!?!?". "Okay then, if your so brave, why don't YOU run out there!?!?" Ken yelled back with a smirk. Zenith looked over the crates then quickly ducked back down just as a bullet richocheted off of the crate in front of him. "No thanks man!!" was all that Zenith said, and Ken gave him one of his "I TOLD YOU SO" like smiles.
Then they heard a welcome noise.....the sound of clicks then clips dropping. The idiots waited for each other to empty their clips before reloading!!! Knowing this was their only chance, they ran out from behind their cover and rushed them. The pirates paniced, and tried to reload faster, but they were fumbling with their clips and soon, the two fighters were on them, doing their beat down routine. The pirates quickly fell in close combat. Ken and Zenith began stooping down, looting their victims of their weapons and ammo.
"Something tells me we'll be needing these Zenith my boy!", Ken called, and Zenith looked over nodding. "Come on, we're almost there!!", Zenith replied and began running. Ken quickly followed saying, "I hope they got some girls on the ship!!". Zenith almost tripped at Ken's remark, and Ken once again went "What!?". Zenith looked over at his partner and said in a scolding tone, "GOOD LORD BOY, GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE GUTTER!! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF COMBAT HERE!!!". Ken yelled back, "What!? A guy can wish can't he!?!?". Zenith groaned as they kept running.
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Gene couldn't even duck his head out of the hatch anymore because of how the commander was firing at the ship. If he did risk it, the chances were that he would be blown apart!! Oh well, at least the pirates who were coming up to the ship ran back since their commander was firing at the ship like a mad man, sending ordinance every where. However, those pirates that retreated started firing at the ship from afar again.... things were hopeless.
Jim was looking at the ground with pure fear in his eyes. Gene knew what Jim was thinking, cause he was starting to think it as well.... Jim was thinking that they were all going to die... every last one of them except Melfina.... and who knows what they would do with her.
Suddenly, a lot of the fire on the ship stopped, and it sounded like it was re-directed else where. Gene took a tiny peek out and saw that most of the pirates were firing behind them....AT TWO MEN WHO WERE RETURNING FIRE FROM BEHIND CRATES. "I don't believe it....those two guys actually broke through!?!? But how did they do it!? Oh well, I'm not complaining!! Jim, this game isn't over yet little buddy!!". With re-newed hope, Gene and Jim began to try and take pot shots again.
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Ken and Zenith were returning fire with what ammo and weaponary they looted off of the pirates they already faced, and were pretty sure they could pull this off. They would duck out from behind their crates from various points, firing off their hand guns first, and always hitting with great percision. However, they then saw the pirates loading a type of grenade launcher....which last time they checked was a BAD thing.
The weapon was aimed where Ken was since he had more cover. Ken looked over to Zenith, and both men nodded to each other, a plan already in their minds. A grenade was fired over the crates towards Ken's position, but rather than running, Ken held his machiene gun in both hands, and as soon as the grenade came into sight, he whacked it over to Zenith's hiding spot, who was waiting to use his machiene gun the same way.
The grenade zoomed towards Zenith and he too whacked it with his machiene gun. The pirates who fired the grenade gained a look of pure terror as they saw the very projectile the fired flying right back in THEIR direction. The pirates attempted to scatter, but didn't have enough time to react. The time limit on the grenade expired and exploded, making the grenade launcher explode, doing heavy damage to the pirates and creating lots of smoke. Through this smoke bullets from machiene guns began to fly, dropping what was left of the pirates.
Ken and Zenith looked at each other in triumph since all sounds of enemy fire on the red ship finally stopped. They came out from behind their crates and began to walk forward, when from the smoke, two rockets came and destroyed the crates that were once their hiding spots, leaving no where for them to hide. They both readied their weapons, prepared for the worst, but they had no idea just how deep in trouble they were.
A big green walker type thing approached them as the smoke cleared, and they saw the rockets and vulcan cannons mounted on it. Ken was the first to speak saying, "What in the HOLY BLUE HELL is THAT!?!?". Zenith looked over to Ken and told him, "Ummmm.... I doubt Hell is blue, and it sure ain't holy!!". Ken looked over at his partner and said, "It was an oxymoron you moron!! Now have Beta scan that thing!!. "Alright, alright, sheesh!! You heard him Beta, scan that thing and QUICK!!". The little thing on Zenith's wrists, which looked like a watch, began scanning the walker.
A voice came from the machiene and it sounded like it belonged to a psycho of sorts. "Well well.....so you two are the ones who took out my rear guard.... and I must say, I'm impressed!! That is a feat that an extreme few can do.... but your little rescue operation stops here! Nothing will stop the Zen pirates from taking the XGP!!!". Zenith looked at the walker and said, "Well aren't you full of yourself?? Looks like we'll have to show you just what your up against!", and as soon as Zenith finished that, Ken ran forward yelling and firing his machiene gun. The bullets merely bounced off so he ditched his weapon and jumped up, doing a flying spin kick to the side of the machiene....which also had no effect.
"Ummm.....thats not a good sign....nope....not a good sign what so ever....", was all that Ken could say. The man inside laughed again and aimed all his weapons at Ken. Without a moments hesitation, Ken scrambled to his feet and ran like the devil himself was after his butt!! Rockets and bullets flew from the walker, and Ken kept running, keeping it busy, untill it noticed Zenith was trying to go hand to hand on it. It fired a rocket in front of Ken, so he ran right into the blast. Ken was sent flying into the wall since he was barely able to stop him self from running too far forwards, and then the machiene kicked Zenith away.
"Ooooooh....my head..... I feel like a flying elephant landed on me.... Hey Zenith, this isn't going to work!!", Ken yelled over. Zenith got up holding his back with one hand and yelled back, "No friggin' duh!! Damn... we only have one choice, we'll have to show him what we can REALLY do!!!". Ken smiled as he cracked his knuckles. "Finally! I've been wanting to do this for a WHILE now!!", Ken replied, as he looked at the walker with its baffled pilot inside. He then started to run at the walker again, so it fired away at him. He jumped up into the air avoiding two rockets....but he was holding his hand up like he was going to do something, but he wasn't close enough for melee combat!
Ken seemed to be tensing up his right arm while holding it in the air. After he landed he shouted like some sort of idiot, "LIGHTNING STRIKE!!!!!", and slammed his hand onto the floor. The commander had no clue to what his opponent was doing.... untill his warning alarm for an electrical storm went off. "What the!? An electrical storm!? Impossible! There can't be one IN a space station!!!", the commander yelled, but when he made his walker look up, he saw bolts of lightning headed straight down towards his walker.
The lightning connected dead on, electrocuting the walker, and the pilot inside. "OOOOHHH!!!! THATS GOTTA HURT!!! Being surrounded with all that metal and all...." said Ken, as an ear to ear grin appeared on his face. The attack finally ended and the walker slowly got its bearings....just to see the other man doing the same thing. Zenith yelled, "METEOR MASHER!!!", as he slammed his hand onto the ground. Meteors appeared over his head and zoomed right at the walker.
The commander looked on in fear as meteors formed out of THIN AIR and zoomed at his walker!! How was this possible!? WHO WERE THESE PEOPLE!?!? Was all he could think. Then the meteors started connecting, putting large dents on his walker and making it spin around and fall on its front.
"Zenith, a weakness has finally been found. It seems that the engine in the upper back area is where you should attack.", Beta finally said. Zenith looked to Ken and said, "Your the mechanic between us, so you take care of it. Plus lightning and metal don't exactly go together well!". Ken merely nodded and jumped onto the back of the walker as electricity formed around his hand.
Gene couldn't believe what he was seeing!!! Did he and Jim just see LIGHTNING AND METEORS come from NO WHERE and attack this guy!?!? Who were these two, and how were they pulling this off!?! No matter, they were on his side, so he didn't care!! He looked over to Jim to give him a high-five, but Jim pretty much had his jaw dropped to the ground, and was in a blank stare. "Hey Jim, what are you, some kinda fish?", Gene asked his buddy, which snapped Jim out of his dumb-founded state.
Ken raised his arm up and plunged it into the small engine that was on the back, right were Beta said it would be. He then let loose the electrical charge he had in his hand, and then he jumped away just as the engine went critical. "How can this be....how did they do it....WHO ARE THOSE TWO!?!?!?", were the last words the commander yelled as the engine finally exploded, destroying the walker.
Ken and Zenith were doing belly bumps, high fives, and just plain celebrating over their victory. "OH YEAH BABY!!! WE ARE THE BEST!!", yelled Ken and Zenith replied, "DAMN STRAIGHT MAN! NO ONE CAN STOP US!!". The two finally stopped and Zenith looked up. "Hey Ken, watch your head.", was all Zenith said, and then Ken looked up going, "Huh, wha....AAAHH!!!!". Ken ducked down just as a piece of scrap metal missed his head.
"Good lord!! That thing almost took my head off!!", Ken yelled while Zenith laughed like mad. "Yeah man, that thing was speeding toward your head like a Homing Missle!!", Zenith commented, still laughing. Ken caught his breath and said, "Dude, that thing came flying at me like when the French guys launched that cow out of the catapault in Monty Python and the Holy Grail!!". Zenith laughed even more as Ken made that reference to one of their favorite movies.
Gene walked up to the two with Jim and said, "Hey guys, thanks alot. You have NO idea how thankful we are.". Ken and Zenith looked over to the guy with red hair and Ken said, "Hey no problem, just helping out where we can.". Zenith then commented saying, "It seemed like they REALLY wanted your ship in their possesion, or destroyed. So we're gonna stick around awhile longer just in case more show up.". Jim finally spoke up saying, "Thanks, we really appreciate it. Oh, and by the way my names Jim Hawking.". Getting the hint from his little friend, Gene introduced him self saying, "I'm Gene Starwind, captain of the Outlaw Star."
As Ken and Zenith began the hand shake bit, they introduced them selves as well. "Hi, I'm Ken Takarano, and this is my buddy Zenith. I would tell you his last name, but he doesn't like giving it out to people he JUST met.", and Zenith nodded his head. After the introduction phase, the part the two men were expecting came as Jim suddenly blurted out, "HOW DID YOU GUYS DO THAT STUFF!?!? PEOPLE CAN'T JUST FORM STUFF LIKE THAT OUT OF THIN AIR!!!!".
After making sure their hearing was still intact, they got ready to explain themselves.... untill Melfina came out to see what was going on. "Gene, is everything OK out here now???", Melfina asked, and Ken stood on his toes to look over Gene to see who spoke. Ken suddenly ran OVER Gene (He had the foot prints on his face to proove it) and went up to Mel, and no sooner had he stopped in front of her, he began to use one his best lines. "Did I just hear an angle speak!? I must have, for thats the only thing a being such as yourself could be! For if you were not an angle then....", but before he could go any further, Zenith grabbed his ear and began to pull him away from an extreamly red Melfina.
"Thats enough out of you lover boy.", Zenith told Ken, while Jim was trying to hold Gene back from using his caster on the blonde casanova. "What!? What did I do!?", Ken exclaimed. Zenith grabbed his friends head, and moved it to face Gene, and after he did so he said, "Boy, I think that she is taken by HIM.". Ken was staring into eyes that could have made the Devil himself run in fear! "Oh...I didn't know....otherwise I wouldn't have tried....sorry about that...heh heh....DON'T HURT ME!!!!!", is what Ken yelled as he began to try and run for his life thinking that Gene wouldn't buy it. And he was right in that thinking, for Gene was already loading his caster with the best shell he currently had.
Jim jumped on Gene's arm and hung there so he couldn't aim the caster properly, all the while trying to get Gene to stop. "Gene, I think he means it!! He doesn't seem like the guy who would try and steal someone elses girl!!!", Jim yelled, and to his relief, Gene lowered the gun....but mainly because Jim's weight didn't let him lift the gun high enough.... Gene's strong, but not that strong! "Geez Jim, have you gained weight!?", Gene teased his friend, then he looked back to Ken and said, "Fine, I'll let you go this time, but DON'T LET ME CATCH YOU DOING THAT AGAIN!!!!".
Jim shook his head, embarressed at Gene's behavior. Jim then explained that ever since Gene and Melfina got together after the lei-line bit, he wouldn't let anyone trying to hit on Melfina get anywhere near her. "Well, thats to be expected....I'm really sorry, I had no idea.", Ken said, trying to make amends.
"Yeah yeah....come on, lemme introduce you to the rest of my crew." Gene said as he invited the two men into his ship.
Once they were inside, Ken and Zenith looked around the interior of the ship. "Whoa....pretty cool ship..." Ken remarked in awe. Zenith nodded his head and then said, "Yeah, but ours is much better!". Ken just grinned as they both did a high five, but then a voice said, "I beg your pardon, but the OUtlaw Star is the best ship in the galaxy.". Gene sighed and said, "Guys, let me introduce you to Gilliam. The pain in the ass computer of this ship.". Ken suddenly gasped and exclaimed, "Hey, our ships computer is a pain in the ass too!!!". The next moment, the two were chattering about how much they hate their ships computers untill Zenith interupted them with a smack upside their heads.
While they were talking Melfina went to get Aisha and Suzuka who were hiding in the ship to ambush the enemy if they got in. "Guys, its ok to come out now. We were saved from the pirates!" Melfina called out, trying to find them. Aisha bursted out of a near by room scaring the hell out of Melfina shouting, "We were saved!? No way!! By who!?". Suzuka came out from where she was hiding and stretched since she was crouching the entire time. "I would also like to know who came to our aid." Is all Suzuka said.
The guys were all in the pilots area of the Outlaw Star (couldn't think of a better term. Heh heh!), just talking when Melfina came back in. "Ken, Zenith I want you too meet....", Melfina began, but she was interupted as Ken dashed straight to Suzuka saying, "Hello there! My name is Ken Takarano! Whats your name???". Suzuka was startled for a moment there but quickly snapped out of it replying, "I am Twilight Suzuka, but you may leave out the Twilight part.". Ken nodded while saying, "Ahhhh yes, a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.".
Needless to say, Suzuka quickly got away from him. It didn't matter though, cause next he was right infront of Aisha! How he got there so quick was beyond anyone! "And who might this lovely young woman be??". Aisha blinked a couple times before realizing that she was spoken too, but then quickly introduced her self. "I'm Aisha Clan Clan of the Ctarl-Ctarl empire!", she proclaimed. Ken didn't really care though, cause he was already about to ask her out on a date if Zenith hadn't stepped in.
"Alright Ken, thats enough out of you..." Zenith said while literally dragging Ken away from Aisha. Gene and Jim rubbed their eyes a couple times to make sure they saw right, for they could not believe that Ken just hit on Aisha! "Ummm....Ken....you do realize that you and Aisha are TWO DIFFERENT SPECIES!?!?", Gene suddenly yelled, but Ken just turned to him and replied, "Yeah, I know. Where we come from we don't really discriminate species and what not.... so if its humanoid enough, its good enough for me!"
Gene and Jim fell over while Zenith just formed a sweat mark. Melfina just started chuckling while Suzuka shook her head, and Aisha said, "Hey, I like how this guy thinks!!".
After the introductions were over, they got back down to business. After about 15 minuets of discussion, it was decided that Gene and Jim would stay at the ship to do what repairs they could with what they had, Aisha and Suzuka would guard the ship while they did so incase of any more attacks, Melfina was going to get the parts that they still needed, while Ken and Zenith were going to play body-guard.
"Alright, you guys be careful out there. Who knows if there are more pirates around or not.", Jim warned them. Ken beamed at the kid and said, "Hey, don't worry about it! There's nothing to be afraid of with us around!". Zenith looked over to Ken and said, "Hey man, I think the fact that your helping to guard her is EXACTLY why they're worried.". The others began to laugh while Ken punched Zentih in the arm.
The three began to walk away, while the other four remained at the ship. The last thing Gene said before he got to work was, "I sure hope they they come back ok.".
END CHAPTER 1
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Well, thats that! Chapter 1 is done!! I told you there would be a lot of action in this one!! And just think....this was only the FIRST chapter!!! Well, anyway, please send your reviews to me, otherwise I'll get sad and cry!! OK, so I won't cry, but still I would appreciate it! I'll begin working on Chapter 2 now, just in case. That way if you guys like this story, I can update soon! But if you don't....well then it was just a huge waste of time. Anyway, I'll see you next time! *Gets on a horse* HI-HO TIN-FOIL, AND AWAAAAAAY!!!!!!! *Gallops away eating jelly beans*.
-Sparda the Hopeful FanFic writer.