Disclaimer: Can you imagine a 14-year-old girl owning Gatekeepers? If you say no, you're right. If you answered yes, you have some serious mental problems...
This is my first Gatekeepers fanfic, so pls review and tell me what you all think, good or bad.
"TALK"
'THOUGHTS'
EMPHASIS
DATE; PLACE; TIME
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gatekeepers: The Last Line Of Defense
Chapter 1: New Headquarters... And New Gatekeepers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tokyo, Japan; 1500 hours
Five years had passed since the invaders had disappeared from the world. Although A.E.G.I.S. (Alien Extermination Global Intercept System) wasn't officially disbanded, the truth was the gatekeepers had no more invaders to fight against, thus utter boredom descended...
"Ruriko-senpai! Hurry up! We'll be late!"
Or as much boredom that would be allowed in normal life, that is.
Ruriko Ikusawa, gatekeeper of the Gate Of Light and also the black Gate Of Genocide, sighed as she followed one of her best friends, Kaoru Konoe, to the nearby coffee shop. Owner of the Gate Of Close Combat, Kaoru had been wanted by every sports club in the university, and every single one had been begging for her to join it. She still hadn't made up her mind which one to join though.
"Ruriko-senpai! Stop daydreaming, we're here." Kaoru's voice woke her up.
"Hai. Let's find the others."
Entering the shop, she spotted Megumi Kurogane, Feye Feiring, Ukiya Shun and Kageyama Reiji sitting together at one of the side booths, talking in a quiet manner which bordered on secrecy. The Gate Of Iron gatekeeper, Megumi's gate had turned black before, but after returning to A.E.G.I.S, she had a change of attitude and was now a little more social. She still competed with Ruriko in marks, but was now more forgiving and helpful. Her outward appearance had also changed; she got rid of her glasses and looked prettier (at least that was what Ruriko thought) without them.
"Ah, Ruriko, Kaoru, you both finally came," the voice of Feye, the Chinese gatekeeper of the Gate Of Red-Hot, broke out as she waved to them, wearing her usual cheongsam. Surprisingly Feye had not returned to Shanghai; she said that she had no family there now and preferred Japan. And can you believe who was her boyfriend? (AN: Suspense...) None other than... Meguru Kanatake, a.k.a. 'Specs'! (AN: Everyone gasps in shock; hehe)
"Konnichiwa, Rurippe!"
"Urusei, Ukiya!"
"Konnichiwa, Ikusawa-san."
"Konnichiwa, Kageyama-san."
Ukiya Shun is the captain and also the gatekeeper of the Gate Of Gales/Whirlwind, while Kageyama Reiji has the only currently active black gate; the Gate Of Shadows, or Darkness. After his disappearance, Kageyama suddenly returned to A.E.G.I.S. three years ago, and after a rocky head start, was forgiven and accepted by all. He's still solemn, but smiles a bit more now.
"Hey, where's Bancho? He said he was coming with you two." Feye asked.
"He had something up; it was a last minute thing," Kaoru answered.
Bancho (his real name is Banbo Chotaro) has the Gate Of Strength. His gate was discovered during the last Invader battle when he fought the Cyclops Invader (and won). Now he helps Specs in the engineering section of A.E.G.I.S. Far East.
That leaves the last gatekeeper, Reiko Asagiri. The gatekeeper of the Gate Of Dazzling Enchantment, Reiko left Japan after all the Invader incidents to pursue a diploma and eventually a career in piano in far-away England. A farewell party had been held, and both Kaoru and Feye kept in touch with her.
'And that makes up our team of Gatekeepers,' Ruriko thought as she pulled up a chair, ordered a drink and joined in the conversation. 'Now that we're all in the same university and friends, I hope that we won't have to worry about Invaders anymore...'
How very wrong she was.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Titiwangsa Lake, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 1 hour later
A black haired girl sat on a bench near the edge of the huge lake, outwardly seeming calm and collected.
Inside was a different thing; she was busy thinking about all the gates she had ever seen in her fourteen years of life. The first one she had seen was the Gate Of Genocide, during what she had later learned was the last Invader war. The owner was a girl named Ruriko Ikusawa, currently studying at Tokyo Centrepoint University. 'Whatever. Why should you care?' she told herself. But she knew the reason why.
"Hey Kia, how long are you going to sit there and meditate? It's already been half an hour since we started watching you, and you haven't moved at all! If I didn't know better, I'd think you were a lifelike statue." Hearing that, the black haired girl turned her head slightly to take a look at the owner of that voice and her companion.
Rai Su-Ling and Joey Darlys sat down opposite her. Tall, brown haired and wearing a white shirt with blue jeans, Rai Su-Ling looked what you would expect from a tomboy: her hair was tied into a braid and her voice was as boyish as she could make it. Her friend Joey Darlys, also tall, shook his auburn hair lightly; he had just moved from Australia to their school and had become fast friends with the two girls. Kia sighed in exasperation.
"I was hoping you wouldn't think to look for me here."
"Don't talk crap, we've been friends for five years and I know where you would go to if you skipped school." Rai looked worriedly at Kia before continuing, "And you have been rather quiet the last few days. What's up? Something to do with A.E.G.I.S? A secret assignment?"
"Well, nice guess, but so far nothing of the sort." The words were barely out of her mouth before her phone vibrated and a message flashed across the screen:
Kia
Natari,
Get Gatekeepers Rai Su-Ling and Joey Darlys
with you and head to main base ASAP. There's an emergency and further
details will be explained later. Commander out.
Seeing this, all three immediately left and arrived at A.E.G.I.S. SouthEast Base One twenty minutes later, located directly underneath their school.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sri Bunga Hijau (translated as Sri Green Flower) had a very weird name for a boarding school, but it also had a reputation for producing some of the brightest academic minds in the country, making it a highly renowned school. Quite a lot of students wanted to study there; however the entrance exam was mentally challenging and tough, kicking out the weak ones and leaving only a number of students to enter the school every year.
It was also the front cover for A.E.G.I.S. SouthEast Base One, which was built underneath the school.
As Kia, Rai and Joey entered the main hall and headed for their respective destinations that would take them to the underground base, Rai wondered for a moment about her best friend. Kia was by nature cheerful and mischievious, but her attitude was puzzling. Occasionally she would be moody and her face would turn so serious she would make a good poker player (not my quote!), and sometimes her emotions showed so much on her face she reminded Rai of the Huanni, a highly emotional (however fictional) race.
"Rai Su-Ling! Hurry up!"
"See you later, Kia, Joey," Rai muttered under her breath as she went to the storeroom next to the Girls' Dorm 3 and slid down a secret chute there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chen's Notes: Sorry if the first chapter is short, I wanted to start working on the second chapter as fast as possible. Don't worry if you don't understand the story, all will be explained soon, and the Japanese Gatekeepers will appear more often in the next chapter! Oh, pls review too!
P/S: Yes, I did some minor alterations to the style of writing... okay, maybe not-so-minor changes... Check the top of the page for details. (Points upwards) Thanks!
