XIII: The Spy Who Loved Me
The following preview has been rated WA for obvious reasons…
[A tall young man with a shaven face and a well dressed suit is standing behind a podium before a courthouse full of respectful senators. The man clears his throat and narrows his eyes.]
Man: As many of you know, the president of the Federal Republic of Filgaia has been assassinated, and it is, with a heavy heart, that I, the vice president Frederick Lewis, accept the office of the President. My first act as president is one that must be made for the larger good. To end the senseless blood shed raging through the frontier, I demand that we repeal the Arizona act of which the former president passed ten years ago, which we all know made it illegal to hunt and kill the Superior, or demon, race. It is because of this act that so much controversy has spilled over, turning into gunfights and feuds of epic proportions. Though we may have a separation of church and state, I believe the majority of Filgaians will agree that in order to stop this crises, we must allow the light of Abram, our savior, to reach us and eliminate the dark child of Adam, demon kind.
[The senators all go wild, save a few, and stand up, clapping.]
** *
[A young female secretary runs into the chief council room and loudly announces her warning.]
Secretary: The Arizona political party has just announced that Slayheim, along with the Baskar, have seceded from the union of nations!"
** *
[A familiar sight, Siegfried, is walking in front of several rag tag battalions in a lightwood. They are all either too young or too old, and their rifles rusty.]
Siegfried: They have hunted us for as long as we can remember! Our nation suffers from the narrow eye of Abram, due to the fact that we were created against Abram's will by Adam, and so we are the dark, unloved children. Throughout history, we have been persecuted for nothing more than our blood. And now, our political influence has lost us. All of our efforts to place the Arizona act have failed, and now the new president declares our kind as game once more. [begins shouting.] THIS IS NOT A WAR OVER THE RIGHT TO VOTE, OR THE RIGHT OF SPEECH! THIS IS A WAR BEING FOUGHT OVER THE RIGHT TO EXIST!"
** *
[A Federal Republic of Filgaia general is marching before several battalions of well-dressed Filgaian soldiers in a sunny filed.]
Filgaian General: We will not allow any people to secede from our nation! This land, from the wilds of the Sunset Frontier to Dune Canyon, is all Filgaia, and belongs to Filgaians. We must strive with every sinew in our body to preserve the union of our four nations!
** *
[Several Elw and Baskar soldiers are marching off over the distance. A young Elw man is marching when approached by a young female Elw with a red bandana.]
Florina: Vassim! Don't go!
Vassim: I must little sis. For too long have our people been at the mercy of the white man. We know must fight back in order to protect our way of life! I'll be back, you'll see. The Guardians will protect me.
** *
[Filgaian colonel is drilling young, inexperienced soldiers in a training camp. He approaches a short silver haired boy.]
Colonel: And why do you fight, son?
Boy: I fight in order to preserve our way of life and religion, sir, and to protect my loved ones!
Colonel: And who do you fight for?
Boy: The 148th Sylvaland Battalion, sir!
Colonel: Wrong, you fight for The Union of the Federal Republic of Filgaia!
** *
[Huge battle commences. Riflemen are spraying bullets everywhere, whereas cannons knock entire units out in one gory explosion. Bodies of the dead of all three sides line this forsaken town. One woman in a Filgaian Uniform leads a charge towards Siegfried's units atop several hills.]
Anastasia: Now or never! To preserve the union! Charge!
[Her and her men start charging up a hill before being completely decimated by a series of land mines and cannon fire, along with demon abilities. The remaining men, along with Anastasia clash head on, outside a small town.]
Narrator: The greatest war ever fought upon Filgaia will finally be remembered. An age forgotten will be retold. And the trials of the human saga will be experienced once more, all on one battlefield.
DAEMONSBURG
And now, our feature presentation…
** *
It was snowing, which was strange, because it was the middle of a hot desert and only hours before it felt like summer heat. Las Gomoras lied before Gallows, Marivel, Jack and Lilka in all of its awe and glory. It was a big, vibrant, well-lit town standing before an enormous mesa, in which the words "Las Gomoras" was spelled out in huge neon letters. It wasn't even after one foot into the city in which Gallows was greeted by two people he didn't expect at all.
"What are you doing here you stupid oaf?!" Haile appeared, knocking on Gallows head with her cane.
Marivel couldn't help but laugh as 003 got the beat down when Shane arrived. Jack and Lilka looked confused, but then, when did they not look the part? "Uh, do you know Gallows, ma'am?" Lilka asked.
"Humph, impudent young girl! Of course I do, I oughta know my own grandson when I see him!" Haile replied, letting Gallows free of eternal bonking.
"I don't know, you look kinda old…" Jack whistled. His claim was cut short by a dreadfully placed kick from Marivel. "What are you saying about old women?! I'm well over a thousand and we old people get along just fine!"
"Wow! Over a thousand? What were the dinosaurs like, Marivel?" Lilka pondered. She, too, received a painful beating from an enraged Marivel.
"Getting back to the point, what are you doing here Granny? Aren't you supposed to be watching the village?" Gallows rubbed his head.
"The village is perfectly fine." Haile nodded. "Shane and I left it with a perfectly good substitute chief!"
** *
The chief from Wild ARMs2 is standing on top of that big rock before the entire village. "All right my fellow Baskars, the world is coming to an end! The shaman has felt it in his bones and now we must save Filgaia! We must appease Gaia, the collective guardian, and kill ourselves right now!"
The Baskar villagers look to each other, shrug, and raise daggers to their hearts…
** *
"Yup, good hands." Haile nodded.
"You still haven't said anything of why you guys are here…" Gallows groaned.
"We've done as any Native Ameri-imean Baskar would do and purchase a casino! We're tax exempt!" Shane explained. "Actually, we purchased the entire town with government grants and funds, so we're striking it rich the Ameri-imean Baskar way!"
"Uh huh. Say, arn't you supposed to be called Crazy Horse?" Marivel asked.
"Hey, this isn't a sequel, so I got to revert back to my Mediavision name!" Shane waved a finger.
"You haven't said why you're here boy! Speak up!" Haile tapped Gallows with her cane.
Gallows winced. "Ow! Will you stop doing that! With all the abuse I get, your lucky I haven't turned out to be some kind of criminal!"
"That's because it's loving abuse." Haile said wisely.
"We're here to obtain information." Jack said.
"And to have fun!" Lilka giggled.
"BUT more on the information side." Marivel responded.
"And have fun!" Lilka repeated.
Marivel turned to Lilka and growled. "INFORMATION!"
Lilka stared right into Marivel's vampire eyes. "FUN!"
"INFORMATION!
"FUN!"
"INFOMRATION!"
"FUN!"
"Informative fun." Gallows interrupted. "Say, why is it snowing?"
"Don't you know? It's Christmas!" Shane said.
"Huh?" The four agents replied.
"Christmas! Oh, that's right, you guys aren't into meta-gaming. Look, think outside the box here." Shane explained.
"Ohhhhhh…" The four agents looked to each other, enlightened.
"But wait, we don't even know who Christ is. We apparently worship this Abram guy, according to the preview above…" Jack said.
"This is the problem with fan fiction. You just don't make up gods or insert other religions into a religion-less world." Marivel said all-a-matter-of-factly. "And besides, Christmas was in December. It's been a while since then."
"Not so. The author didn't have time for a Christmas fic in time, so we're making it up." Shane said. "So in the spirit of being jolly, have some free casino chips! It's on us!"
Lilka, Gallows, and Jack immediately grabbed for some, whereas Marivel crossed her arms. "No thanks, we really don't need to pay you guys back."
"But they're free!" Shane and Gallows exclaimed.
"Whatever." Marivel sighed.
Around a corner, a very large man in a white overcoat and a small boy with blue hair and tanned clothes were eavesdropping.
"Hey Keil, doesn't this sound kinda familiar?" The boy asked the giant one eyed man.
"Yea, but what doesn't around here?" Keil shrugged. "Come on Cheyenne, we got to find that body…"
"Yea, yea. Talk about messing up a TV series…" Cheyenne shrugged and followed the giant out of the picture.
** *
"~Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero año y Felicidad
I want to wish you a Merry Christmas
I want to wish you a Merry Christmas
I want to wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart.~" A very festive mariachi was playing all sorts of southwestern Christmas songs in the main lobby of a casino, disguised as a alpine lodge. It had mysteriously grown dark out and Jack, Lilka, Marivel, and Gallows were all seated in a circle on the wooden floor, sipping hot cocoa and watch the artificial fire burn away artificial-y.
"Right, well, since we're all cozy and stuff, let's tell Christmas stories!" Jack suggested.
"Ooh ooh! Me first me first!" Lilka waved her hand around like a little teachers pet.
"Um… um…" Jack didn't know who to pick. Marivel was ignoring them and Gallows didn't look like he could care. He smirked, finally knowing who to pick. "Hey cute waitress, what's your favorite Christmas story?"
A waitress passing by stopped and placed a finger to her chin in thought. "Well, it would have to be-"
"MY CHRISTMAS STORY STARTS LIKE THIS!" Lilka loudly interrupted. The lady took this as he cue to leave, disappointing Jack and Gallows very much. "When I was a little girl, every Christmas, I'd come down and uncle insert Wild ARMS character of choice would visit and present us with a very special toy he had made in his workshop. One year…"
** *
Lilka sat by an enormous Christmas tree, playing with a new doll, the aptly-named-Eat-my-Dust bomb, when her uncle insert Wild ARMS character of choice arrived and pushed a small wrapped box towards the girl. Lilka leaped up with excitement and thanked her uncle insert Wild ARMS character of choice so and unwrapped the present to find the most handsome nutcracker one could ever hope to find.
** *
"Woah! Hold it right there! You didn't do any of this! You're just telling the Nut Cracker over again!" Gallows interrupted.
"It did too happen! …Except maybe it wasn't a nutcracker, and there wasn't an uncle insert Wild ARMS character of choice…" Lilka moaned.
"I guess I'll go, because you've been caught plagiarizing!" Jack grinned. "It all started long ago…"
** *
Jack approached a very large home in the middle of the snowy night. This was the house of someone very important, the grand duchess of Sylvaland. Her name was Marina and she was very wealthy and beautiful… and wealthy. Jack was nervous. He was invited to dance at a ball held for only the elite of Sylvaland castle. Finally, the door opened when a butler came. Jack was greeted inside, and gaze upon the entire splendor he did behold. It was an enormous ballroom, with a crystal chandelier and several dozens of maidens dancing. He had seen them all before, but never before had he seen Marine dance so beautifully and elegantly. But his happiness did quickly fade, as he saw Marine was dancing with another man, one-if possible- was much more charming than he was. Crestfallen, Jack decided t best not to dance at all, but only drink the punch and take a seat. However, it wasn't long before the man heard a sort of whimpering. Jack raised his ear, trying to find the noise, and followed it to the garden outside. There was a young girl with honey brown hair and a purple dress, seating on a bench, crying. The snow was no longer falling, leaving only a world of white and a sorrowful maiden. Jack swallowed. His chivalric heart couldn't stand to see a woman so unhappy. Finally, growing some nerve, he walked over and spoke to her softly.
"What's wrong, ma'am?" Jack asked, tapping her lightly on the shoulder.
The girl looked at her, her green eyes full of tears. "It's Christmas, and my mother couldn't be here…"
"Why not? Everyone else in town was invited." Jack replied.
"My mother had a terrible illness, and now, she's gone, no longer to spend Christmas with me." The girl sobbed.
** *
"O.K, I've heard this before." Gallows interrupted.
"Uh, uh, no you haven't!" Jack panicked.
"Yea I have. I think it was a story done by that Hawk's Perch guy…" Gallows thought.
"Getting back to the story!" Jack interrupted.
** *
"I'm so sorry…" Jack stopped, not knowing what to say.
"Don't be. It's not your fault… I really should be having a good time, mother would like that." The girl said.
"I am Jack VanBurace. And what is yours?" Jack extended his hand to meet her silken-gloved hand.
She blushed and shyly looked away. "They call me Ginny."
"Well Ginny, would you like to dance?" Jack smiled.
** *
"Say, didn't you say your girlfriend was Lady Harken?" Lilka interrupted.
"No, all I said is that she was a demon. She shows up later!" Jack growled.
** *
"Why, yes." Ginny smiled.
** *
"Do we know Ginny?" Gallows asked. "She sounds hot."
"Stop interrupting me!" Jack freaked.
** *
"Then let's dance." Jack took her hand and helped her up.
** *
"Did you know the Japanese parliament is called the Nation Diet? Isn't that funny?" Gallows interrupted.
"O.K, fine! I give up." Jack growled. "It was a good Christmas story too."
"It didn't even involve presents Jack, sheesh." Lilka criticized. "Though I liked your use of imagery."
"O.K. I guess it's my turn." Gallows said. "Alright, my favorite Christmas was last years Christmas party at the ARMS HQ. Mans was I drunk. And oh man, those women were so fine!-"
"Virgin ears Gallows!" Jack interrupted in order to receive his revenge.
"Oh. Well, that was my favorite Christmas." Gallows then concluded his story.
"Well, who's left?" Lilka looked around.
"Hey Marivel, you going?" Jack asked.
"No way. We Crimson Nobles don't have favorite Christmases. Bah humbug." Marivel pouted.
Lilka gained a cats grin for a second. "You're hiding something! We can all see it!"
Jack looked to Gallows, who only shrugged. "Must be a chick thing."
"I can tell you what her favorite Christmas was!" A high pitched, almost Lilka like, voice said. The four looked around to see a girl with pointy ears, long teal hair, and a white flowing robe.
"Maribelle!" Marivel clenched her fists.
"It's been a long time sis. Come treasure hunting?" Maribelle asked.
"Nope, only seeking information." Marivel turned her head the other way. "You still reading those stupid treasure hunter magazines?"
"They aren't stupid! And if you need info, I can give it to you!" Maribelle offered.
"Really! Spill the beans woman!" Jack demanded.
"Ah, but first you have to let me tell you Marivel's favorite Christmas story!" Maribelle smiled.
"No! Never!" Marivel reached out.
"Um, O.K." Gallows shrugged.
"All right!" Maribelle began.
** *
It was a dark and lonely castle. Snow filtered outside the stained glass windows, and the shrieks of bats were heard all over. A young Marivel (looking about seven human years) and her twin sister Maribelle rushed through the stone halls, searching for their mother while playing tag at the same time. The two girls laughed, falling over each other, and giving smiles that would warm the heart of Ebenezer Scrooge a hundred times over. Marivel picked herself up and patted Maribelle's head, nodding. Maribelle acknowledged she had become "it" and waited for Marivel to dash off. Marivel did as so, racing through the corridors and stumbling through tiny crevices left by time. She crawled a way before feeling a bit of cold nip her nose. With her blue eyes, she looked up to see a hole where snow was falling through. A mysterious hole was always good fun, as you never know where they would lead. Marivel smiled and climbed through it, scraping a knee on the way. She popped her little head out and gazed about. It was a garden of some sorts, virtually unknown to the Crimson Nobel type. Intrigued, Marivel climbed out and wandered through, discovering the various shrubberies that had grown even in the mist of winter. A piano's delicate tones reached her ear, lulling her brain into a safe, secure place. The piano felt warm and inviting. Someone had to be playing it in this secret garden. She walked briskly through the snowy garden, trying to find the piano. Eventually, she came to the center, where a tall man in eloquent dress was playing the piano. This man was none other then her father. Marivel stopped in her tracks. She hadn't seen her father in such a long time.
"Daddy?" Marivel asked, not sure of what to say.
The piano kept playing as the man turned his attention away from the ivory and upon the tiny blonde. He smiled, revealing his vampiric teeth, and stood up. The piano still played as he walked towards her, his dark cloak trailing behind him. He knelt down before her and tapped her nose with a finger. "You've found my garden you naughty little babe."
"Are you really home, Daddy?" Marivel asked, tears forming in her eyes.
He nodded. "I've come home to my little girls for this one day. It is a special day, I'm sure you know it well enough."
"Christmas?" Marivel asked innocently.
"Yes. I wouldn't be anywhere else in all of Filgaia except here with my girls and my garden. Here, I've brought you something." The father reached into his cloak and pulled out two twin orbs, one red and one blue. He held them forward and smiled. "Go ahead. Touch them."
Apprehensive, Marivel reluctantly toughed them and stepped back as they leaped into the air, opening one eye each. She laughed with merriment at the sight as Red and Blue spun about her with jolly intentions.
"I love you Daddy!" Marivel hugged her father, who patted her back.
"And I love you to Marivel."
"This is the best Christmas ever." Marivel laughed as Red and Blue giggled silently.
** *
Gallows wiped a tear from his eye as Lilka blew her nose in a tissue. Marivel was showing a small smile and Jack a huge grin. "That was as almost as good as mine." Jack teased.
"Now I get to give you some information!" Maribelle exclaimed.
"Go for it." Gallows voice cracked through silent tears.
"All right. Seeing how sis here is ARMS, I'm assuming your chasing P.R.O.P.H.E.T. There was some unusual activity out at Doomed to Obscurity in the desert. They chased me and Loretta away. So you guys go and give them a hard time." Maribelle put her hands on her hips. "Oh, and it's spelled Mirabelle!"
"Alright! Let's head out, first thing in the morning!" Gallows commanded.
"Hey sis…" Marivel hugged her sister surprisingly. "Thanks…"
** *
Wild ARMS Twilight Venom is very shwet. Too bad this is as much as it's going to appear!