Okay this story has been in a state of zero progress for a while now, uhh umm how to try and make this so that it isn't my fault? Damn, I can't, If I'd have put the effort in, this story would have been continued sooner, but I didn't, I procrastinated and then got hit by several unfortunate events, PC dying, me being ill, losing my back ups, etc. But now I'm back in the swing of things, and chapters will be made!
Alice walked towards the bright light that was the entrance to the arena. Acarius was walking next to her, but she wasn't paying attention to him. All she was aware of was the crowd, those thousands of cheering people who in a few short moments would be watching her every move. It was okay though, she was just nervous, everybody got nervous when they were in front of so many people. She thought of Tatsu, yeah, he'd be nervous, he'd much rather hide. She thought of Ryzada, yup, she'd be too scared to move to begin with. She thought of Crimson, smiling and waving to the crowd, why couldn't she be more like Crimson? Maybe it was because he had a mask to hide behind? Or maybe he just didn't think about it at all.
"I know how you're feeling" Acarius' voice made Alice jump "just another twenty feet, and all those people will be watching you, judging you. Haha, in a way they'll be like hawks, watching us fight."
"It's not going to work Acarius, you can't make me nervous like that" Alice said firmly, hoping that she spoke the truth.
"Who said I was trying to make you nervous, just sharing my feelings, that's all. The crowd always makes me nervous, the noise and the lights don't help either." Alice tried hard not to think about it. "This is a major match you know, everyone with a ticket will have turned up" Acarius continued, "I mean, there's even a film crew here"
Alice stopped momentarily, she'd forgotten about the cameras. If the fight was on film, that meant anyone who wanted to could see it. It might even be shown on TV, then everyone on pioneer would see each and every mistake she made. She shook her head, this wasn't the right way to think. She had to try and be like Crimson, just accept that the people were there, don't let them get to her, and put on a good show. She began walking again.
The two fighters stood just at the doorway. Alice turned to Acarius and said "It doesn't matter who wins, people are expecting a show, and I'm going to give them one"
"Well you do just that, bunny. I on the other hand will be trying to win this match as quickly as possible.
Alice stepped forwards into the lights and was greeted by enthusiastic cheers and whistles. Acarius however, was booed when he stepped out. Had the crowd already decided he was the bad guy? Or was it something he'd done in a previous fight? Whatever the reason, Alice was reassured to have the crowd behind her, she took a quick glance over at Acarius, he didn't seem bothered by the audiences reaction to his appearance, in fact he seemed to be revelling in their dislike. Alice gripped her staff tightly, she'd have to be ready for anything.
Magus walked purposefully towards arena 3, hundreds of questions racing through his mind. Who was calling him here? Why? Was it a trap? If so it was a trap set by a very stupid person, Magus had dedicated so many years of his life to fighting, spent so much time practicing that no matter what move he made, it had been done a thousand times before. His mind calmed, reassured by the knowledge that he was Magus Black, and nobody on this ship was his equal as a fighter.
Despite no longer dwelling on what may lie ahead, Magus was still not safe from questions, these ones much more difficult to answer. Where was he going to take Mei, Why did she want to be there with him anyway? What did she want from him? Was it even anything that he could give?
Magus was thankful when he reached the arena, thankful that he didn't have to continue to think about what he was going to do with Mei. But as he stepped out onto the arena sands, he saw nobody there waiting for him. He carried on walking forwards, checking his watch. He was on time, which meant that whoever wanted to meet him was late. He remembered thinking this before.
"Alright, stop hiding, I know you're here" he said quietly. A hand caressed his cheek.
"You're no fun, did you know that? Everyone else is fooled by my invisibility trick every single time." A soft feminine voice sounded from very nearby. Magus turned to see exactly the person he was expecting, black robe, silver hair, no other visible features.
"You know what they say" He shrugged "fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice? But lets cut the chit-chat, why am I here."
"I can only assume you're here because your curiosity wouldn't allow you to be anywhere else right now. What I think you mean is why did I want you to be here, and I'm not too sure I should answer that"
"And why not?" Magus demanded, "I think I deserve an explanation."
"Very well, I wanted to talk to you because of an ancient prophecy. It speaks of a war between two great powers, a war in which the deciding factor is neither power, but those that the powers are fighting over, I represent one of those powers and believe that his is the side I should fight on."
"Yes, I've heard that prophecy." Magus said "But one, the right side for you, may not be the right side for me, and two, that prophecy will never be realised, the powers it speaks of are dead."
"You are a student of oni-ken, amongst many other fighting forms, the moves you displayed earlier were demon fist techniques, they wouldn't work if one of those powers were truly dead, and you know that he cannot exist without she, they may have been dead once, but reincarnation goes forever"
Magus' eyes narrowed "How do you know that."
"It's what I pieced together after some research, after that I sought out the greater of the two powers and proffered my services."
"Kali, I believe that is what you call yourself isn't it? The inner workings of oni-ken, the prophecy you spoke of, and the knowledge of the two powers. All of them were written on sacred scrolls, scrolls kept by extremely powerful men, they would not have surrendered their secrets easily."
Kali shrugged "I wouldn't call them extremely powerful, although one of them was a pretty tough old man, would you believe he marked me before he died?"
"That man was my master, he was my only friend and a good and noble man, and you openly admit to killing him? Magus said calmly, even though he was boiling over with rage.
"Well yes, I suppose I do, He was in my way, the scroll he was keeping was the last part of a little puzzle I had been gathering pieces of."
"You came here to recruit me didn't you? And you think this is going to make me join you!"
"No, I'm just telling you this to give you a reason to hate me, I knew the moment you stepped foot inside this arena that you would be of no use to us. You're too weak, too easily angered and too easily lead to be of any help. Honestly a pretty face and a cute smile and you're eating out of her hand. Perhaps if I killed Mei you would concentrate enough to be useful?"
"YOU LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!" Magus roared
"Touched a nerve have I? If the idea of harm coming to your poor innocent little girlfriend makes you angry, you're going to love this part. Remember that soldier? The one you were interrogating oh so delicately?" Magus clenched his fists and grit his teeth "I killed him, from the other side of the ship I could tell he was going to betray me, and I caused his death with a thought."
"YOU BITCH!" Magus yelled, tears coming to his eyes "All those years of suffering, in exile because showing my face would mean death. All those goddamn years of my life wasted living in pioneer 2's underworld, years I'll never get back, and its your fault!"
Kali shrugged, a gesture she was apparently fond of "In the grand scheme of things, those years are as unimportant as you are."
"I'll goddamned kill you!" It was the same as in the arena when Mei was hurt. Only this time Magus' anger wasn't directed at every living thing, this time it had only one focal point. Kali.
A lightning fast punch blurred the air. But that was all it connected with. Kali had moved a foot to the left. Another punch, another miss. A flurry of blows, none of them hit their target. And finally a roundhouse kick, aimed at a head that wasn't there anymore. Kali was now floating above Magus, a black sphere pulsing in her hand.
"You see? You're weak and slow, we don't need you on our side, you may do as you wish with the rest of your life, it matters not at all." She threw the energy ball and Magus shielded himself with his arms. There was a blast of darkness and a cry from Magus as pain nagged at the edge of his senses. Kali raised an eyebrow "stronger than you look, but no matter." She flung another ball of darkness. But Magus was already moving,
Ball after ball struck nothing, as they moved through the air too slowly to hit their target.
"You are beginning to annoy me Magus" Kali swooped down to land in front of him and threw a punch. Magus dodged it and returned a punch of his own. It landed, but only because Kali didn't move. There was a horrible crack as the bones in Magus' hand broke. Kali laughed, the sound didn't fit her voice, what was once soft and feminine was now hard and cruel.
"You're pretty quick Magus, maybe in time you'll be as quick as me, but I think not, your power lies in anger, and you can't be angry forever." Even in his enhanced state of being, Magus didn't see the punch coming, or the 14 after that that struck him before he fell out of range.
"Well it's been fun Magus, but I have other things to do today, no more time for playing with children." Magus saw Kali blow him a kiss and disappear, after that his anger left him, taking his strength with it. He blacked out.
Mei sat on the edge of the bed, her legs hanging over the edge. "Mery?" she asked suddenly "What do you think of Magus and me?"
"I have no feelings regarding either of you, why should I?"
"I don't know, I guess that I thought you would, seeing as how you've worked and lived with us and... hey! I was the one who was asking questions, not you!"
"I answered your question, do you have any further queries?" Sometimes it was as if Mery was being dense on purpose, but that wasn't possible, in order to act so stupid, he would have to be a genius.
"Nuh uh, I don't know why I asked you anyway, you've never given anyone a useful answer." Mei kicked her legs forward and propelled herself off of the bed.
"That is not true, I have provided useful information on exactly 36 occasions in the last week alone."
"And you remember every time you answer a question like that?" Mei was running a brush through her hair, examining her outfit for creases, and checking to see if she needed to apply make-up, all at the same time. She had got being vain down to an art form.
"Yes, and it is now 37 times this week."
"Wow, that's amazing, I'd never be able to remember stuff like that!"
"I am an android, I can recall anything that I have witnessed since the moment of my activation."
"Oh yeah, I forget that sometimes." Mei paused in the tying of one of her hair ribbons "What's it like being an android?"
"It is..." Mery pondered this for a while "heavy" he decided "being an android is very heavy."
"Oh" Mei said, disappointed "I don't think I'd like being an android, I have to watch my figure you know."
"Why? It isn't going anywhere."
"Yes it is, I'm going to take my figure and move it over to see Alice."
"Why?"
"Gawd, I thought you didn't have any interest in anything, what's with all the questions?"
"Magus has told me to watch over you until he gets back, therefore I need to know exactly what to tell him when he gets back and you are not here."
"Umm okay" Mei wasn't sure that made much sense "But anyway, its girl stuff, you and Magus wouldn't want to hear it, so there" She stuck her tongue out.
"I am a girl, so it's okay for me to hear it."
"You are?!?"
"I might be, I am not entirely certain, I was never assigned a gender, and as androids go, I am pretty androgynous."
"Umm is androgy-whatsit something to do with androids?"
"No, It means I could be of either gender, it is difficult to tell."
"So I can trust you with girly stuff then?" Mei was dubious
"I believe so, also you can password the data regarding the conversation so that it is impossible for me to tell anyone else."
"Yay!" Mei wrapped herself round Mery "I always wanted a secret diary!"
"Nobody keeps secrets better than androids, and I would prefer it if you didn't call me a diary, I have other functions you know."
"Yeah yeah" Mei waved her hand dismissively "but none of them work, anyways, I'm gonna tell you something, and I want your opinion, but you gotta keep it a total secret ESPECIALLY from Magus."
"No problem, he is only my owner, I have no difficulty in lying to him."
"Kay, here goes" Mei took a deep breath "I think I'm in love with Magus, I mean really in love with him, but I don't think he loves me the same way. I mean why would he? He's all big and brave and handsome, and I'm just a silly little girl who is no good as a hunter and no good as a friend either. He was counting on me to help him in the arena and I just messed up and got hurt, and he thinks its his fault and I feel really bad about it, and I'm taking advantage of his guilt by making him go on a date with me, I'm such a horrible evil person. What if he doesn't want to date me? What if the only reason in the whole world that he would do anything with me is because he feels responsible for nearly getting me killed? I've screwed up everything, now I'll never know how he feels about me." Mei sat on the floor and started crying and breathing deep, heavy breaths
"I don't know why I'm even telling you all this because you're just a computer and you don't even understand things like love and guilt, but I really had to get this out." Now she really started crying, all the tears she'd bottled up by keeping happy for Magus. And then she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"You are right Mei, I do not understand things like love and guilt. But I understand you. Magus does like you, but he is hesitant to make a move, he is too worried he will do something wrong, because he has never done it before. It is probably best if you take charge of things."
"Magus has never gone out with anyone before? I thought he would have been with lots of women, all smart and strong like him."
"No, you are the first"
Mei immediately cheered up "Yay, I'll have to show him how to do everything, teach him to right things to say and do and, eeeeeeeeeeee this is going to be so much fun."
"If you say so"
"Of course it will be fun, silly, I get to boss Magus around. Hey... wait a minute, what do you mean you don't understand emotions but you understand me? That doesn't make sense."
"I know it doesn't, I think the same part of me that knows my gender also knows the feelings you have."
"You STILL don't make sense."
"I may not make sense, but today's chat has greatly increased the amount of useful information I have provided."
"Yeah, you really made me feel better, thank you so much!" Mei hugged Mery tightly, tears in her eyes once more.
"You need to set a password for the data pertaining to our conversation."
Mei thought for a while, butterfly immediately sprang to mind, it was something she could easily remember. But she didn't want this conversation to be remembered, not a single word of it ever needed repeating, she needed a password that nobody would guess and that she would not remember.
"Androgynous"
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YES! Finally, a new chapter! Heh heh what would an anime be without the seemingly omnipotent bad guy, well bad gal this time. Shock developments, Mei isn't entirely stupid, and Mery isn't entirely useless. Hmm curse myself for liking a good old romance, concentrating a lot on Magus and Mei, they are NOT the main characters. Gawd, Magus started off as simply being Ravens sidekick... oh yeah, Raven... oops