Okay, I'm finally putting up Chp. 4. I've been very lazy, and I apologize for the extremely long wait. Hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 4: Why do you Fight?
The P.W.A.B. vehicles surrounded the crash site, and many agents wearing dark suits and sunglasses came pilling out. Out of the large truck came agents dressed in bio-hazard suits who were heading for the dragon gear. Orders were being called out from all directions. One very tall muscular agent approached the two fighters.
"Are you Johnny Sfondi, of the Jellyfish Pirates?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's me." Answered Johnny in a serious tone.
"I'm with the Post War Administration Bureau. Agent Mustopholese. I must ask that you leave the area immediately. We are here to retrieve the specimen that fell here, along with the two Japanese that are aboard you ship and the gear you know as Dizzy. It would also be beneficial if we retrieved the wreckage of your ship as well. If you quietly handover what we want, we can avoid any conflict."
"Oh and what if I refuse?" Johnny asked.
"Then we'll take them by force if necessary. I highly suggest you do as we say." Agent Mustapholese replied.
"Sorry, but we don't make deals with shady looking characters. Right Johnny?" said Axl.
"Right. You can take that freak of nature, but my ship and crew are off limits." Said Johnny as they both went into fighting stances. Agent M. Stared at them for a moment before saying "You've been warned." He turned his back and started walking back to his car. He got out a radio and set the frequency. He raised it to his mouth and spoke into it. "Go to plan B."
Just moments after these words were uttered, a hail of Robo-Ky's swept out from the large truck and began closing in on our heroes.
"Damn it!" shouted Axl, as he and Johnny began defending themselves and the crew from the onslaught of mechanical men. A few made it past them only to be cut down by the flash of Baiken's katana and the crushing blows of May's anchor.
"What happened?" asked Baiken.
"It looks like their trying to capture us by force." said Johnny.
"Well they'll have to do a lot better than that!" yelled May as she smashed one of the androids with a mighty swing. As they were fighting, they spotted more of the robots loading the dragon gear into the large truck.
"Think we should stop them?" said Axl as he countered a strike from one of the robots fake Thunderseal.
"Forget it," said Baiken. "We have our own skins to worry about." They fought on for what seemed like hours, as the endless stream of Robo-Ky's poured out. They were tiring, and although each one was easily defeated, the sheer number of them was taking its toll on the fighters. They were almost finished when they heard a great crash off to the left of the ship. All of them looked to see what had happened. There was a thick cloud of dust, making visibility impossible. Then, suddenly, a huge, lumbering figure came barreling through the dust, smashing the Robo-Kys as it went.
"SYSTEMSSHOWANABNORMALLYSTONGPOWERLEVEL, BZZT." Said one of the robots in its warped, electronic voice.
"WEDONOTHAVEENOUGHUNITS. WEMUSTRETREAT. GIGIGI." Said another. The Robo-Kys ran back to the vehicles they had come in and fled, along with the P.W.A.B. agents.
"Alright, just who are you?" asked May to the enormous figure. As the smoke and debris of the mangled robots cleared, they saw that it was none other than the loyal Zeppian soldier known as Potemkin.
"Well, it is a surprise to see you again." said Potemkin. "I see that you've been getting into more trouble, as usual."
"Relax," replied Johnny. "I can handle anything."
"That's right!" chirped May.
"I came because we were picking up readings of a UFO on radar at headquarters." Said Potemkin. "Normally something like this would be too small a task for me, but we detected extremely high energy reading coming from the object, so I was ordered to investigate it."
"You must mean that dragon-gear that attacked us." said Baiken.
"Dragon-gear?" said Potemkin, his face becoming more serious than usual.
"Ya," said Axl. "It attacked the ship, and caused us to crash."
"Where is it now?" said Potemkin.
"Those P.W.A.B. guys took it while we were fighting, and they can keep it!" exclaimed May.
"Hmmm. I'll have to report this to President Gabriel when I return to H.Q." said Potemkin.
"Uh, Potemkin, could you do us a favor?" asked Johnny. "You can plainly see that our ship is in no condition to fly, so I was wondering if you could get a few of your Zepp pals to repair our ship, since there's no one else who can."
"Well, Johnny, you are a wanted criminal," said Potemkin "but I suppose that I could just let it pass this once."
"Thanks buddy." Said Johhny, smiling.
"I'll call for a maintenance crew to come get your ship," said Potemkin. "And medics in case some of your crew has been injured."
"What are you guys going to do now?" asked May, her question directed at Axl and Baiken.
"I am heading to the nearest town to get some information." said Baiken, turning away.
"What about you, Mr. Axl?" asked May.
"I guess I'll tag along with Baiken." said Axl.
"Humph, fine." said Baiken. "Just stay out of my way." And with that, Baiken ventured off into the woods, with Axl trailing closely behind.
Miles away, on a cliff facing the ocean, stood a lone figure, clad in red and white, covered with an old, tattered cloth he used as a cloak. He had a firm grip on his weapon, Fuuenken, as he stared out at the vast body of water that lay before him. This was Sol Badguy. "What do they want with Dizzy?" he thought, remembering the P.W.A.B. "What does he want with Dizzy." He thought thinking of 'That Man' and all the chaos that his minion I-no had caused. As he was pondering this, he suddenly felt a great surge of energy off in the distance to his left, down the shoreline. He jerked his head back to reality and looked in the direction it was coming from.
"That was Dizzy." He said. "And there's something else too." The power he felt came from Dizzy, but he could feel another power, very similar to that of a gear, but somehow warped and twisted. "What the hell's going on?" And with that said, he began his journey to find the source of the disturbance.
"Do you even know where you're going?" asked Axl as they continued to travel through the forest.
"Of course I do." said Baiken. The blonde British man had been constantly annoying her with questions like that. And she hated to admit it, but she really didn't know where they were going.
"Well, if we keep going in one direction, we're bound to hit something." said Axl as he gazed at the scenery. They had been walking for about an hour and had seen nothing but dense forest the since they began. They where traveling on a small dirt path, so it wasn't too difficult. There was a long silence between them for a few minutes before it was finally broken.
"So, are you really from the 20th century?" asked Baiken. This surprised Axl a bit, and it took him a second to answer.
"Yeah, I really am." He said.
"What's it like?" she asked.
"Well, it's kind of hard to explain, but you could say that it was a lot like Zepp. There were cars, airplanes, fast food places, a lot more high tech you might say." Axl paused for a moment.
"Go on." Said Baiken, continuing to listen and walk at the same time.
"Well, there also weren't any Gears, I know that." He said
"Sounds like a nice place." She said.
"It wasn't always that good," Axl went on "There were a lot of conflicts between nations, and sometimes it was a dangerous place to be in." Axl frowned, thinking of his old life. "Sometimes mankind fought for no reason at all."
"So why do you want to return?" Baiken chimed in.
"Uh, well...." Axl began. "It's my home. All my friends and family are there. Not to mention a very special lady."
"Humph, is that why?" Baiken snorted. "For love? Give me a break."
"Isn't it worth risking your life for someone you love?"
"... I don't have anyone to love anymore."
They spent most of their walk in silence from then on. Not until the moon shone brightly in the night sky did the Englishman decide to break the silence.
"Hey, I'm beat, and we can't see anything. Let's take a break, like until morning."
"Sigh... fine. Let's start a fire." Said the pink haired samurai. They stopped in a clearing where there was enough room to start a fire. Axl went to gather dry wood while Baiken made a circle in the ground with several large rocks. Axl returned with a huge pile of wood in his arms.
"Will we really need that much?" Baiken asked.
"You can never be too careful." Axl said smirking. He set the pile on the edge of the clearing and took out several dead branches and placed them in the circle. Baiken made a movement to start a flame when Axl interrupted.
"No no, let me get that." He spread his palm over the dead wood for a moment, then a tiny spark spitted out from the center, followed by larger, and fiercer ones, until the pile was set ablaze.
"I forgot you could do that." She said.
"I hope that's the only thing you've forgotten about me." They sat across from each other, occasionally throwing another branch into the blaze.
"Where did you learn to use fire magic?" Baiken asked.
"What? Oh, um......" Axl was taken by surprise. "I'm not exactly sure."
"Figures." She said.
"Well, I think it was back when I was a kid in the 20th century, learning to fend for myself. To be honest, it feels like I've always had that power ever since I was born."
"Since you were born?" Baiken asked, growing curious.
"Yeah," Axl continued "I can't explain it, but I always felt like I was different from all the other kids. Heh, guess I'm just gifted."
"I doubt it." Said the women.
"Well, it's getting late, so I'll see you in the morning. G'night." Axl stretched and yawned before lying on the cold ground with his back toward Baiken and the fire. He was asleep in a few moments. As he slept, Baiken continued to stare at him with her one eye.
Who is this man? How could he have learned the art of magic at such a young age? She thought to herself. And how could he have known to use it before it was even discovered? Either he's lying, or he really is gifted. And with those final thoughts, Baiken laid her body to rest and drifted into slumber.
That's it for this chapter. Once again, I'm very sorry for the long wait. I hope you all can forgive me. Expect I-no and Anji to make appearances in the next chapter (If I ever get around to writing it).