Patlabor: Personal Files
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Episode 12: Last Battle of the Ancient Warriors
February 15, 2000
Gomioka REALLY needed this meeting- he had to get his mind off of the
previous day. Valentine's day. Perhaps the most humiliating day of his
life.
As was custom in Japan, most of the women had bought chocolates for all the
men in their lives- their lovers, their co-workers, and their bosses.
Natsume Kawai from the second unit had hand-delivered a small box of
chocolate to everyone in the mechanics division, including Chief Sakaki,
before giving out more chocolates to Captain Gotoh and all the male members
of the 2nd Unit. Takeo Kumagami followed suit, delivering small chocolates
to Hiromi, Asuma, and Joudo before delivering a slightly larger chocolate
to her captain.
Noa had shown up to deliver chocolates as well. Asuma had been with her at
the hospital (officially taking 'personal leave,' and trying to convince
people that he WASN'T hanging by Izumi's side night and day), but that day
he'd been given permission to take her onto the base to visit friends,
'provided she not engage in any work' and that she be confined to a
wheelchair. Asuma saved a much needed day of leave by officially being on
call, but his duties that day consisted of pushing Noa around in a
wheelchair. That was how he got the chocolates from Takeo and Natsume- the
matching chocolate stains on their lips when Noa arrived told everyone who
wasn't completely oblivious to what the two were doing that they'd decided
to share the chocolate Noa had given him earlier.
Shinobu delivered her own chocolates to everyone in her unit- there were no
other females in first unit, for some reason. She also gave one to Gotoh,
as well- though not to him. Her official excuse for having one to give to
Gotoh was that she'd accidentally bought one too many, but Gomioka had to
wonder. He had his suspicions about what had happened that night about two
weeks previous, and the hesitant- almost guilty- way the two had been
treating each other since that night seemed to confirm it, but Gomioka
hoped he was wrong. In fact, he fervently wished he was wrong. He
couldn't think of how to find out, however.
Even Kanuka, despite being an American by birth, followed the Japanese
varient of the Valentine tradition... sort of. Chocolates from her went
around to the various people she'd worked closely with- Captain Gotoh got a
chocolate from her, Shige and Sakaki got chocolates, Hiromi, Ohta, Asuma,
Shinshi- basically, all of the guys in the second unit or associated with
it prior to the re-organization of the SV2 Division 2.
Her final Valentine chocolate- obviously a piece of 'giri' chocolate- was
delivered to Gomioka himself. That would have been fine, except the timing
of it was way off.
Just as Kanuka handed Gomioka the box of chocolate, Gomioka's wife walked
in, carrying her own box. Taking one look at the scene, his wife turned
and walked back out. Gomioka ran out to follow her, and found the gift she
had gotten for him lying in the trash can, while she, herself, was long
gone.
It had taken many long hours of talking with her over the phone to calm her
down and convince her that no, he was not having an affair with Kanuka, and
that the chocolates she was giving him were merely a professional courtesy,
and had no romantic connotations whatsoever.
In the end, Gomioka wound up with no chocolates, because in order to
satisfy his wife he had to return the gift back to Kanuka. Gomioka was the
only male in the entire SV2 Second Section who had no chocolates by the end
of the day, as Kanuka, upon getting the chocolates back from him, divided
the contents of the box with two of his other men- Yoshi Tobe and Yamane
Seiroku. It might be noted that Kenji Iguchi was a male who also failed to
receive any chocolates, but that was because no-one remembered him- Kanuka
forgot to save a portion for him, and his teammates forgot to remind her.
However, no-one noticed his disappointment and so Gomioka didn't even think
about the fact that Kenji also didn't get anything.
Gomioka knew he was probably being paranoid, but he could swear that every
time he turned his back on someone in the SV2, they were pointing at him
and laughing about his misfortune. It didn't help that his most bitter
rival in the SV2, Captain Gotoh, recieved more Valentine chocolate than
anyone.
Regardless of the whole Valentine's day fiasco, there was a piece of news
that Gomioka hoped would help him rise from the doldrums. Finally, he was
getting the equipment he would need to turn his unit into an EFFECTIVE
force- his three new labors were coming. Soon, very soon, he would have
top-of-the-line labors to man his shift with.
They weren't supposed to arrive until the twentieth, but Gomioka had a
surprise for his men (and women). But now, with the date of delivery
confirmed, there were certain things he would be allowed to do to get them
ready.
"Listen up, people," he said, addressing the six members of the third unit.
"Finally, we're all back together again, after that disaster of a softball
tournament crippled half of you. Unit 2, however, is not- they are still
down a pilot due to injury and a command car operator due to, ahem,
personal reasons. Because of this, Unit 2 has... graciously... loaned us
one of their Ingrams so that those of you who aren't fully familiar with it
can learn the differences between an Ingram and a Type 97, and for those of
you who ARE familiar with it to get a refresher course in its workings."
Gomioka had to struggle to say 'graciously' without showing his distaste
for pandering to Gotoh too publically, but he managed. Continuing, he
announced, "Our own labors are on the way, and we'll be recieving them in
five days. I expect all of you to be the best Ingram operators in the
country by the time they arrive. Understand?"
"Yes, sir!" the six labor operators chorused.
"Good- everyone, get your equipment. Drills start in two minutes!
* * * * *
February 20, 2000
The drills had been tough and intense. For four days straight, Gomioka
would make sure everyone had a turn at the controls, getting the Ingram to
do complex tasks with minimal motion. Gomioka started enjoying command for
the first time- he was in his element now, and no-one was better than he
was at running labor drills.
Finally, the day the new labors were to join them had arrived. Gomioka
could drive away his concerns over Gotoh and Shinobu by putting himself
into his work. Furthermore, now that he had useful patlabors on the way,
much of the stress would go out of his job. Perhaps, for once, his
position as Captain would be what he'd been dreaming it would be.
For some reason, though, his labors were late.
He walked into the office, where both Shinobu and Gotoh were working.
Shinobu was officially on her duty shift and Gotoh was officially on his
standby shift, but Gotoh for some reason chose to spend all of his time in
the office with Shinobu even when he didn't have to.
Gomioka stiffened for a moment upon seeing his inter-office rival standing
over Shinobu's desk, pointing something out on a piece if paper. Quickly
recovering his composure, he walked over to his own desk and sat down.
Turning to the other captains, he asked, "My labors should have been here
three hours ago... who am I supposed to call for inquiries about such
things?"
Shinobu looked over at him. "Probably they're just stuck in traffic. You
might want to call the quartermaster's corps to find out for certain,
however- they're in charge of labor procurement."
Gomioka nodded and looked through the SV2 Official Phone List to find the
number of the quartermaster's corps. Dialing them up, he waited for
someone to pick up the phone.
After twelve rings, he hung up the phone and tried again, just to make
certain that he had dialed the right number. When again it didn't answer
after twelve rings, he turned to Gotoh and Shinobu, still discussion
paperwork. "Hey, is this the current number for the quartermaster corps?"
he asked.
Gotoh, already standing, walked over to check what he was pointing to.
"Yeah- that's it, all right."
Gomioka frowned. "Well, they aren't picking up on the other end- not even
voice mail is coming up."
"That's strange," Shinobu said. "There's always someone on duty over
there."
Gotoh walked over to his desk and picked up his own phone, dialing several
other numbers. A few rings after each call, he hung up. "Hmm... I just
tried to make contact with various people I know who works in the same
building- niether they nor their voice mail is picking up, either.
Something very strange is going on." Gotoh paused to consider things for a
moment.
"Should we investigate it?" Shinobu asked, thinking aloud.
"You and I can't," Gotoh noted. "We're on duty, and it would be a bad idea
to go out on just a hunch when there's a chance we could get called into
action at any moment."
Gomioka caught the implication in Gotoh's voice, and nodded. As much as he
disliked the man, he had a point. "My unit IS officially off duty... think
anyone would mind if I took the Ancient Warriors out for one last spin?"
"Ancient Warriors?" Shinobu asked.
Gomioka looked abashed. "It's a nickname the mechanics squad gave them,"
he explained. "I sort of picked it up."
"Fitting," she said. Gotoh nodded as well.
"I suspect you could get away with it," Gotoh said. "But you'd have to
hurry- your standby shift starts in just six hours, and it would take you
an hour to get there and an hour to get back... IF there isn't too much
traffic. More likely than not, it'll take two or two and a half hours each
way- which means you won't have more than a couple of hours to do your
investigating."
Gomioka nodded. "We'll be back in time. See you in six hours."
After he left the office, Gotoh turned to Shinobu. "Hmm... he just might
work out as a captain, after all."
* * * * *
Shinshi yawned. "What's going on? I thought we were off duty- I need
sleep." Murmurs of ascent joined him from most of the remaining crew of
Unit 3.
"We're police officers! We're never off duty!" Ohta snapped.
"Then why do the charts say 'off duty, 0800-1600'?" Shinshi asked.
"People, people!" Gomioka cautioned. "Settle down. I can't explain
anything until you're ready to listen." The bickering quickly stopped
before he continued. "I need to ask you all to voluntarily join me in an
investigation. For some reason, our labors have not arrived yet. Trying
to figure out WHY they hadn't come, I attempted to make contact with the
quartermaster corps. However, there was no answer on the other end of the
phone. Several attempts to call others in the same building also failed...
which means that there's a chance something seriously wrong is going on.
The duty officers can't investigate since it's only a conjecture based on
the wildest of speculation, but WE aren't on duty."
Kanuka nodded to herself. "You need us to go in and poke around to see
what's going on, don't you? Well, I volunteer."
Ohta nodded. "I will, as well."
Shinshi sighed. "I really shouldn't- I should be getting my sleep, and my
wife would KILL me if she found out I was risking my neck unnecessarily
like this, but... what the hell. I'll go, to."
Yamane Seiroku, Koichi Miyagi, and Yoshi Tobe all nodded at this. "We
won't let the first labor team get all the glory," Seiroku stated proudly.
"I'd like to take all three labors along, as well... just in case," Gomioka
noted.
Seiroku's face lit up. He started to grab his helmet and head for the Type
96, but Kanuka started moving first. Seiroku rushed up to her and caught
her by the shoulder. She turned and glared at him, making him back off a
step and swallow.
"Um," he explained nervously. "I sort of have the unofficial position of
third labor pilot in this unit."
Kanuka opened her mouth to reply, but Gomioka intervened before she could
say anything. "I think we should let her take it out this time. You're
totally untrained for the 96, but she's been a patlabor pilot long enough
to have piloted it before and is more likely to understand all its quirks."
"But captain-" Seiroku protested.
"We'll discuss whether to put her in that position permanently or have it
alternate between you after we get our regular labors, but this is not a
normal situation."
Yamane's face fell. "Yes, sir," he said sullenly, walking at a much slower
pace for his 97's command car.
Gomioka nodded. "Everyone, board up and move 'em out!"
* * * * *
Gomioka, for the first time, felt as though he was in complete control of
his command. Even Ohta, the prototypical hothead, was obeying his commands
to stay cool and not alert the populace- after all, there was no proof that
anything was wrong, yet.
The three labor transports (the third driven by Gomioka himself) made their
way through the streets of Tokyo, thankfully not attracting TOO much
attention. It actually helped that the patlabors were obsolete, for once,
as most of the populace assumed they were being taken to be scrapped.
"We're getting close," Gomioka informed the others through the radio.
"Let's pull over two blocks from the building. Command car operators and
labor transport officers will raise their labors and then join me as I go
in on foot, and we'll keep in touch with everyone else."
"Yes, sir," the labor crews confirmed over the radio.
Gomioka pulled his transport into the empty parking lot of a shopping
center that was under renovation. "You all set back there?" he asked
Kanuka.
"Yes, sir."
Gomioka pressed the 'raise labor' button. Once he was fairly certain that
the Type 96 was safely raised, he opened the door and popped out as quickly
as he could. Shinshi, Yamane Seiroku, and Yoshi Tobe quickly joined him.
Together, they made their way down the last two blocks as casually as they
could, then slipped inside the building which housed the independant
contractors and logistics sections for the police.
A pretty female receptionist decked out in a typical police woman's uniform
greeted them upon their entrance. "Hello, can I help you?"
Gomioka, poised for action, was a bit surprised at the casual greeting.
"Um, maybe. We tried to call several times to several different offices
throughout the building and got no response..."
The receptionist nodded. "Yes. We've had some trouble with the phone
system today."
Gomioka sighed. He had been so geared up for action that it was a severe
disappointment to find out that nothing serious was wrong. Oh, well- while
he was here....
"I initially called to try and get in touch with the Quartermaster's Corps.
May I ask what office they are in?"
The receptionist nodded. "Certainly, sir... just let me look them up."
She rifled through the papers on her desk, searching for something.
Gomioka pulled out his radio and made contact with the labors. "Stand
down- false alarm," he ordered.
Shinshi, pacing impatiently, kicked something with one of his feet.
Bending down to look closer at it, he blinked. "Um, Captain Gomioka, sir?"
"Yes?"
"What do you make of this?" he asked, handing him a police badge.
Gomioka looked at it in surprise. The badge itself was dented and the
clasp was violently twisted. He couldn't quite puzzle out why it had been
so badly damaged, unless it was torn off of a police jacket and stomped on
several times....
Approaching the receptionist desk, he looked over at the attractive woman
and said, "Excuse me, but it appears as if-" He stopped, seeing a foot
stick out from under the desk. "Hey, what's going on here? Oof!" he
didn't have time to finish as the receptionist, quick as lightning, flashed
a punch out at his chin which knocked him five feet back and leapt over the
desk to continue the fight.
Gomioka watched, his vision dimming, as the other three mobilized, running
to aid their fallen captain. Shinshi was caught by a kick to the face,
sending him into an unconscious slumber. Yoshi Tobe went down just as
fast, leaving Seiroku to face the woman alone. He nodded imperceptively,
and the woman charged. Seiroku was apparently a bit of a martial artist,
successfully deflecting several of her blows and returning some of her own.
Gomioka attempted to rise and help him, but that proved to be a mistake.
With his equilibrium knocked out of whack by the blow given him, he wasn't
able to keep from stumbling and falling face-first onto the floor in front
of himself, unconsious.
* * * * *
He woke up feeling someone rustling around behind him, cords being tied to
his wrists. Not giving whoever it was a chance to finish, Gomioka lashed
out and broke free of the attacker's grip, snapping the not-quite-tied rope
apart.
"Whoa, sir!" Seiroku cried. "I was just trying to untie you!"
Gomioka blinked in the dim light. Shinshi and Yoshi were nowhere to be
found. "Where are we?"
"A storage closet, I think. I just got myself free and was working on your
knots when you attacked."
"Sorry about that," Gomioka apologized. "I thought you were trying to tie
me up. Where are Tobe and Mikiyashi?"
"Dunno, sir. You know as much as I do- except I was awake when they
dragged me here. That woman pinned me to the ground and chained me up in
my own hand-cuffs, dammit! Thankfully, I always hide a spare key for them
in my shoe."
Gomioka nodded, and stood up cautiously. He had a bad headache, but
otherwise felt fine. "I doubt they could have locked us in here... whadya
say we go find our fellow officers then get the labors to come and bring
these idiots to justice?"
Seiroku nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go."
Gomioka and Seiroku burst out of the closet, looking both ways. An armed
man standing outside looked at them in shock, but Seiroku knocked him out
with a chop to the neck before he could raise an alarm.
"Let's split up- we'll cover more ground," Gomioka suggested.
Seiroku nodded. "Were do we regroup?"
"Try and get back to the parking lot where we left the labors and let them
all know what's going on."
"Yes, sir." With that, Seiroku ran off down the right corridor.
Gomioka looked at the unconscious man at his feet and sighed. "If I had
time to wait for you to wake up, I'd ask you who the hell you are, but I
don't have time...." With that, he grabbed the man, dragged him back into
the closet, and tied the man up with the ropes that had initially been
secured to his own wrists, and then he moved on.
* * * * *
Ohta frowned. "It's been WAY too long since the Captain said to stand
down. Where are they?"
Kanuka sighed. "It's probably just taking them a long time to track down
our Labor shipment. If anything had gone wrong, they would have called
us... but if it makes you feel THAT much better, you can prepare your labor
for action again."
Ohta smiled. "Yes, ma'am!" he cried happily, saluting. Dashing off, he
returned to his 97's cabin and set about getting it combat ready.
Kanuka sighed. "One of these days, he's going to have to tone down that
enthusiasm," she noted, heading over to her 96 to prepare it for combat
herself. "But for once, maybe he's got the right idea- it HAS been an
awfully long while, come to think of it...."
* * * * *
Gomioka looked around, uncertain of where to go next. Then he heard
muffled voices coming from another room.
"Most of the prisoners have been released, thanks to the SV2's untimely
interruption. Without the element of surprise on our side, we won't be
able to hold them off for long. Give me the papers, I'll hide it from them
even if we're captured," the first one was saying.
"Okay, here. I'll go and cause a distraction, you just get the hell out of
here," the second replied.
"Use the Brocken. That thing will cause such a disturbance they'd miss a
tank trying to sneak away."
"I'll get right on it."
A man ran out of the room, which for the first time Gomioka noticed was the
office given to Shinohara Heavy Industries as the SV2's chief contractor,
and stopped. "He's here, already! Run!" The man crashed into Gomioka,
taking him down and allowing the second man to run out a back way.
Gomioka, using his martial arts training, flipped the attacker off of him
and stood up. With three blows, he disabled the guy and took off in hot
pursuit of the man carrying the stolen documents. By the time he got out
the back entrance, however, the second man was gone. What was worse was
the man he thought he'd knocked out was also gone when he returned to tie
him up.
"Damn. And they've got a Brocken, too- the 97's don't stand a chance
against it," he muttered to himself. "And now they know I've escaped-
this is bad." He tried to use a nearby phone to call for backup, but found
that the line was dead.
Moving on, he searched the halls, moving as quietly as he could and
listening for anything which might be a warning of an attack. Eventually,
he heard something, but it wasn't anything to do with an attack.
"Mmmm- mmmm!" came a muffled shout from a nearby closet. Gomioka opened
the door and found someone tied up and gagged. To Gomioka's relieve, he
recognized the guy.
"Shinshi!" he cried with relieve. "Hold on, let me help you."
Once he got the gag off, he started working on his bonds.
"Yoshi's in here, too," Shinshi explained. "We've gotta hurry- I heard
someone saying that they've got a Brocken to cover their escape."
"I heard the same," Gomioka said as he finished untying the knots. "Tried
to call in support from headquarters, but I found that the phones are dead.
Let's get Tobe free and get the hell out of here."
"Yes, sir," Shinshi said, working on Yoshi Tobe's feet as Gomioka started
on the hands. Together, they had him free in a matter of a few seconds,
and he tore the gag off of himself.
"Yuck!" Yoshi Tobe said.
"Seiroku's already freed most of the building's personnel, I think- he's
supposed to meet us over by the labors," Gomioka explained. "If we get
seperated, regroup there." With that, they started to make their way out
of the building.
* * * * *
Kenji Iguchi, who hadn't mounted up in his labor like Ohta and Kanuka had,
blinked in surprise. "What the hell!" Pulling out his radio, he shouted,
"Ohta, Kanuka! There's a Type 7 Brocken coming down the street!"
"All right! Finally, some action!" Ohta roared, pulling out in his labor
and running down the street in the direction of the Brocken.
"Ohta, wait!" Kanuka shouted, pulling out in her own 96 and following him.
"You aren't in an Ingram- you don't stand a chance against a military
labor!"
Ohta ignored her in his usual battle craze. Running as fast as he could,
he rammed the 97's shoulder into the chest of the Brocken. The military
labor, not expecting the move, staggered back, nearly falling before its
auto-stabilizers kicked in and helped it to right itself- just in time to
receive a blow to the head from the 97's combat baton. That rattled the
Brocken, but did nothing more than that. The 97 just wasn't strong enough
to do any significant damage to the other labor.
Before it could go on the offensive, however, Kanuka pulled up in her 96,
attempting a similar set of moves. This time, however, the Brocken was
prepared for it, and counterattacked, smashing Kanuka's labor on the nose
and digging it into the ground. Kanuka backed off and waited, hoping the
Brocken would make a mistake it could use.
While this battle was going on, several people ran out the building, using
the Brocken for cover as they boarded a nearby bus. When the bus was
filled, it drove off, leaving the military labor to fend for itself.
Kenji Iguchi's labor joined them a minute later, and together Unit 3's
three labors were able to hold the Brocken to a stand-off.
* * * * *
Gomioka, Shinshi, and Yoshi Tobe made their way through the halls,
frequently running into panicked groups of police contractors or other
police officers trying to escape from the now-departed terrorists who had
struck the building. Someone had pulled a fire alarm, and in certain
sections of the building the sprinkler system had gone off.
"Seiroku!" Yoshi called, spying their comrade amidst the chaos of the
situation. "Over here!"
Yamane Seiroku ran over to the group. "Sir, I found the building's REAL
staff locked up in the warehouse and released them," he said, saluting.
Gomioka returned the salute. "Good work. Let's keep moving- there's a
Brocken out there and we need to find a way to call for re-inforcements."
Seiroku nodded. "The way out's just down these stairs- come on."
In less than a minute, the four men reached the front doors and bolted
outside-
Only to leap out of the way to avoid the foot of a retreating 97. The
battle had been going on for several minutes, and the damage to the
surrounding neighborhood was astounding. The damage to the labors was
relatively minor, however- there were some dents in the heavy armour of the
Brocken, and Kanuka's 96 was missing its left grapple arm, but the 97s
weren't visibly damaged at all.
"Good god, don't tell me they're actually trying to stop it on their own?"
Gomioka said.
* * * * *
Kanuka saw the rest of her unit leave the police building just as the
Brocken attempted a feint. When she saw it charging in on Ohta's labor,
she saw her opportunity arise. Using the overdrive on the 96, she managed
to push it up to almost the Brocken's speed- and approaching from the side,
crashed right into the military labor's knee.
With a loud *crunch* the Brocken fell, and Ohta's labor descended on it,
stabbing with as much force he could muster into the fallen labor's back,
killing the power source.
"Take that, you terrorist scum!" he shouted, pulling his baton out and
about to bring it down again, when he noticed Kanuka's labor wasn't moving.
"Kanuka, you okay in there?"
"Just fine, but I don't think this labor'll ever see action again."
* * * * *
In the end, even though the Brocken had been defeated, their was no way to
tell if the SV2 had succeeded or failed. Had the papers successfully been
stolen? No one knew, and even if they had been, whoever had done it was
also a mystery. The captured labor pilot wasn't talking and the various
offices had been so badly rifled or damaged it would take weeks to sort out
what was missing.
But the mood of the third unit was high. Successful or not, they had
finally proven to themselves that they were an effective unit- and, better
yet, they were now getting new labors to replace their obsolete old
vehicles.
"Well," Gomioka said as he told the story of the mission, "The Ancient
Warriors DID prove to be somewhat useful... just as we're getting rid of
them, too. Oh, yeah- I never did find out what happened to our new
labors."
Gotoh put a hand behind his head. "Oh, yeah- we got a call shortly after
you left. It was Shinohara Heavy Industries; they apologized for the
delay, but said that they wouldn't be able to deliver until the 22nd due to
problems with the transport trucks."
Gomioka sighed. "Well, only a couple more days of dealing with the Ancient
Warriors and then we're finally rid of them."
Mechanics Chief Sakaki, listening into the tale for his own reasons,
smirked. "Ancient Warriors. I like that name for them... say, when we get
the new labors, what're we going to be doing with the old 97s and 96s."
Gotoh shrugged. "I understand they'll just be mothballed again, for the
next time we expand the Special Vehicles."
Sakaki nodded. "Hmm... might I have permission to take them to my home
instead of mothball them? I'd like to try and keep them maintained, maybe
tweek them up a little more. That way, we'll always have an extra labor or
two if we need to send some back to the factory for maintenance... and I'd
have something to help train a young cadet or two with."
Gotoh looked to Gomioka, who shrugged, and Shinobu, who nodded. "I don't
see why not... we'll have to get an O.K. from headquarters for you to work
on them off-site, but if you're willing to maintain them on your own budget
I don't think anyone will have any complaints."
* * * * *
Sitting in his office, a man opened an envelope. "Ah, here we go- finally,
found what we were looking for. Excellent. With these plans, we're
another step closer to our final goal."
"But we sacrificed a Brocken to get those plans. Are they worth it?" a
second figure asked.
The first man stood up, looking over the diagrams of the Ingram and its
varients. "Yes, I'd say so," he said, adjusting his square-rimmed glasses.
"I'd say so."
-------------------------
Next Episode: Someone finds Gotoh's personal notebook, including notes on
all of the members of the SV2. This episode may help those of you who are
confused about who all the new people are...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/zednik.geo/fanfics.htm
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Episode 12: Last Battle of the Ancient Warriors
February 15, 2000
Gomioka REALLY needed this meeting- he had to get his mind off of the
previous day. Valentine's day. Perhaps the most humiliating day of his
life.
As was custom in Japan, most of the women had bought chocolates for all the
men in their lives- their lovers, their co-workers, and their bosses.
Natsume Kawai from the second unit had hand-delivered a small box of
chocolate to everyone in the mechanics division, including Chief Sakaki,
before giving out more chocolates to Captain Gotoh and all the male members
of the 2nd Unit. Takeo Kumagami followed suit, delivering small chocolates
to Hiromi, Asuma, and Joudo before delivering a slightly larger chocolate
to her captain.
Noa had shown up to deliver chocolates as well. Asuma had been with her at
the hospital (officially taking 'personal leave,' and trying to convince
people that he WASN'T hanging by Izumi's side night and day), but that day
he'd been given permission to take her onto the base to visit friends,
'provided she not engage in any work' and that she be confined to a
wheelchair. Asuma saved a much needed day of leave by officially being on
call, but his duties that day consisted of pushing Noa around in a
wheelchair. That was how he got the chocolates from Takeo and Natsume- the
matching chocolate stains on their lips when Noa arrived told everyone who
wasn't completely oblivious to what the two were doing that they'd decided
to share the chocolate Noa had given him earlier.
Shinobu delivered her own chocolates to everyone in her unit- there were no
other females in first unit, for some reason. She also gave one to Gotoh,
as well- though not to him. Her official excuse for having one to give to
Gotoh was that she'd accidentally bought one too many, but Gomioka had to
wonder. He had his suspicions about what had happened that night about two
weeks previous, and the hesitant- almost guilty- way the two had been
treating each other since that night seemed to confirm it, but Gomioka
hoped he was wrong. In fact, he fervently wished he was wrong. He
couldn't think of how to find out, however.
Even Kanuka, despite being an American by birth, followed the Japanese
varient of the Valentine tradition... sort of. Chocolates from her went
around to the various people she'd worked closely with- Captain Gotoh got a
chocolate from her, Shige and Sakaki got chocolates, Hiromi, Ohta, Asuma,
Shinshi- basically, all of the guys in the second unit or associated with
it prior to the re-organization of the SV2 Division 2.
Her final Valentine chocolate- obviously a piece of 'giri' chocolate- was
delivered to Gomioka himself. That would have been fine, except the timing
of it was way off.
Just as Kanuka handed Gomioka the box of chocolate, Gomioka's wife walked
in, carrying her own box. Taking one look at the scene, his wife turned
and walked back out. Gomioka ran out to follow her, and found the gift she
had gotten for him lying in the trash can, while she, herself, was long
gone.
It had taken many long hours of talking with her over the phone to calm her
down and convince her that no, he was not having an affair with Kanuka, and
that the chocolates she was giving him were merely a professional courtesy,
and had no romantic connotations whatsoever.
In the end, Gomioka wound up with no chocolates, because in order to
satisfy his wife he had to return the gift back to Kanuka. Gomioka was the
only male in the entire SV2 Second Section who had no chocolates by the end
of the day, as Kanuka, upon getting the chocolates back from him, divided
the contents of the box with two of his other men- Yoshi Tobe and Yamane
Seiroku. It might be noted that Kenji Iguchi was a male who also failed to
receive any chocolates, but that was because no-one remembered him- Kanuka
forgot to save a portion for him, and his teammates forgot to remind her.
However, no-one noticed his disappointment and so Gomioka didn't even think
about the fact that Kenji also didn't get anything.
Gomioka knew he was probably being paranoid, but he could swear that every
time he turned his back on someone in the SV2, they were pointing at him
and laughing about his misfortune. It didn't help that his most bitter
rival in the SV2, Captain Gotoh, recieved more Valentine chocolate than
anyone.
Regardless of the whole Valentine's day fiasco, there was a piece of news
that Gomioka hoped would help him rise from the doldrums. Finally, he was
getting the equipment he would need to turn his unit into an EFFECTIVE
force- his three new labors were coming. Soon, very soon, he would have
top-of-the-line labors to man his shift with.
They weren't supposed to arrive until the twentieth, but Gomioka had a
surprise for his men (and women). But now, with the date of delivery
confirmed, there were certain things he would be allowed to do to get them
ready.
"Listen up, people," he said, addressing the six members of the third unit.
"Finally, we're all back together again, after that disaster of a softball
tournament crippled half of you. Unit 2, however, is not- they are still
down a pilot due to injury and a command car operator due to, ahem,
personal reasons. Because of this, Unit 2 has... graciously... loaned us
one of their Ingrams so that those of you who aren't fully familiar with it
can learn the differences between an Ingram and a Type 97, and for those of
you who ARE familiar with it to get a refresher course in its workings."
Gomioka had to struggle to say 'graciously' without showing his distaste
for pandering to Gotoh too publically, but he managed. Continuing, he
announced, "Our own labors are on the way, and we'll be recieving them in
five days. I expect all of you to be the best Ingram operators in the
country by the time they arrive. Understand?"
"Yes, sir!" the six labor operators chorused.
"Good- everyone, get your equipment. Drills start in two minutes!
* * * * *
February 20, 2000
The drills had been tough and intense. For four days straight, Gomioka
would make sure everyone had a turn at the controls, getting the Ingram to
do complex tasks with minimal motion. Gomioka started enjoying command for
the first time- he was in his element now, and no-one was better than he
was at running labor drills.
Finally, the day the new labors were to join them had arrived. Gomioka
could drive away his concerns over Gotoh and Shinobu by putting himself
into his work. Furthermore, now that he had useful patlabors on the way,
much of the stress would go out of his job. Perhaps, for once, his
position as Captain would be what he'd been dreaming it would be.
For some reason, though, his labors were late.
He walked into the office, where both Shinobu and Gotoh were working.
Shinobu was officially on her duty shift and Gotoh was officially on his
standby shift, but Gotoh for some reason chose to spend all of his time in
the office with Shinobu even when he didn't have to.
Gomioka stiffened for a moment upon seeing his inter-office rival standing
over Shinobu's desk, pointing something out on a piece if paper. Quickly
recovering his composure, he walked over to his own desk and sat down.
Turning to the other captains, he asked, "My labors should have been here
three hours ago... who am I supposed to call for inquiries about such
things?"
Shinobu looked over at him. "Probably they're just stuck in traffic. You
might want to call the quartermaster's corps to find out for certain,
however- they're in charge of labor procurement."
Gomioka nodded and looked through the SV2 Official Phone List to find the
number of the quartermaster's corps. Dialing them up, he waited for
someone to pick up the phone.
After twelve rings, he hung up the phone and tried again, just to make
certain that he had dialed the right number. When again it didn't answer
after twelve rings, he turned to Gotoh and Shinobu, still discussion
paperwork. "Hey, is this the current number for the quartermaster corps?"
he asked.
Gotoh, already standing, walked over to check what he was pointing to.
"Yeah- that's it, all right."
Gomioka frowned. "Well, they aren't picking up on the other end- not even
voice mail is coming up."
"That's strange," Shinobu said. "There's always someone on duty over
there."
Gotoh walked over to his desk and picked up his own phone, dialing several
other numbers. A few rings after each call, he hung up. "Hmm... I just
tried to make contact with various people I know who works in the same
building- niether they nor their voice mail is picking up, either.
Something very strange is going on." Gotoh paused to consider things for a
moment.
"Should we investigate it?" Shinobu asked, thinking aloud.
"You and I can't," Gotoh noted. "We're on duty, and it would be a bad idea
to go out on just a hunch when there's a chance we could get called into
action at any moment."
Gomioka caught the implication in Gotoh's voice, and nodded. As much as he
disliked the man, he had a point. "My unit IS officially off duty... think
anyone would mind if I took the Ancient Warriors out for one last spin?"
"Ancient Warriors?" Shinobu asked.
Gomioka looked abashed. "It's a nickname the mechanics squad gave them,"
he explained. "I sort of picked it up."
"Fitting," she said. Gotoh nodded as well.
"I suspect you could get away with it," Gotoh said. "But you'd have to
hurry- your standby shift starts in just six hours, and it would take you
an hour to get there and an hour to get back... IF there isn't too much
traffic. More likely than not, it'll take two or two and a half hours each
way- which means you won't have more than a couple of hours to do your
investigating."
Gomioka nodded. "We'll be back in time. See you in six hours."
After he left the office, Gotoh turned to Shinobu. "Hmm... he just might
work out as a captain, after all."
* * * * *
Shinshi yawned. "What's going on? I thought we were off duty- I need
sleep." Murmurs of ascent joined him from most of the remaining crew of
Unit 3.
"We're police officers! We're never off duty!" Ohta snapped.
"Then why do the charts say 'off duty, 0800-1600'?" Shinshi asked.
"People, people!" Gomioka cautioned. "Settle down. I can't explain
anything until you're ready to listen." The bickering quickly stopped
before he continued. "I need to ask you all to voluntarily join me in an
investigation. For some reason, our labors have not arrived yet. Trying
to figure out WHY they hadn't come, I attempted to make contact with the
quartermaster corps. However, there was no answer on the other end of the
phone. Several attempts to call others in the same building also failed...
which means that there's a chance something seriously wrong is going on.
The duty officers can't investigate since it's only a conjecture based on
the wildest of speculation, but WE aren't on duty."
Kanuka nodded to herself. "You need us to go in and poke around to see
what's going on, don't you? Well, I volunteer."
Ohta nodded. "I will, as well."
Shinshi sighed. "I really shouldn't- I should be getting my sleep, and my
wife would KILL me if she found out I was risking my neck unnecessarily
like this, but... what the hell. I'll go, to."
Yamane Seiroku, Koichi Miyagi, and Yoshi Tobe all nodded at this. "We
won't let the first labor team get all the glory," Seiroku stated proudly.
"I'd like to take all three labors along, as well... just in case," Gomioka
noted.
Seiroku's face lit up. He started to grab his helmet and head for the Type
96, but Kanuka started moving first. Seiroku rushed up to her and caught
her by the shoulder. She turned and glared at him, making him back off a
step and swallow.
"Um," he explained nervously. "I sort of have the unofficial position of
third labor pilot in this unit."
Kanuka opened her mouth to reply, but Gomioka intervened before she could
say anything. "I think we should let her take it out this time. You're
totally untrained for the 96, but she's been a patlabor pilot long enough
to have piloted it before and is more likely to understand all its quirks."
"But captain-" Seiroku protested.
"We'll discuss whether to put her in that position permanently or have it
alternate between you after we get our regular labors, but this is not a
normal situation."
Yamane's face fell. "Yes, sir," he said sullenly, walking at a much slower
pace for his 97's command car.
Gomioka nodded. "Everyone, board up and move 'em out!"
* * * * *
Gomioka, for the first time, felt as though he was in complete control of
his command. Even Ohta, the prototypical hothead, was obeying his commands
to stay cool and not alert the populace- after all, there was no proof that
anything was wrong, yet.
The three labor transports (the third driven by Gomioka himself) made their
way through the streets of Tokyo, thankfully not attracting TOO much
attention. It actually helped that the patlabors were obsolete, for once,
as most of the populace assumed they were being taken to be scrapped.
"We're getting close," Gomioka informed the others through the radio.
"Let's pull over two blocks from the building. Command car operators and
labor transport officers will raise their labors and then join me as I go
in on foot, and we'll keep in touch with everyone else."
"Yes, sir," the labor crews confirmed over the radio.
Gomioka pulled his transport into the empty parking lot of a shopping
center that was under renovation. "You all set back there?" he asked
Kanuka.
"Yes, sir."
Gomioka pressed the 'raise labor' button. Once he was fairly certain that
the Type 96 was safely raised, he opened the door and popped out as quickly
as he could. Shinshi, Yamane Seiroku, and Yoshi Tobe quickly joined him.
Together, they made their way down the last two blocks as casually as they
could, then slipped inside the building which housed the independant
contractors and logistics sections for the police.
A pretty female receptionist decked out in a typical police woman's uniform
greeted them upon their entrance. "Hello, can I help you?"
Gomioka, poised for action, was a bit surprised at the casual greeting.
"Um, maybe. We tried to call several times to several different offices
throughout the building and got no response..."
The receptionist nodded. "Yes. We've had some trouble with the phone
system today."
Gomioka sighed. He had been so geared up for action that it was a severe
disappointment to find out that nothing serious was wrong. Oh, well- while
he was here....
"I initially called to try and get in touch with the Quartermaster's Corps.
May I ask what office they are in?"
The receptionist nodded. "Certainly, sir... just let me look them up."
She rifled through the papers on her desk, searching for something.
Gomioka pulled out his radio and made contact with the labors. "Stand
down- false alarm," he ordered.
Shinshi, pacing impatiently, kicked something with one of his feet.
Bending down to look closer at it, he blinked. "Um, Captain Gomioka, sir?"
"Yes?"
"What do you make of this?" he asked, handing him a police badge.
Gomioka looked at it in surprise. The badge itself was dented and the
clasp was violently twisted. He couldn't quite puzzle out why it had been
so badly damaged, unless it was torn off of a police jacket and stomped on
several times....
Approaching the receptionist desk, he looked over at the attractive woman
and said, "Excuse me, but it appears as if-" He stopped, seeing a foot
stick out from under the desk. "Hey, what's going on here? Oof!" he
didn't have time to finish as the receptionist, quick as lightning, flashed
a punch out at his chin which knocked him five feet back and leapt over the
desk to continue the fight.
Gomioka watched, his vision dimming, as the other three mobilized, running
to aid their fallen captain. Shinshi was caught by a kick to the face,
sending him into an unconscious slumber. Yoshi Tobe went down just as
fast, leaving Seiroku to face the woman alone. He nodded imperceptively,
and the woman charged. Seiroku was apparently a bit of a martial artist,
successfully deflecting several of her blows and returning some of her own.
Gomioka attempted to rise and help him, but that proved to be a mistake.
With his equilibrium knocked out of whack by the blow given him, he wasn't
able to keep from stumbling and falling face-first onto the floor in front
of himself, unconsious.
* * * * *
He woke up feeling someone rustling around behind him, cords being tied to
his wrists. Not giving whoever it was a chance to finish, Gomioka lashed
out and broke free of the attacker's grip, snapping the not-quite-tied rope
apart.
"Whoa, sir!" Seiroku cried. "I was just trying to untie you!"
Gomioka blinked in the dim light. Shinshi and Yoshi were nowhere to be
found. "Where are we?"
"A storage closet, I think. I just got myself free and was working on your
knots when you attacked."
"Sorry about that," Gomioka apologized. "I thought you were trying to tie
me up. Where are Tobe and Mikiyashi?"
"Dunno, sir. You know as much as I do- except I was awake when they
dragged me here. That woman pinned me to the ground and chained me up in
my own hand-cuffs, dammit! Thankfully, I always hide a spare key for them
in my shoe."
Gomioka nodded, and stood up cautiously. He had a bad headache, but
otherwise felt fine. "I doubt they could have locked us in here... whadya
say we go find our fellow officers then get the labors to come and bring
these idiots to justice?"
Seiroku nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go."
Gomioka and Seiroku burst out of the closet, looking both ways. An armed
man standing outside looked at them in shock, but Seiroku knocked him out
with a chop to the neck before he could raise an alarm.
"Let's split up- we'll cover more ground," Gomioka suggested.
Seiroku nodded. "Were do we regroup?"
"Try and get back to the parking lot where we left the labors and let them
all know what's going on."
"Yes, sir." With that, Seiroku ran off down the right corridor.
Gomioka looked at the unconscious man at his feet and sighed. "If I had
time to wait for you to wake up, I'd ask you who the hell you are, but I
don't have time...." With that, he grabbed the man, dragged him back into
the closet, and tied the man up with the ropes that had initially been
secured to his own wrists, and then he moved on.
* * * * *
Ohta frowned. "It's been WAY too long since the Captain said to stand
down. Where are they?"
Kanuka sighed. "It's probably just taking them a long time to track down
our Labor shipment. If anything had gone wrong, they would have called
us... but if it makes you feel THAT much better, you can prepare your labor
for action again."
Ohta smiled. "Yes, ma'am!" he cried happily, saluting. Dashing off, he
returned to his 97's cabin and set about getting it combat ready.
Kanuka sighed. "One of these days, he's going to have to tone down that
enthusiasm," she noted, heading over to her 96 to prepare it for combat
herself. "But for once, maybe he's got the right idea- it HAS been an
awfully long while, come to think of it...."
* * * * *
Gomioka looked around, uncertain of where to go next. Then he heard
muffled voices coming from another room.
"Most of the prisoners have been released, thanks to the SV2's untimely
interruption. Without the element of surprise on our side, we won't be
able to hold them off for long. Give me the papers, I'll hide it from them
even if we're captured," the first one was saying.
"Okay, here. I'll go and cause a distraction, you just get the hell out of
here," the second replied.
"Use the Brocken. That thing will cause such a disturbance they'd miss a
tank trying to sneak away."
"I'll get right on it."
A man ran out of the room, which for the first time Gomioka noticed was the
office given to Shinohara Heavy Industries as the SV2's chief contractor,
and stopped. "He's here, already! Run!" The man crashed into Gomioka,
taking him down and allowing the second man to run out a back way.
Gomioka, using his martial arts training, flipped the attacker off of him
and stood up. With three blows, he disabled the guy and took off in hot
pursuit of the man carrying the stolen documents. By the time he got out
the back entrance, however, the second man was gone. What was worse was
the man he thought he'd knocked out was also gone when he returned to tie
him up.
"Damn. And they've got a Brocken, too- the 97's don't stand a chance
against it," he muttered to himself. "And now they know I've escaped-
this is bad." He tried to use a nearby phone to call for backup, but found
that the line was dead.
Moving on, he searched the halls, moving as quietly as he could and
listening for anything which might be a warning of an attack. Eventually,
he heard something, but it wasn't anything to do with an attack.
"Mmmm- mmmm!" came a muffled shout from a nearby closet. Gomioka opened
the door and found someone tied up and gagged. To Gomioka's relieve, he
recognized the guy.
"Shinshi!" he cried with relieve. "Hold on, let me help you."
Once he got the gag off, he started working on his bonds.
"Yoshi's in here, too," Shinshi explained. "We've gotta hurry- I heard
someone saying that they've got a Brocken to cover their escape."
"I heard the same," Gomioka said as he finished untying the knots. "Tried
to call in support from headquarters, but I found that the phones are dead.
Let's get Tobe free and get the hell out of here."
"Yes, sir," Shinshi said, working on Yoshi Tobe's feet as Gomioka started
on the hands. Together, they had him free in a matter of a few seconds,
and he tore the gag off of himself.
"Yuck!" Yoshi Tobe said.
"Seiroku's already freed most of the building's personnel, I think- he's
supposed to meet us over by the labors," Gomioka explained. "If we get
seperated, regroup there." With that, they started to make their way out
of the building.
* * * * *
Kenji Iguchi, who hadn't mounted up in his labor like Ohta and Kanuka had,
blinked in surprise. "What the hell!" Pulling out his radio, he shouted,
"Ohta, Kanuka! There's a Type 7 Brocken coming down the street!"
"All right! Finally, some action!" Ohta roared, pulling out in his labor
and running down the street in the direction of the Brocken.
"Ohta, wait!" Kanuka shouted, pulling out in her own 96 and following him.
"You aren't in an Ingram- you don't stand a chance against a military
labor!"
Ohta ignored her in his usual battle craze. Running as fast as he could,
he rammed the 97's shoulder into the chest of the Brocken. The military
labor, not expecting the move, staggered back, nearly falling before its
auto-stabilizers kicked in and helped it to right itself- just in time to
receive a blow to the head from the 97's combat baton. That rattled the
Brocken, but did nothing more than that. The 97 just wasn't strong enough
to do any significant damage to the other labor.
Before it could go on the offensive, however, Kanuka pulled up in her 96,
attempting a similar set of moves. This time, however, the Brocken was
prepared for it, and counterattacked, smashing Kanuka's labor on the nose
and digging it into the ground. Kanuka backed off and waited, hoping the
Brocken would make a mistake it could use.
While this battle was going on, several people ran out the building, using
the Brocken for cover as they boarded a nearby bus. When the bus was
filled, it drove off, leaving the military labor to fend for itself.
Kenji Iguchi's labor joined them a minute later, and together Unit 3's
three labors were able to hold the Brocken to a stand-off.
* * * * *
Gomioka, Shinshi, and Yoshi Tobe made their way through the halls,
frequently running into panicked groups of police contractors or other
police officers trying to escape from the now-departed terrorists who had
struck the building. Someone had pulled a fire alarm, and in certain
sections of the building the sprinkler system had gone off.
"Seiroku!" Yoshi called, spying their comrade amidst the chaos of the
situation. "Over here!"
Yamane Seiroku ran over to the group. "Sir, I found the building's REAL
staff locked up in the warehouse and released them," he said, saluting.
Gomioka returned the salute. "Good work. Let's keep moving- there's a
Brocken out there and we need to find a way to call for re-inforcements."
Seiroku nodded. "The way out's just down these stairs- come on."
In less than a minute, the four men reached the front doors and bolted
outside-
Only to leap out of the way to avoid the foot of a retreating 97. The
battle had been going on for several minutes, and the damage to the
surrounding neighborhood was astounding. The damage to the labors was
relatively minor, however- there were some dents in the heavy armour of the
Brocken, and Kanuka's 96 was missing its left grapple arm, but the 97s
weren't visibly damaged at all.
"Good god, don't tell me they're actually trying to stop it on their own?"
Gomioka said.
* * * * *
Kanuka saw the rest of her unit leave the police building just as the
Brocken attempted a feint. When she saw it charging in on Ohta's labor,
she saw her opportunity arise. Using the overdrive on the 96, she managed
to push it up to almost the Brocken's speed- and approaching from the side,
crashed right into the military labor's knee.
With a loud *crunch* the Brocken fell, and Ohta's labor descended on it,
stabbing with as much force he could muster into the fallen labor's back,
killing the power source.
"Take that, you terrorist scum!" he shouted, pulling his baton out and
about to bring it down again, when he noticed Kanuka's labor wasn't moving.
"Kanuka, you okay in there?"
"Just fine, but I don't think this labor'll ever see action again."
* * * * *
In the end, even though the Brocken had been defeated, their was no way to
tell if the SV2 had succeeded or failed. Had the papers successfully been
stolen? No one knew, and even if they had been, whoever had done it was
also a mystery. The captured labor pilot wasn't talking and the various
offices had been so badly rifled or damaged it would take weeks to sort out
what was missing.
But the mood of the third unit was high. Successful or not, they had
finally proven to themselves that they were an effective unit- and, better
yet, they were now getting new labors to replace their obsolete old
vehicles.
"Well," Gomioka said as he told the story of the mission, "The Ancient
Warriors DID prove to be somewhat useful... just as we're getting rid of
them, too. Oh, yeah- I never did find out what happened to our new
labors."
Gotoh put a hand behind his head. "Oh, yeah- we got a call shortly after
you left. It was Shinohara Heavy Industries; they apologized for the
delay, but said that they wouldn't be able to deliver until the 22nd due to
problems with the transport trucks."
Gomioka sighed. "Well, only a couple more days of dealing with the Ancient
Warriors and then we're finally rid of them."
Mechanics Chief Sakaki, listening into the tale for his own reasons,
smirked. "Ancient Warriors. I like that name for them... say, when we get
the new labors, what're we going to be doing with the old 97s and 96s."
Gotoh shrugged. "I understand they'll just be mothballed again, for the
next time we expand the Special Vehicles."
Sakaki nodded. "Hmm... might I have permission to take them to my home
instead of mothball them? I'd like to try and keep them maintained, maybe
tweek them up a little more. That way, we'll always have an extra labor or
two if we need to send some back to the factory for maintenance... and I'd
have something to help train a young cadet or two with."
Gotoh looked to Gomioka, who shrugged, and Shinobu, who nodded. "I don't
see why not... we'll have to get an O.K. from headquarters for you to work
on them off-site, but if you're willing to maintain them on your own budget
I don't think anyone will have any complaints."
* * * * *
Sitting in his office, a man opened an envelope. "Ah, here we go- finally,
found what we were looking for. Excellent. With these plans, we're
another step closer to our final goal."
"But we sacrificed a Brocken to get those plans. Are they worth it?" a
second figure asked.
The first man stood up, looking over the diagrams of the Ingram and its
varients. "Yes, I'd say so," he said, adjusting his square-rimmed glasses.
"I'd say so."
-------------------------
Next Episode: Someone finds Gotoh's personal notebook, including notes on
all of the members of the SV2. This episode may help those of you who are
confused about who all the new people are...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
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