That last chapter was long, was it not? Try twenty-one pages on Microsoft Word long! I swear, that was going to be like, the seventh chapter. But nope, I made ya all wait! I'm sorry for the wait, but I think you've all been waiting to meet these last couple of characters.
Uoha…I have been updating pretty fast! Wow! I'm glad that I have been, though. I think everyone who played a part in the last chapter's song was surprised. There was no song in the original chapter, believe me or not. Rose tried to imagine herself in a dress…yes, I am scarred for life by that image. I found out that Joe doesn't play piano, too. My fingers are FLAKING! Oh yes. The winter concert, peeps! RED TROMBONE GANG AND CLARINETS FORVER! Too much pounding keys on the computer keyboard and on the clarinet and too much pulverizing the slide! Whee!
Very special thanks to lilanimefan1 and Kacie (aka Gothic) for giving me the lyrics! Hey, without them, I would still be screaming at my DVD player for not showing the lyrics on subtitles. Now Anzu and Sora are actually trying to get me to stop singing along…
Thank you one and all! This has become my most reviewed story ever! Jeez, and I thought this idea was way overused…
SEND IN YOUR CHARACTERS NOW! ONLY TWO MORE PEOPLE ARE BEING TAKEN! :runs by screaming with SWAT, FBI, CIA, and highway patrol on her tail, Anzu and Sora out in front on a helicopter:
I bought the rights to Cyborg 009! Yay! :gets attacked by random SWAT dude number 55306 ((me student ID number! Ironic, ne?)): PRINCESS MIKA SHALL RETURN!
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The Cyborg Children
Chapter Ten: Genevieve WHO?
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The door creaked open to show a shadow. "Gilmore-sensei?"
It was a female's voice, obviously a female's. The shadow came out of the doorway, revealing silky black layered hair. It was an older female, maybe in her late twenties or early thirties. Her pale green eyes were striking against the pale skin, which contrasted further with the indigo sweater and khaki flares.
"Hello, do I know you?" Issac asked.
The woman laughed. "Hai, hai. I am Genevieve Kazumi."
"Genevieve WHO?" Jet asked, astonished.
The woman laughed again. "Come in, please. My grandfather will be pleased to see you,"
The odd bunch walked into the mansion, following Genevieve. They reached a huge living room with an entire wall of sliding glass, which was showing the fantastic sunrise at the present.
"It can't be!" A male's voice exclaimed. They turned away from the glass. There sat Dr. Kazumi in an armchair, looking comfortable and shocked.
Kazumi hadn't appeared to age very much in those fifteen years. Joe nearly keeled over from the mere shock that they were seeing him again…again.
"Please, sit!" Genevieve said, realizing that she had been rude. Joe and Francoise sat down on a couch, and Celeste sat in her daddy's lap. The others found places on the ground and in various armchairs, and Jet sat next to Joe.
"We all have a lot of explaining to do, do we not?" Kazumi asked. "I will begin. This is my granddaughter, Genevieve. The others are around; they'll come out eventually. After you left, my daughter vanished and her children were left without parents. I invited them to come live with me, which they all gratefully accepted. I had thought you had all gone on to different places, but seeing you…"
"Our story is much longer," Florence said. "I've pieced together my knowledge. I don't want any of you interrupting me."
Florence had always been good at figuring out problems.
"Now, fifteen years ago was when this started." Florence began. Albert nodded. "You were spies, as we were told. None of us had ever met for some unknown reason. We all knew Ivan as our cousin, but nothing more than that. That was a clue to something. Then there was the Dolphin. Had you been spies, you would have covered your fingerprints and left everything seemingly untouched. When we found Emma, she caused the rain outside as we were travelling. Later it was explained that she was a cyborg."
0021 bobbed her head, eyes wide.
"The Megas Project arrived. They evidently didn't have magic, so what caused it? And why were they attacking us, of all people?
"So, I want to know this. I didn't give you the full version of my knowledge in hopes not to bore you to death, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten the right information. Grandpa…be honest this time to me. Are 001 through 009 in The Cyborg Project our parents and Ivan, or am I just insane?"
0021 stopped playing with her cape. "Florence, can we tell you later?"
"When Julia comes back, yes." Florence replied.
"Julia!" Celeste exclaimed.
And thus, another explanation began.
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About half an hour later, Julia was frozen down in the amazing infirmary of the Kazumi residence. Genevieve ran her hands over the smooth ice, frowning as she did.
"This is nightmarish…" She uttered. "Maybe you can heat her up?"
"Most certainly I can," 0021 said, tracing her fingers along the ice. This time, the ice flew backwards into her fingers, leaving a worse for the wear Julia.
"Only twelve, you say?" Genevieve asked.
"Yep, that's Julia for you," Celeste answered.
Genevieve sighed. "Do you think we can?"
"My dear, of course you can." Kazumi replied. "You've finished college, and I will not stop you. But you may want to call at least Haruna down, she can help."
Genevieve turned to Celeste and Rene. "Upstairs in the kitchen, if you can find it, you'll find two people. Tell them that Genevieve needs Haruna urgently. If Haruka asks, she can come too."
The two left to find the kitchen. The house was vast with many misleading corridors to take, and many of the rooms had a glass wall that looked out onto the sea. At last, the two reached the kitchen.
It was impressive to say the least. There was a marble counter island at the center with a sink and four burners, then a stove, microwave, two refrigerators, and various other kitchen utensils around the perimeter. Two girls stood by the island, and these girls were identical in every way. They had the same dark brown hair with a ponytail in it, the same denim jacket, and the same cargo skirt. It was pretty freakish.
"Haruna?" Celeste asked nervously. One of the girls looked up.
"Hai?" The girl looking up asked. Her eyes were a lovely shade of iridescent green.
"Genevieve says that she needs you downstairs urgently," Celeste said.
"Must be pretty serious for her to call us," The other girl said. "Six years older than us, and she still thinks she's better. She's twenty-seven, and…oh, never mind. Did she say Haruka could come?"
"Hai, she did." Celeste answered.
"Well then, that's a different case." The first girl said. "I'm Haruna, and this is Haruka. If you couldn't guess, we're identical twins."
"No, Haruna, we're fraternal." Haruka said, tugging Haruna's ponytail. The two continued fighting as they made their way back down the long halls, Celeste and Rene about a minute behind them.
There was a new door opened this time. The sun was orange and pink, spilling out over the sea like melted butter on toast. A sliding glass door was open, and a girl stood out on a deck. Rene looked in at the circular glass room and stepped in. The girl outside turned around.
"Ohan, who are you?" She asked. Her voice was light. She had pretty dark brown hair that curled at the ends, hazel eyes, and wore a paint-splattered white sweater and regular old denim flares.
"Gomen for the rude entry," Celeste said. The girl waved her hand and smiled.
"Iie, iie. No need for that." She said, hair flying in a breeze.
"I'm Celeste, and this is Rene." Celeste said. Rene waved.
"Lovely. My name is Tamaki," The girl replied.
Celeste looked around. The entire room was glass and had a theme of circles. Tamaki's bed was a circle, her sheets had circles on them, there were plants with circular pots, a circle nightstand, an amazing circular dresser, and to complete everything, a circular bulletin board that was pale blue. For light, there was a blue crystal chandelier hanging with baubles dropping down to five feet from the ground.
"So, what brings you here?" Tamaki asked, sitting on an unseen circular floor mat. "My dad? Genevieve? Haruna? Haruka?"
"No, actually. Our parents are friends with your grandfather," Rene answered. Tamaki nodded, signaling for them to sit down.
"I've never heard that my dad had any friends, but then again, I'm only fifteen. Genevieve wouldn't tell us if she knew." Tamaki said. "She's already finished college, and now she wants us all to hurry up and get through. What does she think, we're super people?"
"How many of there are you?" Rene asked.
"Let's see….Genevieve is twenty-seven, Hideki is twenty-four, Haruna and Haruka are twenty-one, Elyon is eighteen, I'm fifteen, Kiyoshi is fourteen, Midori just turned eleven, Hana will be ten in a month, and Michiko is five. So, that makes ten of us. I overheard that our mom is coming soon…and bringing more than one this time." Tamaki said.
"I thought your mom was dead!" Celeste exclaimed.
"We wish she was. She's a prostitute in northern Tokyo." Tamaki calmly replied. Rene and Celeste watched her with open concern for mental issues. Tamaki noted their astonishment and let them figure it out.
"Tama-chan, you're up early again," A man said, stopping inside. Tamaki turned.
"Hideki, give me a few lead bricks to swim with while you're at it," Tamaki snapped. To Rene and Celeste, she said, "This is Hideki. Professional pain in the rear, he is."
"Do you know where Haruna is?" Hideki asked Tamaki.
"Downstairs," Celeste answered.
"Domo!" He called, running down the twisting hall.
"Why are they downstairs?" Tamaki asked. "We never go down there. We've all seen what it's like, but we don't really get to that part of the house. Ever."
"Then we have explaining to do," Celeste said.
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"Ready or not, here I come!" Tamaki shouted into the warm Japanese early winter day.
Outside, everyone under the age of twenty-one was playing hide and seek, or at least, those that hadn't married. Tamaki ran around like a whirlwind, searching to find the hidden children.
"Michiko! Found you!" Tamaki whispered. A little girl shuffled out from behind a tree, wearing a red jumper, white shirt, and a red hat with a sunflower pin. Her hair was dusty brown, and her eyes were, like Genevieve's, pale green. The tiny little feet had white socks and red May Jane's, just for added cuteness. ((AWWWW! DON'T YA WANNA HUG HER?))
"Come on and help me find the others, Michi!" Tamaki whispered, tugging her little sister's hand. Michiko laughed and ran across the grassy plain.
"They're never gonna find me, never gonna find me," 0021 sang. She was sitting up in a tree, combing out her hair. Someone climbed up twenty minutes later.
"Jeez, trying giving me a heart attack!" 0021 snapped.
An older girl was in the tree with her. The girl had glossy black hair that was hanging down in two braids, forest green eyes, slightly tanned skin, and wore a gray scarf, gray off the shoulder long-sleeve shirt with a black kanji character on it, dark blue jeans, and black tennis shoes.
"We're the only ones they haven't found yet!" The new girl giggled. "I'm Elyon."
0021 beamed. "Just call me 0021 for right now."
"Ok….0021." Elyon answered.
"Sophia! Start searching trees with me!" Celeste called. Sophia ran up into the nearest tree in search of the two girls.
"Kiyoshi, Midori and Hana, search by the old garden wall," Tamaki commanded. The three ran off to do as they were told.
"FOUND 'EM!" Celeste shouted. Midori stopped running and tumbled over laughing.
"Darn you!" 0021 said.
"Hey, we're hard to find, aren't we?" Elyon asked. "Let's go inside and see what else we can do!"
"Do any of you have a computer?" Angelina questioned.
"Mi-chan does," Midori chirped. She had hair the color of cardboard and hazel eyes. The sweatshirt she wore was yellow with a winking smiley face, and her denim skirt was so frayed, it looked ready to rip in two. Midori's green socks stretched up to her knees, and her blue shoes seemed out of place.
"Do you like hacking?" Angelina asked.
Kiyoshi snorted. "That's like asking if Tama-chan likes circles at all,"
"Well, how are they supposed to know?" Tamaki demanded, yanking his mousy chocolate colored hair. ((NOT chocolate covered, mind you.)) "They just got here, and heaven knows what they've been through. Kiyo, you're as bad as Hi-hi! And with the twenty-two year age span between all of us, you just go expecting us to all go along!"
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"DON'T YOU DARE DO IT!" Hana screamed, toppling the couch pillows over onto Liana's head.
Inside four hours later were the majority of the small army, camped out in front of the huge TV screen. Joe and Francoise sat next to one another, Celeste below them eating popcorn with Midori and Sophia. Hana, the younger image of Haruna and Haruka, was yelling at the characters on the screen.
Midori wasn't as mild-mannered as she seemed to be. Midori was a loaded pistol with a nasty flair for html coding, giving it away, but the coding had viruses hidden within it. The unlucky downloader would figure it out only too late. Up until she turned ten, she was never punished. But once her grandfather busted her in the act, there was a time limit placed on the computer, but Midori cracked it in two and went back on. She proceeded to send her school a virus, corrupt the school board system, and it wasn't even the start.
And Midori Kazumi just turned eleven.
Elyon Kazumi is a whole 'nother can 'o' worms. Elyon had been studying music since she could climb her way onto the piano bench and pound keys. She had taken the music program in her school, followed through until high school, and is still going strong. All day, she sits in her apple tree and practices a different instrument. On the days she play trumpet, the others remind her to take the mute out with her so they can sleep an extra hour or so.
I can ramble on and on about each of the separate residents, but I won't. One thing I will tell you is that there's a twenty-two year age span from Genevieve to Michiko. Genevieve was twelve when the original cyborgs left, and shortly moved in with Hideki, who was nine, and Haruna and Haruka were only six. Genevieve and Hideki were from Keiko Kazumi's first marriage, Haruna and Haruka the only children from her second marriage. After that, all the other children had been born as ((pardon my Japanese)) bastards.
Now that the younger margin of the Kazumis were hooked on the TV, they had all become the same age again. All but the Link family was upstairs, watching some action movie, chosen by Hana and Midori. Celeste could read the Japanese subtitles flying across the screen, and Midori decided to change to French. Celeste read the French titles just as easily.
"How do you know both?" Midori asked in Japanese.
"My parents," Celeste replied in the same language.
BAM.
"And it was just getting good!" 0021 complained. Hana shut off the DVD player and looked out the window.
"You may want to see this," She said in horror.
"What do they think we are, punching bags?" Tamaki asked. "Seventh time in three months! Ok, everyone, we have to fill in for four people! Let's get in lockdown and take it from there!"
Celeste looked out the window. She didn't like what she saw.
0022 and 0023 were outside with the entire Megas Project ((GOTCHA! Nope, your favorite antagonists are back!)), 006 firing a cannon with 002 curled up inside. 0022 was shouting some command, and the Megas and 0023 followed it.
"Let's go!" Celeste shouted.
"Right on it!" 0021 cheerfully called, bouncing her way out. Celeste was right behind her with the others on her tail.
"SURPRISE, SURPRISE, CELESTIA!" 009 screamed, standing in her usual pink clothing choice.
"Attack, my cyborgs!" 0022 shouted. The Megas obeyed. 006 fired 002 at 0021 ((that was confusing!)), the other Megas began firing, and 0023 stood by his side.
"Oh, what?" 0023 asked. "Our father was Black Ghost. You didn't think you finished this so easily, did you? You still have to go through us two. Behold!"
And the pieces fell into place in Florence's head.
0021 was violently shaking; fists clenched and face tight. Periwinkle sparks jumped from her entire body as she shook, then she let it all go.
"YOU DESTROYED EMMA! IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU, MAYBE THIS WOULD HAVE ALL BEEN OVER!" 0021 screamed. A roiling black storm cloud formed under her feet and she flew up into the skies on it. "SURRENDER NOW OR I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU ALL AND REMOVE YOU FROM HISTORY!"
001 sent green thunder at 0021, but 0021 sent it flying back with a sweep of her hand. The ondangoes fell out of her hair, letting the light hair tumble down to slightly past her waistline. Rain fell like…well, rain, from the heavens. The sea churned at 0021's command as she flew out to meet it.
"0021! Come with us and your friends may be spared!" 0023 called.
"NEVER!" 0021 bellowed back, sending strong winds at the cyborg. "AND IT'S NOT 0021! IT'S ZERO!"
009 spun a wheel of pink lightning at Zero. Zero held up one hand and deflected the blow with a shield of fire. The fire burned blue, then caught on and turned orange. Stormy gray seas licked the bottom of Zero's storm cloud, catching rain.
"009! 008! Cease your fire upon Miss Zero!" 0022 called. 009 turned around and redirected her lightning at Florence. Florence dodged the pink jolts easily, laughing as she did.
"I've had it with you little pests! Move over, 009, I'll get rid of them!" 008 screamed, sending balls of black fire at Sophia.
"THINK AGAIN!" Zero bellowed, sending up a barrier of white fire around the girls and Ivan. 008 gnashed her teeth and tried attacking Zero instead. Zero turned the cloud around to face 008.
"Well, Zero, it's been nice knowing you," 008 smirked.
"Ditto to you," Zero replied. Both shot out their color lightning at one another, crackling and illuminating the darkening skies. Their faces were nothing but concentration, focusing on obliterating the other.
Zero's lightning started to push toward 008. 008 fought to hold strong, but started to crumple under the periwinkle beams. Zero saw the opportunity and flew down.
"Are you ready for the end?" Zero asked.
"I am prepared," 008 said, calling her lightning down. Zero snapped her lightning off at the same time.
"I hope your end is kind to you, Mizuki," Zero said, waving her hand. "Good night."
008 bowed her head and vanished. Zero sat on the ground, shaking her head. Sophia ran over to meet her.
"Is there anything I can do?" Sophia demanded.
"Make sure I don't kill myself," Zero responded. "I'm going to see if I can get the real Project Zero back. If they aren't dead, then she isn't either."
Zero laid back on the grass, letting the rain pummel her freely. She closed her eyes and, as if by magic, lifted from the ground. Her limbs hung limply, dangling like Christmas ornaments from a tree. A periwinkle forcefield formed around her unconscious body, casting off light of its own. Inside, Zero was morphing.
Morphing back to Emma, back to the original Project 000, back to Project 0021.
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"Tama! You have to see this!" Kiyoshi shouted from the living room. Tamaki raced in holding a paint set and began to sketch out the scene.
"I didn't know that 0021 could do such," Elyon commented. Midori had her laptop set up; her own data scanner hooked up. "And Midori, you're missing all the action. Do take it off,"
Midori shook her head. "I've made my way into that guy's operating system. No way that I'm going to get back out unless I delete it."
Joe and company were also inside the mansion with the Kazumis, not enjoying what they were seeing very much.
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"ATTACK HER NOW!" 0022 roared at the Megas. 007 did a series of cartwheels, which turned into spheres of blue-green muck-ish stuff. She picked them up and hurtled them at Zero's forcefield, but with no avail. 007's bubblegum streaked hair whipped about in the strong winds that were attacking the mansion.
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"Moshi moshi, you've reached Haruka Kazumi's cell phone!" Haruka greeted someone on her phone. "Leave a message after the beep noise and I'll call you back as soon as I can! Domo arigatou!"
"Moshi moshi Haruka. I was calling to ask you…"
"Spit it out! I don't have forever!" Haruka barked. She was helping Genevieve at the present, her cell phone clutched by her shoulder and chin.
"It's about…"
"Forget it, Keiko." Haruka spat, pressing "END CALL".
Keiko was Haruka's mother.
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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!
TWO MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CYBORG CHILDREN! THANK YOU FOR MAKING IT A SUCCESS! E-MAIL ME WITH YOUR CHARACTER SOON! PLEASE!
ONCE MORE, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! NEW STORY COMIN' TO TOWN IN JANURARY!