Disclaimer: I do not own the concepts or characters in the Outlaw Star series, but I do own everything within my fic that wasn't presented in the anime such as the Yu Ling, with its members and such that will be introduced in this chapter and in others. I also own the Feng pirates. If you wish to borrow any of these concepts or characters, email me at and ask for permission.
(Author's concerns: I've noticed that quite a few people do check out my fic based upon the new hit counter. I have a lot more hits than I do reviews, and I was wondering why some of you readers never reviewed. I assume that the more reviews you have, the more readers you'll get; but I just want people to give me constructive criticism. Basically, I just want everyone's thoughts on my fic and ways to improve it. Also, I wouldn't mind someone who could help me out with editing and plot flow (I think I really need help with that...). If you read through my fic, please leave an actual review. Thank you.)
Chapter IV: The Adept of Fire
The drive back to the Starwind & Hawking building was filled with the conversation the Outlaw Star crew were having with the stranger named Adril, who sat in the passenger's side while Jim sat in the back with the girls in between Aisha and the door. He didn't normally sit in the backseat, but he had to admit sitting beside Aisha did kind of give him a good feeling. As he had expected, she was bugging him by playing with his shaggy hair for example but the boy grew to get used to it and partially enjoy her messing around. Though, he was a bit mad about giving up his front seat.
"Aww...cheer up Jimmy; you know you wouldn't want him sitting back here with us," said Aisha with a bit of tease in her voice. She was right, Jim really didn't want him sitting with the girls. No one had any idea how he was like.
"Also, I think you'd be jealous,"said Aisha. Jim was taken aback and his face went deep red. Aisha simply laughed.
Gene kept his eyes on the night-covered road, the car lights piercing through it. He didn't waste anytime asking questions to the man beside him who was resting his two swords in-between his legs to prevent them from tearing his belt or the seat.
"First thing's first, what do you want Adril? Why did you help us back there with those Rei creatures?"
Adril laid back in his seat and looked out the window to see the starry sky as the car traveled down the highway with trees on either side. "I came to help you because I really don't want the Feng to get whatever they want from you guys."
That's not enough. "How do you know about the Feng pirates?" asked Suzuka from the back before Gene could ask the same question.
The man averted his eyes to the side-view mirror, looking at Suzuka's familiar frame with desire, remembering when he saw her through the window when he was spying on her and her friends. "The Feng and I go back, especially the Yu Ling, you see..." He sighed and went back gazing at the stars. "I'd rather not go into detail about why I'm helping you out, but just be happy I am and don't complain."
Gene was slightly annoyed by Adril's words. He was thankful for Adril helping him and such, but the guy was coming around like an asshole. Gene himself would act cocky just to get mixed reactions from the people around him, but Adril seemed to just be a flat out jerk. Don't even bother, thought Gene to himself.
"So what were those Rei things exactly?" asked Aisha.
"Yeah. I couldn't pick them up with my assistant's thermal scan," said Jim.
"The Rei are manufactured. Think of them as machines, but not machines..." He secretly hoped his answer would make the others avoid the deeper questions. He noticed that the Melfina woman stirred a bit when he spoke of the Rei being what they are in the rear-view mirror.
"Well then what are they? Do you know?" asked Gene.
"They're beings of solely created from a type of magic called mana." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shard of a blue crystal; he held up so the people in the backseat could look at it. "You see, these crystals are solidified mana. The Feng takes these crystals and mold forms out of the mana the crystal emits. The crystals used to make Rei are weak, which explains why they look like badly crafted humans; the crystals used emit low mana." That was good, not too in-depth but should answer their questions. Adril put the shard back in his pocket and placed his arms behind his head. "As for where they come from, the Rei are created from a branch separate of the main Feng body."
Gene started to recall what the wizards told him that time when he was at Tenrei. "Wait, aren't caster shells made out of mana or whatever?"
"Yeah, they are. That's why I collected those crystals; if you crush up the mana crystals and stuff the shards in an empty caster shell, the mana in the crystals will interact with each other forming a burst of energy. The caster shell will hold the energy until it's released."
The red-head couldn't believe what he was hearing. With those shards he could make his own caster shells! He wouldn't have to go around hunting for the rare bullets and paying outrageous prices. "Hey Adril, you wouldn't mind letting me have some of those crystals would you?"
"Depends. Do you have any empty and unused caster shells you can put them in?" asked Adril nonchalantly.
Gene thought for a moment as he entered into city limits. Empty, unused shells? Who the hell made empty shells? "No, no I don't."
"Well I guess I'll let you borrow some I guess. The caster shells aren't as strong as the ones the normal ones are however since these crystals are weak. And since your being chased by the Feng, then I bet we'll have a lot of caster shells." He pulled out his caster gun from its holster. "By the way, this is my caster gun, specially made from the best of the best." It was a cylinder the size of two egg cartons on top of each other. A light forest green compared to Gene's rusty brown caster gun. The handle was horizontal with the trigger being a simple contraption that required the user to place his middle finger through the ring and pull. The axils that all caster gun shared were closely together in the center. There was a slot on the top of it where shells were inserted.
"Hmm...that's nice I guess," said Gene to the showoff.
"Nice? Is that all you can say? Caster guns are hard as hell to come by, you know!" said Adril, putting the gun back in its holster. "And the cool thing about my caster gun is that it's newer than most of them," he bragged.
Gene rolled his eyes, "Again that's nice." Adril shot Gene a sour look.
Gene drove the car to an intersection, the nightlife of the city was active with people honking horns and speeding. Just as Gene was about to turn on the green light, sirens blasted from the right of him. Aisha shrieked at the sound of the fire truck driving past them to the left street.
"There must be a fire around," said Jim. Gene turned to the left, and happened to notice the smoke in the air turned an orange color from the city's lights.
"I think it's from our area," said Gene. He drove down the streets, just happening to be following the fire truck.
"I don't think we can talk with all this commotion, and with the crazy cat lady screaming, we'll discuss things later," shouted Adril.
"Her name is Aisha," said Jim over the friend he was trying to defend's screaming.
"Yeah, yeah. I know all your names. Your Jim, the red-head is Gene Starwind, the oddly quiet one back there is Melfina, the assassin lady is Suzuka, and the now-annoying one is Aisha."
"Well she can't help it if her ears are sensitive to sirens Adril or whatever..." Jim crossed his arms and looked away from the front.
Gene saw Melfina in the rear-view mirror, Adril was right, she wasn't talking much at all. The thing about the Rei being machines must have gotten to her, thought Gene. When they got home, he would talk to her in private about it. His view was then obstructed by the sight of flames.
"What the fuck...HOLY SHIT!" Gene immediately stopped the car and literally threw himself out of it once he opened the door. Everyone else got out of the car to see the devastation. Two fire trucks were on either side of the Starwind & Hawking building which was consumed in fire blasting it with water jets; firemen running about and shouting to others to help take out the fires that spread to the other surrounding buildings. Ashes flew into the air, creating a dark snow. Citizens were outside, either afraid of their homes being taken or now homeless. The flames completely covered the building, the words Starwind & Hawking were inflamed and falling apart.
Gene and Jim ran past the crowd to stand in front their former home. Gene fell to his knees and covered his forehead with one hand. How could this have happened? All their hard work was gone. This was Gene and Jim's first branch of business outside of Sentinel III. His partner was throwing a fit beside him. On the ground, Jim wailed as streams of tears ran down the sides of his face. Rambling incoherently, the young blonde boy brought his fist down to the ground. Behind them both, the rest of their group stared and watch the carnage and sorrow displayed.
"Gene... Jim..." Suzuka knew that the building was important to both of them. This was also their home...
With the fire truck sirens dead, Aisha nearly cried herself seeing Gene and Jim on the ground as they were. Jim was practically choking.
Melfina ran to the two and placed her arms around their shoulders. Gene didn't cry, but she knew that he needed to be comforted as well as Jim. Jim grabbed her and put his face in her bosom and cried, her own tears running down her face; she wasn't used to seeing them like this. Gene hardly ever let something bring him down and this was the first time she ever saw Jim cry, he was the hard working one.
Adril merely turned his head away from the scene, "They should just be thankful they weren't in the building." Suzuka replied with a slap across his face. He felt the red spot on his left cheek.
"What the hell was that for?" he asked, though he knew the obvious answer. Suzuka stared directly into his equally hazel eyes with anger.
"You are so cold-hearted..." she said, he voice mixed with hostility and pity.
Aisha was heartbroken for everyone, the flames spread and were growing, taking more and more buildings. More people had to evacuate their apartments and offices while others didn't make it at all. She had heard Adril's comment, but she didn't feel like punching him across the street, the last thing anyone needed was a fight. She would have gone to help comfort Gene, Jim and Mel, but she and fire didn't get along.
A fireman wearing a black and yellow protective suit and helmet approached the mourning trio and asked, "May I speak to you Gene Starwind?"
OOOOOOOOOO
As soon as Fred Lou saw his favorite customers' building in flames on the news, he at once had his two bodyguards drive him to the scene in his Porsche. When he arrived, he started asking around for the location to find Gene and the others. A fireman, in his sweating glory, directed him to a tent with a red cross that was pitched in front of the former Starwind & Hawking building. Inside, Gene and a fireman were discussing the damage at a fold-out table. In a corner, Jim had a towel wrapped around his shivering body. Aisha and Melfina were calming him down. In another corner, Suzuka and some guy were standing together. The assassin was concerned while the other man looked as if he really didn't care what was going on.
Gene saw the weapon's merchant. He really didn't feel like dealing with the homosexual's shenanigans today...at all as a matter of fact.
"And who may you be, sir?" asked the fireman beside Gene. "We're in an important conversation and I really don't think he or his friends should be bothered by strangers."
"Nah, we know him. It's ok for him to be here," said Gene. "What do you want Fred?"
Fred, taking out a fancy ink pen from his coat pocket, spoke as if he were a hero of sorts. "I'll handle any insurance problems, policies, and the like."
Gene thought about it. He didn't even consider the costs of everything. The money he would have to spend would probably be more than he had. And then there was the thing about the fire spreading...did the fire even start at the building?
"Umm...sir, we weren't discussing anything related to insurance. We were about to talk about the cause of the fire," said the fireman.
"What did you guys find out?" asked Gene. "I don't think we had our stove or oven on. Everything was turned off I think."
"It's strange," started the fireman, "We couldn't figure out what started the fire, but it did originate at your home."
Gene gulped, he didn't want to hear those words.
"But," said the fireman, we found that the front door was on the floor and there was no doorknob on it. And judging from the fact that the source of the fire is unknown..." His voice trailed off.
"Are you saying someone broke in and did it!" shouted Gene. He stood straight up with rage, knocking his chair over. Everyone in the tent looked up at him.
"Well that's the thing," explained the fireman. "There is a possibility that a person did enter your home but the doorknob was completely gone. No bolts or anything were found in the door except for the locks and such."
Gene sat back down. The whole ordeal was confusing. Things just don't burn up by themselves mysteriously, nor do doorknobs vanish without a trace. But if someone did break in, what did they want?
"Did it look like everything we're searched through or something?" he asked.
"We can't tell," answered the fireman. "Everything has been practically turned to ash."
A man then entered the tent. Wearing a business suit and holding a suitcase, he asked for Gene Starwind.
"Yeah? What do you want?" replied Gene.
Once the man mentioned insurance, Fred took over. "I'll handle all everything concerning insurance, young man." Gene winced at hearing that. The two walked out of the tent.
The fireman rolled up his sleeve to reveal his watch. "I think it's getting late for you and your friends. Talk to one of the Red Cross representatives about finding a shelter. I'm sorry that you lost your home," he got up, " but now I gotta go and help my brothers with killing the fire so other people wont lose theirs." He left the tent, his loud orders were heard outside.
Gene slid into a slump. It had to have been the Feng that caused the fire. Either that or a very good pyromaniac. He looked over to where Jim, Mel, and Aisha were. Jim had stopped crying, but he wasn't talking. Aisha was trying to convince him that they still had other buildings on other planets and that they had the Outlaw Star, so there was still a place to live. That didn't even get him to budge. Melfina kept reassuring him that everything would be fine, but it didn't work. The outlaw knew he of all people wasn't the best at cheering kids up (even if they were geniuses), but he decided to have a crack at it.
He kneeled in front of the boy, giving him his best smile. "Hey Jim, don't worry about it. At least we're still alive right?"
Jim didn't answer, he kept his brown teary eyes low in a gloomy fashion.
"Ehh..." Gene looked up at Mel and Aisha, secretly hoping they would help him out.
"Gene has a point for once," said Aisha, causing Gene to scowl at her. "Cheer up Jimmy, the business is still in tact." She playfully ruffled his hair, hoping to get some reaction from him.
"Yeah," said Melfina. "You should rest Jim, maybe afterwards you'll have a clearer mind."
"Speaking of rest," said Gene, loud enough for Suzuka, who was watching the whole scene, to hear, "I guess we're gonna be spending some of our nights on the Outlaw Star until we can figure out what to do next."
"Well you can't stay on Heiphong, that's for sure," said Adril, his arms folded. "The Feng obviously were the ones that started the fire. Can't you tell it's a warning?" The tone he used sounded almost smug.
Gene balled his hand into a fist and stared daggers to Adril's eyes, who in return, just smirked at the red-head. Who was this guy? He asked himself in his mind.
"Adril," said Gene sourly, "what do you want? Personally, I think you're with the Feng." He stepped towards the brown-haired man; Adril took the sign of hostility and stepped towards Gene as well.
"Who the hell do you think you are Starwind?" said Adril, now face to face with Gene, looking down slightly at him.
"You know who I am! I'm the owner of the building that you burned down!" shouted Gene. He gave Adril a right hook to the head, but missed when Adril moved his head back. He pushed Gene backwards a bit before charging him with his shoulder. Gene grabbed the man and slammed him down to the ground, falling with him as well. Melfina gasped at the two fighting on the floor.
"Aisha! Suzuka! Please do something!"
The Ctarl-Ctarl and the assassin didn't need to be told again. Aisha snatched Gene from Adril's full-nelson and Suzuka kicked the other man in the side.
"Ow! What the fuck was that for!" cried Adril, holding his aching rib-cage.
"You were acting like a fool," said Suzuka. She pulled him up and held on to him tightly as Aisha held on to a raging Gene.
Melfina spoke up, "Gene, you shouldn't blame him Adril for this. I don't think he did it." As kind as she spoke, Gene didn't want to hear it. He wanted nothing more than to rip Adril's face off for any reason. The guy was nothing but an ass.
"Yeah Starwind. Listen to her. You may learn something for once."
Gene tried to rush Adril, but his legs went flying in the air; Aisha had him restrained.
"He didn't help us! We had that fight in the bag!"
Melfina gazed into Gene's angry face. "Gene, please calm down. Don't blame him, we don't know if he did cause the fire. Anyone could have done it." She wasn't scolding him. Her voice was almost asking for him to calm down.
Like a beast that's soothed by music, Gene stopped struggling. He did give Adril a nasty look though. Adril returned it.
Aisha let go of Gene, not sensing a sign of tenseness. "So what are we going to do now?" she asked.
"I don't know," answered Adril. He looked over his shoulder "Can you please let go of me?" Suzuka let go of him, not wasting any time doing so.
"We should leave Heiphong," she said.
"I agree," said Gene. "But we can't just leave tonight. All launches are canceled at this time except for cargo ships." He thought for a moment, placing a hand underneath his chin.
"We have to go back to the ship anyway. Where else can we spend the night?"
Aisha had a point. Gene, Melfina, and Suzuka agreed with her and she knew Jim would see the logic in it if he were listening. Now that left just one more question. A question Melfina pointed out.
"What are you going to do Adril?"
He had to admit, the Melfina girl was the only one that shown any shred of kindness towards him. Any kindness for that matter. She also seemed to have Gene on a leash or something.
"Hmm...I have my own place. I think I'll head back there. But I'll follow you guys just in case there's anymore Rei hunting you."
OOOOOOOOOO
Gene was going to object but he and the rest found them back in the car again, this time heading for the spaceship docks. Across the twilit sky, smoke from the dying wildfire floated upwards, getting caught by the west wind.
Someone was waiting for them...
As they drove down the avenues, the streetlights went out. The odd thing was that...there was no one on the road or on the sidewalk. Gene noticed this but disregarded it because no one else was said anything about it.
"Everyone must be sleep now," said Adril in the passenger's seat.
"I think its eerie in a way," said Gene.
"I feel the same way. But I think it's only on this side of the city," said Suzuka from the back.
As he was driving, Gene gradually picked up speed. There was no one around and the signal lights seemed to be broken, so no worries. Gene didn't have road rage, but there was something about him and speed. He rolled his window down and put his arm out, letting his hand catch the wind.
Up ahead, a dark man-shaped figure stood...in the middle of the road...
Gene honked the horn. The person didn't move.
Gene slammed his foot on the brakes. He sharply turned the steering wheel to the left, causing everyone to be pulled to the right. The sound of the tires screeching suddenly ceased when the car stopped.
"What the hell Gene? You're trying to get us killed?" yelled Aisha, who had fallen and was getting up from the car's carpet.
Gene didn't answer. He got out of the car and stomped towards the raincoat wearing person that had caused him to almost crash.
He got a good look at the person. Judging by the figure of the body, it was a man. No visible traits were seen for his whole body was covered in a black raincoat that was buttoned down halfway. His face was shadowed by the hood he wore. Still, Gene didn't care if the person was some hellish demon...
"Alright, now why didn't you move? Are you trying to get killed or something?" Gene kept himself on check.
The other five were still in the car, looking at Gene and the man he almost hit.
"He's just standing there," said Melfina. Jim even joined the others at viewing his Aniki and the other guy, though he was still silent.
Adril, Suzuka, and Aisha didn't say anything. The three, warriors in their own rights, sensed something negative. The vibes were coming from the man Gene was talking to.
The silence between Gene and the man could have been cut with a knife. There was a strange invisible aura Gene felt from the guy. Something like the feeling when looking at caged wild animal at a zoo.
The feeling intensified, Gene took a small step back. The man then let out a raspy, young, hollow chuckle.
"This is going to be sooo fun." With that, the man flicked his bare, pale hands.
A fire enveloped them.
Gene instinctively drew his handgun, but that didn't prepare him for what happened next. The man threw his arms as if he was rolling two bowling balls. Flames suddenly shot out from the ground, and made two snaking trails that went past Gene. The flames went past the car in a straight line then stopped, dying on the spot.
Adril, Aisha, and Suzuka got out of the car. Melfina and Jim stayed, knowing that they would only get in the way. The tunic wearing warrior drew his two swords and readied himself as Suzuka and Aisha followed suit, Suzuka wielding her bokken and Aisha tensing her muscles.
"Heh heh heh...what do we have here? Faithful companions?" asked the man in an evilly playful tone.
Images of the fire fell into Gene's mind like pieces of a puzzle. "You caused the fire didn't you?"
The man laughed again, the wrinkles of his hood shifting. "Yes, I did. And before you ask...I am from the Feng." His stance firm and voice boisterous showed the proudness and glory of being a part of the pirate guild.
Gene wasn't surprised, he wasn't even going to ask if the man was part of the Feng. As far as he could tell, there were no Rei around. If the guy was going to try to take them on by himself, he must have been high up in the Feng ranks.
"So you think you can take us on by yourself?"
"I think I'm more than enough for you and your motley crew." The man chuckled again. Obviously, the fact that Gene had a crew seemed humorous to him.
He stopped laughing, though Gene could sense the man was smiling. He resumed talking.
"Tendo King Vadeas didn't tell me that I couldn't burn your home down, nor did he tell me that I couldn't spread it. But he did tell me to retrieve the android and the ignition key to the XGP. After searching your home, I didn't find either item, so I concluded you had both the key and the android with you. And I was correct.
I knew you would head to your ship after finding out your home on this planet was destroyed, so I wanted to cut you off. And here I am."
"So, Gene Starwind, hand over the android girl and the key if you want to avoid any...heated complications."
It didn't take long for Gene to answer. "You're going to have kill me first!" He spoke fiercer than the fire on the man's hand.
Silence. The other three stood at Gene's side, the four ready for the unexpected.
But weren't ready to hear the man laugh again.
"Now THAT'S what I wanted to hear! I knew you would say something like that!"
The man pulled down his hood. The first noticeable thing was his hair, a bright orange color that went down to his shoulders. His face was that of a young handsome man with a mix of vivid green eyes.
"You should remember this face Gene Starwind. I have a feeling you're going to be seeing it in the future..."
Adril nearly jumped when he saw the man's face. Memories of the past clouded the inside of his skull, that face was the same as it was three years ago...
The man smirked at the four. "Even though you don't stand a chance against me...now isn't the time you can attempt to prove me otherwise."
He stepped backwards until there was a decent gap between them. With a wave of his hand, a wall of fire ignited from the ground, separating the man and the four from each other.
"I hope we meet again Gene Starwind. I look forward to cremating you." He let out a loud laugh, it echoed through the alleyway he ran through.
OOOOOOOOOO
The mammoth of a castle was intimidating when the couple gazed at it from the hill they were spending their afternoon date on, but it was nonetheless beautiful. The vast city's tallest buildings couldn't come close to the brick giant. The snow-capped mountains in the distance added to the marvelous image. The clock tower was also a spectacle to behold. Standing on the eastern sector of the city, it's faces could be seen from any part of Givet. The bells that were concealed inside of the elegant tri-pointed roof rang at every hour.
The enticing woman with the turquoise-dyed hair had her arms wrapped around her lover as he did, a spiky-haired heavily built blonde man. They were dressed in casual clothing since they weren't on school grounds. When they were lower ranked, the Yu Ling kept a strict eye on everyone. Being part of the Yu Ling had its advantages.
The blonde man held up his bare arm to check his watch, the woman looking at it as well.
"It's time to go. Teirben's going to tell us and the rest if he has the android and the XGP."
"And don't forget about the crystal," she reminded him.
"Yeah, I always forget that part." She laughed at him a bit before both of them climbed the hill. At the top stood a motorcycle.
"You always love racing down this hill don't you?" she asked playfully.
"Yeah. Also, I love taking you here just so me and you can be alone together."
The two embraced each other and kissed deeply, a small smile at the edges of their lips from the urgency of having to get back to the school.
They broke the kiss and got on the motorcycle, the woman holding the man's waist as they zoomed down the hill and into the vast city, her hair fluttering about and a smile on both of their faces.
OOOOOOOOOO
Alright, enough with the italic things I usually do right now. I just want to say that I hated this chapter. I felt restricted throughout writing it. I'm sorry if you don't like it but don't worry, I don't either. Maybe it was because I was too busy reading the Legend of Zelda fic I showed Ronin months ago. I never actually read it back then, I just glanced at it. And I must say it is very, VERY cool. Also, there are ideas flowing about in my head for original stories. But I said no. I WILL COMPLETE THIS FIC! I HAVE TO!
I hate this chapter so badly...hopefully when I finish the fic I can redo it or something. This explains why it took forever for me to finally get it out to you guys. I was going to have a fight scene in this one, but I changed my mind and reverted back to a fight scene over and over again until I decided not to. I felt this way about a TON of things in this chapter.
I hope I can fix this damn fic.
Read and Review.
PS-Ronin, I can't believe I'm saying this but I find myself drifting away from video games. I'm just going to wait for Kingdom Hearts 2 to come out and I think I'll give up serious gaming after that. I have so many ideas running about my mind for other stories its crazy!
