Note: I do not own Love Hina, Read or Die, or any other intellectual properties. They are all copyrights of their respectful owners. The rest, however, is MINE, BEE-YOTCHES!
This chapter will be virtually all action, as it leads to the big climax. So, if you want some spectacular battle sequences, you'll get them from here on in.
Otto Lilienthal's Glider, currently above them, did the unthinkable; it used its bird-like wings to latch on to the paper plane, and then it took a nosedive.
"WAAAAUUGH! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Keitaro screamed as the two gliders went on a collision course towards the ground.
"NOW DIVE TO YOUR DEATH! MUA HA HA!" Otto's glider let go of the paper plane and pulled up, leaving the paper plane spiraling towards the ground below.
GYRAX Presents… Love-Or-Die Hina
Chapter 4: The Eye of the Storm! You Mean to Tell Me It's Hurricane Season, Already!
"The Fortress is moving!" Exclaimed an officer of the US Navy. "And it's heading right towards us!" United States President Cole was in a battleship, The USS Edison, with its crew.
Indeed, the I-jin fortress was heading right towards them, and at alarming speed. The President went into panic. "OPEN FIRE!"
With that, the entire fleet of destroyers, dreadnoughts, cruisers and battleships aimed their cannons straight at the fortress and fired away. Rockets were flying at the fortress in overwhelming numbers, but the fortress fires back what looked like a beam of light at one of the battleships, destroying it with ease.
At the British Library's War Room, the Joker only watched with irritation. "Dammit, he's acting out of impulse."
After the barrage from the American fleet, the I-jin fortress moved forward without a scratch, with what looked like a hexagonal force field shielding it.
"IT'S GOT SOME KIND OF IMPENETRABLE FORCE FIELD!" Cried out Mongoose, another officer of another US Navy ship, the USS Graham Bell. Just then, the fortress fired another beam at the ship, blowing it to pieces. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!"
"Oh God!" Exclaimed Cobra, another US Naval officer form the USS Edison. "MONGOOOOOOOOSE!"
"Mr. President!" Joker said in the British Library's War Room. "Tell them to hold their fire and let them pass! Our field agents will take care of it!"
President Cole heard the message loud and clear through an earpiece. He turns to his Naval Forces. "HOLD YOUR FIRE! HOLD YOUR FIRE! LET THEM PASS!"
The battleships stop opening fire, letting the fortress pass. As President Cole watched the immense flying base pass over the USS Edison, he delved deeper into panic and eventually peed his pants.
(O)
The paper glider spiraled towards the ground at alarming speeds. Yomiko used all of her strength to stop the plane from spinning. Then, she pointed the glider's nose upwards to break its fall; it pulls upwards, narrowly avoiding a collision to the ground below. After the plane recovers, it slowly gains altitude.
The Paper looks back at the others. "You guys all right?"
They all sigh in relief as they just avoided sudden death. "That was TOO close." Keitaro said.
Otto sees the paper plane gain altitude and close in from behind. "They're still alive?" His glider decelerates to where he's now directly over the paper plane. He then dropped an array of bombs at them.
Naru reacted quickly by grabbing Keitaro by his ankles and wielding him like a baseball bat. She swings him around, smacking Otto's bombs away from the paper plane; the bombs explode at a safe distance away from them. Otto had a hard time believing what he saw.
The brown glider turned away from the paper plane, now flying to their right. Drake took out an M16 Carbine and opened fire. Otto's glider barrel rolled to avoid the hail of bullets, only two rounds made their mark. The glider then flew directly over them, now flying at their left. Otto pulled out a Colt M1911 Handgun and fired at them, only hitting the left wing of the paper plane three times. While Yomiko used a few extra sheets of paper to cover up the holes, Drake fired form the grenade launcher attached to his assault rifle, then fired from the rifle itself. Otto's glider did a barrel roll to avoid the lob grenade and put on the brakes to avoid another hail of gunfire, now flying behind them.
Drake looked behind him, and then turned to the others. "He's right behind us!"
Otto's glider fired its machine guns, but Drake's warning gave the paper plane a chance to turn to the right and avoid the machine gun fire. Naru and Keitaro were hanging on for their lives as the paper glider made its intense bank turn.
After the plane finishes its turn, Yomiko looks back at the other three behind her. "This isn't getting us anywhere. I think I have an idea." She turns to Drake. "Mr. Drake? Do you have any C4s?"
Otto's glider and Yomiko's paper plane fly side by side, with the paper plane slowly closing the gap between them. Keitaro has a paper rope tied to his waist. Yomiko turns to Naru, with the rope in her hands. "Go ahead and grab it. You won't get any paper cuts." The Paper smiles as Naru cautiously grabs the paper rope.
"Since when did I agree to do this?" Keitaro put a blank look on his face.
"Since now." Naru replied. "Just cooperate, ok?" She swings Keitaro around like a lasso and throws him towards Otto's glider.
Keitaro hits the gliders left wing and latches onto it. "I got it! I got it!" Suddenly, the glider flaps its bird-like wings violently, trying to shake him off. "Whoa! Nelly!" He was hanging on for his dear life.
"We got a feisty little bugger down here!" Naru shouted, impersonating Steve Irwin. With one mighty jerk, she yanked Otto's glider, pulling it towards her fist. Her atomic punch left a huge dent on the glider's hull.
"What?" Otto said, looking at Naru in utter shock.
Drake took this opportunity to put a C4 explosive onto on of the glider's afterburners. "We're all clear!"
After Keitaro jumped back onto the paper plane, Naru kicked Otto Lilienthal's glider, sending it a good distance away from them. Seconds later, Drake pushed a button on a remote and the C4 explosive detonated, obliterating the glider and reducing it to a ball of fire, smoke, and ashes. The smoke finally clears, leaving no trace of Otto Lilienthal anywhere.
"We got him." Naru sighed. Then she looked at the city around them. "Oh, God, we're in Tokyo!"
"Great." Keitaro replied. "Now, we're even farther from the fortress."
"Attention, agents!" The Joker's voice came from all of their earpieces. "Are you all right?"
"We're fine." Yomiko answered.
"Glad to hear it." Joker replied. "I mean to inform you that the I-jin are on the move again. This time, the fortress is going twice as fast as before. It seems they're more intent on reaching Hinata than before."
"We're going over there, now!" Naru replied.
"That's a negative, Miss Fist." Joker said. "The US Navy just attempted an assault on the fortress, and we recently discovered that it's protected by an immense energy shield. This force field is supposedly made up of an immense amount of chi, an energy that martial artists believe they can tap into through training and meditation. So far, there isn't a martial artist on Earth who could release this much chi, and whether or not they manage to harness this power artificially is still a mystery."
"If I'm right," Keitaro interjected. "Than we just need chi to cancel out chi."
"I suppose so." Joker said. "But that's still an immense amount of power we're speaking of."
"We could go back to the inn to get Motoko and Kanako to try and punch a hole in this force field so we can get through." Naru said.
"Wait." Keitaro pondered. "I have another idea. During my training with Seta, I learned a few things about how to harness chi. I'm not saying I can do it, myself, but if I CAN, I could punch a hole in that field myself, and that could save us the time of having to get back to Hinata for Motoko or Kanako's assistance."
"I hope you're right." Naru replied. "We'll try it. I still believe we'll need Motoko for this."
"I hope you know what you're doing." Joker added. "Even with added assistance, it doesn't look like you'd be able to penetrate that energy field. We'll look for another way to break through it.
(O)
At the fortress control room…
"Sir, I've detected a cluster of life forms approaching us at approximately five hundred and fifty kilometers an hour." Maria Skłodowska-Curie reported to Johann. Madame Curie looked to be in her early twenties, with her brown hair in a bun, thin glasses over her brown eyes, and dressed in early twentieth century attire. Her features are slightly reminiscent of Mutsumi.
"Wow! They're stupid." Johann responded. "Zhang Sanfeng."
A bald man in his early thirties, dressed in Chinese attire, approaches Johann. "Yes?"
"Have it ready, now." Johann said.
"Already?" Zhang asked. A pause fills the room. "Right."
Johann smirked. "Zhang Sanfeng was a semi-mythical Chinese Taoist who is believed by a few to have actually achieved immortality. A master of several styles of Chinese martial arts, he was credited for originating soft martial arts, especially T'ai Chi Ch'uan. It's thanks to his understanding of chi, the 'Lillith's Egg' can use the souls already contained to draw in a massive amount of chi from the surrounding area and harness it, and then release it in the form of a large hexagonal chi shield, which I have appropriately dubbed the 'AT Field'."
(O)
Keitaro is standing on the front nose of the paper airplane, deep in a Zen trance. A surge of power ran down Keitaro's spine, startling him for a second. "I feel it. Mr. Joker wasn't kidding with the immense chi thing. That's a lot of energy." As the paper plane approaches, Keitaro readied his fists; then, the plane finally collides, with Keitaro's throwing a mighty punch at the chi shield. All that was happening, though, was that the paper plane was being pushed back. You could hear Keitaro grunt loudly as he struggled to drive his right fist through the AT Field, using all he learned from his training with Seta during their excavation in America. After a minute of trying, he eventually gives way, and the force filed electrifies him and throws him backwards. He now lays on the paper plane, nice and crispy.
(O)
Johann watched in gloat, as Keitaro wasn't able to break through. "Aww, how cute. He thinks he can penetrate an AT Field."
"That is amusing, sir." Madame Curie added.
(O)
The three looked at Keitaro as he lies limp.
"Are you ok?" Naru said.
Quickly, Keitaro recovered and stood back on the paper planes nose, which was touching the AT Field. "Yeah, I was just too tense. I screwed up a little, but I almost made it." He cleared his mind of all thoughts, focused on what's ahead of him, and drove his fist into it again. This time, his right fist successfully went through the AT Field, and he used both of his hands to rip it open, as if it wasn't there.
The joker witnessed this through a camcorder mounted on Drakes hat. "Well, I'll be."
The plane seamlessly passed through the hole in the AT Field and headed towards one of the four smaller structures.
(O)
Johann just laughed. "Ha ha! Wow! I've really underestimated these guys."
"Perhaps." Madame Curie added. "We should lay all of our cards on the table now, or else we'll suffer the same fate as Ikkyu before us. Using all of our talents against them at once should make victory far more probable for us."
"Brilliant deduction, Marie!" Johann said. "Send someone to Quadrant II."
"Jacques de Vaucanson is already there, sir." Madame Curie replied.
(O)
The foursome stands in front of one of the fortresses four smaller structures, but even it was at least two hundred meters tall. Suddenly, they hear a jet engine sound and turn to their left; it was the blue mecha from before, only this time, they could distinguish its features.
Jacques de Vaucanson appeared as a blue mecha, which looks like a fusion between Gundam and eighteenth century. It used thrusters on his feet and back to hover in mid-air; it had a spear in his right hand, and it had a shield and Gatling gun attached to his left arm. He pointed his machine gun at them. "Greetings." And just like that, he opened fire, shooting about six thousand rounds a minute.
They quickly made a run for it, heading for an entrance they found on the structure. Drake pulled out a grenade and threw it at Jacques. The grenade exploded nicely, sending him to the ocean below. They supposedly saw the last of him.
(O)
"That was it?" Johann said in disappointment. "He didn't even try to defend himself! I can't believe it; we're losing our comrades one by one. SEND SHINOBI TO QUADRANT II, NOW!"
"You have no idea how happy that will make her." Madame Curie responded.
(O)
"One of our satellites have mapped the inside of the I-jin base," Joker said over their earpieces. "And found the control room to be near the top of the center structure. Take out the controls there, but under NO circumstances use any explosives. The I-jin fortress is using nuclear power to propel itself and any wrong move could set off a nuclear chain reaction that'll cause a great deal of environmental catastrophe."
"So in short," Keitaro responded. "Bad things will happen?"
"Not a professional way to put it, but yes, bad things will happen."
"I'll make sure to restrain myself." Drake added.
They enter a huge, pitch-black room. They knew it was huge because they could hear echoes in their voices when they came in.
"Dammit! I can't see anything!" Naru whined.
"I should've brought night vision goggles if I knew we'd be in a place like this." Drake added.
Suddenly, the floor below them lit up below them in a brilliant green. A pattern on the floor began to make out as it glowed. The foursome took a little time to find out what it was after it took form.
"A crucifix?" Keitaro spoke.
"Remember the Guttenberg Bible." Yomiko answered.
Suddenly Naru sees someone from the other side of the room. She sees a young girl who seems to be in her teens. She had short blue hair with blue eyes to match. She wore a short green and yellow dress with a green hood and the word "Cabot" written on it, yellow socks, and green shoes. After what happened yesterday, Naru was skeptical.
"Hold on." Keitaro said. He cleared his mind of all thoughts. Though exhausted from breaking through the AT Field, he could still feel the energy flowing in his surroundings. He calmly walked forward and put his right hand on the girl's head, and then he smiled. "Hi, Shinobu."
"Sempai!" She quickly embraced him.
"Is it really?" Yomiko said.
"Yep." Keitaro replied. "Once again, it was my training with Seta. I learned the basics of how to sense someone's aura. While my abilities aren't refined in any way, I know for sure the vibes coming out of her are good. If it was her clone, it wouldn't be so, as Motoko suggested."
"Wow, Keitaro." Naru said. "I'm impressed."
(O)
Johann was laughing again. "Ha ha! This boy doesn't cease to amaze me. I thought for sure they'd mistake her for the clone."
"Sir?" Madame Curie interrupted. "Jacques de Vaucanson is still alive. The signal is weak, but I'm sure he's still out there."
"That's good to hear." Johann replied. "Re-establish communication with him. Then tell him to hurry up and go to Quadrant II. Also, have Shinobi there; we'll have them team up."
"That's an affirmative, sir." Madame Curie responded as she turns to the computer in front of her.
"I, on the other hand, have a call to make." Johann turns on his cell phone and dials a number. "Hello?…Yes, it's time…Don't worry. They're here in the fortress…Me, neither…Alright. Don't fail me, now…ok. Bye." He turns off his cell phone and turns back to the monitor to watch the happy reunion. He smirks. "Enjoy it, while you can. I assure you it won't last long."
(O)
A dark figure sits on the roof of the Hinata Inn with a cell phone in his right hand. He puts the phone in his pocket and puts an evil grin on his face. "It's about time." A harsh but confident voice came out of his mouth. He stands up and looks around the Inn's backyard. "IT'S SHOWTIME!" He jumps off the roof with a maniacal laugh echoing in the background.
End Chapter 4
Now review and tell me what you think.
Next Episode of Love-Or-Die Hina
Chapter 5: Before the Climax! Let's Rock It, Bee-Yotches!
Author's Notes:
We all know who the US President is, now. President Cole is a character in Read or Die with a bladder control problem. ROD isn't quite ROD without him peeing his pants.
If you want to know more about Zhang Sanfeng, look him up on Wikipedia. Be prepare to do some research on Chinese martial arts and such.
Maria Skłodowska-Curie, known as Marie Curie (1867-1934), is famous for her pioneering research in radioactivity and discovering two new chemical elements, radium for its intense radioactivity, and polonium for her native country Poland. She won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 after discovering the two new elements.
Jacques de Vaucanson (1709-1782) is known as the inventor of the first true robots.
Most of this information is based on research on Wikipedia (which is a site you just HAVE to go to, by the way), and interpreted by myself. If I'm wrong in any way, feel free to correct me, because there may be a good chance that I put this all down wrong.
The next chapter will be more action and some nice fight sequences put in for good measure. I won't reveal much, but let's just say Motoko and Kanako have to join forces to fight an I-jin you would never expect.
See you next chapter.
GYRAX