Dual Sides

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Chapter 1-2: Orders

Just near Lylat System and the mentioned Terra System was System Asgardi, a harmonious and lively star system. Though many space criminals tend to create trouble, though, the UAF, or United Asgardi Federation, kept a watchful eye to such occurrences. With military forces to deploy and elite forces like Lone Star, Lone Comet, and Lone Meteor, to name a few, to command, malice was minimal in a sort of way…

It was a normal sunny day at a mall in Ashford City - a metropolis in a planet in Asgardi System named Canis Fifth. However, a certain black bird had his heart beating like a drum inside the dark areas of the shopping center. He gripped his pistol tightly as he slowly hugged the dark walls. He peeked at the end of the palisade, and there he noticed two armed soldiers.

"Gotcha!"

He slithered behind them and fired two shots. They were unable to notice him, and so they perished. He then stealthily traversed a dark corridor, leading to a dead end. He quickly turned back, but before doing so, five armed men cornered him. They were already about to fire him with their chain-laser guns.

"Think fast… Think fast!"

He swiftly grabbed his other pistol holstered to his belt and let loose with his two weapons. The soldiers fired away as well, and the oncoming shots were about to hit each other. The black bird tried to swerve to evade the shots. Yes, he was able to kill the five oppositions, but his trouble was evading their attack. One, two, three… Laser beams flew past him… However, he didn't notice one beam that hit him to the chest.

He was suddenly knocked down to the floor. His view suddenly flashed. All the surroundings then changed from a dark floor of a building to an arcade corner. His outfit returned - semi-black jacket, white shirt, dark grey pants, two brown belts, with one having a golden buckle and the other having silver buckle, and black boots. He took off what seemed to be a helmet with a visor and placed it on a pole. A holograph of a monitor beamed to a console just beside where the pole for the helmet was placed, asking for something.

Game Over. You reached Act 1 Scenario 3, with time of 00" 20' 14.

He sighed when he noticed the result. A holograph of a digital pad containing letters flashed out, and he pushed buttons, revealing the identity RAVEN at the monitor. He covered his face when he noticed that his name wasn't part of the top ten high-scorers. His attention, however, was taken when he noticed the name LOBO. It occupied the 1st to 5th place - the second and fourth place had the same time score while the first place had only a lead of a few seconds.

"You're never going to beat him when it comes to shooting…"

A voice surprised him. As he looked back, he noticed a white rabbit wearing a carnation blouse, blue short jacket, red pants, and white boots, as well as a red ribbon tied at the near end of her left ear. She was carrying a plastic bag full of boxes containing some sort of peripherals for computers.

"Hanna!" Raven blushed out as he attempted to cover the projection with his hands, but failed. "You know, you shouldn't say that to me, for all I know, I think you should be praising me! Besides, it's my first kick in this live shooter game… Lobo might have been playing that game for a long time!" However, she just grinned and shook his head.

"Raven, you've been playing a home version of that game," she explained as she pulled him out of the stand, allowing another player to use it. "Look, just face it… Lobo's better with guns than you do…" The black bird gave a frown. "Wait, you're still good at using a laser lance, so don't give me that look!" The bird changed his mood to a bright one.

"Hey," he suddenly reminded himself as he pulled Hanna and started running, "you're right! That means I mustn't miss an issue of Path of the Asgardian Fighter! Hurry, to the magazine shop!" The white rabbit just sighed with embarrassment.

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Two people, among the other persons in the mall, were walking at the park area of the mall. One was trying to get something from his pocket while the other was shyly looking at the surroundings.

"And that's what we call here Spasmo!" a dark-grey wolf, wearing dark green opened jacket with a black collar to boot, black shirt, silver dog-tags, black leather gloves, two belts with one metallic buckle, black pants, and brown boots, proclaimed as he gave his female human companion with a bar of candy wrapped in a colorful wrapper. "You should try it! It's sweet."

The shy girl with shoulder-length black hair in white shirt, with a short green-checkered skirt, below ankle white socks, and black rubber shoes, smiled faintly and took it. She opened it gently, revealing a rainbow-colored tube-shaped jelly on a stick. She held it at the stick and tasted the candy. She then felt something ticking her nerves.

"I get it know, why this is called Spasmo!" she laughed after removing the jelly from her mouth. "Thank you, Lobo! Though it's my first time seeing a sweet like this, it tasted something familiar… like Black-burnt Poly Fruits back at my planet… It's flavorful!"

"Really? Gee, thanks, Alieu!" he replied with a big smile as his cheeks turned red. "I mean, um, I hope you're enjoying life outside from your origin planet… I mean, it's not that we don't want you to go back, it's just that visiting the... well…"

She tapped her hand to his mouth and smiled, "I know… It's against UAF law to visit and interact explicitly with underdeveloped planets… Don't worry! I understand that! I like the place outside of my planet, too!" She then hugged him, making him all turn red.

Alieu came from an underdeveloped planet inside the System Asgardi labeled Veria. When Lobo Kanid, leader of Lone Star, was assigned to bring custody a criminal named Bagdol, who was terrorizing the planet. An accident occurred, so he could not leave for a while. There, he met her, and the friendship between the two was starting to build up. When he revealed his true self, she assisted him, up to the point that she joined him on his return to his team.

"By the way," she wondered while having the candy in her mouth, "um, Lobo, are there, um, chocolates around here, just like you said?"

"Chocolates?" the wolf whimpered after being startled. "Ah yes! Let's go, I'll show you the best chocolate shop ever in this city!"

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A black panther, wearing a white A-shirt, blue pants, and brown sandals, strode at the different furniture displayed at the basement of the mall. "Ay, loco," he muttered in his Gatan accent, "there must be something here that fits well in my quarto." He tried to look around for something, but apparently, he couldn't find anything that could fit his taste.

(Gatan accent is a pseudo-Spanish-Filipino talk. It originated from Gata Quatro, a planet in Asgardi System, where the accent is used mostly.)

Something took his attention, though, at the last booth. It was a stall selling miniature ships. He browsed the selection, looking for a peculiar design, but he didn't find it. He asked the shopkeeper, "Um, pardon me, señior, but do you have a model ship of Felino Barco? You know, a big starship housed by the Gato Salvaje clan?"

"Hmm," the clerk wondered as he looked at his PDA. "Ah yes, we have one in stock." He then showed a miniature ship, painted in brown, with a symbol of a silhouette of a cat. "Will you buy it, sir?" The panther nodded in amazement as he took out his account card.

"Omni 2000, right?" the feline asked for confirmation. The clerk nodded, and so he gave him his card.

(Omni is the currency in Asgardi System. The denotation is used before the amount of money, like Omni 500.)

While waiting for the product to be boxed, he saw a dog browsing the different models as well. The canine was familiar to him. He tapped him to the shoulder and asked, "Pacencia, but you seem to look familiar…"

"Verdigo de Madrigal?" the dog whistled in delight. "Ah, it's me, Zeig Kanid! I'm Lobo's cousin!" The panther shook hands with him after realizing that. "So why are you here? Lone Star is on a day-off, I suppose?"

"Si," Verdigo grinned. "We took this opportunity to relax for a while, and well, Lobo said it's a good idea to relax here in the mall. I took this opportunity to buy myself a good ship model."

"Let me guess, Felino Barco?" the canine laughed as he showed his pick, a long-nosed red fighter model, to the clerk. "You never forget your place at the clan, right?" The black panther nodded. "That's good to hear. You're not forgetting anything about your heritage."

After a while, the clerk returned with two boxes. One was given to Verdigo, and the other to Zeig. "Looks like I have to exit, amigo!" he pleasantly bade. "Anything you wish to tell to Lobo?"

"Ah, yes," the dog reminded him, "tell him that the Flash Burst weapon he told me to upgrade was already sent to him. The package should arrive at his residence by now! Well, see you!" He waved his hand as he distanced away from the panther. The feline did the same.

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After an hour later, in which they had finished eating in LaLeiLunch, the group was trying to discuss some matters that didn't involve their job, at least, with UAF. However, one simple call from the communicator of Lobo would end something that would be extremely rare… their day-off.

"Yes," Lobo replied vigilantly from the small screen in his PDA. "Alieu Mostad, Raven Samuel, Hanna Ansfei, Verdigo de Madrigal, and I, Lobo Kanid, are ready for the mission… But, does that mean we'll just have to wait to that sector?"

"You'll wait for a group called Star Fox," Chief Spax, a grumpy bear informed them. "At those coordinates, you will be picked up by them. Their system, Lylat, is in recovery state, and the UAF has decided to help the star system. I want you, Lone Star, since the other Lone elite forces are already assigned to different missions, to visit the Defense Force in Lylat for trust's sake."

"Yes sir," he then saluted, "Lone Star will do its best to be our system's representative."

The communication ended, and everybody sighed in discomfort. Their day-off flew away. It ended so quickly.

"Where are we going again?" Raven jittered out in curiosity. "Corneria… in Lylat System? Say, Lobo-man, been there?"

"None of us has gone there," Hanna grumbled as he stroke his head with her palm. "I doubt that the Felino Barco travels away from the System's boundaries; I'm sure it's Alieu's first time to be out from her planet; I'm sure Lobo and I haven't been away from Asgardi… I don't know about you though…" The bird just gave a scary look at her.

"So, when will we do it?" Alieu asked Lobo.

"Eh," he smiled like a crocodile, "um… I won't be lying… so… now... as in N-O-W!"

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