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Chapter 2: The Hunted and the Departure

"No! Please, not the child! Please spare the child!"

"Out of the way, foolish woman!"

"Please! I beg you!"

BAM! (Gunfire)

"Mo... mmy"

"Heh, I'll make this quick for you, you FREAK!"

"Gah... GWAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Wha- what!"

(Sound of explosion)

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A young man with long red hair jerked awake, bits of cold sweat on his forehead. He was in an escape pod's cockpit. A blue-haired little girl sat on his lap, curled against his chest. She was asleep, tear marks still fresh on her face. The red-haired youth took a few seconds to regain his composure. He sighed, that dream had unsettled his usual calm demeanor. He closed his eyes, and images of a burning village, a little kid slumped against a rock, armed men engaged in combat, ground littered with corpses, a huge graveyard flashed in his mind one after another. The youth shook his head again, this time punching himself in the face.

'Grr... No, why am I remembering these things? I haven't thought about them for so long... So why now, all of sudden?' The youth thought, then glanced at the little girl sleeping soundly.

'Can it be becaue of her? Is it this child's experiences reminding me of mine? Absurd! I never heard of dreams being affected like so' (In fact, this was his first dream in years).

He tried to shrug off the feeling of unease, then glanced back at the girl. Admittedly, he had been feeling something strange while he was in her presence. It was as if something buried deep with him had awakened, drawn, resonating to another power. He did sense something familiar about her, not by memory, just by... gut instinct perhaps, but he couldn't quite place a finger on it. As he was pondering all this, the girl slowly awoke. She looked around, and then suddenly curled up tightly against his chest again.

"...Maria, right? You should eat something, its been 2 days already..." He told her worriedly.

She didn't reply. The youth sighed and was about to say something when the computer announced that an unfamiliar signal had been found. It did not match anything in the database, and it was also not clear whether it is hostile or not. The youth was extremely annoyed. So far, he had happened to wander into Station #17 right before it was attacked, got tossed around in a bound-to-be-destroyed ship, had some unpleasant dream (He tried to block that one out), and now stuck in the middle of nowhere with a potentially dangerous entity approaching him when he was riding in an ESCAPE pod. As he felt the pod being pulled into the unknown ship, he reached for the long, thin bundle lying next to him. Once the pod stopped moving, he heard 2 voices outside. Carefully placing Maria on the seat while he crouched right in front of the hatch, he held the long object loosely near the edge with his right hand, pointed at the exit.

The moment it opened, he sprang forward, using his left hand to thrust his "weapon" towards the figure standing in front of the opening. The supposed enemy dodged quickly to the side, as the youth propelled right past him. He planted one feet on the floor and twirled so he faced his opponent, ready to dash again, and stopped abruptly when he saw that the target had both hands up.

"Whoa, kid! Chill out a sec there will ya?" said the tall, muscular blond man. "Your acting like I tried to kill you! Sheesh."

"...Who are you?" the youth inquired, (or demanded rather, considering his sharp tone) slowly lowering his weapon.

"Sorry if we startled you." The youth turned to find another person, this one a blond woman. "I am Mirage Koas and his name is Cliff Fittir."

"We're Klausians of the Quark, and you are currently aboard our flagship, the Diplo." Cliff added.

"...Quark?" The youth asked, while he remembered that Klausians were excellent fighters due to their natural body fitness (No wonder he dodged easily, he thought).

"Well... Simply put, we're an anti-federation group, although we used to be just a bunch of traders." Cliff explained, the youth gave no reply.

"Who's this? Your sister?" Mirage asked, peering in the pod.

The youth remembered that Maria was still in there, and he ran to the pod, carefully carrying her out. She looked rather bad, thanks to the bruises from the Radish incident and lack of food. The two Klausian immediately led him to the medical bay, where she was treated at once and then tucked into a bed.

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A little later Maria woke up, and stared at her surroundings, confused.

"Hey there!" Maria gave a start when someone spoke behind her, and turned around to find a two blond people.

"Hi, what's your name?" The woman asked genially.

"...Maria"

"Well, nice to meet you Maria, my name's Mirage Koas."

"And I'm Cliff Fittir, nice to meet you kid." The man next to Mirage replied.

Maria merely gave a slight nod and started looking around, as if searching for something. Mirage supposed that she was looking for the boy, and asked her if he was her brother, to which Maria shook her head. When the two had finished filling her in about the current situation, the young man came in, and went to her side, asking if she was okay. Maria told him she was fine, and then the youth nodded and stood up, leaning against the wall. Mirage had apparently ran a thourough check on their pod, since she asked them if they were survivors of the recent Aldian attack. When she saw that both of them were reluctant to discuss this topic, she immediately dropped it. When Maria gave a small yawn, the Klausians decided to take the two newcomers to a spare room.

"Oh yeah, by the way, I never got your name kid." Cliff said suddenly.

The youth seemed to hesitate a bit, then he saw Maria looking up at him (He was carrying her again), and his tension eased a bit.

"...Shuyin Magna"

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(Some dark room with four pedestals in it, three of which were lit)

"...We have located the anomaly." A slightly distorted female's form, who seemed to be floating above the pedestal, announced.

"Good, he has evaded us for a while now." Replied another form, this one male.

"At last... Now we can chase him down." said another male's voice, this one rather bitter.

"Send some of the Hunters, they may carry out their orders in anyway they wish." The first male ordered.

"As you wish..." The other two replied.

Then the three figures disappeared and the room was pitch black.

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The Diplo had made a brief stop at planet Telix for supplies. The Klausians took this chance to have the newcomers get out of the ship and enjoy some fresh air and liveliness for once. Although Telix had basic space-traveling technologies, it was only gained recently and thus the general level of development was highly primitive compared to the likes of Earth. However, this also meant that items that were either no longer sold or hard to find on Earth was easy to obtain here. This proved to be quite effective in improving litlle Maria's mood. She looked around the many shops and attraction in the busy city, which was even more lively than usual because of a festival. The red haired youth, Shuyin, was being dragged all over the place, since Maria was clinging (More like a deathgrip) to his arm. Although he didn't really like being in a crowd, the sight of the little child, who had recently gone through many hardships, enjoying her time on this foreign planet made him overlook that at the moment. He had to admit, the child had a strong will, most people he saw who went through a similar crisis usually ended up in a state of shock for weeks or months. He could see that she was trying her best to forget about the horrible loss that day. They later had a picture taken by an insisting festival official, who had mistaken Maria as Shuyin's "little sister". The way Maria was clinging onto him and dragging him everywhere certainly did make them look like siblings. Little later, Shuyin found Mirage and told Maria to stay with her while he took care of some business. He returned a shortly afterwards and the three headed towards a park.

Upon aprroaching it, they saw that a bunch of teenage boys were bothering some people. The gangsters were knocking over elders, harassing girls, smoking (Shuyin caught a scent of something that he knew was illegal on Telix), throwing little kids' toys into the fountain, and committing several other mischiefs. When they saw him and Maria (Mirage had left briefly to check on Cliff), they approached them.

"Hey little girl, watcha got there?" asked the apparent leader of the little "gang", pointing at Maria's shake that Shuyin had gotten her earlier.

"We're a bit thirsty right now, mind sharin?" Sneered the "boss". Shuyin pulled Maria back a bit, and she hid behind him.

"Oh? What do you want dude? Huh?" The miscreant asked, attempting to shove Shuyin, who batted his hand away with so much force that the "bully" lost balance and lurched sideways.

"Oh you want a fight? Is that it? Huh? You're in for it now punk!" and jabbed at his face with his fist.

Shuyin merely tilted his head sideways, so the miscreant missed. He then grabbed the long bundle strapped across his back and swiped at the thug's feet, causing him to fall on his back. The leader cursed and barked at his gang to do what they want with Shuyin. They cracked their knuckles and charged at him. Shuyin sighed mentally 'Great, now I have some brats picking a fight' as he whacked some on the head, jabbed some on the stomache, and swiped the rest off their feet with his bundle. Clutching their sore whereever-they-got-smacked, the gang hurried away, still hauling curses at him that made the parents in the vicinity cover their children's ears. Maria came out from hiding and saw Mirage coming towards them laughing slightly. It seemed that the little scene in which Shuyin had smacked the gangsters around so easily was rather comical to look at. Maria giggles lightly too while Shuyin just shook his head. They decided to return to the ship and started walking a few steps when Shuyin suddenly halted. Mirage was surprised and was about to ask why when something came speeding towards them from a nearby treetop.

Shuyin pushed his two companions away as the chain caught one his arm, the one Maria had been holding on to. He struggled against it for a second and then pulled hard, and the attacker fell from the tree. He wore a mask and was dressed in ninja-style black clothes. He let out a whistle while giving the chain a tug. Two more figure appeared beside him, one large man with a broad axe and another man with a katana on his belt. The ninja(?) spoke to Shuyin.

"Subject 00, you are to accept arrest. If you resist, then we shall not hesitate to eliminate you" he said the particular verb with much emphasis.

"...So, now they don't mind me dead, do they?" Shuyin asked, a slight scowl forming in his face.

"Will you come quietly?" Inquired the man with the katana.

"...I thought my message was clear the last time" snapped Shuyin. Maria noticed the gleam in his eyes, the gleam she had seen back at the Radish. Furing there time in the festival, his eyes had held certain amount of warmth, to her at least, but now not only have they gone cold, but it changed. The sapphire blue eyes were now slowly turning into a hue of yellow. Coupled with his look of contempt, it gave him a rather feral, and dangerous, appearance. Mirage got up and started towards him, but he held up a hand and told her to take Maria and leave. Reluctantly, she took the child and ran to the edge of the park, where the people from the park were now all gathered, staring at the scene before them.

"If that is so, then we have no choice but to destroy you!" said the axeman.

"You will try" Shuyin snarled, and he flung his cape off, revealing his outfit. He wore a white shirt with black chestplate and shoulderplates on top, both with similar symbols engraved on them in gold. The brown gloves he wore were long enough to cover up to his forearm. A green bracelet with strange markings was on his left wrist. His pants were black and covered up to his knee by high black boots, with similar golden symbols on his armor. Around his waist was a type of sash, to which several small pouches were attached. He also had a sword by his side, much like one of his foes. He then unraveled the bundle, which turned out to be a long black spear, which also contained the strange golden markings.

"To those of you who have no respect for life... I shall show the equal lack of respect for yours..." He spat, glaring at the three.

"Die!" and the three assassins pounced.

But Shuyin was faster. He had his lance held in similar position as he had back when he attacked Cliff (by mistake), right hand in the middle of the lance, left hand near the front, just below the blade, pointed straight at the axeman, his body was turned sideways and slightly crouched so his left side faced them. Then he dashed at great speed, releasing the left hand and thrusting with the right. The lance went right through the huge man. Shuyin then jumped up, and twisted his body so he landed behind the man, but remained facing him. Instantly he grabbed his lance and pulled, forcing the remaining parts of the lance to clear the poor man's body. The axeman screamed and fell.

The ninja hurled his chain again, which Shuyin easily dodged, and followed up with shurikens, which Shuyin parried using his lance. During this time, the swordsman had snuck up behind Shuyin, and attempted to slice his head off, his target suddenly dropped to the ground as he took a swing. Shuyin made a wide arc towards his back, and the blade of his lance met the blade of a katana, the swordsman had quickly shoved his sword into ground in order to block the sweep. The ninja jumped upon a tree and propelled off of it, descending right on top of Shuyin with double daggers out. Shuyin kicked the ground, propelling himself out of danger. The swordsman pressed his attack, stabbing at his prey. Suddenly he was smashed into the floor as his sword went down abruptly. Shuyin had jumped right on top of the blade, which was held horizontally, and the grip the swordsman had on the sword caused him to fall as well. The ninja came to his comrades aid by throwing some more shurikens. Shuyin leapt away again. The ninja held his daggers and jumped off another tree, hoping to meet him in mid-air, but Shuyin shoved his lance into a nearby tree and swung himself down. Just as the ninja passed overhead, Shuyin slid the lance in his hand so that he held onto the very end of it, jumped and drew a circle in the air. The ninja collapsed onto the ground with a hole where his heart should've been.

Shuyin then turned to the last assailant. He shifted his grip upwards a bit, and charged, slashing at his foe. The swordsman blocked and retaliated, the tip of his sword coming near Shuyin's face. Shuyin twisted his body so the stab missed and dashed away. Turning back to face his opponent once more, he held the lance exactly as last time, and charged again. The swordsman prepared his sword, expecting another slash from his right side, so that he would be able to rush in and utilize an underside slash before his enemy completed his attack. But at the last possible second, Shuyin reversed his grip on the land, leapt sideways as the swordsman charged, so that he was no facing the left side of the assassin. Shuyin twirled to his left, keeping his arm outstretched to the side, until the blade buried itself in the swordsman's arm. He howled in pain and fell.

The victorious lanceman advanced on his fallen foe. he kicked him over so he lay flat on his stomache, and then using the tip of his spear, carved words into his back, ignoring the screams of pain. He then kicked the man so he faced upwards, and snarled "Go back and deliver that message for me..." , then he grabbed him by the shirt and hurled him across the park. The man stood up shortly afterwards, and staggered off, cradling hs maimed hand.

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Mirage joined cliff and Shuyin after she tucked Maria in, the little girl had fainted during the battle between the three assassins and Shuyin. No matter how many times Cliff asked, however, Shuyin would not speak. Having given up, Cliff asked him what he was going to do. He even offered to help should he need it.

"No... You cannot help" Shuyin replied flatly.

"Oh, is that so?" said Cliff, scratching his head, "So then, what now?"

"I'm leaving..." Shuyin answered.

Cliff and Mirage stared at him blankly.

"Bu-but, what about Maria?" Cliff asked.

"She should be happy with you guys..." Shuyin said, "Besides, it's better that no one associates with me, they seem to have changed their ways." Cliff and Mirage said nothing, knowing that he won't explain even if they asked him.

"Well... You gotta do what you gotta do, I suppose" Cliff sighed.

"I thank you for your hospitality... I must leave now" Shuyin gave a short bow and started to walk away. He suddenly stopped and turned back.

"I almost forgot, give this to Maria for me..." He slipped something into Mirage's hand, then really left.

Mirage looked at the item. It was a gold locket on golden chains. She thought about opening it, but then decided that would be inappropriate. It was after all, she said to herself, Maria's belonging now, as she went in Maria's room and placed the trinket on the bedside table. The little girl slept on, not knowing the departure of the figure clad in a dark-blue cape.