Today was a glorious day for Director Dante, the head of the German branch of the Bavarian Illuminati. Last year, the Illustrious leaders had entrusted her with half of the Gjallarhorn relic to uncover its secrets. Countless hours spent studying and experimenting had yielded very little until now. But then, just when Dante was about to throw in the towel, her hard work was rewarded by a brilliant green glow and amazing extra-dimensional readings unlike any she'd seen before. This was her moment!
In a bright flash, a young, plump boy appeared on the ground. He wore a salmon-pink t-shirt with a yellow star in the center, blue jeans, and red sandals. His shirt was drawn up slightly, revealing a large pink jewel in his belly button. He lay on the ground, unconscious. To the untrained eye, he appeared to be a normal kid, but the readings he gave off showed him to be anything but.
At Dante's orders, the Alchemists quickly detained the boy and took him out of the room the relic was residing in. They then placed him on a gurney and wheeled him to the examination room to give him a proper examination.
XXXX
Dusk was fast approaching the Land of the Rising Sun when a sudden bright green glow shone from the secret facility near the base of Mt. Fuji. Not a moment later, in a flash of light, a red alien spacecraft appeared out of nowhere. It picked up speed, falling from the sky like a brick, until it crash-landed in the middle of the forest with a great explosion. A crater fifty meters wide formed in the ground around the wrecked craft. The ground was scorched by the impact. From the shattered craft, four beautiful gemstones flew out, landing a few meters away from the crash site. They pulsed with a beautiful glow, letting out alien energy before their light faded.
XXXX
A few hours later, Dante was in her office, reading some reports from other branches of the Illuminati, when a knock came from her office door. "You may enter."
One of her subordinates, a balding man in a white lab coat, came walking inside the office and gave a bow. He had a clipboard in hand. "Director, we've done a basic analysis. Overall, he appears to be a normal human boy. He does have some… differences."
One of Dante's eyebrows was raised in curiosity. "Like what?" She asked.
The man took a deep breath. "Well, his physiology is much, much stronger than normal. Denser muscles and bones, tougher skin, and life energy far greater than any human boy ought to have. Almost like he has a Perfect Body."
At that, Dante's eyes widened in shock. "Incredible! To think that such a specimen would fall into our lap!"
The subordinate could only sigh at her disbelief, knowing that it would get stranger. "And that's not all. The gem in his navel produces an energy that is similar to Aufwachen Waves, but it's unlike that of any known relic."
At this, Dante could only look at her subordinate in shock before her eyes took on a more calculated and greedy look.
The subordinate sweated a bit. "Director," he said nervously. "What are your plans for the specimen?"
Dante had her hands in front of her face, "We need to know what the specimen is capable of, and see if we can replicate its possible abilities. Since we only have one specimen, we ought to run the usual tests. Send the specimen to the Monster DIvision so it can be evaluated properly."
"Director, are you sure that's a wise idea?" He asked, a bit perturbed. "We don't know anything about this boy. His interaction with the Monsters could produce some negative effect."
Dante had an annoyed look in her eyes, making her subordinate flinch. She then settled down and said, "It doesn't matter. The Monsters are failures anyhow. I doubt that they would make any difference. Do what you are told and send it to its destination!"
The subordinate gave Dante a salute and went off to inform the crew to send the specimen. When Dante was alone in her office, she leaned back on her chair with a gleam in her eyes. She could already taste her promotion.
XXXX
The few months since the frontier incident and the retrieval Nastaja's body from the shattered moon had been relatively peaceful. During the interim, the Second Division of the Special Disaster Squad had been reorganized into SONG, a new organization under UN supervision.
A man with brown hair, Fujitaka Sakuya, was just glad that it had been a relatively peaceful few months since, with no crisis happening. The support member stretched his arm after drinking some tea Tomosato Aoi, his blue-haired coworker, had brought for him.
"This is nice," he said as he reclined in his chair a bit while continuing to fill out the report on his computer. "No major incidents in the last few months. I hope this continues until I retire."
Just as he said this, the mission command began sending him a new alert. Some unknown energy signatures from the Honshu region, at the base of Mount Fuji, were detected. While it was already a cause for concern, there were two more issues. First, the base that held half of the Gjallarhorn relic was within three miles of the crash. Second, the wave patterns the readings gave off were similar to Aufwachen Waves, meaning that some new relics might have been activated. With a groan, Fujitaka just put his face in his palm. "Me and my big mouth. Time to call the commander…"
XXXX
One hour after Fujitaka alerted the commander, a team of helicopters landed at the crash. Two girls came out of one helicopter. One had white hair, purple eyes, and an annoyed expression. The other girl had cream-colored hair with bright orange eyes that held excitement in them. Both of them were wearing their brand-new, blue SONG uniforms.
"Chris-chan, what do you think happened here!?" asked the excited teen.
Yukine Chris's left eye began twitching at the question. "Idiot, for the last time, none of us know yet! Now stop asking that question!" Chris yelled while punching the idiot in the arm.
With a sheepish grin on her face, the teenage girl, Tachibana Hibiki, put her hand behind her hair. "Heh, heh, sorry Chris-chan!" At that, Chris just puffed out some air from her lungs in exasperation.
"Let's just get this job done. We have class tomorrow." Chris stated while she walked to the ledge of the crater and began sliding down the slope.
The other teen just grumbled out, "I just hope we stay here then." Chris rolled her eyes. That explained the idiot's excitement then. An idiot that didn't particularly like school, what a shock. Glancing behind her, she saw Hibiki climb out and slide down the slope after her.
When the teenager caught up to Chris, the girl was already talking to a SONG agent about what they found so far. The agent began by reporting, "Ma'am, the unknown device appears to be unlike anything we've ever seen, though it's not producing the Aufwachen Waves we were detecting earlier."
Chris just groaned at the information. "I figured. But we're good with dealing with the unexpected though." She then turned to look around. "Well, the Aufwachen Waves were here around an hour ago, right? So they can't be too far."
Chris turned around to order Hibiki when she saw her partner examining what appeared to be an alien spacecraft in wonder. Though Chris would usually yell at the other girl for getting distracted, she'd give her a pass this time. Even Chris had to admit that what little remained of the ship was incredibly advanced. But they had a job to do. They could gawk later.
Chris dragged the other girl by the arm away from the wreckage. "Come on idiot, let the investigators do their job. We have our own mission."
Hibiki whined, "Oh, come on Chris-chan, just five more minutes! We might never see one like this again!"
"We'll have plenty of time to look at it later!" Chris yelled at the girl before letting her go. Hibiki just sighed and began to follow Chris when she spotted something sparkle under some rubble out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey, wait a minute. I think I saw something!" Hibiki yelled as she ran towards the rubble with Chris on her heels. She then pushed aside the rocks and pebbles to reveal something beautiful in the ground. "Gemstones?" She questioned while picking the purple one up, looking at it in confusion.
Chris managed to catch up, picked up the pale one in similar confusion. "I'm no gemologist, but I'm pretty sure pearls don't form on land." She then glanced at the one Hibiki was holding before eyeing a sapphire and ruby on the ground, each perfectly cut. "And I'm pretty sure freshly mined gemstones don't look like that," She concluded with suspicion in her voice.
"Chris-chan, don't these feel warm to you-!" The girl asked before being interrupted by four bright lights from the gemstones. The two humans jumped back a bit, dropping the gems in the process. The duo also put their hands on their necklaces, just in case they needed to transform.
Soft light formed around each of the gemstones as they floated in the air. Then, the light seemed to solidify, somehow taking shape. Then, before their stunned eyes, the lights surrounding the floating gemstones molded themselves into female forms. Then, the female forms fully solidified, and their features could be clearly seen.
The purple gem had now become a small, chubby girl with a white shirt and long, white hair. The gemstone was located on her chest, above where her lungs should be. She looked around at her surroundings, confusion clearly written on her face.
The pearl turned into a thin lady slightly taller than Hibiki and Chris. She wore a blue tunic with yellow shorts underneath. She had a long nose, and her gem was on her forehead. She looked around the place nervously yet vigilantly until her gaze locked onto the two humans.
The ruby and the sapphire, meanwhile, formed into one woman, each gem appearing in the woman's hands. This one towered over the other two gem-woman and was built like a brick. She had maroon skin, wore shades over her face, and had a square-shaped afro. She stared stoically at the two humans, studying them.
The two groups looked at each other with caution and confusion in their eyes, both as quiet as a leaf blowing in the wind. The rest of the SONG operatives saw what happened and gathered around and pointed their guns at the strange people. Judging by the way the gem-women hardly gave the other humans any mind, Chris had a feeling that those guns would be useless against them.
The pale one was the first one to talk. "We're on Earth? How! We were in the middle of space looking for - " at that, her eyes widened in horror. She looked at the two girls in desperation "Excuse me, but you wouldn't have happened to find a young human male around here would you?"
Chris's eyes narrowed in suspicion at the question. The lady looked honestly worried, but she wanted more information. So she asked, "And why are you asking that? Why was he in space in the first place!?"
"Oh, um, well the details aren't important but-" The pale one was interrupted by the short, purple one.
"Basically, a bunch of evil aliens came and made us go to the moon, and he got launched into space trying to get rid of them." She answered quickly, looking like she wanted to get the interrogation over with.
"Amethyst!" The pale one yelled at the smaller companion, now known as Amethyst.
"Hey, they wouldn't have believed us if we didn't tell them, P." Amethyst shrugged, looking like she thought she made the right choice.
"P" looked annoyed at the response. "That isn't the point, Amethyst! We should have consulted as a team!"
"It would have taken too long. Steven could still be in space!" Amethyst shot back at the taller gem-woman.
However, the two stopped their squabble when the maroon lady put her hands on their shoulders. "You two need to calm down. We're going to need to share information with these humans." Amethyst had a grin on her face when the tallest lady continued, "But that doesn't mean we should share everything." At that Amethyst looked like she deflated a bit. Literally. Chris wasn't sure if it was a trick of the eyes or not but figured that she would find out later.
However, it was Tachibana Hibiki who broke the silence. "I think we got off on the wrong foot here! You care for that boy, right? Then I'm sure that it's part of our job to help you!" She said with a calming smile on her face. She even took out a hand in offering to the strange aliens.
The pale woman looked at the outstretched hand hesitantly, then looked up at the tall one for guidance. The maroon woman simply nodded at her assuringly. The pale woman reluctantly took the human's hand in hers.
Suddenly, the pearl in her forehead began lighting up and emitted a hologram that depicted a small, young boy who appeared to be eight years old. He had a shirt with a star in the middle and had curly hair. But the thing that stood out to them was that there was a gem that was where his naval should be. "Steven is our former leader's son, and we are his guardians." The pale woman answered. The urgency in her voice was apparent now. "Now you must understand why we have to find-" That was when she was interrupted by Amethyst.
"What the actual hell!?" Amethyst said while looking past Chris and the other girl with wide eyes in disbelief. "P" looked at Amethyst in shock and annoyance.
"Amethyst! What could cause you to interrupt me with that kind of language!"
"What the hell happened to the moon while we were gone?" Amethyst asked while pointing past the two girls. The woman looked at the direction Amethyst was pointing towards and soon adopted a flabbergasted look on her face. The tall, maroon one had a more subdued look of surprise on her face.
The moon had a big crater at the bottom of it while there was a ring that was orbiting around the planetary object. The two girls looked back at the moon and the brown-haired one had soon adopted a sheepish look on her face while scratching the back of her head. "Oh, we might have caused that to happen." She said with a nervous laugh.
The three aliens looked at Hibiki like she grew a second head. The maroon one soon spoke with authority. "I think we should start over."
XXXX
Vannessa could barely move her head, one of the only parts of her that was still human. At this point, all that was keeping her going were the two girls at either side of her. She wouldn't even bother moving if it wasn't for them.
Vanessa Diodati was a tall, beautiful lady with dark skin and long, flowing black hair that reached to the bottom of her back. At one time, she had been an alchemist, one extremely close to achieving a Perfect Body. But a fateful accident during an experiment on a Faust Robe had deprived her of her human form, and with it, her future. Her body was replaced by a mechanical one, transforming her into an alchemical cyborg. As she could no longer achieve the perfection all alchemists strived for, she was stripped of her rank and treated as a mere guinea pig by the people she once worked alongside.
To her right was Millaarc Cranstoun, a teenager of average height with pale skin, wild, dark-blue hair with a pink streak, and pointed ears. Her body was changed to mimic the abilities of a vampire. If the experiment had succeeded in transforming her into the mythical creature, it would've provided the Illuminati another avenue of obtaining eternal life. However, Millaarc had failed to achieve such heights and was thrown to the scrap heap as Vanessa had been.
To Vanessa's left was Elsa Bete, a young girl who was barely in her teenage years. Elsa was a short girl with pink hair and white fur. She also had wolf ears on the top of her head that functioned as real ears. Elsa's DNA was changed by the scientists to include the DNA of various animals such as wolves, felines, and more. The Alchemists were trying to manufacture the legendary werewolf so they could amplify their army with Bioengineered humans, and while they had succeeded in creating a stable hybrid in Elsa, they were dissatisfied with the results and figuratively threw her to the wolves.
While the three were able to live past their surgeries unlike many of the others, they were considered failures because they could not survive without the need of a rare type of blood,"RH-xxoyle" which replenishes the Panacea in their bodies. Without it, various toxins would accumulate in their system over time, leading to a slow and painful death.
Currently, the three were resting from a long day's worth of torture from the Alchemists responsible for gathering data from them. Vanessa looked at the younger girls while they slept, reflecting on her sorry state. 'So this is how my life ends up… I worked for this sham of an organization for as long as I could remember, helping them achieve new developments, and THIS is how they repay me for all my work? Treating me and these girls as less than human! Forcing us to be in those twisted experiments!'
Vanessa looked at Millaarc and Elsa, with a determined look on her face. 'Millaarc, Elsa, your Big Sister promises that we will escape this hellhole and get our original bodies back!'
Just then, the door that locked up the three of them opened, waking Millaarc and Elsa from their sleep. 'Huh? It's not time to continue our experiments yet… either they wanted more fun or…'
The Alchemists came in with a young, somewhat chubby boy with curly hair on a stretcher, unconscious. 'Or someone new is here.' Vanessa looked at the kid with pity, hoping that he wouldn't get too freaked from what would be his new body. The Alchemists left without a word to the three of them.
Vanessa looked over the kid once more, looking for any obvious mutations like hers and Elsa's, but it seemed like he was similar to Millaarc where the changes weren't so obvious. She was about to go back to bed when the kid began waking up. 'Huh, that was quicker than usual. I wonder why?'
The kid woke up, rubbing his head in pain. "Ugh, my head hurts." The kid then looked at the three monster girls before getting out of his bed, looking around the room. "Who are you!?" The boy asked, a hint of unease in his voice.
'This brings back some memories…' Vanessa thought, looking at the kid, though she was a tad surprised he was able to get up after what he'd probably been through. When Millaarc and Elsa arrived, they were both scared, and the first thing they asked was where they were, not what their names were. It took a long time for them to trust Vanessa enough to tell her their names. At the commotion, Elsa and Millarc woke up looking all bleary-eyed.
Elsa was the first to notice the newcomer. "O-oh, my name is Elsa! It's a pleasure to meet you!" She introduced herself as she got out of her bed and rubbed her eyes. As she stepped down, she flinched somewhat from the phantom pain from their daily torture before standing up straight. When the boy looked at her, his eyes widened in awe.
"Oh my gosh, you have wolf ears!" The boy dropped his guard, and walked over to the pink-haired girl, making Elsa feel nervous. Would he make fun of them? If so, she wouldn't let him. She growled at the boy, her hair standing on end like a cornered dog, ready to retaliate for the inevitable scorn.
But the boy completely turned her expectations on their head when he said," they're so cute!" His earlier anxiousness was gone now, completely absorbed by Elsa's animal traits.
'Cute?' Elsa thought to herself. Nobody had called her that before. Elsa's cheeks turned a faint red from the compliment. "O-oh, um thank you very much!" She replied.
Millaarc decided that she should introduce herself. "Hey, brat! The name's Millaarc. Don't you forget it!" She said, her toothy smile making sure that her fangs were visible.
The kid, however, didn't seem to notice them and just waved at her happily, unflinching, "Hi there, Millaarc!" Millaarc just scratched her head, not getting how the kid could be so nonchalant about their predicament.
Vanessa supposed she should get to the bottom of that. But first, she needed to introduce herself too. "And my name is Vanessa. What is your name?"
The kid seemed to look like he was embarrassed for forgetting to introduce himself. "Oh! How could I forget? My name is Steven Universe!" He then put his hands on either side of his small frame, as if he were posing on the front of some comic book.
"Universe? What a weird last name…" Elsa said, tilting her head. Her statement made Millaarc snort, trying to hold her laugh in.
"Says the girl who changed her last name to 'Bete'." Millaarc teased, causing Elsa to glare at her. This only made Millaarc snicker.
Vanessa just sighed, thinking it was nice to see the two girls act like normal teenagers for once. Vanessa saw Steven look confused out of the corner of her eye. He eventually asked, "Where are we anyway?"
Millaarc just crossed her arms underneath her breasts. "We're in hell, kid," she said bluntly. "Those damned alchemists trapped us down here so that we could be their guinea pigs." Beneath her calm exterior, her eyes burned with hatred, a look which Elsa and Vannessa shared.
Steven just tilted his head at the vampire, with a confused look on his face. "Who and what are you talking about?" He asked while scratching his head. He mumbled out, "Alchemist? I feel like I've heard that word from a manga Connie told me about once."
Elsa tilted her head, wondering if "Connie" was an acquaintance of Steven. However, Millaarc didn't care about giving a proper explanation for it, instead, continuing to explain. "The Bavarian Illuminati is a secret organization of alchemists that spans across the world. Their goal is to achieve perfection, and they'll stop at nothing to get it. We're the failed results of their attempts. You'll have to ask Vanessa about the details though. She's the only expert here."
While Vanessa had taught both her and Elsa the basics of Alchemy, the lessons had been sporadic, as they often didn't have enough energy to go into depth. They also had to make sure the alchemists don't catch onto their little lessons, else they might terminate the trio.
With a whisper as loud as a feather falling, Steven whispered out, "So they're like the forced fusion experiments?" A look of horror crossed his face. The thought that something so awful had taken place again filled with a gnawing feeling of dread. Another tragedy had destroyed the lives of innocents. His heart went out to the three girls.
Though Steven had meant for the whisper to be unheard, he might as well have shouted to Elsa. Elsa filed 'forced fusions' under her growing list of things to ask Steven about later. She yawned. She was tired from having woken up from her sleep so suddenly, so it was hard for her to stay awake as it was.
Vanessa took a look at the three other experiments and gave a small smile at them, trying to make the best out of this hellish situation. "I recommend getting some sleep, you three. Tomorrow will be another day of fun, so we best be prepared!"
With a look of dread, the three teenagers got back to their beds to go to sleep. However, before they went to sleep fully, Steven said, "Have sweet dreams!" with a voice that carried his genuine belief that they could have nice dreams. It was naive to believe that, but Vanessa supposed that the sentiment was nice enough.
He'd learn how foolish it was very soon though.