Clash of times: Ch. 1
Hey all, first attempt at a Ghost in Shell or IY crossover, so please be kind.
Disclaimer: I don't own ANY anime shows, so let's just leave it at that . . . I HATE being poor . . .
Ch.1
"Ugh . . ." A loud groan echoed in the ally empty of all people and cyborgs. In the rumples of forgotten garbage thrown carelessly in the dumpsters, something moved.
First a hand, then a shoulder, and then a head with blue eyes blazing with anger.
"Stupid mutt . . ." he muttered, snorting indignantly. He picked a banana peel off of his head, and threw it on the ground with a rage. "Where the hell . . . are . . . is, everyone?"
Inuyasha? There was no whiff of him anywhere. Kouga snorted again, though this time it was more to reassure himself.
The wolf demon surveyed his surroundings. This was odd . . . there weren't any trees around, only strange cliffs that were far too angular for his liking. They seemed so menacing . . . so cold.
All he could smell was himself, garbage and – humans!
"What the hell?" He sniffed the air again. No Naraku, no dog breath, no Kagome, his pack . . .
Where were they?
He shook like a wet dog to get the remaining garbage off of him, then stood to his full height. There was no way he could get a survey of his surroundings from this height: he'd have to go higher.
Sighing, he squatted slightly, then leaped straight upwards, ricocheting off one wall to land on a three story building.
The sight simply took his break away.
The sun, nearing the horizon in the afternoon sun, glared brightly and harshly over the metal landscape. Strange flat rocks in straight or gently curving lines wove circles around the place where he was standing. In the distance, he could see a harbor with the strangest looking boats he had ever seen; they were FAR too large for them to work. They had to be at least big enough to have an entire village fit inside one of them, which was just impractical.
From the way the sun reflected off of it, it had to be made of metal. Maybe and assault weapon of some kind? No, couldn't be. Who'd be able to get metal to float in the first place, and secondly how could it be possibly fast enough to take people anywhere?
He smirked. Humans were so pathetic, they could never really respect the abilities of a youkai, since they always had to use assistance of some sort of machine or wagon to help them get around.
Kouga's gaze traveled from the harbor and "warships" (in reality, they were passenger ships,) inland. Strange carts made of metal and . . . no driver on top? That was odd . . . how were they able to move so fast, then?
Oh, there! They were inside them. But where were the cattle that pulled the carts? He watched as one zipped by, a strange humming sound, almost like grinding metal and small blasts of flame, came out of its interior.
This place just kept getting weirder by the second. Even though he had never really paid attention to humans' technology and weaponry in his raids, there was NEVER anything like this.
Was there?
He almost shrugged. He had never cared about humans before, what should make him start now?
Kouga pondered a moment. But where the blazes WAS he? He had never seen a village like this one: it was far too large and metallic. He couldn't smell blood or food or anything else that resembled it. How could they survive?
A breeze abruptly ruffled his long hair bunched up in a pony tail. With it, came some foreign smells that caused him to wrinkle his nose.
What was that stuff?
It seemed to be originating from the carts that zoomed by at breakneck speed.
At least for a human, it would have been.
Kouga leapt down from the rooftop and down to the sidewalk, surprising a great many people.
He ignored their stares and walked nonchalantly down the pathway, his feet padding against the cold concrete.
A woman shrieked once seeing him, dropping her bags onto the pavement.
"What's the matter, never seen a demon before?" Kouga sneered. It wasn't meant to be nasty, but these people seemed to have never seen one of his kind before. And this troubled him.
After all, since wolves were one of the most adaptable of youkai, wouldn't they have made it here?
He closed his eyes briefly, trying to grasp the memory that would help him. Let's see . . . Naraku. Yes, he had been helping Kagome, Sessoma-whats-it, and dog breath defeat him. There was that fight, and then a bright light . . .
And then he was in that stinking pile of garbage that these mortals had so carelessly strewn about.
He growled slightly, the woman backing up even more.
Kouga shrugged, if this woman didn't know what he was by his ears, tail, and other characteristics, then it was her problem whenever another tribe of demons, wolf or otherwise, came around.
They wouldn't care whether she knew or not: they'd just kill her.
For a moment he actually considered it, her constant blubbering about "gods help us" and all of that crap was getting on his nerves, but he decided against it.
Even if humans were weak, there was no telling how many of them lived here. There was no way he could take on a village this big by himself.
But first thing was first: he was hungry.
He sniffed, smelling a bit of cooked food, then ran off in its direction.
This town had plenty to offer, both good and bad . . .
Motoko sighed. This just wasn't her day.
She had just used one of the tachikomas (the spider tank things, I think this is what they're called) to stop a terrorist, yet only an hour later the chief was calling them, AGAIN, for a meeting.
Batou, complaining as usual, burped from his drinking of beer, and kept rambling on and on about how it wasn't right to have to be given two assignments in one day.
"Oh, be quiet Batou," Motoko muttered, her purple-red eyes flaring for a brief moment. "You're giving ALL of us a headache."
"Bah, you have no respect for your fellow man . . ." he muttered, crunching the can up against his forehead and throwing it like a miniature Frisbee into a trash can.
The chief sighed. "Well, if I would be allowed to speak."
"Go ahead monkey-face." Batou smiled gleefully, almost like a child.
The major rested her head in her hands, the chief doing the same.
"What?"
"Never mind, can you just get to the briefing chief?"
"Certainly." The chief hit a few buttons on his desk, and a small screen appeared behind him, showing several pictures of a certain black-haired man dressed in furs.
"What planet did that idiot come from? He looks kind of out of fashion . . ." Batou pulled a bag of pretzels out of his coat and started munching on them, quite loudly.
Motoko just ignored him, looking at the screens. "He does look a little strange . . . What's his name?"
"We don't know."
"Hm? What do you mean 'we don't know'? Section 9 has a database of practically every person on this planet." Batou said, downing another mouthful of pretzels.
The major rolled her eyes at his behavior, but turned to the chief. "Batou's right, shouldn't there be an archive on him or something?"
"Should be, but isn't. That's one of the strange problems of this case." He clicked something on his desk again, and a replay of Kouga stealing a raw ham in the market could be seen on the screen. "He's apparently some sort of cyborg, since he managed to shrug off the local guards there without even so much as a hitch."
"Yeah, but what sort of idiot would alter his body so that it looked like THAT?" Batou munched another handful. "I mean, couldn't he at least have NOT had a tail or something?"
"That is very strange." Motoko commented. "Most people that become cyborgs don't usually do it for looks and strength: it's just to survive a heart transplant or something along those lines."
The chief nodded. "That's why I need you two to do this case. You're the best here, and I don't know what this cyborg is capable of. He may indeed be rich enough to afford a body modification capable of making him even stronger than either of you."
"That makes us SO reassured . . ." Batou muttered.
Ignoring the sarcastic cop's comment, the chief continued. "I need you two to be on your guard on this one: he may have just had some false memories put in and might just be confused. See if you can stun him and bring him back for questioning."
"What? 'Bring him back for questioning?' You're kidding right? Is there even a room in this place that could hold a cyborg as powerful as you say this guy might be?"
"Batou, there are a few rooms on the lowest levels that could easily contain both you AND the major here. Nothing short of a nuclear bomb could break the titanium alloys that make up the walls of them."
"Oh."
"Off with you, the sooner you leave, the sooner this criminal can be apprehended and questioned. Take the stun gun and the tranquilizer darts. We don't want to kill him as of yet."
"Very well sir, we'll bring him back by the end of the day." Motoko turned, grabbing the suggested guns off the racks.
"You DO realize you've only given us about three hours to catch this guy, right?"
"Yes. What's the matter, a bit scared that you can't pull it off?"
"Not a chance." Batou grabbed the gun, reloading it with a cocky grin, then headed out to the Tachikomas.
Motoko sighed. Men were so easily manipulated when it came to their pride . . .
END CHAPTER
Phew! Got chappie one out of the way. This was a really odd idea that came to me in the night, so I hope everyone likes it. R&R people if you want to see anything more of Kouga in Section 9!
Dakyu