(Well, at least I know I'm 'before' the start of the anime…)
I was with my hands in my pockets, looking at a big, good-looking house made of wood and stone, a sign on a pillar next to me reading 'Matoi residence'.
(Now the important thing is, when will Nui pop up to wreck the place? Past that point, I'll have six more months before Ryuko appears and the anime starts normally...)
Just as I finished that thought, the front door for the house opened. Aikuro appearing from inside.
"Come inside, Isshin wants to talk to you." He speaks up before disappearing inside the house again.
(Ok, time for stage two, and probably more lies…)
I take a deep breath, and enter the house. Ending up in a dimly lit, long hallway. A long carpet you'd normally see at your grandparent's house covering the floor, two short wooden cabinets to my left and right with some potted flowers and a couple of framed pictures in them, one of them being Ryuko her self, looking, not constantly angry.
"This way." Aikuro motions with his head as he enters a room to the left a little further in. Following him, I end up in what seemed to be a living room, two big sofas with an even bigger table between them, a chandelier swaying over the table. All the curtains in the room closed, giving the whole place a rather dim light as well.
And on the sofa that faced me. Ryuko's father, sitting in his weird old man disguise, his hands on his walking stick and his jaw resting on his hands.
"Sit" was all he said as he stared at me.
(Oh boy.)
Doing as he said I take a seat on the opposite couch. He then throws a glance at Aikuro.
"Before you ask me anything. Can I ask one thing first?" I speak up before anybody could begin.
Isshin, or more correctly, Soichiro turned to face me, and kept silent.
"The threat of life fibers, is it as big as I make it out to be?" I ask.
"And how big do you make it to be, kid?" Isshin asks.
"...World ending big." I respond flatly.
Isshin keeps staring in silence.
"I don't know where you found all the information you gave Aikiro, but. Your, hunch. Is pretty spot on." Isshin replies.
"So now I will ask you. Are you sure you want to be 'here' kid. If you want to help, then join the movement. This is no place for somebody who has not even finished highschool." Isshin continues.
"You can consider this disrespectful if you want, but your organization won't last an hour if it has to go toe to toe with a life fiber enhanced nutjob." I retort.
"Hey now." Aikiro groans with a frown.
"And why you think that?" Isshin asks again.
"Because a knife that can cut life fibers is useless if your foe can move faster than the eye can see, or fly, or rip up a building and use it as a club." I fold my arms as I lean on the couch.
"Oh? And what makes you think life fibers can do that?" Isshin continues asking questions.
"Because I saw two people fighting in that school Aikiro is at, and I could barely keep track of em. If I am to put two and two together. That school uses life fibers to enhance student's abilities, and your friend is there to spy on their progress." I answer.
Isshin closes his eyes, and lets out a sigh.
"Then, I will put it simply. My research is dangerous, and it might as well kill you today. Because the only thing I need right now, is a guinea pig to test on." He says as he opens his eyes.
"If I wanted to play it safe, I wouldn't be looking for you." I respond as I stare back at the 'old' man.
Isshin remained quiet, before slowly getting up. And then turns to leave…
(...Uhh….)
He walks up to a door that was on the right side of the room, enters it, and closes it behind him…
-2 minutes later-
"...So…." I sigh slightly as I keep sitting.
Aikido turns towards me, and as he opens his mouth, Isshin enters the room again, holding what seemed to be a, bracelet?
He walks up to the table between the sofas, and tosses the bracelet on it.
"Wear this on your arm." He adds as he sits back on his sofa.
Without speaking I take the bracelet, a thick silver cylinder with a small rectangular screen embedded on the top…
The moment I wore the thing, it locked on my arm, the screen lighting up with a green color.
"You didn't even ask what it was. There's a fine line between bravery and plain stupidity." Isshin speaks up with a calm tone. I didn't respond.
"Now extend your arm, the screen facing upward." He adds as he focuses his sight on the bracelet.
Without speaking, I do as he asked….
"..." And, We stayed like that. For about twenty seconds…
(...)
"Is something supposed to happen?..." I ask.
"Unless you wanted to die today, then no." Isshin responds casually.
"...The what now?" I ask back…
"This bracelet reacts to life fibers. Something that my, our enemies use extensively. If you were with them, your life fiber use would be way above average." Isshin answers, before extending his arm and tapping the bracelet, which quickly opened and fell on the table with a loud 'thunk'.
"You though, I never saw such a dead response before. Even if you have no life fibers on, or in you, It should normally have at least, some reaction, as it would normally detect even traces of life fibers from your daily life." Isshin strokes his beard as he speaks.
"Then it works fine. As I never used anything with life fibers before." I respond flatly.
"Really now? Quite the feat I might say. Seeing as they are in most clothes nowadays." Isshin lifts an eyebrow as he speaks. I just shrugged.
(Not in my world they weren't)
"Very well kid. Follow me." Isshin gets up and motions with his head. I just nod and get up.
"So, uhhh, I'm just going to, go now…" Aikido whispers as he puts his hands in his pockets before turning to leave.
"Oh and Aikiro. I need more liquid for the tank, it didn't top out." Isshin grumbles as he keeps walking, not turning to look at mister pink nipples.
"Yes, yes…" Aikido responds nonchalantly as he leaves the room.
With that, me and Isshin enter the room he entered before, to end up in a hallway with two doors, one on the wall to my left, one straight ahead.
Isshin walks up to the door to the left, opens it, and motions me to follow him. That door led to a set of narrow, long stairs. The end of said staircase not really being visible, as the dim light caused the narrow corridor to turn pitch black a little further down.
"Alright, Kid. Before we do anything, I'll have to check your compatibility with life fibers. " Isshin speaks up as he starts going down the stairs. Taking a nearby lantern to illuminate the stairs.
(Suprised nobody asked my name yet. Not that I'll use my real name anymore, I'll just think of a new one. Or use the same name I use in all the video games I played. Don't fix it if it ain't broke...)
We then went down the stairs in silence, until, we finally reached the end. A thick-looking metal door with a valve on the center. Isshin hangs the lantern on a small extrusion of the wall, grabs the large valve on the door, and with a swift jerk, the valve turns with a loud 'thud'. And, the door slowly starts to open.
The room inside, looked nothing like the rest of the building.
First of all it was full of machines, machines that kept giving off an almost oppressing red hue that engulfed the whole room. Some looked like control panels, others like tables with a glass top, others like metallic human-sized tubes. And in the center of all this in a big transparent tube, a schoolgirl uniform. No, let me correct that, 'the' schoolgirl uniform, Senketsu. Though I guess he was not really named yet.
And, in front of that tube, inside a horizontal machine that had a constant lazer running back and forth, the scissor blades, both of them.
(...Holy, shit…)
"Take a seat here." Isshin ignores everything in the room and points at a chair that honestly looked like an executioner's toy, armrest cuffs and all. The only extra that chair had, was a second chair next to it, that had a large screen. And the cuffs themselves each had a long, translucent, flexible tube on the top that went into a cylindrical machine nearby, which then, in turn, had several more metallic tubes that connected with other machines…
(Ohh boy, I get the feel I won't like this…)
Not voicing my opinion, I walk up to the chair, and sit on it.
"I'll warn you, this might hurt." He adds as he locks the cuffs on my hands, essentially immobilizing my upper body.
He then takes a seat next to me and taps on the screen…
And…
"The f!.." I jerk up as I felt a sharp pain in both my wrists…
"Did you just, stab me?..." I ask as I turn to look at Ryuko's father.
"A rather calm reaction." He responds nonchalantly.
"Now, let me ask you some things. Since you seem to know some basics." He adds as he keeps tapping away.
"Do you know how life fibers function?" He asks.
(Hmm, well. Yea, but is that 'knowledge-free' knowledge? Oh well, let's play it safe...)
"They are parasitic, from what I know. They feed off the person that wears them. Though the fact that they can be used to strengthen somebody, something tells me there is more to that." I answer.
"They are sentient. While they can not speak, and they might not even understand us, they have a will. Which lets them make decisions. I have seen them react to stimuli like an animal. Moving away from damaging substances, while congregating on locations that benefit them, like a rats nest." Isshin nods slightly as he stops tapping away at the screen that is attached to his chair.
"What I essentially need to see, is how quickly the life fibers will drain you, and how much control you can have of them in the meantime." With that last sentence, Isshin turns to look at the machine the tubes were the tubes from the chair connected to. And, slowly, an orangish shine started to slowly creep out from the flexible translucent tubes…
(...I'm not freaking out, I'm not freaking out, I'm not freaking out.)
The orange glow, with a steady pace, moved from the machine, towards the chair, towards me.
(I'm not freaking out, I'm not freaking…)
And the moment the orange shine reached the handcuffs, I felt something 'touch' my wrists….
(FUCK IT! I'M FREAKING OUT!)
I took a deep breath as I tightened my grip on the chair. And…
Nothing…
Other than the slight tickling, I felt nothing more…
(...Uhhh, I'm not dying?)
"Is, this supposed to, tickle…?" I ask as I arch an eyebrow.
"..." Isshin just capt staring at the screen with a serious expression…
(...)
"Weird…" Was all he said…
"...I'm just, going to wait here…" I whisper as I keep staring at the man.
"Are you, human?" He asks as he turns to look at me.
"Excuse me? No, I'm a vegan velociraptor from Mars." I respond with a sarcastic tone.
" It wouldn't surprise me…" Isshin retorts…
"Uhh, because?" I ask as I let a high sigh from my nose.
"Because the life fibers seem to be unable to feed off you after connecting to your nervous system. They just, wrap around you and do nothing." Isshin answers.
(They did what now?!...Uhh, ok, focus, what's the worse than can happen, become a vegetable. I shall name me, carrot.)
"And that is, good?" I ask again. He didn't answer.
He just got up, and quickly moved to the middle of the room, where Senketsu and the blades were at. From there, he took what seemed to be a small glowing red vial that had a long cap on one side, before trotting back to me.
He then opens the vial's cap to reveal a needle, which he injected into the tube. And as the content of the vial entered into the tube, the orange glow took a deeper, almost bloodlike crimson red. He then turned back towards the screen again.
"...Soooo….." I sigh as I keep looking at the now red-glowing tube.
"...Why, are they reacting like this. Not even Ryu…" Isshin stops mid-sentence and turns to look at me.
"The life fibers are just not feeding off you period." He says.
"They connect, fuse with your nervous system. But don't draw energy from you." He adds.
"Sooo, I'm flat-out incompatible?" I ask.
"Yes, and no." Isshin scratches his head as he turns to his screen.
"You could wear a suit full of life fibers and be unaffected. The question is, if you'll be able to command them…." He whispers as he starts to tap on the screen again.
"Won't that be sort-term though, won't the life fibers just, starve?." I ask.
"Yes, yes, but that is not hard to deal with, you can force-feed them the blood of another person. That's not important…" He gets up from his chair and takes an empty syringe from a nearby machine…
Then comes up to me, and unceremoniously sticks it on my hand…
"OI!" I shout as Isshin starts drawing blood.
"This is important kid. I have to run tests on this." He responds as he turns to his screen, a few taps, and the life fibers stopped ticking me as they retreated back towards the main machine they came from.
Isshin then opens the cuffs and turns to head towards the central machines without speaking.
"Soo, I…"
"You can go. No actually you'll stay in this house. It'll be a disaster if you died in a ditch." Isshin responds as he puts the vial with my blood into the machine he picked it up from some time ago…
(Aww, he actually cares.)
"I need to run more tests on you. It'd be a disaster if you die, this could be a breakthrough!" Isshin exclaims….
(...Oh fuck you old man. I'm going to eat all the ham in your fridge now.)
"Grab a bandage from there and get out. I need silence." Isshin essentially waved his arm without even turning to look at me…
I looked at the cuts on my wrist, slight blood dripping from them.
(Scratch that, I'm eating all of your ice cream too…)
With that, I turn to leave the room…
(...I didn't just seal my fate, did I…)
