Kira is Kage
Lacus is Hikari
Except when they're together.
NOTE:
"Doryaaaaaaaaaa!": normal talking
"Charge!": special case
'Darn!': thoughts
GWA HA HA HA! : Giant creature speech
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!
Please… read and review
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Some time later, having been forewarned by Murdoch regarding the impending disaster, Kage, Mwu, and George finally come up with a plan. "You're sure it can be done, though?"
"Positive. Destroyers are the fastest ship we have right now for long distance travel. If anything, it's faster than the Archangel." George reiterated his knowledge of ships from the decks of his destroyer to Kage and Mwu, listening intently as they were perched on the surface of the Archangel's hull via wall walking. "If you say the Archangel can reach Shanghai within a week at its present velocity, then the Destroyers can easily cover the distance at half the time. We'll get there, we'll warn the coast guards to clear the harbor. That way, when the worst happened, we can lower the casualty to the minimum. Besides, I'm a member of the Logos ministry. It should be easy for me to order a city wide evacuation."
Kage nodded in agreement. "Good luck then, Mr. George. Safe travel." Kage and Mwu saluted.
"I left some of my men here under your command, Captain. Feel free to use them as you see fit, and I suggest you keep my daughter locked up as long as you deemed necessary. See you in Shanghai." George returned the salute.
Before long, the Destroyers had cast off, and true to George's words, the ship sailed away rapidly, easily outpacing the Archangel, and before long, it disappeared from the horizon.
"Okay. Now we got a week before we crash… let's make sure everything is ready, yes?" Said Mwu.
"Yeah."
Chapter 43:
Shanghai, a Place to Crash
Karren took a deep, deep breath before she took another step. Just to make sure she knows what she was doing. It's been several days after the Marco incident, and personally, she was getting fed up with this whole cat and mouse game. Trying to make some sense into what she must do, she inevitably came up with a rather silly conclusion of confiding with her unimaginably wise, the all knowing new Captain of the 7th division regarding her personal problems.
Raise hands for anyone who thinks it's silly? Yep, she thought as much.
Karren took one last preparation, and then she knocked the door several times.
"Come in." Came the whispery but audible reply of her captain.
Karren took the liberty to slide the door open and came face to face with Kage, on his desk, writing something on the table. "Karren? Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Captain I… with your permission I would like to discuss something… a bit of personal but sensitive matter."
Kage blinked. And then he quickly surmised that Karren was referring to a certain blonde haired zoan. "Alright. Come on in."
Karren closed the door behind her and took her seat right in front of the captain. "Feel free to speak freely, soldier."
"Okay." Karren shrugged a bit, a bit surprised that the captain would be the first to directly offer her to speak in informal ways. Well, since he already made the offer, she'll make use of it. "This is about that person… Taka. Hikari-san's bodyguard? I don't think he's what he claimed to be."
Kage nodded. "His name is Gino Weinberg." And Kage can easily see how low Karren's jaw had dropped. "And he's a Ruby Exorcist. Karren, I already know who and what he is before I brought him here."
Karren shocked expression quickly turned to bewilderment and restrained anger. "If you already knew then why…?"
"Because it's the right thing to do. Because to do otherwise, would mean I've lost my humanity." Kage crossed his arms. That's his answer, his reason, period. "Of course, never in my wildest imagination I had known that he and you had some kind of 'history' together. Especially that 'kind' of history." Kage looked at Karren's prosthetic with suspicion.
Karren's severed arm stump began to hurt again. She grunted. "Think what you will. You have no idea." Karren was getting ready to leave in anger.
"Actually, I do have some idea." Kage's comment momentarily stopped her. "You played by their rules your entire life. You served them. You protected them. You envy them. You dreamed to become like them. And then when you made that dream known, they mercilessly crushed it underfoot, making you taste a little piece of hell so as you remember to keep your head on the ground."
Karren stopped completely on her tracks upon hearing that. She slowly turned around and looked at the captain in the eye. And then it hit her. She's looking at a mirror. "You too…?"
Kage harrumphed. "I'm not in the mood to go all reminiscing and then comparing who gets the bigger shit happened. What matters, is that after that whole ordeal with that Water Knight, what I see is that you need to make peace with whatever demons you got before it haunts back at you." Kage frowned. "Based on what I see, I think it has haunted back at you."
Karren narrowed her eyes for a moment, measuring up his captain in a whole new light. She finally sat down. "What did he told you?"
Kage answered by pouring a cup of tea to Karren. "First, you must understand that when he told me HIS version of story, he had no idea of who I really am. Given the circumstances and everything, he stood to gain nothing by lying to me."
"What are you trying to say? That you believe his story is truth?"
"I don't know what to believe. He certainly believed his own story though." Kage shrugged. "I'm not siding with you or Gino. I can only tell you what HE told me. You just have to make your own damn mind to accept this story or reject it. What happens after that, is all up to you."
Karen looked at the captain, and then to the tea on her cup. She grabbed it and took a sip. The warm liquid oozed down her throat, warming up her belly, giving her some much needed level headedness. "Okay, Skipper. Shoot."
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Meanwhile, Hikari is currently inside Sai's room, partly to oversee his detention, partly to see his work over what he had done with his flowers. And she must say, she was impressed. He failed, so far. But each failure had aided her student on reaching one breakthrough after another with each subsequent attempt. It took her a full year to reach the level of proficiency that Sai showed in his latest failed attempt. A feat he accomplished within days, with barely a clue from Kira's offhand, albeit extremely detailed, remark. 'But… it's too soon. Too quick of a development… then again, he has the passion…'
"Hikari-senseiiii…" A ghostly moan reverberated across the room.
Lacus tapped Lea who quickly opened her mouth wide into a circular portal the size of a table mirror. It showed Sai who had just endured one of the most terrifying punishment Lacus had meted out on him. "I'm done… collecting what you asked… the super soldier steroid undigested pellets from the Archangel crews' shits." Currently, he's standing hip dip inside the Archangel's on board septic tank. He's holding a shit covered filtering net and a flask filled with blue pellets while staring at Rea, relaying the image of his misery to her twin. Hikari instinctively closed her breather as she can even smell the horrid stench that had permeated deeply into Sai's body. "Now… can I please take a bath? I think I've been down here for hours."
"Your detention isn't over yet, Sai Argyle. (koff) That super soldier Hyorogan took 6 years of my life to develop. (koff) 6 years which you, and your companion, have dumped down the drain. (koff)" Hikari growled. Sure, she willingly allowed the drug to be snitched by these two jokers, but she did not expect them to empty the whole bottle. She had hoped they had at least employed some form of moderation when they use it. "No need to worry about the stench. (koff) Your next task doesn't care how you smell. (koff) Come on up for your next detention. (koff)"
Sai sighed in despair. He must have made the solemn oath: 'whatever you do, don't ever touch the shitty bottle' at least a 1000 times in his mind when he was stuck here. The smell of shit will be permanently engrained to his being and the entire crew steer clear away from this stinky, shit stained character. When he returned to his room to hand Hikari her blue pellet filled flask, Hikari had already finished preparing for his next detention.
"This is Abby. (koff)" First Hikari introduced an ominous looking Black Haro. "As you are well aware, each of my haros is my assistants. (koff) Each of them served some manner of purpose. (koff) Lily is my main assistant, Megi is anything that has to do with fire, from lighting to cauterizing; Krona is cutlery and other metallic tools, etc, etc. (koff)"
Sai nodded in understanding. "And what's this one do?"
Hikari answered simply: "Abby is a portable crypt. (koff)"
"Excuse me!?"
"With permission of all related parties, sometimes I'm allowed to keep the bodies of the departed. (koff) I also stored specimens of carcasses of other manner of creatures inside her. (koff) It allows me to perform autopsy or harvest some biological material and unique substances. (koff) To study them, or use them for my potions so to speak. (koff)" Hikari gently patted the black haro, who, unlike the other Haros, doesn't seem to like this affectionate gesture. "Abby kept the bodies fresh and in pristine condition. (koff) Pristine as in… as pristine as when I put them in. (koff)" Hikari snapped her finger, and Abby the black haro opened up into a large human sized circular black portal. "Therefore, all the bodies inside the crypt, new and old, are still… shall we say… 'juicy'."
Sai gulped. Suddenly he really dislike where this is going. "And… what do you ask of me?"
"I want you to go INSIDE the Abby crypt together with Belphy, Megi, Krona and Lilly and fetch me a list of organs and other body parts from the bodies inside. (koff) Belphy will help you with the list and the others will help you on acquiring them. (koff)"
All of the aforementioned Haros had reverted to their human form, ready to help the trembling head to toe Sai in completing his task. The bespectacled boy still looked a bit uncertain about this. "Will this be… okay?"
"Don't worry. (koff) I told Abby to let you in. (koff) It smells of formalin and amonia in there, but you'll be fine. (koff)" Hikari added with a smile. But then, she rubbed her chin, and then she remembered the important bit. "Ah yes, I almost forgot. (koff) Whatever you do, DON'T throw up inside Abby. (koff) She doesn't like it. (koff) Not. One. Bit. (koff)"
"Unknowing first timers always throw up." Megi giddily chuckled in glee. She turned to Krona with a grin. "You still remember the time with that pompous baron whatsisname?"
Krona shrugged and murmured monotonously. "I remember all time." She shrugged. "By the time Abby calmed down, Lacus had to spend some time mopping his remains from the floor and it took some more time dripping what's left of him in a test tube."
"And it may took us the rest of our lives to wonder why Lacus even bother fixing him back afterwards." Lily added.
Sai's face was drained of all colors and his teeth clattered. He quickly turned around and tried to bolt away, but Lily and Megi had grabbed his back and dragged him into the portal of doom. Lilly asked as she began entering the gateway. "Belphy? What's the first on the list?"
Belphy opened her great book and read the list: "Firstly, 7 pairs of brain juice essence from both male and female subjects from 7 age groups."
Hearing list number one and Sai was already on the verge of hurling as he clasped his mouth. "Urk!" Alas, before he can do anything, Lily and Megi had shoved him into the gate. One last meaningful look to Lacus and the shikigamis also entered the gate. Once Belphy, the last to enter gate was inside, Lacus waved her hand and Abby closed the gate by shrinking back to her original size. The black haro floated and landed on Lacus lap while she patted the black haro. Again, the black haro said nothing, but showed its obvious discomfort. "There, there Abby. Be nice."
"Hmph!"
Lacus chuckled. 'Sai Argyle… you have talent. That much is certain. However, no need to be hasty. Take your time in this detention AKA intensive surgery training and immerse yourself in the basics first.' Lacus purposefully had Sai dissect human bodies, dead ones, so that he can better learn the inner workings of human organs. Bluntly speaking, Sai was well ahead of the class. This is as much as a detention as well as a reward for Sai's praiseworthy albeit hasty effort on her homework.
Inside the crypt, Sai tried his damndest not to hurl as he began to dissect a woman's cranium with Krona's bone-saw. The grating sound of the bone being cut was chilling to the spine and many times he nearly swooned.
Meanwhile, outside Abby, the door knocks.
Hikari waved her hand and the door opened, revealing Gino. And he looked as miserable as he can get. After he was reprimanded by Kage, he was too ashamed rather than afraid to return back to his duty after that attempt on his charge's life. That and he was basically conflicted: he can't do his duty right with the way things are with his ex fiancée, and yet, when he tried to patch things up with Karren, the girl kept avoiding him, and now he can't do his duty either way. After a few days of fruitless attempt to once again talk things out with Karren, he gave up and realized he needed advice. But now that he stands before Lacus… and already he thinks this is a bad idea.
Even Lacus can really feel the thick gloom hung on her bodyguard's face. "Gi-et-to- Taka… (koff) something wrong? (koff)"
A dejected Gino looked at the princess and mourned. "Hey… Milady… I… I'm sorry. I have failed you."
Lacus blinked and rubbed her chest. The scars she gained during her bout with Marco are still visible. "Gino… I don't need my ears to know… that you have problems. If you wish to share, I'm all ears." Lacus smiled serenely as she tilted her head.
Gino became even mortified at Lacus obvious kindness. "My Lady… I don't think I deserve this kindness."
Lacus quirkily chuckled and easily thought up a reply. "Well… how bout this… it is not kindness. This is an order."
Gino gasped. "An… order? Milady?"
"Yes. I want my knight to perform as they should. Your failure is caused by something, and I order you to tell me what it is." Lacus decided she needed to abuse her nobility status a bit. Just a bit.
Lacus got him by the balls. Figuratively speaking. Like he could call himself a knight if he refused an order after he failed her once already. 'Oh… swell… here we go then.' "Milady… have you ever… had your boyfriend getting really pissed off at you?"
If Gino wasn't so miserable looking, Lacus probably would've shook off that question with a furious blush. But clearly that was not the case. "That depends… what kind of anger are we talking about here?"
"The kind of anger that drove the love of your life to try and kill you the next time you met her after years of separation."
"Whoa. What did you do to her?"
Gino smiled sadly. "The most unforgivable crime ever: I gave up on her."
"Well, if you already knew she'll never forgive you for that, then perhaps you might just well give up on her." And the Lacus tilted her head. "Or, if you really feel guilty, just let her do whatever to you."
Gino's head fall down. "Aaahh…"
"You gave up didn't you? So why bother trying?"
Gino quickly tried to fix the misunderstanding. "No, no, no! You had me all wrong! I haven't given up on her! It's just-"
"You just said you've given up on her." Lacus repeated. "If you've given up on ever receiving her forgiveness before you even ask her of it, than perhaps she should be angry at you."
Gino was completely caught off guard.
"Just like before when you felt you don't deserve my help, you yourself already decided that what you did back then was unforgivable. You never asked MY opinion on whether I can forgive you or not. If that's how you behave… why did you still chase after her?" Lacus turned around and smiled gently. "You know my… boyfriend girlfriend relationship with Kage is just make believe. So obviously I can't tell you whether you should give up or not. It all comes down to your own choice right? To give up on her, or not to give up on her." Lacus added as final note. "From Shakespeare."
BANG!
Gino's head collapsed on the floor. Just like Lacus Clyne to pull off the silliest distortion of a famous quote.
Still… Gino can't deny that she get the message across.
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Four days later…
Lockon and Milly were on standby in their post on the towering crow's nest, where one can also see Tolle hanging upside down with several arrows embedded on his bruised and battered (but still alive and kickin) body. Milly was thinking she needed another target practice, that was until Lockon noticed something coming from the horizon. "Oh… shit… Oh shit… Milly-chan… you go tell Boss Man… we're there. 3 days ahead of schedule."
Milly nodded and quickly run off to report the situation.
"Hey, put me down please?" Tolle pleaded.
The pleading fell to ear deafened by emergency. Ignoring his boyfriend's well deserved plea, Milly forego the stairs altogether and instead jumped across rooftops with shunshins while Lockon had already ring the bell like there's no tomorrow.
By then, everyone who heard the bell quickly looked to the sea and saw the coming disaster. They quickly scurry here and there to their respective stations.
Milly found Kage, Mwu and Murrue in the engine room, along with Murdoch and his crew. There she saw they were standing a healthy distance away from the Archangel's spherical engine… which is blazing red hot, hotter than the blazes of hell. Kage noticed a flustered Milly. "Milly?"
"Kage… we're there."
Everyone's eyes widened. "What? I thought we still got 3 more days!" Mwu gawked.
"Apparently we're ahead of schedule." Milly replied.
All the commanding officers scurry to the forward deck where they can get a clearer view of the situation.
And lo behold… Shanghai is right in front of them.
The city is densely filled with sprawling pagodas and massive manors at the center, surrounded by a multitude of smaller houses of less pristine condition. The concentration of buildings was visibly increasing the closer it get to the port, denoting the epicenter of life in that harbor city. And while the city itself is as large as befits one of the densest city in the world, the largest part of the city are not the ones that were built on land… but ones that float in the shores. Another show of Natural Engineering Ingenuity is that in order to accommodate the many naval and ocean bound activity, they've decided to build many structures and buildings floating above the surface of the sea. The harbor, the naval yards, the docks… and most importantly: the market. In normal circumstances, the shore would've been completely overcrowded with rafts and boats filled with merchandises and goods. Merchants of various kinds selling all sorts of items and products.
But… seeing that an ironclad ship is about to crash right into it, the ocean was relatively clear of all ships…
But Kage couldn't figure why there are still hundreds of battleships waiting right in front of them.
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Just a day ago, George managed to push his ship and arrived earlier than expected. He waste no time with all the pleasantries and immediately warned the harbor guard of the impending disaster.
That… was a lot harder than he expected.
"An iron clad ship 100,000 long tons?" The harbor guard laughed. "Mr. Allister, sir, I think you're working too hard. There's no way something that heavy can float much less sail."
"Where the hell do you think I came from!? I was on board that ship! It floats, and it's moving! It's heading this way as we speak! And they're losing control of it!" George retorted.
"Look, sir. Ship aside, and, no mean to disrespect your position, we can't just stop all the business activity on this city, even for one day. The amount of money that is being moved here-"
"I own 12% share of the stock here, my fellow logos ministers also possess just as much shares… I KNOW how much money we're going to lose if we stop business operation in Shanghai for even a single day." George was getting slightly frustrated. "But an out of control iron ship crashing into a densely populated city is even worse for business!"
While it took him almost forever to convince the harbor guard, it took him even longer to convince the Business Tycoons of the Shanghai Trade Associations. Sure, he's also a member… he could easily say he's above them… being a Logos and all… But there's only so much a shipwright tycoon can do. After all, to stop the business activity for a day in Shanghai involves the loss of a huge amount of credits. But, with a little bit of swift silver tongue, and some under the table dealings that only a Logos member can afford… he managed to convince them to withdraw all their business activity ASAP to the ground, far from danger area.
Alas… the biggest hurdle was not the businessman. It was the army.
George had seen this awkwardness ever since he first landed: there's an unusually huge concentrations of BattleCruisers fleets from the 11th the Second Navy Marines division docked in the harbor, and more are pouring in. With the Admiral Captain and Vice Admiral nowhere to be found, he had to call in the officer of each ship to convince them to clear a path for the impending disaster. Problem is… the 7th division underdog reputation surpass the possibility that they would have access to such unbelievable hardware. Not even the fact that their new captain was a hotshot Blacklist Captain can shift that stigma.
"Yeah, sure… so the captain will bring the whole base contents of… how much did you say? 2000 soldiers… 4000 at most when beefed up with refugees and their families… This city handled several million people, I think we can handle that number just fine."
"Do you not comprehend what I'm trying to tell you here?" Losing his patience, George roared. "Kage won't just bring the content of his base; he's bringing the WHOLE base here!"
"Look sir, it's out of my hands. There are currently 50 fleet docked on this harbor at this very moment. That's 150 battlecruisers, 600 destroyer escorts, and other smaller Skirmishers by the thousands. The Admiral Captain isn't here and I'm just a soldier, and I have my orders. And my orders were to dock here and remain on standby. I can't just order the entire fleet to make way for some larger than usual ship. Besides… I still find it hard to believe an iron clad ship 1.5 km long is actually buildable. Much less by the 7th division. Now if you'll excuse me sir, but I'm afraid we're done here. I'm needed elsewhere."
Alas, wherever George went, he was awarded with more or less the same response. Indeed, Archangel's size clearly defies beliefs. 'Well… at least I still have a few more days to convince them.'
Now… on the unexpected D-Day… the next day…
"MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY!" That same Chief Officer panicked when he finally comprehend just how big the Archangel really is when it appeared on the horizon, charging straight towards them full speed. That thing easily dwarfed every ship in the harbor. "Why didn't anybody told me about this?"
George sweat dropped. "I hate to say I've told you so…" 'Then again… I'd like to tip my hat for Orb Shipwright engineering… that is one hell of a speed for such a massive ironclad ship… to arrive only a day after the destroyer… much faster than we predicted. That means that ship is actually faster than an Alliance battlecruiser…'
The docked fleets of the 11th division panicked upon seeing the monstrous size of the Archangel. Even more alarming than its size was its speed. For something so huge, it moved surprisingly fast. Worse, the fleet were too densely clustered, it's virtually impossible to maneuver out of the Archangel's collision course in time. The other fleet that had yet to land quickly steer clear, away from the gigantic dreadnought.
A fact that Kage and Mwu were quite aware. "We're too early. Our initial plan won't work… how is it that we arrived earlier?"
"No… I think it's understandable." Kage remarked. "We checked the engine earlier, Murdoch said it's getting hotter and this thing has been gaining speed overtime. 4 days ago we started at 20 knots… I'd say we're way faster than we were 4 days ago."
"Oh shit… what to do?" One of the soldiers gulped.
Kage looked at the situation. But then, he noticed something. "That river." Kage pointed at the mouth of the river roughly 1.5 km to the Archangel's port side. "What's that river?"
"That's… the Yangtze river." Mwu answered… and he quickly understands what his protégé will attempt as soon as Kage bolted and all officers gave chase. But Natarle protested. "Captain Kage, we're travelling at a speed far above 20 knots/hour (20 knots = 37 km/hour). There's no way we can redirect this ship into that narrow canal in so short of a time at this speed!"
"DON'T TELL ME IT CAN'T BE DONE!" Kage roared without stopping. "WE'RE THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN THIS HUNK OF GIGANTIC IRON MASS AND A CITY OF 5 MILLION! We can sit down and argue while this disaster in the making came into completion or we can try to do something really stupid to try and minimize the damage!" Kage paused and yelled at Murdoch on the way: "I don't care what you do, this thing HAS to slow down! BLEW UP THE ENGINE if you have to! Redirect the paddlers!"
Murdoch answered with a nod and already he can be heard screaming orders to his men. "ALRIGHT! GET SOME WATER! FIRST THING TO DO IS TO COOL OFF THAT DAMN BOILER!" Kage continue his rush until he arrived at the deck of the Archangel's starboard frontal bow side.
Mwu looked at the frantic but the man with the plan. "What about us? What can we do?"
Kage answered by first calling the big man: "FUJI!"
The giant Fuji answered the call and awaits his instructions.
Kage turned and simply explained: "We're gonna bludgeon this thing with everything we got on the starboard side, push it to the Yangtze River."
"It'll be close call." Prayer gulped.
"Then stop talking, JUMP DOWN, and start POUNDING!" To make his point, Kage jumped and wall walk downward briefly before jumping far ahead of the charging ship and landed on the sea surface with water striding. He stomped his left leg, strengthening his footing, and when stomped his still injured right leg, Kage grunted at the agony. He quickly made a series of handseals as the ship is fast approaching. "Suiton, Suryuudan no jutsu!" A gigantic swirling water dragon rise up from Kira's back, and with a wave, the giant dragon smashed against the Archangel's front bow. The water dragon splashed harmlessly against the steel hull, but the ship barely shifted from its course. Kage gritted his teeth and quickly remake the seal and then launching another Suiton Suiryuudan.
Fuji quickly get into action and jumped to the ocean. Using water striding, he managed to stand about an ankle deep at the ocean some distance away from the Archangel and with a roar, he stomped his way towards the runaway ship in a bulrush and rammed his shoulder against the Archangel's metal hull. Surprisingly, this too didn't affect the ship's trajectory much, despite the fact everyone aboard fell on all fours upon feeling the impact. Unwilling to give up, he pulled back to build up a momentum and then charged back in, ramming the ship again full force.
"KYAA!" Lacus, completely caught off guard, fell off her seat. "What… what was that?"
"This is crazy…" Natarle gulped as she watched how Kage and Fuji futilely batter the ship's impregnable hulls with everything they got… they might just as well throw eggs at a rock. But then, Mwu mimic Kage and jumped down to the ocean, followed soon enough by the rest of the warriors with water striding capability. And much to Natarle's bewilderment, they began banging the Archangel with everything they got. Mwu unleashed the strongest Fuuton jutsu in his arsenal and hammered the Archangel's hull full force. Canard nailed all his six swords into the surface and then pushed them all with the long surface of the Glamm to push all swords into pushing the ship. Prayer slammed his lance to the hull, pushing it. The rest of the juppongatana also attempted similar line of thought in their own way.
However, no matter what they try, they could barely shift the Archangel's direction by an inch, and that, given they're less than a kilometer away from crashing, will not do. Until suddenly, something happened from the other side. A particular fleet of ships that was, until a moment ago, sailing towards the Shanghai harbor suddenly changed course and headed straight towards the Archangel by the starboard side. The ships fanned out as they aligned their broadside cannons, aiming it towards the Archangel Steel Hull. Of greater interest was another ship right at the center of that fleet: twice as large as an average battlecruisers with twice as much guns on four decks. The frontal bow made to look like a whale, with three triple barreled heavily reinforced Gottfried cannon aligned in a 2x3 formation. On the lower frontal hull, there's a huge trident being encrusted just beneath the galley's bow. The other ship opened up to allow the White colored flagship a clear path to the Archangel.
"Careful you don't hit those brave idiots and that giant, boys." A female stern voice commanded at the crews situated at the white flagship's bridge. "Aim at the lower hull! If that thing is as tough as it looks, it should take this much firepower no problem."
"Aye, aye ma'am."
Prayer was the first to notice the activity. His eyes widened upon realization and he immediately screamed. "All hands! CLEAR THE AREA!"
Kage looked back and saw the fleet pointing towards them. "RUN!"
The Juppongatana quickly clear the danger area as Fuji also moved away from the kill box.
The female officer yelled: "FIRE!"
In unison, every Gottfried on every ship at the said fleet roared sending in their cannon shells. The white flagship 6 barrel volley bow cannon also roared, launching 6 large caliber bullets with flat warhead simultaneously. All the shells went straight at the Archangel at a very specific spot. The concentrated simultaneous barrage hammered the Archangel with such power born from its pinpoint accuracy, the frontal part of the giant ship was pushed 500 meters to the portside. Not enough… but that was a step to the right direction.
"Wow… Okay… what was that?" Kage blinked in amazement.
"That white galleon… the Ahab… damn! She's here!" Mwu grinned from ear to ear.
"She?"
"The Admiral Captain of the 11th Naval Marines Division, Jane Houston the White Whale."
True to Mwu's words, aboard the Ahab is a woman wearing a black bandana over her short neck length bright yellow hair. She wears a white ship captain coat, styled after a sailor's overcoat complete with fading yellow epaulettes on her shoulders. A large word of XI (Roman Numeral Eleven) signifying her rank as the captain of the 11th division can be seen on the back of the coat. But she did not wear the coat per se, she simply let it hang over her shoulders. Beneath the coat is simple official marine clothing intended for male: a plain white shirt, but it has been unbuttoned all the way down to her chest area, slightly revealing her cleavage and a silver choker at the base of her neck. She also wears a pair of dark blue trousers and black boots that reached above her knees. Her belt is filled with few types of equipment: bags, grenades and sidearm to name a few, and a knife was strapped on one of her boots. There's also a holster for holding a binocular, but said binocular is currently being used by Jane to observe the result of her barrage.
And contrary to everyone's assumption, she was in slight disbelief. "Unbelievable…" Jane groaned. "Around a hundred Gottfried shells and 6 Sledgehammer shells at this range… and that thing only have a dent to show for it?" Jane removed the binocular from her green eyes. "Those guys really got themselves one hell of a ship."
"But… Captain…" A timid girl in her teens with silver hair remarked. "The idea was not to sink that ship… right?"
"What are you talking about, Tessa? I fully intend to sink that monster!" Jane retorted. "If that thing crush my fleet, I'm gonna kill the son of a bitch captaining that thing."
Her First Lieutenant, Teletha Testarossa 'Tessa', a 15 year old silver haired girl merely laughed nervously. "Ahaha…"
"Still… it looks like I ended doing Kage some favor. It's all up to him now." Jane lifted her binocular again and eyed the black masked warrior intently.
With the Archangel took a significant shift, the damage potential had lessened somewhat in that it won't collide with the 11th division's fleet, but they're still far off from their intended destination. Nevertheless, Kage analyze the situation and realized they all have but one option left. 'We may yet have a chance…' wasting no time explaining, Kage transformed Shiki into the Kurenai Shiki form.
Jane, who saw the black clad man turned into red gasped. 'That katana…!'
Kage quickly transformed into a blur of zigzagging red light and flew across the ship, going straight towards the portside massive paddler.
Karren blinked. 'He's going to the portside paddler… oh, I see.'
Upon landing on the ocean, Kage transformed the Kurenai Shiki into the Arrow of Midori Shiki. He charged the blade arrow to full, aiming it at the portside paddler before shooting. The arrow exploded upon impact, instantly destroying the paddler to bits. The crew was initially confused at this act. But then, with only one functional paddler on the starboard side, the imbalanced ship began to shift to the portside, propelled by the last remaining paddler on the starboard side.
"The ship… it's turning!" Indeed, the ship began to shift direction, properly entering the mouth of the Yangtze river. But, as they will soon come to learn… the danger isn't over yet.
"Oh my god… what the hell!?" One of the soldiers gulped.
"If it's not one thing it's another…"
The ship will soon reach the mouth, but what's waiting for them at the Yangtze river… was the multitude of ragged houses built on top of hanging bridges crisscrossing the river. And unlike the evacuated harbor, this one is still bustling with civilians. Worse, at their speed, they'll ram that area within minutes, with the distance between the ship and the river mouth is only a little over 500 meters and they're closing fast.
Just then, the second explosion was heard and the second paddler of the Archangel was destroyed. Kage and Mwu had just finished destroying the second paddler. The ship is still moving at dangerous speed by virtue of their built up momentum.
480 meters
Meanwhile, with Kage having blown up the paddlers earlier the steam engine won't be of any use now, and the ship won't be speeding up. But it won't do much good if their steam engine blew up on them. So now they're doing everything they can do at the engine room to forcibly cool the blazing red hot boiler of a steam engine. And that includes pumping and splashing the boiler with sea waters to forcibly cool it off, which generate huge amount of scalding hot steams, making the engine room a very dangerous place to be.
430 meters
The only one who can be inside that area is those with specialized armors: that means a fully armored Toudou and the Shiseiken… and Hikari. Alas, it doesn't seem to be doing much good. The Samurais looked at the blazing hot furnace, that thing really is going to blow… unless… they take desperate measures.
Chiba looked at Hikari, who knew what she had to do. She grabbed the deep blue Haro, the icy Levi and rushed towards the entry point where they shoved the fuel. It's now blazing hotter than the blazes of hell. "OPEN IT! (KOFF)!"
The Samurais grabbed the hot latch, grunting as they hold the agony of their arms being seared as they opened the furnace. The fire roared out of the hatch. Without further ado, Hikari threw the Blue Haro into the fire. The fire died down almost instantly, and the whole boiler began to cool down.
"Chief!" One of the engine crew reported to Murdoch. "The boiler's temperature is dropping! We're losing pressure!"
Murdoch nodded and sighed in relief. They're still moving at speed though… "It's all up to the boys now."
380 meters
"Now what?"
"Now, we're back to plan A." Kage turned to Fuji. "FUJI! Come on!" Donning Kurenai Shiki Kage flew ahead of the ship. Mwu followed suit by throwing his shuriken, teleport to it, catch it, throw it again and so on and so forth.
330 meters
The giant nodded and ran as fast as he could, outrunning the Archangel with his wide gait, trailing just behind Kage.
Kage landed on the outermost part of the bridge hung town and tossed Shiki towards Fuji. Midway, the shiki transformed into the gigantic sword, Aoiro Shiki. In Kage's hand it's like a pole-arm, but for Fuji immense size, it's a perfect fit. "Alright this will do." Fuji ran ahead towards the Archangel, straight towards its middle section. He stopped when he's but a few meters away from the incoming central section.
280 meters
"Here we go!" Fuji roared and the Aoiro Shiki burst out, a gigantic immaterial chakra blade burst out of its hilt, forming a wide berthed katana, immense even for someone of Fuji's size. The giant slammed the gigantic blade to the ocean floor and create a makeshift wall with the wide surface of the blade. He positioned himself to face the Archangel's center section.
230 meters
Kage took the incoming starboard hull while Mwu took the portside hull. Kage furiously made a series of handseals, draining what's left of his chakra reserves, as do Mwu.
"Suiton!"
180 meters
"Mokuton!"
Kage jerked both of his arms towards the sea, and a whole mass of sea water rose up, draining the water until the ocean bottom was visible. "Suiryuu no Yosai no jutsu! (Water Dragon Fortress)" The water turned into a gigantic swirling water dragon and engulfed Fuji, creating a thick watery fortification around him, granting him added defense.
Mwu slammed his hands to the wooden bridge. "Jyukai Koudan!" gigantic wooden roots burst out under the bridge floor and bury itself straight into the earth of the ocean floor. Absorbing the nutrients from the earth, the wooden roots was strengthened, and Mwu redo his seals: "Mokuton: YONJUU JYUKAIHEKI! (Wood Element: Four Layer World Tree barrier!)"
The tree roots congregates, creating four massive walls of wooden nets made of crisscrossing tree roots, a pair for each of Archangel's incoming hull.
130 meters
The Archangel is but scant meters away from his being, a little less than several hundred meters away from the first bridge and Fuji gritted his teeth in anticipation as he strengthened the chakra on his feet, nailing it to the ocean as tight as humanly possible.
The first to hit the Archangel central section was the swirling water wall. A towering splash occurred upon impact. But the Archangel's approach was slowed, but not enough to prevent the central section to collide with the surface of Aoiro Shiki with enough force to disperse the water dragon fortress.
The enormous shockwave emerged when the central section of the archangel finally collided with the blade's surface. The blast propelled the water away, drenching the surrounding vicinity with sea water. The Archangel's huge bulk finally began to slow down, but it still progressing forward with incredible force. Fuji gasped in shock upon feeling this overwhelming pressure bearing down upon him. Were it not for the protection of Shiki's immaterial blade, the sheer weight of the dreadnought would crush him outright. But even with his prodigious strength, he's still getting pushed back.
100 meters
Kage gasped upon seeing his jutsu undone by the sheer force of the impact. A great deal of his limited stamina and chakra evaporated along with it. The exposed ocean bottom down below were once again filled with water.
70 meters
At that point, the hulls, which were longer than the central section, finally collided with Mwu's wooden nets. Again, it was coupled with another loud impact noise and another massive shockwave. Mwu's World Tree Wall worked as a soft reactive wall that absorbed the impact blow, reducing the damage. Again, it reduced the speed of the incoming ship.
50 meters
But it's not stopping. And it's not happening fast enough.
30 meters
Even when the prow finally crashed with the river floor, it's not stopping as it carve through the earth as it made its way into the Yangtze river itself. Kage, already on his knees in sheer exhaustion, gritted his teeth and glared at this problem child of a ship. "Screw this shit…"
15 meters
And with that, Kage jumped to the ocean below. Midair, he made a series of handseals. "SUITON!"
"SURIYU HEKI! (Water dragon barrier)" Still midair, Kage propelled both of his palms forward, and an enormous amount of water exploded forward. A localized draconic tsunami that burst through and slammed against both the wooden root wall and the struggling Fuji. The ship slowed down yet again…
7 meters
Kage concentrated so much in maintaining the watery wall, he forget he's free-falling. The water level below him had been reduced, and it still managed to do its job cushioning the otherwise lethal fall, but it's only partially successful. Kage grunted in pain when he first splashed into water only to collide with the ocean bottom a few seconds after. And still he won't let up the jutsu.
But without stopping, Kage crafted another handseal. "Suiton…"
3 meters…
"SUIRYUU HOU! (Water Dragon Cannon)" A massive mass of water shaped like a giant dragon head, almost as tall as Fuji's waist rose up and headed straight towards Fuji. The water dragon splashed against his back, propelling him forward even more, aiding his ailing hold on this metallic monster before adding into the water dragon wall, enlarging and strengthening it.
2 meters…
"GRAAARGHH!" Mwu concentrated all his effort like nothing before as more wooden roots sprang out from the river banks and further restrained the metallic juggernaut, while Fuji give it everything his good as his bleeding feet, still nailed with chakra grinded and cracked the ocean floor, and Kage, squeezing what little he got left, sending wave after wave of giant water splash, whittling down the ship's gait.
1 meter…
It all comes down to just the three of them.
5 cm…
"EAAAAARGGHHH!" Kage sent one last Suiton Suiryuudan at the Archangel's hull…
And the center section of the Archangel finally stopped but a mere 3 mm from Kage's nose, while the starboard and portside bow, specifically, both tips of the Lohengrin Cannon barrels nudged the bridge just a bit. One end stopped centimeters right in front of a window of a family who's having a heated discussion about birthday gift, the other barrels scares the living day out of a fishmonger's customers when he finally turned around and find himself staring down a supergun cannon barrel. But other than that, it causes no damage whatsoever.
Silence.
Fuji blinked several times. His arms, his legs, his whole body went numb… but… he no longer move backward. He no longer felt any uncontrollable pressure from the other side.
Mwu, having the top view, saw that the giant ship had really stopped moving. And just in time, there were barely any branches left to keep it from moving forward.
Kage was the only one who had yet to realize the ship had stopped. Too wasted on maintaining the sea walls, Kage deliriously resorted to push the no longer moving ship with his tired hands.
Mwu quickly jumped and splashed down right next to his feverish student and grab his shoulder. "Yo, kid." Kage paused and looked at Mwu. "It's over. The ship stopped."
Kage blinked several times, his mind had yet to comprehend what Mwu was saying. But a moment later, he blinked several times and then he looked back at the now still metallic hull of the Archangel. As Mwu had said: it stopped. At last. Kage finally relaxed, and with it, the water mass that has been held suspended by Kage's jutsu collapse and began to flood the river again. "Okay… time to scram!" Mwu grabbed Kage's back and the two shunshined upward back to the bridge. Fuji took his time climbing back to the river bank, and by the time the water flows back in, the giant had already sitting on the banks, watching the river flows again.
Kage and Mwu looked at the giant ship that nearly crushed god knows how many lives in a runway from the edge if the nearly smashed bridge. The control's busted, the starboard superstructure was blown up, the paddlers shot… this thing won't be going anywhere and to think they managed to sail from Japan all the way to Shanghai in this oversized metallic junk.
Kage and Mwu barely had time to relax; they heard shouting and yells from the river bank. They looked to the source of the commotion and saw it was Fuji.
Fuji, too tired to stand up can only watch as Troopers came and surround him, armed with their rifles. Some even dragged cannons towards him. He looked around and moaned. "Wait…" He murmured weakly. He was so tired he could barely speak. "Wait… I'm not…" The troopers lining up as they aimed their rifle also couldn't help but to gawk. In what world there's a human this huge in this world? They steeled themselves and await the order to open fire at this monstrosity. Fuji looked around and saw that it's not just the soldiers. The civilians were all scared of him too. The people are running away from him, pointing at him, gawking, mouthing something that sounds like 'monster' and 'he's gonna eat us' initially curious children were brought away from his reach. 'I see… To them naturals… I'm something unnatural… on that account, I'm no different than the advanced… in short… I'm also an enemy. It's no use trying to convince them otherwise.'
The sergeant took another look to digest this being sitting in front of him, dwarfing everyone and everything around him. He took a gulp and raised his hand. "Take aim…"
The guns were cocked, the cannons are lock and loaded.
"F-"
Before he could finish his order, a black blur flashed across his men, and suddenly, a massive shockwave burst right in front of the assembled troopers, throwing them into disarray. Following suit, a tornado fell from the sky and hammered the cannons to scrap. "What is this!?" The sergeant gaped. Just then, the tornado died down, and from the rubble of the cannons, something flew out, a Fuuma Shuriken.
The Fuuma Shuriken flew back into the hand of a blond haired Caucasian, wearing a white coat of the 9th division Captain. "Hiya!" Mwu smirked.
Another figure also stands right next to him. But unlike Mwu's stern but friendly and bright atmosphere, this one emanates a black atmosphere of dread, covered in black clad suit. Kage, with a smoking and greyed out shiki outstretched, but his angry dark eyes, glaring at everyone who dare to meet his gaze, is an even more potent threat in itself.
The troopers looked at this black clad figure of dread… and then it hit them. "Oi… is that… who I think it is?"
"Yeah… no mistake about it. Masked, wearing headband, brown hair, eyes as dark as hell, black clad clothing… and carrying a sword that can cut and destroy everything…"
"The newbie who entered the stage by killing that immortal monster Veia, butchering 100,000 people in 5 days… with a bounty of 300,000,000 on his head…"
"Last I checked it has been increased to 500,000,000…"
"God… the hell are those eyes?"
"Kage the Black Devil…"
Kage's reputation precedes him and did the rest of the job intimidating and stopping the troopers from doing anything but shivering in fear and awe in their boots.
Kage glared at the troopers. "I suggest… you put down your guns… and be about your business."
A Sergeant quickly got over his fear. "But, Mr. Kage… that thing behind you is-"
"My crew and my friend." Kage glared straight towards the Sergeant. "And if you so much as to try to hurt a single strand of his hair, you'll answer to me." The sergeant gawked in horror, and for a moment he thought retreating seems like a good idea.
"And I suggest you obey him, lad." A voice suddenly arose from the crowds. The troopers turned and gaped: it's George Allister of the Allistersmith Shipwright, one of the Logos! "If you underestimate him just because of his current post, you got another thing coming… and you won't like it when he's angry. Not. One. Bit."
When even a Logos minister gave the order, than the Troopers had no choice but to obey. George looked at Kage and Mwu, and breaks a smile. "That is one hell of a way to make an entrance, boys." Mwu relaxed and Kage nodded as he put Shiki back into the sheath. Behind George, there are also two people walking side by side. Kage blinked.
George gave way and revealed the first of the two: a young man, slightly older than Mwu, but nevertheless belong to the same age group. His Chinese ancestry was plain, with long dark hair, wearing blue sleeveless Chinese clothing, and white pants. He was lean, tall, and somewhat thin. To a keen observer such as Kage, there's something off with the way this man moves. As if he was covering some form frailty with normality. Yet his brown eyes, sharp and decisive, reminded him in some way to Toudou, and it overwhelms any sign of weakness. Judging by the way the other troopers make way, he's also a man of some rank. The man quickly approached them and looked at Kage.
George immediately gave the introduction. "Kage? May I introduce you: the First lieutenant of the 10th Regular Army Division, Li Xingke."
"Welcome to Shanghai, Kage the Black Devil." Xingke stated in a flat tone, but his lips formed the slightest of smile. He clasped his palm and fist together before bowing down. A Chinese way of saluting one another with respect.
Kage mimic the man and bowed down also.
The long haired man further added. "Kage-daren, on behalf of General Captain Rena Imelia-daren, I extend you her greetings." (AN: Daren is a Chinese honorific. The same as -Dono, -Danna, and -Sama)
Kage nodded. "Lieutenant Li, please accept my humblest apologies for this mess. I will take full responsibility for this incident." Kage once again bowed his head low. "And secondly, if it's not too much trouble, can you please order your men to put those guns away from my friend here? As I recall, he just risked his life to stop this ship from crashing into Shanghai but a moment ago."
"Yǒngshìmen, shōunǐde róng! (Warriors, put away your weapons!)" Xingke barked the order. The troopers nodded and grudgingly obeyed.
Kage nodded in gratitude. "Xie-xie, Li-daren. Xie-xie." Kage signaled Fuji. "Get back to the ship, tell them to give me a sitrep, ASAP." Fuji nodded and made his way slowly towards the now downed ship, splashing back into the river and walked towards the Archangel.
"That's a very interesting friend you have there, Kage-daren." Xingke remarked.
"Fuji had a twisted advanced quack doctor to thank for his current predicament. He is a victim, otherwise he's as much as a natural as the rest of you." Kage glared.
"Don't get me wrong. I do not take things by face value. I saw a poor soul who had risked his life to save an entire city. If I feel anything, I feel nothing but gratitude to him. And to you both as well." Xingke once again bowed in gratitude to Kage and Mwu.
"I don't deserve your gratitude." Kage bent his head down. "What happened here was the direct result of my previous reckless judgments. I've damaged my ship time and again… and the people of Shanghai nearly… paid… the… p-price." As soon as Kage said that though, his strength was finally spent and the black clad man collapsed on his knees, coughing blood. The wound on his leg had also once again reopened and he was about to fell on his face. But before his face touches the ground, another figure caught him midfall.
Boing.
"Hrm?" And Kage found his head is buried on something, and he couldn't see a thing. '?' Kage rubbed his face, and he ended up touching something… bouncy and… fluffy…
Boing, boing…
'What…' His other hand reached out and touched that round bouncy thingy…
Boing… boing…
'Wait a minute…' Kage immediately back down only to see a pair of jiggly, bouncing breast that belong to a pink haired girl, wearing a police cap, with a one piece white suite with a very voluptuous body. When he first saw pink hair, he thought Lacus… but… on second observation it's a different girl entirely. And on a third observation, the girl's pretty face is still flustered… because his hands are still groping her breasts. "Gah!" Kage snapped and jumped back in a surprise, pulling back his hands in the process. "Wh… Wha… Sorry! I'm so sorry… I had no idea…" And now that he noticed it… all the troopers around him are giving him deathglares. Did he just grope somebody he shouldn't have? Funny thing is, the girl seem a bit annoyed… that he stopped groping her breast.
Kage blinked several times as he got back on his feet. Seeing the girl is still down there on the floor, Kage extended his hand, offering some help. "Ahh… are you okay?"
Upon seeing the extended hand, the girl's blushing face reddened even further that it was even redder than her pink hair. "Yes… I'm okay…" she received his hand with her own armored hand and get back up. The girl was easily a head taller than Kage, and she's in her twenties as well.
"You…" Kage observed her even further… and then he noticed the unique shaped gauntlets and greaves strapped to her petite figure. Having been told the specific description and characteristic of the members of the Arsenal Five, Kage quickly surmised. "You must be… Simca the Migratory bird."
Simca became flustered even more when the black clad nin recognized her even without her telling him her name. "Yes! Yes I am!" She excitedly nodded. "And you're Kage!"
"I guess our reputation precedes us." Kage panted a chuckle as his finally relaxed eyes gleamed warmly.
At that point, Simca couldn't hold back anymore. Before anyone can stop her, she grabbed Kage's head, and before the bleeding jealous eyes of everyone, gave Kage a full kiss right where his lips would be. Even through the mask, the hard pressed Kage can still feel her hot lips smacked with his.
Everyone jaw dropped and their eyes popped out of their sockets.
When Simca parted, she looked lovingly at Kage's widened eyes and declared: "Can I be your girlfriend?"
And all that a shocked Kage can say is: "…huh?"
And every single trooper in vicinity, all of which are members of Simca-sama's Fan-club screamed bloody murder:
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERGHGHHH!?"
The city of Shanghai virtually exploded with horrified screams and hysterical shouts. Suicide attempts skyrocketed; riot breaks out, revolution, open war, blood on the streets. They're thinking about writing a song about it.
000000000000000
Meanwhile, back aboard the Archangel, Fuji found the situation was not as bad as it looks. It was a mess of course. Rubbles everywhere, everything was turned over, stuff broke… but everyone understands. Everyone was grateful. The only complaint of the day was from Hikari… which is another way of saying: no complaints.
"I'm just caught off guard though. (koff)" She stated. "A couple of vials from my atelier broke… but… nothing I can't easily replace. (koff) you did good. (koff)" Hikari was packing some stuff into a box case. "Now… where is he? (koff)"
"Where's who doc?"
"That idiotic suicidal moron who had obviously torn himself up again saving everyone's life but his own. (koff) Where is he? (koff)"
Fuji slapped his head knowing the idiot she speak off. "Last I checked, he's on the ground on the river bank. Cross the bridge to the portside and you're there."
"Thank you." And Hikari quickly run off carrying the box filled with medical equipment and supplies for her stupid idiot of a boyfriend.
Fuji scratched his cheek. 'If I think about it now, even though she talks like that she still patches him up whenever he torn himself time and again.' Fuji shook it off and get back on the task of finding out if there is anything he can do to help.
Hikari easily made his way to the portside deck, jumped down and run across the Lohengrin cannon barrel, and jumped into the family house, apologizing for interrupting the father's effort to convince his son supergun is not a birthday gift material. She walked out of the house to find the streets near empty. Apparently, thanks to all this chaos, everyone but the most stubborn or ill attentive had escaped to safe area. But, as she quickly made her way to her perceived destination, it gradually filled up and the number of people gawking at her full armor appearance increases… if they weren't gawping at the Archangel. But Hikari couldn't care less. She had no time to worry her surroundings; she had to find that black clad idiot before…
"Hey, didya hear? They say that black clad hotshot is still on the southbank area!"
"Awesome! I wanna ask his autograph!"
She caught heard a rushing trooper's passing comment, and she immediately changed direction. In her mind, she starts listing the medical treatment she had to perform… 'Therapy, bandage, disinfectant, cauterizing…'
Upon arrival…
"Ah! Kage! I b…!?"
There he was. Kage. Standing on his last legs… as expected…
Except the fact there's another pink haired beauty… hugging and burying Kage's head into her ample breasts.
…and now she's start listing the sort of injuries she should inflict to that ungrateful disloyal cheating son-of-a-bitch. 'Bludgeoning, maiming, garroting, stabbing, burning, poisoning, beheading, castration…'
"KORAAAAAAA!" But right now she resolves to simply hurling her medicine box at Kage's head at mach 9 (faster than a bullet), effectively parting him away from that slattern, BANG! effective immediately even before and after impact. Mwu gawked with a sweat-drop at his downed student. The other opted to stay a healthy distance away.
"Honey!?" Simca looked innocently at Kage's downed figure, his smoking head buried underneath the medicine box. "Honey? Are you alright?"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING HONEY, YOU SLUT!?" Hikari angrily stomped her way inbetween Kage and Simca. "AND WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, DOING SHAMELESS THINGS TO KAGE!?"
"Huh?" Simca looked at the fuming armored girl. "What do you think YOU'RE doing? You smashed my honey's head with a box! Speaking of which, who are you?"
"I'm Hikari! (koff) I'm HIS GIRLFRIEND! (koff)" Hikari pointed at the piece of meat downed on the floor. "Which beg the question: Who ARE YOU and WHAT is your relationship with MY BOYFRIEND!?"
"YOU'RE his girlfriend!?" Simca gawked in understandable disbelief. She turned to Mwu, asking again: "She's… his girlfriend?"
Mwu, still checking upon the twitching box headed Kage smothering the ground, confirms it with a few nods.
And then she starts looking at her, observing her from head to toe, studying her features. Somewhat difficult given her full body armor. Like her, she also has the same pink hair, tied in a braid. And then her gaze landed on Hikari's curvature around the breast area… "…cup size… D…"
Hikari twitched behind her helmet as she covered her breast area. "W… what?"
Simca smirked and flaunted her G-cup breasts proudly.
Hell couldn't even compare to the searing rage of one Lacus Clyne. 'SHE'S. SO. DEAD!' Her murderous intent exploded, eggs boiled prematurely inside their shells, all dish turned burnt, all non-human lifeform within the area ran away in fear, and everyone within distance goes to full alert. A bloodthirsty Hikari began approaching Simca, meaning her death… until…
"Oi…"
Hikari and Simca turned to look at the grounded Kage, his finger, ridden with angry murderous veins, pointed at the box still burying his bloodied head. Hikari stomped towards the downed Shinobi and plucked her medical box off his bloodied head, and then plucked the head by the hair as she lifted him up the crater. "Is this your idea of treating your patient!?" Kage mumbled.
"NO! This is MY idea on how to deal with a player! (koff) How long have you known this Pink Haired Slut!?"
"Pink Haired Slut!?" Simca roared. "Excuse me, you're the LAST person I wanna hear that from!"
"SHUT UP! (koff) Now confess to me, Mr. Popular Heartbreaker, sir: (Koff) How many other girlfriends do you secretly have!? (Koff)" Hikari blared.
"For the love of God, woman! I JUST MET her a few MINUTES AGO!" Kage roared back.
"YOU GO OUT WITH HER THE FIRST FEW MINUTES AFTER YOU MET HER!?"
"OF COURSE NOT! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?" Kage growled, and then he quickly whispered. "What's more… why are you acting so dramatic about this?"
Hikari gasped upon hearing that and her anger settled a bit… just a bit. But she still kept Kage on a chokehold. And for a moment, her rationality returned, followed with her observational view as a doctor. He is, for the lack of better term, in pieces. Bathing in his own blood, and forget her maiming, his head injury reopened.
Groaning something about perverts, players and suicidal retards, Hikari ordered: "Open your pants! (koff) I'll check up on your leg first! (koff)"
"What about my head?"
"I want you to suffer in pain a little longer. (koff)" Hikari gathered up her equipment from the box, but when she turned back to Kage…
"Ha~aai! Okay, let's just ditch that sadistic girlfriend and let my breast heal your pain, hone~ey!" Simca once again goes into action and forcibly buried the too weak to struggle Kage's head into her ample breasts. Completely ticked off, Hikari furiously grasped her medical box handle so tight it cracked before she threw it at Simca. Again she dodged it, this time at the cost of Kage's gullet, sending him flying some distance away until he crashed to a bloody mess.
A gawking Mwu and George quickly chased and go to the brutalized shinobi's aid. George muttering something about: "And I thought my married life was vicious…" and Mwu added: "This is why I like being single…"
This time, Hikari completely ignore Kage's near death situation and made it a point to deal with this big-breasted interloper first. "First instance: who are you!?"
"Oh my? I'm Simca. Master Tuner, Fourth Lieutenant and future wife of my Honey Kage." Simca winked cutely.
"FUTURE WIFE MY FOOT! (KOFF)" Hikari exploded. "KAGE is MY partner, MY boyfriend, MY patient! (koff) Besides, you just met him for 5 minutes! (koff) By comparison I've known Kage for years! (Koff) I know everything there is to know about him! (Koff)"
"What's the size of his dXXk?"
And Lacus's blush glow brightly until it was visible even behind her mask. "I… HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW STUFFS LIKE THAT!?"
Simca made a motion of shock. "Could it be… you call yourself his girlfriend… and you HAVEN'T done it YET!?"
Lacus' blush grew brighter, now with a healthy dose of angry red. "'That' isn't everything you know! (Koff)"
"But you still haven't done it right? I feel sorry for my honey's loin…"
But at that point, Lacus was reminded of the hell Kira went through in that regard, and she exploded in fury: "THE HELL YOU KNOW BITCH!"
It was another unintentional release of her bloodline limit, fortunately, it was slight and barely noticeable and only results in her angry voice became even more monstrous. A tint of genuine fury that marked her shout different than before made everyone sense something was wrong. Mwu and George winced, sensing, in that angry shout, was something that Lacus knew about Kira that they don't. Xingke noticed this and immediately approached one of his subordinates and gave her a light knock on the head. "You went too far, Lieutenant." And Simca maybe mischievous… but even she has her limits.
Kage sighed. "Hikari! That's enough."
"But… she…!"
"Any further than this, and you might have to go to details… and we don't want that, do we?" Hikari winced and so she calmed her rage.
Simca realized then and there she had unintentionally pressed the wrong button and so she timidly approached the black clad figure, humbled and apologetic. "Hon~ey… I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…"
Kage chuckled and replied gently. "It's okay. It's not like you're doing it on purpose." Kage sighed and get back up. "But please stop teasing my partner, will you?" His eyes curved upward in a smile.
Simca, completely enamored, waste no time and hug him again, burying his head in her breast. "KYAAA! My HONE~EY! I'm in love with you allover aga~ain!"
"GRAARGAHGHAGAHGGAHHH!" Once again become the personification of wrath, Hikari roared, grabbed her box and slammed it right back at Simca, attempting to bludgeon her. But once again she dodged it, resulting in Kage's third dose of maiming that effectively reduced him to a shit-stain on the pavement.
Now every trooper understands part of the reason why Kage is a blacklist. Any man who can stomach having a girlfriend like this is a true hero in every sense of a word.
000000000000000
After her trip to the Captain's office, Karren had spent most of her time in the last 4 days to herself. Time to time, people found the red haired girl kept walking around the hallways absent mindedly, completely ignoring and being ignored by everyone and almost everything in her way. When life returned to her eyes, that was when he tried to avoid Gino, who had renewed his attempt to talk to her with new vigor. 4 days to her own thought, 4 days avoiding him, processing everything his captain had told her. Eventually she resolve to simply locked herself in her room, never coming out… until today when they had to stop this gigantic warship.
And then, as she gazed upon the familiar sight of Shanghai… she suddenly realized her time is up. She needed to make a decision NOW and move on. And so it is, for the first time, she wasn't avoiding Gino, she actually took the intiative and look for him instead. It wasn't hard. She just had to stop hiding. He found her within minutes.
"Karren…" Gino repeated again for the nth time with his now all too familiar pleading tone.
The red hair didn't say anything.
Gino was somewhat nervous, but noted that unlike before, Karren didn't run. Perhaps that's a good sign. "…I… I'm sorry."
Karren perked.
"…when I saw… what's left of you… I thought the worst had come to pass… I gave you up for dead." Gino's eyes gloomed. "I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for doing that."
"You're not wrong." Karren's eyes darkened. "My heart is dead. Along with all other happy memories we once share."
"I understand." Gino nodded mournfully. "It's possible to feel so much hatred that you drown out all the other good things that had happened. But there's a solution for that."
Karren's eyes rolled. "How?"
Gino rummaged inside his chest and pulled out something: a necklace, with a pair of rings hung by it. Karren's eyes widened. Gino smiled kindly. "If you permit me… let me make new happy memories for you."
Karren's shock was quickly drowned in sarcastic laughter. "Hahaha… This is your idea? What? You and me deserted everything and go on somewhere, riding towards the red sunset!?"
Gino also chuckled at his own stupidity. But honestly, this is the brightest idea he can think of. "It's okay. I understand if you can't accede to this. I will wait." For a moment Karren was about to protest, Gino quickly followed: "You do… what you had to. Fight. Kill… do whatever. I will wait. For as long as it takes. I just want you to know… if you want a new lease… a second chance of what we missed back there… I'm here. I will always be here… waiting for you."
"And your family?"
"I'm an Exorcist. We throw away everything the day we signed on: family name, riches, every worldly possession, and connection. In fact, that was my reason for joining the Exorcists in the first place. Plus, I also signed up for a mission to Junius. To my family, to everyone I know… I'm as good as dead." Gino easily answered. "But… all things considered… now I realized the only connection I'll never be able to sever… is you. And I have no intention on severing it. Just like how I throw away everything to become an exorcist, this time I'm quite ready to throw away my exorcist status… for you."
Karren's eyes widened.
"Remember what I told you the day I proposed?" Gino kindly smiled. "I will throw away everything. My name, my house, my riches… all that nobility crap. I don't need all that. All I need is you. You may not believe it, but I stand by it then… I still stand by it now."
Karren's face was almost as red as her hair. But it's a mixture between angry and embarrassed. Nevertheless, her discipline as a warrior prevented her from acting like a flustered little serf girl she once was. "Honestly… four years… and you can still come up with that corny line?"
Gino grinned widely. "It's the only line I got… the only one that really mattered."
Karren twitched. "Don't matter to me though." To make her point, Karren showed her inexistent arm, replaced by a weaponized prosthetic. "Do you have any idea how many of your people I've butchered with this arm over the course of 4 years? Enough for me to earn a bounty of 75 million over my head." Gino gulped. Even when cleaned, he can still smell the stench of blood on that claw. "You really think I can just throw this away and let bygones be bygones?"
Gino nodded. "…I can just about imagine… that you pretend that every knight you kill is me."
"You got that right." Karren deathglared at the blonde. When she first started, she imagined that every knight she killed was Gino. Her fury became so well renowned it terrifies even her teammates quite a bit; earning Karren her epithet and her bounty. And something else.
Gino smiled in resignation. He approached Karren and grabbed her claws. And then, much to her further surprise, he moved the claw to his head. "My life… is yours now. I abandoned you. I'm as good as betraying you. You do what you… what you have to."
Karren looked at Gino's head in the palm of her claws. With one nudge of her elbow, the claws will dig in into his neck and she can easily tear his head off. And for a moment, Karren allowed her anger, her hatred to rise up from the depths of her heart, remembering that faithful night.
"Lower lifeform like you should just remember your place! On the ground!" A Weinberg family member stomped a brutalized and violated Karren by the head.
"I'd die first before the noble blood of my family mingled with a lesser breed!" the snowy ground was smeared red with blood.
"Moan you filthy swine!"
"AAAAAAAAARGHHHH! AAAAAAARGGHHH!" Karren's cries didn't seem to reach the ears of her violators. And while one (in his half beast form) was busy defiling her for the umpteenth time, one was pulling her arm too tight. And when the puller is a crazed zoan, the result is ultimately messy. When it was torn off, amidst her hysterical screams of pain she can hear their sadistic laughing.
Karren gritted her teeth so tight and was about ready to do the bloody deed… until she saw the rings hanging on Gino's necklace. She never got to see it. Now… she may never be able to wear it. And then she remember Kage's story. Of what Gino told him. And it galled her that the pieces fit somehow. Indeed… that day, she didn't see him amongst those blackhearted bastards. There was no proof that Gino was involved in it as a form of a sick joke… and yet at the same time, there's no proof to the contrary either. She finally calmed herself down and relaxed her claw, moving it away from Gino.
Gino looked at the red haired girl with hopeful glance. But to Karren, that hopeful look is now too painful to watch. She turned around and start walking away. "You… You should stay away from me. Stay the HELL away from me. You hear me?"
"Fine." Gino answered. "But I still won't give up on you. And I never will… Kallen."
And for a moment, Karren nearly cracked upon hearing that name. A name she threw away a long time ago. "It's Koudzuki Karren." She hardened her heart again. "That Stadfeldt Girl is dead." and she run.
However, that was not before Gino caught a drop of tear jumping away from her eyes as she ran away from him.
Gino grip on the necklace tightened. His resolve hardened. 'I won't give up. I won't ever give you up again. I promise!'
000000000000000
Meanwhile, back in the ship, the soldiers began cleaning up the mess that is their ship. There's rubble everywhere they walk. Cannons were overturned, tables and chairs are upside down, and the Ship's roping was snapped to shreds. The Archangel's 3000 crews, 2000 military and 1000 civilians (in addition to their families), had to work extra hard to clean it up. But even if they give it clean sweeps furbish… it's easy to see that the Battleship Fortress had been clearly damaged beyond simple repair. They just don't see how, with the starboard superstructure destroyed and various other damages, it can serve as a viable base.
Regardless, such problems were the last thing encroaching their mind. Let their genius captain worry about that. Right now, their main concern is cleaning up the mess.
At least, that's what Canard said.
All things considered the damage to their nigh indestructible ship, even after being open fired by a whole fleet of battlecruisers, is practically minimal. If there's anything they need to be worried about, it would be the damage to the city. Hopefully, it won't bring up some lawsuit up on their asses.
Canard snarled. But then, he began to notice ships converging towards them. Small rackety ships, carrying stuffs. Ha. Shanghai. City of trade indeed. They landed… no… they crash landed barely a few minutes ago, and already merchants sniffing about, ready to make some profit.
"Prayer." Canard called the mini-Mwu. "Tell the soldiers, if any of them lining up to buy any stuff from those fucking merchants, I'm gonna have them shot. Under no circumstances are they to open any transactions with those god-damn money nitpickers without Kage's express permission. You fucking clear?"
"Roger that." Prayer scurries away a moment later.
Neil, who heard that, frowned at Canard. "Why can't the boys buy some souvenirs? You know… just for the heck of it… As long as we limit the budget…"
"One: I hate pirated stuffs, and China, especially Shanghai, is chockfull of it." Canard lifted one finger.
"Two: all things considered, I had a feeling we're gonna need our budget on something else in the foreseeable future." Canard lifted the second finger.
As for the third point, Canard then pulled something from his pocket…
A pitch black book that has all sorts of bad vibe seeping out of its pages… the dark aura got so bad, it looked to Lockon as if the book is dripping with blood, locking away an evil of the most heinous sort. A gothical white writing can be seeing on the front page: Black Note.
"Three…" Canard unleashed his most sadistically heinous smile to date. "Why waste too much money on something you can get for less?"
Lockon Stratos's teeth clattered in sheer utter horror. "Oi… using that thing on civilians is borderline war crime… you know?"
"I updated it before I went to Japan… it would be a shame not to make use of it… kekekekeke…"
000000000000000
Hikari finally began giving Kage his long overdue physical checkup. She started with his leg. The damp stain on the thigh area easily confirmed her suspicion: his wounds are reopening again. She tore the thigh section of Kage's trousers, revealing the condition of his stapled leg in full.
Xingke's eyes widened in shock and even Simca's mischievous attitude disappeared in an instant, replaced with a genuine horrified gasp which she closed with her hand covering her mouth.
Kira's leg was bleeding badly, and the section where Lacus had sewn his thigh was on the verge of being ripped off completely. The metallic staples that kept his legs together were bent.
"Good god, Kage, you treat your body like a Barbie doll." Hikari winced. She began by bringing out the silver Haro, Krona. And then, she pinched the silver transparent ball, and then, to the amazement of the crowd, she pulled out a needle. Carefully and gently, she stabbed the needle on a select spot on Kage's leg. And then she pinched another acupuncture needle out of her silver assistant, plant it on another spot and so on, and so forth. Stopping the routine only after she had planted at least a dozen needles upon Kage's leg. And then she grabbed one of the bent staples that locked Kage's leg, and after a little tinkering and a grunt, Hikari pulled the staple out. The process cause some blood to spray out and left two gaping hole on the patient's thigh. Kage didn't even let out a grunt or give off any indication of pain.
Everyone winced in horror.
Meanwhile, Simca looked intently at the way Hikari is performing her treatment.
Xingke looked at Kage's injury and noted how it's still fresh. "These wounds are recent and they are not caused by your actions today. Were you attacked earlier, Kage-daren?"
"We were." Kage nodded. "A fleet of 12 Zaft Battle barges."
"Led by one Marco Morassim." Mwu added.
"You're not talking about the Marco Morassim the Guardian Knight of Jachin Due?" A woman voice suddenly entered the conversation. Everyone turned and saw Jane Houston walking towards them, and the troopers quickly make way for the female captain. "The same Marco Morassim who had kept Zaft waters impregnable for 10 years, the same Marco Morassim who nearly killed me in the Atlantics?"
"Yes, Jane. We're talking about that Marco." Mwu grinned wide.
"Huh." Jane scoffed and she turned at Kage's wrecked state. "That Marco Morassim commanding 12 Battle barges and you jokers are still alive? How so?"
"We're still alive because he's dead." Kage grunted.
Jane, Xingke, Simca and every trooper in vicinity gawked at Kage, eyes wide in disbelief. Jane eyed at Kage's half dead state. "You… killed him?"
"No." Kage shook his head. "Age killed him before I did, Captain Houston."
The 11th division Admiral Captain paused for a moment to digest the fact this half dead kid had killed one of her deadliest nemesis. Then again, the boy had made an impressive killcount which already included one of the most powerful being on the planet. Someone like Marco shouldn't have posed much of a threat. She looked at Kage's injuries, which are being tended ceaselessly by the armored doctor. Jane finally chuckled. "I take it that was after you two banged each other pretty hard six ways to Sunday, Captain Kage." She offered a handshake.
Kage blinked and then he accepted the handshake, though he was unable to get up for a proper handshake. "I was lucky to have survived that and he was already on his last legs. Plus, Mwu-san helped me ganging up on him."
Jane laughed shrilly. "For someone with half a billion on his head, you're surprisingly humble."
Kage grunted and coughed lightly. "They can call me devil or demon or whatever… (cough) in the end, as you can see, I'm just a plain flesh and blood human. (cough) It's not like I… (cough, COUGH!) got out… (COUGH! COUGH!) unsca-(COUGH! COUGH! -ACK!" Kage's comment were suddenly cut off when he violently jerked, coughing uncontrollably. One loud cough and blood burst out of the seams of his mask, coming from his nose and mouth, sipping through his fingers.
Everyone gasped in shock at this sudden event.
Kage looked indifferently at the bloody muck staining his trembling open palm. "Hah."
"To Hades with your hah. (koff)" Hikari looked at the blood sipping out of Kage's mask as if looking at his death sentence. "This is no laughing matter! (koff) We have to treat your head immediately. (koff)"
"If my head is so important, why the hell did you bash it with that box multiple times?"
"Shut up! (Koff)" Hikari checked Kage's head, feeling it with her sensor. "As I feared… all your wounds reopened again… (koff)" As if to emphasize her point, Kage coughed violently again, vomiting blood like river from his bloodied lips and he's close to fainting, and possibly death. "Enough. (koff) I'm taking you back to Archangel's medical ward, you need to get your head treated, ASAP! (koff)"
"Wait!" Simca suddenly spoke up. "If it's medical equipment you need, my workshop is closer. It's just around the corner!"
Hikari twitched. "Your… workshop? (koff)"
"It's true." Xingke followed. "Simca's Genesis Tool Toul To Workshop has the most complete and advanced medical equipment this side of Asia."
Without any further argument, both Hikari and Simca carried the bloodily injured Captain on their shoulders and brought him before Simca's workshop, followed by the other Alliance officers. When they all first arrived before the said shop, the first that welcomed them was a huge crowd of troopers carrying their firearms queuing before the shop. Upon seeing a bunch of high ranking officer, an armored doctor carrying a black clad bloody mess, aided by their idol, the troopers quickly wondered what happened but they make way anyway, thus giving everyone a clear view of the shop.
The giant words of Genesis can be seen hanging just above a large 5 locket counter, and a door right next to it. The building is quite large, 4 stories tall. It has a slightly awkward design in that the upper floors extended gradually further ahead of the ground floor the higher it gets, giving a distinctive forward tilting structure. It's a bit filthy, and from the outside, there's nothing special other than the fact it was crowded and manned entirely by girls. Fact is, Hikari quickly paused upon seeing the backdrop of the workshop: nuts, bolts, gears, bullets, pipes, and dismantled guns and equipment here and there. This place looks a lot more like a machine shop rather than a hospital. "Oi, oi… (Koff) Kage isn't some piece of equipment you know!? (koff)"
"Just get inside! And I'll show you! Hurry, our Kage-honey doesn't seem to have much time!" Simca dragged Kage into the shop, dragging Hikari along, who muttered under her breath: "Our Kage-honey?"
The queuing troopers however, balked upon hearing the word. The name Kage is the name that is being roared the world over right now. And while in Zaft his name is now being whispered in dread, amongst the Alliance that name is referred in awe. People had already starting to wonder what he really looked like. Word on the street was that he's 7 feet tall, and has a face so monstrous he'll scare anyone to death just by showing his visage which is why he put on that mask. Well, at least, that's about as far as people's imagination can go.
But now, looking at that tiny bloodied black clad figure being carried away… the only thing scary seems to be the fact he was covered in blood.
Ignoring the gawking troopers, Hikari carried the dying shinobi through the cleared path while Simca quickly barked some instructions to her teammates. "Girls! Open up the emergency room!"
The girls quickly understand and do as told. Simca guided Hikari as the two carried Kage inside the shop. As expected, the shop was even messier within. Hikari had a hard time walking without knocking some bolts and nuts out of her way. The floor was dirty, the shop is dusty, thick with the smell of gunpowder, oil, steel and other stuff. At first, Hikari seriously doubt if this is really a place to heal an injured person. But then, Simca brought them deeper into the shop, slowly and steadily away from all that mechanical mess. Despite how it looks from the outside, this building is actually quite huge. Then Hikari start seeing a change in atmosphere. The floor became cleaner, she's seeing less and less mess, until finally, they've reached the most sanitary area of the shop and then she start smelling things she was quite familiar with. The smell of medicine. When Simca opened the last door, Hikari went eyes wide: rows upon rows of boxes, each has a thick scent of medicines flowing out of it, towering across the room, stories tall. Dried medicinal leave hung across wires crisscrossing from one cupboard to the other. This section of the shop is quite in fact a very large Chinese medicine shop. For a doctor like Hikari, this is a medicinal heaven.
"Come on!" Simca dragged them to another room. This one, Hikari was even more familiar. A surgery room. Larger, wider and even better equipped than the tiny cubicle in Archangel's ward. A gurney has been and Simca brought the injured Shinobi and gently put him on it. During the process, Kage coughed again several times, creating a bloody mess. In the mean time, Hikari wrote something on a paper, and then she gave it to Simca.
"This is?" Simca looked at the list.
"A list of ingredients I need for Kage's medicine. (koff) You can find them all in that medicine shop earlier, right? (koff)"
Simca grinned widely. "For my Honey Kage, I'll turn the whole shop upside down if I have to." And she rushed back to the medicine room, leaving Hikari with a groan: "Honey Kage… yeah right…" But then, Hikari looked at Kage, his eyes is steadily closing… "Oh no… Kage! Kage! WAKE UP! (KOFF) DON'T LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS! (KOFF) KAGE! (KOFF) KAGEEE!"
000000000000000
Meanwhile… back in Archangel…
The merchants were waiting eagerly just outside the closed entrance of the Archangel's underside dock.
Up above, Canard stood firm as he was being bombarded by protest and grumblings from soldiers, coupled with protest from civilians as well. The protest is mostly the same: I want to buy this, we're running out of that… but ultimately, to Canard's ears, they all amount to useless stuff they don't really need. Thus, he turned a deaf ear and stand by his order: NO trade allowed.
Then, Prayer and Murdoch arrived and handed him a list. Canard read the list: Prayer's contain the list for provisions and supplies, Murdoch has a list of stuff he needed to fix some parts of the ship. Now he's waiting on just one more list… and Natarle came delivering it.
"But no promises I can fulfill this one, Natarle." Canard replied. "Weapon supply is something that I need to inform to Captain."
"Indeed you do." Natarle nodded. "I just wish to stress how important it is for us to replenish the ship's arms supply immediately."
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." Canard snarled. Then he turned to the crowd. "Look you idiots. We're short on almost everything. And I will NOT have you waste what little budget we have on some… cheapass cosmetic knockoff products. I'm buyin' this list of essentials first. And after that, you can have a go with what's left, go make yourself broke for all I care. Now SCRAM before I whale the tar out of you!" That was his final word and the crowd grumpily disperse. He turned and motioned the soldiers to open the gate.
When the gate open and Canard made himself know to the merchants outside, he smirked as he heard the chorus of his favorite music sang by the horrified merchants:
"OH SHIT! NOT HIM AGAIN!?"
Canard grinned. Yes. It's good being the most hated carbon based lifeform in China's world of commerce.
000000000000000
After an indeterminate amount of time, Kira finally woke up. The first thing he saw was an armored girl, covered in blood stains, sleeping in her chair, head buried down over his arm. Kira got up slowly, trying not to wake her up. He looked around and saw the medical room around her. Medical instruments stained with blood. His blood. And it's still fresh.
'I… see…' Kira touched his face and felt bandages. Lacus had completely bandaged his head, mummy style. The only wrinkle is this awful smell strapped to his nose. It was the same ointment smell he always had during his aromatherapy bath.
"Ah, Honey! You're awake!" Kage blinked and turned around, and he saw Simca was at the door.
"Simca-san-hmpfft!" Kage gaped when suddenly, he found himself once again being buried in Simca's breast hug.
"Kyaa! I'm so worried!" Simca held his head so tightly into her chest.
"Mfokay… get off my heaff….coulffnt breafh…!" Kage mumbled.
"Ah! Sowwy!" Simca back away immediately while she clapped her hands together, creating a distinctive metallic clanging sound, coming from her derringer gauntlets clapped together.
The sight of her armored hands easily attracted Kage's attention. "Interesting equipment. So that's what's an Arsenal Gear looked like?"
"Oh my… You already know about the arsenal gear too?"
"And the fact that you are the one responsible for training the people who maintain them." Kage reiterated. "Which… makes all this surprising." He motioned his head at his surroundings. If he had not seen the outside of this room, he could easily mistake this room for some top of the line hospital. Clean, neat, wide, and well equipped. Vastly different with Archangel's understaffed but overcrowded ward.
Simca giggled. "You're surprised that there's a medical facility inside a veritable gunshop?"
"Kinda. Then again, you must've handled plenty of gunshot victims, resulting from misfire and all."
Simca grinned. And then she did something completely unexpected. She grabbed her skirt, and in one breath, she undressed right in front of Kage. "Here we go~!" And Simca showed her naked body right in front of him. At first, Kage gaped in complete embarrassment and turn away. But then he took a peek and noticed what is it that Simca truly wishes to show.
Beneath her clothing, her body is strapped in some kind of full body contraption that is part of her Arsenal Gauntlet. There are strings and armor plates connected here and there to some mechanism on her back. Even a non engineering person like Kage would understand: the strings are some kind of control mechanism of the arsenal gear that expands to her entire body.
That doesn't change the fact that the wearer is as good as naked with only strings to barely cover her nipples and nasal area.
"What's your point, Simca-san?" Kage seen enough and closed his eyes.
Simca pouted a bit but answered anyway as she sling her clothes over her shoulder, still flaunting her half naked form hoping Kage would peek. "Arsenal gear isn't just some normal weapon. It's not only the weapon that developed wear and tear with usage." She pointed at her chest to make a point. "The most important part, the human component, they too, develop some wear and tear. A tuner must understand the weapon as well as the body of the human who used it." The Master Tuner further added. "That being said, Tuners also fulfill the role as a battlefield medic, albeit one that is exclusive to a certain partner. Kinda like Hikari there, being your exclusive doctor and all."
"Well… not exactly exclusive… It's just… most of the time, I've incurred excessive injuries. Ones that conventional doctor had all but given up. Like… having your head bashed to the point of nearing hemorrhaging, your leg nearly torn off, or stab wounds lacerating all over your body from head to toe."
Simca paled upon hearing such massive injuries. But then, she looked at Hikari's armored sleeping figure with newfound interest. 'She's THAT good?'
"I see you've woken up already."
Kage and Simca turned and saw Xing Ke at the door. The Chinese Lieutenant took one look at Simca's improper attire and how this agitates Kage to no end. Xingke's eyebrow knitted. "Simca, how many times do I have to tell you-"
"I get it, I get it." A pouting but smirking Simca put her clothes back on, much to Kage's relief.
"And while you're at it, why don't you go and tend to your workshop… there's some kind of a commotion happening there…"
Simca chuckled and finally left. She understands of course, that Xingke really wanted to have a talk with Kage alone.
Xing Ke took a chair and sit in front of Kage. "Apologies… for Simca. A good warrior she was. But… as far as manners concerned she's a bit… unorthodox."
"No surprises there." Kage chuckled as he gently pat Hikari's armored head. "I've seen weirder girls."
Xingke nodded. "I have a feeling you've seen plenty weird things. Plenty enough that you don't surprise easily whenever you see something uncommon before you."
"And you tell me you don't?" Kage tilted his head at Xing Ke. "I can already tell, you're a seasoned warrior yourself. We fought people wielding weird powers… people who can turn into fire, people who can turn into animals, even people with weird organs and bizarre limbs… I'd say the both of us had seen plenty weird things to last several lifetimes."
"Indeed." Xing Ke sighed. "Kage… why are you here?"
"I mean to say, why do you fight? Whose side are you on?"
Kage blinked and then he chuckled. "Wow. You're quite blunt. In that case, I'll be blunt as well." He sighed. "Right now, I'm not on anyone's side. I'm on my own side. Serving my own ends."
"And… what is your end?"
Kage's eyes darkened. "The complete and utter destruction of the Zaft Empire."
At this, Xingke twitched. He rubbed his chin, seemingly measuring Kage's answer word, per word. And then, he came to a conclusion. "I knew it. So your retreat from the Archangel was not a defeat after all."
Kage blinked.
"It was shouted in the streets that… the battle of Archangel, the siege… that you ran, unable to withstand Raww's onslaught. The fact that his entire army was slaughtered by Samurai army a moment later was considered irrelevant. But… I've been asking some questions with your mentor, Mwu La Flagga, who is currently waiting just outside this door. From his answers, I've been studying your methods and stratagems… and then… you gave me this answer… and then it hit me. That retreat was NOT a defeat. You WANTED to lose. You WANTED to lay the blame on Raww's forces. All your tactics and ploys… they're all geared with one purpose in mind: to kill as many enemies as possible."
Kage didn't react, but his eyes kept eying at Xingke with great interest.
"The Battle at Archangel Gulf, when you first made your fame… I've studied it thoroughly. The tactics you used indicates a great understanding and knowledge of what you will face even before the actual event played out, allowing you to maneuver the army accordingly. Such things are either an astoundingly accurate prophetic guessing, which is impossible, or you have an inside help. The enemy, on the other hand, showed little flexibility to deal with unexpected changes that you wrought. This further insinuates that the enemy's strategist who crafted the tactic were not among them, thusly controlling the army from a distance, hence the inflexibility." Xingke continued. "This further shows that there should be very little among the enemy who understand more of the strategy in place, leaving them but pawns that followed orders to the letter, without understanding its full meaning. That being said, there seems to be little chance that you would have any useful spies among them that can gave vital information to react to the situation. Further insinuating that your knowledge of the enemy's strategies and movements are not recent knowledge, but something you already possess for a long time. This further indicates that you are somehow or the other, related to whoever crafted that strategy or you yourself crafted the strategy. Given the time constraints and the suddenness of the event, I discounted the latter possibility as impractical. Leaving just one possibility… you… once had a friend… a close friend who devise the strategy, and in turn share with you on how to deal with the strategy. But how could you befriend an Advanced Strategist… if you are NOT ONE yourself?"
Silence. Kage looked at Xingke's eyes for some time.
"You are an Advanced, aren't you?" Xingke soon come out with the inevitable conclusion.
"Ku…" Kage trembled… and then, he laughed. "KuahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kage stopped laughing after a moment. "Oh that's good. That's VERY good. Yes. I like that."
Xingke frowned.
Kage grinned. "You're right. I'm an Advanced."
"You admit it to me so freely?" Xingke barely showed any reaction.
"This is truly an eye opener. I didn't think there's anyone who can analyze the situation in such a manner other than him. However…" Kage smirked. "…he… and you… are not the only one who can play this game."
Xingke blinked.
"Ever since I came here, you keep calling me Kage-daren. Never once you called me by my rank when others had done so. This indicates that you possess a sense of distrust on me. It only makes sense that you had already asserted my true status for some time, even before we met today. And yet, based on the reactions I received from the troopers, you kept the knowledge to yourself. This indicates a certain level of curiosity from your part. Curiosity of why an Advanced is fighting for the Alliance cause… and something else." Kage followed.
"I see today several troopers who intend to murder my friend, Fuji, whose unnatural appearance warrants first time audience to consider him an Advanced, despite the fact he play no small part in preventing the calamity. This demonstrates the narrow mindedness of the subordinates which in turn, traditionally, reflects upon the superior officer. And yet, you're not like those idiots, which mean it reflects the narrow mindedness of those even more superior than you, which I assume to be your captain or even further above." Kage narrowed his eyes. "The fact you do not share the beliefs of your superiors yet wielding such high rank also insinuate another grave problem: you have a dual allegiance. First is definitely to the army, and second allegiance… I had my guesses, but then you went ahead and give me the second clue. You questioned me, and implicitly questioned my loyalty as well. You are measuring my value, my use, trying to figure out if I'm a potential ally or a cloaked dagger that will stab you in the back. You are measuring whatever if, in the long run, I will pose a threat or of some use to you, indicating your personal agenda. You're measuring the risk I pose to you in comparison to the help I can give you, the help you desperately needed. Knowing that I'm an Advanced posed an even greater risk. So why would a man take that kind of heat, that kind of pressure, to take such risk of measuring the help of a truly risky threat? What's with this desperation? And then I realized… you are desperate because you are scared. You are scared of what would happen to those whom you are truly loyal to. This further indicates that your master has many enemies. But who or what exactly is your master? My first guess, you have a family. But if that's true, asking the help of an Advanced Captain would be the last thing you will do, not to mention it doesn't make sense either way. Thus, narrowing down the list, I can only think of one party that can secure the loyalty of a First Lieutenant of the Alliance regulars: members of the Chinese Government… perhaps… a royal family member who made too many enemies at the court? A weakly positioned royal family member who perhaps… had secured your loyalty through… say… life debt?"
Xingke was left completely speechless as his eyes now visibly widened and his lips slightly parted; his shock showing the fact that there's nothing but truth in what Kage had surmised.
"But then, why the desperation and the fear? You were scared of what would happen to that royal family member if you were no longer there. This also gives indication that you are getting desperate trying to do something big and lasting for his or her sake in a very limited time. Add that with a few other things I noticed on your physique-" Xingke winced. "-leaves me to one inevitable conclusion: you don't have long to live, do you?"
Silence again.
Xingke watched unblinking at Kage. He studied Kage briefly with a few exchange of word, and as it turns out, Kage had also studied him as well. Thoroughly. And now it's his turn to laugh. "Ahahaha…"
"Hahaha…" Kage also followed. And soon, both laughed ceremoniously. "Ahahahahahahahahahaha!"
But then Xingke stopped first, as he began to show discomfort in laughing. "Very well. Very good." Xingke nodded. "I understand." He understands clearly now that he had underestimated this man greatly. A mistake he shall not repeat. "Then, let's get the obvious out of the way: How would I know you will not act against China and her interests?"
"As long as your country does not act against mine." Kage answered simply.
Xingke took the simple answer with a smile and he nodded. Both men looked at each other, having achieved a measure of understanding and respect to each other. "That siege fiasco of Archangel… that… was truly a masterpiece, Kage-daren."
"Thank you."
Xingke continued: "Imelia-daren asked me to come to see you in person. Of course, it's not just to be your welcoming committee. She asked me to measure you."
"Measure me?"
"Before time greatly erodes his prowess, Captain Harlbarton was and still a man that commands the respect of many other captains of the other divisions. Rena Imelia-daren was among them. She was concerned if Harlbarton's replacement… really earned his post."
"Funny. I was under the impression that the Captain of the 10th division didn't really care about the welfare of the 7th division that much." Kage shrugged.
"Well… not really." Xingke smirked. "But she does care about winning the war. And she doesn't believe that unworthy commanders in command of a division is a way to victory."
"I thought my… bounty paper should say it all?"
Xingke stated flatly. "She used hers as toilet paper and yours as nose blowers. That should gave you plenty image on what she thinks of bounties issued by Zaft."
At that Kage spontaneously burst out laughing. "Aha. I think I'm going like her."
"I believe you will." Xingke nodded. "You two are much alike."
Kage simply laughed it out. "I don't know. Then why she tests me?"
"Oh, no, she won't." Xingke quickly added. "It is the land of China that will test you, Kage-daren."
"Eh?"
"The first test is waiting right in front of the Tools Toul To counter. If you want to deal with it now, then perhaps you can ask your armored girlfriend to let you go now and please be good enough not to try to kill me in the face when she do?"
Kage sighed. "You heard him."
And Hikari, already awake since Simca left the room, finally got up from her bent position. That is to say she had heard Kage and Xingke's intellectual clash from start to finish. She revealed she was holding a haro in her hands. Xingke chuckled. "And what on earth you're going to do to me with that toy, Xiaojie?"
"…Mindwipe you. (koff)" Hikari replied as she put the haro away.
Obviously Xingke did not take the threat seriously, but he looked at Kage, who merely says: "Trust me. Laugh at her if you will, but those balls aren't toys." And Xingke decided to take his words for it.
Kage get back up, but as he tried to stand up, he found his other leg was completely stiff and numb. He couldn't feel a thing. He looked at Hikari, asking for some explanation. Hikari simply stated: "I'm done trying to convince you not to kill yourself. (koff) So I purposefully left you partially paralyzed. (koff)"
"I fucking hate you." Kage growled and Hikari replied: "Yeah, me too."
Xingke looked at this banter in sheer confusion. "I'm sorry, are you boyfriend-girlfriend or arch enemies?"
"What do you think!?" Both echoed. End of discussion.
Moments later, Kage, with Xingke at his side, and an aiding Hikari on the other, walked out of the healing room and back into the gunshop, where Mwu and the others were waiting. Kage have trouble walking with one paralyzed leg and had no choice but to limp on, using Shiki as a cane. As it turns out, Tolle and Milly was also there. When the Shadowguards saw Kage's condition, they winced. "Good god…" Tolle gulped. "Tell me you're not gonna deal with them in that condition?"
"Deal with whom?" Kage blinked in sheer confusion. That was when Simca decided to help. "Kage-honey, I think you'll get a better view of the situation from the balcony on the second floor." She grabbed Kage and dragged him away up the stairs with a protesting and grumbling Hikari in tow. Tolle muttered a bit: "Kage-honey!?" and Milly nudged him.
There, on the balcony on the second floor, dead center on the streets in front of the shop, Kage quickly noticed what exactly Xingke meant as his first test.
A bunch of stern looking guys were sitting right in front of the Tools Tul To. They all look very serious, like men on a mission. Just… one… particularly concerning thing…
They all wear masks that greatly resemble Kage. Albeit it's a very… VERY poor attempt to copy his appearance. One has his flabby stomach burst out of his undersized black clothing, another having trouble adjusting his thick glass on his papier-mâché mask, another took the liberty of adding… is that a woman's underwear painted black strapped to his head?
"Xingke… the hell are these freaks?" Kage blinked in disbelief.
"They… are your loyal admirers, Kage-daren." Xingke explained. "Copycats and wannabes. As soon as your wanted poster starts to spread, we saw an influx of new trend in the militia. They start to dress up, putting on costumes. Some of them, as you see before you, tried to copy you. Poorly. Others suit up with whatever strikes their fancy, creating their own characters. For a while we were fed with a surge of weird entrees: Captain Shanghai, Thunder boy, and the Iron Dandy Guy… all the stupid naming."
Kage rubbed his temple in disbelief. "You allowed that?"
"Of course not." Xingke replied coldly. "But it's a fad. We can try to put them down one by one but you're the one who started the trend. It will not stop as long as you're around."
Kage looked at all these wannabes and fanboys. Even without the mask, he can easily see they're not even soldiers. They're nerds and cosplayers with juiced up fantasy and illusions of grandeur after putting on a mask. He suspected most of them never even hold a weapon. "Have they done anything stupid while they dressed up like that?"
Xingke sighed, too exasperated to recount the obvious. "We… suspected… that most of them seem content to stay in their homes, putting on suit, acting up… but we had several accidents… some led to serious repercussions. Thankfully, most are harmless incidents that hurt no one but the copycat. But we fear that at this rate, it's only a matter of time before some of them get themselves killed. The latest one, quite in fact, nearly died of suffocation due to suit malfunction."
Kage blinked in disbelief. "…suit malfunction."
"Yes. After that, we banned cosplaying under the penalty of imprisonment… but as you can see, it was not a very effective counter. They simply went into hiding… and they come out today en-masse… when the word had finally spread that the original… the mighty and legendary Kage himself had graced this land with his actual presence."
Kage grumbled. "What do you want me to do?"
"What are you prepared to do?" Xingke asked back.
Kage looked at this army of copycats. Not exactly what he had in mind when he first put on the mask. Just when his thought process is still figuring out what to do, a chirping sound momentarily distracted him. Torii came flying towards him. "Torii?"
"Torii! Torii!" The Shikigami bird chirped as he landed on Kage's open palm, and then it continued to chirp in Kage's hand. Kage listened to those chirps and gave occasional nods of understanding. "Uh-huh… uh-huh… I see…"
Simca blinked in amazement. "He can… talk to birds…?"
"That is Torii. (koff) A Shikigami and Kage's oldest friend. (koff) Loyal to him even unto death… and beyond. (Koff)" Hikari reiterated. But then she gawked when Simca's eyes were replaced with hearts.
"Kyaaa! He's AMAZING! I'm in love with him more and mo~ore!" She clapped her blushing cheek, fidgeting like a lovesick girl that she is.
Hikari cracked her knuckles in fury, preparing to do some hurt to this interloper when Kage suddenly turn around and called. "Hey girls!"
"Yes!?" the angry girl and the lovesick girl answered simultaneously, with contrasting and thus distinguishable tone.
"I need some help!"
"Anything!" Again with the echoing answer, with a mixed timbre of rage and lovesick.
"You wouldn't happen to have any fresh corpses lying around here, do you?"
"Eh?" This time, the tone of confusion of their simultaneous response is perfectly identical.
Moments later…
The increasingly large crowd of Kage Cosplayers is still waiting on the streets, wondering if the rumors are true.
And then, just when they start grumbling and moaning in discomfort…
"Oi!"
The crowd looked up towards the voice. And they saw a mummy head wearing a black vest staring down at them from the balcony while resting his bloodied bandaged head on his hand against the railing. "What are you jokers doing down there?"
"We wanted to see Kage!"
Kage tilted his head. Don't they recognize him? Then again, he is covered in bandages. Pretty different with how he was depicted in wanted posters. "What business have you with him?"
"We wish to join his forces."
Kage tilted his head again. "Indeed? That's funny. I don't remember we accept carnival freakshow participants into my division."
The crowd below went into total silence. It seems they had yet to digest what Kage just said.
"You wanted to see Kage?" Kage tucked his thumb at his head. "You're looking at him."
Silence… and then…
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" A ceremonious uproar of laughter. This, Kage didn't expect. "You? Kage? Yeah right!" "Kage is 7 feet tall!" "He's dressed up all black!" "I think you got the wrong color there, bud!" "Can the jokes, punk! We don't want some wannabe, show us the real deal!"
Kage twitched. "Wannabe huh?" His response was swift.
He unsheathed Shiki and then nonchalantly swings it at the crowd.
Multiple surges of shockwave emerge briefly amidst the gaps of the rows of feet belonging to the cosplayer crowds. Moments later, the low powered and non lethal Tetsuga Tenshou blew up on their faces. Not enough to kill, but enough to shatter the streets right beneath their feet and unleashed an extremely powerful blast of wind that rip the cosplayer's clothes, JUST their clothes, nearly to shreds.
When Kage sheathed Shiki back, the half naked cosplayer crowds were completely scared shitless, some can even be seen soiling their pants. "That 'real deal' enough for you?"
"Y-y-y-y-yes s-s-s-sir!" One of the cosplayers flabbergasted the answer. They're standing before the real deal. No mistake about it now. And it's not just the cosplayers whose attentions were drawn. Other troopers in vicinity, even some of the girls of the gunshop; Simca's Subordinates all ran out of the shop to get a better view of the person in question. "C-c-c-captain Kage…" the leader of the cosplayer group, the 'fat' Kage cosplayer quickly knelt on the ground, followed by the rest. "We… We've always… admired you… and… and we…" the cosplayer gulped as they can practically feel Kage's glare. It was so intense they may be able to cut it with a knife. "…and… we wish to… have the honor… of joining your army, sir."
Kage chuckled sarcastically. "Admiration and humility won't make me think I want a bunch of nerdheaded cosplayers in my army."
The crowd gulped. "Well… we… all wanted to help."
"Good intentions are also not a good enough reason for me to change my opinion." Kage replied in a bored tone. "All I see before me… are just a bunch of copycats with illusions of grandeur, living in the fantasy world, thinking they can do awesome stuffs as soon as they put on a mask."
The crowd below grew more restless. "What about you?" One of the Cosplayers suddenly retorted. "You're wearing weird costumes too! With the mask and the… and the… and the bandages and… and… stuff. Beneath all that you're just a guy! What makes you so different with us!?"
Kage chuckled. "Finally. Some common sense among you. Good." He still resting his tilted head on his arm and had yet to move from his spot. "You're right. Beneath the mask, I'm just a human. A living breathing human. No more flesh and blood than either of you. In fact, right now, one of my legs is paralyzed, and my head still hurts from brain trauma." Kage pointed at his bandaged head. "So, yes. There's really not much difference between you lot and me."
"Then why won't you let us help?"
"I can name a few things, for a start…" Kage pointed at one of the cosplayers with his free hand. "…I'm not wearing my sister's underpants on my face."
The troopers and Simca's subordinates snorted into their palms while everyone turned to the cosplayer matching that description, the person in question immediately scurried and removed the pants from his face, revealing his thin face.
Kage sighed. "Okay… let's say… I do what you guys want and take you all with me on my… 'Adventures'. What are you guys prepared to do?"
"We're ready to fight together with you! Whatever comes at us, we're ready!"
"Are you?" Kage chuckled again. "Okay… pop quiz: how do you fight a guy who's immortal, nigh invincible, and made of water?"
The crowd grew silent.
"Too hard? Okay. How do you fight a guy who can liquefy you just by being near you?"
Again, silence.
But Kage kept asking the same question: "How do you fight people who can run faster than wind? How do you fight people whose skin is as hard as diamonds? How do you fight people whose footsteps can shatter earth? How do you fight people who can lift mountains with his mind? How do you fight people who are obviously vastly stronger than you, and possess special powers beyond your imagination to boot?" Silence was all the answer Kage gets, as he suspected. "You couldn't answer these questions. And I thought you said you were ready?"
The initially eager and willing crowd was stumped in silence of confusion and, to an increasing degree, uneasiness.
Kage finally removed his hand from his head and clasped his fingers together as they rested against the railings. "Reality… is a lot more imaginative than fantasy. I don't know what you guys had heard of me, or my unbelievable exploits. But they are feats that… quite frankly… I'm grateful to have survived. That being said… I serious doubt you guys will survive more than 10 seconds on the battlefield as you are now."
"We might if you give us a chance!"
Kage chuckled as he bent his head down. "Well, I-"
Before Kage can finish his talk, his head involuntarily tilted to the right as a hole appeared on the left side of his temple and then his brain splattering out of other side of his exploded head.
The crowd down below could only stare in silence. It seems they had yet to comprehend what just happened. But then, Kage's lifeless body came tumbling down, crashing through the roof before he finally landed with a thud on the ground below, the insides of his grey matter spilling all over the streets.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The first to scream were the girls. Followed swiftly by the cosplayers. And finally, the troopers quickly reacted. "SNIPERS!" The girls cried and wailed. Everyone run for cover. Simca quickly recovered from the shock as she looked at the blown off head of Kage and quickly surmised: "Bounty Hunters."
True enough, some 500 meters away, at a rooftop of a house, the Bounty Hunter sharpshooter was having a little victory dance, lifting his modified sniper rifle over his head. "WHOO-HOO! I DID IT! I KILLED KAGE! WHOOO! 500,000,000 CREDS FOR ME! HELL YEAH!"
Back at the chaotic street! "I see him! Shit! He's got sniper rifle and he's out of our range!" The trooper growled. Then he turned around and saw Milly walking out calmly out of the gunshop, carrying a bow and arrow. "Umm… what are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" Milly calmly placed the arrow on the bowstring. "I'm shooting him down."
"With a bow and arrow?" The trooper blinked in disbelief. "He's 500 meters away!"
"530 meters actually." She nonchalantly replied. "Tolle, don't forget to pick him up when he falls. We need him alive."
"Way ahead of you." Tolle run out of shop and in a blink of an eye, he shunshin to a roof, before flickering from rooftop to rooftop, heading straight towards the sniper at blinding speed.
The Sniper saw the incoming wrathful black clad figure and decided to skedaddle. But then he caught sight of the girl behind the Saber Shadowguard… the Archer Shadowguard was pointing an arrow at him. "…are you fucking ki-"
Milly let loose the arrow, and the projectile zoomed across the vast distance, outpacing Tolle before landing accurately upon its mark: the Sniper's shoulder.
"AAAAAAAHHHRGHHH!" The Sniper could hardly believe it. There's got to be around 500 meters between them and she shot him with a bow and arrow!? "How the… how the hell did she…"
That same question ran across the minds of every jaw dropping people who witnessed the feat. Xingke looked at Milly's shooting style in recognition. 'That archery skills… I know only one other person who can do something like that…'
Meanwhile, the shot Sniper was so shocked, he lost balance and as predicted, he fell off the roof. He barely started falling when Tolle caught him midfall. The Shadowguards put him on a chokehold. But the Bounty Hunter didn't seem afraid. "Go ahead! Kill me! I don't mind!" He laughed madly. "History will remember me as the guy who had felled the Black Devil! Heeahaha!"
"Unfortunately for you… I won't kill you." Tolle growled. "Besides…"
"Did you mean to just… wound him?" One of the troopers asked.
"Course I did." Milly replied. "Besides…"
"Kage wants the assassin brought to him alive." Both Tolle and Milly declared simultaneously.
"Eh?"
Meanwhile, seemingly forgotten by anyone, the fatso Kage cosplayer approached Kage's corpse. 'Heh… that good for nothing idiot did the job well. Now I'll just cut his head and 500 million is in the bag.' The Bounty hunter in disguise pulled out an axe from beneath his undersized clothing and was getting ready to cleave the lifeless Kage's neck and claim his blown off head… until suddenly he felt a sharp pain on his stomach. He looked down and saw in horror as the corpse had just planted Shiki to his gut.
He choked blood several times and staggered back in horror as the corpse stood back up. The other troopers and the cosplayers gaped in shock, seeing a man with his head blown off can still stand on two legs and even dusted himself off. But then, the figure grabbed his blown off head… and he literally plucked it out of his socket. All unknowing parties screamed in horror, completely scared shitless. "Holy shit, is he a zombie?"
"No." Come Kage's voice from his headless shoulder. "I'm just a guy with a really naughty Halloween idea." Then he began opening the straps around his now visibly hunched shoulder, revealing some padding… and Kage's real head, still intact, just beneath where the fake decoy corpse head was placed just now. A head he claimed after beheading a corpse from Hikari's portable crypt Abby a little earlier, and then Simca put some disguise and make up on it to make it look like Kage's current bandaged head. Doesn't take much: a wig and some skin powder and voila.
Kage, his real head is now in full display, looked at the frightened Bounty Hunter in disguise. He grabbed Shiki still planted on the Bounty Hunter, and before he can ask for mercy, Kage purposefully and violently rip his guts. His innards spilled allover the streets. The bounty hunter gasped as he vomited blood and he desperately tried to put his innards back in but by then, it was too late and he died horribly in a pool of blood and disemboweled innards.
Everyone on the street gaped in horror and some vomited. Kage swayed his bloodstained sword, completely unfazed by the gory scene.
Meanwhile, Tolle had brought the sniper, dragging him before Kage completely bruised and battered after he softened him a bit a little earlier. The Sniper was in disbelief upon seeing Kage's still intact head. "How… How… the…"
"Oi, oi… let's not pull out some corny line like I'm supposed to be dead!"
"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!" the sniper screeched. "I KILLED YOU!"
"What did I tell you?" Kage shook his head. "So… who sent you? Ah, no. Screw it, you're a bounty hunter, you follow the money. My question is how the hell did you managed to get here in the first place? Bypassing god knows how many securities in place?"
"Actually I may be able to explain that." Xingke step up as Kage turned to the said First Lieutenant. "Basically, under Captain Imelia's orders: there's no such thing as security. Bounty hunters can come and go as they please."
Kage twitched. "You mean she allowed a nutcase armed with a sniper rifle walking around in the city streets, squeezing it off right in the middle of the town where there are tons of civilians who might get shot?"
"Kage-daren, you're currently standing inside a city with one of the highest crime rate in the world. With 20 crimes occurring every hour, martial law is in permanent effect in this city. The Army is the security, cop, judge, jury and executioner in this town." Xingke sighed. "But even with that, we still have people like him, and some who are even worse than him, practically walking around in broad daylight in the streets."
"That's why Rena let those nutjob into the city, see." Jane followed suit. "As it is, with the war on the horizon, troopers are hard pressed just to fight the enemy at the border. They have no time to deal with domestic dispute. So he let those bounty hunters in, post some bounties on well known criminals, and voila: bounty hunters turn into free lancing security force."
"They follow the money, as you say. If they found a bigger bounty… like yours… they'll turn on us in a heartbeat." Xingke continued. "Imelia-daren doesn't mind. Having assassins constantly attempting on your life is one good idea to train your vigilance, she said. That being said… this place is pretty chaotic as it is. If they attempted to aim their crosshairs at Alliance officers, most of which had bounties of their own, they are to be dealt with as if they are with Zaft, thus, enemy."
"So… freelancing hitmen for hire." Suddenly, Kage felt like he's back to a certain hell on earth of an island. "Oh… wow. Sounds like home." Kage approached the terrified Sniper. "And uh… I take it you had some experience with that?"
"Ah, well…" Xingke sighed. "When you have a bounty of 650 million on your head, you expect at least 3 hitmen a week… if you're lucky."
"And… how do you respond to that?" Kage menacingly tapped the sniper's head several times, messing up with his hair.
"These days, they wouldn't even dare. Most have learnt their lesson." Xingke had an idea what will happen, what's with the way Kage treated that poor sniper. "In my early days though… I admit I had to regretfully kill some of them. Just to make some example."
"My thoughts exactly." He grabbed the sniper's head and put it in a headlock, and then twisted his neck with a sickening crack. The man's head was turned 270 degrees when he collapsed dead on the ground.
That was too much on some of the weak hearted spectators and some of the girls fainted. Mwu averted his gaze and Jane frowned. Xingke simply gave a knowing gaze.
Tolle and Milly however, did not react beyond a frown. Tolle did comment: "Why bother asking us to bring him alive if you're gonna kill him yourself?"
"If you did that, they won't get the message." Kage replied calmly while nodding at the now scared shitless Kage fanboys and cosplayers.
"You need to wake up. The world you nerdheads live on is only a sugarcoating. There's a real world right beneath it." Kage barked as he swiped and splattered the blood marring Shiki to the ground, terrifying the cosplayers to no end. Now that he's out of disguise, his whispery voice seems to be magnified to terrifying volume. "I don't give a rat's ass if you wanna play dress up or whatever, you do whatever you like. But if you want to step into my shoes, then this-" Kage pointed at the spilled innards of the viciously disemboweled bounty hunter. "-this will be your new reality, and personally: I don't even care if they blew up your heads on the streets. I have bigger things to worry about. You think I'm heartless. Here's the thing shitheads: You have no idea who the hell I am and what I've gone through. I don't need your sympathy, your pity or even your adoration. So don't come marching up on me fawning like an idiot, begging me, hoping I will take you in for some grand adventure or excitement and then you can hightail out as soon as the shit hits the fan. THIS is reality. BLOOD RED reality! It's not fun, it's not beautiful, and it's not even heroic. It's about doing what needs be done until one day my luck runs out and I ended up like him." Kage jerked his Shiki at the corpses.
Indeed, with this bloody setting, suddenly, the heroic image of Kage just disappeared before their eyes. Suddenly, they realized they were cosplaying a psychopath. Kage growled. "If you want in, then get ready to put down your toys and grow up. You stick with me; you're in the shitstorm from the moment you wake to the day you die. Now I'll ask again-" Kage had done swiping Shiki clean and put her back in the sheath. "-anybody else still wanted to join my division?"
5 minutes later, the street was cleared of all Kage wannabes. The 'original one' (so to speak) sighed as he looked at his victims, particularly the sniper. He still had his eyes opened. Apparently he didn't even think he'll die right then and there, in such a brutal way to boot. The troopers held their disgust and start cleaning up the disemboweled corpse on the street, starting with picking up his lacerated intestines. Kage approached the sniper, knelt down and held his head before fixing it back in place. It didn't matter of course, but Kage still tenderly pat his forehead before gently closed his lifeless eyes. Kage observed the dead body, and noticed a locket necklace hung on his neck. He opened the locket and saw the man and a woman. Kage sighed and closed the locket. Even without the bandages on his head, it was easy to see there's some kind of sorrow in Kage's purple eyes, coupled with a great amount of disgust and aversion. "Why are you doing this kind of thing for your family?" He whispered in pity.
"Intriguing." Xingke heard it though. "I did not know cruelty and kindness can go hand in hand."
"If I had my way, I'll kill them quick and painless. But… it's important I do it in front of those idiots." Kage sighed. "If nothing else, to teach them an unforgettable lesson."
"And what is the lesson?"
"You don't admire killers. You don't try to be like them. You stay the hell away from them." Kage answered as he looked sternly at Xingke. "Spread the word. Let every man, woman, and child in Shanghai, no, the whole China, knows what happened here. I damn well guarantee those copycats and wannabes will be gone within a week."
Xingke replied. "It'll be much sooner than that, I think. You'll be surprised how fast word can travel in these parts. But… I don't think that would be the end."
Kage groaned. "Seriously? How famous a mass murderer who killed hundreds thousands people can get?"
"Enough that you even have your own trading cards." Xingke replied.
The shinobi slapped his head. "That's it. I'm going back to my ship. I bet it's pretty messy up there right now."
"With your permission, I shall accompany you." Xingke bent his head down slightly. "Imelia-daren also tasked me to keep watch on you."
Kage nodded. "Do as you like."
"Speaking of ships, I'll do that as well." Jane tucked her head. "You guys did avoid direct collision with my fleet, but… who knows? Cheerio." She gave a light salute to the other officers and part ways.
Just as the group was about to leave, Simca popped out of the door and squealed. "Kage-HONEEY! I'LL COME BY AND VISIT YOU SOON!"
"YOU DO AND I'LL TURN YOU INTO SWALLOW'S NEST AND COOK YOU! KOFF!" Hikari ferociously roared back, shooting daggers and fire through her visor.
Kage rubbed his aching temple in exasperation.
Canard was right: this is shitstorm central.
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As they finally make their way back to Archangel, they noticed a queue of people walking haphazardly on the streets.
The first they saw was a man, he dressed like a merchant prince, but he looked delirious and pale like a mental hospital escapee, muttering something about: "Stupid", "Assholes", "Sadist", "perverts", and "bondages." As he dragged his face across the streets on his way. Then following him behind him, was another merchant prince being chased by a woman carrying a mace bashing his head, while screaming: "HONEY DON'T KILL ME! SHE TOLD ME SHE WAS 18!" Another guy, yet another businessman, was struggling to hang himself in a suicide attempt while his subordinates were trying to stop him. "DON'T STOP ME! I DON'T WANNA BREATHE THE SAME AIR WITH THAT CLUSTERFUCK…!"
"What the hell is going on here?" Kage looked at all this mess. Following the queue, it came from the harbor… And he was even more shocked when he found out that this bizarre occurrence is streaming out of his ship, the Archangel. "Wh… What…!?"
"Kage…" Xingke immediately had his suspicion. "You did not… by any chance… leave Canard Pars in charge of your affairs before you leave… did you?"
"I did not charge him to do anything… I mean…" Kage blinked in utter confusion. "I thought his task should be pretty damn obvious without me telling him anything! He's my first officer, I'm not on board, and he's in charge until I get back. What's so wrong with that?"
"Oh no…" Xingke gaped.
George also paled. "Kage… you just unleashed the worst economical disaster since the big crash in the Cold War."
Kage was left jawhung. "Huh?"
Soon, everyone quickly made their way to the underdocks of Archangel, where they found the source of the disaster.
"Sign the fucking contract… or do you want the proof that at date xx month xx, you and a certain ballerina had an xxx in xxx and xxx to be shown to the rest of the whole wide world?"
And the crying merchant had to sign an agreement and the bill of sale that denotes he will receive half a price for the goods he MUST sell to the Archangel, lest Canard will further expose that on a certain day and month, he had… (CENSORED). The merchant left the underdock cursing and swearing.
"CANARD!" The person in question turned to see his captain along with the other officers approaching him with a very distressed look. "What is going on here?" He asked.
"Oh! Capt! Just concluding a fucking transaction." Canard wrote on his little book to keep a record of the transaction. "And getting ready to make another!" He flicked his finger on the next merchant who looked like he's but 13 steps away from the chopping block.
The pale faced merchant dragged his boat close to Canard and there he showed his merchandise. Tomatos, vegetables and the lot. "F-f-fresh premium tomatoes, spinaches, and cabbages straight from the farm! I-I-I'll cut you a deal! A dollar per ounce for the whole lot!"
Starting price: 1 dollar/ounce
Canard reached to his pocket and pulled out the dreaded black book! The merchant bite his nails off in sheer total horror. "Now letssee, letssee… Kekekekekkeke!" he looked like a devil as he did so. "On the date xx and month xx you and a certain girl from the red light district play-"
"I'll cut you a deal!" all color drained from the merchant's face. "80 cents per ounce!"
Now: 80 cent/ounce
But Canard ignored and kept reading other entries from that accursed black book. "And on date xx and month xx, you colluded with bla,bla and blabla…"
"NOO! Wait! Wait! 60 cent! 60 cent per ounce!"
Now: 60 cent/ounce
"Did I hear 50 cent or did I hear that on date xx and month xx, you went into the blabla store and had such a hot whipping night with some-"
"50 cent! Okay. You win!" The merchant gritted his teeth in sheer fury and despair with tears rolling down his bloodshot raging eyes. "May you die in agony!"
"Yes, straight into hell." Canard grinned sadistically as he pleasantly wrote the bill of sale and the contract.
Now: 50 cent/ounce
At that peculiar procession, Kage finally take actions and grab Canard's black book. He opened and read the content. "On date xx and month xx, Mr. Xxx gone to the red light district in the Tung road to have his daily bondage with ropes and candles. On date xx and month xx, Mr xyy (married) visit his dominatrix girlfriend (also married) to have a fun S&M session in the office. On date xx and month xx, mr xyz went into the xfxc shop to have a… penis enlargement? The heck?" He turned to a grinning wide Canard.
"That's the Black Note of Black Secrets." Canard explained. "I think you should understand how to use the information in that record, right captain?"
"Haa…" Kage looked at all these queuing merchants as he studied the content of this black book. Canard seems to have dirt on all of them. Their sexual offenses, their cheatings, their dirty little embarrassing secrets, their shady undignified activity that must never see the light of the day for the sake of their dignity, or worse, all neatly and cleanly laid out in ink down to the last embarrassing and dark evil detail. "And you're using this to blackmail them?"
"Now, now, captain. Blackmail is too strong of a word. This is a mutually beneficial agreement. They give me a half price, I will keep their secret safe and sound." Canard grinned devilishly while the merchants obviously had nothing but sheer utter hatred of the black haired man. "That book is also the reason we are their 'favorite' customer." The merchants knew better: if they don't sell anything to the 7th division, Canard will spill their guts, figuratively speaking.
"Half price!?" Kage suddenly balked! "That's a ripoff! Shame on you Canard!"
"Yeah, yeah!" The merchants suddenly saw hope in this black clad figure, seeing how he sided with the merchants.
"You'll thank me later when you see our accounting book." Canard remarked. "Besides, you wait and see what happened when I don't do this. Turn a blind eye for a minute, and these fuckers will take advantage of us and charge exorbitant amount for measly goods!"
"No. I won't wait. I'd rather show you how a true business is conducted." Kage finally took matter into his own hands. "Half price… talk about daylight robbery…" He grumbled as he jumped aboard on the green merchant's ship and start checking up on the vegetables. The merchant snarled at the flat faced Canard.
Kage looked at the tomatoes, sniffing it, and then he observed the spinach and then the cabbages closely. "How much did you say this was?"
"A dollar per ounce Captain! Premium goods all around!" The merchant smiled.
Starting price: 1 dollar/ounce.
Silence and then: "10." Kage muttered.
"Oh! You're willing to buy 10 kgs?"
"No." Kage hissed. "I meant that I won't pay no more than 10 cents/ounce."
The merchant looked like someone who just got smashed in the face. "E… Excuse me? I believe I did not hear you properly, sir?"
"Uncork those holes you called ears: I'm not giving a cent more than 10 cents/ounce for this garbage!" Kage lifted the tomato in his hand. "Premium? Fresh from the farm!? Anyone with HALF a brain can easily see that this tomato and the rest of the others is ANYTHING BUT FRESH!" He shoved the tomato to the merchant's nose. "You smell that?"
The merchants took a few sniff and failed miserably to fake his wince.
"Yeah. Thought as much! This thing is 5 days OLD! It's already MORE than halfway to rotville! No matter how much you try to fake it, cover its odor with something else, I can practically smell the stink from a mile away!" Kage growled. "Heck, this thing didn't even worth more than 5 cents! Half a price IS daylight robbery!" Kage wasn't finished. "And DON'T GET me started on the cabbages!" Kage grabbed a cabbage and shove it at the merchant's eyes. "What do you see?"
"Erhh… holes?" The merchant gulped. "Very tiny holes? Made by dwarfish arrows?" He peeped at the last sentence.
"FLEAS!" Kage roared. "You're selling me FLEA INFESTED VEGETABLES! Canard, get ready to spread the word to the whole world that this troubled man here is selling flea infested merchandise. I'd like to see if there's anyone who are willing to do business with you once that spread!"
"With pleasure!" Canard happily wrote this latest offense into his black book.
The merchant flabbergasted as he bowed down begging for mercy. "P-p-please sir! I'm just a humble merchant trying to make a living! I'm just doing my job sir!"
"As do I. I'm a captain whose responsibility is the welfare of my men. And I see a person who tried to poison my men with bad food. What's the penalty for that Xingke-daren?" The merciless Kage glanced at the equally unsympathetic Xingke.
"By martial law… execution." Xingke replied calmly.
"Thought as much." Kage placed his hand on his katana menacingly.
At this, the merchant finally gave. "I'm sorry! I swear on my ancestors I will not do it again! You can take these produces for free! I… I'll even throw you a… a… 50% discount on a special price for my next shipment! And I swear to God they will be good stuff!"
Kage smirked. "I'll give you 5 cent/ounce… and you give me 75% discount on the next shipment and you better make sure they are at LEAST edible. So help me if you fail this, this time tomorrow, I'll drive you out of business within minutes."
It took everything the merchant had to nod to that agreement. His soul is already halfway to six feet under.
Ending price: 5 cent/ounce. And a nice 75% discount on next shipment.
And Kage motioned the grinning Canard to ready the bill of sale and the contract. And then he turned to face the rest of the horrified merchants. Some of the merchants were muttering prayers and making holy symbols to ward off this descendant devil incarnate.
"The next person better pray nothing is wrong with their goods." Kage hissed. Behind him, a grinning Canard forced their compliance by swinging his accursed black book.
Bad luck for them because they found out too late that when you put a sadistic blackmailer under the command of a demon in human skin, the white Angelic halls of Archangel has become a camouflage for a Black Pitch Hell of potential bankruptcy inhabited by the devil's bargainer himself of which there's no hope of escape or mercy.
At the start of the day, there's only one most hated carbon based lifeform in China's commercial world.
Now there are two.
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Several hours…
And several hundred rip-off transactions later…
Evening…
A great howling and cries can be heard echoing across the streets of Shanghai as merchants and businessmen alike all suffered under the new trade contracts they were bound to, and worse, tomorrow they'll have to come back for more bargain barrage from Kage, or risk Canard spill the beans on everything.
Regardless, this event also brought a certain matter to Kage's attention. That night Kage called in Prayer to discuss that particular matter that they should've kept watch long ago: Budget.
"I've heard that our division is an underdog… but… What the heck are these numbers? Can we really wage war with such a small amount of funding? Aren't we missing a few zeroes?" Each division was given allocated budget after all, and he had to admit… based on these budgets alone, it's a miracle his division still had some money left.
Prayer grinned nervously. "Well, most of the time we practically plundered, salvaged, and recycled most of the stuff we needed so far… and we make do with what we have. Also, we just get an increase of funding, more so than usual. I'd say the fact that you are good friends with George Allister came as a factor." Prayer further added. "Also, thanks to that we don't have to pay anything for the damage for the ship crash."
"Thank god." Kage tucked his head down on the table in sheer stress after everything that had happened today. And this stupidly low number is just adding to his stress. "But… with just this amount… how are we going to make this last for a month?"
"W-Well, let's just burn that bridge one at a time, shall we?" Prayer collected his things and decided to leave the poor thoroughly exhausted Captain. "May I suggest you have your rest first? This can wait until tomorrow."
"Well, whatever."
Prayer nodded and then opened the sliding door, but then, he found Karren standing just behind the door, arms crossed. "Karren?"
"Oi, Prayer. Is the captain around?" Her face denotes she means business.
"The Captain is a bit…" Prayer looked back and saw Kage's downed form. But then, Kage stirred. "Who is it, Prayer?"
"It's me!" Karren replied a tad louder. "I got something to talk about."
"Can it wait?" Prayer frowned. But then, Kage had already got back up. "Let her in. I'd rather deal with this now than later."
Karren gave Prayer a look and she help herself in while Prayer reluctantly left and closed the door.
Karren turned and faced Kage, eye to eye.
"What do you want to talk about?"
Karren started by placing something on the table.
A particular badge with an X symbol on it.
Kage's eyes widened upon recognition of that badge. He looked at Karren.
Karren replied calmly. "Plenty."
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The next morning, a great uproar erupted allover the ship.
Koudzuki Karren had just resigned from the Juppongatana and the 7th division. Right now, she's in the process of packing her things and getting ready to leave the ship.
At the upper deck, Prayer balked at Kage and Canard who seem quite calm. "Captain! What… why!?"
"Chill, Prayer." Canard replied flatly. "This is the 7th division. Soldier turnover is not unheard of."
"But… But… She's a member of the Juppongatana! She can't just leave!?"
"From the very beginning, Juppogatana is just an unofficial group." Again Canard replied. "Technically every one of us can come and go as we please."
"B… But still…" Prayer looked at Kage, silently standing on the railings of the upper deck.
A wooden bridge was extended out to reach land and Karren walked out of the Archangel under the disbelieving eyes of everyone, carrying her things in a bag.
"KARREN!" A yell came from none other than Taka/Gino, standing across the drawing bridge. "Karren! What…?"
Karren merely paused, but she didn't say anything nor give as much as a reply. Instead, she turned around and looked up.
Up there, Kage stares down at her and their eyes met.
Kage merely gave the slightest of nods before he turned away and walked out of her sight.
Karren tucked her head down and continued her walk.
Gino can only watch helplessly as the red haired girl reached her destination at other side of the bridge. Waiting for her at the bridge was Xingke… and Simca.
Karren looked at Simca with knowing eyes. "Yo, Simca. Been a while eh?"
"Kall… no… It's Karren, right?"
Karren chuckled. She turned to Xingke. "Na, Xingke… can I still come back?"
Xingke answered the question with another question. "Is your time away proved fruitful?"
Karren chuckled. "In a way…"
Xingke nodded. "You must report back to Imelia-daren in Beijing. She will be pleased."
"Pleased. Yeah right." Karren laughed bitterly. But then, she stopped her laugh and stood firm before saluting in a formal tone as well as brandishing her badge of office…
…her office as former team leader of the Arsenal Five.
"2nd Lieutenant Kar… no… Kallen Stadtfeldt, reporting for duty."
Xingke replied: "Welcome back, Red Lotus."
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And for the record: I got nothing against China's piracy.
1: I'm not very fluent in Chinese.
2: I want to learn it
3: I'm using this fanfic to start learning multiple languages by writing them as they sound
And finally 4: Anybody knows any good Online English Chinese translator?
