(One Year Ago)
It was a cold rainy night; a platoon of Pandora warriors was stationed in the woods for a dummy Nova exercise.
Inside one of the tents were two sophomore students named Igor Bernstein and Mario Maxwell were looking at a map of the woods they were stationed in. "Okay, so we have eight separate platoons to fight against the wight Type-S Nova," said Igor. "What's your strategy, Mario?"
"Well one platoon could take two of them down, but they might get killed," Mario said he as pointed at the map. "So, I suggest we move to T65 first thing at dawn."
"Are you kidding? You have NO idea how long it took us to get here: 70km!"
"I know! It's not enough to Alessandro, Clifford, OR Creed. On top of that, Arnold might already be on the move to take down two Nova right now. Our job is to help the first-years we lead gain some experience, but it's very crucial that we NOT lose. Fortunately, we only succeed if we defeat the Nova, NOT the Pandora."
"You DO know that the Nova are just dummies, right?"
"You know what I'm talking about."
"This isn't about winning or losing, is it?"
"Actually, it IS, Igor; winning means VICTORY, and losing means DEATH! Therefore, we must treat training like real combat. This is what the first-years need to learn if they will succeed in an ACTUAL battle."
"Wow, Mario! You're a really good thinker, you might make a good strategist for—"
"Me? A strategist? Bullshit! I only became a Pandora to avenge the death of my parents at those fuckers, but I'm not the kind of guy who can naturally accept Stigmata, like YOU and Alessandro and Creed and Arnold...and even Clifford—the Unmatched Smiling Monster; I'm just a normal Pandora kid. I even had A LOT of difficulties passing the Pandora test and nearly failed. Now I just have to try as hard as I can...not to get kicked out."
"NO! THAT is bullshit! You DEFINITELY have the talent—the talent of giving everything you got, man! You might not have been able to beat Alessandro or Arnold, but you DID reach 7th place at the Carnival, didn't you? That's why you're my hero! And my best friend!"
Shocked and overjoyed, Mario smiled and pounded fists with Igor, saying, "Thanks, man."
In another part of the woods was another stationed Pandora platoon, led by Clifford and Timmy.
"Alright, guys," said Clifford, "we ambush the Nova at T63!"
"Clifford, we have a problem!" Timmy shouted as he rushed to Clifford. "An underclassman is missing!"
"What?! Who?!" asked Clifford
Timmy just stared at Clifford with obvious eyes.
"Don't tell me," sighed the brown-haired boy, "is it—"
*SPLASH* *SPLASH*
All of a sudden, Clifford and Timmy saw a figure coming out of the woods and walking to the platoon's camp; the figure appeared to be holding two disembodied heads.
"—him!" concluded Timmy.
The figure tossed the two heads and Clifford and Timmy's feet.
"You took down two Typs-S dummies?!" Clifford gasped as he and Timmy looked down at the two heads. "BY YOURSELF?!"
The figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself; unlike the rest of the platoon members who wore raincoats, this boy was wearing his Pandora uniform...and even the uniform (and body appearance for that matter) was different from a regular Pandora's:
*Half of his head was shaved off, while the other was spiked-up blonde hair.
*On his right arm was a tattoo of a bleeding spinal cord white most bones being.
*He had a ring in his left ear.
*He wore a yellow jacket with a black skull on the back and with the right sleeve torn off.
*Underneath his jacket was a sleeveless black shirt with a green radioactive symbol on the front (unfortunately, Kazuha couldn't see the front of the boy since his back was turned to him).
*He wore fingerless gloves, torn-up blue jeans with a chain attached to it on his left, and black unlaced sneakers.
*He had a spiked wrist cuff around his left arm.
*He had a gold earring in his right ear.
*He held a single-edged sword with the blade running past the length of the guard.
"Now we don't have to worry about moving," said Satellite coldly. "And DO NOT wake me up!"
Clifford terrifyingly stared at the Untouchable King who entered his tent; a few seconds later, extremely loud Social Psycho music began bursting out from inside the tent, forcing most of the Pandora to cover their ears in desperation of blocking it out.
Back at Igor and Mario's camp, a Pandora boy was standing guard.
"Hey, man!" said another boy heading out of his tent from behind the guard Pandora. "You wanna switch shifts for a bit? You'll catch a cold if you stay out too long."
"Nah, I'm good!" said the guarding Pandora. "Thanks for the off—"
"BEHIND YOU!" the other Pandora screamed.
Shocked, the guard Pandora turned around and...
*SWISH*
...his head was cut clean off by a Nova with a metallic whip.
The other Pandora stared in shock for a few seconds, then ran into Mario's tent, screaming, "MARIO-SENPAI! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"
"Huh?" Mario said as he woke up. "Wh-What's wrong?"
"IT'S A TYPE-S NOVA! AND IT'S NOT A DUMMY! IT'S THE REAL DEAL!"
To Be Continued...
Cast:
Mario Maxwell: Junji Majima (Japanese); Josh Grelle (English)
