The moon shined bright in the night sky of Mitakihara as the people of the city slept peacefully in their homes. In downtown Mitakihara, the streets were empty and the tall buildings almost barren as only a few shopping malls and 24-hour stores remained open the city for the convenience of the city-goers. But in the quiet night air, one could hear the faint sound of gunfire echoing in the distance.
Running through an alley, Sanbey was bruised, tired and his striped fur was dirtied by trash and grime. His tree tails flickered as he ducked underneath tipped-over trash cans and slipped past the small spaces he could fit into. His rugged breathing echoed loudly in the alley as behind him, a shadow-like figure pursued him with glowing, red eyes that eyed the white creature's every move. He made no sound as he chased Sanbey, kicking away any obstacle Sanbey lead the shadowy figure towards into the air with superhuman strength.
"You can't run, Sanbey! Not after all these years!" the shadow figure cackled with a sadistic tone. Extending a hand, the shadowy figure skid to a stop and a spark of dark energy surged through his palm like electricity. Materializing in his hand out of ebony energy was a black rifle that the figure raised up and aimed at the running Incubator. He pressed the butt of his gun against his shoulder, aimed down the sights and let out a small, dark chuckle, "Bang."
The bullet zipped through the air and grazed Sanbey by the foreleg. The Incubator wailed in pain and lost his footing before crashing into a concrete wall and cans of trash. The cans fell over the small Incubator and covered Sanbey in trash and filth. He could hear the shadowy figure's footsteps becoming louder and louder as he struggled to stand up, golden liquid bleeding from where the figure had struck him. Sanbey panted for air, having been on the run for hours on end ever since noon as his legs felt like collapsing underneath him.
"Don't make this hard for me Sanbey. I'm going to need you alive, so don't die on me alright?" the shadowy figure approached Sanbey while slinging his rifle over his shoulder, his casual tone followed by a sinister laugh that echoed through the tight space of the alley. From his coat, he took out what seemed to be a syringe and twirled it in his hand, glowing red eyes being the only thing that Sanbey could make out from his dark silhouette, "Now, hold still."
The moment he tried to grab Sanbey, the Incubator's three tails shimmered with golden energy that made the figure reel back. His tails tensed and Sanbey leap into the air to slice at the figure with his tails like a blade. His three tails lashed through the air and only managed to graze the figure's hand, but the distraction worked as Sanbey then landed on the floor and continued running as fast as he could.
"Homura... Where are you?"
The small, gaping wound the shadowy figure received from Sanbey glowed bright with sparks of energy surging through the wound. The figure winced in pain, curling his hand into a fist and tensing his muscles, before the wound suddenly began to slowly generate. The wound Sanbey had given him was now gone and the figure let out another dark chuckle before continuing in his pursuit, "Keep running, Sanbey! It won't help you anymore!"
Kobayashi Kosaku, a tall, gruff man with thick scarred muscles, graying hair and tanned skin, stood outside his house at night, fixing up his old rusty car as his garage door remained open with its lights shut. The car was right outside the garage entrance and the tall man tossed a wrench back into a toolbox by his feet, getting out from underneath his car. Back on his feet, he dusted himself off and wiped the beads of sweat off his wrinkled forehead. Kobayashi wrung his wrist, exhausted, "That should do the job."
His face was dirtied with oil and his hands were covered in dirty wraps. On one side of his face was a black eye-patch that covered his right eye. Having lost it years ago, the middle-aged man had grown used to the one-sided vision perfectly. Sighing, Kobayashi sat on a chair near his car and picked up an open can of beer by the chair legs. He chugged down the entire can and looked up at the night sky with a frown.
Kobayashi's sharp ears then picked up noise from down the street and he stood up to see his neighbor and old friend, Narita Akira, on the sidewalk with a few boys by her side. He knew them, as she always had been taking care of those boys for years now. But among them, Kobayashi noticed a young girl with raven hair sleeping in Narita's arms as the school nurse carried her. A glimmer of moonlight reflected off a small purple ring in her finger and caught Kobayashi's eye for a moment.
Settling his can of beer on the floor, the man picked levered himself up from his chair and leaned on his car as the school nurse noticed him, "Evening, Akira," his voice was deep, yet, had a sage-like ring to it as he spoke. The nurse greeted kindly him in turn and he received a few waves from the older boy beside Narita. The younger looking one did, too, a second later, as he looked too sleepy to register the man, "Beautiful night, isn't it? Mind if I ask who's that girl you're with?"
The nurse chuckled, not minding a bit all to stop for a small chat with a friend, "She's... a patient of mine, you could call her. I'm taking care of her for a while, so she'll staying over at my place," there was a smile on Narita's face that Kobayashi had not seen for a long time as she spoke, carrying the young girl in her arms, "How about you, Kosaku? How's Mirai? I apologize for giving her my fever yesterday."
"Mirai's fine. If anything, the fever didn't do anything to stop her from trying to go to school," Kobayashi eyed Takuya, who let out a small yawn behind Narita, "She's been worried sick about you, too. The girl kept telling me that you going to cause another accident if she wasn't there," the man chuckled, but Takuya only scratched his cheek and chuckled nervously in embarrassment at the comment as if he did cause another accident at school. An observation the old man noticed but chose to ignore, "Anyway, good night, Akira. I have work to do, so I have to cut this short."
"Right. Good night, Kosaku. Don't drink too much, alright?" her comment got another amused chuckle from the man as the school nurse left with her boys. Picking up his toolbox from the ground and his can of beer, Kobayashi headed back into his garage after tossing the can of beer into a nearby trash can.
Back in his large garage, Kobayashi threw his toolbox into a small corner with some pieces of scrap metal tipping over from the impact. The tall man sat in his work-chair and watched the garage doors slowly close as the garage lights on the ceiling turned on. Once the garage doors had closed shut, he flipped a switch underneath his work-table and the garage's broad, rusty walls slid open to reveal a secret compartment behind it with a low metallic groan. Metal locks made of military-grade steel shut the garage doors tight with a loud cocking noise
Loads and loads of weapons that Kobayashi had smuggled into the country were hung on the walls on racks. Each of them were either dusty, had been fixed together with duct tape, or were worn-out to the point of possibly breaking when used. Some looked years old and damaged from live combat. Below the racks of weapons were sets of working military-grade radios and UV lights stored in cardboard boxes. They looked just as old as the weapons on the walls.
Turning on a lamp, a dim light shined on the folders and sheets spread everywhere on his table. Each file had a abstract picture of sorts on them. Some were crossed out and some weren't. As he took a pistol from a drawer by his legs and began polishing it with a wet rag, he began speaking into a small recorder on his table, "March 18. More reports of people disappearing in the city have been noted in the news. Until now, nothing unusual has been occurring in the city aside from the disappearances, but I've kept my eye open for them," Kobayashi shoved away some files on top of his laptop among the papers a switched it open, "Still, I have been noticing-"
There was a knock on his garage doors. Five door knocks that were drawn out in an almost memorized pattern. Hearing this, Kobayashi switched off the recorder and fliped a switch under his table to deactivate the locks securing his garage door. The garage doors opened and one of Kobayashi's friends came rushing in with a folder under his arm, all the while sweating and panicking as if he had seen a ghost. The doors closed again once he had come in.
"What is it, Kai?" Kobayashi asked without turning away from the pistol he was polishing. The only reason he didn't shoot the man on the way in was because only a few people knew the stuff that he was doing here. If it was someone else, he'd shoot them even they did get the door-knock right.
Kai, a younger and leaner-looking man who looked to be in his early 20s, stopped and panted for air with his hands on his knees before straightening up his posture and reported between gasps for air, "Commander, we have reports of a Warlock skimming around the city. The Obscurum detectors noticed a faint signal, but there's no doubt about it. It's a Warlock, Sir."
Kobayashi placed his pistol down on the table and rubbed the grizzled beard on his face, the news barely fazing him, "And which one is it this time?"
The young man opened the file in his hands and Kai was visibly troubled when he read the report. Closing it again, he took a deep breath and readied for his commander's reply, answering, "It's... Warlock 006, Sir," there was a pause, "It's Clyde. He's back."
"Clyde?!" Kobayashi suddenly bellowed and slammed his fist on the table. The noise could have possibly woken up his daughter that was resting in her room right now, but he did not hold back his the anger on his voice, "How is he still alive?! We've spent the last four years hunting down all 350 of these bastards, and he's still alive?!" he rose from his chair and gritted his teeth. The nerves could be seen bulging underneath the skin of his tightened fists as his he tried to hold back his sudden outburst, "To think only a few of them are still hiding out there and that one is still alive. We need to find him now."
Kai was scared. He had never seen his superior so angry like this before in years as he hid his face behind the file in his hands. Gulping, Kai hesitantly continued his report, "Y-Yes, Sir. And since he's alive, there's a possibility Phantom and Ares might be alive as well... But we're unsure of their true location... Really, this is all we know. We haven't encountered any other Warlocks in a while now."
Kobayashi went to his weapon racks to check their condition if they were ready for battle as he stood under a few more sets of portable UV lights and other technological devices. He picked up a bullet that glowed with residual, unknown energy and placed it in an empty clip he picked up from a nearby box. Under the weapons, a large steel box stored more of the same round he held between his fingers as he began loading them into empty mags.
"Answer me this, Kai," he said without turning around. His voice sounding calm, yet, still had the same aura of anger to it, "Why are they suddenly appearing now, out of all times? You're not holding anything back, are you?"
A drop of sweat trailed down his subordinate's face. The younger man felt uneasy explaining his next report as his legs straightened up, "W-We got reports from Akihiko and Kou that said-" he coughed and cleared his throat, growing more anxious as he continued his sentence, "-Sanbey, the Third Generation Incubator, might be alive and in this city as we speak. The detectors had picked up his energy signal as well."
Kobayashi took a G36 Compact from the racks and began inserted a clip into weapon before cocking the gun. Holding it in his hands, he turned around and told his subordinate one last order before he left, "Kai, get me the numbers for Hachiko and Ken. Tell them... Tell them that our duty isn't finished."
"Yes, Sir," Kai then saluted and exited the garage. Its doors opened and closed shut with the set of metal locks going back into their previous positions.
Falling back into his seat and placing the rifle on the table, Kobayashi lifted a hand and brushed the dust off a picture frame which sat in the corner of his table. The picture showed a young, disheveled scientist who had loose tie, a clean lab coat, and a cheeky smile on her face as she held a clipboard to his chest. Beside her, Kobayashi himself, looking almost the same except lacking the eyepatch and the scars that adorned his arms.
He sighed. It wasn't easy taking in all these sudden news in just a few minutes. Brushing a finger on the picture, Kobayashi grimaced, "Yuko, it's been years ever since that incident. I swear, I'll finish the job this time. This time, I'll make sure I find that bastard and finish him off once and for good."