Welcome officially to Riprendere! This, as I said before, is a sequel to D.S. al Coda. The events that took place there will be brought up numerous times (such as Operation Boom and Dust, 0099, Pandora's Box…), and you'll probably want to know how they went. I must tell you that this opening sequence is a large part of 0021's appearance in the story, for she had her chance. ((kicks 0021)) So we have everyone else now, back in action!
Riprendere takes place two years after D.S. al Coda finished. So yes, I did change a bunch of things. Such as names revert back to the originals. In case you don't remember…
0014 – Tirzah Amethyst
0015 – Ra
0016 – Kimberly Ann Porsheka
0017 – Anya Urameshi / Lily Higurashi
0021 – Sadie
0024 – new Jessica Tucker
0026 – new Megsie Bluestar
0033 – new Mirllyne
0034 – Tasha Williams / Tie
0037 – Julia
0042 – Riko Miyami
0043 – Eleanor Pierrot
0049 – Joe
0050 – Deak Deapolow
0057 – new Enx
0061 - Rose
We do not own 001 through 0061, so do not ask! We do own all the angels, Tsukasa, D.S., the children of the shrines, and Generation Zero! Peace for all time! And so you don't ask, the 'S' mark over D.S.'s left eye is a musical thing. What is she? My secret, that's what! Enjoy!
Riprendere
Chapter One: Reprise
Movement One: End of the Beginning
"This is her house?" Jet Link demanded, unfolding himself from the passenger seat of a car. He and Joe Shimamura were in northern California, having set out to find 0021. Jet had been expecting nothing short of something overgrown with weeds, a cemetery and several old torture devices on display on the front lawn. To his absolute shock, it was instead a very normal house with a pine tree over the front lawn.
"That's what I think. Let's find out, shall we?" Joe asked, walking up the walkway. Jet gulped and followed the other man. It was then that part of Jet's fantasy came true: a large black dog was jumping and barking in a side yard off the porch. Joe knocked on the door.
"JUST A SECOND!" A female's voice shouted from inside. There was more barking coming from inside, as well as a strange sound. Joe and Jet faced one another, wondering if this was indeed the right house. The door opened.
Inside stood a girl with chest-length light brown hair that had been layered. She had blue-green-gray eyes covered by circular glasses. Beneath her hair were thrice-pierced ears with gold hoops, aquamarine studs over silver and diamonds over white gold in them. She wore a pair of green camouflage pants, an ivory short-sleeved hooded sweater and black open-finger gloves. Behind her blared a remix of Simple and Clean. Upon registering Jet and Joe on her porch, she screamed.
"OMIGOD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" She asked, throwing her arms around both of the men. "No, seriously, why are you here?"
She drew herself back up to normal and invited them inside. There, it was a mess of notebooks and stray paper spread all over. The television was set to a Japanese anime and a laptop computer was open on the couch. Coke cans were scattered around, along with a few bowls of snacks.
"Sorry about the mess. I just have to finish a few things before I leave for college." 0021 explained, waving a hand to clean up. She pointed a finger toward a hallway and the music came to a stop.
"College?" Joe asked, trying to start a conversation. He sat down on the couch, as did Jet.
"Yes, I'll be heading straight into my sophomore year." 0021 replied, seating herself in an armchair. "High school is done, and then three years…and I'm turning eighteen in under a month. Lots to look forward to, ne? Oh, please call me Sadie."
Jet shifted. A girl poked her head out from around a corner.
"Sadie…I don't have the best of news." The new girl said, walking into full view. She had ruby red eyes and snow white pulled back into pigtails that fell to her knees. Her clothes were simple: a tied white t-shirt and heavily pocketed jeans. "Hey, we have company! Awesome!"
"Mind introducing us?" Jet asked.
"I'm Mirllyne!" Mirllyne said, smiling and throwing her arms up and jabbing a thumb to her chest. "Sadie, your family…"
"You were saying, Joe?" Sadie asked.
"About your family. Black Ghost isn't gone. They kidnapped our families." Joe explained at the same time Mirllyne did. They blinked to one another.
"Yeah, do you I wanted to come here to kiss and make up?" Jet demanded. Mirllyne frowned at him.
"You must be Jet Link, and the other is Joe Shimamura. Sadie has told me a lot about you two." Mirllyne said. Sadie, on the other hand, had her glasses off and in her hands.
"You're lying? Please tell me you are." Sadie said in a shaking voice. She had become very pale. Joe's look told her otherwise. "I can't come."
"Your family has been captured…" Jet began, but was cut off by Mirllyne.
"BY WHITE ANGEL AND BLACK GHOST! WE NEED TO GET THE OTHERS RIGHT NOW!" She shouted. Sadie put her glasses on and went out the back door, down a few steps, and pressed her hand into the wall. It fell away to reveal a dark staircase. Sadie held out her hand and fire lit the path.
"YES!" Mirllyne exclaimed, bouncing down after Sadie. Jet and Joe followed warily, wondering what was going to happen.
When they got to the bottom of the stairwell, they were nothing short of amazed. It was the Dolphin, in its full glory. Mirllyne was beaming.
"Wait 'til you see inside! I upgraded it!" Mirllyne declared, pointing to ladder leading up to the entrance. She climbed up, followed closely by Sadie. Joe was after her, and last came a grumbling Jet. He would much rather have still been in Manhattan with Tirzah. Joe had asked him to come, since he didn't want to face 0021 alone. Jet had agreed, hoping that they wouldn't be able to locate her. And here he was, with twice the insanity: Sadie and Mirllyne.
The first thing Joe noticed was a black sword hilt. At the bottom of it was a faceted sparkling stone, as well as smaller, similar stones pointing off where the blade would have sat. It was rimmed with silver. Mirllyne hastily seized it and put it into her belt.
"That's my sword, mind you." Mirllyne said. "Excalibur belonged to my boyfriend."
"In any case, what do you think?" Sadie asked, smiling and replacing her glasses. "I think Mirllyne upgraded everything, including the toilet!"
"Shouldn't we get some of the others?" Jet asked nervously. He wanted both to see Tirzah, and to not be alone with only Joe and these two psychotic girls. Sadie nodded and closed her eyes. She pressed her pointer and middle fingers with her temples and concentrated. Seconds later, nine other females and six males appeared in the control room of the Dolphin with them.
"I was in the middle of something…" A girl with waist-length black hair said. Her bright blue eyes glittered. "It was my birthday wish for my family to die…and it came true."
Sadie was still concentrating hard. Her face twitched, as if she were in pain. Seconds later, several loud popping noises were made as six more girls and four more boys fell into the Dolphin.
"Oh…" One with shoulder-length honey blond hair said. "Are you planning on calling them here?…"
There was a brilliant flash of white light, and a final group of six girls and two boys appeared. Sadie sunk into the nearest chair. This bunch was dressed in regal clothes with several gems hemmed into the cloth.
"You asked for some, and you got some." Sadie said.
"What's the problem? Why are we all back on this thing?" A tall girl with purple hair and eyes said. "We're not here for a stupid reason, are we?"
"Yes, I second that." A boy with golden-orange hair and bright blue eyes said. "Our cities are in ruins from the angels raging around, since they fell from heaven."
"WHOA! YOU LOST ME AT 'RUINS'!" Sadie shouted, now on her feet once more. "First, Mirllyne says something about a thing called White Angel. Now it's you with fallen angels. What's going on?"
"Look, 0021…life isn't as easy as just Black Ghost any longer." The blond girl said. Her icy eyes glanced down. "When my box was opened, Hope was freed and there was no longer a need for angels, since they gave hope. They fell from heaven and were outraged by this turnout. In their fury, they destroyed the only places they were invited: Heliopolis and Lunapolis. Now that they had nowhere to go, they are now seeking revenge on us and started the White Angel Organization."
"And we all have things to get back to." The purple-eyed girl said impatiently.
"Look…this isn't any normal bad guy." Mirllyne said desperately.
"Don't think I don't know your past." A mahogany-haired, blue-eyed girl said. "The other seven do, too."
Mirllyne paled slightly. "In any case, we're dealing with angels. Angels have abilities far more powerful than any of Generation Zero, and kick your butts in two seconds flat if they felt like it. And they've got a lot of important things to you, including family."
"I killed my family…they don't exist any longer." The raven-haired girl said.
"Yes, but our homes are in ruins." A silver-headed and brilliantly blue-eyed girl said. "Myself, Apollo, Helios, Artemis, Diana, Eos, Luna and Umbra have had our cities destroyed and now have haunted angels floating about them."
"Selene, I adore how positive you are." The boy with sea-green hair and bottle green eyes teased. Selene sighed.
"Well, when you think about it, we really must find out what did it…" The blond said sadly. "Time to get ourselves re-introduced. I'm Pandora."
"What do you mean, Arien?" Zaffiel demanded of the lower-ranking angel. Arien was nearly in tears.
"I mean that they're all back together! Not just Generations Zero through Three, but they have the children of the cities with them, too!" Arien wailed. Zaffiel's eyes widened and the door behind her flew open to admit Tsukasa. "Miss Tsukasa! I must tell you that they've rejoined!"
Tsukasa nodded solemnly at this outburst. Arien straightened up and replaced her halo to float in its usual place.
"You should also know then, Miss Tsukasa, that Heliopolis and Lunapolis have not been deserted entirely. There are still a few dark angels there." Arien said, bowing. "I must be off."
"Okay, so this can of crap can move still." Ra said. Her hair was longer now, but only very slightly. It came to her shoulders and her eyes were more transparent and gray. "So, who cares? I have nothing to do with this."
Jet had been stunned at Sadie's reaction to everything. The last two years in high school had evidently calmed her ferocious spirit and brought her back down to Earth. Of course, this came at a very high price, and it was called Mirllyne. Most of the others had managed to stay the same, possibly save Lily and Tasha. Anya had dyed her hair brown and wore contacts to make her eyes dark blue-green, and had taken to the name Lily. Tasha was heading into her senior year of college and had a small; white fox named Luke that was with her constantly.
They were in the air, with the 'fasten seat belt sign' on…wait, wrong thing! Most of the group was getting reacquainted with the layout of the ship. Mirllyne was wandering around, explaining to whoever asked about what was going on.
"Well, idiot, what the hell does an angel look like?" Eleanor finally demanded. Mirllyne slunk away without another word. She walked off to the control room to find Albert, Lily, Deak, and Sadie all present. As the door shut behind Mirllyne, it opened just as fast to admit Ra. She carried her precious sword as if someone were to steal it from her any second, and behind her followed Epsilon.
"Elle posed a good question," Ra said. "What exactly are we supposed to be looking for? What the hell do angels look like?"
Epsilon and Mirllyne's eyes met briefly. "Angels look like normal humans, and sometimes have strange hair colors." Mirllyne said. "And hey, what's that?"
She pointed a finger out the wide window. There was a small island below them, maybe only a mile and a half across. There were very few trees, and flying from one of them was a long piece of golden-yellow cloth. To all but two in the room, this site was all too familiar. Lily and Albert sat down to land the Dolphin on the tiny island.
"Hey, what's with this?" Tie demanded, locking the door into an open position. "Why are we landing here?"
"Because, we may have found another cyborg." Deak explained impatiently. Tie's eyes widened considerably and she nodded. "Now shut up and get everyone else, this could be a trap."
Tie harumphed rather loudly and stalked off with Luke in tow. With a gentle bump, they touched down to the island. Within seconds, Joe, Francoise, Ra, Pandora, and Epona were out on the beach. The sand was starkly white beneath their feet. Epona managed to get to the tree where the cloth was tied first.
As a matter of fact, it wasn't just a piece of cloth. It was a cape, tied around a girl's neck, fluttering in a breeze. The girl's short black hair was also flying around her, but her face showed no signs of knowing where she was or what she was doing there. Her hands were bound to the thin tree with thick metal, her legs brought up to her chest, and her feet bound together. She wore a familiar blue and gold uniform.
"You pathetic fools!" A loud feminine voice called. Seconds later, a girl with short ocean-blue hair jumped down from the top of the tree. Her eyes were shimmering yellow, and she wore a denim miniskirt, a pale yellow tank top, and thick black boots. Very, very pale blue wings hung from her back, as if they had been part of a costume. "She won't awaken, oh no. She's under a spell."
"And you think you're who, remind me?" Ra demanded, showing Soul Eater. The person cackled again.
"I am Xiaka, angel of water!" Xiaka shouted, calling waves up behind her. "And if you want to have any hope of awakening this stupid girl, you had best think of a way to defeat me!"
Seconds later, a tremendous wave was launched at them. Riko bounded out of the Dolphin in time to block part of the huge wave. Most of it still crashed, and moments later, Poseidon was also out.
"You bitch, they picked the wrong idiot for this job." A new voice said. Xiaka turned her focus to the girl tied to the tree, then took a large breath in. "Did Xiaka forget that I love water, AND IT HELPS ME?"
Hardly a second later, the girl had vanished from the tree. She reappeared next to Albert, laughing. Xiaka roared in fury and sent another wave out at them. This time, however, Poseidon and Riko were set to go. Poseidon blocked the wave with one of his own, and Riko tried to force the water back. Xiaka laughed ferociously and sent more out.
Like last time, no one was about to give up. Ra jumped and swiped at Xiaka, who was far too occupied to notice. Mirllyne and Lily, who were now engaged in conversation, climbed out of the ship to find a fight going full force. Lily swung her hammer around from her back and prepared to launch a missile, while Mirllyne slid quietly back into the Dolphin.
"OHOHOHO! MIRLLYNE!" Xiaka roared, directing a watery hand straight into the Dolphin and yanked out Mirllyne. Mirllyne squeezed her eyes shut, clenched Excalibur, and prepared herself for the worst. "Well well, little miss Mirllyne, it turns out you are with them! Isn't this handy?"
"YEAH, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S MY HAND!" The new girl shouted triumphantly, and seconds later, a clay-like hand shot out of the ground and began to slap Xiaka across the face. The water hand promptly dropped Mirllyne and sent itself speeding toward the new girl, trying to repel her.
After a sound pummeling, the arm dove back underground and surfaced to reattach itself to the girl's shoulder. She smiled and Xiaka touched her feet to the white sand. A black helicopter began to make noise close by. Xiaka looked back to it and smiled.
"It seems as though I have to cut my time with you short," Xiaka laughed. "But we'll meet again, I can promise you that!"
She vanished and all that was left was the sound of the rocking waves. The new girl turned to face Albert and smiled. Her hair fell roughly half an inch below her shoulders, and her eyes were so brown that they were black.
"Hi, I'm Enx!" She said happily. "Oh…you wouldn't happen to have any regular water, would you? The water on this island is a bit too salty for my taste."
Albert blinked and shook his head. "What? You drank salt water?"
"Yes, I drank salt water." Enx said, now sounding agitated. "Of course I didn't. I'm not stupid! I absorbed it. And how do I know you're not working for them?"
"Would we have tried to hurt her if we were?" Albert asked. "Come on, let's get going."
So the group out on the beach trooped back into the Dolphin, Enx hanging behind. Lily, being the last one to have entered, turned around to face her.
"Aren't you coming? You're welcome to." Lily said kindly before sinking back down. Enx ran forward to join the rest of the group.
"We have a problem," Selene announced. "We have to leave for a while to get some stuff taken care of. Okay?"
Joe left from the conversation with Enx to get some quiet in his room. As the door slid open, he stepped in and shook his head. He took a look at the bed again. Just as he thought, the red sheet was pulled taught and the white pillows were fluffed. But something was there that shouldn't have been.
"Bonjour! Your name ees Joe, oui?" A tiny voice asked. Joe rubbed his eyes and sat down on the end of the bed. At the other end sat a tiny little girl. She stood up and walked over to him. "Your name ees Joe, oui?"
She was perhaps five inches tall with inky black hair and hazel eyes. Over her right eye, a circle with a cross was tattooed. Over the left, an 'S' was drawn and a line cut across the center, with two circles (one above and one below the line). These were drawn in black ink. Her long-sleeved black shirt had a single white musical note on it, and she had on a long black skirt. Her tiny feet were protected by black slippers. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, and though most of the hair was falling out, she seemed not to care about it.
"Yes, my name is Joe. And who are you?" Joe replied, looking down to the girl.
"I am D.S.," The girl introduced herself. Her voice had an unmistakable French accent in it. "I was sent to make sure zat you don't git eento any trouble."
"But why would I…?" Joe began. D.S. held up a hand to him.
"Zee White Anzel and Black Ghost Organizations are not just after your precious belongeengs, zey are after your lives!" D.S. said. Joe blinked at the tiny girl standing on his bed. He held out a hand, wondering if she'd climb onto it. She did, and he raised it to eye level. She, by that time, was seated comfortably in his palm.
"You don't mind me asking, but you are French, right?" Joe asked. D.S. nodded. "And why, exactly do they want to kill us?"
"Joe?" Sadie asked outside. The door slid open and she stepped in. "I heard voices…were you talking to yourself?"
Joe shook his head as if this girl were his mother. "You mean there isn't anyone else in here?"
Sadie gave him a puzzled look and walked over to him. She pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. "You don't seem to be coming down with anything…are you taking any drugs?"
Joe, who had abruptly throw D.S. onto the bed in confusion once the door had been opened, looked to find the miniature girl.
"Zey can't see me," D.S. explained. "Only you can."
"No, don't worry about it." Joe said to both Sadie and D.S.. "Thanks for the concern, but I'm fine. I'll see you later, once Chang gets around to cooking."
Sadie eyed him once again, then turned and left the room.
"D.S.?" Joe asked. The tiny girl was now seated on his shoulder.
"I must be leaving, Joe." She said. "But we shall see each uzzer soon, I do 'ope."
Without another word, the tiny girl vanished.
Well, not bad for a first chapter, ne? I hope you enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, and leave a review or flame telling me what was crap or not! We are sorry about D.S…..we couldn't resist after French…you must understand…see you next time!