Disclaimer: FLCL and all associated ideas, characters, and images are the property of Gainax and Production I.G. All use on my part of the aforementioned is purely for entertainment purposes only and result in no profit on my part. I will not delay in removing this story should the property's owners request it.
FOOLY COOLY DUO
Chapter 1: Furi? Kuri?
"…and to the left, down this hall is where extraction takes place," the man shuffled through his stack of papers with an expert glove, "and it's worth noting that we now have a window of just over eleven hours of pure open N.O. As a matter of fact, my team just recently put in a request to extend our operating time to upwards of fifteen hours." He took a moment to clear his throat. "Not only that, but we've just pulled out something that is truly spectacular just last night. It's all really quite exciting and very hush hush of course."
His visiting superior grunts noncommittally to this, and responds with a question. "What of the cyborg? The one that calls itself…Canti?"
The young man snorts derisively, "Ah yes, actually Lord Canti is what it insists it's called. Quite ridiculous honestly. Oh, and it's a robot, not a cyborg. It's a common mistake."
For this he receives what is unmistakably a glare, noticeable even hidden behind thick shades. "Please answer the question."
The technician flinches apologetically. "Right! Well naturally at one time we were quite glad to have it. However we've since found that it's nearly useless for any complex task and suspect it's defective in condition. It has very limited ability to communicate, even when it wishes to. It's hardly worth dismantling, as we've recovered much better specimens from our N.O." He pauses to clear his throat. "Naturally, we can't ignore the connection between it and the subject, as video footage from the incident five years ago suggests the two can interact and tap into some truly amazing results. However, for some reason beyond my understanding, HQ commands us to keep them strictly separated until further notice. And, so they are, stored in opposite ends of the facility."
His partner's eyes seemed somewhere other than at the conversation at hand, taking in the ridiculous amount of posted warning signs. Messages range from "Hazmat equipment is to be worn and sealed at all times. Prevent contamination beyond this point," to "Guitars of any kind on facility premises are grounds for termination." Or even: "Please keep the games at home where they belong, baseball is not our friend."
At this he popped a gumball into his mouth and savored the burst of sweetness. "Interesting regulations you guys have here."
"Ah yes." The technician adjusted his glasses nervously, "well I suppose it must seem pretty silly to an outsider, but believe me when I say that certain items would be engines of mass destruction in the hands of our subject." He offered a small smile, "not that we don't get a little rebellious now and then. I myself happen to have a Fender Acoustic sitting in my locker that I like to toy with on my breaks. I mean, the subject…it's practically catatonic. There are no worries."
His companion's immense nori eyebrows perked with interest. "On the contrary, I'm very impressed with the security measures you boys here at R&D have in place." He adjusted his coat, "plus, who can deny the results you've been getting? It's truly spectacular."
The young techie beamed with pride, and turned to his visiting superior. "I beg your pardon Commander Amarao, but I was under the impression that you and your department didn't approve of our methods here."
At this the commander stopped and smiled. The two men now found themselves standing alone in a sparse white hallway. "Let's say I've finally seen the light. The ends justify the means right?"
His companion grinned from ear to ear. "Right!"
"Wrong."
"Wha-?"
Thunk, the techie drops to the floor in a heap of lab clothes and body parts, his clipboard left spinning in the air, papers drifting to the ground. Amarao stands smiling over him, holding his gun precisely where he struck the back of his companions head. He places the handgun back into his jacket, and quietly gathers the scattered papers while whistling softly to his self. He stands afterwards, swings his leg back, and delivers an expert kick to the poor guy's face. With a crack the head twists into a very unnatural position. Both papers and corpse, sans its lab coat, are unceremoniously shoved into a nearby broom closet.
Standing outside the door, now dressed as an employee, Commander Amarao answer's the silent buzz of his cell phone. "I want good news Kitsurubami."
"I'm staring at Naota right now, it's…who could do this?"
"What's his condition?"
"Commander, he's practically comatose. He's pasty and almost completely unresponsive. He has been properly nourished but his legs are atrophic, from lack of use I assume. I'll have to wheel him out of here."
"That's no good, I was really hoping he would be up and moving. We'll have to go with plan b."
"Yes of course Commander."
"Did you disable the alarms?"
"Affirmative. The entire security grid for this half of the building has been disabled. Even when security realizes what's going they won't be able to give each other so much as a phone call without tearing the wiring out of the walls. Unfortunately, Camera uplinks in every other quadrant but the holding cell are wired on separate grids, you're on your own there Sir."
"I've charmed my ways out of worse."
"Commander?"
"Yes Kitsurubami?"
"When are you going to tell me what plan b is?"
"When I've come up with it, Lieutenant. Just spin him to the rendezvous point in the east corridor. Do everything you can to snap the kid out of it, everything. If worse comes to worse, give him the needle."
"Oh, it's that easy?" Kitsurubami whispers icily.
"Just do it. I'm en route to pick up the robot. I've decided to take a quick peek inside their warehouses, something tells me it'll be worth the while. Commander Amarao, out." Click.
Amarao was in the storage corridor in a matter of minutes, sweating profusely. He had successfully passed several security checkpoints with his newly stolen keycard. Unfortunately, he drew unwanted attention when he threw it across the room in a rage--it wouldn't work. Naturally, he was quite embarrassed when an employee explained to him that he was sliding the wrong side.
The area was virtually deserted, he assumed that they took their goodies elsewhere to pick apart and study. He glanced nervously at the security camera trained on him before sliding his card for the umpteenth time. The first few rooms proved simultaneously overwhelming and useless. Where some consisted of nothing more than piles of scrap, others contained everything ranging from categorized rocks, tools, and contraptions; to tanks of all shapes and sizes filled with all manners of horrible creatures alive and dead.
He was surprised, to say the least, when the next pneumatic door slid open to show a room all but empty. In the center of the room was a bass guitar stood on a simple stand, spotlight illuminating it in the pitch black expanse. At the sight of it Amarao's blood ran cold, freezing him in the doorway. Its four silver strings gave off a sickeningly pale moonlight of their own. It's outline was devilishly barbed and alluringly curvaceous. Its black sheen refused to accept the light from above, casting it away. It was frightening and terribly beautiful to the eye.
He had found exactly what he was looking for.
And now he wished he hadn't.
He pulled out his cell phone. "Kitsurubami."
"What?! I'm a little busy!" Gunfire could be heard in the background, along with the screams of the dying.
"I need an ID on this, now. It's coming at you." With a flash, the cell phone camera took the image. The reply was as fast as it was loud.
"Oh my god Commander! They took that from Naota?!" More gunfire.
"Well I assume so, the fellow I borrowed this coat from seemed rather excited about it."
"Sir, that is a Rickenbacker 4003 SPC Blackstar. It's dangerous beyond words, it's presence on this planet is a very bad omen."
"It's not like you to be superstitious Kitsurubami."
"I'm not Commander, we would be idiots to leave it here with these people and even bigger idiots to take it with us." She pauses for a moment, "You're taking it aren't you?"
"Yeah I found its case in the corner over here. The robot is at the end of this hall, we're still on for the rendezvous correct?"
"Yes sir, I've got Naota with me and we're heading down the north east corridor. He still won't respond to any sort of stimuli. We have several armed pursuers. I hope you have some ideas now."
"Well…they aren't so much ideas as they are brainstorms. Try not to get shot Lieutenant. Supreme Task Force Brave Eagle, out."
"Wha-?" Click.
Amarao stood just within the room, staring out into the hall. The Commander tossed the lab coat to the side, it would do him no good now. He knew the moment he stepped outside that door with guitar case in hand his intentions would be made obvious. Luckily, with communications disrupted as they were, they would be slow to act. He would reach Canti in time.
He hopes.
Right. Time to go.
The Commander took off, guitar and case in one hand and pistol in the other. He could hear the click and whir of motors turning as he passed the camera. He watched it trail his movements; maybe he wouldn't make it after all.
He passed door after door, clotheslining any unfortunate soul that threatened to impede his progress with the guitar case. The door at the end of the corridor came into view.
"Holy christ I'm gonna make it!"
Amarao slides to the card slot and swipes.
Bingo!
Denied.
Fuck a duck!
A big black five is painted right above keypad. He glances quickly at his own card--four. Now what? The whoosh of an automatic door to his left draws his attention. Too good to be true! He tosses his card to the side and whips out his handgun again. Turning to yet another stereotypical white coated lab tech, he shoves the barrel right between his bugging eyes.
"I pray for your sake and mine that you have level 5 access. Open this door quickly or you'll be sucking your brains off the floor with a shopvac." Amarao smiles darkly and gestures towards the door in question.
"Sweet Jesus! Yes! Ok! Just please god don't shoot!" The scientist rushed to the locked door, gun barrel glued to his head. He swipes his card, shaking hands hinder his progress, resulting in several stressful misswipes. With a whimper and a sigh of relief the door beeps to life and slides open. The technician falls to the ground and shakes.
"I really do appreciate your cooperation." Amarao's smile drops from his faces as soon as a something nasty reaches his nose.
The guy pissed himself, sick!
With another well placed kick, this techie is rendered instantly unconscious. The Commander steps through the door and is surprised of by what he finds. Despite all the sophisticated technology at R&D's disposal, the most effective method of holding a robot they could come up with is…chains.
Lot's of them. They criss crossed everywhere, leaving no appendage unrestrained. Canti was motionless, pinned to the wall in a position much similar to Jesus on the cross. His t.v.-shaped head slumped to his chest. Amarao prayed to himself that he wasn't powered down.
Only one way to find out.
"Canti." No response.
"Canti!" Nothing.
Veins in Amarao's forehead looked fit to burst. Clawing at his hair with his free hand, he seethed out the words "Oh mighty Lord Canti, God of the Cleansing Flame."
With a beep Canti's head kicks up with surprise, a bold exclamation point on his screen advertising the extent of his surprise. "!"
"Thank god, something gone right. Listen Canti, we're getting you out of here." Amarao had already set to work on the nearby terminal, overwhelmed with the variety of buttons and dials. "What the hell?! They need all this to control chains?!"
Another bleep from Canti, the kanji symbol for "Honesty" flashing with urgency. It takes the Commander a moment to understand the reference.
"Oh. Kitsurubami's got him all safe and cozy, I mean, as safe as you can be in a drug-induced coma while gunfire his whizzing past your ears."
A manic scattering of red lines translates roughly to general disapproval of his master's condition. Canti starts struggling against his restraints, but without success.
"Yeah well I'm not all that happy about it either, but he's in good hands. Kitsurubami could perform open heart surgery with a handgun if she needed to. But if it makes you feel any better, the sooner we get you out of this, the sooner we can meet them." By this point, Amarao was sure he'd hit every switch, button, dial, and knob on the terminal. The chains didn't budge an inch, but the Commander was fairly sure he'd cut off the life support for the International Space Station. "A hint would be great right about now Canti."
In response Canti's head flashed to life and began scrolling a detailed engineering diagram of every wired component in the room. Amarao was not pleased.
"Really, that's fantastic. Now how about running that by me again with something I understand?"
" " An arrow pointing towards Canti's left. The Commander's eyes followed the line of sight, and there, as obvious as can be, was a simple red button. Stewing, Amarao stomps over to it and slams it with his fist. He ignores the obvious damage inflicted to his gun hand and watches with satisfaction as the chains drop to the ground, Canti landing on one knee at the top of the pile. He then rises and stretches outward in a victory pose. After a moment he turns to Amaroa, awaiting orders.
"Alright Canti, I'm sure you got the lock on Naota's position, but we're meeting them in the southern corridor, right outside the employee showers. Now first we-" Suddenly all hell breaks loose, a constant blaring siren pierces what was once complete silence—red flashing lights infect every movement with a strobe effect. The alarm system is back from the dead.
With that Canti kicks off the ground, anti gravity humming to life. With a rush he snatches the guitar case from Amarao and swings the Commander onto his back, whooshing through the open door and knocking a passerby into the wall. Amarao clings for dear life with one hand around Canti's neck and the other fumbles into his jacket for his cellphone.
"Kitsurubami, the alarms are working."
"Oh no really? I hadn't noticed! I toldyouthis would happen yesterday morning if we took too long!" Gunfire was peppering in the background, Kitsurubami was obviously returning fire, until a clicking signaled a very skillful reload, followed by more return fire.
Flushed with embarrassment, the Commander struggles with a comeback and in the pressure of the moment, fails. "Yeah, well it…slipped my mind! Ok? Regardless, if you think shit's hit the fan now, we've got 20 minutes until the Galactic Space Patrol Brotherhood is scheduled to rip this place a new asshole. We gotta be out of there by then."
"I understand sir, have you acquired the cyborg?"
"Robot."
"Whatever!"
"Right yes, he looks to be in good shape." As if to prove Amarao right, Canti kicks around a corner with a twirl, nearly shaking the commander loose. "We're going to be arriving before you; I expect you'll be bringing trouble with you?"
"No end of it, but sir, speaking of trouble. I've been listening in on their com channels, apparently they've set up a blockade i-" Canti turned another corner and froze, sliding to a abrupt halt. Straight ahead, at the end of the hall, dozens of armed men stood shoulder to shoulder. Suits and ties, they were obviously DII men, the hall echoed with the sounds of safeties being offset. Every gun in the room was trained on them. "Uh Kitsurubami, I gotta go."
"Dammit Comman-" Click. Tee hee.
Oh right, impending death.A tall man with short cropped blonde hair and thick sunglasses nonchalantly steps to the front of the group. He has a handgun in each hand raised to head level and hanging loosely in his hands. It was Branch Commander Fuyuki Ito, Amarao's counterpart at R&D.
"Commander Amarao," his nemesis draws out "commander" tauntingly, "I've seen you do a lot of crazy things to sabotage our program here over the years, but outright treason is the final nail in your coffin my friend."
Amarao tucks his cell phone into his jacket pocket and replaces it with his handgun. He readjusts his position, so that as little of his body is exposed outside of the bulletproof robot as necessary. "Ito you piece of shit! Get out of my way!"
"You've been one step ahead ever since the academy. Even now, I can't enjoy my promotion knowing you're in command of the prestigious Surveillance Branch while I rot here babysitting snot nosed geeks every day!" Ito stomps his foot down repeatedly like a child throwing a tantrum. "It's not fair!"
Noticing that all eyes in the room were now trained on him, Ito finally composes himself. "I've been dreaming of the day when I would finally be able to crush you. And lo and behold, here you are in my own den, and you've given me all the justification in the world to turn you into Swiss cheese."
The half-crazed Commander grins wickedly, nearly drooling at the edges of his mouth. "I can see my secretary typing it up already! My proposal to bring the R&D and Surveillance Departments together under my trusted leadership." Seeing Amarao yawn uninterestedly and zzz's scrolling across the robot's screen, Ito raises his voice and shakes his gun menacingly. "Hey! Are you listening to me?!"
Amarao ignores him. "Listen Ito, I'm flattered to hear that you dream of me but I think there is something you should know. In about fifteen minutes the GSPB is going to beam down here and make their move to snag the boy." He pauses and waves his gun slowly from left to right for dramatic effect," and when their done, this whole place and everyone in it are going to be little more than a hole in the ground."
The R&D Commander steps back in surprise, but then his features darken. "Liar. We would have-" Amarao cuts him off.
"-been informed by the Surveillance Department?" The Commander reaches into his pocket with his gun hand and pops another gumball into his mouth to replace the one he just spat out, "Gee, sorry about the late notice, must have slipped our minds."
Commander Ito seethes with rage and thrusts his gun towards the pair angrily. "Bullshit, it's all bullshit! Shoot them! Shoot them! Shoot them!" The group of suited men opens fire.
"Let's do this Canti!" The robot bleeps a response and takes off towards the group, the commander huddling behind him trying his best not to eat lead. Bullets chip away the walls as they ricochet off his protective coating. As the pair get closer Amarao reaches a hand over Canti's shoulder and starts taking potshots into the crowd, rarely failing to cause some damage. However, it's the deflected bullets off Canti that inflict the most harm, and are the most likely cause of poor Commander Ito being chewed to pieces.
Amarao gives out a cry of pain when a bullet rips his side. His yell deepens when Canti makes physical contact with the mass of men and he is nearly shook from his perch. The lanky robot barrels through them like a bowling ball against pins, smashing them against the walls with his mighty fists and leaves them crumpled behind as he flies down hallways and corridors. Amarao laughs with glee and picks up his phone.
"Commander you're alive!"
"Would it kill you to try not to act so surprised? Listen Lieutenant, I'm hit but it's not bad." The Commander pauses a moment to hop off Canti, who has just halted. "We just arrived at the rendezvous point, I'm going to have Canti start making our exit, you almost here?"
But she didn't need to answer, gunshots signaled her coming. Amarao and Canti each turned to their left and jumped in surprise at what they saw. An electric wheelchair cut the corner madly on one wheel. A young man sat slumped in its seat, but it was the second passenger that was the most surprising. The young, bronze skinned and beautiful Lieutenant squatted with a foot on each armrest, one slamming right on the throttle. She faced the rear, firing her handgun at obvious pursuers. As the wheel chair rights itself her handgun clicked empty for the last time. Tossing it, she pulls two grenades from her belt and yanks the pins with her teeth. With two separately timed tosses the whole corner was blown to rubble and any chance of pursuit from that side was nullified.
Canti and Amarao were both slumped with amazement, the latter left to pick his jaw from the floor. Kitsurubami leapt from her perch as the wheelchair slid to a halt and landed in a salute with catlike grace."Lieutenant Kitsurubami and Civilian Naota Nandaba reporting Commander."
"Uh…um…at ease Lieutenant, how is he?" Amarao took Naota's chin in his hand and lifted it to face him. Although clean shaven, the young man's hair had grown long enough to hide his eyes and very disheveled. The skin was waxy and cold to the touch, and the eyes were open, but were clouded and stared unmoving into space. Everything about the boy screamed "just alive enough to count." "Ok, so he's not doing so great."
The young Lieutenant frowned, eyes expressing a subdued sadness, and nodded her head.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the entire facility and screams could be heard echoing in the far distance. The Galactic Space Patrol Brotherhood had made their entrance. Time had run out, no words needed be said.
"Right, time to go." Commander Amarao gestured animatedly towards the opposing wall. "Ok Canti, make with the hitting. This will take us outside where the jeep's parked."
The robot nodded and gave a thumbs up before turning to the wall. Suddenly, Canti started wailing his fists wildly against it. Chunks of rubble flew everywhere. Kitsurubami had to pull Naota back while Amarao dodged a large chunk that nearly smacked his head.
Suddenly a clang rings out. There wasn't supposed to be a clang. A clang is bad.
Clang. Clang. Clang.There it is again, fuck!
Canti turned and scratched the back of his head, shrugging and blushing madly. Behind him, the concrete wall had been chipped away to reveal solid metal alloy without so much as a dent in it.
Amarao gulped and spoke first. "Some sort of reinforced metal wall. We didn't expect this."
Kitsurubami turned to him. "Gundamium maybe?"
"What?" The Commander turned his head, perplexed.
Flushed with embarrassment, the Lieutenant shook hands in front of her. "Eh, nevermind."
Another explosion rocks the facility, and the screams become much louder and more constant. They are getting close.
Panic sets in. "Commander, what are we going to do?!"
But Amarao is already on the floor, arms around his legs rocking back and forth and overwhelmed with pure terror. "We're all going to die, we're all going to die, we're all going to die!" Smack. Ouch. Kitsurubami looms above him with hands on her waist and legs akimbo.
"Right, right, ideas…let's see I…" Suddenly a door catches his eye. Above it written out is "Employee Locker Room, " "I got it! Kitsurubami, do you still have the adrenaline shot?"
"Yeah, of course, but-"
"Good! Get it ready! I'll be right back." With this Amarao tore past her and blew through the door. From outside, Canti and Kitsurubami could hear the sounds of ripping metal and gunfire. Then: a cry of success. The door was kicked off its hinges and its frame stood Amarao, a Fender Acoustic held triumphantly in his hands.
Kitsurubami looked at the syringe in her hand and back at the Commander, she was unimpressed. "You can't be serious, an acoustic? It's not even electric!"
Amarao frowned and gestured to the guitar case, now leaning against the wall. "It's this or Satan's axe over there. You decide."
She panicked and started waving her hands. "No no no! Fine! But sir, you can't honestly be thinking of using this on him!"
"We have to, besides he's got every drug under the sun in him now. One more won't kill him."
"No! That's it! One more just might kill him! It's pure adrenaline!" Kitsurubami was livid.
Amarao set the guitar into Naota's clammy hands and gestured for the syringe. "If the GSPB catches us here we're all as good as dead anyway. Naota will be even worse off. Now hand me the needle, that's an order."
"No!" Amarao perked an eyebrow up at the exclamation, Kitsurbami blushed and shied back sheepishly, "I mean no…let me do it. This is delicate." She approached the young man while the redhead stepped to the side, syringe hanging loosely in her hand. The meek blonde placed her empty hand on the top of his hand and leaned down, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "Be ok, ok?" she whispered.
Shutting her eyes, she stabs the needle directly into his heart, passing through the chest with a single blow. She gasps, and at that moment a yell rings out from the opposite end of the corridor.
"There they are! We've got him now!" Three figures crouch menacingly at the end of the hallway, approaching slowly. Each clutches a GSPB standard Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar in their hands. Yellow eyes gleam with feral intent behind long pink hair and fanged teeth are revealed by wicked smiles.
Canti and Amarao step back, this is it. Releasing her held breath, Kitsurubami presses her thumb and sends the plunger down.
The reaction is instantaneous. With a twitch and a jump Naota Nandaba roars to life.
Kitsurubami stumbles back in shock and horror as his primal yell fills the world. The young man falls from his chair, clutching at his chest, eyes wide with wild fear and energy. Everyone in the area grows still, overwhelmed by both his scream and the sound of his heart beat reverberating off the walls.
His head kicks up, veins bulging horribly all over his face, arms, and hand clutching the Fender Acoustic. His cry grows impossibly louder and a humid wind fills the halls with a banshee wail. His empty fist pounds wildly against the floor, shattering tile and concrete into rubble. His wild eyes pierce the disheveled strands of his hair, and fall on the three pink haired women--they all look like her. His roar dies in his throat and the mad wind trickles to a breeze.
There is only the rumbling heart beat. And then his gnashing teeth and snarling lips form a sickingly twisted grin. A slow, demonic laugh fills every hall and chills all within them to their bone. It is a rumbling and purposeful sound that all at once came from nowhere and yet was everywhere. Although his throat, teeth, and lips remained unmoved—all eyes fell upon the unmistakable source.
And in that singular moment, Naota Nandaba is unleashed.
May god have mercy upon our souls.
Author's Note: There's that. A sincere thank you goes out to Shadowsin for the emotional lift necessary for me to put out this real chapter sooner than later. Hopefully this will bring more like him/her. Maybe together we can all inject some life back into the FLCL fanfiction section.Until next time, take care.