The Maple in the Obsidian Urn

Author Word: a Bofuri x Koukaku no Pandora Crossover fic. I HIGHLY recommend Koukaku no Pandora, It's a Manga, had a single 12 episode season, and the Story had been written by the author of Ghost in The Shell, but is drawn by the person who made Excel Saga Manga (The Anime was that parody of the many Anime/Manga Tropes and Stereotypes of the 90s and early 2000s).

Summary: Kaede Honjou and her best friend, Risa Shiramine, are about to enjoy Life at Cenancle Island, Both teenager Girls went through some though experiences, Kaede lost her body save for the Brain to a rare Medical condition, Risa lost almost all of hers after a disastrous incident ended in a terrorist caused explosion. Wanting Peace for their daughters, their parents, the heads of the Honjou and Shiramine Conglomerates respectivelly, chose Cenancle, believing it to be the most peaceful place to let them live normal lives, little did they know, their arrival coincided with one Adepter, and the loads of adventures she would bring there, all according to Kaede's insane Luck plans.

1)

Traveling in a Cruiser ship seemed a weird choice, especially for those born with a silver spoon, but this oddity quickly got solved when they read about where their parents where sending them to live at least until they graduate. Cenancle Island was once a bigger, unused chunk of Land, The Third World War and one stray Asteroid later though, it was less than 40% of the original size, so space was at a premium that made Airports not even worth considering. As an added bonus, at least the Time in the ship was pleasant.

"Good grief, Kaede, oversleep is one thing, but to only wake past midday?"

Risa scolded her best Friend, both had rather unique reasons for their parents to move them to such an Isolated and Import dependent place to Live, but they both made a mutual promise to get lots of great memories from the moment they departed aboard this ship.

"Sorry."

Kaede apologizes, today was when they're supposed to arrive, thus every second of the day was precious, neither of the two had a desire to live in a cruiser ship, but the experience was still very valuable.

Looking at the Horizon, the Island was visible already. Suddenly, some faint noise come to their Ears, Risa is the first to react, looking at the direction of that faint noise. A Girl, their age most likely, and a Woman, platinum blonde hair, glasses, and a bit of an air the ever-attentive former pro-gamer could only describe as that of a Scientist that constantly crosses the line between genius and madman. Of course the two would go towards the scene, curious and at all.

The woman was Uzal Delilah, famous researcher in many fields, returning from a business trip abroad. The Young Girl was a full prosthetic body like Kaede, but the natural way she moved would make anyone think she was using a top-of -the-Line Preset program, PP in short, but it was her own ability, Risa did envy how fluid and easy she moved, while Kaede was just amazed she met someone with not only a full body like hers, but also a victim of Pixy syndrome. The ship would soon begin docking into the Port, so they all went their own way to get their things, once on ground, they all exchanged contact numbers.

"While I'm sure your parents would see no issue with making friends, please understand WHY we here came with you two."

After they all separated, the duo got scolded, the stout build man was their bodyguard, usually called by his nicknamed Kuromu more than his real name. with him on this job were Ishizu Shirokuma and Kanade Mizugi, a small team considering who they were to keep safe, and only a peculiar reason had the Honjou and Shiramine heads even decide to let such small-scale team.

"Sorry."

The two clapped their hands and gave a heartfelt apology, Kuromu's sermons were the stuff of legends for them.

"Sure, let's get to your new home, and please don't go straying by yourselves this time."

"Of course, what you think will happen? A damn terrorist Attack?"

Risa would learn to not tempt fate, much less now that she would be living at the same Island that one Nanakorobi Nene would be. As soon they are walking the streets, a light beam pops from the ground and to the sky, through a building no less. The explosion that followed got them all into attention.

"Gee, I wonder, WHO did tempt fate?"

Kanade mischievously pokes fun at the timing of the girl she should be protecting.

[One situation splitting the girls fron their escorts later…]

"And of all things wireless signals are jammed, wonderful."

Risa and Kaede now found themselves having followed Nene, who was following Uzal and her Assistant Cat girl maid, one unlucky explosion and debris was all it took to get them into such situation, even though they should have sought meeting back with Kuromu and co. they instead had the balls to try getting Nene out of the epicenter of the mess.

"Risa, shouldn't we try getting back to Kuromu? He will be giving us the mother of all Sermons if we don't…"

Kaede was, surprisingly the more careful of the two, after all, she never had spectacular motor coordination, and she wasn't fully adjusted to her new body, though Risa would never tell her it was abnormal for her to be able of moving her body to her CURRENT level in less than a Year after starting using it. turning to her, a glint in those eyes was all she needed to know was coming from her friend's mouth.

"Come on, Maple! We promised to make great memories! And a bit of adventuring is a MUST for those, right?"

"Can't we make adventures outside a Terrorist attack?"

"Maple! Our very first friend in Cenancle is in danger! At least let us get her out this mess! What if she gets hurt? She already went through what you had, now she will be involved in a Terrorist attack?"

That convinced Kaede, nickname Maple, from the MMO the two play together.

The place Nene ended chasing Uzal was a wreck, rubble was blocking many paths and making footing tricky if one didn't pay attention. Suddenly, robots, clearly under remote control of people, appear and surround Uzal, focused on her and the Cat Girl maid with the grinning woman.

"SAHAR!"

It takes just a few exchanges between the Scientist woman and whoever is behind the robots for hostilities to begin, at the distance they were, only the initial shout from the leader robot was heard clearly, as soon it began, it became a one-sided beating, the hijacked units were not for combat, if those arms and legs were any indication, more for Mining and construction work.

"Aren't those like your company's Dolly robots?"

Kaede, looking at the small army of yellow robots being made into scrap metal, notes to Risa, who only now realizes the fact.

[Who're these Two? - Maybe they're- more of that madwoman's tools?]

The group using those machines must be in the same room, as the moment they hear the jumbled voices come from one of those they failed to spot, Kaede also notices Nene was about to be attacked as well.

"Ah!"

'CLARION, PRIORITIZE NENE'S SAFETY!"

[SHOOTING DRILL CHARGE!]

Risa's world momentarily slowed to a crawl, years of high intensity and fast paced competitive gaming nurtured her already high reflex and mental speeds to a peak, and the incident that forced her into a mostly prosthetic body gave her reason to hone those senses for actual use in dangerous situations. The shot was a directed blast that could easily punch a Melon sized Hole even on a Tank armor grade Steel Plate 30mm thick, a hit on a Prosthetic body, even if a Military grade one, would be nothing to that, yet…

PING

As the charge was fired, it met Risa's Left fist, and as if to defy what was just said, the blast instead went back to sender, obliterating the hijacked robot's arm and a chunk of its head/body, killing it.

"EHHHHH! RISA?"

Her friend clearly couldn't understand what happened, exclaimed. Right after, she draws her concealed Pistol and triple tap another robot to her left. Scanning the area, all enemies were dealt with, or not.

"Oh my! Pointing a gun to someone you befriended just a little ago!"

"Those guys seemed intent on getting you, doubt a mere famous scientist would need a second identity AND such a lethal assistant/Maid."

Uzal can only keep her smile.

"Right, those terrorists have attempted to seize the latest project I've been working on, and caused it to enter berserk state, enough? Pretty please?"

"Fine."

[Things went just like Canon story…. Until…]

The plan was simple when put in words, the putting it in practice, however, was a tense development, the back and forth between Buer's automated defenses and the Clarion & Nene duo was hapzard. And as if to act as a last joke that got even the stoic and very robot-like Clarion to hesitate, a Statue of Uzal was the terminal to use those glasses to shut the rampaging machine. The delay in action became the deadly blow in the plan, a huge piece of Debris fell on top of her.

The ground started shaking, Kaede, who was just a bit too close to the edge of their elevated position, ended losing balance and fell down, right into Buer's arena.

"KAEDE!"

Despite the fall, she didn't feel as if she hit the hard floor, because Nene ended cushioning her fall, and now lied unconscious, right when Buer finished cooling down and was charging its next Blast. The scene of certain death brings her to see what many who survived close calls with death as seeing their Lifes flash in their eyes. To the young Full Body prosthetic girl, it came as a rather odd memory to recall.

"Remember, Ms. Honjou, this body of yours has been made with the best in technology available for me and my brother, and following your wish to avoid more pain, it's many features to ensure that. So… if by any chance one day you find yourself facing a threat to you or those you hold dear, and there's no other choice… all you need to do is say aloud one of these words…"

The Directed Plasma Beam is fired, with her lackluster mobility, and Nene unconscious, even Clarion, who had tried to rush some Tachikoma robots Uzal and co. had just brought, wouldn't be able to save them in time. As the beam fades and the rampaging machine again enters cooling mode…

"What the FUCK is that?"

The Bunnygirl dressed woman, one of many employees of Uzal, points to one thing, right where Kaede and Nene were.

A Black Tower shield, with red details and a rather odd ominous look and design. From behind it, the two girls who should been dead came, unharmed.

'You damned twins did it.' Uzal quietly thought to herself, zooming at that thing, clearly an ECM program had been activated the moment that thing popped to protect those young Adepters.

Minor Flashback

Seconds before the firing happened, Kaede shouted, unheard by anyone else but her due to the Noise and panic all were at the incoming disaster.

"DEVOURER!"

Suddenly, from her back, popped a cylinder, that in just 0.2 second became a Tower shield, seeing no other choice or time to do anything else, Kaede picked the shield and set it in front of her and Nene, the Blast then struck them.

End of Flashback

Risa, now glad her best friend was still alive, remembers a 'talk' she had with the man that worked on her body, commissioned by her own father after all.

"Would love to do something more if your body aside the left arm, but your friend's body has eaten all resources we could use, it will be one of our best works, just like your arm."

With those two back to safety, they came to meet the almost vaporized duo.

"You IDIOT, didn't I tell you to watch for the edge?"

Shiramine was the first to scold her own friend, followed by Uzal on Nene. The plan was now a bust, with Clarion stuck in a mechanized gap of Buer, no one else would be able to cross those laser…. Or almost no one.

"Give me the Glasses."

Risa demanded.

"You crazy? Those laser turrets will shred you!"

Breaking her usual demeanor, Delilah was clearly shaken at the suicidal idea the teenager just made to them all.

"Then all I need is someone to take care of them."

Understanding the cue, her friend backed her.

"Don't worry! I will cover you!"

Not waiting for any more rebutals from the many Adults there, Risa took off with the glasses. Running full speed, Pistol in hands. In a hurry, Kaede got to a slightly higher position, right as many tachikomas connected to Clarion, were firing salvos at the turrets peppering the daredevil of a girl.

"DEPLOY ARMAMENTS!"

Now hearing it clearly, the faces of all looking at Kaede were a thing for history books, in place of the petite and slim girl, now stood a Bulky and compact power armor suit, with the clumsy girl's head on it.

"HOW THE FUCK SHE HAD THAT WITH HER?"

SLAP

Uzal had slapped the china dress woman who asked such a question.

"Nanomachines, girl."

What followed suit was salvos of Lasers, Missiles, HMG fire and even blasts of condensed Plasma that exploded mid flight, Buer's automated defense immediately diverted turrets to perform CIWS duty against the salvos of missiles and slow-moving balls of Plasma.

"Uhhh, but how will she clim-"

Suddenly, one of the distracted turrets gets struck by something, a Grappling Hook, coming from Risa's left arm, as one laser is fired at her, at the right time, a coin ends in its path, which somehow causes its own attack to return to it. and she did it amidst a hellish scene of Lasers and bullets showering her surroundings, that miraculously never hit her.

'No, those two are just THAT in synch, even Clarion shifted her focus to not disturb them.' Nene's creative usage of the Pandora system and how adaptive she was had been one amazing surprise, and now she sees two brazen girls the same age as the first display such fine teamwork as well some of the surprises those damned Twin geniuses packed in their bodies, maybe Things wouldn't be so boring after all.

"GAH."

"Hm?"

In the comms, the girl who just dodged a bullet hell marathon and climbed a death machine by relying on fire support that would make even Marksmen hesitate to say they could do from start to finish, exclaimed.

"Your damn Statue is broken!"

"Worry not! A genius ALWAYS has backup plans!"

One dramatic finger snap, several other Statues, in various famous Greek statue poses come from the machine. Risa wastes no time and just puts the glasses in one. The machine stops, mostly, and from it, a weird looking thing comes out.

"Thank You Lady, for rescuing us from Darkness! Now to-"

"-Yeah, can you please stop this thing you control?"

"Of course! But first We request a Pant-"

Risa just throws at him a photo of a "Lady" lifting her skirt, that gets the Central Nervous Unit to do as requested. Once she picks it and the key for the machine, she leaves, tired of the weirdness that madwoman has put on her creations.

Meeting back with everyone, Kaede back to her usual form, the classic issue of Elevator weight limit strikes, Surprising her former employees, Uzal just let them all go on the only escape method available as the whole underground structure was crumbling, as thanks for having helped solve the mess, Clarion ends the payment for Nene's troubles. No soon the escape elevator reaches its destination, it opens, in one of Cenancle's biggest Parks, to a full battalion of Police aiming their Guns at them all.

Nene, Kaede and Risa all get off the mess with no issues, leaving only the bunch of cosplaying women to get some taste of Police brutality. The three split ways once again, with Nanakorobi getting driven by a cop to her Aunt Korobase's home, and the duo of adventurous girls meet Kuromo, visibly not happy with the situation.

"Ms. Honjou and Shiramine… what did I tell you two earlier?"

Of course they would be scared, no way out of one of Kuromo's Hours long sermon now. As if to delay their woes, however.

"Oh well, lucky me I did contact my pal in the force."

Vibrant red hair, a very attractive face and a smile that for the three present, elicited different reactions, Mike, suddenly appeared.

"Uncle Mike!"

Kaede hurries to hug him, while her friend just walks to him.

"Hello Kaede, Risa… and I guess you too, Mr. Kuromo, how's been your work after the JSDF?"

Scratching his head, he just points to his latest duties.

"As you see, very troubling and headache inducing."

"Oh well… worry not, I have contacted some people I trust will keep a good eye on them."

"Thank you so much."

"Uhmm… so… what about going Home?"

Risa, asks, in an oddly shy demeanor.

"About that…."

Mike looks is clearly one of not-so-great news.

"Let me Guess, our house got struck during that mess?"

Kuromu deduces what happened.

"Yeah, so, until reconstruction happens, I guess you all will have to stay on plan F."

"Plan F?"

Kaede, still hugging him, say with curiosity.

"While not ideal, the other backups are in damaged or isolated locations of Cenancle, so for now, right after such a mess, and you two going off on your little adventure, best stay somewhere both SAFE, and staffed by people I fully trust."

HE quickly gets the three to get into his car, escorted by two Armored and armed Cars, and drive to where they would call home for the foreseeable future, Kuromu contacts Ishizu and Kanade, telling them the address. It's a somewhat quick trip, even considering the mess the roads, streets and infrastructure is after so much rubble blocked many paths and chunks of it had been vaporized by the rampaging Buer's Lasers. They arrived in front of a rather large building, that surprisingly never got hit, somehow.

"Welcome, to Breakthrough Elite Technologies, BET in short, the owner and head of this whole company is my daughter, Marie, and the safest place I know currently in the Island, luckily this building also is one of her many houses around the world."

Putting safe was an understatement, just the entrance had five Remote controlled Turrets with 20mm Autocannons, and security was visibly well armed and equipped. No soon they enter, they see T-Dolls, Miltarized civilian robots that were used a lot in the service industry, all of them were the good quality models no less.

"Come on, just the DAY I have to return to work, this shit happens, crap."

"Hello, Chris."

In the reception area, trying fruitlessly to get someone on the other side of a phone call, was a woman, above average height, light brown hair, dyed no less, and a body that had both extravagant curves and yet well developed muscles, but neither was more than the other, one look around and it was understood, the T-Dolls were under her command.

"Mike! Thanks the Kaiserin for you coming, could you please-"

"-Sure I will pull some strings, hope you and your darlings don't hate using a Fulton extraction."

"Anything to leave this island and back to damn be space, need to work after all. And the Kaiserin likes Space free of possessed robots."

A small exchange of kisses on the cheeks, and she leaves with her small team while Mike gets the receptionist to contact someone in the building. A few Minutes later, a woman, just 10-15cm taller than either Kaede or Risa, arrives, she bows to Mike and gives a flawless greeting to the group coming with him.

"Glad to see you're ok, Mike. And for you esteemed guests, welcome to BET, me and my subordinates will guide you to your home for the time."

"She's Lily, Maid and trusty partner of Marie, and yes, this weird ass Armored Maid Dress is her work clothes during emergencies."

The five who would live here for some time, follow those two, to a very large Elevator able of carrying the seven, their baggage and even the armed security guard as well. Once at Floor 34 (heh), they leave and walk a bit, to another one, that brings them straight to Floor 69.

"This was intended for VIPs and temporary Guests but can also serve to house people for long-term stays as well."

A whole Floor acted as an apartment, it had all, a TV, living room, a Gym, in short, it was a deluxe penthouse not even some rich people would have depending on Region.

"Wow, this is on par with our home, right? Kaede?"

Risa, starts looking in a panic, only to see her gazing something.

"Kaede?"

"Ah, she found the 'surprise'."

Mike talks, behind those two.

"Uncle! This… this… this is…"

"Yup, I had to work quite some haggling to get some of the stuff I put in there, a vintage VR set for your favourite MMO, NWO, an Artist kit with all, including those precious Copik pens, and a digital art set as well."

Risa is quite baffled at the humongous gift made for her dear friend.

"And don't worry, I have one for you too, Risa."

"Hm?"

Before she could even react, a box just as large as Kaede's is in her view.

"Optical camouflage? Seriously."

Kuromo comments in the background.

"For you, a VR set, a lot of Games I am sure you will LOVE to master, some sets for your sports related hobbies and here."

Not in the Box, but in a large case, the moment she holds it, she feels the weight. Heavy. Opening it, she is dumbfounded at why he gave those to her.

"As for those, I know you rather never have you or your beloved ones experience what you did to end with so much of your body replaced, so there you go, custom decked for your Left arm."

Three Revolvers, two shotgun like guns, a huge ass Handheld railgun and a weird black box.

"The Revolvers are electrical guns, experimental designs that shoot microscopic flakes of metal at close to Light Speed, the Shotguns are thermal guns that charge heat and then fire that as pellets of Plasma, the railgun is obvious, a beefier, single shot revolver."

"Where the fuck you think I will carry this whole armory?"

"Why, on that box, the amazing Box of Holding. It also has a 3D printer for ammo, specialty coins and repair nanomachines."

"Coins?"

"Throw a coin, then hit it with one of the Revolvers or Railgun."

Seeing her friend have such an arsenal, Kaede feels left out, which Mike promptly solves.

"For you, Kaede, here."

A Black cube the size of her head, the moment she touches it, it begins to float around her.

"Prototype Specialty all purpose weapons platform, it will charge based on how much of a pounding you take and deliver, then you can decide when to let it release in one of many attack methods, no one can give you pain if you do to them first, or more than they can reasonably take."

Eyes sparkling, she's already on cloud 9 imagining what she would do.

"While I think it's good to have them able to defend themselves when needed… isn't it… too much?"

Kuromu worriedly asks.

"There's no such thing as too much gun."

The poor Bodyguard assigned to the two can only see painful days ahead….

Japan, Undisclosed location

The room was spacious, used for business meetings, but for now, only four people were present, two were the heads of the Honjou and Shiramine Conglomerates respectivelly, the other two were twins, and the ones who worked on building the bodies of the daughters of those big shots of Japanese Business.

"I hope you both know WHY we called you here."

Kaede's Father speaks in quite the stern manner.

"Yes, we do, it's to do with your daughters, no?"

The twin to Honjou's right answers.

"Good, then we can go straight to the question. WHAT IN HELL you both put onto their prosthetics?"

This time was Risa's father time to show his displeasure known.

"We delivered very much what you both asked us to, bodies that would ensure your daughters safety and ability to live their lives free of the dangers that made the prosthetics needed in the first place."

"And that just so means my daughter needs an ENTIRE ARMY'S ARSENAL packed in her petite body?"

Mr. Honjou asks, as if that was a rhetoric question.

"You both also did ask us that we take their wishes in consideration, and both surprisingly wanted to be able to protect others when possible. It's also exactly because their bodies are OUR personal work that we went this far as well."

"Explain."

Mr. Shiramine demands.

"You know that tying business with ARMS TRIGGER is like becoming target for you know who."

"Poseidon…"

"Exactly, and our work in special is highly coveted by every damn scientist not with our benefactor, unsurprisingly, we had to go the extra Mile on your girls. Had not been they leeching off our creations, even the Likes of Sahar Schehera wouldn't manage to make her Masterpiece, the Pandora Device."

"Right, fine, now, please get us up to date on WHAT you two put inside them."

At that, the Twins eyes shine in full synch.

"I worked on Kaede, but my personal creations are on Risa, so let me do it."

On the Tea table between both parties, a Hologram projection began.

"Her body has little in tricks, but the frame, armoring and responsiveness are all Light weight, more durable than even those used in Robots and made to have near instantaneous response times. The sole special thing on her is the left arm, it has three unique functions, first is what I call [FEEDBACKER], Most projectiles can be punched by it and the system would neutralize any impact on her, and instead use that to deliver an even more powerful strike with the enemy's own attacks."

The arm becomes the focus of the Hologram display.

"Second is [KNUCKLEBLASTER], simply put, a small thermobaric caused shockwave can be triggered by her, the device makes so none of the blast comes on her direction, can both be used to stun or disable human enemies, or forcibly build some distance against robots."
A looped animation of the described attack in work plays.

"Lastly, the [Whiplash] is merely a Grapling Hook, useful for mobility or pulling a Human weight foe to her."

The Grappling hook is shown, it's design and functionality are the focus.

"These work best for your girl, she has keen senses, the best reaction speeds we have seen so far, and her combat style fits such minimalist toolset best."

"Now, I got Risa up to task with her arm, but all those toys Little Kaede has are my babies, so let me show what she's up the sleeves."

The Hologram shifts, the whole presentation feel changes in style.

"For Starters, her time with Pixy syndrome was rather terrible, the weakened body gave her quite the Traumatophobia, so her entire body was made with emphasis on durability, hell, I doubt even ARMS TRIGGER has a weapon that could make a dent in her body, that did however impact her Mobility, and let's never tell her about her weight, alright?"

The parents wisely agree. The Hologram was showing Maple's featureless body, and many pointers making sure the term "DURABILITY" was made clear.

"Being a nigh indestructible Nokia on Legs is fine and dandy, until Poseidon decides to bring an U-Haul Robot to get her, or Criminals armed with Stun guns and Shock batons, civilian Prosthetics are not allowed full EMP protection after all, so here comes her first Item, a Tower Shield made with Memory metal alloys, Nanomachines and a ton of Mytrhil-Adamantine Alloys weaved with all the other things, Indestructible, able to eat kinetic impacts and I made sure it was also able to eat the full might of an Orbital Mega Laser beam from the US Odin Laser cannon Satellite."

The Image of the shield, somewhat simple, if not for the all-black color adorned with red details, that made it look rather ominous.

"Second is her [Deploy Armaments] mode, took some fine inventory space management, but she has as you said, an arsenal worth an entire Army group, Also her combat mode is as durable as her base body, so she can use those rockets, Grenades and Missiles to rocket jump if she so wants mobility."

The scene is a Chibified comedic loop of Kaede launching herself via rocket jumping, only to whack a Chibified criminal with a shovel, for whatever reason.

"The last ones are [Attrocity], an emergency move that deploys a Miniaturized Mecha power suit to flee or deliver massive firepower, and her [Pandemonium Mk 51], where the even more emergency use Drone schematics are used by the nanomachines to make a small swarm of mini flying devourers of all inorganic matter."

The scene is a 2d simplified reenactment of the Paris Disaster, now with Kaede as the Epicenter of the Weapon that devoured the Eiffel Tower.

"Isn't that… a bit dangerous?"

Kaede's father asks.

"If used recklessly, yes, but there're limiters installed, and if she's the creative girl she seems to be, she will find the many harmless uses it can have."

Their talks end shortly after, where both sides left, as that had been the sole Topic.