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Me: Hello everyone! Welcome to my 2nd Kusaki story and 14th overall story! For those of you who voted for "Sci-Fi" in my poll, this is the result!
Mira: What happened to the other poll choice that tied for 1st?
Me: That's the "Angst" one. I barely updated anything last year (2022), so I'm making it up by publishing so many new stories this year (2023). Everyone can expect the "Angst" story (which I promise will be Shurisu) on New Year's Eve.
Dan: That's no different than publishing it next year.
Me: December 31st is a special day for me every single year, OK? Anyway, I'm really sorry if anyone got a headache from trying to comprehend the summary... I know it's a long run-on sentence, but it was the only way I could explain the entire story in a blurb. For my loyal Shurisu supporters out there, you can rest assured that Shun will have ample screen time, but Alice will be—
Julie: FLOURISHING? CONQUEST? Where did you get THAT from?!
Me: (completely stunned for a moment) Since I partly based this on one of my favorite PC HOPA games, "Samantha Swift and the Hidden Roses of Athena", that's where "flourishing" came from. As for "conquest"—
Julie: "Replenishing the world's severely depleted natural resources"? Is this story about environmentalism?!
Me: —"conquest", that part is based on a Chinese "shounen" animation featuring a bunch of kids and their battle race cars (SORRY lost in translation) as they try to save the world from—
Julie: I'm having an awfully difficult time trying to see any connection between flowers, natural resources, sci-fi, and—
Me: OKAY STOP. Can somebody please evict Julie before I lose my mind?!
Runo & Mira: You got it! (dragging Julie by her hands while she kicks her feet)
Me: I also re-watched several episodes of New Vestroia (for "research" purposes), so you'll notice a lot of familiar references to Season 2. All my references and sources are listed on my profile.
Marucho: The author does not own any game, anime, or animATION that this story was inspired by.
Dan: Why is animATION in half uppercase?
Me: Beats me :/
Chapter 1: Two Halves Make a Whole
xXx
Inside the tunnels of a dark cave, a flashlight flickered intermittently as a brunet teenager navigated silently toward his destination. After some more walking, a voice echoed in his earpiece. "Dan, are you there yet?"
"Almost there, Marucho. What did you want me to do again once I get there?"
"I need you to use the archaeology tool kit I gave you and dig around until you find the artifact in question. The brush is the best option in preventing any damage. I sent more detailed directions to your smartwatch."
"Alright, here goes nothing." Dan's destination turned out to be a huge pile of dirt at the end of a tunnel. Using his left wrist's smartwatch, he scanned the entire area until he identified the exact place where the signal was the strongest. "Marucho, it would be great if you could stay online and make sure I don't do anything wrong!"
"Unfortunately, I have no choice..."
The brunet rolled up the sleeves of his red-white jacket and pushed aside the dirt with his hands until he reached a layer of dirt that was more difficult to destroy. Then he began using the brush and trowels to dig around. "I think I found something. Do you see what I see?"
"You need to make your flashlight brighter. Everything's the same color to me."
Dan followed orders and continued digging until he found a flat bronze disk in the shape of a semicircle. The non-circular edge was jagged but otherwise straight. Aside from some intricate designs, there were two empty holes that were each about the same size as a large coin. "I found the other shield half that you're looking for!"
"Looks about right! Now you can—" Suddenly, rumbling noises in the cave caught their attention. "Dan, what did you do now?"
"How am I supposed to know that aggressive digging would make the cave unstable?! I'm getting out of here!" With the flashlight, archaeology tool kit, and artifact in his hands, the brunet sprinted out the way he came in as dirt and rocks fell from the ceiling above. "Watch this show up on your earthquake radar by the end of today!"
"That's the last thing I'd worry about! Make sure you come back in one piece!"
By the time Dan returned to ground level, the cave entrance was completely blocked off by huge rocks. "Wow...what did I do? The ground just sank by a meter or two."
"I'm over here." In the distance was a short blond wearing red-framed glasses, black shirt, sky blue blazer, and white shorts. "Let me see the artifact that you found."
"Here you go. Are you sure this is the other half of the Shield of Code Eve that you and the other nerds talk about? It definitely looks old but also very generic."
"Let's get back on my airship so we can take this back to the field office. Kato, we're ready to go!"
"Duly noted, Master Marucho," the elderly butler replied.
While inside the airship, the blond led the way to another room where there was a circular smart table in the center and several other monitors hanging on the walls. He placed the shield half on the table and began typing commands. "The system will need to some time to analyze. Let me see if Joe's online right now."
"You know I don't understand all this technology as well as you do, so you can deal with this. The real question is...do we need to go back to the cave for any reason? It literally just collapsed after I found the artifact. At least I didn't leave anything behind."
"Not that I'm aware of..." Marucho then answered an incoming call. "Joe, you're on speaker!"
A sandy blond teen wearing an orange inner shirt with a white button shirt over appeared on one of the monitors. "I heard you guys finally found the other shield half. Anyway, I have important news that needs to be shared with the whole team in person in person!"
"Well then... I'll inform Kato to drive faster."
"And Dan, you have a lot of dusty stains on your pants. What were you doing?"
"How did you even see that? My pants are black... But I'll wait until this airship lands and deal with my clothes later." After the transmission ended, the brunet stared out a window at all the bare wilderness below. "Marucho, are you sure this looking for these random artifacts is the key to saving the earth? Everything still sounds unreal to me."
"What's unreal is the fact that all life might be dead in fifty years if we don't do anything now and that wicked Prince Hydron thinks he can conquer the whole world while everyone is at their most vulnerable. There won't be any civilization left at this point."
"I know... I guess the only thing we can do is bring this shield half back to headquarters."
"In that case, you'd better tighten your seat belt, because Kato's about to enter overdrive!"
-x-x-x-x-x-
In the sky high above was a sophisticated palace that bizarrely experienced what felt like an earthquake. Inside the palace, a blond teenager sat in a chair and sipped his tea while watching several news reports on different holographic screens. "Spectra, are you online?"
Another holographic screen emerged, featuring a tall man with long spiky blond hair, red mask, and a red leather coat. "You called, Prince Hydron?"
"Despite this Mother Palace's extremely discreet location, I still experienced a distressing earthquake high in the air. What exactly caused this?"
"Based on the intel I received, the remaining half of the Shield of Code Eve has been discovered and taken into custody already. Its last known location was an underground cave that just collapsed, which resulted in an earthquake nearby. Unfortunately, I don't have an explanation for why the Mother Palace was also affected."
"I see... If the entire shield is already in the possession of you-know-who, then it's about time that we go on the offensive."
"With all due respect, we shouldn't go on the offensive just yet. We all know that the shield is useless without the other artifacts that are scattered elsewhere. Those kids will need to travel far and wide to fully complete the shield, which means they'll be easy targets to spot once their path crosses with ours."
"That's an extremely detailed analysis, Spectra." Hydron pressed a few buttons on his chair's armrest console, which pulled up several more screens that each featured other people. "I need all of you in the Mother Palace within the next thirty minutes for an important meeting. Don't be late."
"Yes, Your Highness," replied everyone before individually signing off.
Hydron continued sipping his tea and walked toward the windows. "This so called 'Resistance' can do whatever they want to save the earth, but I'll sneak in toward the end to claim all the credit for myself..."
-x-x-x-x-x-
Kato landed the airship on a landing pad just outside a three-story office building. "Master Marucho, I suggest you and Master Dan enter the field office first. I must investigate the cause of this illuminating engine light."
"This is the first time I've ever encountered the engine light turning on for an airship. Dan, I need to help Kato with repairs. Just bring everything inside and look for Joe."
"Whatever you say..."
The brunet deboarded the airship and swiped his smartwatch on the building door's scanner to let himself inside. The entrance he chose led to a wide hallway that had announcements on the walls about newly enacted public policies. So many new updates since the last time I was here. More resource rationing, utilizing time-of-use for electricity consumption, implementing public safety power shutoffs...what a mess. But nothing is scarier than the 'one-child policy' used for population control. Most of my friends and I are already the one and only kids in the family.
A couple meters down the hallway was another bulletin with announcements featuring staff updates. Even though solar and wind power are important sources of renewable energy, they're still not enough to combat climate change. Reading all these announcements is making me hungry.
Just as Dan was about to walk toward the dining hall, he bumped into a bluenette girl wearing a white blouse, blue waistcoat, red tie, and khaki shorts. "Dan, watch where you're going!"
"Runo?! It's been a while! What are you doing here? I thought your parents needed your help at home with the food distribution programs."
"My parents have everything figured out, which is why I'm working here now." The bluenette pressed a few buttons on her smartwatch and showed her friend a hologram projection of random data. "I just finished fine tuning my intelligence gear and can go out for field work anytime soon!"
"Wait... The only 'field work' that this field office is actively working on is Marucho's project... Are we working on the same assignment then?!"
"Yeah, so?"
The brunet was about to interject when the bespectacled coincidentally appeared. Next to him was an older girl with copper-orange hair, sapphire-blue eyes, and a white-blue track jacket over a blue office dress. "You two sure reunited as quickly as Marucho and I did."
"Mira, you work here too?! I thought you worked from home in Alpha City."
"To answer your question—yes and no. Long story short, the Department of Environmental Security's Alpha City field office closed down thanks to Hydron, so Marucho helped me move everyone and everything to this current field office out in the middle of nowhere."
"I'm sure you all remember that our 'eviction' from the Wardington field office is the reason why we established a new field office here in Bayview," reminded Marucho. "We might be safe in the wilderness outside of city borders where Hydron is unlikely to waste his time on, but we shouldn't let our guard down."
"As Marucho mentioned, we're all on the same side with the same mission to save the planet from losing all its natural resources. I just happened to be in the building today when he asked me for help. It seems like his airship's engine light will be a tough problem to fix, so I decided to lend him my trailer. Anyway, we should go to the conference room immediately. Joe can't wait any longer."
Once the quartet reached their destination, the sandy blond lab analyst started the meeting. "Thank you all for attending this important meeting hosted by your one and only Joe Brown. Most of you already know by now what this Shield of Code Eve is all about. Thanks to my mom and archaeology team's undying efforts, we finally found both halves and can recreate the original artifact."
"What exactly does this artifact have to do with saving our planet again?" Dan asked.
"This ancient shield is believed to have the answers we need to restore earth back to normal, even though the process isn't immediate. On this complete shield are six empty circles—one in the center, and five spaced equidistantly along the edges. In addition to retrieving this shield, we also need to recover six other relics to place into the slots."
"Will we be able to find all six in time before the planet falls apart?" Runo questioned. "Conserving enough resources for ourselves is one thing, but what about Prince Hydron? He's literally taking everything from everyone and doing every evil thing he can to make a profit. If he finds out about this, then we're in big trouble."
"I knew you'd say that since your parents are active employees in the food bank program." Joe projected six different data windows on six different monitors. "Legends says that the ancients bestowed six virtues onto earth in the form of roses—the Red Rose of Art, Orange Rose of Skill, Gold Rose of Industry, Green Rose of Wisdom, Blue Rose of Conquest, and Purple Rose of Justice. Once the roses are united on the shield, the bearer would possess god-like powers to control the natural environment. Fearful that such power would fall into the wrong hands, a high priestess ordered the roses to be dispersed into various locations according to a vision she foresaw. Scanning this artifact is taking longer than I expected."
"I know you guys got the first shield half from the local museum staff, who then gave us the directions to find the second half, but how and where do we find these six relics?" the brunet asked.
"Just a few more seconds..." Joe then pulled up a map once the smart table started beeping. "This is unusual. The Shield of Code Eve wants us to find the Orange Rose of Skill first. Here are the approximate coordinates, but I'm not getting any information about the other five relics yet."
"Can't you rescan the shield again? Maybe it'll give you more information if you bother it frequently enough."
"I can rescan later, but I suggest you work with what we have now. If I'm not mistaken, the location for the orange rose is a few meters east of the cave that you and Marucho just visited."
"Seriously?! That cave collapsed immediately after I found the second shield half. I'm not going back in there, especially since Marucho refused to come with me."
"Hey! I had to make sure that we weren't being followed or anything."
Runo gave Dan a huge pat on his back. "Don't forget that I'm cleared for field work too. Marucho is most helpful when he's surrounded by computers. You and I will be just fine going into another cave. Marucho, I can come with you this time, right?"
"Of course! The more, the merrier. However, I should inform all of you that my airship is experiencing some issues, so Kato needs to take it to the hangar for repairs. Mira has kindly offered us her trailer. As much as I would prefer to travel by air instead of land, there will now be the four of us traveling to each designated location to find the relics."
"Not only that, but I also know a shortcut to the location of the orange rose as indicated by the shield," the sapphire-eyed teenager added. "I anticipate Dan and Runo doing most of the field work while Marucho and I work at computer stations. Joe, will you be all right staying here in this field office? I made sure that security is extremely tight here, but we already know that Hydron put a target on our backs ever since I formed our resistance faction within the Department of Environmental Security."
"Girl, we'll be fine! Joe and I know what to do. Just make sure your trailer also has equally strong defenses and to always stay in contract."
Dan raised his hand. "I have another concern. Since we need to find six relics, this might take us weeks to finish. Based on all the news coverage about Hydron in the news, he moves quickly too."
"I'd focus on finding one relic at a time as safely as possible," Joe suggested. "The other DES field offices are always available to help, but they might not be as sophisticated as this main DES office because of the target on their backs. You'll know you're at a field office once you get there."
"Fine, but I have another concern. Do I have to work with Runo?"
"What's that supposed to mean, Dan?!"
Marucho snapped his fingers to get everyone's attention. "I was just about to explain this in further detail. To combat Hydron's unreasonable forces against us, Mira and I partnered to design intelligence gear for certain field agents during field work and assessed the compatibility of several people in this building. Unfortunately, Joe wasn't even able to register. Mira and I were successful, but each of our sync rates barely passed 50%. Dan's sync rate is 91%, while Runo's is 93%. That's why I think the four of us should be going out to recover all six relics to activate the Shield of Code Eve."
"How does Runo have a higher gear sync rate than me when I've been here longer than she has?"
"Now's not the time to argue about this. We shouldn'tforget why we're in the first place. Not only are we fighting against climate change and loss of natural resources, but we're also fighting against Hydron's hostile takeover and monetization of remaining resources. There's no way we're letting him win."
Everyone else sighed and nodded in agreement.
"Is there anything else that still needs to be discussed in person before we head out tomorrow?"
"That's it for now," Joe concluded. "We'll always be in touch as long as your systems are online."
"Let's restock supplies for the trailer now before we leave at sunrise," Mira suggested.
After everyone left the conference room and went their separate ways, the sandy blond analyst received a call while walking with his lab partner. "Marucho, did you forget something?"
"Not really. I just didn't want to say this in front of everyone. Are you able to monitor Dan and Runo's gear sync rate at all times as long as you're on a computer?"
"Absolutely! I can even check them on my smartwatch, but that just takes a bit longer because the menu is more complicated. Are you still worried about what we were talking about earlier?"
"I'm always open to suggestions for improvement. Anyway, I just received a copy of the Shield of Code Eve report on my smartwatch. Are you able to send a copy via satellite transmission?"
"I could try, but why satellite? Don't we only use that in case of extreme emergency when there's no signal? Who do you need me to send another copy to?"
"You don't need to send anything right now. I'll get back to you later." The bespectacled blond hung up and later saw Dan and Runo exiting the building with abundant supplies. "Cheers to our first mission together!"
Shortly after, Mira exited the storage room with a trolley in her hands. "Marucho, are you sure this is a good idea to have Dan and Runo together with us? You know Dan will always take the offensive and tell Runo to step back."
"I know he means well and wants to protect her, but I have no choice. Even though the intelligence gear that we designed is only minimally useful right now, I still want to use it to its full potential." As the pair carried more supplies outside, he then asked, "How have you been since I last saw you? It's quite a surprise that we get to do field work together."
"As much as I would love to be in front of a computer all day, I could use the fresh air and exercise."
"Any side projects?"
"Oh, I have plenty, but nothing as complex like yours." The sapphire-eyed agent took a seat in one of the driver stations. "Let's go back to old excavation site that Dan claims to have completely collapsed already."
List of everyone's clothes: (the reason why I'm listing this will be revealed later)
Dan: Season 3's casual outfit
Marucho: Season 4.1's casual outfit
Runo: Season 4.2's casual outfit
Mira: Season 4.2's casual outfit
Joe: Season 1's casual outfit
"Vexos": Self-explanatory
-x-
Runo: Good news! The "Julie" that was bothering you earlier was an imposter that somehow infiltrated the studio.
Mira: She's in our custody awaiting interrogation. I will submit the after-action report to you by the end of the day.
Me: Sounds like a plan! Not going to lie, that was a very annoying imposter. Even worse than when Zenet impersonated Julie. Let's hope the real Julie shows up in the next chapter—
Dan: EXCUSE ME! I thought you said that Shun will have "ample screen time". He didn't even show up today!
Me: Because I sent him to pick up my drink order! Don't you guys want a treat after a job well done?
Dan: Don't change the subject—
Everyone else: WOOHOO! BUBBLE TEA!
Dan: And you also never finished explaining where Alice—
Marucho: May I request to add macarons?
Me: Of course! I'm sure Shun wouldn't mind doing another pickup. As I was saying, the next chapter will feature more explanations as to what's happening to this sad planet and a brief demonstration of Dan and Runo's intelligence gears (but no Shun yet... sorry). Leave a review on the way out!
Dan: I DEMAND TO KNOW WHERE SHUN IS!
Runo: The last thing I need is for DAN to also be an imposter...
𝄞 VIVIZ - 'Untie' 𝄞