FanFic: Dark Angel's Tower

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

Over the time that I have played PSO, I've developed something of a fondness for my best newman hunter, Tenshi Fo-ru. So now, I'm going to try my hand at taking it up to the next level, so to speak... Any feedback is welcome.

----------Prologue - Enter Tenshi----------

It was dark. Very dark. And it was cold. And it was practically raining bullets. And there was a long mission to endure in this weather.

No problem.

Tenshi ignored the liquid ice that was hailing down on her, soaking her skin and chilling her entire body to the core. Pain was nothing. Not even these painful conditions could slow her down. No, her entire body and mind was focused on the goal ahead of her. She stepped onto the steel-mesh bridge, her black boots clanking with each step. She stopped halfway across the bridge. Security lasers barred her path from all no-risk angles. Risks? Everything is a risk when you are a hunter, Tenshi thought to herself. So why stop it here? I've been taking a risk since I was born...
As her mag, Varaha, hovered behind her, she considered how to cross the bridge without setting the alarms off. She scanned the long, steel bridge, from her position all the way to the entrance of the Control Tower. The whole way was dotted with laser beams, and probably traps that triggered when they went off. Here and there across the bridge were stacks of steel crates, which probably contained nothing of interest. At first, Tenshi thought she could leap across from box to box, but she judged the distance to be too far for her, despite her considerable athletic prowess. She considered her next option: the steel railing that ran across the brige. It was about 2 inches wide, which would make for slow crossing if she was to be careful. After that, she considered simply destroying the laser devices, but decided against it. It would be best not to alert the tower to her presence. Of her three options, the railing was looking to be the best. Tenshi hopped up onto the steel beam, landing with near-perfect balance on the two-inch rail. She quickly balanced herself for a sprint across the bridge railing. Tenshi instantly broke into a run, dashing across the railing with perfect speed and balance. It took her all of about eight seconds to reach the other side of the security deathtrap.
Objective #1 complete, Tenshi muttered to herself.
She strode the rest of the way across the bridge, her black/red shirt now probably five times as heavy as it was before she started. That was just fine with her. She was about halfway to the door when she froze in her steps. She had spotted a slight distortion in the air, like a wavering of some sort. This meant only one thing.
Sinow Berills.
Tenshi had dealt with these machines before, and knew how immensely irritating they could be. She quietly activated her short-distance weapon transporter, and decided her suppressed Photon handgun would work fine. The Sinow made its move, and leapt across the distance between them, fists clenched for a double-hammerfist strike. Tenshi rolled to the left and jumped up, landing feet first on the back of the machine's neck. She lowered her gun, leveling it at the Sinow machine's head.
"Now die."
She pulled the trigger.
The Photon bullet shot out of the gun without a sound, punching through the steel plating in the back of the Berill's head, shattering memory and combat systems, incinerating the software and hardware that allowed the robot to function. Easy enough.
Suddenly, something hard and metallic slammed into the back of Tenshi's spine. She immediately shot downward from the force, denting the steel bridge, and breaking several of her bones. Her Suppressed Gun clattered to the floor, out of her reach. She staggered up onto her feet, and checked the status of her body. Nothing vital broken or disabled. All that mattered was that her arms and legs were operating.
All that mattered was that she could fight.
She once again accessed her Weapon Transporter, and called her Red Partisan to her hands. It had been hers as long as she could remember, and it had some strange carving on it that simply said 'h.' She had always wondered what it meant, but now was not the time. Tenshi spun the partisan like a staff, and held it sideways behind her, ready for a counterattack.
And she got one.
The Berill sprang through the air, attempting the same double-hammerfist attack as the last one, and got a similar result. Just as it jumped, Tenshi braced the partisan in the steel mesh of the bridge, and angled it towards the leaping machine. At the last second, she dove forward underneath it. The plan worked, and the Sinow Berill landed chest first on a 9-foot Photon-tipped spike. The machine fell forward on it, its body sliding down the shaft of the weapon, all the way down to the floor. Tenshi reclaimed her weapons, and prepared for her next leg of the mission.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-04-24 00:00 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:41 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:42 ]</font>

[White_Knight]

intresting but mark the diffrence between story and ohter with hiphens
----(like so)
or underlines
____(like so)

just to keep it looking neat

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 1 - Making an Entrance----------

Retrieving her Red Partisan from the Sinow's body, as well as her Suppressed Gun from the floor, Tenshi started off towards the door to the tower. She tried the door, but it was locked, just as she suspected. Typical.

How unoriginal, Tenshi thought to herself. It always seems like the first door is locked, but the rest are not... It should be the other way around, by not only standard security measures, but simply out of common sense. Even a fool would normally lock all of his doors. Whoever made this must have been very overconfident...

Tenshi took a quick look around for any consoles or switches that may unlock the door. After perhaps 30 seconds of searching, she spotted a computer console grafted to the side of the left railing, near the wall of the tower. She accessed the security security system, and found, much to her surprise, that someone had already logged in, and had foolishly forgotten to log out before they left.

They were either arrogant or rushed, Tenshi thought.

No matter. She quickly accessed the security systems and disabled the lock on the entrance door. She considered disabling the security lasers, but thought better of it. It was best if she kept her presence as unknown as possible. It was already bad enough that her skirmish with the Sinow Berills had made noise.

Tenshi went back to the main menu, making sure to keep the status of the console the same as she had found it. She strode over to the door, which opened automatically. Immediately after stepping through, Tenshi felt the familiar sensation of a short-range teleportation device transporting her somewhere else. She had never gotten over the peculiar feeling of dematerialization, and always felt edgy when using a teleporter. Even more surprising was her lack of decision in the activation of this warp. Most warp beacons are activated when the built-in brainwave analyzers detect the willingness of the user, but it did not seem to be so in this case.

Tenshi's body reappeared inside a spiral-like room, with a walkway snaking along the eastern side of the tower. At least, she thought it was east. She wasn't sure of her facing now.

Her first thought was of where she was in the tower. Looking up, Tenshi saw many floors of the same spiral shape stretching out above her like a stairway to the heavens. There didn't appear to be staircases connecting the floors, so she found it safe to assume they were connected via warp.

It was the second thought that counted, though.

No less than 15 feet in front of her were four more Berill model Sinow security robots.

More of them? Tenshi thought. It's just my lucky day for bot-killing, isn't it?

She drew her Suppressed Gun quickly, and aimed it at the middle-left Sinow's head. She pulled the trigger, sending a superheated Photon bullet flying accross the room.

Too late.

All four Sinows had disappeared.

Of course, Tenshi thought to herself. These damned Sinows and their immensely irritating instant teleportation.

Tenshi quickly guessed at their formation before they reappeared. Probably the usual four-corners formation, with her in the center. She drew her partisan and waited.

"Which means one will be appearing right..." Tenshi let her sentence trail off for a moment. She heard the indescribible sound of a Berill appearing from teleportation...

"HERE!"

Tenshi thrusted her Photon partisan forward, impaling a Sinow just as it appeared in front of her. One down, three more to go.

The Sinow on the opposite corner leapt at her with a bone-crushing slam. Tenshi spun her weapon behind her head as she turned around, slicing off the robot's arms at the elbow point. The hunk of metal phased out, being useless for the time being.

"Well, what are you two waiting for? Let's just see what you can do..."

As if on cue, the two other Berills stepped forward, slightly more cautious than their bretheren's lunging attacks. As one, they punched outward against Tenshi.
But they were too slow.

Tenshi backflipped a few feet away, landing in a kneeling position, ready to fight again. It was then that she realized both the effectiveness of her decision and the fact that she did not have to fight the robots again.

As she looked up, Tenshi saw that the Sinow Berills, unable to stop themselves, had decked each other across the head, smashing in their robotic faces and causing them to collapse to the ground, completely disabled beyond repair. Just for good measure, Tenshi blasted a few holes in their backsides with her Suppressed Gun to make sure they didn't get up again.

Scanning the area once more, Tenshi found no other threats, so she relaxed a bit. She had made it in, at least. Her body was still sore from the slam that she took outside, but that was nothing compared to what she's endured before.

Tenshi looked up at the floors above her. If I had to guess, I'd say there's at least 9 floors here, probably 10 or 11. So many more floors of fighting... How fun.

With that thought still in mind, Tenshi strode across the heap of metal that used to be security robots towards the door.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:42 ]</font>

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

My apolagies for the delay in posting. I've been...busy...lately, and haven't had time to post. Sorry again for the delay, and I hope you enjoy the story.

----------Chapter 2 - Friend or Foe?----------

Fourth floor clear, Tenshi told herself. Only about five more to go...
Tenshi took the short-range teleporter across the gap in the middle of the room, and strode to the door. The automatic door opened when she stepped a few feet in front of it, and she stepped in. Tenshi was instantly teleported up a level. It was beginning to feel familiar, the sensation of teleporting. She didn't have as many worries about malfunctions any more.

The second she appeared on the fifth floor, she heard the sounds of a battle already in progress. She ducked behind a stack of crates and took a look. A grey-clad male hunter, along with a tall, deep blue android, were fighting off some Recon drones.
They may not be friends, Tenshi thought. Better wait and see.
The human was making quick, repeated thrusts with his Photon saber, and the android was swinging around a gigantic Photon blade that looked like it could cut a building down in one fell swoop. The human showed some skill, but the android was forced to recklessness with that unwieldy weapon. Tenshi figured that if they turned hostile, she could probably take them both. She noted the red Photon glow of both their weapons. They had high-quality Hunter equipment, only for experts. Clearly they were sent here for a reason. But why? And how did they infiltrate the tower without her noticing? Now was no time for questions. The two Hunters were wrapping up their battle against the Recon droids, and the Recoboxes that produced them.

Keeping out of sight of both eye and ear to the Hunters, Tenshi jumped between two stacks of metal crates. She peeked out from her cover to see the two Hunters looking right at her.

"Hello Miss Fo-ru." The human said. "I trust you are wondering why we are here?"
"...Yeah..." Tenshi said quietly. "I'm also wondering how you two got in here without my noticing..."
"First, to answer your second question. We got in here before you did." The human looked rather smug.
The console... It was already logged on... Tenshi thought. It started to make sense.
"Now to answer your first question. We were sent here to help you clear out the monsters inhabiting this tower."
"Before I was even assigned the task?" Tenshi was a bit confused, but tried not to show her puzzlement.
"Yes, before. Actually, in a way, you were sent to support us in the extermination. The Chief was apparently doubting in our ability, and sent you here as something of an afterthought." Once again, the human looked rather smug, almost as though he were trying to convince Tenshi he was lying.
"So that's why the monsters weren't dead..." Tenshi let the sentence trail off with a hint of sarcasm.
The human Hunter frowned. "That... I'm a little ashamed to admit this... They were a bit too strong for us... So I-92 here forced the door open and we kept going up."
There was a name. The android was apparently I-92, as he nodded after the human had finished talking.
"So then... The android apparently has a name. Do you?" Tenshi inquired.
"Haha... Yes, I suppose I do. Where are my manners? I am Kutola Shirinaki, and I believe you are Tenshi Fo-ru?"
"You know me?" Tenshi was puzzled at the stranger's knowledge once more.
"By reputation only. The unknown citizen found in the mines of Ragol, no past, no memory save your name, no records of boarding Pioneer 2, and no explanation as to how you accessed the mines in the first place. Intriguing."
Tenshi said nothing, but looked down at the floor.
"Shall we?" Kutola said politely.
Tenshi remained silent, but drew her Suppressed Gun. She aimed upward, right at Shirinaki's head.
"What are you doing?!"
Tenshi pulled the trigger with an intentional slowness, giving Kutola the time to duck out of the way. The searing Photon bullet sailed out from the gun, passing the same spot that Kutola's head had just been.

And striking a Recon square between its robotic eyes.

The hovering sentry crashed to the floor, a small pipe-bomb spilling out of its mouth.

"That...was unexpected. I thought we killed all the little bastards..." Kutola got to his feet. "...Thanks."
Tenshi once again said nothing, but strode over to the door leading to the next floor. Shirinaki and his robot companion didn't follow.

Unknown to Tenshi, a malicious grimace spreaded across her new acquaintance's face, and he raised his saber as he approached her from behind...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-04-21 17:42 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:43 ]</font>

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 3 - Underestimated----------

Tenshi heard not only Shirinaki creeping up behind her, but also the low buzz of a half-powered Photon saber coming up behind her.

This guy must think I'm an ameteur...

Tenshi casually stepped forward, so as to not alert Shirinaki of her knowing what he was doing. She strode through the steel door and teleported to the fifth floor.

Just as Kutola's saber came down right where she was standing just seconds before.
"Dammit!" Kutola yelled. "I missed my chance! This could be more difficult than I thought..."

Up one level, Tenshi cleared out the few Del Lilies and Mericarol's in the room, then ducked into the door next to the teleporter from whence she came. It was pure black. Perfect cover. She heard Shirinaki's voice calling innocently.
"Tenshi? You shouldn't get too far ahead! Try and leave some for us, too!"
What did he take her for? Some kind of idiot that didn't know what deception was?
"Tenshi! Come on!"
"I think, Mister Shirinaki..."
Kutola felt the chill of a cold steel blade touch his neck.
"...that you have some explaining to do." Tenshi let her voice drip with the dislike she had for this man who had tried to deceive her like she was a fool.
Despite the position he was in, Kutola felt relatively calm.
"Japanese-style short blades. Interesting... You have an eye for Dousetsu models, I see."
"Get to the point." Tenshi said in a steely voice. "Why did you try that pathetic attempt at killing me? Start talking or I start cutting. And don't think that I won't."
"Very well, very well..."
Dammit 92, where ARE you? You were supposed to be here by now if this happened... Kutola thought.
"Talk!" Tenshi shouted. She pressed her blades ever closer to the man's neck.
"Gch... Al...Alright... We were sent here because-"
Tenshi didn't hear any more than that before she collapsed into unconsciousness. The last thing she saw was a blue-colored android coming into visibility from cloaking, and a laughing male Hunter...




When she awoke, Tenshi felt tired. Incredibly tired. Almost unnaturally tired. She felt like she was trying to stand after getting hit head-on by a hovertrain.
"Welcome to your graveyard, Tenshi Fo-ru." Said a familiar, sneering voice.
The first thing Tenshi noticed, other than the fact that she was not in her mission field, was that Angel, her Varaha-type Mag, was gone. The next thing she noticed was that her arms and legs were bound, and she was resting on a metal table of some kind. What did this guy want from her? Information? She didn't know anything.
"Tell me again...why you tried to kill me..." Tenshi gasped. It was hard to speak. Her neck was bound to the table as well.
"That, little girl, is not for you to know. And I'm not going to fall for that 'I'm going to die anyway so just tell me' routine. Even if, by some miracle, you manage to escape here, you'll do it without knowing who wanted you dead and why."
"I swear...once I break out of these things, I'm going to tear off your limbs, one by one..." Tenshi growled.
Kutola sighed. "I never expected empty threats like that from the great Tenshi Fo-ru. But perhaps maybe you do mean it? Of course you do."
"Yes...I do."
"Sad thing is, Tenshi, you won't live to carry those threats out." Shirinaki hurried over to a computer console on the opposite side of the room. He punched a few buttons, and a clear, plastic syringe emerged from the top of the console.
There is no way he's sticking ME with that thing... Tenshi told herself. I AM going to break free...
Kutola produced a vial of some kind of liquid from his pocket. Tenshi guessed it was truth serum or something to that effect.
"I hope you realize, Shirinaki, that if that needle pierces my skin, my blade is going to pierce your skull..."
"Really?" Kutola brandished the syringe. "We will see, won't we?"
"If you live long enough, maybe..." Tenshi threatened. "But I'd like to point out that you seriously underestimated me here."
"Did I really? I must have missed the part where you beat me down in between the time we met and the time you got here." Kutola snickered mockingly.
"Ha... Watch this. Watch very closely. Right above you. See that 3x3 section of ceiling?"
Tenshi's eyes glowed red. She felt her spiritual energy channeling into a Rafoie explosion technique.
There was a flash of light before the explosion, like the calm before the raging storm. Heat energy gathered, focused on the spot on the ceiling.

Then came the explosion.

Tenshi felt a flash of heat as the ceiling area turned into her manifestation of firey death. She closed her eyes to shield them from the glare, and heard the syringe clatter to the floor. Shockwaves of heat scattered in every direction.

And then it was over.

There was a hole roughly 8 feet in diameter in the ceiling, and about that much rubble and debris on the floor. Virtually every surface was covered in black soot.
"I advise taking some cold medicine if you manage to get out of here, Mister Shirinaki... Watch me again. It's going to get very cold around me..."
Kutola scrambled to his feet. I DID underestimate her... He thought to himself.
Tenshi's eyes flashed once more, a light blue hue this time. Once again her spirit energy concentrated into a single spot, but in a different way.
She was using her energy in a Rabarta ice shockwave technique. Her spirit energy scattered the warm air around her body, until only freezing cold air particles remained, clustered together near her center of gravity.

Then they scattered.

An explosion of frozen air swept across everything in the room, freezing most objects solid and dusting all the black soot and ash from the room. Tenshi felt her temperature control unit working hard to even out her body temperature to a survivable level. Kutola was once again knocked off his feet, falling flat onto the ground.
Much more, the technique had accomplished what Tenshi had hoped. Her bonds were frozen solid, and brittle as ice. She snapped her arms out of confinement, and was soon standing over Shirinaki. Tenshi pulled out her two Dousetsu wakizashi blades, Dark and Light, from the secret sheaths in each of her boots.
"How...why..." Kutola was dumbfounded. How could this...this woman have bested him? It wasn't supposed to turn out like this.
And yet, it still did.
"I told you... You underestimated me..." If voice could be given a color, only black could describe Tenshi's. It was so out of self, so not her. It was almost a complete opposite of her usual calm, emotionless tone. Her voice now was made of pure loathing for this fool. And now he would pay.
"Start begging, and I might just listen... And you can start by telling me why you attempted this...performance, I would call it."
She's...She's mocking me! Kutola thought. Nobody mocks me!
Kutola lashed out at Tenshi's leg in a sweeping kick. Without even looking, Tenshi threw one of her blades down, stabbing right through the man's leg and pinning it to the floor. He roared in pain and reached to take the blade out, but Tenshi stepped down on the blade's hilt with her boot.
"Start talking." Tenshi said.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:46 ]</font>

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 4 - Reasons and Memories----------

"All right, now tell me why the Guild sent you, and you may walk out of here with your remaining limbs."
Tenshi was not enjoying this. This man was stalling, most likely waiting for his partner to return from wherever he came. Thus far, he had revealed that he was sent by none other than Chief Nastasha of the Hunter's Guild on Pioneer 2. Why, she didn't yet know.
"T-they sent me to capture you." Kutola said nervously.
"Obviously." Tenshi said coldly. "Hence your trying to...well...capture me. It might have succeeded if you hadn't underestimated the magical prowess of a Newman. But since you did, here we are. Now why did they want me captured?"
"They said you knew something... I don't know what. They also said you were guilty of...some crime, or something. I don't know any more, I swear!" Shirinaki's voice was trembling. This was good. He was nearing the truth.
"Okay, that's good. Now then, what crime did they say I was guilty of?" Tenshi stuck her Suppressed Gun ever closer to the man's face. She had used her Japanese blades to pin his legs down, so she had to keep him under guard with something else. Even if unable to move his legs, if he made a break for his weapon translocator and got his saber, there might be trouble.
"I-I don't know!"
"Maybe I should cut off your right arm and ask it then." Tenshi grabbed her Red Partisan that was slung across her back.
"Okay, okay! I can't remember any of the details, but they said it had to do with the death of some high-ranking Hunter. I don't know who, I swear."
It was amazing how quickly his memory returned under pressure.

Five minutes later...

"Okay, let me get this straight. The Hunter's Guild, more specifically, the Chief, thinks I'm responsible for the death of the Principal's daughter? That's a laugh."
"That's what they said. They told me to come and bring you back to Pioneer 2 so they could put you under heavy guard until your trial."
"So, basically, this mission was a setup."
"I...I guess you could put it that way. To tell the truth, I didn't think you'd be that tough..."
"One more question. Where's your little android friend?" Tenshi was starting to worry about an ambush of some kind.
"He's...out...somewhere."
"Yes, I knew that. Hold on a second." Tenshi drew her Red Partisan. She quickly spun around, slashing the air behind her in a wide downward arc.
Tenshi smelled it before she saw it. It was the smell of heated oil and grease, and burnt-out circuitry. Then came the sound of a cloaking device deactivating. After a little over a few seconds, there was a dark blue, roughly 6-foot tall android lying in a broken heap on the floor.
"That answers my question." Tenshi said coolly. "Now where were we... Ah, yes. You were going to review with me why the Hunter's Guild wanted me arrested."
"I told you, they think you killed Rico!"
"...In a manner of speaking... I did..." Tenshi stared at the floor.
"So you're saying you're guilty?" Kutola asked, puzzled.
"No. I'm saying I did, in a way, kill her. But it wasn't actually her. Falz had spiritually killed her and possessed her body."
"Falz? What's a Falz?"
"It's a millenial worst nightmare." Tenshi began to recall her trip to the ruins beneath Ragol...

-----------------------------------
"It's like the walls are alive here..." Tenshi said to herself. "Whatever this place is, one thing is certain. Pioneer 2 needs to land somewhere else."
She strode down the corridor. It was long and narrow, probably 50 feet in length. The ancient mechanical door at the end opened at her presence. In the next room, Tenshi saw a holorecorder at the base of some kind of crystal. The crystal appeared to have some inscriptions on it, which she couldn't read. Tenshi knelt down and activated the recorder. It was a message from Red Ring Rico, the so-called 'greatest Hunter' that the military had seen in a long time. The message detailed the awakening of some dark, horrific power, and warned against Pioneer 2 landing here.
"I was right... Either Pioneer 2 needs to find another planet, or... I need to stop this thing." Tenshi realized the second option was her only viable one. She doubted that even she could make it all the way back up to the surface with the supplies she had.
Tenshi pressed on, finding herself in a large room with a door at each side. Multiple waves of powerful Dark, or 'D-cell' enemies, as the Lab liked to call them, attacked her at every turn. It was a complete bloodfest as Tenshi soon became so absorbed in the battle that she nearly forgot who she was, almost losing herself to becoming nothing more than a destruction machine. She grabbed a hold of herself and pressed on, finding a large, red teleporter. Tenshi stepped on it, and activated it. She held her breath as she dematerialized...

...and reappeared in the most vast, most beautiful meadow she had ever seen.
It was indescribable. It was just so...perfect. There was one inconsistancy. There was an enormous, probably 30 foot tall obelisk jutting out of the middle of the grove. Tenshi kept her guard up as she investigated. When she approached the obelisk, the place changed dramatically. It turned from a peaceful, beautiful meadow that looked like it was ripped straight from a dream...
...into a horrifying, skull-covered plateau that looked like it was ripped straight from a nightmare.
What came next was what shocked Tenshi the most. Appearing, as if from thin air, was the biggest, most terrifying creature she could have imagined. It must have been at least twice as tall as the obelisk that it replaced. Both of its arms looked like those of the centaur-like Chaos Bringers she had fought on her way here. It didn't have any legs. Where the legs should have been, there were three hideous tentacle-like appendages, each ending in a huge, dragon-like maw.
"This... Is...Dark Falz?" Tenshi said with horror.
-----------------------------------

Tenshi was lost in thought at the moment.
"Hey, you done daydreaming?"
His tone was sarcastic, despite Tenshi's complete control over his life at the time. Tenshi stood up (she had instinctively sat down upon recollecting what had happened).
"You haven't told me about this Falz thing yet."
"Believe me, you don't want to know."
"If I ask, that usually means I want to know."
Tenshi's partisan flew to the man's neck.
"When I say you don't want to know, and your life is in my hands, then you don't want to know."
"All right, all right... Are you going to let me go or what?"
Tenshi withdrew her blades from Kutola's legs.
"Get lost. Give me your weapons first."
"What are you going to do? You can't go back, you know. They'll detain you on the spot if you try to get back to Pioneer 2."
"That's my problem, isn't it? Now, where is the East Tower where you knocked me out?"
"About a mile due east of this building. Why?"
"Remember what I said about you not wanting to know? It's that time again."
Tenshi exited the underground room via the hole she had earlier made in the ceiling, and broke off towards the East Tower with renewed reason to clear it of its inhabitants.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:49 ]</font>

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 5 - Tenshi's Light----------

"I'm tellin' you, Tenshi, you should open up a bit. Lighten up, give the world a chance to get to know you."
The man was young, with neck-length blond hair and sporting a white Hunter outfit. It was a complete contrast to Tenshi's black garb.
"...There's nothing to know."
"You sure? You seem to be okay with opening up to me."
"Yes, but... You... You're different. We're the same, you and I. We were raised on the battlefield. That's why I can speak freely around you... You and I are alike in many ways."
"So you're saying that there's nobody else in the Hunter's Guild like us? That can't be true."
Tenshi smiled. It was so unusual, compared to her normal, emotionless look. She actually looked happy, rather than indifferent or the like.
"No... I'm saying that you, Guy, are the first."
The man smiled back. "I'm glad to be the first then."
"...Guy?"
"Yes?"
"...I'm glad to have met you."
"Likewise."
Tenshi smiled again. Guy smiled back. They both embraced each other at the same time, wishing the moment would never end.
--------------------------------

"...Guy...why did you have to go? Why'd you have to leave? I...I'm alone now..." Tenshi was looking somber as she sat against a tall palm tree on a mesa overlooking the Seaside. A wasp-like Gee fluttered up into the air around her, and it was about to pay most dearly for disturbing her lamentation.
Without even looking, Tenshi raised her Suppressed Gun, aiming up to her left, and pulled the trigger. There was a low 'thump' noise as the insect creature dropped like a fly to the ground.
"I haven't smiled...ever since that day, two years ago... I haven't laughed, I haven't cried... So much has changed without you here..." Tenshi stood up. She shook off her downcast attitude and started up towards the East Tower again.

I'm still living because of you, Guy. You're the only light that keeps me on my path in all this darkness. I'm going to keep on living... For you.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:50 ]</font>

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 6 - Remembering the Mines----------

Tenshi kept trying to keep her mind on her task, but it kept wandering off somewhere else. She just couldn't focus for some reason. It was strange. Maybe it was because her mind was just focused a few minutes ago on the disappearance of her only friend. Maybe it was because she couldn't return to her only home. Whatever it was, it was terribly distracting. She kept on her path towards the tower, eventually letting her mind drift off...

----------------------------------------------------

Half the lights in the room were out.
"Visibility is going to be an issue here, Tenshi, but I think we can manage."
"...Yeah...I can work with this."
The team drew their favored weapons: Guy, a blazing red Stag Cutlery twin saber; Tenshi, the true Agito katana made by Dousetsu.
"You always did dislike Photon tech, didn't you Tenshi?"
"Ha... You could say such. I can tolerate it, but I prefer material weapons. No time for chat, Guy... Here they come."
On the opposite end of the room, multiple circles of light descended to the floor. It was a short-range teleporter, sending defense robots from a nearby factory section of the mine.
"Let's see... Half a dozen Gils, and a squad of Canadines led by a red one. And... Looks like a few Beats on the sidelines. Easy enough?" Guy's tone was sarcastic as always, but he wasn't kidding about the enemies. It was an unusual concentration of forces. Neither of them had seen this many in one spot before. Thankfully, it was a big room, so they had plenty of space to do their work.
"Easy. Ready?" Tenshi smiled a little.
"Go."
They both charged into the fray. Tenshi leapt across the room towards a Sinow Beat, at the same time it jumped at her. Both combatants slashed out at each other in midair. They landed a second later. There was a pause, and then the Sinow came apart in two halves, self-destructing as it hit the floor. One down, sixteen more to go. Not too bad.
Across the room, guy was nearly surrounded by Gilchics. They flailed their arms at him like zombies, knocking him to the floor.
"I've...had...enough!"
Guy stood up and flew into a hurricane of saber attacks, slicing through the low-class robots with extreme ease.
"Ow...Guess that's what I get for being careless again. Doing okay over there, Tenshi?"
"Just fine."
Tenshi removed her sword from a Gilchic's interior, backstepping quickly before it destructed. She estimated about thirteen enemies remaining, potentially more if reinforcements arrived. The circle of Canadines hovered above them, still not acting yet, still hovering in their vertical patrol state. The red Canane made several beeping noises, and all eight Canadines shifted into their attack mode, aligned horizontally, with their three electric prongs extended outward. Laser targeters crossed the floor, half centered on Guy and half on Tenshi. Their attack was too predictable. The lasers vanished, and Tenshi dashed forward, slicing through another Gilchic as she went. Guy sabered through the two Gilchics in front of him and jumped past them. No later than they moved, four lightning-esque electric bolts rained down on where they would have been. Instead, they struck two Gilchics, shorting out their control systems and shutting them down. They would reactivate soon, but it gave Tenshi and Guy the relief they needed for the moment.
The remaining Sinow Beat leapt five yards backward, dodging Guy's double-slash, and clasped its hands together. Immediately following that, the ninja-like machine cast seven different 'shade forms' of itself. Of course, only one of the eight Sinows were real, but finding out which one was the real one was the trouble.
Guy stormed into the center of the Sinow Beat and its mirror images. He held his twin saber out sideways, and sidled into a defensive crouch. As one, all eight Sinows leapt at him, extending their arm-mounted Photon blades for a jump slash. Guy rolled sideways, just out of their reach, and saw the real Sinow slice through all of his copies. Guy saw his chance there. He rolled forward and extended his blade, melting through the blue armor plating of the robot sentry. It fell down, hitting the ground face first, and detonated.
At the same time, Tenshi dodged eight tracking lasers, and the bolts that followed them. She jumped up and landed on top of the front Canadine, using it as an extra step to get to her real target: the Canane that controlled them. She leapt up off the Canadine, nearly reaching the ceiling, and brought her sword straight down, bisecting the robot leader right down the center of its body. Instantly, a sound like an emergency siren echoed out from each of the eight Canadines, and they started spiraling toward her, their metal bodies rapidly flashing red.
Tenshi blazed across the room, grabbed Guy's hand, and yanked him out of the way of the kamikazeing sentries. They converged on the spot where Guy was standing, and, their timers running out, detonated as one. It was a hail of heat and shrapnel as Guy and Tenshi shielded themselves from the rain of steel.
"Whew. That was some warm-up, huh?"
"'Warm-up'? You nearly got yourself killed, you...!"
"Oh? I just got careless again, that's all. And don't talk to me like that. What's that mark on your arm, huh? Got a little too close to a Sinow's blade, eh Tenshi?"
"That was-"
"-an accident? Come on, I've seen you dodge in midair before. You just wanted a scar to talk about, didn't you?"
"T-that's not it!"
Guy laughed. Tenshi laughed too.
"Even when you could die at any time, you still can't be serious, can you?"
"Nope."
They both stopped.
"Did you hear that, Guy?"
"What, that sound that always seems to come when enemies teleport in?"
"Yeah, that sound."
"No."
"You're sure?"
"'Course. If I did, I would point out the four Gilchichs hovering over there in standby mode."
"...You really can't be serious, can you?"
"Nope."
"Alright, since you are childishly refusing to take this seriously, I'll make you a bet."
"Shoot."
"I'll bet you that I can dismantle all four of those 'Chichs in under nine seconds."
"Deal. Wager?"
"Let's see... How about 3000 Meseta?"
"Fine by me."
"Start counting, Guy."
She dashed over to the line of Gilchichs, drawing her katana once more.
"One..."
The machines rose up from their bent-over position, just as Tenshi slashed through one of them, cleanly severing the machine's head from its metal shoulders.
"Two..."
The closest Gilchich lashed out in a double punch, pummeling the female warrior to the ground.
"Three..."
The two 'bots on the outside leveled their arms at the fallen fighter and charged their arm-mounted lasers.
"Four..."
Tenshi rolled backwards from her lying position, narrowly dodging two laser shots.
"Five..."
Tenshi dashed forward, cutting through the torso of the Gilchich that punched her down.
"Six..."
She stood between the two remaining Gilchichs, watching them recharge their lasers.
"Seven...
The two defense robots fired their laser cannons.
"Eight..."
Tenshi jumped up and grabbed a pipe hanging from the ceiling. The two lasers struck the opposite Gilchich square in their roughly triangular chests, sending them to the floor.
"Ni-"
Guy's word was cut short as he saw the two robots self destruct.
"I win." Tenshi said playfully, dropping from the ceiling.
"Well, as it stands, I don't have 3000 Meseta on me, so I'll give it to you when we get back."
"Guy."
"Yes?"
"It's that sound again."
"Enemies?"
"Yes."
"What's that other noise?"
"That's the doors locking."
"Alright, let's take a count."
"I'm spotting four Red Sinows, two Blues, two Golds, and another squad of flyers."
"Uh, Tenshi?"
"Hm?"
"Should my hands be shaking?"
"I could ask the same question."
All eight Sinows dropped down from the ceiling. Guy and Tenshi could only watch in fear as their doom marched towards them.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-04-27 21:57 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-04-28 22:46 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:51 ]</font>

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 7 - Tenshi's Dark Side----------

One thing was for sure: the fight was going to hurt. Not just the machines, but Tenshi and Guy as well. Despite both their strength and their agility, there were simply too many bots attacking, and not enough space to dodge all of them.
"Guy... Remind me why we came this way again..." Tenshi said as a Sinow Red knocked her to the floor.
"Well... We just did, I guess..." Guy suffered a similar fate, and landed right next to Tenshi on the steel floor. He fended off a few Sinow Blues by waving his Stag Cutlery about. Tenshi had her sword out in a defensive position.
"Tenshi... This could be the end, you know..." Guy sounded serious for once.
"I... I won't let it be the end..." Tenshi felt a surge of power coming from somewhere within her body. "We aren't dying! Not here, not now!"
Tenshi kicked up back onto her feet and held her sword out in one hand, pointing at a nearby red Sinow.
"Ten...shi?" Guy looked and sounded a little worried. This was a side of Tenshi nobody had ever seen.
Not even Tenshi herself.
There was a dramatic moment of silence and stillness, as Tenshi held the Agito outward.
"You die first." she breathed.
It was over in under a second. The Sinow was able to take a half a step forward before it happened. Tenshi bolted across the distance between them, almost instantaneously, and slashed five times before taking a step back and performing a dashing cut through the robotic sentry's torso.
Tenshi stared straight ahead as the Sinow's arms, legs, and head fell from its body and exploded. She didn't even feel the heat from the blast as she turned on her next targets: the squadron of Canadines in the opposite end of the room. She practically flew across the room and impaled the first Canadine that came into reach on her blade. Some high-pitched sounds issued from the red Canane, and the remaining seven Canadines shifted into attack position, readying their tracking lasers.
Unfortunately, they never got the chance to fire.
Tenshi rocketed upward, almost to the ceiling, and stabbed downward straight through the red flyer robot. Another sound came from the seven Canadines as they spiraled toward Tenshi, ready to self-detonate to destroy her.
Tenshi ducked a double-swing from a nearby Sinow Blue and backflipped over it. She was rewarded with three of the Canadines detonating in the machine's chest, sending pieces of it all across the room. Tenshi checked on Guy. He was trying to fight off a Sinow Red and the remaining Blue simultaneously, and not faring well. With the four Canadines still trailing her, Tenshi shot forward and plunged her sword into a Gold Sinow's head. Dodging the double-punch of the other gold-clad sentinel, Tenshi baited the other four Canadines into smashing into another Sinow Red as it leapt across the room at her. Instead of landing on her as it hoped, it landed on four self-destructing flying robots and was blasted to bits.
At the same time, Guy was having serious trouble. The Sinow Red was baiting him into focusing on it, while the Blue kept attacking from his flank. The result was his repeated introduction with the steel floor below him.
That was it. He couldn't stand up again. The two robotic adversaries stood on opposite sides of him.
Tenshi...I'm sorry... he thought. Guy closed his eyes and waited for the end.
But it never came.
He heard the sound of steel piercing through steel, and then explosions. Then came the sound of bits of shrapnel hitting the steel floor.
Is the afterlife always this noisy? Guy thought.
Then there was silence. He opened his eyes to see a beautiful face kneeling over him. Her eyes were deep red, and her hair was dark as obsidian. She wore a black sleeveless shirt, with red laces tying it together across the middle. The girl reached out and touched his face, and he winced in pain as she touched a wound.
She looks...familiar... Tenshi?
"Guy..." said a soothing voice. "Are you awake yet?"
"Uh...ugh... You...I know you..." Guy struggled for words, but no sound came out.
"Yes. You've been unconscious for nearly an hour now. Can you stand?"
Guy tried standing, but the best he could manage was a sitting position.
"Okay, that's a start. Try not to stress yourself too much, alright?"
"All...alright..."
The girl sat down next to him. Her presence was comforting, somehow.
"...Tenshi."
"Even better. You can still remember me after that blow you took... You're doing better than I thought, Guy."
"Ugh...I feel like I was run over by a train...and then backed up over, and then run over again..."
"I'm not surprised. The beating you suffered was immense. I'm surprised you even lived. Here, let's get you up against a wall."
Tenshi put Guy's arm around her shoulder and sat down with him next to a wall.
"...Tenshi?"
"Yes?"
"Uh... Thanks."
"None necessary... I'm just glad you're alive, Guy."
"I'm glad we're both alive..."
Tenshi wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head on his shoulder.
"...Thank you...for surviving..."
They both looked into each other's eyes. Tenshi leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
"...You're the last person I'd have expected that from..."
"Guy...don't speak...just stay here..."
"...Tenshi..."

The two sat there, each's gaze locked into the other's, wishing the moment would last forever.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:54 ]</font>

[Kyrous]

Awesome Story, keep it up as I wish to know how it ends http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

- Kyrous

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 8 - Matador With Garanzes----------

They sat there for what seemed an eternity before Guy could stand again. The doors were unlocked, and they thought it prudent to exit the room before another wave of guards came.
Guy leaned a little on Tenshi's shoulder as they walked through the auto-open door on the south side of the room. Neither of them had said anything since they rested an hour ago. They had both just sat, and Tenshi fell asleep resting on Guy's shoulder after a few moments. Had another wave of reinforcements come, they both would have undoubtedly perished. Luckily, no such events occurred.
As they slowly pressed on into the next room, a single pillar of light arose from the floor in the center of the room. Out of that light came a gigantic machine that was nearly tall enough to reach the ceiling. It looked startlingly similar to a tank, with guns mounted in every conceivable position. It was almost absurd, the number of gun emplacements on it.
"A Garanz..." Guy muttered.
"...I'll take this. Go back a bit and sit down." Tenshi's voice was back to its usual monotone sound, nearly devoid of emotion.
Guy stepped back and slumped against the steel wall of the connecting room adjacent to the one they were in. He kept close to the door so he could see Tenshi. What he saw was a little surprising. Tenshi did a very curious thing. She relaxed. She had no weapon drawn, and just stood there casually, as if a meeting with death was as normal as rain.
If this action puzzled any logic circuits the Garanz possessed, it didn't show. It lurched forward a meter or so, opened up its shoulder-mounted missle launchers, and fired a barrage of 6 guided missles. The death-dealing projectiles floated lazily through the air, gliding towards the female newman that was their target.
Unfortunately, things don't always strike their intended target.
Tenshi stopped relaxing. This was what she had waited for. A nice, sizable barrage of explosive warheads coming for her. She lunged forward into a roll and dived in between the Garanz's stubby leg section, ending the roll facing towards the back of her opponent. She nearly laughed as the heat-seekers tried to follow her under, but ended up melting away six inches of steel plating on the mammoth robot.
The machine was far from disabled, however, and in losing its leg armor, it gained new missle launcher arrays. It rotated around and fired another burst of rockets, 10 of them this time. Tenshi backstepped a bit, then leapt through the air, soaring over the top of the gargantuan machine's head area. Once again, the missles made the mistake of returning to their creator, and blasted off the top half of the Garanz's green-colored steel plating, revealing a bright orange armored tank-like beast of a robot.
Now for the easy part.
Tenshi pulled out a pair of short Photon daggers from her side holsters. She twirled them in her fingers for a moment, then launched them in quick succession at the defenseless machine. The twin blades melted down into their hilts into the sofer iron shell of the Garanz's interior. The enormous assault robot collapsed forward onto its 'knees' and burst into an explosion. Tenshi strode over to where Guy was resting.
"We can proceed now." She said calmly.
Tenshi forced Guy's arm around her shoulder to support him, and they staggered over to the door on the opposite end of the room. The door opened automatically, to reveal a small room with a large, circular teleporter taking up two thirds of the space. It was a mass-transporter.
"We better wait here, Guy. You still aren't fully recovered yet." Tenshi sounded genuinely worried.
"...Alright..."
They sat down again against the wall opposite the door, and soon Tenshi was fast asleep, resting her head on her only friend's shoulder.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:56 ]</font>

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 9 - Vol Opt----------

She heard a soft voice speaking to her. It seemed...distant, somehow. Yet, somewhere, she recognized it.
"Tenshi. Wake up."
She opened her eyes to see a young man, probably in his twenties, kneeling over her. He was tall, with azure eyes and blond hair. His Hunter uniform was white, which made him look completely out of place around her, with her black outfit. It was then that Tenshi remembered his name.
"...Guy...?" Tenshi blinked a few times.
"You look tired." Guy said playfully.
"How...how long have I been sleeping?" Her tone had a hint of worry mixed into it.
"Hmm... I'd say maybe six hours."
"I've been sleeping for six hours... I'm sorry. That could have gotten both of us killed."
"Hey, I'm fully recovered now. Care to pick up where we left off?"
Tenshi examined the room. There was a large, circular teleport pad taking up about three quarters of the tiny room. It was probably about 7 feet in diameter, probably meant for group transportation. Soft waves of crimson light slowly floated out of the pad, drifting up to the top of it. Tenshi regained control of herself.
"Let's go." She sounded serious now.
The two of them stepped into the teleporter, letting it slip them away through space to their destination.

What seemed like mere seconds later, they appeared in a large, round room lined with large and small monitors. There were about eight large ones, with three smaller ones below each of the larger counterparts. There was a pointed device sticking out of the ceiling, with glowing yellow power cords running down to its tip. The core of it was visible, and glowed a sky blue hue.
Without warning, a picture appeared on the northern side of the octagonal room. The monitor on it turned red, rather than its normal bluish-green color. What was on the screen was hard to describe. It looked like some kind of virus, or a bacterial cell, or some other single-celled organism. Vertically, it took up the entire screen, but it wasn't very wide. The image turned sideways and looked at the two fighters with its insect-like eyes.
"What in the hell is that?" Guy sounded a bit confused.
"I believe that is our opponent. If I had to guess, I'd say its a computer virus, and its probably the reason the mines are out of control." Tenshi still sounded calm. She always seemed calm when she was in danger, and tense when she wasn't.
Tenshi drew her Red Partisan. Guy fired up his Stag Cutlery.

And the fight began.

The image on the screen turned to the right, and started bobbing towards the edge of the screen, bouncing up and down, up and down, in a clockwise direction. It vanished of the north screen, which immediately switched back to its greenish tint. A mere second later, it appeared on the northeast screen, bouncing clockwise around the room through the monitors.
It moves through the screens... Maybe the screens are the key to damaging it. Either that or an anti-virus of some kind, and we don't have anything close to that on hand. Tenshi thought.
"Guy." She said coolly. "Attack the monitors when its passing through them."
Guy gave a quick nod and rushed to the screen on the north-eastern side of the room. He spun his twin saber into a double-slash, two cuts upward and two downward. The Photon blade sizzled through the smaller monitor he struck at, shattering the screen and turning the machinery from red to black. The virus image on the large screen jostled up and down, stopped in its tracks for a moment. It looked like the attack on the screens was affecting it after all.
No anti-virus needed.
Tenshi, seeing the result of Guy's attack, lunged forward and slashed in a downward arc across the two small screens, completely obliterating the systems beyond repair. The screens bursted, spraying shards of glass towards her like buckshot.
With the small screens destroyed, the larger monitor blasted apart, its link with the needed smaller counterparts severed. The virus image vanished, but soon reappeared, bobbing across the eastern screen. It stopped at the center of the screen and turned, facing outward. It looked as though it was looking at the contraption hanging from the center of the room.
Before Tenshi or Guy could launch another attack, the virus imaged vanished again, this time in a flash of light. There was the sound of metal moving up from the ground, and soon, three robotic pillars shot up from the floor from small holes in the floor, one in front of each monitor set. One pillar on the north, northeast, and south walls. All three of them had a fixed light on their stomach area. Two were blue, but the other one glowed red. Their robotic 'eyes' shimmered, and a column of plated spines stood outward on their backsides.
Hmm... Two blue, one red. The virus probably slipped into one of the towers, which means it would probably look different. Tenshi looked at the tower that glowed red and smiled.
"Guy, cut down that red one."
"They're ALL red!"
"The one that's glowing red."
"Uh...oh." Guy nodded sheepishly and made a run for the red tower on the south wall.
Tenshi leapt high into the air, partisan angled downward for an impaling blow...
...and got slammed square in the back by a bolt of electric pain.
She fell to the ground with a light 'thud', and rolled over. The shock burned out the nerves in her arms. She wouldn't be able to fight for a little while, and she abhorred the thought entirely. She figured it best to stay down for now, but at least warn Guy of the virus' shocking blast.
"Guy! Watch out for the bolts!" Tenshi shouted over the sound of Guy's blade searing through metal plating.
"Right, got it." The explosion that ensued from the pillar behind him put the period on the end of his sentence for him.
The remaining pillars retracted into the floor. Soon after, four pillars arose, one in the north, northeast, south, and southwest sections of the room. Guy quickly scanned the room for the red one, and the plated spines on the backs of the pillars rose outward...
He spotted it on the southeast side, a small distance away from where Tenshi lay disabled. He dashed over towards the tower, and heard the sound of the device on the ceiling gathering power...
...right as he thrusted his twin saber through the red tower, and then slashed upward from that position. Guy used the momentum from his blow to turn around into a forward roll, just as the machine detonated.
Apparently, the viral program had enough of that tactic, and returned to the eastern screen, paused for a moment, then turned sideways and started off towards the next screen.
Since Guy was too far away to do anything, he just stepped over to the southeast screen, and waited. The computer bug appeared from the left side of the monitor. Guy strafed the smaller monitors with his saber, bisecting all three small screens horizontally. The large screen exploded in defeat, but Guy managed to catch a glimspe of the virus shaking in what must have been digitized pain.
As predictably as ever, the virus appeared on the south screen, and turned towards Guy when it reached the center. Guy managed to take out two of the smaller monitors before the image disappeared into one of the towers that lay in wait beneath the ground. Guy took a quick glance at Tenshi, who still lay disabled nearby.
"You alright there, Tenshi?"
She shot him a glare. "Just peachy. Both my arms are only disabled due to a massive shock that struck me in the back, but I'm not bitter."
"Ah... When it rains, it pours."
"Shut it, Guy. I swear, once I can move my arms, I'll-"
"Gotta go. Towers to blow up."
Guy sprinted off to the north wall where the red-light tower had just emerged from the ground. He twirled his Stag Cutlery above his head and sliced downward, cutting through the pillar-bot from where its shoulder would be to where its leg would've begun, were it humanoid. Electricity pulsed outward from it, trying to find a way to its severed circuitry. The machine burst apart, and its siblings retracted into the floor. The next wave of six pillars arose from the floor in various locations. Guy spotted the telltale red glow coming from the one on the opposite side of the room. He'd never make it. The spine-plates jutted from their backs, transmitting energy to the discharge machine on the ceiling.
Time seemed to slow for a moment. Guy was running as fast as possible across the room. The lightning mechanism on the ceiling was charging. Tenshi was still lying on the floor. Guy lunged forward in a last-ditch effort to attack the robotic pillar, but in vain. He fell perhaps a foot short of reaching the pillar, landing face first on the steel floor. As if to rub salt in the wound, the capacitor on the ceiling discharged its store of electrical energy, sending a bolt of electricity straight into Guy's back.
The pain was immense, all-consuming. Guy could barely feel his arms and legs, his entire body. He and Tenshi looked up at each other from the ground. Without even speaking, they slowly stretched their arms out, grabbed each other's hands, and waited for the end to come.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:40 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-03 21:57 ]</font>

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 10 - Viral Outbreak----------

They say that when one is only seconds from death, one's life flashes before one's eyes.

If this were true, then Tenshi and Guy were not, in fact, going to die.

Tenshi held onto Guy's hand with her own. It seemed like an eternity, and the virus that had taken over the mines had yet to eliminate either of them, despite its complete control over both of their lives at the time. Her eyes were closed, and she was waiting for her life to come to an end. For some reason, that end never came.

One of the metal pillars she had come to loathe over the past five minutes rose in front of her. She could barely look up, but from what she could tell, it wasn't transmitting energy to the capacitor on the ceiling. It was glowing red, which meant that the computer bug was inside of it somewhere. Time seemed to stand still, until a long, metal cord projected out of the pillar's top. It was about five feet long, and tipped with a painful-looking needle.
Suddenly, the floor beneath Tenshi's body rose upward, putting her eye to eye with her mechanical foe. What was it doing though? Delivering a deathblow of some kind? Whatever it was, she had a feeling she was about to experience it firsthand.

The cord coming from the tower snaked to life, as if pulled by strings, like a puppet. It inched ever closer to Tenshi's face, soon only mere centimeters from her eyes. A look of defiance crossed her face, but she still couldn't move.

What happened next came very quickly. The needle-tipped cable shot forward. But, a mere second before that, Tenshi's control of her body returned. She wasn't able to dodge it completely, but she jerked her head to the side, causing the needle to fly past and puncture her shoulder instead. The pain was enough to knock most normal humans or newmans out cold. Even Tenshi had trouble dealing with it. It felt like someone had dropped her entire body in frozen water. It felt strange. The pain was only in her shoulder, but the feeling spread across her entire body like a disease.
The pain passed very quickly, but was soon replaced by another, stranger feeling. It was indescribable. It felt like some other consciousness had entered her body, some other personality, a completely different person. She soon found that she couldn't control her body. She could barely even see out of her own eyes. It was like she was watching everything happen on a TV screen.

For a few seconds, she was puzzled. But the feeling of puzzlement was soon replaced by horror. She saw from a distance (despite seeing it through her own eyes) that the pillar in front of her changed back to its blue glow and retracted into the floor. And yet, none of the monitors turned red. Why?

None of them are red... No pillars... And who or what is this other... thing inside me? Tenshi thought to herself.

Or so she thought.

Tenshi felt like she was being watched, like her thoughts were being monitored. But by who? The realization came to her in a second.

Somehow, some way, the virus in control of the mines had gotten into her body.

Tenshi felt herself stand up. But she didn't do it. It was as if someone had hijacked control of her body. 'She' picked up her Red Partisan off the floor, and looked down at Guy, who was still lying on the floor, paralyzed.
Whoever you are in here, don't you DARE touch him. Tenshi thought angrily.
The virus in her body continued its actions, and made her raise her weapon above her head, ready to kill her only friend.

Guy could only watch.

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 11 - He Really Can't Be Serious----------

Tenshi just had a taste of the worst fear in her life.

She was helpless.

She was battling a foe that couldn't be fought, an enemy that couldn't be touched. Somehow, a virus that had infected an entire computer network had found a way to spread into humans. Tenshi was suddenly overwhelmed with worry. If this thing could spread, then where would it end? It could take over the entire planet, maybe even Pioneer 2. She couldn't let that happen.

But what could be done? She was a prisoner in her own body. The best thing she could do was watch.

Tenshi watched herself look around the room, completely unable to control herself. Finally, 'her' eyes centered on Guy, who was still lying on the floor. She raised her partisan above her head. Guy winced, as though he had already been stabbed by it.
What is she doing...? Guy thought.

Tenshi would've closed her eyes, but she couldn't. Her body thrust her weapon downward, stabbing into Guy's chest area. He roared in pain, but still couldn't move. After what seemed forever, he stopped moving.

No... Tenshi told herself. No, he isn't dead. He...can't be. Guy... You can't be dead...
Tenshi suddenly felt a surge of rage through her body. A puzzled feeling crossed her mind, but it wasn't her feeling. It belonged to something else. It was confused. It was wondering what was happening to its host.

Apparently, it had never seen someone like Tenshi get angry.

You... You did this... In my body... Tenshi thought at this unknown organism in her mind. I won't let you do this to anyone else. You're going to leave here. The only place you're going is out of my body.
Tenshi felt a flood of control come back to her body. The first thing she wanted to do was yell. So she did.
"GET OUT OF MY BODY!!!" She screamed it, like a speaker turned past the maximum volume. It was nearly deafening. She snatched up the cord that the virus had entered through, and jabbed it into her arm. She could feel her body repulsing the damnable thing back into its digital cage, where it belonged. When at last the last traces of it were gone, she yanked the cable out of her skin and sliced it apart. The computerized image of the virus appeared on the screen again, staring at her with beady, insect-like eyes. It bobbed up and down in place.
"Apparently you've never met someone like me, so I'll give you a brief lowdown of what happens when I'm pissed. Usually, people stare, and my enemies die. That simple. Now that that's out of the way, you can proceed to die like the rest of my enemies do."
The virus seemed to understand, and started bobbing away. Tenshi blazed over and cut it off at the next monitor set. The millisecond it appeared, she hacked apart the screens, nearly too fast to be seen as more than a blur. She tore apart the room, cutting down the next set of consoles, and the next, until none were left in one piece.
The room shook violently. Explosions were coming from all around. Tenshi stood calmly in the center of the room, waiting for another attack. None ever came.
Satisfied that her opponent was soundly defeated, Tenshi knelt down next to Guy. She picked him up and cradled his head in her arms. For a time, she simply sat there, completely silent.
"Guy... I know you can hear me... I know you're not dead... Not that easily... You can't be...right?"
A drop of crystal water fell from her eyes, then another. It was then that Tenshi realized she was crying. She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.
"Guy... You're supposed to get up, you're supposed to say you're just kidding around... You can't really be dead..."

It was at that same time that Guy smiled.

Tenshi thought she was hallucinating. He was dead. Wasn't he? He had been electrocuted, then stabbed. Tenshi would've figured he was dead from that.

"You missed my heart, Tenshi."
"Guy! You're-"
"Alive? Yeah."
Tenshi slapped him across the face.
"Ow! That hurt!"
Tenshi threw her arms around him. She felt like she wanted to strangle him for dying and hug him for being alive.
"You...really can't be serious, can you?"
Guy smiled.

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 12 - Coming to Terms With Reality----------

Tenshi awoke with a start. It was nighttime, and visibility was reduced to about five feet. She was sitting up against a palm tree overlooking the Seaside area of Gal da Val island.

"I must have dozed off on my way to the tower..." Tenshi said to herself.
She tried to remember what she had dreamed about, but she could only come up with one word: Guy. It was the name of the only person that she ever cared about, and the only person that had ever cared about her.
"...All I can remember about him is that I lost him... Probably near where I was found in the mines of Ragol... I'll check there once I'm done here. But...It has been two years since I was found. If he was unable to leave, he would almost certainly be dead... I just hope that isn't the case."
Tenshi started off east. She figured she had walked about a half mile already, so she estimated about twenty minutes until arrival.

About twenty minutes later...

Tenshi approached the bridge leading to the East Tower. The security beams were clearly visible in the night.
"If Kutola returned to Pioneer 2 and told them that I might be headed for the tower, there could be trouble. Going through the front door wouldn't be the wisest idea." Tenshi thought out loud.
She dipped her fingers in the water that surrounded the tower. It was cold, but not freezing. She could get over there with little more than wet clothing in perhaps two minutes. Tenshi decided the lake was her best option.
Just then, an enormous spotlight flashed down towards the front of the bridge, coming from the roof of the tower.
"So they are here." Tenshi said. "More fun than simple denizens of Ragol, I suppose."

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 13 - Breaking and Entering----------

Tenshi ducked behind a tree as the spotlight shone towards her. She peered out from her hiding spot. She needed a diversion, something to occupy the spotlight so it wouldn't alert her presence to anyone. She considered shooting it out, but that would do more harm than good. She could take her chances doing nothing about the spotlight, but that would be even worse. Whatever she wanted to do, she needed to do it quick, before sunrise. Tenshi figured she had at least eight hours before the sun came up. Plenty of time.

Tenshi drew her Suppressed Gun quietly, so as not to make any noise, in case there were patrols in the area. As it turns out, there were such patrols. No less than a minute after she had drawn her weapon, Tenshi spotted a three-person patrol unit heading past the bridge. It was then she found a new possibility: take out the patrol to distract the tower guards. She knew in less than a second that that was her best option. Tenshi aimed her handgun, leading a little ahead of the slow-moving patrol leader. There was a Hunter, accompanied by two Rangers. They were armed with basic equipment: low-level Brand-class Photon sabers and Autoguns. Relatively low-quality equipment. Their armor also looked to be below average in quality. Tenshi leveled the barrel of her gun on a Ranger's torso area. She didn't intend to kill him.

Yet.

Tenshi pulled the trigger. A Photon bullet soared through the night, striking the Ranger square in the back as he turned onto the bridge. He hit the steel bridge face first, and didn't get up. The other two humans looked around in confusion, trying to find the location of what shot their comrade. Tenshi was already behind cover when the spotlight hit her area. She waited for a few moments, then deemed it safe to return to her firing position.

Next target.

She aimed at the other Ranger. The Hunter was probably more dangerous, but if he noticed her, chances are he would fall before he could reach her position. Tenshi steadied her hand, making sure that there was no chance her shot could miss. She squeezed the trigger. A burst of Photon energy shot forward and struck the Ranger in the center of his back, knocking him to the floor of the bridge ahead of his comrade. The remaining sentry swerved around immediately, but Tenshi already ducked behind her cover once more. She heard the distinct sound of a Photon saber blazing to life, and then footsteps coming her way. The sound changed from the loud clank of metal to the soft, padded thud of footsteps on earth. The sounds came nearer and nearer to her position. Tenshi was almost certain that she would be discovered.

And yet, the tiny chance that something won't happen always comes in.

Tenshi could hear him, even see him from her position. The human glanced around quickly. Tenshi almost laughed at his lack of attention. When scanning an area for threats, one doesn't simply look around a few times. One would normally take their time to pay attention to the environment. And yet, here was this fellow apparently indifferent about the details of his surroundings. And it would undoubtedly cost him. What the price would be was undetermined. Whatever it was, it was to be determined by Tenshi.

Tenshi put her gun away. A shot from her Suppressed Gun at this range would undoubtedly kill the man, and that was not her intention. It was risky, but she had to fight him without a weapon. Before she could act, the man pulled out a communication device, and started to speak into it.

"Target confirmed to be in the area. Reinforcements requested. Two men down on the front patrol. Send your best out here. There's no telling what this woman is capable of. If she was able to best one of our more exceptional Hunters, then getting past a patrol wouldn't pose a problem for her. I think I'm clo-"
The man's sentence was cut off as Tenshi slammed his neck in a reverse elbow. He fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Tenshi picked up the communicator.
"Hate to say, but I need that tower. Now do yourselves a favor and clear out while you still have legs to run with. I can assure you that you may not escape with them if you don't leave."
Tenshi heard a male voice respond in the speaker.
"Tenshi Fo-ru, you are under arrest by the order of Chief Nastasha and Principal Tyrell. You will come to Pioneer 2 and await your trial and potential execution. Failure to comply will result in your immediate termination."
"I'd like to see you try. Tell the chief that if she wants me, she can come get me herself. I have no intention to kill any of the people in the tower, but if you resist, I will have no choice." Tenshi was back to her usual calm voice.
"I can tell that you have no intention to kill anyone, Miss Fo-ru, but we have our orders. You are to be detained and returned to Pioneer 2. Otherwise, you will be forced to endure repeated attacks from the Hunter's Guild forces."
"And what makes you think I have a problem with that?" Tenshi let a touch of anger seep into her sentence. She threw the device to the ground and crushed it under her heel like an insect. She cursed herself inside for being so reckless. It would have been easier to not respond and do what she did. Now, she had let her arrogance get the better of her, and as a result had complicated her infiltration of the tower tenfold. Tenshi shook off her thoughts. What was done was done, and she could do nothing to change that. She stole over to a concealed position near the bridge, making sure to first grab the downed Hunter's saber. Slowly but surely, she crept over near the shore of the lake that encased the tower. Tenshi looked around to make sure nobody was within earshot, and then hurled the saber into the lake. There was a loud splash, followed by the fizzle of electricity as the saber's Photon generator shorted out. She waited a few seconds for the burst of electricity to pass through the water, and then approached the shore. She carefully glanced around once more, making sure nobody could see her. She saw some Hunters rushing to the wounded patrol units. They were too occupied to notice the newman woman put her weapons in her waterproof weapon translocator and slip underneath the surface of the dark water of the lake.

Tenshi rose slightly above the surface, made sure nobody could see her, and took another breath before sinking down again. She swam quietly beneath the lake and approached the border of the tower. Tenshi once again scanned the area for hostiles, and, satisfied that none were nearby, pulled herself out of the water onto the cold metal of the tower base. To an observer, she probably would have appeared as a water-drenched angel. To herself, she was nothing special. She had noticed, however, that her beauty attracted many stares from men on Pioneer 2. Usually, though, they got no response from any attempt at conversation. Once again, she forced herself away from outside thoughts. She had a mission, and although she was doing it of her own accord, it was still a mission that needed completing.

Tenshi activated her weapon transporter and drew her Lavis Cannon. It was another weapon that she had possessed since she could remember. It was also rumored to be the ultimate among saber weapons. The purple, narrow, triangular blade lanced forward like a spike of energy. Tenshi raised it up and plunged it into the wall of the tower. The powerful Photons melted through the metal of the wall, however slowly they did. Tenshi traced a jagged circle in the wall, large enough for her to step through. She pushed the circle of wall inward, and it fell forward against a stack of crates. Tenshi peeked inside. No apparent targets, no cameras, no laser traps. She stepped into the tower.

Phase One done, I suppose, Tenshi told herself.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-16 01:02 ]</font>

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 14 - Seizing Control----------

Tenshi crept behind a stack of crates and peered out from behind her cover. It was strange. She had made it to the fourth floor without seeing a single person. Period. No guards, no personnel, no nothing. Maybe they had heeded Tenshi's threat and left. Or perhaps they were concentrating their forces elsewhere, rather than spread them out to watch everywhere. Whatever the reason, Tenshi was feeling uneasy. It had all the trimmings of a trap waiting to be sprung.

Tenshi walked cautiously across the room, saber drawn and held in front of her. She did a 360 scan of the room, and still saw no targets. There was nothing but blood stains from creatures she had killed hours ago. Tenshi nearly bumped into the wall when she saw that she had reached the opposite end of the room. She stepped into the teleporter.

When she arrived, she found no less than three Rangers pointing very large weapons at her face. Tenshi's eyes were a mere two inches from the huge barrels. One of the Rangers spoke.
"Tenshi Fo-ru, you are-"
"Under arrest, I know. So, just how do you plan on bringing me back?"
"You will follow us to the top of the tower and await the shuttle back to Pioneer 2. There, you will await your trial."
"Trial? For what, exactly?" Tenshi figured playing dumb wouldn't work, but everything was worth a shot.
"You have been charged for the death of one Red Ring Rico, the daughter of Principal Tyrell and top Hunter in the Guild."
"I didn't kill her. If you want the truth, go tell Principal Tyrell to find another sheep to send down into that hell under Ragol. If they live, they should report exactly what I did." Tenshi was still speaking calmly, as though she were unaware that she could die at any moment.
"Did you expect anyone to believe that fairy tale about some big entity down there that, according to you, possessed Rico?"
"Well, I'd have a witness, but he's not here right now. He's too busy staying alive. That's my report. Take it or leave it, believe it or not. But really, the Principal should understand what I was forced to do."
"That's enough talk. You're coming up to the roof. Now."
Tenshi didn't move.
"Now, Fo-ru."
Tenshi didn't move.
"With just a pull of this trigger, I could vaporize the entire top half of your body."
Tenshi didn't move.
"So be it. Tenshi Fo-ru, you will be executed for refusing to-" The Ranger's sentence was cut short as Tenshi snapped her leg upward in a lightning-fast kick to the man's jaw. There was a sickening crack, and the man fell unconscious to the floor. The other two Rangers squeezed the triggers of their Photon Launchers, but too late. Tenshi dashed past them and slammed her elbows into their backsides, probably breaking their spines. The two Rangers fell forward into the teleporter, out cold if not dead. Tenshi stood over the leader and kicked him a few times to wake him up.
"Sorry, but I couldn't resist. You need to stop speaking that much. You'll sound a lot smarter if you're silent." Tenshi stepped over his body towards the teleporter.

About ten minutes later...

Tenshi stood in the middle of the tenth floor of the East Tower. Everyone in the room was either unconscious from having one or more of their limbs hacked off or dead from resisting to the very end. Tenshi strode over to a large control panel and removed the operator sitting in the chair. She sat down and logged onto the computer. A menu came up on the LCD screen.

Communications
Defense Systems
Personell Listing
West Tower
Research
Log Out

The first option that caught Tenshi's eye was the Defense Systems option. After that was the Communications option. Tenshi clicked on Defense Systems, and a new menu appeared.

Laser Defenses - On/Off
Guard Robots - On/Off
Flame Turrets - On/Off
Camera Sentries - On/Off
Stasis Traps - On/Off
Doors - Locked/Unlocked
Teleporters - On/Off
Previous Menu

Tenshi decided for now just to lock the doors. She would figure out any technicalities later, like designating the guard machines not to attack her. For now, Tenshi had a place to stay. For now, she could plan her next step in finding her friend.

For now, she was safe.

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Chapter 15 - Records of Fate----------

Search running...

Personell target = "Lyorda, Guy"

...

...

...

No records found.

Back New Search

Searching...

Personell Target = "Fo-ru, Tenshi"

...

...

...

1 Record found. Read? Yes/No

...

...

Profile: Fo-ru, Tenshi

Full Name: Tenshi Fo-ru
Height: 6'
Weight: 131lbs
Age: Unknown; Estimated to be between twenty and thirty
Race: Newman
Gender: Female
Section Identification: Redria
Location of Residence: Pioneer 2, Redria District
Hair Color: Black
Hair Length: 2'6"
Eye Color: Red
Skin Color: White
Uniform Color: Black/Red
Observations: Noticably superior to typical Hunters on the battlefield. Usually wields hanguns or partisans, occasionally sabers. Wears a black ring on her left wrist. Tolerates Photon-based weaponry, but doesn't use it unless needed. Quiet, calm, easy to anger. Refused to work with anyone save for one Guy Lyorda, another superior Hunter with a similar attitude as Tenshi. Defiant; always questions the meaning of her orders; refused to use Hunter's Guild equipment upon joining. Found nearly three years ago (AUW 3992) in the depths of the Ragol mines. Apparently collapsed from exhaustion after repeated fights that lasted a total approximated time of one and a half hours. It is assumed she was returning from the ruins to which she was sent to a month beforehand by the order of Principal Tyrell. Guy Lyorda was not found, and is assumed dead, as he accompanied her on said mission. Never knew her real parents. Very efficient on the battlefield, but questionable loyalty. Recommended termination in case loyalty wavers against Hunter's Guild.
Bank Account Number: 89-582-9098


"So this is my profile... If they mentioned Guy, shouldn't they have a profile on him too? What's going on here...?" Tenshi wondered aloud. Nobody else was in the room, as she had forced them all out so she could perform a search to find any data on Guy's whereabouts. No success though.
"The Pioneer 2 Hunters reported that Guy didn't return... So perhaps he is still down there, fighting... If he is, then he's probably dead. It's been over a year...no, two years. Something isn't right here..." Tenshi was completely clueless as to the location of her only friend. He couldn't still be in the ruins. Perhaps he had retreated to the mines and found supplies? It was a factory as well, so there must have been some emergency supplies for the personell. Perhaps he found them.

Tenshi shook the thoughts of his possible death out of her mind. He wasn't dead. She knew this. It wasn't out of denial, it was simply true. It had to be true.

Right?

Tenshi thought about it over and over, despite her attempts to stop herself from doing so. If he was dead, she had no reason to go on. But if he was... What if he was? Tenshi brushed the thought aside.

"It isn't a 'what if' matter. Guy is alive. I told him a long time ago... If he died, I'd die with him. He can't go dying without me there..." Tenshi slammed her fist into a wall. "You hear me?! You can't die right now!" Tenshi had no idea why she was getting so angry. Normally she'd get sad when she thought of him. Something was different, and Tenshi realized it.

"Stop yelling... Man, are angels always this loud?"
Tenshi's eyes shot towards to teleporter.
"Long time, Tenshi. Still as beautiful as you were before."

[Sagasu]

Keep writing http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_yes.gif

Sorry if I haven't been posting, but I've tagged along for the ride. I await the next chapter with a great anticipation http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Final Chapter - Reunion----------

"Long time Tenshi. Still as beautiful as before."
The words rang in Tenshi's ears for what seemed like an eternity. Her eyes were focused on the man standing in the teleporter, but her mind was oblivious to what her eyes were seeing. She was still focused on his voice. It was a voice she hadn't heard in two years. It was the only sound she had wanted to hear ever since then.

"How long has it been? A year? Two years?" The man pondered his thoughts aloud in a rather sarcastic manner. A single thought crossed Tenshi's blanked-out mind that snapped her back to reality.

It was him.

Tenshi kept staring at him. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. He had blond hair, with a bright white Hunter uniform. Tenshi spotted the familiar hilt of a twin saber at his side. His face was covered with a smile that she knew could almost never leave it.

His hand flew to the saber at his side. He switched it on as he raised it over his head and spun it down in a downward slash. Without even looking, Tenshi blocked no less than six slashes with the black Photon ring on her left wrist.

"Well, you haven't gotten any worse at all, have you?" He said as he stepped back, turning his weapon off.
"Nor have you." Tenshi said.
She walked across the distance between them until she was a mere few inches away. Tenshi raised her hand up and slapped him across the face.
"...I know I deserved that." Guy said.
"Yes, you did! You have no idea how much I've worried about you!"
"And you have every reason to be angry."
"Yes I do! You'll be making up for this for the rest of your life!" She paused for a second. "...It's good to see you again."
Tenshi threw her arms around his neck. She had found him at last.

The moment seemed to last forever. Tenshi wasn't sure how long it had been. Ten minutes? Two minutes? However long it was, she was awakened from her dream-like state by a beeping noise coming from the console across the room. Tenshi recognized it as the radar screen.

"I'll get it." Guy said in his usual humorous tone. He strode over to the console and checked it out.

"Hmm... Looks like we've got company coming, Tenshi."
"How long?" Tenshi hit a few switches to disable the teleport pads.
"My guess is it's a Pioneer 2 Hunter group, probably coming for you. They should come knocking on the door about..." There was a huge explosion as the teleporter in the center of the room erupted from beneath it. "About now."
"Guy, you can start paying me back by at least trying to be serious about this..." Tenshi said. She smiled. It felt good to smile again.
"Even after two years, you still can't let me have my fun, can you?" Guy smiled back at her.
A loud male voice rang out through the room from below.
"Hunter Tenshi Fo-ru! You are to cease your resistance and come back to Pioneer 2 immediately! Failure to comply will result in your immediate execution!"
Tenshi let out a little sigh. "If I had a thousand Meseta for every time I heard that one-"
"-You'd probably have about five thousand." Guy finished.
Tenshi shot Guy a friendly sort of glare before responding to the Hunters below.
"Alright, alright. I'm done here. You can have your tower back already. I'll come down in a minute or so."
Guy gave her a confused look. "You're not gonna-"
"No."
"Then are we gonna-"
"Yes."
"Can I-"
"You can start this time."
The smoke had cleared. Guy stopped for a moment, letting his Stag Cutlery saber blaze to life, and then jumped down into the hole in the floor. He landed smack in the center of no less than twenty Pioneer 2 soldiers, half of them Hunters and the other half Rangers. The rangers had all taken sniping positions upon stacks of crates, and the Hunters had surrounded the hole they made in a tight circle. They all had mid-level equipment: Busters for the Hunters and Lockguns for the Rangers. The lead Hunter stepped forward with his saber at the ready.
"You... You're-"
"Yup." Guy said, a smile inching across his face.
"I don't know how you survived this long, Mr. Lyorda, but your Hunter's Guild membership has long since been terminated. Nobody will care or know if you die here."
"That isn't entirely true. There's someone who cares standing right behind you." The Hunter whirled around to find the long, smooth barrel of a Suppressed Gun mere millimeters from his head.
"What the-" Was all he had time to say before Tenshi squeezed the trigger. The familiar, silenced sound of a Photon projectile shooting outward and searing through flesh covered Tenshi's ears. The Hunter crumpled, dead before he hit the ground. There was a long moment of silence before Guy broke it.
"Hey, I thought I got to start." He said with a smile.
What followed next happened to quickly for anyone save for an android of the highest eye speed to comprehend. Suffice it to say that what happened was a complete failure on the part of the Pioneer 2 Hunters to capture or even land a blow upon Tenshi. Only a few were left alive, and none were left conscious or uninjured.

Guy turned off his weapon. Tenshi holstered her gun at her side. They both scanned the room, both silently admiring the other's improved combat skills.
"You didn't do too bad, Tenshi. Still faster than everyone else, I see. You seem to have learned a few new tricks as well." Guy was still smiling.
"You too. And if you're referring to my ability to drop five meters downward without a sound and sneak up behind someone with twenty people in the room, I've been able to do that for a while."
"Ah, right. Sorry, sorry. I guess overconfidence made you into a slacker then." He took a few steps closer to her.
"Looks who's calling who a slacker. You're the one who never bothered to even try to contact me for two years!"
"It's not like I-"
"You could and you know it! You just wanted to build suspense, didn't you?" Tenshi let a hint of friendly anger seep into her voice. "You were down in or near a human-built mine/factory. There had to be something there that you could-"
Guy took Tenshi in his arms and kissed her. It seemed like it lasted forever. Silence filled seemingly the entire universe for one, small moment.

"...Guy?"
"Yes?"
Tenshi leaned forward and kissed him.
"I never expected that from you..."
"Shh..." Tenshi held him tighter. Guy got the message: She wanted to stay in the moment, even for just a little longer.

After all, when you haven't seen someone for nearly three years, it's supposed to be that way, right?

"Tenshi... I think we need to go..." Guy said gently.
"...You're right. How should we leave? They'd notice us if we left through the doors."
"Oh, come on. You've jumped from higher spots than this and landed without a scratch."
"And what about you?"
"I'll take the long way down."
"Oh no you-"
"I meant I'll climb." Guy smiled again.
"...Oh." Tenshi said sheepishly. They both leapt up through the hole in the ceiling, into the single room of the tenth floor. Tenshi waved to Guy and leapt out through the window.

To be continued...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-27 21:35 ]</font>

[Claudine]

Cool story, good job

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

----------Epilogue - Return to Pioneer 2----------

Tenshi landed with acrobatic precision at the base of the tower. She had just jumped out of the tenth floor, roughly a hundred feet above ground, and landed perfectly unharmed on the concrete ground below. She scanned the area for threats briefly. Then, satisfied that none were present, she waved for Guy to start coming down.

Guy stood in the window frame that Tenshi just shattered and saw the signal to begin his 'climb' back down. He took a step forward and judged the distance down. About a hundred feet straight down, ending in a concrete floor. He jumped down off the window frame and stepped to the opposite side of the room. Guy ran the simulation of what he was about to do in his head. He was going to run over and jump out of the window, landing a hundred feet straight down on a concrete floor.

Easy enough.

Guy sprinted across the room and leapt out of the window. There was probably a full five seconds of free-falling before he landed crouched on the floor directly behind Tenshi.
"'I'll climb' you said..." She said with sarcasm. "If you have any broken bones-"
"Which I don't."
"-then don't come to me, because I'll just say I told you so."
Guy stood up.
"We'd best get outta here before they send more."
"Right."
They started off into the forest together. After wandering in silence for nearly two hours, Guy finally spoke.
"Tenshi."
"Yes?"
"Why are the Pioneer 2 Hunters after you?"
"They think I killed Rico."
"Well that's a laugh. Maybe I can help you out here."
"When can't you?"
Guy smiled. "Whenever you say I can't. So, tell me more about this situation."
"You were there, remember? That thing had taken over Rico's body long before we had a chance at saving her."
"That...what was it called? Dark Falz?"
"Yes, that's what Rico's messages said."
"That doesn't explain why they want you imprisoned."
"The way I see it, the Chief just wants a reason to get rid of me. She's openly displayed on several occasions that she doesn't approve of me, my attitude, and my skills in comparison to other Hunters. I'm willing to bet that Principal Tyrell didn't even hear of this, let alone approve of it." Tenshi absentmindedly dodged past a tree that she was about to stroll into.
"Well, when we get back to Pioneer 2, we'll sort all of this out."
Tenshi let out a sigh. "You just can't help but get involved with other peoples' problems, can you?"
Guy smiled. "You know I have a problem with that."
They continued walking and reached a small clearing in the forest.
"We'll camp here for the night, Tenshi. We'll switch off between guarding and sleeping every four hours."
"Sounds good to me." Tenshi yawned. "You can start guarding now." She stretched out on the grass.
"Hey, you can't just-"
"Quiet, I'm trying to sleep."
Guy sighed. "Why can't I say no..."

Two hours later...

Guy heard a silent rumbling coming from the east that snapped him back to reality. He surveyed the area quickly, but saw nothing of note. The soft rumbling persisted, growing louder every second.
"Tenshi. Wake up." Guy roused her from her slumber as the noise grew still louder. It seemed to be coming from above. Guy realized what it was just as it eclipsed the little light he had from the moon above.

It was a Pioneer 2 landing ship.

"Looks like our ticket back to me." Tenshi said. She motioned Guy to follow her and ducked behind a nearby patch of vegetation. They both watched as the ship landed in the same clearing they had just camped at and unloaded no less than forty fully equipped Hunters from its belly. Without saying a word, they all headed straight towards the way Guy and Tenshi had came from hours before. However, they made one mistake.

The ship was unguarded.

"Leave this to me." Tenshi said, standing up and heading towards the outstretched ramp of the ship. She stepped silently up into the cockpit. The pilot had time to turn around, a look of surprise plaguing his face, before Tenshi knocked him unconscious with a blow to the temple. She stepped onto the ramp and waved at Guy after tossing the pilot's limp figure onto the grass.
Guy joined Tenshi in the ship and settled into the pilot seat.
"I'll drive, thanks." He said with a chuckle. Tenshi sat down next to him in the copilot seat. Guy fired up the engines and set a course back to Pioneer 2. One last thought crossed Tenshi's mind before they were off the ground.

I'm finally going home with him...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Tenshi-Fo-ru on 2004-05-28 20:17 ]</font>