NABERIUS, NORTHERN FOREST REGION
Two things saved Akasha’s life. The first was simply good luck. A combination of factors that gave her the split-second warning she needed to dodge the pair of blades aimed at her neck. It was midday on Naberius, meaning the sun was almost directly overhead. And because she was so far north, where the trees were more spread out, there were large gaps in the forest canopy overhead. Combined with the almost vertical angle of the assault, her attacker’s shadow reached Akasha a full second before the blades did.
The second thing that saved her life was good reflexes. Superhuman reflexes, actually. Part of Akasha’s DNA came from a Newman test subject named Kori’el, one of a scant few who could freely manipulate photons without a catalyst like a rod or talis. Dr. Kestren had taken that ability even further in Akasha by constantly exposing her to low levels of photon energy during her development. As a result, Akasha’s mastery of Photon Arts was in a league of its own. She could control photons as easily as controlling her own body.
And she had learned a trick or two. One of her favorites was using Zan wind Techniques to enhance her own mobility. She could run faster, jump higher, and react more quickly than most flesh and blood beings. She could even fly—in a limited capacity. In this particular case, she used wind energy to push herself out of the way in the nick of time.
Her attacker came down in the exact spot Akasha just vacated. The pair of blades sliced through empty air and struck the forest floor instead. A halo of dirt, grass, and dead leaves was hurled upward and outward from the impact, an eruption of violence in an otherwise subdued scene.
Akasha’s twin daggers were in her hands less than a second later. She pivoted left, arm extended, intending to catch the mysterious figure by surprise. But there was no one there. The spot was empty. Akasha looked from side to side, then up at the trees, yet still couldn’t locate her attacker.
Suddenly a boot caught her squarely in the back. There was a ton of force behind it, like it had come from a flying jump kick. Akasha stumbled forward, tried to catch her balance, and ended up somersaulting to dispel the momentum. By the time she rose to her feet, her attacker was gone again.
Where the hell…?
Another kick, this time to the right shoulder. Akasha swung wide as she spun away but her daggers found no purchase. Before she could recover, a third kick knocked her face-first into the dirt.
Okay, I’m done playing nice. Akasha jumped up and brushed herself off.
“Kashie!” Rho called from ten meters away. “You okay?”
“Just peachy. Did you see who attacked me?”
“No, I—wait, above you!”
Akasha didn’t have time to look. Instead, she raised her arms and ignited the air overhead with fire energy. It erupted in a protective curtain, effectively blocking the incoming assault. There was a surprised yelp, followed by a thud as the person hit the ground.
Akasha whirled around—and finally came face-to-face with her attacker. She was surprised to find herself looking at a teenage girl probably not much older than herself. The girl was clad in a sporty blue and white outfit. She had bright, sapphire-colored eyes and vibrant pink hair. Her pointy ears marked her as a fellow Newman. In her hands she gripped a pair of wired lances. Each blade was tethered by a cable, allowing her to use them for both movement and attack.
So that’s how she was able to get the drop on me, Akasha thought.
The girl with the pink hair wasn’t smiling. She had a wild look in her eyes, something halfway between fear and fury, plus a whole lot of determination. In any case, she wasn’t backing down. That much was certain.
Akasha lowered her weapons slightly as a show of good faith. “Hey, you,” she called. “Got a name?”
Pink Hair didn’t reply. Her eyes darted around, like she was deciding whether to attack or run.
“Relax, we’re not here to hurt you,” Akasha reassured her. “Why don’t you tell me your name and we’ll talk.”
Still no reply. Akasha took a careful step forward, trying to close the gap between them. In response, Pink Hair stepped back. Akasha took another step forward. Pink Hair took another step back.
“Look, I can’t help if you won’t talk to me.”
When she tried to approach a third time, the girl lashed out with one of her blades. Akasha caught it between her twin daggers—just in time. Pink Hair jerked backwards, out of Akasha’s grip, then attempted to rush in again. Suddenly a turquoise bolt sizzled through the air in front of her, stopping her dead in her tracks.
Rho was standing off to one side, photon bow in hand. She already had a second arrow lined up and ready to fire. All she had to do was let go. “The first one was a warning shot. I won’t miss again,” she said, calmly but sternly.
Now Pink Hair’s attention was divided between Akasha and Rho. Her blue eyes flicked back and forth, calculating the odds. The heels of her boots were digging into the dirt. Getting ready to make a move.
Her eyes settled on Rho. She raised her right arm, fired her lance. A split second later, Rho loosed her arrow. The blade and bolt zipped past each other faster than a human eye could track.
But not faster than a CAST eye. Rho sidestepped the incoming blade as it sailed past her head and lodged itself in the tree trunk behind her. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Pink Hair expected. The girl miraculously deflected Rho’s photon arrow with her other lance, simultaneously pushing a button to retract the first one. Since it was stuck in the tree, it acted like an anchor and pulled the Newearl towards it instead. She went flying through the air, following the same route her lance had taken only a moment earlier. That brought her directly into Rho’s path. She slammed into the Caseal feet-first, knocking Rho over, and continued onward without slowing down.
When she reached the tree, she quickly dislodged her blade from the trunk. Still in midair, she fired her other lance at a more distant tree. It caught in the wood and the girl went swinging away towards freedom.
Rho climbed to her feet and grabbed a third arrow from her quiver. Pulled the bowstring back until it was taut, taking careful aim at the pink-haired girl in the distance.
Before she could fire, Akasha grabbed her by the arm and pushed the weapon down. “Wait! Don’t hit her!”
“
Don’t hit her?” Rho was confused. “But she almost took off your head—and mine!”
“I know that. But I have a hunch. If I’m right, she’s our missing ARKS soldier.”
“What?! Seriously? Then why the heck is she attacking us?”
“No idea, but I intend to find out. Come on!”
You can run, thought Akasha,
but you can’t outrun me. She encased her boots in a layer of dense, fast-moving wind energy. It was a simple feat, practically second nature by now. An extension of herself.
Next she put one foot forward, one foot back. Bent her knees and kept her head low. She looked like a sprinter at the starting line of a race. Which, in a way, she was.
Go!
Akasha took off in a burst of motion. The wind energy propelled her legs forward and reduced traction, boosting her speed beyond its usual limit. Even Rho, a CAST, was hard-pressed to keep up.
Trees, rocks, and streams whizzed past in a blur. As she navigated the forest maze, Akasha caught sight of the fleeing pink-haired girl. She was still using her wired lances to swing from tree to tree. A normal person would’ve been too slow to catch up, but Akasha was hardly normal. She was steadily gaining on her, with Rho not far behind.
“Hey!” Akasha shouted. “Give it up already, you’re not going to outrun us! Come down from there and I promise we won’t hurt you!”
“Speak for yourself,” Rho muttered under her breath.
At first it seemed like Pink Hair had no intention of stopping. But after a few seconds, the girl abruptly changed course. She made a mid-flight U-turn, circling around the trunk of a large tree, and headed back towards Akasha.
There was only one problem. She wasn’t slowing down.
Before Akasha could react, Pink Hair kicked her hard in the chest. Their opposing velocities—Akasha running one way, Pink Hair swinging the other—made the impact twice as strong. It felt like taking a blow from a sledgehammer. The air escaped Akasha’s lungs and she was thrown backwards onto the ground.
Pink Hair didn’t stick around to gloat. She resumed her original course at top speed, heading deeper into the forest.
Akasha, meanwhile, was sprawled on her back, dazed and hurting. She hadn’t taken a hit that hard in quite some time. Whoever the girl was, she was good, and apparently full of tricks. But Akasha wasn’t willing to give up yet. Not by a long shot.
Rho extended a helping hand. “Can I shoot her now?” she asked hopefully.
“Not yet. I’ve got another idea.”
Once again they chased Pink Hair through the woods, and once again she did her best to evade them. This time, though, they were careful not to get too close. Akasha made it seem as though she was having a hard time keeping up, when actually she was herding the girl north, back towards the ARKS research camp.
The plan worked perfectly. Eventually Pink Hair found herself in the clearing just below the work site. Without any trees nearby, she couldn’t use her wired lances to make a quick getaway. To return to the forest she would have to get past Akasha and Rho. And there was no way Akasha was going to let that happen.
“The easy way or the hard way. Your choice,” she said to Pink Hair, daggers held loosely at her sides. “You ready to talk, or you wanna fight some more?”
The girl scowled and gritted her teeth. She was at a disadvantage on the ground and she knew it. Even so, she made no move to back down. Whether from pride, anger, or sheer stubbornness, it seemed she would rather fight to the bitter end.
“Last chance,” Akasha called.
No response.
Have it your way, she thought.
Akasha was about to act when a new arrival appeared on the scene. His blue hair and pale armor stood out against the green and brown backdrop.
“I heard fighting in the forest,” said Cal Sitrius. He was standing twenty meters away, near one of the camp’s larger pre-fab structures. His eyes scanned back and forth between the three women, a wary expression on his face. “What’s going on here? Who is this?”
Sitrius provided only a moment’s distraction, but it was all Pink Hair needed. The girl lunged at Akasha with the speed and ferocity of a feral animal. There was no time to dodge. No time to cast any Techniques. Akasha got her daggers up to block—barely—then parried the next two strikes. Pink Hair kept up her furious assault, swinging her lances wildly in an attempt to push her opponent back. Akasha wouldn’t budge. She matched every attack the girl threw at her, but she also couldn’t score any hits herself. It was a stalemate.
That’s when Rho stepped in. She slipped behind the girl and looped her arms around the Newearl’s shoulders, restraining her. Pink Hair thrashed about violently but couldn’t break free.
“Whoa there, girlie,” said Rho. “How ‘bout being a good little maniac and dropping the weapons, huh?”
Pink Hair had no intention of giving up. Instead, she struggled even harder. At first it seemed like a futile effort. But then, unexpectedly, she snapped her head back in a reverse version of a headbutt. The back of her skull smacked Rho hard in the face. Surprised, Rho loosened her grip just enough for Pink Hair to wriggle free.
Akasha tried to tackle the girl but missed. Pink Hair was simply too swift and agile. She was back at the forest’s edge before anyone could stop her. Firing her wired lances upward, she swung away into the trees and disappeared.
“You
had her!” Akasha complained to Rho afterwards. “What the hell happened?”
“She overpowered me,” the Caseal responded sheepishly, rubbing her forehead.
“
Overpowered you?! How is that even possible? You’re bigger than her, stronger than her, and probably weigh fifty percent more, too.”
“Hey!” Rho pouted. “Don’t bring my weight into this.”
“Because you’re made of metal,” Akasha explained, waving it away. “You know what I mean.”
“What do you want me to say? She’s stronger than she looks. Besides, it’s not like you had any better luck catching her.”
Akasha started to say something, stopped, then tried again. “She’s, uh, faster than she looks,” admitted the Newearl. She kicked a rock with her boot and glanced away.
“So what now?”
“We go after her, obviously.”
While they discussed it, Sitrius jogged over and demanded an explanation. Akasha offered her theory about Pink Hair being the research team’s missing soldier. Sitrius rubbed his chin thoughtfully and looked towards the nearby forest. “If that’s true, the girl saw what happened here—the Darker attack on the camp. She could be an important witness. Either way, we need to track her down.”
Rho sighed in resignation. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
* * * * * * * * *
A kilometer south, the girl with the pink hair was resting on a large tree branch ten meters off the ground. She had stopped to catch her breath and figure out a plan of action. Truthfully, she had no idea where to go or what to do. She just needed time, time to figure things out. Time those annoying people wouldn’t give her.
Why were they after her? And why were they so damned persistent? The girl didn’t know, and didn’t really care. She just wanted to be left alone. Was that so much to ask?
There was something about them, though. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Especially the dark-skinned girl with the tattooed face. That one seemed familiar somehow. Had they met before, perhaps? Whatever it was, the pink-haired girl felt oddly drawn to her for reasons she couldn’t explain. Maybe they had been friends in another life. Or mortal enemies.
Snap! Crunch!
The girl tensed up at the sound of approaching footsteps. She pressed herself against the tree trunk and remained very still. With the slightest of movements, she glanced down at the forest floor beneath her. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then the tattooed Newearl and CAST woman stepped into view. They were in the middle of a conversation. The pink-haired girl strained to hear what they were saying.
“We’ve searched everywhere,” said Face Tattoo. “I hate to say it, but the girl gave us the slip. Looks like we have
no choice but to
go home.”
The CAST woman put her hands on her hips and nodded. “Yep, it’s a shame but I guess you’re right. She was just
too smart for us. I’m totally ready to
give up and leave.”
Finally, thought the pink-haired girl, her heart swelling with relief.
Just then, Face Tattoo turned to her right and shouted, “Sitrius,
now!”
The sound of machinegun fire pierced the air. Suddenly the branch underneath the girl shattered and she found herself falling. Just before hitting the ground, a plume of wind energy caught her and cushioned the impact.
The girl stood up and looked around. She found herself surrounded by Face Tattoo, the CAST woman, and the blue-haired man. Their conversation before had been nothing but lies. An act. A trap meant to snare her. Well, she wouldn’t make it easy on them! The girl bared her teeth and her weapons, daring any of them to make a move.
“Sure you wouldn’t rather talk this out?” asked Face Tattoo. “I know this great little pizza place back on
Ur. The owner, Meeko, makes the best pies you’ve ever tasted. Really mouth-watering stuff. We could grab a bite to eat and you could tell me all about yourself. What do you say?”
The pink-haired girl started to open her mouth but quickly clamped it shut again. No! She wouldn’t fall for their tricks. They were dirty liars, she couldn’t trust any of them. Instead she would find an opening and escape.
“We don’t have time for this,” the blue-haired man grumbled from behind her. He sounded impatient and distracted. Perfect.
The girl couldn’t see him, but she knew roughly where he was. Backflipping up and over the man, she landed directly at his rear. Shoved him hard. He went stumbling into the CAST and both of them fell over sideways.
That left only Face Tattoo to deal with. The pink-haired girl weighed her options. Decided it was smarter to run than fight. She fired one of her lances into the nearest tree, intending to make a break for it—and watched in horror as a Zan wind blade sliced cleanly through the wire connecting the two halves of her weapon.
“You’re not getting away that easy,” said Face Tattoo. “Not this time.”
By then, the CAST and blue-haired man were back on their feet. All three looked ready to jump her at any moment. The pink-haired girl dropped the ruined weapon in her right hand. She was down one lance but still had the other. She aimed it at them menacingly.
For a long moment, no one moved. Then all four of them sprang into action simultaneously. Face Tattoo came at her from the left. The CAST woman came at her from the right. The blue-haired man charged straight ahead.
What happened next was a rapid-fire sequence of action and reaction. To an outside observer it would have appeared as a beautifully-choreographed dance in the middle of the forest. A ballet of exquisite skill. In actuality, however, it was a high-speed, high-stakes, three-on-one battle.
A battle the pink-haired girl intended to win.
Sparks flew as Face Tattoo’s blade crashed against her own. The girl spun away, dodging an arrow fired by the CAST woman, then tried to duck under the outstretched arms of the blue-haired man. Too late. He tackled her to the ground and they rolled back and forth in the dirt, fighting for dominance. She put up a respectable fight but soon found herself pinned beneath him. The man was down on his hands and knees, each limb securing one of hers. The girl grunted and groaned. Try as she might, she couldn’t break free. She didn’t have the strength.
And then, suddenly, she did. She couldn't explain why she was stronger, she just was. A well of previously-hidden power bubbled up inside her and she pushed upward, throwing the man off her. The girl scrambled to her feet and jumped backwards, putting some distance between them.
Several paces away, the man was busy getting up. An easy target. Taking aim with her lance, the girl pressed the trigger to release her blade. At her current distance, there was no way she could miss.
Or so she thought. Unexpectedly, an intense gust of wind energy blew the lance off course. It missed the man by mere centimeters and buried itself in the tree trunk behind him. That was Face Tattoo’s doing, the girl knew. Somehow she was casting powerful Techniques without the aid of a rod or talis. Interesting, but problematic.
The pink-haired girl decided it was time to beat another hasty retreat, yet her legs wouldn’t move. Not from fear or weariness, and certainly not from a lack of trying. No, they were literally rooted to the ground. She looked down and realized her boots were encased in sheaths of solid ice.
When did that happen…?
“Like I said, you’re not getting away that easy.” Face Tattoo swung her dagger downward, completely severing the wire connecting the girl’s one remaining blade. Now she was unarmed and unable to escape.
The copper-skinned Newearl stowed her weapons and crossed her arms. “Ready to answer our questions now?”
The girl said nothing in reply. She simply glared.
“No? How about a name? You can tell me that much, right? Come on.”
She struggled to get free, but the ice was too thick.
“It’s easy. Here, I’ll start. My name’s Akasha, my friend here is Rho, and that’s Cal. What’s yours?”
She gritted her teeth and glared harder, practically on the verge of tears.
“Really? After all this, you’re still not gonna talk? I’m not above resorting to tickle torture if that’s what it takes. Just give me a name, that’s all I want. Your name. What is it?”
The girl couldn’t take it anymore. Couldn’t fight it anymore. With a cry of desperation, her dwindling resolve finally broke. “
I don’t know!” she shrieked. “I don’t know! I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know!”
She kept screaming the same three words over and over at the top of her lungs. And wouldn’t stop.
“Shut her up already,” the blue-haired man groaned, covering his ears.
Face Tattoo took a step forward. She was directly in front of the girl now. “Sorry about this,” she said, delivering a fierce jab to her gut. “But not too sorry.”
The ice around the girl’s feet shattered. She fell to her knees and keeled over in pain. A moment later, everything faded to black…
* * * * * * * * *
The ARKS trio stood over the prone body of the pink-haired girl. In her unconscious state she looked small and helpless and weak. Not a trained warrior, and certainly not someone capable of taking on all three of them at once.
“She said she didn’t know her own name,” Rho commented. “You think she was telling the truth?”
Akasha shrugged. “We can worry about that later. Right now, there are faster ways of getting what we need.”
The Newearl crouched down and checked the girl’s pockets. They were empty. No ARKS Card, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Often times, soldiers didn’t carry a physical card around with them, especially when a digital one would suffice. But every ARKS carried some form of identification.
Akasha found it in the form of a computer chip embedded in the girl’s bracelet. She scanned the chip and displayed its contents holographically. “Here we go. Let’s see… Yep, she’s our missing soldier, alright.” Eyes narrowed, she read off the contents of the ARKS Card. “Name: Athena Vatras. Age: seventeen. Class: Hunter. The date on the license is only five months old.”
“Kid’s a rookie,” said Sitrius, shaking his head. “How the hell did she get so tough?”
“I guess you’ll have to ask her when she wakes up,” Akasha replied.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Did she really look that much like Athena? I've had a long history with pink-haired, blue-eyed Newmans. Look no further than my signature for proof of that! Actually, I've had one in every online PS game I've played, dating back to the original PSO.
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