FanFic: Siblings aren't always rivals.

[MP3_Junkie]

This is my 2nd attempt at a fanfic so any constructive criticism is welcome, hopefully it will get better as it goes along.

Chapter 1 - Exercise

She lay there staring at the ceiling, her body entangled in the sheets. Her ruby eyes focused on a small dot above her. Her alarm clock rang and she stopped looking at the ceiling and shut it off. She clambered out of bed, her long brown hair following her. She was slim, tall and human. On the chair on the other side of her room lay her clothes, blue combat clothes, similar to the army's, a pair of black boots and a red beret. She smiled faintly at the beret, it was her late fathers. He had served in the homeworld's military as a paratrooper. He had given it to her when she told him she was going on Pioneer 2 to become a RAmarl, like her brother. She pulled on her clothes and whistled on her Rukmin. It dutifully rose from its standby state and follwed her out of the apartment.

She walked down the main promenade of Pioneer 2, where the medical centre and the hunters guild were. But she wasn't going there yet, she needed some stuff. She walked up to the check room and waited for the clerk to come over.

"Good morning miss and how can I help you?" enquired the clerk.

"I need some stuff from my account." replied the RAmarl.

"Okay, I need your account number, Hunters ID and your Section ID."

"Account number 3379-2778 theta. My name is Tatiana, section ID Redria."

The clerk punched in the data and asked Tatiana what she wanted.

"The Justy and the Crush Bullet please." she replied.

The clerk went over to the back of the check room and opened one of the safety deposit boxes. From it she removed two red boxes and handed them to Tatiana, who thanked the clerk and wandered into the Hunters Guild ready for some morning exercise.

"Good morning Tatiana, looking for a quest?" asked the guild member on duty, today it was Robin.

"Something short I think, I'm helping out some friends later." replied Tatiana.

"Okay, let me look. Here's one, a nice simple retrieval mission. The client is an antiques collector, he's looking for a Yasminkov 2000H. One other hunter has been assigned to this mission. Do you want to join it?"

"Sure, it'll be a change to be joined on an early quest." Tatiana smiled, she normally worked alone in the morning.

"Okay, return here in 15 minutes for your briefing." responded the clerk.

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Tatiana returned to the guild as she was asked to. On the other side of the guild was a HUnewearl staring out over Ragol. Tatiana grinned widely and called out.

"Zoe! What are you doing here?"

The HUnewearl turned around and smiled back at her friend.

"Hey Tatiana, I'm waiting on my client, he's an..."

"...antiques collector?" asked Tatiana innocently.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Zoe asked.

"I'm your partner on this one."

"Cool!"

At that moment the client walked in. He was a RAmar, but quite an old one, his hair was greying around the temples.

"Are you the two hunters who took this mission?" he asked. They both nodded.

"Good. As you know, I'm looking for a Yas2000. I don't care where you find it from but I need it soon. Okay? Good, on you go then." and he walked out of the guild.

"Right then, I do believe that we have a job to do." smirked Tatiana. Retrievals were easy but because this was a rare then the fee was more than likely going to be huge. Good, the hunters fair was only a few days away and she'd seen some very nice armour...

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On the surface, the two women stormed through the seabed facility quickly. The enemies were no match for the combined power of a Justy and a Soul Eater.

"Zoe, why do you still use that cursed scythe? It just drains your health. We've been down here for an hour and you've cast Resta about 100 times already."

"I use it because it works. It's simple and effective. Plus I haven't got anything better."

"Well, you should you're skyly and you can find loads of swo..."

That was as far as she got as a Sinow Zele dropped from the roof and had set its sights on them.

"Time to move Tatiana." shouted Zoe.

Both of them dived sideways to avoid the barta blast. Mid-dive Tatiana fired off 3 shots at the Zele. The first missed, created a hole in the bulkhead. The second hit the zele's left shoulder servo, making its arm spin round in circles. The third slammed into its head, taking out its AI matrix and shutting it down. It then self-destructed, dropping a red box. Zoe walked over to it while Tatiana picked herself off the ground.

"Is it what we came here for?" asked Tatiana, massaging her shoulder.

"Yup, one Yas2000, armed and ready." replied the HUnewearl and she put the box into her photon buffer.

Just then another Zele dropped down but this one was configured differently as if it was a prototype but that couldn't be possible, right?

"Tatiana, are Zele's supposed to have photon launchers mounted on their shoulders?"

The Zele looked round, saw Tatiana and stopped. Tatiana armed her rifle and fired at the droid. Six bullets hit it and...rebounded.

"What the...?"

Just then, the Zele's eyes glowed white and then...

BLAM!!!

A white ball of photon energy erupted from its shoulder, and hurtled towards the RAmarl.

"Oh cr..." there was a blur and then...darkness.

[Tenshi-Fo-ru]

Very interesting... Keep it up, and I think you will do well...

[MP3_Junkie]

Thanks Tenshi. I'll post the next part tomorrow when i get back.

[MP3_Junkie]

Chapter 2 - Power Cut

The afterlife was very bright just like the stories she heard. For some reason though, the afterlife was also very wet. Then she realised, this wasn't the afterlife, this was the seabed and she was staring at the lights on the ceiling.

"Oohh...my head." moaned Tatiana. "What happened? Where's that Zele? Why is it so bright in here?"

"You got knocked out when Zoe dived for you. I killed the Zele and it's bright in here because I overloaded the lighting grid." replied a voice, a male voice at that. "You really ought to move when something shoots at you, little sis."

"LITTLE?!? I'm almost as tall as you and twice as accurate with a visk!" she yelled at the newcomer.

"Hahahahah! You really do get worked up over such things Tatiana. You should chill out."

"Look who's talking. You're the one who fights battles just to prove that you became a RAmar before your friends."

"Ouch, I'm so hurt. Do you want up out of the puddle or would you rather lie there?"

"Zoe, if he so much as grips me too hard, take his head off with that scythe."

Zoe just shook her head in amusement. "I had no idea you two were related. You're both so different."

"Yeah, well, not totally different are we MP3 Junkie?"

"No, not totally, Tatiana." MP3 Junkie spoke back calmly. Although his face was covered with a mask, his eyes smiled at her benignly. "Although, you look better in that beret than I did. You do our father proud."

"Thanks." she mumbled. "Anyway, we got what we came for so thanks for helping. Wait, why were you down here?"

"I was looking for something." he replied vaguely.

"Oh, what?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

"Oh stop being so obtuse and tell me."

"Heh, no. Just wait and all will be revealed in good time." And with that he cast a telepipe and stepped into it. "Coming?"

"Fine." The two women stepped into the telepipe and transported back up to Pioneer 2.

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The three of them walked along the promenade to the guild. They were quiet on the way back. When they reached the guild, MP3 Junkie stopped and looked at his sister.

"Once you've finished that, do you want to get lunch? There's this new bar I discovered, does great Hildebear stew." he asked. "You look as if you haven't eaten and..."

Tatiana raised her hand and stopped him. "Your problem my brother is that you're far too overprotective. I'm fine but no I can't have lunch with you. I have a job to do this afternoon but thanks anyway."

He arched his eyebrow, searching her face to see if she was just trying to avoid him but he decided she wasn't. "Fine. The fair's here in a couple of days, meet me then? You and your friend." He nodded at Zoe.

"OK, sure. I'll see you then." she smiled at him, he was a good brother but no father substitute, hard as he'd tried.

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The day of the fair arrived. Hunters, soldiers, scientists and civilians alike all came to see it. There were hunters in the battle arena, showing off their skills and trying new weapons. Scientists were selling new weapons they created. Civilians were just wandering around, some signing up to be hunters, others just enjoying seeing so many people in one place having a good time. Tatiana, Zoe and MP3 Junkie were there, laughing over one FOnewearls tumble in the arena. She had thought herself all powerful with her Club of Laconium, only to be smacked down by an Agito. Tatiana turned to her brother and asked him;

"What were you looking for in the seabed?"

He smiled and turned to her. "Well you see, I'd heard of the Tripolic Shield and fancied one for myself but to no avail. I did however find a nice pair of L&K14 Combats with high photon percentages. I was going to give them to you on your birthday but they're yours now if you want them."

"Cool! Thanks." she replied, finally a decent pair of mechguns, her Vises were past it.

They turned the corner and Tatiana nearly jumped out of her skin. There it was, the Zele that had attacked her except this time it was painted black with a white thunderbolt on the front. It's photon launchers were disarmed but why was it here? On Pioneer 2?

"Yes ladies and gentelmen! The Zele MK2 is the most advanced military droid ever created! It's dual photon launchers can take out any target, no matter how fast it runs!" yelled the scientist to the crowd

"Yeah right, that's why it missed me." muttered Tatiana under her breath.

Zoe stared at it with undisguised curiosity. "It's upgraded. That visor it has, it's military issue. The photon launchers are similar to the Guilty Light but upgraded."

"Why are we playing with Zele's? The hunters can deal with them any time, the creatures on the surface will tear it to ribbons." muttered MP3 Junkie.

At that moment it powered up, much to the surprise of the scientists. It looked right at Tatiana and primed its launchers.

"I think it remembers me." she said ready to move as soon as it fired.

"They must have salvaged the memory core from the one on the surface. That's why it knows you, it didn't finish its job." said Zoe

"What job?"

"Eliminate all intruders."

The Zele fired again but it hit empty space as Tatiana dodged it. 6 soldiers who were standing nearby opened up on it but their bullets were ineffective. Then a HUmar and a HUcaseal both came at it from behind and rammed their katanas through it's torso. Photon weapons may have been ineffective but it was vulnerable to cold steel. It jerked wildly and then shut down. The two hunters took their blades out of the droid and were applauded by the crowd, then the power went out. Suddenly, several photon weapons were engaged, lighting up the place.

"Oh no. You two listen to that." said MP3 Junkie in a whisper.

"Listen to what? I don't hear anything." said Zoe

"Exactly, the entire ships powerless, including the orbital thrusters that keeps us in orbit. I calculate that we have about 30 minutes until this ship starts being pulled down into the atmosphere and then..." MP3 Junkie's voice trailed off, they didn't need to be told what would happen.

Tatiana looked upwards at the planet that looked as if it was about to become her grave...

[Rainbowlemon]

That's pretty neat so far! I'm loving the storyline ^_^ However, perhaps on your descriptive paragraphs you could make your sentences a little longer? I've noticed you have lots of periods (*coughfullstopscough*), and therefor a lot of short sentences, which makes the story seem a little more stop-start. Just get rid of a few periods, maybe putting a few 'however's, 'nevertheless's, 'although's, etc. in their place, and you have yourself a neat fanfic http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime2.gif

[MP3_Junkie]

Thanks Antimony http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif, I'll take your suggestions into account and hopefully get the next part posted tomorrow.

[odie2088]

sounds a weeee bit like actual game pso, but i like it! good story...cant wait to see what happens...

[MP3_Junkie]

Sorry for the delay, been busy with coursework, but I have some time just now so I'll post the next part of this.

Chapter 3 - Planetfall

With the likelyhood of Pioneer 2 making a decorative hole in Ragols surface, MP3 Junkie, Zoe and Tatiana ran for the transporter.

"Where are we going?" asked Zoe, utterly confused by what was going on.

"The landing craft. What ship were you assigned to?" replied MP3 Junkie shining his wrist torch in her face.

"The landing craft?" Tatiana yelled incredulously. "What good are landing craft going to do us if Pioneer 2 crashes to the surface?"

"The ship won't take out the whole planet, just the immediate area. We can still land or take refuge underground in areas such as the seabed or the ruins. Now what ship were you assigned to?" he repled quickly.

"The Rico." said Zoe

"I'm on the Flowen." Tatiana grimaced when she said that, the Flowen had twice had near reactor meltdowns during the voyage to Ragol. "And I'm the secondary pilot."

"Fine, I'm on the Deep Strike. Get those ships moving if they aren't already..." Alarms went off everywhere, all the same sound, a sort of Aa-OOO noise. "That's the evacuation alarm, move, now!"

"We can't just leave the ship to slam into the planet. Too many deaths, the ship will crash into the dome, that's where the monitors are indicating as a no-go zone. There are at least 500 hunters surfaceside, we can't leave them to die!" snapped Tatiana.

"No, but we can't abandon 500,000 citizens either. You're a pilot, you have to go now Tatiana."

"NO I WILL NOT MP3 JUNKIE! I know that you're trying to protect me but I'm a ranger now, I can handle myself."

"This isn't about..."

"WILL THE TWO OF YOU SHUT UP!" screamed Zoe at the quarreling siblings. "We don't have the time for this. I'll fly the Flowen, I'm a better pilot anyway. I'll signal the Rico and the Deep Strike to go without the two of you. Just promise me one thing."

"What?" they chorused simultaneously.

"If you can't get this ship flying before time til impact is at 1 minute, get yourself off the ship."

"OK."

Zoe grinned at them and ran off to the Flowen. Tatiana looked at her brother and stared at him hard, for a second neither spoke until MP3 Junkie piped up

"Let's go save the world sis."

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The two of them ran through the massive engine section. 5 powerful nuclear fusion hyperlight engines sat in absolute silence, the only noise the thud of boots against metal deckplating.

"How much further to the reactor?" Tatiana asked, she was sick of the darkness of the narrow maintenance shafts.

"Just around the next corner. We still have 20 minutes until impact." MP3 Junkie asked, not looking at her.

Tatiana kept running and promptly ran into the door to the reactor core.

"OW!"

"The automatic door system's offline remember?" he was smirking, luckily it was dark and Tatiana didn't see it else he would have little to smirk about.

"So how do we open it."

"The noisy way."

Both rangers raised their Justys and opened fire on the door. Bullet after bullet impacted on the door, after focusing their fire on one spot in the centre, the bullets had melted a hole in the 5 inch thick doors. From this they pryed it open. In front of them was a 3 story high reactor core. Normally it glowed a vivid blue but today it was as black as space. MP3 Junkie walked over to a wall panel and looked at circuitry. He then stripped the photon clip from his rifle and stuck it into the circuitry. It sparked and then the emergency systems came online.

"And then there was light." he quipped.

"Funny. Let's get this thing powered up."

They set to work, bringing about the necessary start up sequences for the core.

"Aw crap." moaned MP3 Junkie.

"What is it?"

"Someone placed a lockout on the core startup. Someone high level in the government."

"How high?"

"It's one of three people who have this kind of clearance. Principal Tyrell, the head of the army, or Natasha Milarose."

"Impossible, all three are loyal to saving us."

"That depends on what they mean by saving us."

"We don't have time to play whodunnit. Just hack it."

"I can't. I'm a ranger, not a computer programmer."

"Fine then let me. Computer accept override Sigma three two zero nine Bravo. Alliams, Brigadier-General Tatiana Carol."

"SYSTEM OVERRIDE CONFIRMED. AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS..." the computer spoke in its monotone voice.

"Immediate startup of the reactor core and atmospheric thrusters."

At once the reactor came to life, illuminating the engine room with azure blue light. The engines roared to life with a sound louder than a wounded Hildetorr.

"Th-that's military clearance." stuttered MP3 Junkie at his sister.

"I'll explain later." she looked at him apologetically. "Computer return Pioneer 2 to high orbit."

"CANNOT COMPLY. ALL BRIDGE FUNCTIONS ARE RESTRICTED."

"We have to get to the brige." she snapped

"Really, I thought we could just got home and fly it from there."

Tatiana gave him a look that immediately shut him up. Then she pulled out a telepipe and reconfigured it.

"We can't stop now!" he exclaimed.

"I have no intention of doing that. This pipe will take us to the bridge."

"Oh."

She deployed it and they stepped in arriving in the command area immediately. It was huge, lined with consoles. In the centre was a large leather chair, reserved for the captain, or the principal. At the front was a large window showing the ground getting a whole lot bigger. The two rangers ran to the helm computers.

"No lockout on this. Guess whoever plotted this didn't expect anyone to restart the core." muttered Tatiana as she manipulated the controls. She grabbed a joystick and pulled upwards, hard. The ships nose began to pull up but slowly, very slowly.

"We're not going to do it." said MP3 Junkie, sweating profusely. "Time to leave."

"No, time for plan B."

She hit a button on the console which sounded another klaxon. The ship levelled out and descended slower.

"What are you doing?" he asked, totally perplexed.

"Landing." she replied.

"Landing, right....WHAT?!?!?!"

"You were right, I can't get this to pull up fast enough but we're landing in the middle of the forest, everyone underneath us just transported onto us."

The ship thumped down, it's nose exactly 5 metres away from the front door of the central dome. She relaxed and shut off the alarms, emitting a huge sigh of relief.

"Well I think that went well."

"Great. You just became the woman who landed Pioneer 2."

She smirked at her brother, who was still shocked. She was about to explain her previous actions when she was interrupted by another voice.

"If either of you move, I won't hesitate to shoot you both." The voice was accompanied by the whine of a photon weapon, aimed at the back of their heads.