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SS_Death
Jun 13, 2002, 03:48 AM
(Ok, first ever attempt at a fic so here goes...)

Chapter 1 - Prologue

Ten months have passed since Dark Falz was defeated. Central Dome has been rebulit and renamed Pioneer City. The majority of the population of Pioneer 2 now lives there and is begining a project to expand outwards across the surface of Ragol. Since Principal Tyrell moved down to Pioneer City his daughter, Red Ring Ricco has taken his place upon Pioneer 2 following her rescue from Dark Falz possession of her body by the Hunters in their last ditch attempt to defeat Falz once and for all. Now only she and some of the Hunters remained on Pioneer 2. With the army to protect them the citizens had turned their backs on the Hunters and they had become outcasts. Many had retired and settled down but those who could not or would not do so had returned to Pioneer 2. It had become a haven for them, much of it had been stripped down for parts when Pioneer City was built. Still salvaging equipment from the mines and ruins Pioneer 2 had been made to fly again, it now was settled in a low orbit about Ragol.

Chapter 2 - A New Begining?

Death awoke, it was the nightmares again. How long had it been now since they began? Since that day when they had defeated Falz, since then they had begun. Over and over he saw the faces of the fellow Hunters who he fought alonside, over and over he watched as they were cut down by the minions of Falz which swarmed about the ruins. By the time they had reached the centre where Falz was imprisoned a little over half of them were left. The battle had been bitter and many more had fallen that day yet they had been victorious, but at what cost? Of the more than a thousand that went barely a hundred returned. Many comrades had died there, their graves dug by the survivours. But it had not ended there, when it was over the cover-up that had surrounded Pioneer 1 was blown wide open and the Hunters had been left to take most of the flak. Anger surged through him as he though of the way they had been treated on their return, still ckaed in the blood of their dead team mates they were assailed by the citizens and forced to defend themselves. In that their fate had been sealed, Principal Tyrell was forced to order all Hunters to hand over their weapons and take immediate retirement or face imprisonment. The Hunters did not take to this well and many more were injured in the fighting that followed. In the end it had been Ricco Tyrell who had stepped in to quell the fighting, speaking as both a Hunter and a citizen of Pioneer 1 she appealed to both sides to cease their pointless conflict and work together to rebuild what had been lost. At first it had worked but then the old emnities had crept back and so they had seperated, returned to this ship and turned their backs on the people for whom they had so gladly fought before. He gazed out of the window down at Ragol...seven years they had spent travelling...looking for a new home and when it seemed they had found it, it was taken away. With sleep no longer an option he collected his equipment from its null-space storage. Perhaps some time in the combat simulator would take his mind off it. Leaving his appartment he hopped into a hover transport and selected the Hunters Guild as his destination.

As he pulled up in front of the Guild he was reminded of how much it had changed. Since the seperation from the general populus the quest had all but dried up. Now the Guild acted as a training centre, using the simulators to keep the Hunters skills sharp. The triple doors folded back and Death was greeted by a strange sight, a team of Hunters at the counter seemingly accepting a quest. Before this would have been an ordinary sight to him but now it seemed strange and out of place, who would be hiring them for a quest in these dark times? Unsure he approached the group looking to learn more about this sudden revival of the need for Hunter's services by the citizens of Pioneer City...

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SS_Death
Jun 13, 2002, 08:27 AM
(Ok while I wait here is an extension of Chapter 2)

In the Hunters Guild Pricipal Ricco was giving the mission briefing to the assembled Hunters when a figure enter through the doorway "Ah, Death. Good to see you could make it. You're a little late but never mind, you're here now and we can proceed..."

The Hunters all turned to look at the newcomer. Standing there was a tall, black armoured HUcast with deeply glowing red eyes. To many this was a suprise as there where very few HUcasts left. During the last aasult it had been the HUcasts who had formed a living shield around the Forces as they worked to banish Falz. Most of them where damaged beyond repair, the survivors had buried their comrades along side the humans and newmans. They would not be returned and salvaged for parts as is normally the case as gready traders are willing to pay vast sums of Meseta for them. Behind him was floating a large cape like mag, easily identified as an Apsaras type and in his left hand was a huge scythe. An S-Rank some of the hunters noted. He strode forward in to the room and took his place amongst the group.

Once they had all settled Principal Ricco continued her briefing...

Coming soon Chapter 3 - Back to Ragol

(Hopefully but opinions would be welcome so I know if I am heading in the right direction...)

SS_Death
Jun 14, 2002, 03:24 AM
(Oh well, doesn't seem to be anyone reading this atm but I'll post chapter 3 and see if that helps...)

Chapter 3 - Back to Ragol

"Welcome all of you. I asked you all to come here today because we have received a communication from the surface" this was greated by a mixed reaction from the assembled Hunters, following the events of reccent times they were all reluctant to get involved with anything that brought them in contact with the citizens of Pioneer 2..."It appears that they have a quest for us, a large one I might add." at this there was a reaction from one of the Hunters "Yeah! and why should we? After what they have done, let them rot!" Ricco sighed "I am aware of the abandonment and isolation they have brought upon all of us but still a job is a job. We are Hunters and no matter what that is what we do".

"How much are they offering?" came a voice from the back of the crowd

"11 million messesta per Hunter. Bonuses to be paid on swift completion" Ricco answered

This sent a rippl eof silence throught the crowd...11 million messeta, you could happily retire on that or buy the best equipment out there...a few thoughtful glances appeared on their faces, perhaps this was worth their while after all...

"How do we know this isn't a trap?" a pushy HUmar at the front asked "Why should we believe anything they tell us?"

"Because as Ricco said, we are Hunters and this what we do."

There was a particular force about that statement which left no room to argue yet the cocky HUmar intended to try turning round he looked for the source

"Come on!, who said that?!" he glanced wildly around eyeing the closest fellow Hunters to see if it had been them when a parting emerged and a figure stepped through...

It was Death, the HUmar was forced to crain his neck upwards as the andoid stopped merely inches from his face. Grabbing the unfortunate man by his tunic he pulled him up to eye level

"I said it." he said.

"Erm...er...never mind?" replied the HUmar, now obviously very uncomfortable dangling two feet above the ground. Death returned him to the floor and turned to face Ricco, nodded and settled down to listen again as Ricco continued. As she reached the end there was a chorus of agreement as the decision was taken to accept the quest.

Meanwhile the HUmar slunk off, obviously he had not liked being embarrassed like that. Having left the guild building he had headed down a side street into a dark reccess at which point he pulled out a highly modified military comms device

"AH-01 reporting, I was unable to stop Ricco from convincing them to take Tyrell's quest. A HUcast interferred when I tried, designated SectionId: REDRIA, name: Death"

"I see AH-01...very well. He must be removed also...Death! I knew that name sounded familiar! He was one of the Hunters involved in stopping Black Hound. He is trouble, I want him removed along with Ricco." the voice on the other end of the comms link replied

"Yes sir! I will ensure that they never make it back alive and that the other Hunters fail as planned."

On the other end of the comms link the mysterious figure grinned, perfect, soon the Hunters would be totally discredited and they would have the leverage needed to dispose of them completely, but...why? What threat were a mere group of Hunters to him? Then the voice came, whispering into his mind, the one he could not ignore "Kill the hunters, they are the only ones that can stop me...stop us..." as it faded he realised AH-01 was still waiting

"Proceed" he said and closed the link. Whatever this was he had been hearing it for the past what? Ten months, ever since Falz had been driven from Ricco and banished. Well that didn't matter now, when he was so close. Tyrell had no idea what was going on around him. Soon he would take over, he had the army and soon they would have no one left who could oppose them, soon they would be free once more...





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-07-10 04:10 ]</font>

SS_Death
Jun 18, 2002, 07:28 AM
[I don't think anyone is reading this...if you are please post 1 comment so I know how I am doing, please!]

Chapter 4 Part A - Consipracy Revealed

Led by Ricco the grouping headed towards the teleporter, "Alright, when we reach the surface of Ragol you are to divide into 4 Hunter teams. The assignments have been given, we will rendezvous back here at 301 beats. Good luck all of you" Ricco added before leading her group in to the teleporter and disappearing.

The first team stepped into the teleporter as it began to activate there was a sudden change in pitch, "Get out!" yelled Ricco but to no avail "Shut it down! NOW! She screamed as one of the Hunters flailed open the backup control pannel. Too late, as the power faded all that was left wheer the skeletons of the four Hunters that had stood there a minute ago. As they watched the skeletons turned to dust and disolved. Pulling out a small odd looking chip the RAmar pointed out the problem, someone had purposfully sabotaged the teleporter...

One by one the remaining teams stepped into the teleporter and vanished. Death's groups was one of the last to go. He had teamed up with some old comrades of his. Two HUmars, Ry0k0 and ShinAkuma and a FOnewm, Tim. He had been on a number of missions with them, even fought along side them during that last dreadful assault though he had got seperated from them when they were ambushed by a horde of Falz possessed Hunters. After Falz defeat he had searched the dead for them but could find no-one he recognised. Later after returning to Pioneer 2 he found them, they had not made it to the central chamber and so had joined the vanguard trying to keep the numerous minions of Dark Falz from reaching the teleporter to help their master.

As the forest slowly came into focus around them as the last fragments of the teleporter energy disappated the group began to scan their surroundings. Stangely Death's group had been assigned a location within 2 clicks of Ricco's, Death himself wondered if that was because he had spoken out...no matter, now all that mattered was the job at hand.

"This way" he signalled to the others. ShinAkuma had already started moving, he and Death had been working together for a while now and so each knew how the other worked with the minimum amount of communication. The other two, younger members took up their possitions and followed on into the dense terrain.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

"What was that!?" asked ShinAkuma "It sounded like a scream?" not waiting for the others to reply he ran off. Death stood there for a moment shaking his head, unfortunately his friend had but a single weakness...women. Whenever there was a woman in trouble he just had to get involved. He painfully remembered that fight they had got involved in with two HUnewms protecting some FOnewearl from their unwanted attentions. Making a sound like a sigh he ran after his friend beconing the others to follow him.

As he broke cover Death saw Ricco's team had also responded. Giving a brief nod of recognition Death moved forward to where ShinAkuma was kneeling "What was it?" he askeed, ShinAkuma gave no reply but simply held up a small audio transmission unit "What the h...!" one of Ricco's team began when a figure emerged, "Greetings. So glad to see you could make it." the HUmar addressed them."I wouldn't if I were you" he warned as one or two of the group made moved to attack him "You have no idea quite what you are dealing with, do you." This was not a question, at this a series of figures emerged from the shadows. Each held a armed photon rifle, military issue and wore a camoflagued uniform set to blend with their environment. "Now why don't you just lay down your weapons and come peacefully?" the HUmar ventured with a smirk turning, this would prove to be a major mistake.

As soon as he had finished turning Death lept forward and grabbed him round the neck from behind "As the troops reaised their weapons he called to them "No don't shoot! Hold your fire!" the leader looked at him and grinned "So what? We have orders for no Hunter to walk away from here alive, including you." a look of horror dawned on the HUmar's face. The leader took aim and...dropped to the floor dead. Behind where he stood a Bartle roared, followed by another as the creatures advanced on the men. Lacking the skills and experience of Hunters they were soon torn apart by the loathsome creatures. A few blasts from the Hunters scattered the fiends as they were too shocked to kill the hulking beasts.

The HUmar, still squirming in the huge HUcast's grip let out a cry "I'll tell you everything! But you gotta protect me!" the grip losened and he got free only to be grabbed by his collar and hauled up to the androids face "If you lie to us I will kill you myself. Understand?" gripped by fear the HUmar nodded quickly before being dropped to the floor following Ricco's words "Death, enough. Put him down..."

They had returned to Pioneer 2, one or two of the teams were yet to return but they had reported a little while ago so hopefully they were safe. The HUmar whose hame had been revealed to be Veg was sitting in a chair in the centre of the principals office surrounded by a crowd of angry Hunters being questioned by Ricco.

SS_Death
Jun 19, 2002, 05:47 AM
Chapter 4 Part B - Revelations

"I...I used work for a Force named Back Paper" this got a hard reaction from the crowd, Black Paper had been bad news. He had been kidnapping and robbing Hunters on the surface until Kroe Waynes posing as he sister Anna and some other Hunters had brought him in. The missing Hunters had never turned up until...

Death remembered, a RAcast he had met, acted as a mentor to him for a while even but then he disappeared. Round about the time the other Hunters vanished. He wondered what had happened until that day when they had gone to battle Dark Falz. Amongst those who had been possessed was his mentor. In shock he had been unable to act, forzen in horro at what he saw before him. As he watched a FOmar cast a Barta technique at the RAcast but to no avail, it shattered the ice and advanced on the unfortunate force. Desperately the FOmar tried a zonde but too late the RAcast lifted him from the ground and hurled him at a wall snapping his neck on impact. Seeing this Death flew into a rage, drawing his sword he had buried deep in his teachers chest, right down to the hilt of the huge photonic balde. As the light faded from the RAcast's eyes for an instant he was as he had been, a look of thanks, gone in an instant for freeing from what he had become. After that Death had shown no mercy, 20 possessed Hunters fell to his blade after that as he cut a bloody path to the teleporter the main team following behind. He knew that the attack on Falz was suicide, they had all accepted that before they had left but now he truely wished for death this day.

Snapping back to the present Death listened as the HUmar continued his story...

[Sorry have to put it on hold, something come up at work so will finish this when I get the time...]

[Ok, back now. Was out for a day but here comes the rest of the chapter. Enjoy!]

"...After Black Paper got nailed and Kireek got put out of commission I though I was off the hook. I had decided to go on with my life when I was dragged into a large hovercar by some military types. The man in their introdcued himself as the man behind Black Paper, that he knew all about me and all the things I had done. He said that if I didn't do as I was told then he would have me framed as an accomplice and tried for the murders or the missing Hunters!" his voice was geeting more hesitant now, fear was spreading over his face like wildfire "A little before this job came up he contacted me again, he told me that the coucil was about to make a request of the Hunters Guild and that not matter what they must fail. In addition Ricco was to be assasinated along with anyone else who stood in the way..." the man fell silent, gripped by fear he seemed unwilling to go on any further, Death with a quick gesture made him think otherwise "...He never told me his name!" the HUmar blurted out "But I do know his face...but if I tell you...he'll have me killed!" getting frantic now the HUmar was wildly looking all directions, looking for assassins, real or imagined all around him. "We will make sure that nothing happens to you." Stated Ricco in soothing tones, suddenly he jumped to his feet and grabbed Ricco by her lappels "No you don't understand. I'm not the only Hunter he owns, there are others, right here. The won't let me live because...because I can identify them, all of them!" at this point he slowly slid to the floor tears streaming down his face losing his grip on the front of Ricco's uniform.

Ricco began to make her way out of the thong of Hunters and motioned for Death to follow her. When they were out of earshot she spoke to him "Right, Death...I want you to protect him" at this Death gave a look of suprise, or rather the closest a HUcast could look to surprised, which in truth looked no different...except for the eyes. The point is best made that because of the lack of facial expressions available to a HUcast like eath the only way to read what they were feeling was their eyes. When Ricco had made that suggestion there had been a sudden increase in glow for a brief second, like a human open their eyes wider in suprise. "Why me?" he replied "Because I know that you are not one of them and you already want to kill him so I am quite sure that if anyone else comes after him you will stop them because otherwise they will deny you the chance." unfortunately Death could find little to say to this argument, it made sense...

So as the meeting broke up Death led the diminuative HUmar back to his small appartment in the REDRIA sector. As he opened the door he was more careful, there seemed to be nothing there so he pushed the HUmar inside and then followed.

The HUmar looked around the apartment, the walls were decorated in assorted tools of destruction. There was at least one or more examples of every HU class weapon available and one or two others as well. On one wall there was a recharge station but apart from that there was no furniture "Where am I supposed to sleep?" Death almost seemed to grin "On the floor. Goodnight." with these two statements he walked into the re-charger and went into sleep mode. The HUmar settled down on the floor, perhaps he could use one of these weapons to escape...but somehow he doubted it, as he remembered how the android had picked him up before he knew that he would stand little chance. As he lay there it finally dawned on him, this was the safest place, that android was crazy but he obeyed orders...Ricco had told him to protect him so nothing, and that meant nothing would harm him here...except...if his protector was one of them...desperately trying to clear that thought from his mind he fell asleep...

Meanwhile a block away a small goup where having a meeting, a RAmar in a dark red and black outfit and a HUnewearl with pink hair and a red claw...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-06-21 01:42 ]</font>

blitzer03
Jun 20, 2002, 04:32 AM
I think youre doing good... at least I think so!


Want a tic-tac?

SS_Death
Jun 21, 2002, 07:14 AM
Chapter 5 - Sacrifice

There was a noise, like a voice calling his name...but it was distant, still calling...calling...pushing away his dreams Death awoke. The HUmar was up a screaming at him "Death! At last! They're here!" he was gripped by fear and panic "You have to get out of here! Take Ricco this!" he pulled out a small data crystal and pressed it into Deaths hand "Here is everything I know, all of it...and one more thing" he paused slowly building the courage "...I...I have a favour to ask of you...please?!" Death looked at the man, for the first time since he met him he felt a pang of sympathy "Continue" the mans face brightened for a moment before returned to its prior look of fear and he continued "I didn't say it before, I though no-one would believe me but I have no time now...I had a younger brother, he had just finished his training a week before and had finally made the grade for access to the Caves. That was when the Hunters started disappearing...I went to look for him and that was when I met Black Paper, he told me he knew something about my brother but when I questioned him he refused, I...I tried to strike him but his two guards struck me down...he told me then that would have to do everything he said if I ever wanted to see my brother again..." his face look wretched now, as the pain of the past flooded back to him "I never saw him again, except...except once. He was one of the possessed Hunters. All of those who were lost during that incident where, I saw them myself...please, find the people who did that, to my brother and all the others, make them pay...for all of us!" With that he ran to the door, only now did Death notice that the HUmar held a high-grade explosive mine is his right hand. He ran forward to see to figures emerge and advance on the HUmar "Stop!" he cried but the two took no notice the HUmar turned to face him, smiled and triggered the mine...

The body of the HUmar was bathed in bright red flame as the photon mine ate through armour, then clothing and finally flesh and bone. Death was throw backwards by the force of the blast, back into the apartment. He tried to rise but could not and slumped back into unconsiousness.

By the time the auto repair systems had brought him round the two were long gone, the scorced metal where the HUmar stood remained, charred and melted by the force of the blast. His gaze turned to the crystal in his hand. What could be on this that was worth a man doing something like that? and who where those two he had seen, still his head was spinning from the shock though he vaguely remembered them, he knew he had seen them somewhere before...

"Well that solved that" the tall RAmar smirked "He won't be giving us away now" the HUnewearl with him did not look so confident "I'm not so sure...I know that android, I met him once in the Mines. Remember? We were after that research from the P1 scientist Dr Osto. Somehow I think we want to get off this ship for a while, down to the surface until the heat is off." the RAmar turned to look at his companion "Sue you worry to much. But I guess you're right, lets head down. Perhaps if we sneak into Pioneer City he won't be so eager to follow, of course knowing the recception Hunters get there." he smiled "How about posing as a couple?" he suggested, Sue turned to him "Don't go getting any ideas. It's a good cover but no more, k?" he fained a look of shock "Who me?" with this they made there way to the nearest teleporter and selecting the forest close to Pioneer City as their destination, vanished. In the shadows just back from where thay had been standing two red points of light glowed...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-06-21 05:42 ]</font>

SS_Death
Jun 21, 2002, 10:57 AM
*It worked this time! Hurrah! http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/twak.gif http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_yes.gif http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime2.gif

Chapter 6 - Humanity

Death stepped from the shadows. Hwe wanted more than anything to leave right there and then, to follow them to the surface and beat the answers out of them but he knew, he still had to report to Principal Ricco about the HUmar's death and hand over the data crystal he had given him. Moving to a comms unit he dialled in and explained the situation.

"I see. Don't worry there was nothing you could do." having Death allowed this to sink in as Ricco continued "Ok, now we need to send a team down there after them to infiltrate the city. I will keep you posted off course." Death was shocked at this statement "I request permission to lead that team!" Death immediately stated "Sorry, an android will only stick out like a sore thumb down there, particularly a HUcast..." considering his frame of mind she relented "...There is a way...but it is experimental and irreversable." Death undaunted asked "How?" Ricco sighed and continued "Dr Mome has developed a method of reverse cybernetics, that is implanting living components onto an android. However the process is untried and once performed cannot be undone. If you have it then you will be permanently half human from then on. Death, are you sure this is what you want?" he was suprised, of all the things this was not the one he expected...to be part human...no, it mattered not how. So long as he got revenge for him, the HUmar and all the others no price was too high. "Where do I have to go?" he asked.

He arrived a Dr Mome's lab. What had once been a thriving scientific area was now descolate and empty. Only two scientists had remained with the hunters and a smattering of their staff. Dr Montague and Prof. Mome. Montague had taken up a position as weapons researcher and Prof. Mome did biological research. He walked into the lab recception and was greeted by a tall blone haired human female "Hello, are you Death?" he nodded in reply "Wonderful, the proffessor has been expecting you, would you please come this way." She led him into a small office with a desk pilled high with paperwork behind which Professor Mome was barely visible "Ah hello!" he motioned for Death to be seated "Principal Ricco has informed of what you wish done. I must warn you again of the risks involved, this..." Death cut him off "How soon." Mome was a little taken aback by this but ralied magnificently "We can begin as soon as you have selected some details for me, obviously you are to be male and I assume you wish to keep your hieght and build as they are but there are certain characteristics that you need to choose, eye and hair colour and such" he handed Death a pad with a list of characteristics "Please fill that in and then we will begin.

Eye Colour: Greeny-Brown
Hair Colour: Black
Hair Length: Medium
Skin Tone: Pale

Having filled in the options he passed back the form. "Very well, please come with me to the lab." Prof. Mome rose to his feet and led Death in a labority and motioned for him to lye down on a large table extandend from a cylindircal unit set into the wall. "This device will make the necessary changes to your body and then will recordinate your systems to function as bio-neural. Finally it will provide your memory with all the details you will need to know about the differences in your new body constitution. Good luck." With that he pressed a button on the side of the cylinder and Death was slowly drawn into the cylindrical chamber inside the machine. As the chamber sealed he felt himself go light headed and he passed out.

When Death came to he felt different, he sat up to find that he was still on the table but it was now once again outside the cylinder. Prof. Mome was standing there watching him "Congratulations Death, the process has been completed". He walked to the door and called to his assisstant "Please can you get some clothes for Death, Death what would you like?" now here was an odd question unsure Death replied whatever was usual and all in black if possible. Mome then pointed him to a small locker room where he could change and returned to his office.

Death was examining his new body as Mome's assisstant knocked on the door "Enter" he called. As she came in the room she gasped, he eyes darted to bellow his waste, back to his face, then bellow his waist again then a second gasp and she turned around her face flushing. Death was somewhat confused at this behaviour "I something wrong?" he inquired http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_redface.gif "Er...no...sorry. It's just that you're...you're naked." Death was even more puzzled by this "I was naked before though." he saw no difference when he had first arrived he had been wearing no clothes "But then you were and android" she repied, still highly embarressed "Now you have the appearance of a man its a little different..." Death was still puzzled by this so he asked again "Why?" he looked at her "Because in human society being naked is something...intermate, you see?" Death still not fully understanding decided that it would be best for him to press this matter no further. "Here are your clothes" she said leaving them in a pile "I hope they fit had to guess your size" she said. He walked over and sensing this she became more nervous "Erm...I have some work to get back to, ok! See you later!" with that she fled the room once more leaving Death alone in the room. He approached the pile of clothes and picked up an item, it had large hole on one end and two smaller ones on the other. He tried to put it onto his head, Mome entered, burst into laughter "What is some funny Professor?" Death asked, Mome regaining his composure explained "Those are undergarments, the smaller holes are for your legs and the main one goes around your torso" Death tried and found they fit. "What about these others?" he pointed to the rest of the pile, item by item Mome explained. Soon Death was fully dressed. He wore a light weight black shirt with armoured jacket, a light pair of balck trousers and a pair of shinny balck shoes. Round his neck he had a collar with his section id, redria. His hair was swept backwards. Overall the effect was quite impressive particularly when combined with his height and build. Mome handed Death his comms unit and null-space storage unit and led him into the reception area "Very good. Now you need to report to Principal Ricco's office before your mission, there is a car waiting. Once again good luck and god speed" with this Mome turned and return once more to his office. As he passed Mome's assisstants desk he stopped "Thank you, for the clothes I mean" he said, at this she looked up at him and gasped "Are you alright? Is something wrong again?" she recovered and replied "No, sorry. It's just that...has anyone told you you were handsome before?" Death was now extremly confused "Erm, no." she smiled at him "Well they should, Ricco is a very lucky lady that's all I can say". Confused and more than a little bit afraid Death thanked her again and walked out of the lab and got into the waiting car.

"Perhaps being part human might be harder than I though" he mused to himself as the car sped towards the central section and Principal Ricco's office.





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-06-21 09:01 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-06-21 09:01 ]</font>

BWS-1
Jun 22, 2002, 09:16 AM
XD Man, I like it! Specially the last chapter and the naked part ... So true, I mean, you do know how androids' mind work XD.

Really good stuff http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: BWS-1 on 2002-06-22 07:20 ]</font>

SS_Death
Jun 22, 2002, 06:40 PM
(Wow! Thanks! Ok here comes chapter 7 however will be needing a female character to accompany Death. Volunteers would be welcome as I don't want to try and write in anyone else's character. Thanks all, here it comes...)

Chapter 7 - A New Team

As the hovercar sped towards the central district Death considered what had happened. The way the Proffessor Mome's assisstant face had glowed, blushing they called it. And the comments she had made...how was Ricco lucky? What exactly had she meant by that? It seemed to Death that there were many things about humans he didn't understand...putting these thoughts aside he concentrated on the issues at hand. Now Ricco should let him go on the mission to the surface...the only question was what would he do when he got there? How could he find a famale newman and a human in a population of thousands. He would have to sort that out when he arrived.

The car landed in the central section. Death got out and headed to the teleport pad. As he advanced he got a few looks from some of the Hunters who were wondering around this area. The males all had a look of what seemed to be a mix of anger and something else he was unsure of but seemed to be jealousy. The females however were looking interesed, but interested in a way he did not recognise. Hurrying forward he advanced to the teleporter and vanished. As he rematerialised he had a brief few moments to compose himself. More and more he was wishing that he had spent more time considering this change. Being human had far more consequences than he could ever had imagined, but now...now it was too late. He was part human now, there was no going back, no return to what he had once been. Resolved he began to advance down the long walkway that lead to the Principal's desk. As he approached he spotted another figure, female, standing to the left of the desk. He didn't recognise her but obviously she was to be a part of the mission he was to be involved in as she seemed to be waiting for him to approach.

"Death? I didn't recognise you at first. I am glad that the procedure was successful. This is..."

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-06-24 04:35 ]</font>

SS_Death
Jun 24, 2002, 07:27 AM
Ok, had an idea. Scratch the add (Sorry ladies) Here goes...

Chapter 7 Continued

"...Shino...but I thought you were..."

"...Staying with Zoke's body..." Shino replied

Ricco seemed a little puzzled "Do you two know each other?" at this Death began to answer but Shino cut him off

"Quite a while ago Great Sword Zoke went into the Ruins alone to try and defeat Dark Falz. Unfortunately he was unuccessful... At that time I had been in service to his family for generations and was lost without him so I put up a notice at the Hunters guild for someone to accompany me to find him. It was Death who took the job. He guarded me all the way, once or twice using himself as a living shield to protect me...when we found Zoke I was shattered. In some ways he had always been like a father to me and losing him was a loss I could not bear. I told Death I wanted to stay, he tried to convince me otherwise but I would not move. In the end he respected my wishes, left me some weapons so I could defend myself and returned to Pioneer 2 with Zoke's third sword. I wanted to go with him, to leave that awful place but I could not, I still was not ready to accept that Zoke was gone and to go on with my life..." Shino stopped, and then Death noticed something...there were tears in her eyes "How..." he began "Shino had undergone the same process as you have Death" Ricco interjected before he could finish. She too is now half human." Shocked he turned to look at Shino once more, truely she did look different, though she had maintained her appearance as it had been the skin was different, no longer the flat tones of the synthetics but now had the slightly varied hughes of living skin. Her long silver hair had more life to it as it was no onger held up but now drapped freely down her back to waist level. As he continued to look at her he felt a strange sensation, his face seemed to burn as did his groin! What was this?! He never knew something like this happen before? Once again he was learning that being part human had far more to it than he had ever realised. Quickly suppressing whatever was happening to him he turned his attention to Ricco and asked the question that had been on his lips since he had entered the office "When can I leave?" his tone had sounded stearner than he had meant it to be but he was nervous and he could feel the sensations trying to creep up on him again and was desperate to get out of here and figure out what was happening to him.

"15 beats time. I have organised a transport site for you and had identification materials manufactured for the both of you."

Death paused for a second "For...the both of us?"

"Yes. I will be going with you." Shino replied. Before he could say any more Ricco continued

"Dr Montague is preparing some covert communications devices for you so you can keep in contact with us up here and one another without raising suspision. Now here " she began bringing up a data screen in front of the two " is your cover story and details".

The two of them looked at the screen as Ricco continued "You are posing as a pair of young Hunters who retired just after the defeat of Falz. We ahve managed to procure an appartment in the REDRIA sector in Pioneer City for you to use." the two continued to read the data file "We had to set you up as retired Hunters as otherwise there would be no explanation for you weapons and equipment..." suddenly Death and Shino both stopped, a single line had caught their eye 'Status: Newly Weds' Shino remained silent "...er...married?" was all Death could muster "This was vital to your cover story." Ricco supplied "There are very few explanations for a pair of people going outside the city and the one that attracts the least attention is a pair of newly weds going out side for some 'recreational activities'..." Ricco started to flush just a little "In order to blend in we have had to give the indication that you were working as Hunters to build up enough Messeta to get married and when you had you retired. Just giving up the lifestyle is not enough, there had to be a palatable reason for you starting in the first place to avoid drawing the attention of the anti-Hunter factions." Ricco paused, waited for the two to say something, ask a question, yet there was silence so she went on "Right, with that understood report to Dr. Montague for equipping and be at the Whitall teleporter at 217. Dismissed."

As the two rose and made to leave the office Ricco called out "One more thing...there is a chance that you may be watched so try and...and keep in character ok?" they both nodded, though neither of them were sure of what that meant. They walked into the teleporter and returned to the central section main street before hailing a hovercar and heading off to Dr Montague's lab.

Inside the hovercar all was silent. Neither Death nor Shino spoke, still puzzled by Ricco's final words and stunned by the fact that they were to pose as a married couple they knew not what to say.

The hovercar pulled up in front of Montague's lab building, from inside there were the sounds of weapons testing but oddly there was no-one about. Normally there were always a few Hunters looking for a weapon to be made or modified but now it was deserted. Unknown to the two Ricco's had made sure the area was clear before hand. She wanted no-one except Mome, Montague and herself knowing about these two or their mission. They walked in and were greeted by a figure in a crimson oufit wearing huge two colour glasses holding a huge gun that looked somewhat like a Chaos Bringer's weapon but not quite the same "Hello there, I'm glad to see the both of you again" reacting to their looks of worry "Calm down Principal Ricco has already briefed me on the whole thing and I have talked to Mome about it. You needn't worry, you're secret is safe with me. Now Shino if you could come over here I would like you to try this weapon" he indicated the odd looking rifle he was holding "Isn't that a C-Briners rilfe?2 Death asked "Good eyes! However you are not quite right..." Death puzzled looked at the gun again, now Shino had taken it from Montague and was weighing it up in her hands "...strange" she said as she felt the shape of it "I have used a C-Bringers before but this seems slightly different, the barrel is elongated and wider..." Montague smiled "So glad you noticed that my dear "You are both right, it looks similar to a C-Bringers rifle because it is pateren along the same lines but instead this paticular weapon was made with the arm of a Dark Bringer!" Shino and Death were taken aback, Dark Bringers were far rarer and more dangerous than a normal Chaos Bringer, how had Montague got hold of such a specemin? "I can see the question in your faces, this happened to be a item brought to me by one of the Hunters quite a while ago. After slaying a Dark Bringer he had taken the arm with him, he gave it to me asking if I could make a weapon from it, I replied that I thought I could, after that he left. Unfortunately I never saw that Hunter again, last thing I heard he had gone after a swordsman who had left for the Ruins..." the two gasped, Death recovered first "Was his name by any chance Bernie?" Montague looked up at Death's face "Yes, oddly enough, it was. Why do you know him?" Death looked downcast wand was supprised when Shino buried her head into his shoulder and began to cry softly "Is something wrong?" Montague asked softly of Shino, Death without realising it wrapped his arm around Shino "He's dead...Shino and I found him in the ruins dying." Montague was tacken aback "What was he doing there?" then seeing the look in Death's eyes Montague pressed it no further, "I'm sorry." he turned once more and returned to his work bench where a second weapon lay...

Hold on a sec, not quite done with this but have to sort something. Will finish in a mo

Right, here it comes...

"Now this" Montague picked up the long scythe like weapon "was originally crafted from a Gran Sorcerer's staff. However as you are a hunter rather than a force Death, I remodeled it into this scythe. Interestingly it has one very special feature" he handed the wepon to Death "Try out the special attack mode" Death looked at the weapon, turned away from the others and flicked the switch...nothing happened..."It didn't wor..." he began as suddenly a mug on a bench was suddenly surrounded by golden light and exploded. Montague, looking slightly miffed (That had been his favorite mug!) expalained "The scythe still retains a quantity of the Gran Sorcerer's power and so is able to cast Grants, exactly as the sorcerer did...Moving on there is one more item I have for both of you" he held up two collars bearing their section id's "These are exact copies of the bracelet that you are wearing now, with one or two exceptions. First they have build in communicators with a locator beacon, this is activated by pressing your hand onto the section is symbol. Secondly it has a technique simulator. As humans you would have at least knowledge of the rudimentary techniques and this will allow you to mimic them if it is required. However this can only be performed ten times so be sparing. Very well, that is all." with that he handed them the collars. After putting them on Death plucked up the courage to ask Montague a question "Erm...Dr...Ricco said something to us before we left...about keeping in character...what did she mean by that?" Montague shook his head "Oh my, that is a bit of an awkward question. No matter, here" he passed Death a data crystal "This contains an approximate breakdown of the living routines of a human couple, when you get a chance I suggest you both review it, it will be most...instructive" not fully sure and slightly perturbed by the grim on the Doctor's face he took the crystal and placed it in null space. Then weapons stored he and Shino made their way back out to the hovercar and off to the Whitall sector and the teleporter located there.

Once more the journey went in silence, however to his surprise Death noticed that Shino was tightly gripping his hand this time. Unsure what to do he instead said nothing and instead turned his mind to the battle that where to come.

As the hovercar pulled into the central area once more Death was truck at how deserted it was. It seemed that Ricco was taking no chances. Shino got out of the car, still gripping his hand tightly, he followed and they advanced towards the teleporter. As Ricco came into sight he noticed the pressure on his hand was gone, looking down he saw Shino had let go. Puzzled he still remained silent as Ricco wlaked up and greeted them "Hello. Glad to see you both here. Are you both ready?" they nodded "Righ, very well. The coordinates are set for a clearing about half a click from the edge of the city, you should be there just before nightfall. Good luck." She shook there hands and led them to the teleporter. They stepped in and Ricco turned and walked to the controls facing away from them. As Ricco's hand was about to activate Shino gripped Death's hand once more and she whispered to him "Don't leave me ever again" before he could reply the teleporter flared into life and they vanished...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-06-24 06:05 ]</font>

SS_Death
Jun 24, 2002, 11:24 AM
Ok, bit stuck with stuff at work so may as well try and write chapter 8 whil;e I wait for the mental block to clear...

Chapter 8 - Pioneer City

They rematerialised in a clearing in the forest. Before them, just above the line of the trees they could see the main dome of Pioneer City. It was a sight to see the dome as it was now with hovercars and low level aircraft zipping around it, just ahint to the bustle going on inside. Already the multiple expansions to the original design could be seen and it seemed many more where on the way. Shino turned to Death, smiled, and headed of into the forest with not another word about what she had said just moments before, to Death it had seemed like an eternity...getting a grip he pulled himself back to the present. Noticing he could no longer see her he hurried off in the direction that Shino had gone...

The sun was setting over the city when the two arrived at the east gate. There where a couple of soldiers there, according to their briefing the soldiers montiered access at dawn and at dusk before the city gates where to be shut for the night.

"Halt! Who goes there?" called one of the guards two the two approaching figures. He was quite young and only joined up in the last few months. Nervously holding his rifle he repeated the question "Who goes there? Step into the light where I can see you!" the two figures moved forward "Oh" he had been expecting something more sinister than what seemed to be a young couple "What where you doing out there at this time?" he quized them, the woman looked away shyly just before the man said "...recreational activities..." chuckling the guard looked at the nman and then the woman. Hmmm, would mind some 'recreational activites' himself, maybe he would visit his girlfriend later. "Best be in earlier next time, ok? The gates close at 300 so try and get back earlier next time." The two nodded and he waved them through. As the man pased he pulled him to one side and said in hshed tones "You know its really dangerous out there, what would you do if a monster came on you when you were in the middle of those 'recreational activities' of yours?"

Death was puzzled by this comment, still unsure what exactly 'recreational activities' where so he replied as best he could "Fight them off I suppose"

"Fight them off! Whoa, but how when you're...and she's..."

To Death the guard looked very suprised, he wondered why

"Er...ok...if you say so...but be careful in future ok?" he paused "You better get going, I've kept you long enough. Don't want to get in the bad books otherwise there'll be no more 'recreational activities for you!"

The guard laughed and Death still confused joined in not to seem out of place, gave his thanks and hurried after Shino to further laughs from the guard.

"What took you so long?" Shino asked him when he caught up with her "The guard wanted to warn me about the dangers of 'recreational activities', he asked me what I would have done if we had been attacked by monsters and when I told him I would fight them he seemed very suprised, what else would I do?" Shino agreed "Yes, perhaps these 'recreational activities impede your ability to fight in some way...oh well, was that all?" Death thought back to the last comment the guard had made "Yes, thats it." he then hailed a hovercab and open the door for Shino and then followed closing the door behind him.

"Where to?" asked the driver "REDRIA sector" Death replied. The hovertaxi sped off. "So you two newly weds?" The driver called back to them, Death had not expected this, he had never been good at small talk as human called it but before he could think of a reply Shino answered "Yes, been little over two weeks now" remembering something she had seen humans do she wrapped her arms round Death and put he head on his shoulder, the driver nodded knowingly "Ah to be young again...REDRIA sector, wow! quite a nice district. How a couple of kids like you aford it?" before either of them could answer he continued "Got jobs as Hunters right?" suprised and worried they just nodded, once again a knowing smile "Now you might be wondering how I could tell, cause my grandpappy was a Hunter. Even after he retired he had that look about him, like someone who has lived life on the edge. Don't worry" he eased as the pair where looking increasingly nervous "As I said I have hunters in the family, I won't tell anyone. It was a shame about what happened, you know alot of people feel bad about it but they didn't know what to do. You know there are even rumours that someone purposefully engineered it all. Can you believe that?" they paused and then nodded "Good!" he replied "Cause its true!" they were very taken aback by this "By the way when you next speak to Ricco tell her to call her father, he hasn't heard from here in two months" now Death was on the alert "Who are you?" he questioned, a definite edge coming into his voice "Calm down" the man replied "I work as one of the liasons between the Hunters and citizens, how do you think Ricco got you that apartment eh? There are some of us here who don't like what's goin on and are trying to fight against it. I'm Mev by the way, Mev Balour" Mev turned and extended a hand which Death considered for a moment and then shook. "If you two need anything contact me, k?" he handed Death a small pad with his mail on it. Turning back to the road he called "Almost there, see that big building up ahead, that's the REDRIA Titan building. You're apartmetn is in there."

The cab pulled up at the entrance to the building and the pair got out "That'll be 75 meseta sir" Mev called loudly, Death bent down to pay him and as he did Mev whispered "Careful, the ANCB have eyes everywhere"

"The who..." Death began but Mev had already gone. Meeting with Shino they advanced to the front of the building where the newman on the door greeted them with a smile, shook Death's hand in doing so plamed him a data key, Death looked in the newman's eyes the man winked. Then he opened the door and the two of them walked into the reception of the Titan building.

"Wow!" said Shino under her breath "This building is really impressive. Death was forced to agree, the architecture was magnificent. Not wanting to dawdle in public he led her to one of the internal teleporters and selected the eleventh floor.

They emerged on a light blue carpeted hallway, the walls where painted a slightly deeper shade of blue and the ceiling a very pale shade. They advanced along the corridoor to their apartment T4-11-D, Death inserted the key into the door and opened it. Before Shino could enter he recalled something he had seen a human do when taking his bride into their home. Deftly he scooped Shino up in her arms and carried her into the room...

...*Crash*...

"Ow!" Death pressed the ice against Shino's head "What was that all about?!" Shino was upset, he had accidentally caught her on the door frame as he had carried her inside, she wasn't hurt, just a little sore and more than a little angry at being suprised like that "Sorry, its just something saw a human do with his bride once, I believe its a tradition" he looked downcast. Shino seeing his mournfull expression cooled off "Alright, stop moping. Just tell me next time ok?" Death promised and so they settled into the apartment. First they took an inventory of the place. They were in the lounge, it had a large comfy sofa and two armchairs with a screen mounted in the facing wall. A desk with a terminal and another chair and four doors leading off it. The first door lead into a kitchen, it had been well stocked and was large enough to accomodate a table with four chairs around it. Next was the bathroom, there was a walkin bath and a shower and two matching sinks. The third door opened into a small room, there was another sink in there and something else...Death inspected the thing, it was odd. Like a seat but with a hole and water in the bottom...what could this be for? Humans are very strange creatures he thought before reminding himself he and Shino were both half human now. The final room was a bedroom. As they open the door they both breathed a sigh of reief until..."There's only one bed..." Shino exclamed "Er...it appears to be very large..." comented Death swallowing, he had a suspision about this but kept his thoughts to himself "How exactly are we supposed to manage with only one bed?" Shino asked "Erm..." Death began "...oh..." Shino cut him off "...I see..." I think that it is so large because it is meant for us both..." Death was definately worried by this "Perhaps we should watch the crystal now? That might make it clearer" he quickly intoned, desperately trying to avoid the possible complications that may arise of such a thing.

They sat down on the couch and Death inserted the crystal into the player. Ricco's face appeared on the screen...

"Hello both of you. By now you should have settled in. his crystal contains a brief description of the interactions and lifestyle of a typical human couple. It is vital that you become used to these behaviours and are able to mimic them, failure to do so will result in suspision and addtional dangers. On another note you must destroy this crystal after watching it, this is one time only so listern carefully..."

Ricco began explaining various aspects of human life including eating, drinking, socialising, etc. both Shino and Death were very suprised and more than a little shocked at what the thing in that small room was used for. Finally Ricco moved onto a issues relating to Shino and Death as a couple...

"Right, there are a number of things that you are considered normal behaviour for a couple. First of which is the simplist. Couples talk to one another in a diffent way, there is an inflection to their voices and actions indicating a deep attraction. Practice this often.

Secondly, physical contact. Holding one another, holding hands, etc. are signs once again of a pairing.

Third, now this one and the next are getting a little more odd...kissing. Now this is very important. There are a number of ways of doing this, a complete list is listed at the end. The principal is you both press your lips against one anothers then open your mouths and kind of meld them together repeatedly" there was a quick demo movie then Ricco's image returned "Now you two try...that's is an order"

Both were alittle worried by this but as it was an order they tried. First they bumped their noses together. Feeling a bit sheepish they angled their heads abit and tried again...

...About a minute later Ricco said "Ok, that's enough". The two broke contact, they were breathing hard. Neither had ever experienced anything like this before...shaken they darred not say a word and turned back to the screen.

"Right...well...I am sure by now you have seen that there is only one bed in this apartment at may have come to a number of conclusions. The fact is that human couples sleep...well..." Ricco was obviously having trouble with this imediately making Death suspisious that something starnge was going to happen "...human couples sleep together. There I said it" Ricco breathed. Death stared, then at Shino, back at the screen, at Shino, held there for a second, then quickly back at the screen "Er..." beofre he could continue Ricco began talking again "I know you are both probably shocked by this but there is more to come..."

Ricco inhaled again and pressed on "Sleep is not the only activity that human enguage in in bed. I am sure you both remember the 'recreational activities' story I told you to use, well this is what that actually meant..." what followed was very very frightening from Death's point of view...he had never expected human to get up to... well, this! When the presentation finished Ricco came back on screen "You have to understand that this is an activity that all human couples enguage in thus not doing so will arouse great suspission. I cannot order you this time, if you do this it must be of your own free will. Alright, that concludes this crystal. Good luck and farewell..."

The screen grew dark...Death and Shino sat in silence...Death stood picked up the crystal and went into the kitchen.

Death put the crystal into the disposal unit then paused. That activity, that was what they had been saying they had been doing...no wonder the guard didn't believe him when he had said he would fight off any monsters...

As he stood there lost in thought Shino entered, he began to speak but she placed a finger over his lips. She moved closer wrapped her arms around him and stood there holding him. After he few moments he did the same, wrapping her in his powerful arms. He spoke softly "I will never leave you". Hearing his words she looked up into his deep set eyes "Promise?" she asked "Promise." he replied. She lay her head against his chest and listened to his heart beating...

SS_Death
Jun 25, 2002, 06:52 AM
Note: I am borrowing the club from Hunewearls' Night Out...fanfic by haterade. Hope you don't mind if I use it, thanks. Will also be featured more in the next chapter, hope this is ok. Thanks again, SS_Death

Chapter 9 - A New Day Dawns

Death lay there listerning to Shino's breathing as she slept. It was strange, he had never slept before. For androids yo just entered a kind of shutdown state that was similar to sleep but it could be brought on at will. Sleep it seemed came when you least expected it and never when you called it...

They had let go of one another and wondered into the bedroom, there they had found a special set of clothes humans called pyjamas. These were similar to normal clothes but they were meant for bed only. Shino began to undress and Death felt his face going red like that assisstant had back on Pioneer 2, now he understood more of what was causing this and gathered his things and went into the bathroom to change. Behind him Shino was blushing too. Death quietly changed into the pyjamas and before re-entering the bedroom knocked on the door softly "Shino, are you dressed?" there was no reply so he began to open the door when she called "No!" he jumped back then relising his mistake tried desperately to stop the door from opening. He was a little too late and quickly covered his eyes "Death? Whay have you got your eyes closed?" Death was slighly worried "Er...because you said you were not dressed?" Shino laughed, a pleasent sound that sent tingles down his spine "Open your eyes" Death slowly opened them to see Shino standing there fully clothed "See? Nothing to worry about." Death was puzzled "But...? he began "Stop asking silly questions and come to bed. We have a long day ahead of us." With that she walked over to him, grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the bed before getting into it and pulling the covers around her "Coming?" she asked him innocently. Death was starting to feel very warm, he walked around to the other side of the bed and slid under the covers, he then reached over and turned off the lights. He settled himself on his back and waited to sleep when Shino's put her right arm around him and leant her head on his right shoulder. Death was once more a little frightened by this, that worried him all the more. He had fought hideous monsters without so much as a second though but having her this close to him made him uneasy...

He awoke, he looked to his right and saw and empty space, panicing he lept from the bed and began to frantically search for her, calling her name "Shino! Shino!" but there was no answer, he ran out into the hallway still calling ran madly, desperately searching, searching! Then the light went out and he was surrounded by darkness and alone...

He sat up violently breathing heavily. What was that?! It was like the nightmares before but...stronger...if that was what sleep brought then he resolved not to sleep again...he turned at Shino's voice "What's wrong?" she looked concerned, getting a grip on himself Death replied "I just had a dream. Do not worry about me. Go back to sleep" she kept looking at him then leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek before lying back down and drifting off into sleep again. Death remained a he was, raised his had to his cheek where Shino had kissed him, what had that dream meant? It was nothing like the dreams he had once had, nightmares of the terrible day when he had seen so many lost to darkness. It was strange...when he had woken and found Shino there all the fear had gone...what was happening to him? What was this feeling that welled up inside him...love...an emotion he had heard humans speak of many times, an emotion Ricco had told them about in the data crystal...he was falling in love with Shino...how? why?...he could answer neither of these, what if she doesn't love me, he considered, best to keep this to myself for now. The mission comes first he told himself, and almost believed it...

He awoke again, now it was morining, the first rays of sunlight coming in through the windows as they automatically changed to let in the morning light. That was twice he did not remember falling asleep, it had just come upon him. Then he noticed, the space beside him was empty! Where was Shino? He pulled back the cover and lept from the bed searching, he opened the door and walked into the living room. A sound caught his attention, it was coming from the bathroom...as he approached the door he could hear water? Unsure he stood there for a moment just before the water stopped, a few seconds later Shino emerged, Death went bright red, Shino was wearing only a towel "Er...erm...morning" he said weakly. She looked at him, smiled, reached over and kissed him and then walked into the bedroom and closed the door. "Guess its my turn then" Death said to himself.

He disrobed and stepped into the shower unit. "Brrrrrrr!!!" he was greeted by a spray of icy cold water, this too was new to him, he watched as he shivered from the cold and his skin began to pimple, goose bumps they were called. Death wondered what a goose was but it seemed that no-one really knew. It was just a phrase that had been passed down and the origins lost in the lists of time. Reaching to the dial he adjusted the temperature until it was warm and began to wash. Strange, humans had to wash all the time as their bodies continuously refreshed themselves leaving layers of dead skin on the surface, Death had been quite horrified when he had first heard this (Androids have no such problem as their outer skin is metal) but slowly he was learning to adjust. Shower completed he dried himself off, wrapped a towel around his waist and left the bathroom in search of some clothes.

He wondered out of the bathroom and across the living room into the bedroom. As he walked in the room he found Shino, still in her towel brushing her hair "How was your shower?" she asked him "Ok...new at first but I think that I could get used to it." he walked to the wardrobe and pulled out some items, then as he turned to leave she called "Where are you going?" he pointed towards the door and replied "To the bathroom, to dress." she nodded "Ok.". Death was not sure but he thought that there was an inflection in the way she had said that, almost as if she was...disappointed...pushing it from his mind he left the room. Shino stopped brushing her hair and her mag floated from under the bed and landed on her lap "Oh Elnoa" she sighed "Do you think he knows how I feel about him? Do you think he feels the same about me?..." Elnoa bleeped a response "Really, you do. Oh I'm so happy." Shino smiled "And don't think I've forgotten about you, you know that Apsaras of Death's is quite cute Elnoa glowed red for a second, Shino giggled "Looks like we both have our hearts set then." She smilled again and Elnoa returned to Shino's null-space. Shino stood up, walked to her wardrobe and selected a loose fitting black top and a pair of loose fitting trousers both in black along with a set of undergarments. As she pulled on her top she suddenly noticed a strange smell, intrigued she stepped out of the bedroom and into the living room...

A coughing noise was coming from the kitchen, worried she called out to him "Are you all right?", when there was not reply she hurried to the kitchen and opened the door...a cloud of smoke billowed out at her "Death? Are you in here?" he emerged from the cloud "Sorry..." he looked downcast "I was trying to make us some breakfast but I appear to have burnt it, quite badly I might add..." she reached over and kissed his cheek "That was nice of you, but don't worry. I'm sure that you will get better at it with practice" he brightened up at this "Well there are still some things left, I could try again!" before he could make a move she put a hand on his shoulder "No, you've done enough for now. Sit down and I'll make us something" doing as he was told Death pulled out one of the chairs surrounding the kitchen table and sat down. Shino went to the cold storage and a few cupboards and began the task of clearing up the mess and making some food.

Death put his knife and fork together. That was the first time he had ever eaten food, it was a pleasant experience even if he had a few false starts, much to Shinos amusement. He had frowned a bit at her laughing at him trying to handle the cuttlery but had returned the favour when she tried. She had grumbled and walked off to the sink so he had got up, walked over and wrapped her in his arms. She made a play of ignoring him but soon she gave in, turned and flicked water at him. He was a little surprised and let go before chasing her round the kitchen finally cataching hold of her and taking her into his embrace once more. They stared into each others eyes and kissed again. Then they sat down to finish their, now cold, breakfast.

They finished breakfast and set the plates to wash when there was a ring at the door. "Who could that be?" Shino asked him "I don't know" he replied even though he feared the worst "Wait here while I check" he told her "Be carefull" she told him as he went out the kitchen door. He carefully approached the door and checked the viewer to see Mev standing there smiling "Hey!" Mev called "You gonna let me in or what?" suprised Death opened the door "What are you doing here?" he asked "I'm here to take both of you to work" he replied "Work?" Death was getting used to this, it seemed that suprises lurked around every corner at the moment, he called to Shino "It's all right. It's only Mev". Shino emerged from the kitchen "Hello Mev. What brings you here?" Mev smiled "Your husband here just asked me that same question. I came to take the both of you to work, you see you need to blend in so jobs where an important part of it. No don't look like that, we got a briefing first and we found you things that are appropriate and can help in your mission." he paused for breath, letting this sink in and continued "Death, we got you working at a club, the Hunters Palace, as a barman. Lot of people go in there, great place to pick up gossip and maybe some leads." He turned to Shino "For you we got a job in the health center. Alot of people pass through there and many off them can be a bit talkative, particularly when they have had a bit to drink..." heading to the door he motioned for them to follow "Come on! We have got to get a move on." Death and Shino looked at one another and followed Mev out the door...

SS_Death
Jun 25, 2002, 10:02 AM
Here is 10, 11 follows in a few seconds...

Chapter 10 - The Hunters Palace

The cab pulled up in front of the Hunters Palace. Death had heard about this place when it had been back on Pioneer 2, quite a rough joint back then, he wondered if it had changed at all, suddenly Shino interrupted his train of thought "Hold on! I know this place! This was the roughest club on Pioneer 2, they closed it down after a spate of violence errupted one time too often! You cannot expect him to work there?!" Death began to try and make a move to calm her down when Mev interceeded "Don't worry about it, it's got a lot better now, a friend of mine took it over not long after the move. It's pretty much cleaned up now but it still attracts a fair number of the shadier side of life down here. It's a good place to find people who don't want to be found..." Shino clamed a bit "...well I guess..." Death gave a sigh of relief "...but if anything happens to him I will hold you responsible." there was a worrying seriousness to her tone as Shino said that, Mev even looked a little scared and nodded, then Shino turned to Death "Be careful, ok?" he nodded, kissed her farewell and got out of the cab. "Hey, Mev called to him, getting out of the cab, he was glad to be away from Shino for a second, the way she had said she would hold him responsible had him very worried "When you get there say you want to see Malcot, tell them Mev sent you, k?" Death nodded "I'll be back to pick you up tonight after you're shift, and please, for my sake try to stay in one piece" Death couldn't help himself and laughed, agreed and bid Mev farewell. Mev went back to the taxi and drove off, Shino waved as they went and he waved back to her until they were out of sight. Then he turned and wlaked up to the entrance of the club.

"Hey, hold it right there buddy!" the newman on the door said "Where do you think you're going?" Death starred at the newman "I'm here to see Malcot, Mev sent me." the newman visibly relaxed, then looked him up and down "So you're the bartender he recomended, piece of advice keep on your guard. Malcot is a bit...eccentric ok? Keep you guard up" then he lead death inside. The interior was quite large with a bar on the right and series of tables on the left side. The middle was dominated by three raised stages with poles reaching form the floor to ceiling and in the back was a stage with a music center and in front another small stage with a microphone "Hey Malcot!" the newman called to a stocky looking figure just beind the bar "Here's that bloke Mev sent for yah!" Malcot called across "Send him to my office, I'll speak with him there" the newman motioned towards a door to the left of the rear stage "In there, first floor at the end of the corridoor. That's his office, just go up there and wait for him." Death thanked him and the newman wondered off back to the door. Death made his way towards the door, as he walked he took in the feel of the room, he could see that this place had been carefully designed, the tables where mostly set so as not to catch the light, a place where people could get a little anonymity...he continued on, open the door to find a winding stairwell leading up. When he reached the top he went down the corridoor as he had been told and went in the door and sat down in a chair in front of the desk. Before he could really take note of the layout of the room Malcot entered and took up his chair behind the desk "So you're the one Mev thinks would make a good barman huh? Said you had no experience at it but you were a hunter, that true?" Death nodded "Hmmm, we'll see" Malcot mused, his right hand dropped under the desk for a second and came back with a saber "Hah!" he cried pointing the saber at the chair where Death had been sitting a second ago but now there was only thin air, he felt the barrel of a gun pushinto his neck and a voice right by his left ear said "I assume this is what you were looking for?" Malcot switched off the saber "Woah! You're fast boy! That newman down there, got halfway before I got stumped him" Mev said you were good, damn he was right...should a known...he's a whily sonof a bitch that Mev..." Malcot eased a bit "Hey! You gonna take that pistol out my neck and sit down so we can talk now?" Death obliged. He walked round and sat down again. "You know you are something else...sorry about that but I test all my people that way. If you can't handle yourself in a fight then you ain't no use here. That's why only mostly employ ex-hunters" Death was intrigued "Are there a lot of fights?" he asked, Malcot just grinned "Nope" Death was puzzled by this but then it dawned on him "Ok, so there aren't any fights 'cause you're people are a damn sight faster than the customers so they are always gonna lose right?" at this Malcots grin grew even wider "Got it in one. Within a week no-one started any more trouble cause before they could get a weapon one of the staff had one on them. Of course there's always the odd trouble maker who just don't learn and the occasional drunk that needs to be shown the door but on the whole it quite peaceful." Death thought back to the room below "What were those poles for?" he asked "Oh, those. We'll those are for the girls, you see this club has some 'erotic' dancers you see, thats another reason I like ex-hunters, discorages the patrons from getting too friendly. You're married ain't ya?" Death nodded "Thats good. All my men are married, keeps em from gettin too friendly with the dancers themselves. You know that newman down there, his little sister is my star dancer." Malcot's face hardened "You know she threatened to quit if I didn't keep him on when I found out they were related...what could I do, she's my star dancer...whily as a fox that one. You'll probably meet her at some point, generally she's ok when trouble starts but sometimes...last man in your job did nothing when a group a soldiers where geeting far too friendly. That boy down there showed em the door, just before that fool put out the bartender. A word to the wise, keep an eye on her and you and he will get along just fine." Malcot eased back again and continued "About your wages, they're 750 meseta a week, dman site higher than any other guy pays but I pay the best so I expect the best. Understood?" he stared at Death loking for an answer "Understood." Death replied. "Good, now lets get you down there, and I have Nav show you the ropes.

When they returned downstairs Death was properly introduced to Nav, that was the newman's name. Nav had also been a Hunter, racked up a fair time but when it all turned cold he had come to work here. When Death questioned him about his sister he shrugged "Saw her on that stage and said to myself what the hell is she doing here. Tried to talk her out of it but she wouldn't listen, I spoke to Malcot and when he heard that she was my sister he was close to giving me the sack until she stepped in. Threatened him with quitting there and then if he didn't keep me on. After that she came out of his office an chewed me to hell. Wot could I do, it's what she wants." he shrugged again and handed a glass to Death "So what about you then? Any family? Married?" Death put down the glass "Yes." Nav laughed, don't say much do you?" he joked, Death replied with a "No." that sent Nav into a fit of laughter, Death couldn't quite see the joke put kept quiet. Once Nav regained his composure he asked "So how did you meet this wife of yours?" Death allowed the cover story they had been given to flow into his mind and began to explain...

"It was a day about two months before it all went to hell, I saw her wondering around the shopping district of the REDRIA zone where I lived and was struck by how beautiful she was. At the time I didn't think that anyone like that would ever be interested in me, then some punks started bothering her so I walked over and indicated to them that it might be an idea to leave her alone. They didn't take the hint so I clobbered a few of em, unfortunately one of em got behind me and caught me round the back of the head but by then security had been called and they ran. They took me to the med center and she went with me, holding my hand all the way there."

Quickly recalling a phrase he had heard used Death continued...

"I'm sure you've heard of love at first sight, heck from the sounds of it you had it too...(This set Nav of laughing again) anyway, we were in love and we wanted to get married but we had no money. Thing was we had both done Hunter training, worked the odd job before the landing so we decided to get our licences renewed and join the guild again until we could save up enough to get married. We were close when the whole spit flared up. At that point we decided we wanted to saty here so we retired, we both searched around getting jobs here and there until we saved enough for the wedding and an appartment and then bout two weeks back we went through the ceremony and bought an apartment. Unfortunately not long after the work dried up, that was when I met Mev. He told me about this place and set me up with a job, my wife too. Said he had some friends at the health center so she's working there now." Nav looked suprised "Strange coincidence, my wife works there too..." he chuckled "...I remember when I told her what had happened with my sister she chewed me out too...said I should let her do what she wanted and to thank her for saving my butt. Well to cut it short next day I suprised em both with flowers and a sorry and I was back in their good books."

Nav turned and looked at the time "Whoa! We gotta get back to work! Its 200! We open in 30 beats!" he rushed off "Ok, gotta tell Mie then get back on the door. Good luck!" with that he dashed off in towards the rear door and was gone. Death busied himself with getting used to handling the glasses and all the drinks and their prices. He wondered what this place was like when it opened...

SS_Death
Jun 25, 2002, 10:03 AM
Chapter 11 as promised. 12 is in the works as we speak

Chapter 11 - The Medical Center

Mev stopped the hovercab outside the Medical Center, the one in the REDRIA zone was very impressive. Fair amount of traders were around here so the section had a lot of money so its buildings where upmarket. However there was also alot of balck market tradings so it atracted exactly the sorts that they were looking for. Mev got out first, opened the door for Shino and then led her into the center. He walked up to the nurse on duty and got a warm greeting "Mev!" she cried "Long time no see! How have you been?" Mev smiled and replied "Same as always, hows Nav? I just set this ones husband up with a job at the Hunters Palace, probably met Nav by now" she looked over at Shino lloking worried and called to her "Don't worry bout you're man, Nav will look after him or I'll have his hide" this made Shino crack a smile "There you go, I'm Meille." she outstreched a hand, Shino took it "I'm Shino, my husband's Death" an odd look passed across Mielle's face but then she came out from behind the desk, took Shino by the hand and began to lead her off "Don't worry Mev, I'll take care of her. An don't worry about getting them, Nav and will drop em off." Shino turned to her "But I couldn't possibly..." Mielle shook her head "Think nothing of it. Always nice to help out someone new and besides with are husbands working together too I think we might be seeing quite a lot of one another..." Shino nodded and smiled. Then Miellle led her off into the back to the staff locker room to be outfitted with her uniform...

"Isn't it a bit...tight?" Shino asked Mielle as she looked at ther self in the mirror "I mean it is kinda short too..." Mielle smirked "Don't worry about it. There are strict rules regarding conduct to the nurses and so far I have never heard of them being broken" Shino was puzzled "Why is that then?" Mielle laughed "Because silly if they don't obey the rules then no medical center will treat them." Mielle moved closer to Shino "I don't know about you but Nav sometimes like me to keep it one when I come home if you know what I mean" she winked, Shino started blushing heavily "Oh dear, oh dear" Miellle shock her head "How long have you two been married?" Shino was suprised by this butn answered all the same "Two weeks, one day...why?" this brought a smile to Mielle's face "I thought so. My dear if you blush like that at even the simplist thing you two are going to have a very hard time. The first thing you really need to learn is to let go of your inhibitions and give in to your dark desires" Shino backed away, more than a little nervous "Er...I..." she began "Come on! You love you're man, right?" to this Shino gave an imediate "Yes!" making Mielle smile all the more "Well then, blushing like that and getting all embarrassed is not exactly going to help when you're trying to have sex, you see? Now you see I go for a far more agressive approach with Nav. He knows I'm the boss so he just does what he's told. However I don't think that will suit you quite so well...hmmm...we shall have to work on this." Shino started to protest "But I..." but before she could finish Mielle wisked her away "Come on, we have work to do. Our shift ends in 100 beats then I am taking you shopping" Shino had no idea exactly what that would entail but she felt it best not to argue and followed Miellle off into the main area to start work...

Shino collapsed into a chair. That had been an exhausting 100 beats. There had been that young newman couple with bruises in some odd places, it appears they had been sneaking off for some fun when they were supprised by some Rag Rappys. Then there had been the soldier with a sprained wrist who had been crying like a baby up until Mielle had slapped him and told him to act like a man, after that he had sat to attention with a "Yes mam!". Finally there had been a human girl with some problems, Mielle had taken her off to one side and talked to her and handed her a data pad with something on it. She had meant to ask Mielle what that had been about but then an emergency had come in and there was no time. A team had been doing some excavation work in the caves when they were ambushed, one of the men had been badly gored by a Vulmer and they had rushed him back drenched in blood. It had been a terrible experience but this time the man was lucky, his colleagues had just got him back in time...a few more minutes and he would have lost too much blood. The man was now in the recovery ward and would be for a few days at least. Shino got up, went to her locker and changed back into her clothes and waited for Mielle. Mielle emerged, grabed her arm and dragged her to the car park and pointed to a sky blue hovercar "Thats my one. Nav bought it for me as a birthday present. You know sometimes he can be so sweet." she opened the car and the two of them got in and sped off towards the shopping district.

After they had parked Mielle led Shino to a small shoping emporium "Voila! Here we are! This place has the best selection of womens clothing in the entire city. First thing lets get you something a bit less...frumpy and a little more sexy!" she smiled and led the stunned Shino into a large boutique. About 50 beats and 862 Meseta later Mielle and Shino flopped down in a cafe for a drink.

"Do you really think that he will like these?" Shino asked Mielle motioning towards the numerous bags sitting on the ground to her right "Sure! Never known a man that wouldn't jump through hoops for a beautiful woman dressed like that. Trust me, you'll knock him of his feet...hopefully onto the bed!" Mielle giggled "Mielle you are wicked!" Shino replied also stifling a giggle, she was truely enjoying this, Mielle was great company and it was nice to have another woman to talk to. "What about Nav, won't he be upset that you spent all that Meseta?" she asked "Nah! He'll get over it" Mielle put on a wicked smile "Especially when he sees what I bought for myself..." this set of another round of the giggles just as their drinks arrived. Shino sipped her drink, what a marvelous sensatio it was and then, an idea! "Hey why don't you and Nav come over to our place for dinner tonight? Be nice to have some company." Mielle considered this "But what about..." she smiled in that wicked way of hers "...later..." rather than flushing this time Shino just smiled back "Later can wait till after dinner, but not much after...". They went on to talk about it more and agreed, Mielle mailed Nav to tell him what was going on and they set off, first they would swing by Nav and Mielle's place to get some things and then to Death and Shino's to get the meal ready. Their men where going to get one hell of a suprise tonight...

BWS-1
Jun 25, 2002, 11:46 AM
O_O So much to read in so little time ... Even if I'd like to get my char in there, I couldn't compete XD. anyway, I like it the way it is. I'd normally tell you KEEP GOING! but I tell ya slow down man! ... but keep going too http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

SS_Death
Jun 26, 2002, 04:37 AM
Advance warning. This chapter contains one or two sexual references toward the end.

Chapter 12 - Hunters Palace Revisited

"Hey Death!" Nav called "Hey! Over here!" it was hard to hear due to the loud music thumping through the club, Death got one of the others to cover for him for a moment and went over to see what Nav wanted "What's up?" Nav pointed at his comms unit "I just got a mail from Mielle, it seems that she and Shino have become good friends and we have been invited to dinner at your place...also she said they have a suprise for both of us..." Death looked puzzled "A...suprise...?" Nav turned to him "If I know Mielle's suprises you want to tell Malcot you're gonna be in late tomorrow." Death was even more confused "Why's that?" Nav grinned "Because my friend you are going to be totally exhausted by morning" Nav slapped him on the back "Congratulations! This might well be a night to remember!" Nav's grin expaned so much for a moment Death though that the top of his head would fall off "Oh you and I are going to have some fun, that's for sure..." Death wondering what Bav meant and begining to get a definite suspission pushed further "Basically..." Nav began "...you are going to have the most and best sex of you're life tonight. I know my Mielle and you are in for a wild time." he paused for a moment "Hold on, me too!" he made a face "Damn! Better tell Malcot I'll be late too, come on! Let's go now, won't get another chance and anyway my sister is about to start her act in a few beats and from the looks of some of the lot in this crowd I would rather have you and me down here for when the trouble starts". At this point Death was lost for words, his thoughts all a jumble he blindly followed Nav to the back and up the stairs to Malcot's office. On the way a small newman girl emerged from one of the side doors and was greeted by Nav, "Hello Yuma, just going to see Malcot about something and I'll be back down, k?" Yuma pouted at him and said "Aren't you going to intoduce me to your friend?" Nav slapped his hand against his forehead "Sorry, Yuma, this is Death. He just started work here today at the bar, ex-hunter like me. Oh and before you get any ideas he's married." Yuma scowled at her big brother "Shame, oh well..." she began to wonder down the hallway when Nav called to her "There's a few ones to watch for down there, keep it demure till we get back down there ok?" Yuma just shrugged and continued on. Nav swore, "Damn! We better make this quick, she never will listern to me..." he led Death into Malcot's office and explained, quickly. "So Mielle has been talking to your wife then Death, oh dear...well then I won't expect either of you until after mid-day. Now get back down ther and have fun!" with that he shooed them out of his office.

They started back down the hall when they heard a scream, looking at one another they broke into a run. As they hit the bottom of the stair they flung the door open to see a young human male making grabs at Yuma while his friends egged him on. Death and Nav waded through the thong of people up to the centre stage. "Back off lad" Nav called out to the young man "He turned and called out "Huh! And why should I listern to you?" Nav grinned "Cause my sister don't like the attention you're paying her and if you don't go quietly I'll kick you scrawny arse." the boys mates began to make a move but Death was there shaking his head, looking at the veritable huamn wall before them they sat back down "Now you see your mates aren't going to help you. Now back off and quietly and you won't get hurt" the boy just sneered and made a lunge at Nav, Nav moved out of the way and grabbed the boy's arm and put it up his back. He led him to the door and kicked him out accompanied by a huge wave of laughter from the all the patrons. His mates soon followed escorted by Death. With that Nav called to the doorman on duty "These lot are banned. Get em a cab and get em out of here." The man nodded and Nav and Death went back inside "Nice work there, you didn't even throw a punch!" Death smiled "Somehow I didn't think they were going to argue..." Yuma walked up to them "You took your time!" she addressed Nav sharply "Huh, you see" he nodded to Death "No thanks for saving her butt just a chewingout 'cause I wasn't there as fast as she wanted. Sheesh sis, next time I've half a mind to leave you to it" Yumas face went red with anger "You...!" then she turned and stormed off "She's always been like that" he explained to Death "Won't say it but I know she appreciates me. Oh well...come on, our shifts over and we better get going. Mielle hates it when I'm late...". They hurried to they car park, go into Nav's hovercar and hurried off. Meanwhile the biy was being nosily sick surrounded by his friends "Those two, they'll regret humiliating me like that." he said between boutes of vomiting "My father will make them pay..."

They pulled in to the Titan building's car park and hurried on to the teleporter pad. Advancing along the corridoor they reached Death and Shino's apartment and hit the door panel. A female newman opened the door "Hello Mielle, Nav greeted his wife." she reached forward and embraced him, "This is Death" he motioned to his friend, she looked him up and down "Ah, I see. Shino certainly has good taste in men, just playing" she added as Nav's face got a little annoyed Deatn stepped in "Where is Shino?" Miellle smiled "Right this way, the lady of the house awaits you..." she moved out the way and let them pass before closing the door behind them. They walked into the living room, Deatn heard a door opening and saw Shino emerging from the bedroom...he gasped. She was wearing a deep red velvet dress with slits up the sides, it was low enough cut at the front to show the upper curves of her breasts. Her hair was pinned up behind her head like it had been when he first met her. She moved over to where he was standing "What do you think?" she asked him, he stood there dumb struck. Shino turned to Mielle looking worried who gave her a little thumbs up gesture as Death replied "You look beautiful..." Nav coughed lightly "Oh! This is Nav, Mielle's husband" Nav took her hand and politely kissed it, now it was Mielle's turn to be jealous. "This way" she said in a slightly snappier tone than she had intended. She grabbed Nav and Shino took Deaths arm and the two men were led into the kitchen by their wives. Arranged on the table were lots of 'finger foods', they all sat down and Nav and Mielle began feeding one another in sensual ways. Much of this was lost on both Death and Shino but seeing that the two newmans where enjoying it they tried it for themselves with one or two false starts, they got the hang of it. They migrated to the main and then the desert, by now Nav and Mielle where getting very friendly. Death and Shino to where starting to feel something but they were not quite sure. Nav and Mielle excused themselves and wished them goodnight before stumbling out the door together. Death watched the two walk down the hall barely concealing their groping now, shook his head and went inside. When he got back in Shino was nowhere to be seen. He went into the kitchen and still found nothing, then he stepped into the bedroomand found her lying naked on the bed "Make love to me" she called softly to him, he hesitated and she sat up "What's wrong? Do I not attract you physically?" he shook his head "I don't want you to do this because we should, only if you want to." he added softly, almost under his breath "I love you" she reached up to him and kissed him tenderly on the lips. She reached up and unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off his shoulders. Then he took of his trousers and underwear and knelt on the bed. She laid back and pulled him on top of her, as he slid into her she wispered in his ear "I love you too". His heart lept and they made love into the early hours. They slept, awoke and made love anew in the morning light. It was afternoon by the time they got up, dressed and went out to meet with Nav and Mielle, both had wide grins and when they asked Death and Shino how their night had been they both blushed which sent Nav and Mielle into a fit of laughter. Then Death and Nav kissed their wives farewell and headed off to work, moments later Mielle and Shino followed suit. The day was uneventful for both of them and when they returned home that night they made love once more, Shino laying in his arms spoke softly to him "Death?" he replied "Yes my love?" she sighed, she loved when he he called her that "I don't want this to end." he was purplexed "It won't" she turned away "But it will, when we complete our mission..." he reached over and kissed her "Never, I said I would never leave you and I meant it." She spun round and hugged him tightly "Thank you" she said and burried her head in his chest. They made love agian that night and fell asleep in one anothers embrace, contented neither of them wanted this to end...

SS_Death
Jun 27, 2002, 04:34 AM
Chapter 13 - Trouble In Paradise

Two weeks passed uneventfully. Death and Shino made love almost every night although once or twice one or other them had had a long day and was too tired. They had both settled into their lives in Pioneer City and all the while thoughts of their mission where fading away. But then everything changed...

It was late evening and the Hunters Palace was packed. Death and Nav where on duty inside tonight. They were working at the bar as the doors opened and a strange couple walked in, one was a female newman with pink hair and the other a lanky male human with brown hair. Death recognised their faces immediately. These were the two he had come here to find...it seemed like an eternity ago when he had stood there in the shadows listening to them. That had been before...Shino...he had promised that this would never end but if he did something now then it might...then another memory came to him, the HUmar as he had stood there holding the mine slowly being vaporised by its blast..."Sorry my love" he whispered under his breath and began to move. Before he could get very far the doors burst open as the android on the door was thrown backwards by an explosion. A grenade flew through the now open doorway and landed at the foot of the centre stage where Yuma was performing, Nav desperate save his sister leapt forward and was stuck in place reaching across the bar as the paralysis grenade went off. Death felt as if his hole body was like lead, but still he could move...slowly, it seemed that he had at least retained part of the android resistance to paralysis. A figure stepped into the broken doorway holding a grenade launcher "I said I would get you!" called out the boy "I'll teach you to humiliate me like that". He walked over to where Yuma was stuck clinging to the pole and licked his lips "First I'll start with you" he reached over to Yuma and began to unfasten her clothing, Nav cried out in rage, trapped, unable to help his sister and forced to watch as this human was going to rape her, Death looked at his friend and felt the rage come. The last effects of the paralysis drifted away as he leapt over the bar and grabbed the surprised human by the neck and hauled him off the ground "But you...you should be paralysed!" the boy managed to gasp "Guess not." Death replied, his voice a dread low tone with no trace of emotion. He pulled the boy's face in front of his own "You should have taken the hint the first time." then without warning he whirled round and slammed the boy into one of the other poles, the pole twisted under the force of the impact and there was a definite sound of bones cracking. Death released his grip and the boy slid to the floor and lapsed into unconsciousness. He then returned to the bar, retrieved a series of anti-paralysis, issued one to Nav and then walked over to the android who was now starting to stand up again "You okay?" the android nodded "Right, help pass these out to everyone". The three then went to each group and used the antiparalysis injections. Once everyone was back to normal a hush still filled the room. "A free round of drinks for everyone, on the house" came a call from the back. Everyone spun round to see Malcot emerging from the rear door. A group of medics came in and carried the boy away and a crew was working on repairing the door. Malcot walked up to behind the bar and took Death and Nav aside "Do you two know who that was?" Death shrugged, Nav gave a blank look "That was the son of one of the most influential merchants around here. He ain't gonna like what you did to his boy" Nav lost it for a moment "And what should we have done damn it! Let him rape my sister!" Malcot shook his head "No. I understand he had to be stopped but I am not sure that nearly killing him was the best way" he turned to Death "Careful in future, understand? We want them stopped not dead." Death hung his head "I'll try and sort this out quietly, make him get the fact that his boy was out of line but you two better keep your heads down for a while. Take off early and go home, you're on a weeks paid holiday." then Malcot turned and wondered off in the direction of the back. Nav turned to Death "Thanks"

"For what?"

"Saving Yuma...when I couldn't..."

"Don?t worry about it."

"Say how did you manage that? We were all paralysed?"

Death was a little worried, he had forgotten that for a human such a thing was practically impossible "I still had a state/maintenance unit on me, for old times sake. Guess it came in handy after all..." Nav seemed to accept that, it was close call though. Then his mind snapped back to what he had been doing before all this happened, he quickly scanned the room but could not find them, too late now, they had gone...

Two streets away Sue and Rev exchanged worried glances "What the hell was that guy?" Rev asked Sue, still a little shaken "I don't know" he was about to speak when she continued "But I think he isn't any ordinary citizen." Rev looked at her "You think he was sent here for us?" Sue nodded "But how? No-one saw us leave?" he asked her, she shook her head "No. No one that we saw, saw us leave. There may have been people we didn't see...whatever happened they're hear now. The only choice we have is to go to and talk to Black Omega..." Rev was taken aback by this "Him?! I fought that we were trying to get away from working for that loon?" Sue chuckled at that remark "Loon he may be but he has the resources to find out for sure, and you know..." she smiled at Rev and stroked his cheek "...he might even reward us..." Rev shivered at her touch "You know it makes me horny when you do that...do it again" she grabbed him by the groin "Later" she told him and walked off. He shuddered again, full of sexual excitement and followed her...

When Death got back he told Shino everything, she was upset with him at first but when she heard about what almost happened to Yuma she melted "Poor Nav, that must have been terrible for him..." she looked at him ?You should go and talk to him, help him get past this." Death turned to her "But what about you? I cant leave you here on your own." she smiled "I'll get Mielle to come over and stay with me. He has had a terrible shock he needs help from his friends." She walked over to the BEE unit, "I'm calling them now, go get out of those work things. Death nodded and went into the bedroom, as he walked in he heard a faint beeping sound coming from under the bed, he knelt down and lifted the covers...there were his Apsaras and Shino's Elnoa, doing something which looked worryingly like kissing. Surprised the two mags fled out the other side and floated sheepishly at waist height. "What the...?" Death began as Shino entered the room "They're in love." she announced "They're what?!" Death exclaimed "But! How? They're Mags!" she looked at him "So?" he didn't know what to say, Mags...in love? this was just too odd "Apsaras" he called to his Mag, now floating protectively in front of Shino's Elnoa "Is this true?", Apsaras bleeped an answer "Well I'll be...er...congratulations" he was till reeling from the shock when he remembered that Shino had come in "Did you manage to get them?" he inquired "Yes, they'll be here in 30 beats..." she smiled wickedly "Let me help you get those clothes off..." she began as they embraced and slowly lowered onto the bed...Apsaras and Elnoa unnoticed by their masters floated back down under the bed together...

The doorbell rang and Death went to answer it just tucking the bottom of his shirt into his trousers. He opened it to find Mielle and Nav standing there "Hi" Mielle called "Where's Shino?" Death motioned behind him "In the bedroom" then he realised what he had said too late..."Oh you animal you, wearing her out like that. You should be ashamed" she giggled and walked off, Death sighed and stared up at the ceiling "You know you really should be more careful around Mielle, you know how she thinks" Nav joked "Yeah I know..." Death grumbled "Come on, lets leave the girls in peace" he stepped out of the door and closed it behind him.

The door opened and two figures stepped through "Rev and Sue, I wonder what brings the likes of you two to see us?" the figure smiled "In trouble again?" he asked in a mocking tone "No." Sue replied trying to keep her dislike of this fellow in-check "We came because we encountered a man today in a club called the Hunter's Palace, somehow he managed to resist the effects of a paralysis mine and then use a human like a battering ram deforming a metal pole." the figure leaned forward "And what pray tell do you want me to do about it?" Rev put a hand on Sue's shoulder and explained "No normal human does that kinda stuff. We think that whoever he is he's here for us and...you." the figure chuckled "You really believe that anyone could be after me? What fools you are! Get out of here!" before he could stop her Sue leapt forward, claw outstretched "Listen you ungrateful bastard" she said holding the claw close to his neck "They got Veg to talk" this got an immediate reaction, the mans posture became less confident "So what? He couldn't have told them anything?" Sue smiled "oh but he could, he knew about you and us. Not to mention you?re connection with Black Paper. Isn't that enough, oh and by the way the android who was left looking after him didn't seem to be the sort that would care who you were, that one would just kill you where you stood" she grinned as the figure grew increasing less confident "Hah! Not so smart now are we!" she pulled away in disgust and walked out, Rev trailing behind her. When they had gone he pressed a button to activate the intercom "Yes sir?" came the voice of his assistant "Find out everything you can about a male human recently employed at the Hunters Palace Club, I want everything, background, family even down to what his favourite colour is and what he has for breakfast!" the assistant's voice came back over the intercom "Will that be all sir?" he smiled, they would learn not to mess with him "Yes, send someone to kill those two, they have outlived their usefulness" a single word came back "Sir.". He leaned back in his chair, no one could speak to him like that and live. Even though the information they had given him may prove useful, he hit a switch and light flooded into the room revealing bit at a time slowly revealing his face...

"Wow it's bright out here!" Nav commented as they came out of the city gates "Been a while, damn! far too long for that matter?". The two of them had driven to the city's east gate and got as permit to go outside. Death had concluded that a bit of hunting would do them both good. They drew their weapons, a sword for Death and a pair of daggers for Nav, and advanced into the forest. A couple of Boomas dug their way out of the ground and made their way towards them, a quick series of blows to the chest and stomach from Nav's daggers soon took care of one and a sword swipe took care of the other. No sooner had the first two dropped to the ground when four more wondered out from behind a corner and twelve Rag Rapies approached from behind. Nav called to Death "Leave the birdies to me!" and ran after the Rappies. Death sighed and set his sights on the lead Booma. It stared at time, roared and began advancing faster, its fellows following in its wake "Just a little closer" Death said under his breath "a little more" the Booma was right next to him now, it fellows bunched up behind "NOW!" he shouted bring his sword round a lethal arc carving through the middle of the lead Booma and gutting on of the ones behind. The remaining two Boomas stepped through their dead brethren intent only on killing this intruder and feasting...unfortunately that was not to be...Death's sword turned mid swing and he brought it back straight into the side of the left Booma, it howled in pain and lashed out wildly goring its fellow. The second Booma cut down its wonder brother and advanced on Death once more. It lashed out with one claw only to have it deflected by Death?s shield, it howled in rage and frustration only to be impaled as Death trust the huge blade forward. He pulled the blade free from the Booma?s remains and headed off to see how Nav was doing...

He found Nav sitting in the middle of a group of stunned Rappies. He looked a bit bruised, daggers were not exactly the best weapons for fighting that many opponents, but on the whole fine. He was even smiling "What ho!" he called as Death approached "You know I can't remember when I last had this much fun." he stood up and winced "Ow, have those Rappies beaks got stronger or am I just out of shape?" Death laughed "You're out of shape." Nav stared at him "Thanks a bunch." he said sarcastically "Your welcome" Death replied barely stifling a laugh. Nav sent a zonde sparking down in front of them and suddenly the Rappies leapt to their feet and ran away "Oh well, at least I can still do that right" he sighed and walked over to where Death was standing "Look I know why you brought me out here, I failed and know it..." Death sighed "You did not fail. There was nothing you could have done. It was by pure luck I had that..." Nav cut him off "Yes, but If you hadn't that kid would have raped Yuma and there was nothing I could do. Nothing!" he beat his fist against a tree, Death walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder "You can't save them all." Nav began to cry and beat his fists against the tree. This continued for a few heartbeats then he sagged and lifted his head to face Death "I know you?re right, I just couldn't face it at first...thanks..." he turned away and began to head back. Death was about to follow when he was hit from behind. He crumpled and fell to the ground, darkness engulfing him.

He awoke to find that he was in a confined space...it looked like the back of some kind of transport...when he tried to move his arms he found them to be bound, as were his legs. A gag had been put across his mouth, the walls were a dark red and there were three figures sitting on seats coming out of the wall, there was a groan and he turned to look and saw Nav, similarly tied. One of the men moved forward and looked at him "So you're awake are you." this was more of a statement rather than a question "Don't see what the boss would want with you but still, orders is orders". He returned to the seat, "They'll be getting that woman of yours too about now. Lucky for you the orders were to bring you alive and unharmed, well all most unharmed in your case..." the man grinned evilly. "It seems the boss has plans for you..." he was cut off as an explosion rocked the vehicle "What was that?!" the man screamed at the driver "We're under attack!" came the reply "Wha...? just then the vehicle tipped and skidded to a halt. The rear opened and a figure stepped in, the two men two either side tried to raise their weapons and got a photon claw in the belly for their troubles the leader wasn't quite so lucky, the figure dragged him out screaming. Then a second figure came in and pulled Nav and Death out and then took of their gags and the bindings on their feet. Death looked over to see the little newman woman wiping the last of the leaders blood off her red photon claw "Hmmm, I wonder" she began "What could he have possibly found out that meant he was willing to risk a daylight raid to get you..." she began circling Death "...no matter, I have a deal to offer you." Nav began to speak but the human standing next to him punched him in the gut "Don't speak unless your spoken to" he intoned as Nav threw up. "Now" the little newman continued "Your wives have also been kidnapped by the same people we just saved you from, I have an offer. I will tell you where you can find them if you get me safe passage onto Pioneer 2" Nav looked at her bewildered "But how could we..." Death cut him off "When?" Nav was shocked, what was going on here "Ah I see, so your friend here doesn't know does he..." she walked up to Nav and stroke his face "Your 'friend' here is from Pioneer 2, he was sent here to come after me and my partner. But it seems instead of him finding us we found him..." she purred "Well do we have a deal?" Death nodded. "Good, Rev you can untie them now." The human cut the bonds on their hands and Nav turned to face Death "Is what she said true?" Death nodded "BASTARD!" Nav screamed and swung a punch narrowly missing Deaths face "YOU LYING SON OF A BITCH!" he screamed and kept swinging "Not everything was a lie. My friendship with you was real..." he caught Nav's fist "...and my love for Shino is too" he added quietly into Nav's ear. The newman sagged, rage fleeting, he turned to the female newman "Where are they?" she shook her head "Uh uh uhhh, First we get our transport then we tell you where your wives are. It's as simple as that." Nav wanted to strike out at her but Death held him back. Death pressed the section Id on his collar and a small image of Ricco was projected before him "Principal Ricco, I wish to report that my team mate and a fellows wife have been kidnapped by the opposition. Thankfully we can get their location but only if we give these two safe passage back to Pioneer 2." the holo image of Ricco turned to face the two Hunters then turned back to face Death "Outside the city at 235 beats, co-ordinates as you arrived." before he ended the communication Death added "One more request, I need some backup for this one. I would like to request for the immediate dispatch of the following Hunters..." Ricco sighed "Proceed" Death began to recite the id's of his team "ShinAkuma, HUmar, Oran. RY0K0, HUmar, Skyly. Tim, FOnewm, Yellowboze" Ricco nodded "Very well they will rendezvous with you at the designated location. Ricco out." the hologram disappeared...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-06-27 02:59 ]</font>

SS_Death
Jun 27, 2002, 04:34 AM
Chapter 14 - Friends

ShinAkuma was sitting in his apartment in the ORAN sector meditating when suddenly his com unit bleeped once indicated a new mail had been received. He pressed the button and read:

ShinAkuma,

your presence is requested on the surface by Death.

Please report to the Whitall teleporter at 234 beats.

Regards,

Principal Ricco.

He was somewhat surprised; he had not seen Death in over two weeks. He wondered where he had gone but had not expected that he was on the surface. Gathering his equipment he made his way to the door. As he was about to leave he reached over to the picture by the door and stroked it gently once. Then he stepped out of the door in search of transport. The picture was in a simple metal frame and it showed to figures, one was female and she had her arms wrapped around the other figure. The other figure was ShinAkuma...

RY0K0 opened his eyes. He had been woken up by a loud beeping sound, turning he saw that his com unit had a new mail. He reached over and picked up the device and then looked at the message:

RY0K0,

your presence is requested on the surface by Death.

Please report to the Whitall teleporter at 234 beats.

Regards,

Principal Ricco.

"What could this be about?" he asked himself as he tumbled out of bed and began to dress. "The surface huh? Might as well try and blend?" he picked out a lightweight black top, trousers and a long black coat. He strapped the com unit on his arm and checked his weapons. He looked about for Varaha and remembered, he left it in storage. Pressing a button Varaha appeared from his null space unit on the wall. It bleeped a hello before taking up its position at his back. He went out, got into his hovercar and drove off towards the Whitall sector.

Tim was sitting around watching BEE transmissions with his sister Katie when his com unit beeped indicating new mail. He wondered who this could be from?

Tim,

your presence is requested on the surface by Death.

Please report to the Whitall teleporter at 234 beats.

Regards,

Principal Ricco.

Katie leaned over and looked the her brothers com unit "The surface? Can I come? Please!". Tim was worried, he hadn't seen Death in a while and to suddenly get a mail out of the blue from the Principal herself telling him that Death needed his help...this was not good. He turned to his little sister "No, you can't go with me" she pouted at him "Why not? Huh, you never let me have any fun?" Tim looked at his sister, she had passed he Force exam about three months after he took his, she hadn't even been on a simulation before let alone the real thing. Shaking his head he explained "Because this is dangerous and you might get hurt" she looked at him "I can take care of myself" she protested. He sighed "All right but don?t get in the way" she cried "Hooray" and hugged her big brother before running off to her room to get her equipment. "What have I done?" he said shaking his head and gathering his weapons and mag.

It was 233 beat and the group had gathered. "Why did you bring her along?" ShinAkuma asked Tim motioning towards the little FOnewearl "Because" she piped up before Tim could say a word "I can take care of myself!" ShinAkuma looked at her and then at Tim "She's your responsibility" and turned to Ricco "You still haven't told us what is going on" he stated, when no answer was forthcoming he pursued the matter "Well?". Ricco sighed, deciding it was probably better if they knew she began recounting the events that had lead up to this. When she finished they stood in silence, it had been a big enough shock finding out where Death had been and what he had been posing as with Shino let alone the fact that he was now part human. ShinAkuma was the first to act "So we are letting them get away with this?" none of the others would meet his gaze other than Katie who didn't understand exactly what was going on. "We have no choice" before he could continue Ricco continued "But believe me when this is over they will be dealt with" he nodded and advanced on the teleporter tailed by the rest of the group.

"Here" he called to the pair. "This is the place, less than a beat to go? with that a telepipe appeared. "Now tell us where they are!" Nav warned the man handed them a data crystal and Death placed it into his com unit taking note of the co-ordinates that were displayed. "Bye" the female newman called as she and her human companion stepped into the pipe and vanished. A few seconds later four figures emerged and the telepipe dissipated.

"ShinAkuma, RY0K0, Tim! Nice to see all of you! Thank you for coming on such short notice" then he noticed the forth figure standing just behind Tim "Er...Tim, why did you bring your sister?" Tim sighed "Let's just say it was easier than trying to leave her behind" Death shrugged commenting that they needed all the help they could get making Katie beam at him and then introduced them all to Nav. "You know I have a younger sister" Nav told Katie, "But she is a bit older than you" Katie smiled at him "Is she a force too?" Nav was about to reply when Death coughed "No. She's an...entertainer" Katie smiled again "I would like to meet her, being an entertainer sounds fun!" Death and Nav exchanged glances before Death hastily changed the subject "We have to get a move on. Nav's and my wives are in danger" the group nodded and followed as Nav and Death led the way back to the gate. On the way they encountered the occasional monster including one Rag Rappy which Katie fried with a large Foie technique while laughing happily. This left the others feeling rather disturbed, shaking of the feeling they moved on until the gates came into view. Before they went in Death told them all to stow their weapons and mags and to look like normal citizens.

Luckily the duty guard was the same one that Death had met when he and Shino first arrived "Hello again!" he called out, the guard turned in surprise "Oh! Hello again! Been out there with some friends I see, but hold on...where's your wife?" Death steeled himself and replied "She was feeling a bit tired so I let her sleep in, she'll be expecting me back by now" the guard brightened "Ok, well give her my regards" he moved out the way and let the group pass by. Once they were in the city ShinAkuma asked a question "Ok, so where now?" Death's face suddenly grew darker "He's got them in a military complex in the Viridia sector. It's fairly heavy guarded so we need a plan..." ShinAkuma looked at Death, he had known him longer than any of the others so he noticed it more. There were discrepancies in his behaviour, he kept acting as if pulled in two directions, he could see that the loss of Shino was hurting his friend more than he was willing to let on. Knowing no good could come from letting the others realise this his came to Death's aid "Best way forward is to go and take a look at it." The others nodded agreement and they set off to Nav's car. Death and ShinAkuma trailed behind "Thanks." ShinAkuma looked at him "For what?" Death smiled "You know what I was losing it back there and you covered my ass" ShinAkuma stopped "You did it for me once, now its time for me to repay the favour" Death stopped and regarded his friend. He outstretched his right arm and ShinAkuma grasped it at the forearm as Death did the same. This was the Hunters salute, a mark of friendship used among Hunters exclusively. Then they broke off and continued walking to catch up with the others. As they walked Death?s mind floated back, back to when he had first met ShinAkuma and his fiance Sakura...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-06-27 03:08 ]</font>

SS_Death
Jun 28, 2002, 03:51 AM
Chapter 15 - Memories

It was two years before Pioneer 2 would reach Ragol. In the mean time Hunters spent their time in the simulators honing their skills night and day. ShinAkuma was going through one of the 'Dark Force' simulations when he was caught off guard and knocked to the ground. As the creature was about to make the final blow a sword came out of nowhere and severed it's arm at the joint. A second blow dispatched the creature. ShinAkuma looked to see a black Hucast standing there, it reached out a hand and helped him to his feet. He nodded his thanks and started off, after a few seconds he noticed that the Hucast was running along side him, keeping pace...he shrugged and so the two continued deeper into the simulated environment. A few more times the hucast came to ShinAkuma's aid, and a few others ShinAkuma came to the hucast's. All the while they went in silence, finally they reached the end of the simulation and stepped into the teleporter back to the guild. ShinAkuma turned to the hucast "Same again tomorrow?" he asked the hucast nodded. ShinAkuma introduced himself "ShinAkuma" he said extending his arm "Death" the hucast replied taking the humar's arm and gripping it. They went through that simulation again the next day and they the day after and the day after that. Still neither one had used the word friend, both where not the sort of people went looking for friends but after about a week of going through that simulation together they were. On the last day after they finished Death asked if he would come and meet his girl, Death accepted and they went to ShinAkuma's apartment.

When they arrived the door was opened by a young newman girl, about a year younger than ShinAkuma. She had long brown hair and was wearing a long blue dress. She rushed out and wrapped her arms around the humar and kissed him lightly on both cheeks "I missed you" she told him in sweet tones then she looked at Death "Is the one you've been going through that simulation with honey?" ShinAkuma nodded, she broke free of his grip and walked up to Death "Thank you for going with my Shinny. He can be a bit careless sometimes so its nice to know he has someone else with him. I'm Sakura by the way" she held out he arm "Death" Death replied and gripped her arm gently. She invited Death inside and the three sat down at a table and talked. ShinAkuma and Sakura ate while Death gratefully accepted a recharge. While they sat ShinAkuma recounted to Death how he had met Sakura..."We met about three years ago. I was out shopping in the Pinkal district for some reason and was just walking along minding my own business when I heard a commotion. I turned to see two newman males harassing a newman female..." Sakura interrupted him at this point "That was me!" she exclaimed. ShinAkuma looked at her "And if I had known how much trouble you were going to be I would have left you there!" she pouted at him and turned away upset. He reached over and pulled her to him "You know I didn't mean it, what would I do without you?" she looked at him and smiled "Starve" this brought on a fit of laughter from the both of them. Once ShinAkuma had regained his composure, and kissed Sakura firmly on the lips he continued the story "Well as I said these too where being making a nuisance of themselves so I just king of walked over calmly and asked her 'Are you alright?' immediately the two males turned to me 'This isn't your concern human, no get out of here before we teach you a lesson' the other one had just smirked". "I made no reply instead I just grabbed the one who had spoken to me and head butted him, now that..." he added rubbing his head "...was not a very good plan...he had a slightly harder head than I expected but luckily not quite as hard as mine..." once again Sakura giggled "Yes you have a very hard head at times" ShinAkuma tuned and tickled her suddenly then turned back to Death "Ok, now if I can continue" he turned t look at Sakura for a second who smiled innocently. "Very well, luckily for me he went down. It was at this point the other one was about to clobber me when Sakura kneed him in the groin. He went down and she helped me to the Medical Centre". The next day I took her out to the pictures and then we went on a trip round the simulator together. Bout two months after we moved in together and here we are" he waved and arm around indicating the apartment. They talked for a while longer after that and then Death bid them farewell and set off back to the redria sector.

Time passed and ShinAkuma and Death met up on and off, sometimes with Sakura as well, and went through the simulator missions. Two years went by and Pioneer 2 finally arrived at Ragol, Death ShinAkuma and Sakura were all sitting watching the BEE transmission when suddenly something went wrong, there was an explosion and the transmission was cut off "What the hell was that!" Sakura exclaimed, Death shook his head "Bad" ShinAkuma turned to him "You know its been two years I still haven't known you respond to practically anything with more than one word" Death turned to stare at him "Very bad." This set Sakura off into fit of the giggles while ShinAkuma tried to stifle his laughter. They settled down when suddenly there where three beeps. They looked at their com units and saw they had new mail. They each were greeted by the same message...

Message Priority: Priority One

All Hunters are to report to the Principal's office at once.

Sender: Council.

They looked at one another...a summons to the Principal's office...whatever had happened was obviously serious. They got up, gathered their weapons, placed them in their personal null-space storage and headed out.

When they arrived at the Principal's office teleporter a huge crowd of Hunters of all classes and races surrounded it. Slowly one by one they were being sent in to see the Principal, when their turn cam Death went in first, then ShinAkuma and finally Sakura. Each was given the same briefing. There had been a huge explosion on the surface and all contact with the people of Pioneer 1 had been lost. They were to travel to the surface and find out what had happened. A small amount of data had got through and so they had some limited creature data fed into their com units. They checked their weapons, stopped in at the shops to get some telepipes and headed to the Oran central teleporter.

They emerged on the surface of Ragol next a large teleport unit. This was one of the main conduits leading back to the Oran central teleporter on Pioneer 2. The area was clear, an energy field blocked of one end and there were a few crates scattered around. They opened the crates, picking up a monomate and some messeta. As they approached the energy barrier it recognised their hunter's signatures and opened to let them pass and then closed behind them.

"It's too quiet" commented Sakura as they searched the room, then suddenly a large furred creature dug itself out of the ground in front of her and roared. Several similar creatures had appeared near ShinAkuma and Death. ShinAkuma dispatched one of the two 'Boomas' facing him and then started to move to help Sakura, meanwhile Death had also dispatched one of his and was now facing off against his second and trying to draw ShinAkuma's second towards him "Go!" he called out to ShinAkuma. Needing no more incentive he ran over to where Sakura was desperately blocking the Booma's attacks with her saber. He lunged forward and drove his blade into its chest, it fell backwards, dead. He reached down to Sakura who hugged him tightly and then the two turned to see how Death was doing, there were two dead Boomas lying at his feet. "Come over here." he called to them and ran through a doorway, running they hurried to catch him up...

This next section was a 'v' shaped passageway. There wasn't anything of interest so they advanced to the next room. There were a few more Boomas, Sakura not being quite so surprised this time killed two while Death and ShinAkuma accounted for another four between them and one slightly larger creature called a Gobooma. A quick search of the room revealed little so they advanced through the doorway into the next section. It was another 'v' shaped passageway. However this one was longer and at the bottom was a small recess with a energy gate and a gate key. Death pressed a button and the energy gate deactivated allowing access to the crates beyond. They found a handgun, which only Death was currently able to use and some more monomate. Death equipped the handgun and the three of them headed towards the next room...

This room was slightly larger than the first two, is was quite long and had a blue energy gate sealing a recess on the right and a blue gate key of the left. As the three entered the room a group of large yellow birds dropped out of nowhere. "Awww sooo cute!" Sakura called out and made to run towards them but ShinAkuma held her back. "They might be dangerous" he explained she looked at him with disbelief as he cautiously advanced on the closest one, the read out said that this large yellow bird was called a Rag Rappy. As he approached it sat up and waddled towards him, seeing this he broke out into a fit of laughter, then it pecked him and he fell over. Sakura sighed "I guess he was right then" she shrugged and walked over and hit it with her saber. It fell over. ShinAkuma got up "See! I told you." He ran into the middle of the rest of them and soon they were all lying there. "Strange" Death commented ShinAkuma and Sakura turned to look at him "What's strange?" they asked "No blood" they looked at one another and then a the ground, there was indeed no blood "Huh?" Sakura began when suddenly one of the Rappies leapt up and started to run off, Death shot at it with his handgun but missed. Then before ShinAkuma and Sakura could move the rest of the Rappies followed suit. "Odd" Death commented before going over to the gate key and switching it off. As he did so two Boomas dug themselves out of the ground behind him, he put a bullet into ones eye and it slumped to the ground. He was about to shoot the second when it was engulfed by a large fireball; Death turned to see Sakura standing there with her arm outstretched "Foie! Hooray!" she cried. Death stared at the charred remains, shook his head and headed on to the next door.

The next few rooms were uneventful, there were more of the same, Boomas, Goboomas and even one or two Rappies. They found another main teleporter, red this time. Upon checking the readout it said that this teleporter led deeper into the forest and closer to what was left of the central dome. Sakura stepped into it but before she could activate it they all heard a growl and a bunch of creatures jumped out of nowhere. "It says these are called Savage Wolves. Often led by a Barbarous Wolf..." he pointed at a blue coloured one "That's it" He looked down at the display again "Says here that they're the leaders" he turned to Death "Shoot it!" Death raised his gun and fired a couple of rounds at it, it fell to the group dead. ShinAkuma looked please with himself as the others mulled around then Sakura called to him "Something's wrong!" the Savage Wolves had gathered around their fallen leader and howled. As they did so they became surrounded by red and blue glowing light "What the hell?!" ShinAkuma was lost for words "Shifta and Deband!" cried Sakura as a Wolf leapt at her...it tumbled over neck spraying blood where ShinAkuma had put his saber through it. Death shot down another two and then Sakura carved up the last one. After that they decided to call it a day and wondered back to the teleporter back to Pioneer 2.

A week or two passed without much success, then suddenly a team of Hunters made it inside the Dome. When they returned, singed and battered they reported directly to the Principal. Soon after an announcement was sent out to all the Hunters through the guild "A Dragon?" asked Sakura "That's what the report said" the girl behind the counter said "Came up out of the ground when they went in and started attacking them. Luckily they managed to bring it down" as Sakura started to walk away the girl called out to her "Hey! They found something else while they were there" Sakura stopped and walked back intrigued "It seems that they also managed to locate a unit connecting to the Caves underneath surface. Seems they had been put offline by the explosion but after they beat the Dragon they were able to put them back online" Sakura was fascinated "What they find down there?" the girl shook her head "After the Dragon they were too tired to go any further". At hearing this Sakura looked a little disappointed then the girl added "The area is now opened to all Hunters, a team is assembling as we speak to go and check". Sakura desperately wanted to go along, she asked the girl "Are there any spaces left on the team" the girl brought up the listing "The last two just got filled, sorry" disappointed Sakura left the Guild. She was starting to head off to go home when she realised, the Caves were open to all Hunters! She could go herself, she could handle the Forest on her own, the Caves couldn't be that bad. She ran over to the checkroom and collected her equipment and then ran back to the Pinkal main teleporter. She selected the Caves and activated it.

As Sakura materialised the overwhelming heat struck her like a physical force, desperately trying to stop the air from boiling out of her lungs she reached for the panel on the com unit, pressing some switches on it she brought up an environmental shield. After that she gasped for air as slowly the temperature was modified down to an acceptable level, then she checked her equipment and set out into the Caves...

ShinAkuma's com unit bleeped loudly, he called to Death who walked over to join him. There was an urgent message from the medical centre...

ShinAkuma,

Please come as quickly as you can. Sakura has been grievously wounded during her time in the Caves. She has been asking for you ever since she was brought in by the exploration team.

Regards,

The Medical Centre Team

As soon as he finished reading this ShinAkuma raced off towards the Pinkall section Medical Centre. Death followed quickly behind him but got caught up in the crowd and lost sight of ShinAkuma. He burst through the doorway and into the reception area "Where is she?!" he cried, a nurse approached him and led him to the emergency room where Sakura lay "...ShinAkuma?" she called to him weakly "Don't talk now, rest" he told her as he took her hand "I'm sorry" she told him "I shouldn't have gone alone" he stared down at her tears in his eyes "Hush now, you have to get better, I need you!" she looked into his eyes "I'm so sorry my l...o...v...e..." her hand slipped from his. "NO!" he screamed "NO! BRING HER BACK! BRING HER BACK TO ME!" he grabbed the doctor and shook him violently "I'm sorry" the man blurted, ShinAkuma stopped, released the man and walked out the door. Death saw him go, straight past him, into the teleporter and disappear. He had not liked the look he had seen on his friend's face, he knew he could not afford to be long, but first he had to know what had happened. He went into the Medical Centre and enquired what had happened "There was nothing we could do...the injuries were too serve and she had lost so much blood" Death nodded, he thanked the doctor and left. He made his way to the teleporter and checked the logs, ShinAkuma had gone to the Caves...

Death emerged in the Caves and activated his environmental shield. He drew his sword and dashed into the room to find ShinAkuma running at a pool of molten lava "Sakura my love I'm coming to join you!" he cried as he closed his eyes leapt. After a few moments he opened his eyes, he was still alive. Death lay next to him "Why did you save me?" he asked Death looked at him "Because this is not what she would have wanted you to do. She loved you and she would not want you to throw your life away like this. Doing this would twist her memory" ShinAkuma sat there in shock "What would you know?" he cried "She was my friend. I respected her and she would not want it to end like this." ShinAkuma turned away from Death and sat in silence. After a while he said "You're right" when there was no answer he turned to face him, Death was unconscious. ShinAkuma stood and looked at Death's left side, the armour was blackened and had charred and melted...ShinAkuma looked at his friend lying there. He had just caused himself terrible pain to stop him from killing himself...and now he understood..."Thank you my friend" he said as he lifted Death up and carried him back to the teleporter back to Pioneer 2...

SS_Death
Jul 2, 2002, 05:35 AM
Chapter 16 - A plan born of desperation...

They arrived just on the outskirts of the complex and still they had no idea of how they were going to gain entrance to the complex. There were guards patrolling the perimeter and photon fencing protecting it on all sides with gaps only for the gates. All of which were heavily guarded. Things were looking bleak until Death spotted something "What the..." ShinAkuma turned to him "What is it?" Death pointed towards the back of the complex where a group of Rappies where sitting "How the hell did they get there?" Nav interjected "The guards have them as mascots. Those are tame Rappies, they even have access to the outside to. They get let out and then brought back in the evening" Death turned round to look at ShinAkuma and Tim, ShinAkuma caught Death's eye "You cannot be serious!"

About thirty beats later they were outside the city, about half a click from the base on the inside. They watched as a group of Rappies assembled waiting for the door to be opened "Now! Go!" ShinAkuma turned to Death "I just have to tell you...this is the worst plan you have ever come up with!" Death looked at him "Hey! Remember Rappies can't talk!" he joked, this got a fit of laughter from everyone except Tim and ShinAkuma "Very funny. I'll get you for that later..." he motioned to Tim and they waddled off in the direction of the Rappies at the door. The doors opened in front of them and they were inside...

The guard looked at the two Rappies "Hey you two! Where are you going!" he walked over to Tim and ShinAkuma "Get back there!" he shouted at them, they made no move "Silly creatures..." he called to the others "Help me with these two would you". Another two guards walked over, they were about to pick up ShinAkuma when Tim cast a Gizonde on them, the three men dropped to the floor shaking violently. ShinAkuma and Tim ditched their disguises and set about disabling the remaining guards. Quickly they shut down the closest gate and the rest of the group came in. "Right, according to this they should be in the central building...over there" Death pointed at a large building located in the centre of the complex "Let's move!" they drew their weapons and set off...

The doors to the main building caved inwards as the blade of Deaths scythe caved through them. They moved quickly forwards into the depths of the building. A couple of guards rounded a corner, obviously intent on seeing what had happened to the doors, the first was skewered by ShinAkuma's partisan, the second managed to shout into his com unit "Intruders! Send..." he never finished the message, Death's Scythe had embedded itself in his chest right the way up to his throat and vocal cords. Blood poured from his mouth as Death pulled back the scythe and let the guard drop to the floor. Seconds later alarms flared into life "Well so much for sneaking in then" ShinAkuma commented bitterly, he was still unhappy about having to be disguised as a Rappy before. Death ignored him and set off, "Hey!" ShinAkuma called after him "Damn fool" he said shaking his head before running after Death with the rest trailing behind him.

It was not hard to track Death's progress, there were the corpses of guards everywhere. Many of which had been decapitated "I guess he's lost it by now..." ShinAkuma speculated "All of you, when we find him stay back, ok?" the others nodded. They rounded a corner to find Death wading through a thong of guards, screaming as their bodies were torn apart by the repeated slashing of the scythe. With every stroke a life ended, Death was truly living up to his name...

Suddenly a huge group burst into the room, they were all wearing heavy armour and had large photon rifles, and their leader called out "Hold it right there You've gone far enough!" he motioned to them "Put down you're weapons and surrender" grudgingly they complied. When the last of their weapons was on the floor the man turned aside and spoke into his com unit. Moments later a figure emerged trailed by four others. "Very good Captain" the lead figure called as the Captain saluted "So you're the one who was sent for me eh?" he stared at Death "Humph. Not bad but still not quite good enough." He raised his arm and sent a zonde straight at Death, there was a massive surge of brilliance and Death fell to his knees "No!" came a cry from one of the figures at the back, Death slowly raised his head "...Shino?" he asked weakly. "Death" she cried and tried to run to him but one of the soldiers held her back. "So" the man called to Death "This one loves you, then no doubt you love her..." he smiled wickedly "So first she shall watch you die and then she shall join you. For who am I to stand in the way of love" he mocked. He raised his arm...

Time slowed for Death, he watched as the man's arm slowly lifted his death on the end or it's arc. Shino cried out to him as the others called to him. Then he felt it Apsaras had began to move...

The leader watched as the Death's head snapped upward to look at him, for a moment he was struck with fear. He shook it off knowing in a moment that the man would be dead. As the megid technique leapt from his fingers he saw the Death's mag, it was moving up and down behind him...

Death swept his hand down and picked up his scythe, carrying on the motion he surged forward breaking into a run. He ran forward straight into the full blast of encompassing darkness that was megid...

Shino turned away, she could not bear to watch. Then there were shouts, she looked to see Death still advancing surrounded by a ring of golden light...

The guard stepped in front of their leader and where cut down like a field of corn as the scythe swept through them. A constant rain of fire fell upon Death and was absorbed by the golden nimbus. Closer and closer he came until the Captain stood in his way "You'll go no further!" he screamed and charged, sabre raised. The scythe swung in an arc of oblivion, death on the end. The captains body dropped to the floor, cleaved into two halves...

"Stand back!" everyone stopped and turned to look "Lay down your weapons or she dies" he had Mielle held in his grip, a dagger pressed to her throat. Death looked at him and then at Shino, she nodded. "I said drop it!" he cried again as Death moved closer "For gods sake Death stop!" Nav cried to him but still he advanced "Very well then she dies!" he cried, Nav began to run forward but ShinAkuma and RY0K0 grabbed him. The man drew his arm back to make the strike and...nothing. Shino had gripped his arm and was holding it back, Mielle quickly struggled in his grip and planted her knee directly into his groin. He crumpled and Shino let his arm go and kicked him forward. For a moment he stumbled towards Death, Death swinging his arms upward...the scythe entered through his chest and out through his back. He stood there impaled upon the blade convulsing for a moment and then he stopped and reached out at Death trying desperately to summon a technique. Death starred at him without pity in his eyes as his finger closed upon the special switch on the handle. For a moment there was nothing but then the man's body was engulfed in spears of light. He screamed out in pain as the spears of light tore into him, burning his flesh as they touched it. He cried out in despair as his flesh began to dissolve "Black Omega! My master! Save me!" his cry went unanswered as Shino brought her D-Bringer's rifle to bear, she fired a single shot into what remained of his body and he dissolved. They all stood in silence staring at the ground in front of Death. Where the man had stood only moments before a small puddle of purple fluid was now slowly sinking its way into the floor...

SS_Death
Jul 10, 2002, 06:06 AM
Woah, very busy at work of late so sorry took such a long time but here we are...chapter 17!

Chapter 17 - What lies beneath?

Death and ShinAkuma stepped out of the teleporter room and into the burning heat of the first area of the caves. A few Evil Sharks approached them but where cut down by a combination of Death's sword and ShinAkuma's partisan...

Three weeks had passed since Sakura had been lost down here and ShinAkuma had finally come to terms with his grief. After ShinAkuma had helped him back Death had been repaired and was back to normal, now they were here for the third time in the past week. They were coming down here more and more as new missions were offered to explore deeper and deeper into the caves. They had already been to the second level, a far cooler and more humid zone. The breeding conditions were perfect for monsters so there seemed to be far more of them down there. Also some other Hunters, maybe even ones from Pioneer 1, had left abandoned traps down there so they merely added to the dangers threatening an unwary Hunter. Today they were to travel right to the base of the caves, the third level and try and reactivate the links to the mines below. The links where currently offline, no one was quite sure why but the council had decided it was time to find out. Death and ShinAkuma by now having a good reputation where one of the many teams sent to strategic locations to activate the various teleport relays that criss-crossed the underground network of the caves.

A Nano Dragon roared at Death a moment before he put his sword through its gut, blood pouring from the huge gash in it's belly the Nano Dragon slumped forward and was bleeding to death before ShinAkuma finished it with a quick shot from his handgun. "Clear" Death called back at ShinAkuma "Come over here" he called as he ran through the door into the next room. They were now about halfway through the first area of the caves. A Grass Assassin and a Crimson Assassin appeared, one either side of Death, he shrugged and deployed a freeze mine. The huge beasts swept up to him just as the mine went 'ping' and detonated. The two creatures were frozen solid either side of him like some strange looking archway. Not for long however as Death laid into the Crimson Assassin while ShinAkuma tore the head off the Grass Assassin in a single stroke. The two continued on laying waste to everything in their path, conversing:

"I really do not like this place" Death commented,

"Why not?" ShinAkuma asked him,

"Too warm, never did like hot places" Death replied,

"Hmm" ShinAkuma mused "I don't really mind either way to be honest" he paused to cut down a Vulmer that had just emerged "The second level's ok I guess, certainly that nice area with the waterfall and all..."

"Well, water is not my thing." Death thought for a moment "And there are those damn slimes all over the place! Pain to kill, so much easier when I have some mines with me. One mine then, BOOM! No more slime."

"Where's the fun in that?" ShinAkuma asked him,

"Certainly more fun than chasing the damn thing around the room isn't it!"

ShinAkuma shrugged, the door in front of him opened to reveal the teleporter to the second level "Here we are, come on!" He ran forward and disappeared. Death ran forward into the teleporter and vanished. A small figure wearing a dark green costume emerged from the previous room. He stood there staring at the empty space where the two Hunters had been, after a few moments he seemed to come to a decision and walked forward into the teleporter and then he too vanished...

They emerged into the humid air of the caves second level. A few insect flew over to them, wondering what these strange things that had invaded their space where. Death ignored them and headed into the next room closely followed by ShinAkuma. Off at the far side of the room there was a pair of Govulmers, as the two entered the room the creatures hissed and advanced at them. From their left their came a laughing noise just as a cloud of megid disappeared inches from Death. An Ob Lilly was sitting off to the left of the doorway, just out of range of its lethal spitting attack, Death signalled to the left indicating he was going after the vile plant while ShinAkuma signalled towards the approaching Govulmers. As Death got up close to the Lily it began to try and bite him, Death has always wondered why this was. The thing could kill you with a lucky dose of megid yet whenever anyone approached them it tried to bite them instead...he shrugged and brought his sword around, slicing through the evil plant's stem and causing the top half to drop to the floor where it began to wither. Death turned to see how ShinAkuma was getting on; as he looked ShinAkuma's partisan swept into the second Govulmer and it fell to the floor joining its counter part. Death ran other to join ShinAkuma but before they could move on a slime oozed it's way from out of some cracks by the door. Death glared at it and dropped a mine, he motioned to ShinAkuma to follow him and headed through the door into the next room just behind ShinAkuma. Just as the door closed behind them a figure emerged through the far door and advanced into the room. Suddenly there was a loud 'ping' and explosion. "Help!" the muffled cry came from the last room, Death and ShinAkuma looked at one another an ran back through the door. A strange sight greeted them when they emerged back into the room, after a moment of staring ShinAkuma started laughing uncontrollably...

There was a force trapped in the slime floating around, sometime upside down and on his side. He cried out again "Help" finally the two of them got a hold of themselves and Death planted another mine while ShinAkuma tried to attract its attention "Hey! You back-boneless puddle of mush! Come and get me!" Death stared at him, he shrugged "It was all I could think off" however it seemed to have worked. The slime floated towards them unaware of the floating explosive charge that awaited it. There was an explosion that the slime was blown all over and the small force was free. He sat there on the ground for a moment, disorientated...

Once ShinAkuma had regained his composure he turned his attention to the unlucky force "What the heck do you think you are doing down here on your own?! This place is exceedingly dangerous!" Death help out an arm to restrain his friend "Who are you?" he asked the force, the man stopped cowering following ShinAkuma's tirade and replied "Tim" Death nodded "Well Tim, why are you down here?" Tim looked down at his feet "I...I'm looking for my little sister. I think she might be down here..." Death and ShinAkuma exchanged glances "She's down here...alone?!" ShinAkuma asked the force "Come on! Lets move!" Tim looked at him "So...you'll help me?" ShinAkuma turned to him "Stop yapping and move your butt! Yes we'll help now come on!" he grabbed Tim's arm and dragged him off further into the next room. The three of them continued on through the area, Death carving arcs of destruction with his sword while ShinAkuma laid into any Lilly in sight with his partisan and Tim launched fireballs into the slime evaporating them. Still they had found no sign of Tim's sister when the next door opened and they were confronted with the teleporter to the third level of the caves. "No use in staying here" ShinAkuma told Tim ?If she was here she must have gone to the next level by now". Death noted that he had made no mention of the other option, that she had been killed and/or eaten by one of the various monsters and that they would never find her...he advanced on the teleporter and vanished...

They began making their way through the third section of the caves. Here there were various machines and devices affixed to the walls. It seemed that some form of geothermal power was being used here but for what purpose was anybody's guess...as the last few Govulmers sank to the floor a large creature popped from the ground, half of its body was purple, the other orange. As it leapt up from the ground there was a loud "ping" and it froze solid in mid air, hung for a moment and then came crashing down and shattered. ShinAkuma and Tim looked up from the mess now gently thawing at their feet to see Death standing there, they could have sworn he was grinning...that was if he had a mouth to grin with he would have been... "Ok, next time try to wait until its landed before you do that" ShinAkuma told him wiping a antenna from his hair "Sorry about that..." Death replied before advancing ever onwards. The next few rooms held little of interest, a few Melqueeks tried to block their path but Death ran one through with his sword and ShinAkuma decapitated the other one. Tim was now getting rather frantic "Where could she be?" he was really getting in a bad state "I just hope nothing happened to her..." then a Nano Dragon emerged, it's beam carving down and catching Tim on the shoulder. He cried out and unleashed a huge jolt of zonde...the charred corpse of the Nano Dragon dropped to the floor...Death and ShinAkuma just stood there amazed. Since they had met him Tim had seemed to be barely capable of looking after himself but now they were beginning to re-evaluate him. The last few rooms passed uneventfully and they found themselves at a large teleporter marked for the 'Underground River'. Neither Death nor ShinAkuma had been in this teleporter before but they had heard rumours. Before they had left Irene, the Principal's secretary, had given them a quick briefing about what had been expected of them and what they may face. They looked at one another and then to Tim, a decision was reached and the three of them stepped into the main teleporter...

They emerged on a large metal raft floating down a long tunnel. There was a splash and a huge creature centipede like emerged from the water. It swam along side them and then leapt onto the raft, holding itself in place with the two huge spikes on its front. Death and ShinAkuma advanced and began carving into the bony shell protecting its head while Tim launched a series of rafoie techniques onto its body. Suddenly one of its antennas swept down nearly impaling ShinAkuma, angered he drove his partisan into the creature's eye. It screamed and fell backwards off the raft. They turned to see it rear up in the water and then sink. The raft continued on for a few more minutes and then docked. There was another teleporter control there, it said 'Mines' "So that's where they are..." Death and ShinAkuma had heard rumours that Pioneer 1 had built mines deep beneath the surface. It seemed that they had been built under the caves, and it explained what the geothermal power was for. "We better head back" Death told them as he activated the router "We need to rest and come back" Tim moved to say something but ShinAkuma held him back and shook his head. Tim subsided and the three of them walked into the teleporter back to Pioneer 2...

As the main door opened onto the Yellowboze area a small female newman, wearing the garbs of a force, ran over to Tim and addressed him "Where have you been? I've been bored waiting for you here all this time!" Tim just stood there dumbfounded. After a few moments of awkward silence ShinAkuma asked "Er...are you Tim's sister?" the little force looked up at him "You're nice" she ran to him and grabbed him. ShinAkuma started to go a deep shade of red "Erm...er..." he stumbled desperately trying to think of a way to dislodge the little force, her hands now firmly grasping his behind. Tim finally managed to speak "I was looking for you...you ran off and someone saw you over near the teleporter and when I checked the last port was to the caves so I went there looking for you" she turned to stare at him. She pouted at him "Timmy! You know I wouldn't do thaaaat!" Tim stared at her while ShinAkuma desperately tried to stifle a laugh "Timmy!" now Tim and his little sister both looked at him, luckily Death came to his rescue "Tim would you mind introducing us to you're sister?". Tim turned away from ShinAkuma, looked at Death, then at his sister and then at Death again "...k..." Tim seemed a bit hesitant but he did as he was asked "Death, ShinAkuma, this is my little sister Katie. She's training to be a Fonewearl" the two experienced hunters introduced themselves. "Timmy" Tim glared at Katie "Don't call me that" he snapped, she stared at him "Timmy" she said it that time on purpose "Why don't we invite them over? They must be tired and they deserve a rest after babysitting you for so long" Tim just stared at her. After a moment he sighed, shrugged and led them off to where he and Katie lived. After a slight pause to motion to ShinAkuma, Death walked off following Tim. ShinAkuma sighed, looked down at Katie still tightly gripping him, shrugged, picked her up and followed on behind...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-07-10 16:22 ]</font>

dekar
Jul 10, 2002, 11:00 PM
wow, this is good

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: dekar on 2002-07-10 21:01 ]</font>

SS_Death
Jul 11, 2002, 07:40 AM
Warning: This chapter contains some adult themes.

Chapter 18 - Trouble at the Palace

They escaped out through one of the side gates in all the commotion, quickly they rounded the block to Nav's hovercar and the group piled in "Where to now?" ShinAkuma asked, Nav and Death exchanged glances before Death replied "Somewhere safe" and left it at that. The others were still feeling a little too bruised and battered to question any further. Slowly the hovercar raised itself into the air and sped off in the direction of the Redria sector...

About seven beats later the hovercar pulled up in front of the Hunter's Palace, then they glided round the building and into one of the staff parking bays at the rear. Once they had all disembarked Nav and Death led them round to the front and then in through the main doors. Luckily it was still early so the club wasn't yet open and the inside was empty apart from various members of the staff preparing for later in the evening when the club would be open. Death walked over to the bar, but instead of one of the bartenders Malcot was there grinning at him "Well you really did it this time didn't you!" this was more of a statement than a question. "What were you thinking..." as Death was about to respond Malcot waved him off "...never mind. Somehow I don't think that I want to know..." he sighed and walked around the bar and stopped in front of the rest of the group "Well let's see..." he walked around them a few times making thoughtful noises. He finally stopped in front of them and turned to Death "Alright, if they are going to hide here then they need jobs, these two" he waved at ShinAkuma and RY0K0 "Can join you and Nav on quelling duty duties. The force" he indicated Tim "Can work the bar" then he turned to Shino and Mielle "You two better stay here too, there are far too many Military types coming in and out of there". He made an expansive gesture taking in the whole room "Thankfully we have some table waiting jobs available so that should be okay for the both of you..." just then Katie interrupted "So what am I going to do?" Malcot bent down to her and smiled "You my dear are going to work as my assistant" Katie smiled "Yah-hey!" Malcot straightened up "Alright ladies and gentlemen, we open in 76 beats. Be ready by then" with that he turned and walked over to the rear door and vanished off into the staff quarters. Just as the door was about to swing shut a figure emerged and stormed up to Nav "What in hell were you thinking?" Nav stood there dumbstruck in the face of his sister's fury "You couldn't at least have told me what you were going to do? You just had to go of without even a goodbye!" she grabbed her brother tightly "Don't ever do that again, ok?" Nav nodded, Yuma turned her attention to Mielle "Are you alright?" Mielle nodded and the two embraced. Next Yuma turned her attention to Death "Next time you want to drag my brother into some stupid conflict ask me first. Well introduce me then." She motioned towards Shino "Yuma this is my wife Shino, Shino this is Nav's sister Yuma" the two ladies greeted one another and embraced. Then stood apart and Yuma looked Death up and down "You know this man of yours is the most stubborn person I have ever met!" Shino laughed "Yes, I know." This triggered a giggling fit from all three ladies that quickly spread to everyone except Death who was looking a little hurt, Shino saw this, walked over to him and took his hand...

Now Yuma had calmed down Nav introduced her to the rest of the group, first ShinAkuma, then RY0K0, next was Tim but she stopped and whispered to her brother "He's cute, is he single?" Nav stared at her "How would I know? Best ask him yourself" he whispered back. Yuma advanced on Tim like a predator on its prey, Tim was beginning to look decidedly nervous..."Hi, I'm Yuma" she introduced herself to him while gently rubbing up against him "I...I...I'm Tim" he stammered, she smiled at him "So Tim, are you seeing anyone?" Tim was getting very embarrassed now "No" Yuma smiled at him "Good, you are now!" with that she grabbed him by the collar and led him away. Katie turned to Mielle and asked "Hey! Where's she taking my brother?" Mielle just smiled "Come on! Tell me!" Katie pleaded "I'll tell you when you're older" Mielle answered "Huh?" Katie replied, now unsure of what was going on. Death leaned over to Nav and said quietly "Will they be okay?" Nav turned to face him "Don't worry. My sister is a very strong person" Death stared at him "I meant Tim!" Nav's face flushed "Oh, well...probably" Death kept staring at him "Probably?!" Nav was now going an even deeper shade of red "Yuma is rather...energetic..." now there was an image Death desperately wanted to avoid "...ok..." looking to change the subject he called to everyone "Ok, haven't got long we better get ready. Follow me" he made a gesture in the direction of the rear door and started off with Shino alongside him...

Tim was lying down. It wasn't that he was tired it was more that Yuma had pushed him onto the bed after locking the door and then straddled him and was now sitting quite comfortably on his knees. He tried to sit up and as he did she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips, then he fell backwards once more. Yuma stretched out next to him, entangling his legs with hers and wrapping her arms around his neck before pulling him up so her chin was resting on his chest. They lay there like that for a few moments before Tim got up the courage to speak "Erm...er..." she raised one finger to his lips "Hush now, let me enjoy this embrace for just a little longer..." she sighed and wrapped his arms around her. "What about the others?" he asked after a few more moments had passed "Oh them" she shrugged "They'll just think we're having sex" Tim went bright pink much to Yuma's surprise "You mean to say you haven't..." Tim shook his head. Yuma began to unbutton her dress "Wha...what are you doing?" he managed to ask her "I'm going to fix that right now" she told him as she slipped down the dress revealing she wore nothing underneath. "I..." he began, before he could continue she pressed herself against him, her naked body writhing against him. She pressed her lips onto his and kissed him deeply, as she did his thoughts faded away as he embraced her fully, no longer afraid. They broke contact as he undid the fastenings on his shirt and removed it as she pulled off his trousers, then they embraced once again. She began to remove his underwear as he pulled the bedclothes around them to shield them from the cold as she straddled him once more...

Death carefully led them to the staff quarters, Katie was sent off to Malcot's room. It had proved to be just in time because as she had entered the office and closed the door a series of low moans had emerged from Yuma's room. Shino squeezed his hand tightly whilst Mielle did the same to Nav "Er...guys" he turned to ShinAkuma and RY0K0, take the last door there on the right. That's the men's changing room, Nav and I will be along...shortly" ShinAkuma smiled, as he passed he elbowed Death in the ribs and winked at him before continuing off down the hall. When Death turned back around he just caught Nav disappearing into a room being led by Mielle before the door closed behind them, he felt Shino tug his arm and he followed her into one of the many other empty rooms. There was a bed in one corner and a few assorted items of furniture, once they were both inside Shino released Death's hand and locked the door behind them. Then she went over to the bed and sat down, patting a space beside her. Death crossed over to where she was sitting and they embraced. She lifted her arms over her head and he pulled off her top, then he peeled off his own, next they removed their trousers and finally their underwear. Naked they pressed their bodies against one another as their lips collide; he gathered her hands in his as she lowered herself to be fully lying on the bed. He moved over her, her hands turning palm-to-palm with his, their fingers entwined. "She whispered into his ear "I love you" he kissed her tenderly "And I you, my love" he whispered back to her as they joined once more...

There was a knock at the door "15 beats to opening" Death sat up "15 beats!" Shino reached up to him "Just a little longer, please" he lay back down...there was another knock on the door "5 beats to opening" Death opened his eyes "5...but..." Shino opened her eyes and sat up "Come on we need to get ready". The two of them got out of bed and dressed. Death in his normal gear and Shino into the waitress outfit. The clothing for the waitresses was very no nonsense, trousers and a loose fitting full top with a little waist bag for the order pad and messeta. They exited the room together to find Nav and Mielle chatting with RY0K0 and ShinAkuma "Where's Tim?" Death asked them, the others just shrugged. Then the door to Yuma's room opened and Tim emerged, he walked over to the rest of the group "Yuma will be out later, she's just resting now" Death stared at him "How are you?" he enquired, Tim smiled dreamily "Engaged." Everyone took a step backwards "Er...congratulations" Death managed to get out. Nav walked over to Tim and put his arm round the force's shoulders "Welcome to the family Tim, glad to know my little sister is in safe hands" Tim nodded "Right, lets go!" Nav called cheerfully as he led the others down to the main floor ready for work.

It was a fairly quiet night at first, there were no fights although one or two patrons had to be discouraged a little but nothing major. Death was doing the rounds when he noticed that Nav was signalling him, he walked over to where Nav was standing "What's up?" Nav had a worried expression on his face "There's a load of soldiers hanging about, looks like trouble..." before he could say anything more the doors were flung open revealing a man in expensive clothing with what looked like an officer beside him and guards flanking them on either side. Malcot emerged from the back and walked up to the group "Good evening gentlemen. How can I help you?" the well dressed man looked at him with a look of distaste "Are you the owner of this..." he swept his arm round taking in the whole interior of the Hunter's Place "...establishment" Malcot nodded "That I am" the well dressed man smiled wickedly "Then I believe you have a man known as 'Death' in your employ" Malcot's face hardened "And what business would you have with him?" the man kept his voice in that same level tone "These gentlemen" he indicated the soldiers "Are here to arrest him for assaulting a citizen, my son. Hand him over!" Malcot took a step towards him "Even if that 'citizen' is trying to rape one of my employees" the officer looked worried "Sir, in that case we cannot arrest him. He was fully within the remands of his license to do so" the well dressed man turned to face him "You would take the word of this...this ruffian over the word of my son, he swore to me he did nothing" the officer was looking very edgy now, one of the soldiers approached him with a pad "Sir according to the statements we have collected it seems that what Mr Malcot said was in fact correct" now the well dressed man was getting angry "Are you insinuating that my son is a liar?" the officer really did look very worried now "No sir...I'm just saying he may have...forgotten certain things" this was too much for the man "FORGOTTEN! NEVER! Soldiers take this man into custody and scour this place until you find this 'Death'" a figure strode forward from the floor "No need. I am Death" Death announced. The man smiled wickedly "Excellent! Arrest him!" the soldiers began to move but Death held up a hand "I would stop where you are, I have proof of this. Please turn your attention to the main screen" he waved his hand towards the central screen just above the music centre. A series of images began to be displayed showing what had happened when the boy had attacked the club "These images are taken from the house security records, as I am sure you are aware it is impossible to fake these as they are regulated by an enclosed system. If you gentlemen would care to check the validity then I can show you to the control room" the well dressed man was about to speak when the officer cut him off "Thank you, I think we've seen enough" he turned to the gentleman "Come along Mr. Raildan, we have wasted these gentleman's time enough" he handed Raildan to some of his soldiers to be escorted away still creaming curses and threats of revenge. Death walked up to him "Thanks" the officer shook his head "Don't worry about it. Railden's trouble, he has the ear of the Principal so he wonders round like he owns the place" he turned to leave "Watch yourself, people like Raildan have no qualms about sending assassins to do their deeds" Death nodded "Thanks" the officer shook his head "Don't worry, just keep out of trouble and watch your back" with that he left. Malcot walked over to Death "That was good work handling that, could have become ugly very easily" Malcot put a hand on Death's shoulder "But that officer was right, people like Raildan don't like being shown up, be careful" Death turned to him "I can look after myself" with that he turned out the door and stalked off into the night...

Back in the Hunter's Palace everyone had settled down, Yuma had just come down for her act and was making a stop at the bar to have a quick word with her fiance before starting her act. Mielle went over to Shino "I'm sure he'll be alright" Shino looked at her "I'm so afraid something might happen..." ShinAkuma approached them "Is everything ok?" Shino turned to him "Please can't you do something?" he looked at her "He's angry, best to let him weather it out" she began to cry "...I'll watch him for you. Don't worry..." Shino dried her eyes and nodded. Then ShinAkuma signalled he was going out and went off into the city in search of his friend...

SS_Death
Jul 22, 2002, 05:35 PM
Chapter 19 - The Crazy Program

ShinAkuma opened his eyes..."Where?" he began before the memories came flooding back, this was Tim and Katie's home. They had come here after they had returned from the Caves, he looked around and spotted Death standing in a corner in a hibernating state. He got up and walked over to Death "Hey! Wake up!" Death's eyes began to glow "What is it?" ShinAkuma smiled "Just checking" he walked off in search of Tim. Death stood there for a moment, what was there to do...unsure he settled on following ShinAkuma and set off to find the HUmar.

ShinAkuma walked down the small hallway at the back of the living room. There was a door on the left which he opened...a bathroom...no help there...He continued down the hall, there were two rooms on the right. "One of these must be Tim's" he said to himself, he stepped up to the closer of the two doors and knocked...

Death rounded the corner just in time to see ShinAkuma disappear through a doorway. He was a little surprised by this so he advanced along the hall. As he neared the end the far door opened and Tim stumbled out, he looked at Death "Uh...why...?" he asked "ShinAkuma" Death explained "Disappeared into that door" pointing to the one closet to him. A look of horror slowly crept across Tim's face "Oh dear...that's Katie's room..."

ShinAkuma was making a spirited attempt for the door, unfortunately his progress was impeded by the small newman girl fervently gripping his waist. As soon as he had knocked on the door Katie had opened it and dragged him inside. She was wearing a pair of pink pyjamas with little yellow Rag Rappies embroidered on them and her hair was kept in a neat little ponytail fastened with a large pink ribbon. "Let go, it's not right for a man to be alone in a ladies bedroom" Katie shrieked with joy "You think I'm a lady!" then she turned thoughtful for a moment "But you're not alone, I'm here!" ShinAkuma sighed "Exactly" he was about to continue when the door swung open revealing Death and Tim standing outside staring in at them...

After a few moments of explaining and Katie getting told of by Tim and going to sulk, the three Hunters set out to the Yellowboze teleporter. When they arrived they set the first level of the newly opened Mines as their destination and set out...

They emerged into a small room. There was a small maintenance droid floating around, seemingly confused. They ignored it and stepped out into the first room. It was a large room with a high ceiling, the walls were strewn with various forms of machinery. The floor was a form of photonic glass and gave a clear view down into the depths of the shaft, not only that but there were gaps at the edges, certainly a risk to anyone who got a little to careless. They moved into the room and as they did so a series of machines emerged "According to this these are called Gilchics, they were used for mining operations by Pioneer 1" ShinAkuma told the others "However these seem to be hostile" he added as a purple beam swept past him. Death drew his sword and carved into the lead Gilchic slicing its head from its body causing it to drop to the floor and explode. He was about to take a swing at the next when one of its punches connected. Suddenly he felt himself being slowed down, Tim and ShinAkuma could only watch in horror as Death suddenly started moving very slowly, it was then that the State/Maintenance unit he had found in the Caves kicked in removing the slow effect. Unfortunately Tim, in an effort to help out, had built up a razonde and launched it at the crowd of machines...the Gilchics dropped to the floor before exploding. Meanwhile Death just stood there with little arcs of lightning coursing across his body "Next time you do that" he explained to him when the surges had passed "WAIT until I get out of the way!" Tim nodded weakly as Death turned and stalked off further into the Mines. The next room yielded a series of small flying robots that ShinAkuma announced to be Canadines "They were used for exploring and mining in confined spaces" he explained as another one exploded as he unloaded two photon bullets from his handgun into it. The following three rooms contained nothing more than some more Canadines and a few Gilchics. Also they spotted the odd Gilchich and Canabin, it seemed that these were more advanced versions of the Gilchic and Canadine respectively and were slightly more resilient to damage. They went down a corridor and found themselves in a small passage room with massive generators either side. They were about to make for the exit when two large blue robots dropped from the ceiling...

"What are these things?!" Tim called out as he ducked to avoid being struck by one of the huge machine's fists. "They're called Sinow Beats" ShinAkuma replied as he snapped a few shots into the first Sinow Beat's body "They are some kind of processing robot" it dropped to the floor as Tim cast a high level zonde at it. They turned to see Death bring his sword around creating a gash in the side of the second Sinow Beat, which then collapsed to the floor and exploded...

The next few rooms held more of the same with the occasional Sinow Beat dropping in at the most annoying of times. Also they spotted a golden version, at one point it jumped back and made a strange gesture at which point of the other machines seemed to revive "I think that it somehow just cast resta" indicated Tim as he used a massive gizonde technique to short circuit them all just before ShinAkuma and Death moved in for the kill. The door to the next room opened and they found themselves at another section teleporter "Says 'Mines 2'" Death told them "Must be a second level further down then" commented Tim. Following a groan from ShinAkuma the three entered the teleporter and vanished.

When they emerged in the second level of the Mines the difference struck them immediately. Where the first level had been very well preserved the second level was almost in ruins. Death pointed to one of the small maintenance robots they had seen earlier, it was shaking up and down violently and flying in circles. ShinAkuma signalled to them "There is another unit in this area, called Garanz, they're a demolitions machine, very heavily armoured according to the records. There is also an advanced version called a Baranz but they are supposedly very rare". Slightly worried they walked into the first area.

This was a large room, but unlike on the upper level the ceiling was far lower and the floor was solid. The were a few energy grids but for the most part the lighting was malfunctioning or not functioning at all. A few Gilchics appeared and were dispatched followed by some more Gillchics and a few Canadines. Once they were destroyed a Sinow Beat dropped and was defeated. Finally there was a very loud whirring noise and a large green machine appeared. It drove towards them with a grinding noise before stopping and launching a series of homing missiles. They managed to dodge most of them but one or two hit home forcing Tim to use a resta on ShinAkuma and Death. Death swapped his sword for his handgun and joined ShinAkuma in a volley of bullets aimed at the huge green behemoth. As their shots hit home more and more of its upper armour fell away revealing more missile launchers! It managed to get off another volley, wounding ShinAkuma and knocking Tim unconscious before a final shot slammed home and it folded up and detonated. ShinAkuma cast a resta on himself while Death revived Tim with a moon atomiser. After checking he was ok they split up and searched the room. There were a few crates and Death managed to find a few useful items including a better shield. Now he went to see what the others were doing...

Death looked around to see Tim running off gleefully chasing a large group of Canadines, occasionally casting zonde on one of them, he shook his head and went to look for ShinAkuma in the next room. It was long and rectangular with a door at the far end. Death went onwards to investigate whilst ShinAkuma checked the crates near the door for any useful items. As soon as Death reached the halfway point there was a grinding noise and a group of Garanz emerged. Three were sitting just a little in front of him and a fourth over near ShinAkuma. He drew his blade and braced himself to attack when the two Garanz either side of him drove straight past him and headed directly for ShinAkuma. Death was slightly puzzled and annoyed by this. Then he remembered the third Garanz...there was a whirring noise and he turned round to find that the Garanz had driven up right next to him. He braced himself for its missile attack and...picked himself off the floor! The Garanz had just kept going and run him over. There were now a series of huge greasy black tread marks right down his body. Now he was really angry, he let out a huge roar of anger and began to charge towards the now four Garanz surrounding ShinAkuma...

Tim ran into the room, ShinAkuma stood there surrounded by a group of four Garanz. As he prepared a rafoie suddenly the lead Garanz split down the middle and exploded. Behind the wreckage stood Death, covered in thick greasy black lines. Tim would have laughed were it not for the look in Death's eyes...to this day that look still haunted his dreams. Death swept his sword into the second Garanz side tearing through the armour. Before the machine had even hit the ground his sword had carved into the power core of the third Garanz causing it to detonate like its unfortunate brethren. The fourth and final Garanz turned to face Death "SO FINALLY YOU PAY ATTENTION TO ME!" he screamed at the hulking machine, it hunkered down and launched a volley of missiles at him seemingly in answer. Death charged through the explosions and buried his sword in the Garanz 'head'. He turned away as the last Garanz went on its way to becoming scrap. "You ok?" Tim asked the two of them Death said nothing "We're fine" ShinAkuma told him. Tim looked at ShinAkuma, then at Death and then ShinAkuma again "Ok." Tim walked over to the far door. "You ok?" ShinAkuma asked Death once Tim was out of earshot, Death looked at him "Fine." Came the reply. ShinAkuma stood there for a moment longer and then walked off after Tim. He had known Death long enough to know that when he was like this it was best to leave him...he would talk when he was ready.

Death stood there alone...now he felt alive...only here like this was he truly alive...was this all there was for him...would it always be battles...would it always be that the only solace he could find was in the heat of battle...unknowing he advanced after his friends...

The three stepped into a large room. There was a figure there fighting off a series of Ghilchics, it was a Humar, slightly shorter than ShinAkuma with bright blue-white hair. He was arcing through their ranks cutting one down with each blow. Once all were destroyed he turned and noticed the three, he walked over to them and struck a pose "Ain't I great!" Death stared at the cocky Humar "Not bad" the Humar stared at him "Not bad? Not bad! I'll show you not bad!" the Humar advanced on Death. Death stood there unmoved "Ok" he pointed to something behind the human hunter "So what exactly do you intend to do about that?" he asked. There was a 'thunk' as if something had just impacted into the floor from directly behind the Humar. He turned around to find himself face to face with a Sinow Red "Oh shit!" he cried as it aimed a punch at his head. He stood there for a few moments and then opened his eyes, Death had gripped the Sinow Red's arm and was holding it inches from his face "What the?" he backed off as the Sinow Red made a move to attack Death, as it began to swing ShinAkuma buried his partisan in its chest and it slumped to the floor and exploded. The Humar stood there for a second and then scratched the back of his head "Er...thanks. I'm RY0K0" he said awkwardly. The three introduced themselves, which then led into a brief discussion of why RY0K0 was down here alone. Once he had heard about this area he had run off to explore, he wasn't part of a team at the moment he had come alone. Following some discussion and he joined the group, the now four set off to explore the rest of the mines. The next few rooms proved uneventful, numerous enemies were wrecked by the group's combined efforts. Finally they located the main teleporter, Tim used shifta and deband techniques on them all and they stepped onto the pad and vanished...

They reappeared in a small room; each wall had a large screen with three smaller screens below it. "Where the hell are we?" RY0K0 asked. ShinAkuma walked over to one of the screens and examined it "Looks like the central control room...seems inactive though..." just as he began to examine further the screens flared into life and a red light began to flash. A creature appeared on the screen in front of ShinAkuma "WARNING! WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED!" came a load metallic voice. The thing turned and began heading off screen, a few moments later it reappeared on the screen to the right. It stopped and turned to them then vanished and a series of pillars rose out of the ground. The four attacked them though it had little effect, then ShinAkuma struck the red one. There was a rumbling and the room shook "Aim for the red one!" he called to the others as the pillar exploded just as the others sank back into the ground. Then it returned, they continued to destroy screen after screen as well as the pillars when they emerged. Finally the last pillar was gone and the room began to rock with explosions "Looks like its over" RY0K0 began, but suddenly a huge armoured core descended from the ceiling. It rotated round to face Death, meanwhile its rear was facing ShinAkuma. The antenna lifted and the back opened revealing a pair of missile launchers, they then fired a volley of four missiles at ShinAkuma...

ShinAkuma leapt out of the way just as the missile detonated, irritated he tore into the launcher tearing large gashes in the armour. The other joined in and within moments the launcher exploded and the whole section fell away. "So you can be hurt" ShinAkuma commented as her began to tear into the next section. After a few beats the last section finally fell away, then Death tore into the core and it rose into the ceiling and exploded. Finally a teleporter flared into life and the four stepped into it expecting to reappear aboard Pioneer 2.

They found themselves in a passageway. The walls were the first thing that caught their attention, they began like the walls of the mines and then became more...organic. Next they noticed an opening with a huge organic web stretched across it. Just in front of the opening was a message capsule...



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-07-22 15:51 ]</font>

SS_Death
Jul 22, 2002, 05:37 PM
Chapter 20 - Silence

Two days had slowly passed them by. It was a warm day and the staff of the Hunters Palace were lazing around the club's interior awaiting the cool of the evening. Death had stationed himself at the rear, next to the staff door. From this vantage point he had a clear view of the rest of the floor...

RY0K0 was seated in one of the many booths located along the left-hand wall, chatting up a few of the dancers. ShinAkuma was seated at a portable computer terminal on one of the tables. Occasionally Death could just make out ShinAkuma wincing as he heard his name mentioned in the conversation coming from a table just behind him.

Shino, Mielle, Yuma and Katie were all sitting around a table sipping their drinks and chatting away. From what Death could hear the conversation had turned to marriage. At first Mielle had described her wedding to Nav and then she had asked Shino about her wedding, this had caused Shino to blush and confess "We never had a wedding". Mielle and Yuma had looked at one another and then nodded in agreement "As soon as this is all over we are going to have the most extravagant wedding ceremony in the history of Pioneer 2 for you and Death" Mielle told Shino. Shino, a little overcome reached over and hugged Mielle, then walked over and hugged Yuma. Then Katie piped up "Don't I get a hug?" Shino looked at the small newman girl and smiled "Of course" she walked over and hugged the small newman girl tightly. Then Yuma began detailing her plans for her and Tim's wedding. It seemed like Tim would be needing every last bit of Meseta he could lay his hands on because Yuma had some fantastic plans in mind. Death made a mental note to speak with Tim about it later, he had saved up a fair amount of meseta but in all his time as a hunter he had never found a use for it, perhaps Tim would make better use of it than he ever could...

Death looked over to the bar area where Tim was standing, taking lessons from the bartender Ram. Ram's full name was Ramaseas Niblick the Third 'Kurplunk' 'Kurplunk' Whoops where's my thribble. Now most people on first hearing this either burst out laughing or stood there looking confused. When Death had introduced Ram to Tim, Tim had managed to do both. When Tim had asked the inevitable question "How did you get such a...unique name?" Ram had launched off into some crazed story leaving Tim spellbound. The thing was about Ram was he had difficulty with the truth, that is he had no idea what it was. Whenever he told a story it got more and more blown out of proportion each time he told it. Of course not that it deterred people, most nights before the evening was out the bar would be surrounded by a crowd of women, enthralled by one of his wild stories. Ram was about the same height as ShinAkuma with long blonde hair which he had in a huge afro. He was a Fomar by trade and wore a set of deep red force's robes.

Ram was mixing various cocktails with assorted fancy moves whilst Tim desperately tried not to drop the shaker. So far he had been less than successful and was covered in various incomplete concoctions. Slowly however he seemed to be getting the hand of it...

Just at that moment the main doors opened and a large android entered. The android was a heavily built, blue Racast named NO MERCY, he was the club doorman and Death had got to know him in the aftermath of the day they got attacked by that damn merchants son. He signalled at Death who began to walk over when there was a 'crash' from the direction of the bar. Everyone turned round to see Tim standing there with a shaker on his head and covered in another one of Ram's various concoctions. Yuma stood and rushed over to him. Once the commotion had died down Death crossed the last intervening space to the entrance "What's up?" NO MERCY signalled towards the door and went outside. Death took a quick glance around the room, exchanged a worried glance with Shino and stepped outside...

Death stepped out into the street, as the light cascaded down through the upper layers of the dome he brought his hand up to shield his eyes when he noticed...something was amiss...then it hit him, where were all the people? He looked left and right seeking even a single person. There was nothing, not a single soul about...normally the area would be bustling at this time of day but now it was deserted. It reminded Death of Pioneer 2, since the migration of the citizenry to the surface and the confines of Pioneer City much of Pioneer 2 was devoid of life yet still haunted by the memories of those who could never return...

"See" NO MERCY had walked up along side him "Been like this since early morning" Death surveyed the empty area, he uttered a single word "Why?" in many ways it was as much a question as it was a rhetorical one, he already knew the answer. He knew who was doing this and why yet something about it bothered him...even a merchant like Raildan didn't have this mush power, someone else must be helping him...someone with the power to close off an entire sector...

ShinAkuma looked up as Death and NO MERCY re-entered "Everyone" Death addressed the room "Please gather round". ShinAkuma was struck by the edge in Death's voice, he closed the lid of the terminal, pushed back his chair and walked over to where Death and NO MERCY were standing followed by the rest of the staff. "What's up?" ShinAkuma asked as the last of the staff shuffled into position, Death turned his gaze to ShinAkuma and then to the crowd "The sector has been deserted" there was a low chorus of grumbles. Death silenced them with a motion "I have my suspissions..." he looked down at the ground, then he snapped his head back into position "First I'm going to discuss this with Malcot, then I am going to go and deal with it...personally" he scanned the crowd, moving from face to face "I need two volunteers to come with me. I can't guarantee your safety so think carefully before answering." Most of the crowd looked down at their feet, few would meet his gaze as he sought their help. Only two remained staring at him. The first was ShinAkuma, standing there his face set. The second was Shino, her face set, a look of determination in her eyes...

Death went up to Malcot's office. He returned a considerable while later, Malcot trailing behind him. "Ladies and gentlemen" Malcot addressed his staff "I have called in a lot of favours and have managed to get the blockade lifted for tonight" this got a few cheers "Not matter what we have a club to run. Regardless of what happens we must forge ever onwards." He paused for a moment to place a hand on Death's shoulder "As you know Death is going to try and find us a more permanent solution to this problem...in response to this I am promoting him to the position of floor manager" there were a few gasps from the assembled people ?Right! Only 200 beats till we open, get a move one!" Malcot turned and headed back to his office.

Death spent the next 75 beats organising everyone for the nights opening. Nav, RY0K0, Tim, Ram, NO MERCY and all the others chipped in. Finally when everything was in place he nodded his thanks to the others and headed to his and Shino's room to fetch his gear. Shino was there waiting for him "Are you upset with me?" she asked him. He looked at her, her hair was tied up in its usual long ponytail. She wore a loose fitting black top with a pair of matching trousers. On top she wore her armour and had her weapons stowed away in her null space storage. Her mag, Elnoa, floated just behind her. "No." she turned to look into his face, seeing the pain in his eyes she asked "What's wrong?" he turned away from her questioning gaze "I...I'm afraid...afraid I might lose you..." she was taken aback, in all the time she had known him she had never known him be afraid. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head into his back "All of my life there was nothing, only the battles, the death. I existed only to end that of others..." she loosened her grip and he turned around before she gripped him again and he wrapped his arms about her. "Don't worry my love" she told him as she reached up and they kissed...



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-07-22 15:51 ]</font>

ERaZer
Jul 24, 2002, 11:35 AM
Wow! Great story!
Mind if I have it on my site(hasn't opened yet, and of course you will get full credit for your fanfic)?

Xeyer
Jul 24, 2002, 09:38 PM
Whoa........
That is a great story,but I have one question: is that the end of it?
I would love to read more.

SS_Death
Jul 25, 2002, 02:54 AM
On 2002-07-24 09:35, ERaZer wrote:
Wow! Great story!
Mind if I have it on my site(hasn't opened yet, and of course you will get full credit for your fanfic)?



Yup you ca use it but hold on until its finished ok?

Gonna be writing a few more chapters. At least 3/4 I think. Then I can e-mail it to you in word document format, k?

SS_Death
Jul 25, 2002, 02:54 AM
On 2002-07-24 19:38, Xeyer wrote:
Whoa........
That is a great story,but I have one question: is that the end of it?
I would love to read more.



There's more, just gotta get some time to write the next few chapters. Oh and BTW I have some ideas for the sequel...watch this space!

ERaZer
Jul 25, 2002, 04:29 PM
On 2002-07-25 00:54, SS_Death wrote:


On 2002-07-24 09:35, ERaZer wrote:
Wow! Great story!
Mind if I have it on my site(hasn't opened yet, and of course you will get full credit for your fanfic)?



Yup you ca use it but hold on until its finished ok?

Gonna be writing a few more chapters. At least 3/4 I think. Then I can e-mail it to you in word document format, k?


Yeah, thanks. I hope my visitors will like it as much as I do http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

SS_Death
Aug 14, 2002, 05:19 AM
Chapter 21 - Dead Men Tell No Tales

"I'm hurt that you didn't contact me sooner" Black Omega told Raildan as he paced across the mans expansive office "Getting those soldiers to try and arrest him..." Your lucky they didn't arrest you for wasting their time". "You realise that your son was very lucky" he paused as if listening to some inner voice "Of course he was lucky, I'm truly surprised Death didn't kill him". Once more he paused as if responding to an unspoken question "You see I created him, of course, not as you see him now but before, when he was an android..." he stopped pacing and turned towards the large windows behind Raildan's desk "It was along time ago, not long before the Pioneer project began. The military had decided that in response to the dangers that may await them they wanted a new type of soldier; a huge flow of Meseta went into research. I was the head of the team at that time, we were charged with making the perfect soldier, human lives were too precious to waste but androids were a different matter. They could endure far more than any human and fight in conditions that would kill a mere human". He stopped and walked over to the window overlooking the city "The first choice was what type of android to use, following the selection criteria we finally decided on a Hucast as they were one of the most powerful types and had the flexibility we required. Construction of the body took two months, we had many of the parts custom built to ensure that the reaction times were far superior to those of any other unit of his type" he paused to stare down and the people far below "At completion according to the statistical analysis he was at least 120% stronger than a normal Hucast...and then we began the next phase, the creation of the mind to fit the body..."

Death stepped out of the hovercab and into the crowds of the Viridia district. This area was quite different to the Redria sector, there was no residential buildings, all the space was taken up by various small traders swarming the streets in the inner area, and out closer to the edge of the city where the buildings of the larger corporations. Before the migration, on Pioneer 2 the Hunters Guild had a large office amongst these towering giants, however since the first civil war and the sundering of the civilian population and the hunters the building now lay dormant. Even now no one had claimed it still, it was the last physical reminder of a time when Hunters and citizens had lived together. Occasionally some anti-hunter groups would paint the walls with hate graffiti but some of the many retired hunters would come by and scrape it off, even though they had retired they were hunters at heart and did not like to see such things. The military normally turned a blind eye to this, they had no real love of hunters either but they did not like the idea of blood in the streets. So much of the fighting went on behind closed doors. Death bent down and helped Shino out of the cab, and then ShinAkuma followed. He paid the driver and the three began top make their way towards the outer edge of the section where Raildan's corporate headquarters was located.

"Truly creating his mind would be a monumental task" Black Omega continued to stare down at the people as they swarmed about, in a way they reminded him of the creatures of the ruins. Mindless puppets, driven by a greater will than their own..."We began with a basic matrix for his type, first we stripped the emotional programming, a warrior has no need of such things as compassion and mercy" he stopped for a moment and turned to look at Raildan "although that is not all true...one remained, no matter what we did we could not remove anger from him. When that happened some of the others wanted to get a new matrix but I refused. It fascinated me that even at this level there could be some life to it". He turned back to the window "Now we had a mind we began to fill it with tactical data, as our soldier may have to work alone and without orders for an extended period of time we filled his mind with strategic information and concepts of warfare. Then he had proficiency in all Hunter class weapons and supplements uploaded. Finally against some suggestions it was decided to allow him free will. In a way that may have been a mistake but it did not seem wise to create a mindlessly obedient soldier for such tasks, far better to have one that could learn and adapt in the same way as a human would". He stretched his arms in an expansive gesture taking in the entire scene that the window showed to him...

The three continued to weave their way through the crowds of merchants and dealers assailing all that pasts with their cries of "Best prices in town!" or "Great deals or your meseta back!" they ignored them and kept going ever onwards. As they moved into the corporate area surprisingly the street got a lot more crowded. However unlike in the markets were all was chaos here all the people moved with purpose, each going their own way to a fixed destination, a perfect display of ordered chaos swirling around great bastions of calm. Most of the offices had guards at their doors, most of the businesses could ex-hunters as guards and the latest fashion was using Racasts, because of their bulk they were imposing and definitely gave the right kind of effect when people approached. Two such figures were outside the doors to Raildan's building. Death advanced towards them and made a motion of greeting...

"It was time for a test, we united mind and body and took him to one of the military's training simulators. All the tops brass had come to see how their latest weapon was doing" images flicked through his mind "The simulation chosen was a hostage rescue, immediately I was worried. This was not something we had ever expected, during the design we had never known that he would be placed in situations were innocents were involved..." the scenes flicked faster and faster across his mind's eye "Death, his codename I gave him when he awoke for the first time. Strange I know but for what we had created there was no other word. Death killed the first sentry in moments, snapped the man's neck and took his weapon. So armed he killed the remaining two sentries and advanced into the building". Black Omegas voice grew louder and more excited as he reached the climax of the battle "Inside he killed two more, then another two and a fifth who was foolish enough to try and ambush him. From one of them he had taken a handgun and now he advanced to were the hostages were being held". Now Black Omega's voice dropped into a low and almost sad tone "Here was the last of them, he had taken one of the hostages and held them with a gun to their head. He called out 'Drop it or I kill her!' Death stood for a moment and then shot the hostage through the head, the man stumbled back in horror as he was drenched in a mixture of blood, brains and bone fragments. Death advanced towards him and drew his saber, the man begged him 'Please! Please! I surrender! Please don't kill me!' Death stood there for a moment and then plunged the saber through the man's chest. He hung there on Death's blade for an instant, though at that time it seemed to me like an eternity, then he dissolved along with the rest as the simulation ended..."

"State your business" the android on the left asked as Death approached "My associates and I are here to see Mr Raildan, we have a business matter to discuss". The two androids moved closer, each was armed with a custom built rifle, not necessarily the best choice for close quarter fighting but being androids it was generally assumed they could take care of themselves "Mr Raildan ain't seeing anyone today, we ain't heard nothing so you ain't cumin in. Got it?" Death stared at the android "Hey! You better move before I move ya" the android made a move towards him. Death spun away and landed a kick knocking the android over; the second advanced and received a swift punch to the head. Before either could regain their balance ShinAkuma hit them with a large zoned causing them to short circuit. While the two lay helpless the trio advanced on into the lobby of the building...

Black Omega's expression turned to one of disgust "After that...incident, they cancelled the project and pulled my funding. Death was dismissed as being to dangerous for normal work and was discharged; initially they were calling for his destruction but a young officer argued his case. He was luck and his superiors relented so Death was discharged, enrolled onto the Hunter's Guild books and forgotten". He remained silent for a moment as memories of the past once more pained him, then he brightened "But now he has returned tom me, even if he doesn't yet know it he will be the one who will herald the destruction this order of things" he swept around majestically and advanced towards the doors. Just as he was about to open them and step outside he paused "A new era is beginning Raildan, even more the pity for you that you could not live to see it..." with that he opened the doors and was gone. In his wake the doors slowly closed as the corpse of Raildan slumped forward in his chair and onto his desk...

The three entered the main lobby and headed directly towards the elevator, a number of people stared at them as they came through, however no one stopped or questioned them. It occurred to Death that there were no more guards inside. That definitely explained why their presence had not been questioned. All the people working here just assumed that if you got in then you were supposed to, if you weren't the Racasts would have made sure you didn't get far. They really were going to get a surprise if they went outside...damn! Anyone coming in or out might well notice the distinct absence of the guards. Best hurry to be sure that they weren't interrupted. He motioned to the others and they went directly towards the elevator, as the doors opened a number of people disgorged before the three of them entered. Before anyone else could enter Death pressed the button causing the doors to sweep shut. He selected the top floor and they began their ascent...

"I'm sorry but Mr Raildan is in a meeting" the diminutive secretary tried to hold back Death's massive figure as he firmly advanced towards the double doors that lead up to the Raildan's office "He gave strict instructions not to be disturbed" Death continued walking ignoring the man's desperate attempts to halt him without ever getting into physical contact. Death finally reached the main doors and the man finally plucked up the courage to put a hand on Death's arm. Death halted his progress and gave a stare of pure ice towards the small figure, the man stepped backwards sharply and pulled his hand away "But...but..." Death pulled open the doors as the man fled. As Death stepped into the office he felt a wave of something surge over him, the last thing heard before blackness engulfed him was a voice, a voice in his head "Go my herald. Usher in my new age of darkness..."


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-08-14 15:27 ]</font>

SS_Death
Aug 22, 2002, 06:43 PM
Chapter 22 - Illusions of the Past

Author's Note: Credit goes to ShinAkuma for the title to this chapter.

Death felt himself floating...floating in an endless sea of blackness. There was a sound, coming from far away. Someone was calling his name, Death opened his eyes...

"Hey what's wrong?" ShinAkuma asked him Death turned to look at him "Nothing." He replied, ShinAkuma shrugged and walked into the next room. For a moment Death just stood there, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been here before...unsure he followed ShinAkuma deeper into the ruins...

As the doors slid back Death watched as RY0K0 cut the arm from one of those strange creatures, according to the Pioneer 1 data they had been able to retrieve it was known as a Delsaber. With another stroke RY0K0 cleaved the creature asunder, it dropped to the floor and dissolved leaving nothing but a small patch of purple ooze on the ground, Tim was off to the right fighting a group of the floating creatures known as Claws. He cast a gizonde technique, the Claws reeling back as the lightning arced between them. Another blast and fully half of them dissolved, however the remaining four managed to get in close...there was a sniping noise as one of the Claws made a lunge at Tim, luckily for him the force dodged before dusting the rest with a razonde technique. Lastly ShinAkuma was battling a group of large, blade-handed fiends known as Dimineans. There were only two left now, as Death watched ShinAkuma brought his partisan around and cleaved the remaining two. Before they could celebrate another wave appeared, these were more of the same but now amongst the Dimineans were a few slightly larger purple ones. These were La Dimineans, a slightly stronger form of Diminean. Four advanced on Death, four on ShinAkuma, three more after RY0K0 and six after Tim...

"Hey guys!" Tim called out to the others as he desperately tried to outpace the six Dimineans chasing him. Death looked across at Tim "Try and lead them over here!" he called out as he cut down the lead La Diminean. Tim changed course and began heading in the direction of Death. Meanwhile ShinAkuma and RY0K0 were back-to-back fending off the remaining Dimineans and La Dimineans. Death brought his sword around carving the group of La Dimineans in front of him asunder. Tim approached and as the force got to him he shouted "Duck!". Tim obeyed and Death reversed the arc on his swing cutting down the first three Dimineans. The last three dropped as ShinAkuma and RY0K0 took them from behind. As no new wave was forthcoming the group visibly relaxed, then there was a load clicking as the doors unlocked. "Right let's split up." Death pointed at a door on the right "Tim you come with me" Tim nodded. Meanwhile ShinAkuma signaled to RY0K0, nodded to Death just before the two disappeared into a doorway. Then Death led the way towards the doors and they left the room through the left hand door.

"What's happening? Where are we?" Shino turned to ShinAkuma and then Death. Death looked into her eyes and she paused, then he broke eye contact and swept his eyes across the room "The past...this was our first journey here. Although I cannot explain how or why we are seeing this...". "I know this is wrong" his face was worried "We were entering Raildan's office and now here...dreaming of the past..." he turned to ShinAkuma, they exchanged glances "It seems all we can do for now is watch and wait..." slowly the scene faded and a new one began...

Death and Tim emerged from the small corridor into a large room. They heard a shout from their right and turned to see RY0K0 and ShinAkuma standing there. The two groups were separated by a large chasm, each on a long walkway. On the left-hand path there were a series of explosive traps, there was a energy barrier switch about halfway. The right-hand path was larger, there was a set of crates there, trapped behind the energy field controlled by the switch ahead of Death and Tim. Tim cast a razonde to clear the traps from their path and Death advanced and flicked the switch. RY0K0 and ShinAkuma checked the crates for items but they yielded little of use. The door on the left was locked with a two part switch, Death advanced and stepped onto the switch on his side while ShinAkuma did the same on the far side. Once both switches were pressed the doors slid open and Tim and Death were free to advance. Death waved to ShinAkuma indicating they were going onward and then led Tim through the doors. ShinAkuma paused for RY0K0 to finish checking the room and then they to advanced through the doors into the next room. As RY0K0 and ShinAkuma emerged from the corridor they got there just in time to see Death and Tim disappear into a door at the side of the room. This room was an inverted and mirrored L-shape with a small segment in the bottom left corner connecting from the previous room and leading off to the left where Tim and Death had gone. As ShinAkuma and RY0K0 headed to the far door at the opposite side of the L-shape a group of three La Dimineans and three Claws emerged, the two hunter took their positions and as the enemies drew close enough they cut them down with a series of strokes from their weapons. There were two doors here, one to their left remained shut and had twin locks. The other, far door had opened and so the two advanced towards it and made their way on to the next room...

Death and Tim entered a small room with a warp pad. They then reappeared into another small chamber and advanced onward into a medium sized square room. There was a door located on the left and right sides of the room. A group of So Dimineans emerged in a large triangular formation towards the front of the room, So Dimineans were an even larger version of a Diminean, they had yellow stripes instead of the green ones of Dimineans or purple ones of La Dimineans. Behind them a Dark Belra emerged, slowly it began to shuffle around to face them. As it raised its arm Death called out "Move!" just before pushing Tim out of the way as the Belra launched it's arm at them killing one of the So Dimineans that was unlucky enough to get in the way. The remaining two So Dimineans advanced squarely on Death whilst the Belra lumbered about, trying to get in position for another shot at Tim...

There was a kind of roaring shout from the corner and Tim tuned to see the two So Dimineans collapse to the floor and dissolve. Just beyond was Death, his eyes burning with fury, he charged at the Belra and cut it down with a single swipe. Then another wave of Dimineans and La Dimineans appeared, within moments Death had dispatched them all, then finally a group of Claws emerged. These too met with the same fate as the first two groups, Tim moved over to congratulate him "Thanks that was..." he stopped as Death's sword swung towards him and stopped just in front of his face. He stepped back and stumbled over, Death remained there, frozen, battling with some unseen force. A few more moments passed and he returned to normal. He extended a hand to him, helped the force to his feet and they advanced through the left hand door without another word. After passing through the doors Death and Tim had found themselves in the other half of the L-shaped room. Quickly heading for the far doorway they were reunited with ShinAkuma and RY0K0 and the four continued deeper into the ruins....

A series of images flicked past them, various scenes played out detailing the remainder of the journey. As the group had reached the final teleporter finally the scene went blank "Why has it gone dark all of a sudden?" Shino asked, Death turned to her "I don't know...but what ever this is I don't think its quite over yet..." as if in response to his words the scene flared up once more. Now it was the last form of Dark Falz, as they watched the figures began to fade until only Falz remained, it turned to face them and pointed one arm at Death letting out a sound which could only be described as a laugh before he too vanished...

Death was floating, floating caught between a endless sea of light and an endless sea of darkness. From the light there came a song, but like no song from human voices, Death felt it calling him towards the light. He turned to face it, almost ready to go into the light as the song called him, then he stepped back into the darkness...

SS_Death
Sep 24, 2002, 06:37 AM
Oh dear...it's been a while since I updated this...

Within the week will add the next chapter, 23

SS_Death
Oct 13, 2002, 06:13 PM
First update in ages, woo well here's two more chapters. I think there are only about two to three more left plus an epilogue.

Chapter 23 - Reality Bites...

Death opened his eyes, he was in Raildan's office once more but now the walls were drenched with blood. The corpses of about twenty humans littered the floor. Each wore the insignia of Raildan's company, each dead from wounds inflicted by photon weapons, the weapons he, ShinAkuma and Shino held. There was a sound to his side, Death turned as Shino's gun slowly slipped from he fingers and then dropped to the floor as she began to gag. He went to her and put his arm around her "I know...but we have to leave here." She looked up into his deep-set eyes; she held her gaze there for a moment and then nodded. He turned to look at ShinAkuma; he was standing there, silent. He was far more used to the sight of death. He had been there during the last assault on Dark Falz, he had been forced like all the others to kill those who had once been his comrades...but...but he had never done anything like this before...Death called to him but he made no response as if he had no heard. Death made to call again when suddenly ShinAkuma raised his weapon above his head before engulfing it in a foie. He held it there burning for an instant before he let it fall to the floor, the last licks of flame died as it buried itself in the ground...

The solid wood doors burst open and the soldiers charged in, a few started to gag at the stench of burned and decaying flesh. The sergeant in charge just stood there, staring, he was a veteran. He had been a soldier back in the days when it had still meant something, before these blasted Hunters had come along and people had lost faith in the military. As soon as this report had been made he had asked for the assignment, he had little love of hunters, he welcomed any chance to show them up to be nothing more than paid murderers and thugs. Before him was undeniable evidence of it, all he had to do now was wait...

The three of them emerged from behind the back of the building, Death helping support ShinAkuma. The strain of casting the ryuker was evident on his face, without the boosters even a short-range ryuker was a terrible strain on the system. They had held back at first when Death had spotted a military transport outside the building, once he had ascertained that they were clear they headed out into the crowds. They made slow progress, mainly because ShinAkuma was still weak and it was peak time. The streets were packed solid with various traders and shoppers, the three were bumping and shoving their way away from the corporate buildings. Death was still worried about Shino, she looked pale, and he knew that what they had seen in Raildan's office had upset her more than she was letting on. She had seen little death before, he recalled how shocked she had been seeing the bodies of Zoke and Bernie lying in the ruins. He wanted to reach out and comfort her but her could not, there was no time...they had to get away from there before people came looking for them and ShinAkuma was in no condition to fight, he was walking unaided now but he was still weak. It was unlikely he would be able to use any further techniques for a while. Death looked out across the endless crowds, then back at where they had come from. If anyone came after them now there was nothing he could do...

"Sir" one of the soldiers signalled to him "We think we might have something" the sergeant turned and walked over "Well what is it private?" he asked the sandy haired soldier standing next to a device floating at about chest height "We've got an energy signature, coming from the upper area of the lift. According to the readout it's a ryuker, sir." The sergeant smiled "Good work, now tell me where's the exit?" the soldier looked a little worried "We can't get an exact fix sir" the sergeant stared at the unfortunate soldier "But it can't be more than 100 meters from the casting point." This appeased the sergeant a little, he turned to the rest of the squad "Fan out, I want a 100 meter radius searched. Find the exit to the teleport." The soldiers saluted and headed outwards. The sergeant led then turned and began to make his way back to the ground floor and the transport...

As they reached the road a hovercar suddenly pulled up in front of them and the passenger door slid open "Get in" RY0K0 called from the drivers seat, Death was about to ask how RY0k) had got there when he answered unbidden "About 15 beats after you left the blockade was lifted. I figured something was up so I came looking for you. Next thing I know they're saying the Raildan was murdered...I hurried to get here as fast as I could ?cause I though you might have run into some major trouble..." Death helped the half conscious form of ShinAkuma into the front seat and then he and Shino pilled into the back before RY0K0 sped away in to the city...
[i]



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-10-14 03:23 ]</font>

SS_Death
Oct 13, 2002, 06:15 PM
Here we go, secomnd new chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 24 - Desperate Measures...

The city was on full alert, not since the invasion of the children of Dark Falz had there been such uproar. Military units where patrolling constantly, always hoping to catch sight of the group of hunters blamed for the atrocity at the offices of Mr Raildan, one of the cities most influential businessmen. All known or ex-hunters were on curfew, each was being investigated one by one...it was only a matter of time before they reached Death, Shino and the others...they knew it was no longer safe here yet there was no where to go...

"What can we do?" Tim asked the others as they sat huddled in the Hunter?s Palace ""The military will be here soon and there?s only so long we can hide..." his sentiment was shared by many of the others. They to saw little hope in hiding away. Death stood up "Then I propose we do not hide." The others looked at him in shock "So were just going to turn ourselves in?" one of them asked, he turned to look at them, then he shot a glance at Shino and continued. "No...whoever was truly responsible for this is no ordinary person. The only way they could have accomplished something of this magnitude is if they had been possessed by Dark Falz..." he paused again and allowed this to sink in. Yuma hugged Tim tightly as Katie also gripped onto her brother, they had lost their parents to Dark Falz, they had been aboard Pioneer 1. Then during the last attack they had faced them, no longer human but now mere puppets of the dark force. "To end this we must journey to where it all began. To the ruins." ShinAkuma stared at him "There?s no way down there. The teleport grid was dismantled!" he turned and looked at Shin "Then we go the hard way. Area by area until we reach the ruins." Shin stared back at Death?s cold expression "You know that without the grid there will be no way back once we get below the surface?" Death nodded "I have made my choice. Each of you must decide your own path, I can do nothing more than ask." In turn each of them turned to look at him. Each knew the dangers involved in such a quest, each had so many times put their life on the line. Finally it was ShinAkuma who spoke "I will go with you." Then RY0K0 too, then Tim and NO MERCY and all the others all voiced their agreement. "We leave in one hour, gather your equipment and meet back here. We leave with or without you, understood?" each member of the team nodded and then they headed off to gather their equipment. As the others split off Death and Shino slipped out and made their way to their apartment...

When they arrived Death the door was sealed with a large marker "Warning: Military Investigation taking place. No unauthorised entry." Death tore the notice from the door and flung it aside. He braced him self and pulled the door open wrenching the lock free. "Oh..." Shino gasped as a terrible sight greeted them, their apartment was a mess, and their belongings were strewn across the place, much of the furniture broken. She turned and buried her head in his shoulder, weeping. Finally she dried her eyes and they began to hunt for anything of use...

Death systematically checked, their equipment was all gone...each container had been ransacked. Anything on show had been taken away. Finally he moved other to the closet and removed a small storage unit from the wall. He checked its contents and found they were intact. He went to join Shino wo was itting on what remained of their sofa "I can?t believe its all...gone" he tries in vain to comfort her "Don?t worry, we?ll get it back, all of it." She turned to stare into his eyes "But what?s to stop this from happening again? I can?t live like this!" he took her hands in his "I promise. This will be the last time. When this is over I swear to you my life as a hunter is over. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." She smiled weakly at him and then nodded "All my equipment was taken, I have no weapons..." he drew his S-Rank Scythe and handed it to her, she stared at the huge blade "But...what will you..." she began to ask as he drew a huge sword, it was an S-Rank also. The same sword he had sheathed after the destruction of Dark Falz, a sword he had prayed he would never use again "But that?s...but you ..." he nodded "I know...but needs will as needs must." Next he drew out a Flame Garment, a Chu Chu Fever and a series of units. Shino took the Chu Chu Fever and put it on, and then he equipped the Flame garment and slotted the units into place. Finally he took out two rings, one yellow one white. He handed the yellow ring to Shino and placed the white one on his arm. Then they stood and headed to the door. They said one last farewell to the apartment that had served them so well and then head off to rendezvous with the others...

ShinAkuma found himself at a loss, he had gone to his room to retrieve his equipment. When Death?s message had reached him he had grabbed everything and left. Now as he had looked through his inventory he had come across an item he had long since forgotten he possessed...a pair of daggers...Sakura?s daggers...that day...these were all he had left of her. His heart pained at the memory, still to this day he wished he could have joined her...yet he knew there was still much to be done. Even now the one responsible for her death still walked this earth. He knew he could not rest until she was avenged. RY0K0 approached him "Hey" he called out, ShinAkuma just nodded "You alright?" RY0K0 questioned him, once again ShinAkuma just nodded. RY0K0 knew nothing of his past with Sakura, neither did any of the other except Death...Death...the one who had turned him aside from his fate, the one he had met so long ago. Strange that an android, one who could feel nothing of the warmth of human emotion, would become his closest friend...he still wondered at it. That day when they had ended up in the combat simulator together, he had never worked with anyone before and yet they had moved in perfect sync, neither needing to speak to the other as if they had worked together for years rather than moments...they had argued over the years, often Death?s temper would get the better of him and the two would end up in a battle simulation facing one another. In all these conflicts they had come of no better than the other. Each of their records stood at 23 victories and 23 losses, neither could best the other. In the end they had called a draw and then needing more had headed to the guild for a mission...what a day that had been. Damn foolish of the both of them they had agreed on a quest to the mines, whilst there they were to locate and retrieve some information from a computer there. By the time they had arrived after having to pass through the caves as access to that section of the mines could only be made that way, they had faced hordes of traps no to mention they had been forced to utilise a device to shrink them so they could bypass the security measures. He shuddered at the memory of a Garanz as it had approached them, they were nearly squashed but their reactions had saved them. A few quick blasts and the lumbering machine was no more yet they still had more to face. The strangest moment had come when a lone canadine had come down to attack them. Death had leapt aboard the flying machine and proceeded to punch holes into the red main sensor. He had managed to rewire it and the two had ridden the rest of the way to the core on it. It was certainly a ride he wished no to remember, especially when a couple of Sinow Beats has chased them...

He was snapped out of his thoughts as Death and Shino entered. He was about to speak when he noticed, instead of his normal scythe Death now held a huge sword in his grasp...the sword that had killed Death?s mentor...the sword that Death had vowed he would never draw again...yet now he stood there gripping it in his hand...to his side Shino stood there gripping his scythe tightly. From he stance ShinAkuma could see she was unused to the weapon but it from the look of utter determination on her face he was sure that when the time came she would use it with all the skill and grace of a master. Finally the rest of the group emerged and they gathered...

"Ok" Death began to address them all "Once before I went to end the threat of the dark force. On that day I lost much yet gained little, I swore I would never raise my sword again..." he turned to look at each of them in turn "Now I break that vow for there is need once more. The souls of the dead cry out for their vengeance on the one who keeps them from the great light...we go now to destroy the dark force. It is true that we may not all survive, but I swear those who fall shall not go unavenged." Death?s eyes began to burn "I swear upon my death I shall see and end to this. I call you all now to take this vow. No matter the cost it ends now." His words struck bitterly into each of them; one by one they nodded their solemn agreement. Even Katie, the youngest member nodded as did the others. Now she could finally leave her parents to rest, she gripped her brother tightly as he nodded in recognition. Without another word Death turned and let the way out into the hanger. There they assembled into the large hover bus that the club used for large parties and began their journey to their first destination...the edge of the great crater, the place where Dark Flaz has first manifested himself and a scar in the land that went all the way to the ruins...



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-10-14 03:32 ]</font>

SS_Death
Dec 17, 2002, 06:04 PM
If anyone remembers this thanks for reading...

Ok, I have only a little time after work these days but I am try and take this through to the end.

Expect Chapter 25 by January

See you all and good luck!

SS_Death
Dec 19, 2002, 05:39 PM
Chapter 25 - The Crater...

They arrived there without incident. Other than a few detours they had made their way straight to the edge of the city and its gates. It had been the work of moments to distract the guards and slip out it to the open wilderness of Ragol's dense forest."First we have to get down to the caves, then we go from there, section by section." Death pulled out the photonic rope and began his decent closely followed by Shino, then ShinAkuma and the others. One by one they dropped into the darkness...

"Damn these things!" called out NO MERCY as another round of photon bullets erupted from his S-Rank Spread crashing into the approaching Vulmers and causing them to drop to the ground, green blood staining the ground"Keep going!" ShinAkuma cried as he carved the head from a Grass Assassin. Death looked up from the Nano Dragon's corpse he had just slain to watch Shino as she struggled to handle his scythe, for a ranger she was surprisingly adept. A long swept tore into the side of the Melqueek approaching her and it topped into the lava and vanished. She was breathing heavily from the exertion but other than that seemed ok. Huddled together the three forces shot blasts of zoned at the other Nano Dragons that emerged and cast resta and shifta and deband on their tired companions. When the room was finally clear they pulled open the doors and headed into the next room. This was divided into two halfs with a huge stream of lava dividing the two.

"Shino, come with me. The rest of you wait for us." Death barked out as he swept back into the previous room with Shino trailing behind him, she looked at the expression on his face. It was hard and cold...in a way it reminded her of before he had become human. Death looked around to see her expression, while she was lost in her thoughts her moved up to her and wrapped her in his arms. Shino suddenly felt something encircling her, she spun to find herself encircled in Death's arms"I'm sorry...it seems...old habits die hard..." she looked into his deep set eyes and then kissed him deeply. Then they broke contact and ran towards the door. They navigated the stompers and headed into the warp point, re-emerging they quickly dispatched the few Vulmers than emerged. They ran through the door into the far section of where the others were standing, Death stood on the switch and the door opened. Then he and Shino stepped into the warp and re-emerged with the others and the whole group headed to the fissure leading down into the second level of the caves...

Sorry it so short but they gonna come in quick order for a bit now with larger time gaps. Here is the next section next cahpter shortly aftyer this one

The second and third levels proved little trouble to them. The only particular occurance was when a Pouilly Slime appeared, before it could get far Tim blasted it with Rafoie causing it to expolode. Everyone just stared at him as they were now all drapped in slime, grinning sheepishly he pointed out it was payback for the time he had been engulfed by one. For a moment it looked like RY0K0 and ShinAkuma were going to murder him when Katie stepped in an indicated that she would deal with him later. He paled at this and the other two suitably appeased headed onwards. Within the space of 10 beats they hit the entrance to the mines...

The first level of the mines were littered with what was left of the army of Gillchics and their strange brethren the Gillchich. For the most part the crew were uninjured, barring a few minor scrapes they were still alright.

"Come on!" Death screamed at the others as a wave of huge blue machines emerged, he drew back his sword and carved the first Baranz in half, as the wreckage hit the floor it detonated sending a few of its less fortunate brethren crashing into one another furthering the confusion.

Within moments the room was alive with the sounds of battle as the Baranz lauched their missiles, at such close quaters they couldn't get a decent lock so many fell to their own weapons yet even then a few hit home. Tim was knocked to the floor and almost flattened before Shin buried his blade into the hulking blue behemoth and dragging the diminutive force to his feet. The party struggled over to the door where NO MERCY was standing, as the last of them pulled through he smahed the pannel and it swept closed behind them leaving the remaining Baranz lost in a maze of rouge missiles...

'Crunch' Death landed on the wrecked floor of the second level of the mines and disconnected the rope as the others followed and did the same. They were running out of time and they could not afford to wait any longer, with a single minded nodded at ShinAkuma who returned the gesture...

The other stared at the trail of carnage that the two had left, a long time working together had given the two an instinctual knowledge of where their partener was. The others could only marvel at this perfect dance of destruction that carved their path from the dormant mine shaft to Vol Opts core...

A giant foot landed where only a second before ShinAkuma had been standing. He tore into VolOpt Ver.2 body with his blade, after a few strokes the missile laucher fell to the ground and exploded severly damaging several other sections. Suddenly a series of beams errupted from the pillar unit, before they could activate at stream of bullets landed and the section exploded and fell off. With load cry Shino drove the scythe into its core and the machine broke down finally opening the warp into the final level...



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-12-19 14:45 ]</font>

SS_Death
Dec 19, 2002, 06:38 PM
Chapter 25 - Final Battle

Here we go...chpater 25...

The ruins were empty, as the party stepped inside they found the area strangely deserted. As they passed through the first room they were suprised that no creatures emerged to bar their way. Normally once you reached the center of a room various minions would emerge and try and tear apart the invaders. Now the whole place seems to be waiting for something...almost as if something is expected...the party began to move cautiously through the first level, still meeting no resistance...

"This is wrong" Death commented as they passed into the waterfall room "Not even a single claw to bar our way in the first level" he turned to look at the others. Katie was clinging to her brother tightly, she had never been to the Ruins before, once or twice in the past she had asked him to show her but now she was fervently regretting it, the strange gases that came from the walls and the organic structure was scaring her, not to mention what seemed to be the graves of hunters strewn here and there, left by their comrades as they went on to face perhaps their own deaths. This was a terrible place, haunted still by the memories of those who had died there. NO MERCY was calm, being an android he could not sense the eminations that the walls emitted, still he did not like this place either, he had lost a number of his fellows here, one or two of the markers they had passed had been of hunters he had known. Each time he had stopped for a moment and remembered them, he knew that no one else would perform this duty so it was up to him and those who still remained to remember the dead.

All but ShinAkuma and Death were locked in their memories, ShinAkuma had long since passed the time where he would do such a thing, once he almost been impaled by a Grass Assassin when a memory of Sakura had invaded his mind. Luckily Death had cut its arm off at the shoulder before Shin had recovered and driven his weapon into the beast's chest and it had dropped to the floor spewing its young off into the dark corners of the cave. He has crushed many under his feet and with his blade many more escaped him.

Like ShinAkuma, Death had no wish to relive the past. Too many souls weighed on him, so many lives he had ended, so many futures cut short. In battle he shut out the past, he became a terrible engine of destruction, his fury unleashed at will. The lack of resistance deeply bothered him. Even more now in this human form, he felt a terrible fear that would happed and he would be seperated from Shino and she might be hurt or killed...he could bearly think about that, she had become his only reason for existence, a life so filled with pain she was his beacon of hope...Death snapped out of his thoughts as a cry sounded from RY0K0 "Arlans!" sure enough a large group of the strange creatures were advancing upon them from the door leading deeper into the ruins. Screaming a battle cry he sprung forward, ShinAkuma only a second behind...

To Death it seemed only a series of moments, he watched as ShinAkuma tore one of them in half then as RY0K0 drove his blade into the head of another and in dissolved. The two forces had frozen another couple and were now blasting them with grants. He watched as Shino tore his scythe through another, a Merlan emerged and made a move towards her but he stepped into its path and cleaved it in two allong with a number of the others that followed. The battle was turning in their favour, within a few more beats all that remained of their attackers was a series of purple patches...

"Well...that was...fun" RY0K0 breathed, he had taken a few knocks and had the wind knocked out of him. There were a few scrapes but nothing serious. The next few rooms were once again empty. It seemed that whatever force had struck out at them had once more dissipated. Now they stepped one by one into the teleport down to the second level...

As they emerged into the dim lit chamber they began to head towards the door when suddenly ShinAkuma stopped "Where's Death?"

Death found himself in the third level of the ruins, as he looked around he saw that the others were not there...he was alone again...he stumbled out and into the depths trying to make sense of this...

"Zzzzzz" the Del-D dropped forward and dissolved, it had seemed that everything the ruins had to offer had come at him in the past 30 beats. Hordes of Arlans, Merlans and Del-Ds had assailed him, Gran Sorcerers had blasted him, Dark Bringers had charged at him and Claws had nipped him. Now at last he had slain the last of them. He found himself in the final chamber, before him was the teleport to Falz arena. There was no more time, offering a word of prayer for the others he stepped into the light and vanished...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-12-27 16:30 ]</font>

SS_Death
Dec 27, 2002, 08:15 PM
Chapter 26 - The End

No no no. Not the actual end of the story, there's still the Epilogue to come but the chapter title for this very short concluding section is 'The End'

As soon as he rematerialised he knew something was wrong. Instead of the great arena with it monolith he stood on a circle of glowing light, floating high in the air. Around the edges stood a series of figures, each with somekind of waving form hovering in front of them, almost like a ghost copying their forms. High above them was a silouete, one that Death knew well...the final incarnation of Dark Falz...

A glowing figure emerged from the great creature floating above. A woman dressed in a white and red hunters uniform with a pair of glasses and a red ring on her left wrist...

"Welcome Death" she greeted him, her voice was soft and welcoming "I know you are unsure of a great many things but the time has come for the dream to end" she pointed at one of the figures, at first Death did not recognise it but then as the memory sparked in his mind he recognised his android body, in front of it hanging in the air was a ghostly representation of himself "My soul" he whispered "Yes." she pointed at one of the other figures who had fallen "Some have already left, others still hang on" she pointed at another, Death was shocked to see ShinAkuma there "He lives still. But there is little time" she paused and turned her face upwards to the great creature hanging above them "You are the only one to make it this far. In time all the others will fall. You must kill me before that happens." Death looked at her unsure "Only through my death can Falz truely be ended, please...kill me..." he took a step backwards "I...I can't...there are too many deaths on my concience..." she turned to him her eyes full of sorrow "Then if you cannot then many more will die. One last time and an end to suffering..." she began to walk away from him "Shino...?" he called out to her "Dead. She died when she remained with her master. Falz absorbed her essence, if you kill me she too will be free." he was struck by the magnitude of that statement, if he slew Falz then none of this would be, he would be a machine once more, cursed to destroy all that he touched, but...he could stay here and forever exist with her even if it was only a dream..."NO!" he cried out "NO! I WILL NOT ABANDON MY FRIENDS!" suddenly all was darkness...

The light returned into the dark androids eyes, he was standing on the great circle of light, the others who had come stood bound by Dark Falz power. He knew what he must do...an end to pain...Apsaras flew forward and fixed itself to his back, using it anti grav units it flew up to where Falz floated. As the dark force felt the presence it turned to the small thing before it, it could not comprehend that this small being would be its end. Death screamed and drove forward thrusting his sword deep into the thing's head. It screamed its inhuman cry mixing with Death's own.

ShinAkuma found himself standing on a great disk of light, but a moment before he had Sakura in his arms once more...he felt the memories surge back as he felt the dream slipping away. He raised his head to see Death floating in front of Falz glowing "NO! DON'T!" his cry went unanswered as the glow climbed and become so brigth he could no longer watch.

Death felt himself slipping away "An end to pain" he whispered as his core overloaded and the blast welled out from him encompassing Falz in its light, at its core he drove his soul forward and with the ghost, no the memory of his blade drove into the soul of Rico, she let out a final sigh and faded, the words "Thank you" formed on her lips. Then the world went black one last time...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" ShinAkuma cried out as the light impoloded. He dropped to his knees in despair, there was a clatter and two objects dropped a few feet in front of him. He walked over to examine them, Death's sword, twisted and bent and his mag, Apsaras, mostly burned, it right wing broken and cracked now inactive. ShinAkuma picked them up and turned to leave, a red teleport unit had now appeared and slowly the hunters were filing into it and returning home. There was little joy, although Falz was finally gone the price had been high, they carried the dead with them, not content to leave them in this cursed place. RY0K0 and Tim walked up to ShinAkuma, he stared at them in silence before nodding and watching them follow the others and vanish. He stood for a moment holding the sword...Death had sacrificed himself, twice now his android friend had brough him back from the verge of oblivion...he would make sure that no-one forgot, that last sacrifice would not go in vain. Resolved he finally turned and desposited both into his null-storage. He advanced to the teleporter just beofre he stepped through he stopped and turned back "Goodbye my friend. Sleep well." last words said he spun once more and vanished...

SS_Death
Dec 28, 2002, 03:44 PM
Chapter 27 - Epilogue

"So in conclusion it has been decided that the whole incident will remain a secret. Everything that happened on the surface is classified and will not be released to the civilian population." Principall Tyrell finished speaking. By now many of the assembled hunters were barely able to conceal their fury. One among them was more enraged than the others..."How can you do this?!" ShinAkuma called out as he pushed his way to the front, coming to a halt directly in front of the Principal. Tyrell was a head shorter than ShinAkuma and over the years his figure had slid from muscle of youth into the fat of middle age "How can you of all people do this? To your own daughter! Lock her away and claim that her and all the other sacrifices meant nothing!" at this Tyrell's face darkened "How dare you! You know nothing! How can I serve her memory by letting the truth out? By telling them all that it was my own daughter possessed by the dark force that killed their families! That all those hunters lost their lives to seal away something that should never have been uncovered!" he turned away and stared out of the windows of into space "But..." ShinAkuma began but Tyrell cut him off "No. Be silent now or I will revoke your licence and remove your transport rites. The hunters that died will be buried here in a sealed graveyard, access will only be permitted to hunters. No-one else will ever know but those who fought against the Dark Force and those who will follow them." tears were begining to well in the Principal's eyes "Now leave...all of you..." slowly they began to file out, ShinAkuma was among the last to leave, he could still not let his anger go at what was to be done but now he understood why and found bitter accecptance in that. He stormed away without a word, desperate to drown his sorrows in one of the many bars that littered the outer reaches of Pioneer 2...

For the first time in the last three days he was sober. He had many thing to do today, things to be said. First he had to go to the Guild and perform a final duty. As ShinAkuma walked into the guild he found it empty save for the assisstant. Now with the dark force gone there was little call for work and the few quests that came in were often small disputes and few hunters were willing to get involved. He walked up to the counter and called out to the assisstant "I wish to return this mag" the girl looked at the burmned unit offered to her "It belonged to a friend of mine I was hoping it may be rebuilt and perhaps find a new master..." his voice trailed off, she nodded and took the mag and placed in a storage unit to be taken to the labs. Then ShinAkuma took one last look at the guild before he left to perform his second duty...

ShinAkuma made his way slowly through the many rows of plates, each depicting one of the hunters who had fallen, the graveyard had been constructed in only two days, many of those hunters who had survived had chipped in in its construction. Now it lay in a sealed area beneath the central section, only accessable by a hunters licence code. He found it empty, fior the moment he was the only visitor in this place. As the doors swept open after entered his access code the lights sprang into life bathing the place in a dull cold light, he began to solumnly advance down the rows. Finally he came to a halt at a single plate, on it was a name, the name of one who had been lost long ago "Sakura" he whispered "I'm sorry, so sorry I couldn't save you, that I couldn't be there when you needed me. I wish you could have been here to see this..." he finally broke down and began to cry "...I miss you so much..." he stood there and wept for a while then finally he regained his composure and stood. Then he walked further into the place. Right to the back were only two plates remained, one was that of Red Ring Rico, finally laid to rest with Dark Falz destruction. The other was that of Death, the one who had given himself to end the rampage..."It seems that I am destined to lose those that are close to me...first my only love and then my closest friend...I couldn't save either of you...I'm sorry my friend..." he paused for a moment moment and then drew Death's burned and twisted sword and drove it point first into the ground before that plate that stood in place of a grave "...Goodbye Death...may you finally find the peace that you deserve..." then he stood and left that place the lights disengauging as he slid the door silently closed. The darkness was disturbed for an instant by a faint glow coming from the sword then it faded once more leaving only darkness...



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SS_Death on 2002-12-28 12:49 ]</font>