@Estrea: GAM love is wonderful. You can never have too much of it. And you can never have too much of the world's greatest duo, either.
Maasa was actually going to be really badass at the beginning. Because when I was laying out the outline of the story and stuff, she was going to be the one with the metal arm. But then I scratched that idea, and I'm glad I did. It just works better for Miki. lol
@JFC: Aya has a rather...
different sort of power. haha
@rmdmnwierd: I want to draw that image you've just given me. lol And thanks. I do feel a little better, but it'll take some time.
@wordsworth: It's the little ones that you have to watch out for. They'll kick your butt, no lie.
@ziggurat: -thanks wordsworth for spreadin' the news- lol. Momo's power fits her. In fact, it's already been speculated on, but the speculation was directed towards someone else. (Whoo~! I'm sneaky. haha) Captain's secretly a superhero. We all know it.
Thanks for the encouragement.
@ferrar1: Oh, don't worry my friend. Eri will have her share of butt-kicking to do, let me assure you. And yes, please enjoy. (Or... I hope you do. haha I'll try really hard to make that happen.)
@iacus: Aika is a sneaky one. Like me. It's going to be hard to figure her out, mhm.
@Ren: Miki’s not Miki unless she’s touching someone else. Lol And had Reina not been so glad to get out of the rain, she probably would have torched Maki instead for shoving her inside.
@coachie: Thanks. I felt at first that I was just kind of shoving something out there, but I’m glad ya’ll liked what little bit I wrote.
@Yuuyami: Hopefully I’ll give you enough to ramble about pretty soon. I’m trying to be careful to hide things that people might try and pick up and speculate about. (And then blow their minds by showing them they’re wrong. Lol It’s fun.) –puts the hardhat on- Thank you very much for your comment and the hat~! <3
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Wow, so many comments to catch up on. I’m sorry for my absence these past few days… My life was literally turned upside down Tuesday night by something that’s happened, and I’m just now starting to be able to cope with it. I don’t really want to talk about it, but I wanted to say that stuff’s just been going on, and that’s why I haven’t been around. But it’s starting to calm, so hopefully I’ll be able to return to some sort of state of normalcy soon.
Which means more writing from meeeeeee~!
Expect a lot over the next week, because I’ll probably have a little more time to write then, and you may even get another chapter today later on since I’m in a better mood today.
Enjoy!
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Chapter Eight: The Second Day Begins“Have you taken care of things yet?”
“Yes sir. The scientist has been eliminated.”
“And his little project? What of them?”
“They escaped the facility, sir. Apparently he had an accomplice, but we haven’t been able to locate him.”
“But the clones… you are aware of their position, yes?”
“Just a ways away from one of the Steam Districts, sir. We were able to determine where they were when we got a report that one of our Stalkers had suddenly become diseased. No normal human being would be able to kill such a beast, and the people don’t dare to cross the city boundaries into the forests, so it has to be the clones.”
“Very good. Start making preparations to dispatch the Three.”
“Right away, sir.”
---------------
Aika did not expect to wake up to a pair of chocolate brown eyes staring at her, and naturally she was startled, and she reacted quickly, rolling away and up into a crouched position, now fully alert. The owner of the eyes merely rolled them before stretching herself out with a sleepy yawn.
“Well, good morning to you too.” Risako whispered, trying not to wake any of the other, still sleeping clones up, “I was going to ask you how we got in such a position, but I didn’t think you were going to be that jumpy about it…”
The other female merely blinked at her for a moment, and as Aika was only halfway awake at the moment, it was taking her longer to remember what had happened.
“Oh… that. You were shivering and making a lot of noise, so I had to figure out some way to get you to stop… and… well… there you go.”
They just kind of stared at each other for a while, before Risako rolled her eyes again, turning over onto her other side and curling up in order to go back to sleep.
“You are so
weird.”
Aika scowled indignantly at this, sitting back on the floor with a huff.
So much for doing something nice…
Hey…
…wait a minute.“And what about you? Were you watching me sleep or something? Just how long were you staring at me?” She hissed, but the other girl was either already resting again or just ignoring her. Aika grumbled, but she quickly forgot about it as Saki got her attention from where she was sitting in the room, trying to wave her closer.
The little leader had finally managed to pry herself free of Momoko, who had claimed Saki during the night as her own personal teddy bear, and appeared to be the only other girl awake.
“I’m going to go outside and look around. I heard voices near the window earlier this morning, so we might be close to a city like the others were talking about… do you want to come with me?”
Aika shrugged, and Saki took that as a yes, so the two of them maneuvered their way through the mass of bodies on the floor, slipping out of the little house.
---------------
The forest was less intimidating during the daytime, and Aika didn’t feel that same gripping sense of apprehension that had plagued her when she had first been walking through it. Perhaps this was due to the fact that if they were to be attacked, the girl she was walking
with would be more than capable of handling the situation.
As they put some distance between themselves and the house, she began to notice that the trees were starting to thin out, until there were barely any around at all. Up ahead, Aika could make out the vague shapes of what she assumed to be other buildings.
And indeed they were; great, rusted, metal structures of varying heights that were lined up to form streets and alleyways for people to walk through. However, there wasn’t a single soul to be seen, and it was somewhat unnerving. Saki seemed to be wary of the sight as well, and she slowed to a halt, looking around.
“I have a feeling something bad happened here…” She said quietly, walking up to what appeared to be a large, square piece of metal that was being held up by two rusty poles that had been hammered deep into the earth. A makeshift sign, perhaps. There were words dug into the metal, and Saki ran her fingers along the grooves that made up the letters, unable to decipher them. The sign had been too weathered by the elements, and whatever had been written there was now obscured.
“It says Steam District Nine, Population: 10,000, under the reign of the Three.”
The duo turned to see that Risako had followed them, and Aika raised an eyebrow at the girl, frowning.
“How do you know?”
“Because I can see it.”
Saki blinked. “Well… I can see it too, but… all I see are slash marks. So… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No, I mean… I can see it like it used to be. When it was being made.”
“Is this like the thing with the lizard?” Aika questioned, after thinking for a minute and making the connection. The other girl’s eyes were glowing again after all, and that was the only way she could figure out how to explain the phenomenon. “Can you see into the past?”
Risako shook her head, eyes returning to normal.
“I think it’s more complicated than that… maybe more like seeing across time… forwards and back. But it’s not something that I can control yet. So far it’s just being triggered by random things…”
“I wonder what this means then… what’s a Steam District? And who are the Three?” The inquiry hung in the air after the little leader had voiced it, and it went unanswered, for soon the clones heard voices nearby. It sounded like a group of children playing, and Saki motioned for the other two to follow her, wanting to investigate.
They soon came upon a few young boys that couldn’t have been much older than ten or so, who were kicking around a ball in an alleyway between two of the buildings. All of them were wearing clothing of varying shades of brown, the fabric of which had probably seen a lot of wear and tear over the years. They were incredibly dirty, for even though the streets of the city were unpaved, the kids probably hadn’t taken a bath in a long time, given that they even knew what one was.
One of the boys spotted the clones as they approached, and he alerted his friends, who all turned around to stare at them warily. They started whispering amongst themselves, and Aika could barely pick up what was being said.
“Who the heck are THEY?”
“Look at what they’re wearin’…”
“D’you think it’s the Three?”
“I dunno, I’ve never seen ‘em before… Just heard stories…”
“Just keep quiet and do what they tell us to do. Maybe if we’re good they’ll just let us go and leave.”
The kids seemed to have reached a conclusion, and one of them stepped forward: a rough-looking kid who wore a grimy headband in a failed attempt to keep his unruly mane of hair out of his eyes. He was taller than the others, and was obviously the ringleader of his little group.
“We don’t want any trouble…” He started, and though he was trying to be tough, Aika could see that he was shaking a little bit. Saki just blinked at the kid, and would have said something like “We don’t want any trouble either,” had Risako not been using her brain and stepped forward to clap a hand over the little leader’s mouth.
“Good, then just answer the questions we ask of you and we’ll be on our way. Other wise, I’ll let her go and she’ll take care of you, got it?” Saki was wriggling within Risako’s grasp, and the kids eyed the small girl warily, as if they expected her to explode like a bomb if the taller female were to let go of her.
“We’ll tell you anything!”
“Where are we, then? And why aren’t there any people outside today?”
The boy with the headband blinked at her, confused. “Um… you guys rule over this district… shouldn’t you-”
“We rule over a LOT, kid, so stop being smart and just answer the question.” Aika snapped, playing along with Risako, who thanked her with a glance for taking care of the slip up.
“You’re in the Ninth Steam District, which is currently under probation as punishment from the great Lord Shizuka, and that’s why everybody’s inside, miss!” The boy’s words came out in a rush after Aika had spoken, as her harsh tone had convinced him that they weren’t playing around.
“Punishment for what?” Risako questioned, and when the kid was a little hesitant to answer, Aika stepped forward, causing him to cringe and speak rapidly once more.
“We didn’t make enough food this year to supply the other districts. The Ninth district is in charge of makin’ all the provisions for everyone else, and in return we get what we need, like clothes and steel, and stuff. We’re stuck inside everyday, and we’re only allowed to leave our houses at night and all our supplies have been shut off for a month.”
He was still trembling as he finished talking, in a ‘please don’t hurt me’ kind of way. Aika, Risako, and Saki all exchanged glances, and the little leader mumbled a muffled “That’s kind of extreme…” into Risako’s hand. Before any of the kids could pick up on it, though, Aika stepped forwards again and lifted the boy off of the ground by the collar of his shirt. Immediately she regretted it, because he smelled pretty bad, and was a lot heavier than she first thought, but she had to keep up the act nevertheless.
“So basically… you’ve overstepped the boundaries of your probation. But since you’ve been so
helpful, I’ll let it slide, as long as you and your friends get back to your homes and don’t tell anyone of what you’ve seen… Otherwise…”
The boy’s eyes got wide, and Aika figured he was thinking of all the things that could come after that ‘otherwise’. She decided to let him use his imagination, and as soon as she set the kid down, he and his little group hightailed it out of sight, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.
Risako had forgotten that she was still holding Saki, and it was only when she felt something wet brush against her hand that she squealed and released the little leader from her grasp.
“YOU LICKED ME!” She screeched, flailing a little bit while wearing a very disgusted expression on her face. Aika merely snickered, and Saki put her hands on her hips, glaring at the taller girl.
“Well it was either that or I was going to have to bite you. I figured I would be polite and give you a warning first. Why on earth did you feel the need to hold me captive anyway?”
“Because you were about to do something stupid.” A very offended Risako replied, wiping her hand frantically off on the leg of her suit. “Those kids thought we were the ones in charge of this place. The only reason they answered our questions was because they were afraid of us.”
“More like, afraid of
me.” Aika countered, “You almost messed up for a second back there with that little slip-up.”
Risako rolled her eyes, and decided not to answer, both of which were starting to grate on Aika’s nerves. It was quiet for a moment, and though Saki had been watching the exchange with interest, she felt it was time to move on.
“Well… if you guys are quite done… we should probably get back to the others and tell them about what we found out, right?”
Both of the girls grudgingly agreed, and the trio began to walk
silently back to the house.
---------------
When Maasa woke up, she was greeted with the sight of Nono and Aibon beating the crap out of each other, laughing their heads off. Or, that’s what it appeared to be at first… She sat up quickly, rubbing her eyes to try and clear her vision so she could better analyze the situation.
They were punching each other really hard, but each blow bounced off of their bodies harmlessly and left them to do it many times over with the same effect. Almost like…
Maasa let out a cry of alarm when the duo noticed that she was awake and promptly tackled her, pushing her flat on her back again. She stared up into two pairs of mischievous eyes, one pair flecked with pink, and the other with blue. That was the only way she had figured out how to tell them apart.
The pink, Nono, spoke first.
“Good morning, Maasa-chaaaan~!”*
Then the blue. Aibon.
“We figured out something cool.”“Watch.”And without warning, Nono slammed her fist really hard into the side of Aibon’s cheek. The twin receiving the blow didn’t even flinch, and her head didn’t recoil from the impact at all. It was like the other had merely poked her or something.
“I think we copied your power.”“Actually, we’re pretty sure of it, really-”“-since we already tried it on Maki, and well-”Oh. Maasa hadn’t quite noticed until this point that the duo was sporting little fluffy tails. It would have been cute if she had managed to sort the idea out of her bewilderment.
“-yeah, but it wears off.”“We had fangs and everything-”“And Nono wanted to show you-”“But Aibon thought that it might freak you out so-”“-we decided to wait until you woke up.”“Well… um… thanks? I guess?” She replied, not really sure what to say after all of
that.
“You’re welcome~!” They chimed, before going back to their roughhousing.
They have more energy in their pinky fingers than I have in my entire body…She yawned, getting up in order to go check on the injured members of their group. Miyabi was still sleeping peacefully where she had been set down, her ankle much less swollen than it had been last night. Maasa was glad for this, but she was soon struck with panic as she realized that the bed Hitomi had been in was empty.
It was then that she also noticed that several other clones were missing from the house: the little one, the weird, quiet one that was always watching everything, the pretty one, the one with the wings, Miki, and the one that was annoying Miki.
Maybe they went to go check things out… Maasa thought to herself, slumping down onto the bed with a sigh.
The point of a group was to be a
group.
Still…
I hope they’re okay.---------------
She loved to watch them sleep.
So peaceful, so quiet… so deceitfully innocent they were.
Shizuka might have owned them, but the two of them were her faithful little pets in reality, and they wouldn’t lift a finger unless it was okay-ed by her.
They did his work on their own terms, and he couldn’t do a thing about it because they always carried out their jobs exactly the way he wanted every single time. Now, the amount of
time they did it in was a different story, but with the results he got, he couldn’t really complain.
She smiled as the youngest yawned and rolled over slightly, and she stroked the girl’s hair gently.
It was then that the door to their cage was opened, and she didn’t even have to look up to know that one of
his lackeys had come to summon them.
It would be the last thing the boy ever did.
“Shh…”
The sound came out as a quiet, dangerous hiss, before the messenger could even open his mouth to speak. She smirked, her fangs brushing slightly against her bottom lip.
“You wouldn’t want to wake them up…”
She continued to stroke the other girl’s hair, and the last thing that the boy would see before he died were two, paralyzing red orbs that sent a shiver down his spine.
Soon, his world turned to black.
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*The twins will be the only ones with color-coded dialogue. Pink is Nono, Blue is Aibon, and the reddish color is both of them speaking at the same time.