Six months later…
(Hong Kong)
A black-haired teenager wearing a duffle jacket, blue jeans and a white t-shirt ran on the side of a twenty storey building. When he came to a stone pillar, he spider climbed down to the first floor, barely touching the pillar to slow his descent. Just as he reached the bottom, he kicked off and went into a backwards roll. As he recovered from this, a man in a black suit tried to catch him. But he quickly dodged the attempt by jumping off a street bridge to ground level. More men in black suits jumped into the fray, trying to catch him. Performing a brief wall-run, then jumping over several obstacles in his path, the boy eluded every attempt at capture until he got out onto the main street, leaving the suits to slip up on something. These suits then disappeared in a puff of smoke… A pink haired, greened eyed girl ran up to meet him. He lifted her up and spun her around gently, before they closed in for a kiss…
“And cut!” a man sitting in a canvas boomed through his megaphone. “Where’s G-man?” As the film crew, for that was what had been happening, rushed in to reapply make-up and ensure the scene was identical to how it was before the action was paused, the stuntman, for that was what he was, switched with someone who was dressed exactly the same, the main star. The director yelled: “And clear…” Everyone on the film crew who wasn’t part of the scene then got out of the way of the camera. “And action!” The interrupted scene then played out, with the boy kissing his girl, as the camera pulled out and upwards. “That’s a wrap folks!” As everyone rushed to congratulate the stars, several people shoved the stuntman roughly out of the way. He sighed and went over to the director. “Thanks kid! You did great… Here’s your pay. Now don’t go and spend it all in one place!” The stuntman smiled, until he opened the envelope and stared at what he was being paid. Before he could say anything, the star walked by him and knocked him off balance. The director grabbed him, brought him close and spoke to him in a harsh whisper: “Look kid, take it or leave it! But you know that I’m the only one who’ll hire you, no questions asked…” He then let the stuntman go and walked over towards his star, already pitching his next big movie.
The stuntman then turned and walked back to his chair provided by the film company. On the outside he was calm and smiling, but he was seething on the inside: ‘Well that’s just typical! I did all that hard work and I got hardly anything… While all Mister Big-Shot over there had to do, was just say his lines while standing still and looking dark and mysterious, not to mention the kissing! But when all is said and done, he’s the big star and I’m the nameless stuntman… I won’t even get a mention in the credits, since both the studio and the actor himself have made the claim that he does all his own stunts! Yeah right, he wouldn’t even be able to take a punch… I suppose it’s for the best though, since that sleaze-bag of a director’s right! I do need to keep off the radar for a while, this is the only work I could find and I get to do training, well sort of. But why does nearly every single girl I know go crazy over the whole dark, brooding avenger routine? And pink hair and a fan-girl, I can’t believe I ever found that kind of girl attractive, Yuk!’ As he was thinking these thoughts, the stuntman pulled off his wig, revealing blonde spiky hair. His eyes flickered for an instant, turning from black to sky blue. When he got back to his chair, which was tiny compared to the others, he paused. The reason for this was an item that he was certain wasn’t there before he started filming.
It was a strange, golden coloured device about the size of a small jewellery box. On the top of it, a symbol which looked like a compass was visible. ‘What on earth? What’s this thing! And who left it here?’ the stuntman wondered as he picked the device up.
As he looked it over, it suddenly flipped open. A hologram of a well-dressed red-haired Japanese woman appeared and started to speak: “I’m quite a fan of all your work, Naruto Uzumaki… My name is Nodoka Saotome and I’m looking for some people to help me with a certain task! From what I gather, you seem to have just what I’m looking for… This message is pre-recorded so don’t try to reply. But if you’re interested, please meet me in one week at this address…”
The woman then gave an address that was somewhere outside of Tokyo over in Japan, but Naruto Uzumaki was only half listening, his mind racing through all his options. ‘How in the world does she know my real name? I’ve been careful to use a fake name ever since I started travelling, about three years ago. And no-one on set here even bothered to find out anything about me, always calling me kid or stunt double! Could this be a trap for me? She seems honest enough, but then again, she could be a master of hiding her true emotions...’ He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then opened them again. ‘Well, anything’s better than sticking around here and being treated like a piece of dirt! Besides, I’ve been here too long…’ And with that, he rushed off to collect his stuff and catch the first boat to Tokyo.
(Karakura Town, Japan)
“The winner and still the champion of Karakura Town, for a seventh year running: Tatsuki Arisawa!” As she accepted the trophy that signified her victory, Tatsuki took a look out over the cheering crowd to see if any of her close friends or family had showed up to cheer her on in this competition and her latest success, after they’d graduated school. Her joyful expression faltered a little as she finished looking: ‘None of them showed up! Well, I suppose that shouldn’t be a huge surprise, but it still is a bitter pill to take… Ichigo, Orihime and Chad at least have a good reason; at least I sure hope so! They’ve been acting so weird; I don’t know what to think about them anymore… They’ve been acting like that for the past two years and it all started the very night that ‘truck’ crashed into the Kurosaki clinic. Which, now that I think about it, has got to be a lie, since I am certain I’d have heard something like that happening, or at the very least the sirens of the emergency services…? And to make things worse, I can’t help them with whatever’s been going on… It’s ironic, I was always looking after Orihime for as long as I can remember but lately, it’s been the other way round! I hate being so helpless to protect my friends…. But since I’ve no idea what’s going on, I’d be doing more harm then help if I charge blindly in! Orihime’s also been keeping secrets from me, which she’s never done before. Even when her brother died, she was willing to talk things over with me… When did life get so complicated?’ Tatsuki sighed, as she walked through the empty school halls.
‘At least the rest of Ichigo’s family was here to provide some moral support for me! But I hoped that Mum and Dad would show up to see their only daughter in action, but they never showed… Guess they’re off on yet another of their business trips again! Would it kill them, to take just one day off to cheer me on? Wait a minute, what’s this thing and who put it in the trophy…’ By this time, she’d gone into her private dressing room. The event organisers had assigned her the room, due to her being the defending champion. She put the trophy down and retrieved the object that had caught her eye from inside the trophy. It, on closer inspection, turned out to be a strange, golden coloured device about the size of a small jewellery box. On the top of it, a symbol which looked a bit like a compass was visible. ‘Huh? I wonder what this thing is… More to the point, why was it placed in the trophy and who was it meant for?’
As she fiddled about with the device, she found that the device could be opened like a glasses case. As soon she did so, a hologram of a woman dressed in a very formal looking kimono appeared and started talking: “Congratulations, Miss Arisawa … I knew you’d win, you always do! My name’s Nodoka Saotome…” Tatsuki raised an eyebrow in surprise at the level of confidence this stranger had in Tatsuki’s fighting skills. She had figured this message had been pre-recorded from the way there were no pauses for her to reply, or even ask a question. But Nodoka Saotome, if that was really her name, had been absolutely certain that it would be Tatsuki who was going to win the competition today. Part of her wanted to just throw it away, since it sounded a lot like a prank. But, since she’d already opened it, she thought she might as well listen to the whole message. It was a brief enough message; telling her that she’d been chosen for her skills. If she accepted or had any questions, she could meet Nodoka face to face in one week. The message ended with a set of directions to where the meeting would take place. Nodoka’s surname, Saotome, also sounded very familiar to Tatsuki for some reason... But for the life of her, she just couldn’t remember where!
‘Guess that answers some of my questions, like who was meant to receive this thing and why it was placed inside the trophy…’ she mused. ‘But it also raises more questions! Like how did she know that I was going to win today? Has she been spying on me and if so, for how long! Also, what exactly was she recruiting me for? This sounds like something out of a spy movie… And why do I feel that I should know that surname of hers from somewhere? But no matter,’ she grinned in anticipation as she changed into her normal clothes and slipped the device into her pocket, ‘I might as well meet her face to face … After all, this affair sounds like it could be very interesting and I can always leave if it turns out to be a waste of my time! Besides, if Orihime can have secrets of her own now, I can too…’ With that, she left to pack her bags, while mentally preparing a message to give to Ichigo’s family.
(London, England)
Deep inside the Bank of England, just above the main vault, a shadowy figure was working on the ventilation grill in the ceiling. A harsh whisper could be heard from the figure: “Hurry up for the love of Ra! The guards will be coming back in about quarter of an hour and we need to be long gone by then…” There was a moment’s pause and then from the same mouth, a totally different voice came out: “Would you keep your hair on, I’m almost through!” This second voice was much kinder and gentler than the first one, but they were still surprisingly alike. A few seconds later the grill was lifted up into the ceiling alcove. Then the mystery person carefully lowered himself down into the vault on a suspension rig that was like something out of the first Mission Impossible movie… He was wearing a black stealth suit, over which he had a tactical deployment vest, with various pieces of gear that he’d found very useful in his thieving career. His face was hidden from view by a balaclava.
Inside the vault itself, the floor was crisscrossed with lasers at different heights and places, so that it would normally be impossible for anyone that was in the room unauthorised to pass through the room without tripping at least one laser. ‘Too bad for the security staff here, they’ve never got a chance to put up some security around the internal vents! They did so for the outer vents… But their foolish superiors in management decided to cut a few corners on the rest of the building’s security, just to save a few hundred pounds! Pounds that went into their own pockets… They’re going to have a massive amount of egg on their faces tomorrow morning, that’s for sure! That’s when they’re going to find out that all the valuable Corinthian Diamonds, which were placed under their protection for one day, while the museum was upgrading their own security systems, have vanished without a trace! And I’ll have gotten a nice fee to prove that their security has gotten soft, just like the head of the bank has feared, not to mention a fee for the safe return of the diamonds… Who would have ever thought it a few years ago? Not only do I get to steal stuff legally, I also get paid for doing it!’ While he was thinking this, the mystery person lowered himself towards his goal, a pyramid-shaped vault. It took a few seconds, but with the help of a programmable key-card connected to a hand-held computer, he was able to break the combination lock on the vault. It was then a simple matter to open it by spinning the vault handle… However, when the vault door opened, the vault was empty expect for a strange, golden coloured device about the size of a small jewellery box. On the top of it, a symbol which looked like a compass was clearly visible. “What’s this?” As he was speaking this, he pulled off his balaclava to reveal white hair and brown eyes, which were narrowed in anger. “If this is someone’s idea of a joke, I’m not laughing… Whoever hired me for a false job is going to find out I don’t like having the wool pulled over my eyes!”
As he growled this part out, he opened the device in his hand. A hologram of a well-dressed, red-haired woman appeared and started to speak. “Nice job, Bakura! I asked a friend of mine to hire you to break into their vault in order to test your skills… You passed, with flying colours! I would like to offer you a job, that’ll make use of your ‘unique’ talents. I’ve heard about your past actions and I don’t care about them, just promise me that you’ll be willing to make amends for them… I’ll make it well worth your while; also I’ll ensure that you get paid for this task too, since it’s my fault that your time was taken up on this job! For more details on the job and some answers to any questions you may have, meet me at the following address in a week’s time…”
She continued on, but Bakura wasn’t fully paying attention to the message, but he committed the address to memory. ‘So what do you think Ryo? Should we go to this meeting with this Nodoka character, she seems to have gone through a lot of trouble to hire us for this task of hers… Personally, I might just go along, see what the deal is! She has got a fair bit of guts, testing our skills in a manner like this… She certainly knows how to get a guy’s full attention!’
‘I agree 100% there with you Bakura… This Nodoka character must be something else, if she knows about our past deeds and doesn’t judge us for them! She also seems to be quite well connected with a lot of business people, if what she said is true about how she got our attention… That may be useful for getting future jobs in our current line of work! After all, if people spread word of our daring exploits, it’ll be the best type of advertising…’ the gentle voice, Ryo responded, nodding his ghostly head, as he floated in an astral form beside Bakura, while he waited to switch back with Bakura. This would be whenever they finally got out of the bank and they were about to meet their client. It had been quite a surprise for him to find that his dark half had survived the Shadow Game RPG he’d had with the spirit of Yugi’s Millennium Puzzle before he’d left for the afterlife. It had been about two months after the Ceremonial Duel between Yugi and the Pharaoh Atem, his other half, almost two years ago. When Bakura had suddenly appeared to him again, Ryo had freaked out, whipping out warding charms, holy water and other items to ward off evil spirits!
But, much to Ryo’s shock, Bakura had been much calmer and apologetic then Ryo had ever seen him before. He’d explained that he had been under the influence of Zorc for several thousand years, up until the Pharaoh Atem had destroyed Zorc in the Shadow Game RPG. He’d had expected to die along with Zorc due to his soul being bound to Zorc’s soul, but since he had managed to develop a stronger bond to Ryo own soul, he’d somehow managed to survive the destruction of his connection to Zorc. This meant that the two of them were stuck together! They would only be separated for good whenever Ryo himself finally died.
Bakura had then explained that he’d offered up his own life to Zorc, so that he could take revenge on the Pharaoh and his protectors for the crime Atem’s father had committed against him and his family. It had all started with Akhenamkhanen’s order to his brother to create the Millennium Items… This had been done to protect Egypt from an invading army five thousand years ago. What Akhenamkhanen hadn’t realized and what his brother Akhenaden had neglected to tell him until much later when it was too late to rescind the order, was that it required 99 human sacrifices to actually make the Items! The people that had lived in Kul Elna had been the unlucky people selected for this task. Bakura had been the only survivor of that massacre, and had sworn to get revenge for what the Pharaoh’s men had done, no matter what the cost was… It had then been an easy matter for Zorc to ensnare Bakura’s soul, with the offer of helping him to get revenge, in exchange for his eternal servitude. When Ryo had heard this story; he just couldn’t stay mad at Bakura, seeing just how alike they were, after all they had both lost people that were close to them…
It had been Bakura’s idea in the first place to go into the professional “security tester” market. He had made the point that it would be the best way to use his old thieving skills legally, while ensuring he didn’t get bored. Ryo was unsure, but he eventually agreed to the idea, knowing whenever Bakura got bored, he would play some very degrading pranks on people! Ryo figured that training for this new challenge would help to occupy Bakura’s free time. Over the following months, Bakura had then taught Ryo all of his thieving skills that he thought were still useful in this day and age. While this was going on, they had also familiarised themselves with the more modern pieces of technology that were used in this line of work. Much to Ryo’s great surprise, he had found that he actually enjoyed learning the skills Bakura had to teach him… By the time he had graduated from school last year, he’d learned everything that Bakura had wanted to teach him. They both actually made a very good team together, with Ryo talking to the clients, negotiating the payment for the jobs they took and infiltrating the target locations. Then he swapped with Bakura, who dealt with the actual retrieval of the items they were hired to get, while Ryo noted the weaknesses that the security systems surrounding the items had… Once they had gotten out safely with the items, he switched back, leaving Ryo to hand over the items to their client and report on just where security could be tightened up. ‘Right then Bakura, let’s get going… We’ve got to deliver our report to our client and then we’ve got to catch a plane back to Japan!’
‘Not a problem, Ryo… I’ll just leave our calling card and we’re all set!’ With that, Bakura placed a card with the symbol of the Eye of Horus on it into the vault, closed the door and locked the vault up again. He then pressed a button on his rig which hauled him back up into the open ceiling vent, which he quickly replaced; leaving the room looking as if no-one had been in it.
(San Francisco University, USA)
“Watch out! The robot’s going crazy… I knew it wasn’t ready yet and said as much, but did Professor Hawkins listen to me? Noooo…” a nameless student yelled as everyone in the room was diving for cover, trying to avoid getting hit by the machine. The robot, a simple arm like those you’d see in a car factory with a low strength laser attached to it, was spinning around like a spinning top and opening fire seemingly at random intervals. To make matters that much worse, there was hardly any cover in the room between the laptop that controlled the robot and the robot itself. If anyone was going to try and deactivate the robot, they would be putting themselves in great danger! There was just no way to predict when and where the laser would fire next, so there was a very good chance of it hitting the person trying to shut the robot down. The professor who had turned on the robot in the first place was out cold, lying on the ground by the laptop, a clear example of how dangerous things were. Just at that very moment, a young woman walked into the room, took a quick glance at the very chaotic situation before her and then started walking towards the laptop in a calm, controlled manner… Some of the people tried to stop her, but their friends put a hand out to stop them, saying: “Leave her be… She knows exactly what she’s doing!”
The girl was dressed in a simple practical outfit, consisting of a pink jacket, white t-shirt and a pink skirt that went down to her knees. Her long brown hair flowed behind her, as she avoided a blast from the robot’s laser simply by moving her head just a fraction of an inch to one side, with the blast not even touching her hair! She got to the computer without any trouble and started to type away, ignoring the blasts flying all over the room. After a few seconds, the robot started to shut down, but not before discharging one final blast just above her head. She grinned and then turned to the professor, who had just come around and was staggering to his feet, extending her hand towards him. “Professor Hawkins, next time you want to mess around with the students’ science projects, please don’t! Or at the very least, you should wait for either me or Rebecca to be there with you, so you don’t cause an accident… After all, your skills are more to do with ancient history and dead languages than advanced robotics.” Her voice was firm but gentle, like a mother explaining to a young child what they did was wrong. Her brown eyes, however, flashed with a minor hint of amusement.
“Sorry about making that mess, Serenity! I thought I knew what I was doing, after all I’ve been learning quite a bit about computers from my grand-daughter and you… Guess I still have a bit more to learn! Good thing that laser blast only winged me, but still, I should probably get myself checked out by the campus nurse for any injuries.” The professor replied kindly in a low voice that only Serenity could hear, before wincing slightly as he went back over to the table to support his weight. He raised his voice so the whole room could hear: “Right, I think we can call it a day then… Anyone who thinks they were hurt during that mess; can come with me to the nurse’s office. The rest of you, take the rest of the day off, you’ve earned it!” Everyone started to pick up their bags and head off to the beach or whatever else they had in mind. Serenity was about to follow them, but Professor Hawkins gently put his hand on her shoulder: “Just to let you know Serenity, you received a package early this morning… I had it put into your office! I didn’t get a chance to mention it sooner since we were so busy with marking the final year robotic projects.”
“Thank you Professor Hawkins, for letting me know about that package... I’ll go and collect it right now. If I see Rebecca, I’ll let her know what happened and tell her not to be too hard on you!” Serenity replied. She left the room after grabbing her bag. As she walked down the college hallways, she tried to ignore all the hushed whispers and harsh glares that she was getting from some of the students from the other classes that she didn’t have regular teaching contact with. Most of these were to do with the fact that she was only just 17 years old, but had already completed her degree and teaching people nearly twice her age. Some of the more malicious people had even claimed that she’d preformed certain ‘favours’ to get her current position with the college. ‘I know that I seem too young to be a graduate, let alone a teacher, but I’ve actually worked quite hard to get where I am today!’ she growled to herself. When she heard the growl she had let out, she froze and took a quick look around to see if anyone else had heard it. Fortunately, she was near her office and most people here were going about their own business. Moving quickly, she quickly entered her office and locked the door behind her. The writing on the door window read “Assistant Lecturer: Serenity Wheeler”.
Inside the office, Serenity flopped into her seat behind her desk. Her desk was fairly tidy, with just a few picture frames which held photos of her brother Joey and his girlfriend Mai celebrating both her graduation and the victory that both Mai and Joey, working together, had achieved in the American tag-team Duel Monsters tournament. She let out a heavy sigh: ‘Not again! What’s been happening to me lately? I’ve been losing my temper really easily when it comes to certain things… I wish I could talk to Mai or Joey about it, but they’re busy with defending their title and won’t be back for at least a month. Things have been very strained between mom and me recently, so she’s out! Besides, she’s back in Japan, so that’s another reason not to bother her. As for Rebecca or Professor Hawkins, I don’t want to worry them…’ She shook her head, wondering what these lapses in her self-control could mean and wishing she could talk to some-one about it, but her dark mood was lifted when she spotted the package Professor Hawkins had told her about. It was a small enough parcel, slightly bigger than a glasses case… ‘There’s no return address, but it seems safe enough if it got through all the security checks that the college has implemented! Might as well open it and see what I’ve got here…’ Serenity thought, as she un-wrapped the parcel. What she found inside was a strange, golden coloured device about the size of a small jewellery box. On the top of it, a symbol which looked like a compass was clearly visible. ‘What’s this thing? It’s not my birthday and even if it was, I’d have gotten a card or something with it from the sender!’ Serenity thought as she looked it over.
As she was fiddling with the device, she opened it up. As soon as she had done this, a hologram of a red-haired woman dressed in a formal kimono appeared. She started to speak what was clearly a pre-recorded message: “Hello there Serenity, I’ve read your papers on advanced bionic limbs and I have to say, I was impressed! I know you’re probably wondering what this is about, so I’ll get to the point… My name is Nodoka Saotome and I would like to offer you a job, one that’ll require your special talents! If you wish to find out more or have accepted the job, meet me at the following address in one week’s time…” She then listed a Japanese address. When Serenity looked it up in her atlas, she found that it was a few kilometres outside of Tokyo. She sat back in her seat and then started to mull all her possible options over.
‘Well this sounds interesting; she seems too serious for it to be a prank… But then again, she could be a professional actor for one of those Candid Camera shows! But I think I’ll play along with it, I need a break from this job anyway…’ With that, she booted up her office computer and started to compose two e-mails: one to her brother telling him that she was possibly going to be working back in Japan for an indefinite length of time, the other one was to her supervisor asking for a leave of absence for about a year. As she was doing this, she mused on the many possible reasons for her being hired by Nodoka before coming to the conclusion: ‘Whatever this Nodoka character wants to hire me for, if she's right, I get the feeling that it’s something big!’
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(Posted Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:28)
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