Nemo
hadn’t heard anything about a mission for tonight, he clanked over at
the sleeping life form and happed off the bed. Hq had sent them a whole
load of new equipment and he could use tonight to sort it all out with
Tsuki and Yoru. He trotted down the stairs and rounded the last stair
to see both of his fellow agents with half of the stuff out of their
underground closet. Every few seconds something else would come flying
out and tsuki would catch it, glance it over, and put it in one of the
three piles. Tsuki noticed Nemo and Called out to him. “Hey we are
almost to the bottom, from the looks of it, quite a few cats have been
stationed at this house. The closet goes all the way to the air
conditioner unit by the back of the house, Yoru says it looked like
there used to be another door at that end too.” She caught the ne3xt
flying object, glanced at it and tossed it to Nemo. “Yoru says he
uncovered a hidden compartment” she pointed at some of the things on
the top of the pile. “These all came out of it, same with what you are
holding. Any ide3a what it is?” Nemo studied the object in his hands,
it was the shape of a cube with nine little squares of different colors
on all the its faces. He tried manipulating the cube for aminute turned
to Tsuki and shrugged his shoulders. “I have not idea.” As Tsuki turned
back to her task at hand, Nemo turned his focus back to the cube, he
found that by pressing down on certain squares that he could rotate a
portion of the cube. As he continued to adjust the cube, his mind
lapsed to the colors on the symbol of his uniform. How did it go? The
first row had one green and two blues, the second row had two greens
and one blue and the third row had one red and 2 greens. As he was
thinking he glanced down at the cube in his hands. His hands had almost
completed the pattern that he had been thinking about, there was just
the red square left to go. He rotated it a couple of times more and
clicked the correct row into place. He stared at it as something about
it seemed to mean something to him, he just couldn’t place it. As he
was looking at the cube his paws started to get warm, Nemo turned the
cube around noticed that the side that was opposite where the patter
was had turned completely white. As he looked closer it seemed to pulse
with a wave of color every two seconds. To his knowledge, HQ had never
dealt with such an object. He looke up at Tsuki and was about to say
something when a column of light pierced through the ceiling and came
to rest right in front of Nemo. Tsuki whriled around in amazement, as
she was turning her foot caught the closet door release and fell inside
the clostet, the door closing behind her. Nemo, quite amazed at the
light, failed to notice Tsuki disappearing, but he did notice the beam
of light widen and a life form come out of the light. She was dressed
in a dark grey cloak that covered everything but her head and her hair
that she had bunchec up into a ponytail. She looked around for a minute
until her eyes rested on Nemo. As she peered at him for aminute Nemo
stoode up taking a slightly defensive stance. As soon as the life form
saw his chest she gasped in amazement “Nemo, are you still alive? How
can this be? We all thought you had died with your sister! Nemo
flinched a little and lowered his defensive stance slightly, “My name
is Nemo, but I hardly expect a complete stranger to know about my
sister. Who are you and why are you here?! The life form looked at him
in bewilderment, “Nemo don’t you remember me? I’m Rebecca, we fought
together before the Climax, You me and Amy, we all had the duty to
protect the prince. Surely you remember that!” Nemo flinched again, he
most definitely did not remember. He had absolutely no idea who she was
or how she knew anything about his sister. Rebecca sensed the confusion
and looked at the cube that he was holding. “How can you not know me,
you remembered the old code for the communicube, that’s how I found
you, we all thought you were dead after we found Amy’s body in the
wreckage, we had to stop looking when HQ assumed power and started
hunting for us. We were labeled as traitors and deserters, but we never
violated our dute, we defended the prince as long as we could before
they overwhelmed us. Then we had to leave and we had to take him with
us, she pulled back her cloak to reveal a small life form. He had a
clear complexion and dark blue eyes. They penetrated Nemo to the very
core, Nemo almost felt like they could see right through him. This was
all very unsettling to Nemo, HQ had specifically forbidden verbal
contact with Humans and here were two life forms in his house that knew
who he was and Nemo just didn’t know what to do. He glanced over at the
closet door, Tsuki was peering out of it with Yoru peering right next
to her. He raised his defensive stance again and looked at the life
forms, “I don’t know who you are, but HQ has forbidden this sort of
contact, I have no choice but to fight you, please leave at once.”
Rebecca looked at him with concern on her face, “Very well, if we are
to be enemies, then perhaps a good fight will cure you of your
forgetfulness. She pulled back her other side of her cloak to reveal
two swords sheathed side by side, she pulled out one, and hefted it for
amintue, then she tossed it at Nemo who caught it. “The sword always
remembers its master, but it appears that the master has forgotten his
sword, let uys see if you remember anything about who you are.” She
glanced down at the closet door where two pairs of eyes were peering
out, she looked at them and turned to her companion, “The will keep you
safe, they have good hearts. The boy nodded and moved over to thwere
the door was and pried it open, he jumped down in as Tsuki and Yoru
watched in amazement. Rebecca turned and smiled at them,”Guard him with
your very lives, he is more important than you know. They both nodded a
bit confused at their situation and ducked down as Rebecca closed the
closet door. She turned back to Nemo and puleed out the other sword.
She walked a few steps away from Nemo, and stabbed her sword through
the ground. A force field instantly covered the walls, floor, and
ceiling, effectively barring entry or exit from where they stood. Nemo
hefted the sword he had been given and looked back at Rebecca, “Why
would you give me a sword after knowing that we must be enemies.” “I am
merely returning an old possession, the sword always remembers it
master.” Nemo turned the blade in his paw, it was almost like it was
trying to communicate with him, he raised it in an attack position,
“Very well, teach me what I seem to have forgotten,” Rebecca smiled and
raised her sword “Lets make it a little fairer shall we?” Her sword
started to glow and so did Rebecca, her body started to shrink until
she was eye level with Nemo, when the transformation was complete she
looked at Nemo again, “Are you ready?” Nemo nodded and before he was
through with the second nod, he felt his hands lift the blade to
deflect a quick jab from Rebecca. Nemo stared in amazement as he
continue to block everything she threw at him, she jumped back away
from him after he blocker her blade from crushing his skull. “Amazing
isn’t it? Can’t explain it can you? How far back can you remember? Nemo
looked away from her for a second “I remember an explosion and three
weeks of recovery, everything before that is blurry.” Starting to feel
something strangely familiar to him, he leapt at her, she easily
parried his advance and leapt out of the way. “What of your sister?
Nemo cringed a little, “only this, that I was unable to save her,
nothing more. Rebecca nodded as she brought another crushing blow
towards Nemo’s head, Nemo parried and returned a jab, Rebecca narrowly
deflecting it at the last minute. “Who is your enemy?” “Viktor the fox,
the son of the late Tenalt. Rebecca froze and looked at him in total
surprise. “Viktor? How can that be?” They were interrupted by another
column of light that pierced through the shield, Rebecca turned in
shock, “I was followed?!” As soon as the beam widened a column of
masked
HQ officials poured out and surrounded the two duelers. Nemo lowered
his sword in surprise, it was specifically forbidden any form of
contact whatsoever besides his mailbox yet here were agents from HQ
with weapons pointed at Rebecca. One that looked to be in command
called out, “Traitor, we have found you at last, where is the prince?”
Rebecca glanced at Nemo and then turned to her accuser, “You will never
have him while I live!” The leader chuckled and then turned to Nemo,
“Nemo, your next assignment has been handed down, kill her.” Nemo
looked at him, stunned at what had just been said. Never in his wildest
dreams had he thought that a mission would end in death, the HQ code
specifically forbid it, something was very wrong about the whole
situation. How could this be the same organization that had cleaned up
after the explosion and fixed everybody’s lives, how could this be?
“Who are you, and what authority do you have to make me do such a
thing.” Nemo challenged back with a little anger in his voice. “HQ code
specifically forbids it, why then am I to violate the very code upon
which HQ is base.” A familiar voice called out in response, “Fool, how
naïve you are!” Viktor had emerged from the portal that was still
active in the corner. “HQ is merely a pawn in a huge game of chess, and
look if we don’t have two knights here together again.,” He focused on
Rebecca “We meet at last, I’ve heard a great deal about you my dear,
but I can’t have you discovering one of the most beautiful hidden
treasures in the world,” He glanced at Nemo, and then met her eyes
again “We wouldn’t want him to remember who he is.” Nemo was beyond
confused at this point, but he wasn’t about to hear any more, he lifted
his sword and jumped at Viktor, Viktor saw him move and pulled out a
control pad from his vest, and pushed a button on it, Nemo’s body
locked up and fell to the floor, unable to move. Rebecca looked at Nemo
horrified, “What have you done with him? He is a high member of the
Elect, this isn’t possible!” Viktor turned from the frozen Nemo back to
Rebecca, “You’lll find my dea that quite a few things are possible,
seize her!” He truend and backed away as the agents closed in on her,
Rebecca’s eyes blazed with anger, leveling her sword to the ground she
faced her opponents. “I won’t let you have him”. She swung back her
sword and suddenly thrust it towards the enclosing agents, a huge wave
burst out of the sword and blasted them against the walll, she turned
and raced to Nemo, bending down she examined him, searching for a clue
to what was wrong, the agents and Viktor had since recovered and were
making their way back towards her, weapons raised. “She is no use to
us, kill her!” Viktor snarled, “But sir, the prince”, the commander
replied, “He is no longer a concern, with her out of the way, he is
defenseless, we will find him, your first priority is the Jewel,
protect him at any cost, he is worth more to us than even your lives,
but make sure to make her death painful.” He turned and vanished
through the portal and it disintegrated. The agents raised their
weapons at Rebecca, “all right, its time to play.” Rebecca had found
nothing in her search of Nemo and looked around in desperation for
something to aid her, she moved behind Nemo, aware that they could not
harm him. She looked down at Nemo, “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this,
Nemo I apologize in advance,” she took her sword and grabbed the end,
quickly jerking it, her hand oozed rec. She concentrated for a second,
took her blade and stabbed it down through Nemo’s heart. As Nemo came
to, he tried to move but something seemed to be pinning him to the
floor, he looked up and saw Rebecca’s sword through his chest,
curiously enough he felt no pain. He traced his eyes up the sword,
Rebecca was still holding it, but she was frozen, he looked around,
Viktor wasn’t there anymore, but the agents were over a little ways,
they appeared frozen, but they hgad their weapons raised and pointed in
his direction. He slumped back down trying to collect his thoughts.
Everything
had happened so fast, he wasn’t sure what to think, his mind raced with
questions that had no answers and he traced them back to the big ones,
who was he, and why couldn’t he remember. He reached up to massage his
head when a white paw reached out and grabbed his. Startled he looked
backwards and his eyes met another cat’s. They looked at each other for
a minute, still holding hands. “You’ve come, I’ve been expecting you.”
A memory tugged at Nemo’s brain, but he couldn’t place it. She reached
out and touched Rebecca’s blade, it went transparent and Nemo was able
to roll away and stand up, he was surprised to see that behind Rebecca
and the visitor, the wall had completely vanished, in its place was a
huge hall with pillars, a starry sky and a stairway that led up to
light. As he soaked in his surroundings, he felt a paw on his shoulder.
He truend to face the cat that had spoken earlier. “I don’t understand,
who are you, what is this place, and why aren’t they moving?” She
smiled peacefully keeping her paw on his shoulder, “The real question
is who are you?” Nemo looked at the floor, “I thought I knew, now I’m
not sure.” She grabbed his paw and looked at him, perhaps I can help
you remember. Everythint around Nemo exploded into light, suddenly he
was running down a corridor alongside a smaller cat. As he ran he
looked down at himself, he was younger, way younger. He saw a sword
attached to his belt and he was wearing his uniform that he had in his
case back home. As they ran, they approached a door, they burst in and
looked around, there was a young girl that looked oddly like Rebecca
only younger, she too was in the same uniform with a sword on her belt.
She was holding a baby in her arms but there was fea in her eyes. “Have
they penetrated the gates?” He heard himself reply,”They have made it
to our first line of defense, hopefully they can hold them there. The
other cat was still at the door looking down the hall from where they
had come, she turned to Nemo “We should return to our post,” She
suddenly broke her gaze looking down the hall, “Nemo they are through”
He felt himself cringe and sprint back towards the door, they both
stepped through closing the door behind them, hearing it lock into
place they turned to face their pursuers. Nemo saw a small groupt led
by a fox that looked like an older Viktor. That must be Tenalt, but why
didn’t the memory come stronger? Nemo grabbed his sword as did his
companion, facing the oncoming group. They stopped a fair distance away
Tenalt called out, “Don’t bother resisting, we have come for the
prince, lay down your weapons or die. Nemo felt himself tense a little,
keeping his sword raised. He turned to his companion, “I’ll take them”
His companion nodded. Nemo started towards the group, he took his sword
and stabbed it up into the air and brought it crashing on to the floor.
A huge wave of energy broke from his sword and blasted them back
knocking all but Tenalt to the ground unconscious. Tenalt walked
towards Nemo with his sword raised “Impressive, I want to see more.”
Nemo raced towards Tenalt, as he brought his sword down, Tenalt parried
and brought his other hand crashing on to Nemo’s hand that had his
sword, as his sword clattered away, Nemo turned to face his attacker,
raising his fists, they began to pulse with energy, he leapt towards
Tenalt, grabbing on to his arm, which sent a wave of energy racing
through Tenalts body. Tenalt staggered back in amazement, “I’ve been
looking for one like you all my life, I must have you.” Tenalt raced
towards Nemo and pinned him to the ground, he pulled a small black
dagger from his suit and brought it down over Nemo, his companion cried
out as she threw her body over Nemo. Tenalt’s dagger pierced her body.
She pushed Nemo away and staggered to her feet, facing Tenalt and his
dagger, her body started to glow as she raised her sword. “No amy,
don’t do it!” She turned to him, “It is my time, do not worry.” Tenalt
snarled and leapt towards her dagger raised, just as the dagger was
about to pierce her again she brought the sword up. The dagger clanged
and shattered against the sword, a huge clash of energythrew Amy and
Tenalt in opposite directions. Nemo raced over to where she was, he
bent over her, “Amy you can’t leave me!” She raised her hand to his
face and caressed his cheek, “The effects of the dagger are too much,
but we will see each other again. Her hand fell limp, then Nemo felt a
heavy object come crashing into the back of his skull and then
blackness. The next thing he knew he woke up in a bed of some sort, he
heard voices “He’s coming too, a face of an older cat appeared in his
view, “You are Nemo, you are an agent of HQ, a new organization to
vanquick evil. You are the only survivor of a huge explosion, your
sister died in it as well, we are going to assign you a human family to
protect, here is your first assignment and the GQ code, we will put it
in a bag and drop you off with the bag, you are to find a boy that
pushes things that look like boxes on wheels, he is a member of the
family you will protect.” He took out a syringe and plunged it into
Nemo’s arm, “You will not remember us or where you are” Nemo felt a
black ice lace through his body and darkness came once again. All of a
sudden he was back with the cat, she was still looking at him, still
holding his hand. Nemo looked at her, memories crashing through his
brain, and falling into place. As he looked at her, tears welled up in
his eyes, “Amy, I’m so glad you’re here.” He closed his mouth for a
minute, realizing what he had just said, he looked at her again, that
smile, those colors, it was her! She turned away from him as someone
called out “Amy, it’s time to go!” A young girl in white advanced
towards them from the direction of the stairs. Amy turned towards Nemo,
“Thank Rebecca for me, her knowledge and capability have made our
reunion possible. I must go now, but you are always in my heart.” The
girl in white picked up Amy and turned to Nemo, “fulfill your destiny,
Nemo the true protector of my family and yours.” A huge wave of color
distorted the girl and Amy and a wall appeared in their place. A wall
with a shield protecting it. He turned around to see the advancing
posse and Rebecca. Nemo looked down to see that he still had his
uniform and his sword from the memory. He pulled out the sword, colors
danced off of it as it was exposed to the light, the advancing posse
froze, not sure what to think as the disabled Nemo as no longer under a
sword, or in front of Rebecca, but behind her and looking very
dangerous. The commander took a few steps back, “Retreat, Viktor must
know about this!” A huge column of light pierced through the ceiling
again, as the portal opened the posse retreated through it, vanishing
as the last few went through. Rebecca turned to Nemo, with a look of
relief on her face. She cleaned of her blade with her cloak and bound
her hand that she had cut with her sword to stop the bleeding. “Did she
come?” “She sends her thanks” “I’m glad. I’m glad to have you back.” “I
need you to fill me in on my duty now that it seems that things have
changed.” Nemo smiled wryly and Rebecca smiled back, stabbing her sword
into the ground, she returned to her former size and the shield
vanished. “First we have to go pick up your supplies, most of your
current equipment is hacked versions of our stuff so they can tell what
you are doing.” She popped up the closet and let the three out, “They
should accompany us, I think you call the place the post office.” We
call it a hug,” she pulled a small object out of her cloak and set it
on the ground. “But first we must take care of your first duty, these
people here. She pressed down on it and it slipped through the concrete
floor like it was water. Nemo looked at her questioningly “It’s a
transport blocker, no one in no one out for a hundred miles but there
are other forms of travel available to us. “And to the enemy”
“Precisely which is why we must hurry.” She pulled another device out
of her cloak and pressed a series of buttons. “It’s a little slow, but
it will have to do.” A faint rumble sounded through the house and
seemed to stop, Rebecca peered at her console and reached her arm out
in front of her, grabbing something and pulling it towards her. To the
amazement of the three cats, it was a door, that they could see inside.
Rebecca motioned everyone inside and climbed in after them. Inside was
a huge cabin and a window up front. Rebecca motioned towards some seats
and headed towards the front pilot seat. “Belt yourselves in, things
can get a little bumpy, but at least it can go through anything. Nemo
strapped himself in, as did Tsuki and Your and the Boy. Nemo peered out
the front window, “How come I can’t see anything?” “Because you are
staring at a solid wall of dirt” Rebecca called back. The ship jerked a
little and started moving, every now and then Nemo could see a pipe or
a rock appear and disappear through the window. “How can you see where
you are going?” Rebecca pointed down at the panel of dials and screens
on her console “Its all here, don’t worry, we’ll get you one soo so you
can learn.” The whole ship rocked as Rebecca reached out to adjust
something. “Sorry guys, huge lead pipe, those things are a little
dense.” After a few more rocks and pipes Rebecca turned and got up,
we’re here, she went to the back of the ship, opened up a door and
pulled out a shirt. She tossed it at Nemo “Put this on, You’ll look
weird, but better to see that than your uniform.” She handed a backpack
to Tsuki, “I’ll need you to carry this” She shrugged off her cloak to
reveal a blue uniform with an eagle insignia. “I came prepared, just in
case we meet anyone. She walked over to the door and opened it slight,
hmm, this is worse than I thought. Nemo walked to the door and peered
out, everyting was covered in ice from the floor to the ceiling. “Be
cautious, I’ve shut down transport but they might now have made it
out.” She turned to the prince, “Stay here and watch the screens” She
pointed towards the front of the ship. “If anything happens, make sure
to seal the ship and stay put.” He nodeed in acknowledgement and headed
for the front “As for you two” she focused on Tsuki and Yoru, “I need
you to protect Nemo” Tsuki smiled, and pulled on the backpack, “I still
don’t’ understand antying that’s happened, but I can definitely do
that.” Yoru nodde3d in agreement and they headed towards Nemo who was
still looking out the door. Nemo turned towards Rebecca “What are we
looking for?” Rebecca turned from doing some last minute adjusting on a
panel by the door, “Believe it or not we are looking for a box with
your name on it. With all this ice it will make it hard, but they have
a computer that we can use to look it up. “We can’t use any of the new
stuff with the fiel on, so be cautious, I can’t tell what might be out
there.” They all piled out and Rebecca closed the door behind them.
Nemo looked back at the door to see a wall that was partially covered
in ice. He looked around and saw that they were in the lobby on the
employee side, up by the counter there were stacks of letters and boxes
against the wall, all were thinkly covered in ice. A box that was
unfrozedn and apart form the others caught his eye and he walked over
to it. As he approached it, it rocked a little. Nemo looked at it
again, maybe he was just dreaming, nope, there it went again. Nemo
slowed down and approached it more cautiously, as he got close enough
to see the top he saw his anem spelled in rather bold letters, he
turned to Rebecca who had already found a computer “Here’s a box with
my name on it, could this be it?” Rebecca looked over, “They are
usually smaller than that, just a minute and I’ll be over there.” Nemo
looked at the box again, all of a sudden it started shaking violently
and turned over on to its side, and the top popped open. It had
everyone’s attention now, Nemo slowly backed away from it, reaching
under the shirt for his sword when a small cat leapt out and turned to
face them, her eyes were red as a flame which contrasted heavily with
her petite white with gray splotches body. She was brandishing a small
energy weapon and looked like she meant to use it on the first thing
that moved. She looked this way and that for several moments, before
reality set in on Nemo “Sakura, is that you?” “Sakura is dead, do not
defile me by that name any longer, I am Nesbitt the destroyer who has
come to destroy you.” She focused on Nemo and fired, Nemo swept up his
sword and deflected it into the wall. “What has happened to you?” Nemo
walked towards her cautiously trying to get a clear shot on her weapon.
She saw him approaching and jumped in the air, for the second she was
in the air she had fired another shot and used her wings to float over
closer to the counter. Nemo stared in disbelief as he deflected the
shot, wings? What had happened indeed. Tsuki and Yoru both had their
own gasps of amazement, but Rebecca seemed to have disappeared behind
the counter. Sakura turned back towards them as Nemo glanced over at
Tsuki and Yoru, they were in her line of sight which meant Nemo needed
to keep diverint her attention, he took a few more steps towards her
when around the counter came the prince, she at first didn’t seem to
notice him, until he spoke for the first time in Nemo’s presence, “Your
soul is in pain, it has gone through much, it is crying out to me.” She
turned her eyes and her gun towards him, but before Nemo had any time
to react a flash of a sword flew from behind the counter and stabbed
through her weapon, shattering it into a million pieces. The prince
continued his approach, but Sakura seemed rooted to her location until
the prince was right next to her. He reached over behing her head and
in one quick movement crushed a piece of her collar, her body
immediately slumped and he caught her and picked her up. Nemo could see
that her eyes had returned to normal, he rushed over as Rebecca came
around the counter and confronted the prince “One of these times I’m
not going to be able to do that!” The prince looked up in innocence and
Rebecca just shook her head and turned to Nemo, “He’s got something for
animals in distress, even if they can kill him,” she shot her eyes back
at the prince who continue to stroke sakura on the neck. Nemo checked
over sakura and took a look at her winds, “These are amamzing, how did
this happen?” “Judging from our welcome I doubt we want to know”
Rebecca chided and went to pick up her sword. “It looks like I’ve
picked up another one of his pets, but juding from the previous she
might be of some use to the cause. She came back and bent down to look
at the tiny body, “If she recovers from whatever was dring her, we
probably should look at her in the ship,” she reached behind the
counter and pulled out something that looked like a huge block of ice,
“Found out why there was ice everywhere, they sent you a cold generator
that got turned on accidently and some replacement parts for your
computer and equipment so you can use them without HQ knowing about it.
Althought I’m not sure why they sent the generator,” she looked around,
“I don’t’ see a use for it, but I guess this will thaw by morning.” She
motioned towards where the door of the ship was. “Its almost morming
and we need to get you back,” they all climbed in and bumped and
jostled home. When Rebeccca opened the door and looke out, she glance
at them “I’ll take care of the rest and we’ll meet again soon, until
then I suggest you clean up, they all looked at the piles of equipment
still strewn all over. Tsuki groaned and Yoru covered his eyes. Nemo
chuckled and followed the two cats out, he turned as Rebecca went to
shut the door, “Until the next time.” “Yes until the next time!” Nemo
looked down for aminute, then looked back up at Rebecca, “thank you
Rebecca, for all you’ve done” She smiled, its good to have you back,
good luck and she shut the door. Nemo turned to his companions, lets
get going, we’ve got a new adventure ahead. Yoru flopped down and
groaned, “Vanquish evil and all that huh?” Nemo looked at him “Yeah,
something like that.” Tsuki laughed and they all started cleaning up. |