On a wondrous ship, the likes of which have been rarely seen by sentient beings...A slightly eccentric young man of considerable power slept.
His beloved cape sat lovingly folded nearby, ready for quick use. The rest of his clothes lay scattered on the floor nearby as the young man snored loudly on under the sheets.
As he peacefully slept, a benevolent presence touched his mind. For some reason...he understood the feeling perfectly. And, when it made the request of him...
He agreed.
He left his body, making way for another. One who would influence the fate of the entire universe.
Oh well...nobody's perfect.
He woke with a start, a faint tearing sensation jolting through his being. He squinted, trying to see without the aid of glasses as he blearily rose form his bed.
Hand searching for the lamp that was no longer there, he stood up, and nearly fell as his sense of balance went haywire. Instead he sat back down on the bed, trying to get back his bearings.
About this time he stopped squinting, realizing he no longer needed his glasses to see. His joy was muted as he saw a tuft of red hair peeking out of the bottom of a mirror on the wall. He looked down at himself and stared at the trim physique that he now posessed, something he had been striving to achieve for quite a while.
He stood up slowly and looked into the mirror. The face staring back at him was not his own.
Not good.
The mirror reflected an image of a young, red-haired man, with a rather smug look, despite his current expression of shocked dismay on his face. His blue eyes were open wide, and a black headband held his reddish hair out of his eyes.
The face and head topped a slender, though well muscled physique, evidently toned through many hours of training...
And he was completely unclothed, save for a single pair of boxers, with smiley faces platered all over them....
He stared at the face in the mirror; his face. He couldn't understand it, nor could he shake the overpowering sense of deja vu. He was almost certain he had seen the face before, but the room around him seemed so...well, futuristic. He'd never been to a place like this before.
He studied his new body, trying to place where he had seen it. He frowned briefly at the ridiculously cheerful boxers for a moment, then decided that they suited the situation. May as well be optimistic...
He spotted a folded pile of clothing and donned it, then stared at the cape for a bit.
I always wanted one of these...
He fumbled with the cape for a bit, finally managing to don it properly. He glanced at himself in the mirror and nearly fell over in shock. He recognized the body now.
Definitely NOT good!
As Kain, now fully dressed and coming to grips with the situation, glanced around the room, he saw an ordinary room, with the expected decor, and nothing exceptional, save for the futuristic decor...and an odd looking holster, with something inside.
Interrupting his thoughts, there was a low chime, from the direction of the door.
He grabbed the holster and belted it on to his waist.
He stared at the door for a moment, then said, "Come in!"
A green haired woman, her hair done in long braids, clad in a pink dress, covered by a frilly white pinafore, stepped through the now open door.
She was brandishing a metal pot in one hand, and a wooden spoon in the other.
"Good morning Kain!" She said cheerily, then caught sight of him, standing in the middle of the room, fully dressed. She pouted slightly, dropping the wooden spoon and the pot to her sides.
"Oh." She said, disappointed. "You're already awake."
He stared at her for a moment. Then another moment.
"You're already awake."
Awake!
WAKE UP, STUPID!
He shook himself a little, then smiled as cheerily as he could at her.
"Yep! I guess I got enough sleep already, huh?"
She's cute!
No! Must concentrate...
He frowned at her slightly. "What's with the pot?"
She smiled cheerily back at him, sliding the pot and spoon behind her back.
"Oh....Nothing." She replied, her amythest eyes assuming an innocent air. "I just came to wake you up, that's all!"
"Come up to the bridge. We've got a job offer from the Guardians." she said breezily, and vanished, waving.
He exited the room, then stopped.
Oh HELL! I don't know my way around the ship!
He glanced to his left, then to his right. Both directions had identical corridors, no markings as to where the forward or the aft were.
Um...okay! Think!
The Toilet Episode!
Okay, where did Kain come from...the left!
He turned to his left and walked down the corridor, hoping he found the bridge.
Unfortunately, Kain's quarters were to the right of the bathroom itself...so, turning left and following the corridor for a ways found Kain entering the lift for the torpedo storage bays, rather than the bridge lift...
OOC: I...Just couldn't resist.....^_^
He growled to himself, feeling like a complete idiot, and turned around, starting back the way he had come.
Momentarily, he found himself back at his quarters. Continuing to his right, he found himself passing a door with an easily recognized symbol on it, shaped like a toilet. Further down, he came face to face with another lift.
He stepped on the lift and pressed the button for 'UP' on the wall.
Momentarily, the doors to the bridge swished open, and he was deposted onto the bridge.
He was confronted with a sight that would make a computer nerd drool with envy. it was an expansive room, with elaborate consoles on three sides of the room, complete with flashing lights, and digital indicators.
On the far wall, a giant viewscreen was active, and filled with the image of a darkhaired man with a smug expression.
"Well, well! So you DO get out of bed before noon, Kain!" the darkhaired man said, smirking.
Canal flashed him a cheerful grin and turned back to her console, obviously to let the two men talk...
MAN, she's cute!
FOCUS!
He smiled cheerfully at the man on the screen. "Good morning, Rail! What can we do for you today?"
The dark haired man on the screen smirked a little.
"Just a small job today, Kain. I would have had one of our operatives look into it, but we don't have a ship as sturdy as yours. "
Rail glanced down at his desk. "Over in the Caperia sector, an...anomaly showed up in the shipping routes. unfortunately, the gravitaional turbulence prevents anyone from getting close enough to find out exactly what is there, and it distorts long range scanners. We need someone tough enough to get in, and find out what exactly has shown up. Up to the job?"
Rail grinned, a hint of a challenge in his eyes.
He grinned in spite of himself. "Of course we're up to it. You expected us to turn you down?" He glanced at Canal. "Besides, we can always use more money. Just send us the details and we'll get right on it."
Rail nodded casually, smirking.
"I thought you might. Aiming a subspace transmission at you, then. Sending....now."
Canal bent over her console, cheerily adjusting the signal recievers.
"Recieving now..."
She gave him a short nod and a smile once the transmission was completed.
Rail nodded casually, and a brown haired girl could be seen entering the office behind him. "Look forward to hearing from you, Kain...Guardians out."
And with that, the forward viewsceen went dead. Canal looked up at him expectantly. "Orders, Kain?"
Grinning widely, he hopped into the Captain's chair.
"Let's go!"
Canal blinked looking at him oddly for a moment, then shrugged and smiled. "Okay!" And without even bending over her console, Kain could feel the ship lurch under his feet as it pointed itself at it's newest desination.
Canal turned to him as the ship got underway, and turned on a bright smile.
"I get to go shopping with this paycheck, like you promised, right Kain? There's some new-model missles I've had my eye on..."
Completely missing the odd look she gave him, he smiled. "Sure, as long as you don't put us into debt."
Canal managed an innocent look. "When have I ever done that?"
He blinked.
...Craaaap. I don't know the dates!
"From what I can remember, you've done it multiple times."
Canal pouted slightly.
"Aw, but you can't tell me my babies didn't come in handy..."
"...that is entirely beside the point. I can't eat missiles and lasers, you know." He frowned.
Canal frowned. "And don't you dare try. We have LOTS of ration packages!"
He rolled his eyes. "Ration packages get old and boring, Canal. Once in a while, I need something special. Something with more flavor than toilet paper."
Canal appeared to consider this...for about a hundredth of a second. She smiled cheerfully. "Don't worry about a thing, Kain. I'll be good."
"Okay, then." He nodded, smiling. "How long until we get there?"
Canal checked her board. "About two hours. We can stop at the rest station too, if you want...."
Erk.
Two hours?
What the hell did Kane do during those long space flights...?
...
No. I seriously doubt that the hentai doujinshi would be the correct assumption.
"Hmm...I suppose we could, Canal. How far until we get to the rest station?"
Canal blinked, tossing a sea-green braid over her shoulder. "About forty-five minutes. We don't really have time to stop, but we're low on repair supplies..."
He nodded. "We might as well, as long as we're quick about it. You never know when we may need those supplies."
Canal nodded cheerfully. "Sure thing!" She then turned to her board, leaving Kain to his own devices for the moment...
"Well then...I guess I'll go...practice, or something." He stood up, patted Canal on the shoulder, and strolled out of the bridge, beginning his search for any kind of room that could possibly be used as a dojo.
After a fair bit of searching, Kain found a storage bay that had been cleared out, and was apparently used as a practice area, to judge from the scorch marks all over the walls...
"Well, this must be de place."
He glanced about, then removed his cape, folded it, and set it aside.
"Let's see if I can do this without cutting my legs off..."
He pulled out the sword hilt, held it in his hands, and realized he had absolutely no idea how to make it go. He groaned and began looking about the device for a button to turn it on.
Unfortunately, the device had no switches whatsoever to mar the steek styling of the device. however, the black panels on the devices sides looked strange, almost like solar panels...obviously meant for collecting energy of some kind....