Sai blinked to physical awareness as he was walking through a busy city street. Around him, people were walking to and fro, conducting business, all amongst a strangely dirty street.
It was oddly dark, and...Wait, that was a pair of sunglasses. Sai looked up.
The buildings themselves were stong looking, but the architeture struck Sai as...impractical. Futuristic, almost like a movie set. Here and there there were some cars...wait, hovering cars?
Sai blinked a couple times to adjust to the light before stepping out of someone's way.
Ok. I've been 'inserted. But into whom? His mind was a bit clearer now that he was away from that asshole, Chaos. The quickest way to determine that, would be finding a mirror. Or any reflective surface really. With that in mind, he looked over people's head for any suitable surface.
A store front made of glass across the street made itself the best choice. Looking both ways, Sai waited for a car to float by before crossing. No need to get run over this early in the adventure. Pushing by a couple people, he looked at his reflection and... Looked again. Trenchcoat. Check. Hat. Check. Glasses. Check. And that face... Bolt Crank, also known as Eatman. World's best Explorer.
This isn't so bad after all. And time to give myself a couple jobs. Number one. Find Ra-chan. Number two. Help Order win. They might take a bit, but Bolt always finished his jobs.
The crowd swarmed around Bolt as he looked at the mirror, most giving the big man a wide berth, with the deference smaller people tend to accord to large men they don't know.
Bolt was more or less undisturbed by anything but his thoughts until a thin girl, probably about fourteen, with a neatly cut head of jaw length, light brown hair ran headlong into him, looking behind her...and bounced off. She fell to the pavement, staring up at Bolt in surprise...then twitched slightlyas an angry rough voice behind her became audible, shouting some disgusting sounding (And probably impossible) curses.
Seeming to give nary a further thought to the man she'd collided with, the girl scrambled to her feet an dove back into the crowd, running like hell...
Giving a quick look at the girls pursuers, he made his way after her in a leisurely fashion. She didn't seem to be able to get free of the people chasing her. Sai decided to let them do all the running after her for now.
For now he had something to had something to figure out first. Like what kind of equipment he had aviable. Patting his coat and pockets, he made a mental inventory. And it wasn't a big one. Most of it consisted of various nuts and bolts. Not really surprising considering whose body he now inhabited.
Taking another approach, he cleared his mind and let instinct guide him. A few second later, he grinned. A small coin was now in the palm of his hand. His grin got a bit bigger as he recalled what he sensed in those few seconds. "As always, Bolt is well equiped. These should do well for now."
After a few moments, the girl's pursuers, a grizzled only man in a mohawk and a leather vest, and pants of the same, and a woman who seemed to be clad entirely in vinyl, dashed past bolt after the girl. Bolt still had no trouble following, though, as the crown heard the ruckus, and had parted for the three of them...
Raising an appreciative eyebrow at the woman's taste in clothing, Sai followed, waiting for his opportunity. I do wonder what the ruckus is about anyways. A runaway? A thief? Or something else? I guess I'll find out when I catch up.
Soon after, Bolt lost sight of the people he was following, with only a vague shouting and the occaisional muffled thump coming from a dirty looking gap between two buildings up ahead. The people passing by the 'alley' looked uncomfortable, but shuffled past, ducking thier heads and looking away.
Sai quickened his steps. It wouldn't do for the girl to be hurt.
As soon as he got to the alley, he scanned the area with his eyes. He noted any other exits, windows, ladders, and hiding places. If a fight broke out, he wanted to have the advantage of a plan.
The buildings hadn't seemed to have been laid out with a city in mind. Bolt could see a door on the wall of either building, but that was it. No fire escapes, or any other such luxuries. At the the end of the alley, the girl was on the ground again, the thumping apparently having been the girl tripping over durable plastic trash cans. Her two pursuers loomed over her, cracking their knuckles...but they didn't sound right...
Putting his hands behind him, Cy willed the handgun into his hand and adressed the two 'bullies'. "Hiya. Thank you for finding her, I will take it from here. You two can be on your way."
The flesh on Bolt's hand distended and distorted, and with a crackling feeling, the cold metal of a handgun pushed out through his skin and into his waiting fingers.
The two turned to Bolt, their expressions impassive as they regarded the explorer. Their quarry just looked confused.
Suddenly, the larger of the two, the grizzled man in the mohawk spoke, in a voice that Bolt found quite familiar.
"How do, Grumpy! 'Chaos' here, with your own personal invitation to the fight!" The frenetically cheerful voice was entirely at odds with the dour apperance of the brute. "If you survive this, there's a gate to modern day Tokyo waiting in the forest north of the city! See you there...maybe!"
With that, the voice faded, and the giant spoke in it's own intimidating baritone.
QuoteTarget: Bolt Crank.
Assignment:Terminate
With a flexing of the gigantic muscles, the big man's clothes, as well as...his skin? Shredded and fell away, revelaing a gleaming metal humanoid shape...
Chaos' involvement in this fight was easily dismissed from the mind of Sai as the familiar scene of boomers going into combat mode played out. "Shit. Boomers."
Letting the handgun fall to the ground on his side, Sai stepped backwards and towards the corner as he brought his hand up and pulled out the heavier ordinance. His arm was engulfed by a weapon almost as long as he's tall. It was loaded with the standard ammo, but even a boomer would have problems with 30mm rounds fired at a high rate.
There was a tension in Bolt's arm as the giant weapon seemed to slide out, and just as it finished forming, the boomer lunged.
There was a solid twenty yards between them, yet the boomer was propelled through the distance with terrifying speed, leaving Bolt with seconds to act...
Bringing his other arm up, Bolt smirked as he sent a little present at the boomer. "Catch."
Anyone looking into the alley would have been surprised as a small bridge appeared in it.
OOC: Mwahaha! The combat dice appear! >.>
IC:
Despite having scant seconds to push it out, the bridge erupted from Bolt's arm, just barely in time to slam head on into the boomer. Unready for such a bizarre occurrance, the boomer was caught in midflight, and slammed into the small bridge with devastating force, shattering it and shearing the right arm and leg off of the hapless metal combat machine.
Before it fell, the boomer did open it's mouth to fire off a quick shot, but fortunately, the weak shot went wide, missing Bolt entirely.
As the dust cleared, the female boomer snarled, and flexed, the 'skin' bursting off it as well, and it rushed to the attack in the wake of the botched attack of it's partner...
Backing up towards the exit, Cy aimed at the female boomer and fired. As it closed in, he stepped to the side in the begining of the classic tactic, the Circle Strafe. Keeping an eye on the downed boomer, he was also ready to jump out of its way once it closed in.
Unfortunately, the rubble from the destroyed bridge, while keeping the downed boomer from sneak attacking before it died, also provided cover for the smaller boomer, and Bolt's shot came a second too slow, destroying debris in the metal monster's wake.
However, the circling tactic DID prove effective, and Bolt slipped out of the path of the boomer's attack in time to feel the slight wind from it's passing...
Sai adjusted his aim and fired a short burst at the back of the boomer. If the rounds at least destroyed the propulsion unit, he was happy.
Bolt's balance was off, so it was something of a shock to both himself and the boomer as his shot caught the corner of the Boomer's 'jet pack', causing a frantic burst of flame, and sending the intelligent combat machine carreening into the far wall of the alley with a resounding crash, which, after Bolt's ears stopped ringing, he could tell had drawn the attention of people beyond the alley. Voices had been raised, and someone was screaming about the sheriff...
Moving closer to the 'female' boomer, Bolt put several rounds into its head.
The smaller combat boomer's body twitched violently as Bolt fired, her head coming apart in a shower of metal fragments as seven high caliber slugs smashed into it's skull...
Grumbling a bit under his breath about the lack of time to grab a snack, Sai headed towards the girl. He rested his gun over his shoulder.
"Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"
Bolt noted that the girl was much younger than he'd thought...he'd figured on about fifteen, but on close inspection, she was a rather coltish twelve, and clutching a cloth bag in her hands. She shook her head dumbly, staring openly at him in unabashed wonder.
Her brown hair was cut short in a pageboy style, and held back on one side by a pink barette, and she wore a ragged pink dress. "What are you?" she asked honestly, amazement in her voice.
Bolt smiled at the girl. "I'm the worlds greatest explorer. Bolt Crank. But my good friends call me Sai."
Looking around at the minor disaster area, he frowned. "As much as I would like to stick around and help clean up, I do have an appointment to keep."
The girl simply nodded and stood, clutching her bag, and watching Bolt expectantly.
"Are you in trouble somehow? Maybe I can help out before I have to go." Giving the girl a quick smile he asked. "What's your name by the way?"
"I'm Kotone!" She smiled. "And...Ano, I'm...kinda lost..."
Bolt let a short chuckle. "You want to know something funny, Kotone? So am I." He walked toward one of the doors as he continued speaking. "Want to find out where we are together?"
When he got to it, he tested to see if it was closed. As he did that, he also started taking bites out of the gun.
Kotone smiled cheerfully and nodded, glancing back at the street somewhat warily. "Un! Thank you, Sai-san!"
Suprisingly, the door swung open easily, revealing...nothing. The lights in the building were out, and all that could be seen inside were shadows on shadows.
Kotone's eyes went wide as Bolt began eating the gun. "Ano...Do you have an iron deficiency?"
"Heh. Yes, you could say that." Summoning a flashlight, he shone its light into the darkness.
Fortunately, the building seemed more or less open, with the walls lined with abandoned products that never made it to stores or markets for some reason or another.
The light of the flashlight simply revealed open floors, and boxes piled against the walls...
Sai passed the flashlight to Kotone, and quickly went to pick up his pistol which he gulped down in a couple bites. As he retrieved the other flashlight and stepped in, he checked for other doors. "You'll have to come with me for now. Normaly I wouldn't mind sticking around and talking to the cops, but I'm on a somewhat tight schedule."
Kotone nodded, eyeing him interestedly. "Un!" She agreed, gripping the flashlight as she followed Bolt in. "Why can you eat those, Sai-san?"
The warehous did indeed have another door, barely visible with the flashlights on the far side of the building.
"It's my special talent. Do you have a special talent?" Bolt closed the door and slowly headed towards the other exit.
Kotone gripped the flashlight as though it were a ward to beat back the darkness as they walked to the other door. "Ano...I don't think so. Professor only programmed me to do housework. Onii-chan is helping me look for my talent, though..."
"So I'm guessing that you're trying to get to your Onii-chan?" Bolt timed it that by the time he got to the other door, he would finish eating the gun.
"Mm." Kotone replied, looking utterly fascinated as she watched Bolt eat the gun. In short order, they'd reached the far door, and...like the one they'd come in, it was apparently unlocked...in fact, it was even ajar...
Stepping outsided, Bolt motioned Kotone to follow. "So where are you trying to go exactly? If it's close by, I can get you there myself. If not, I'll have to find a way to send you there."
Kotone smiled nervously up at him. "Ano...Is Pittsburgh very far from here?"
Sai definately recognised the city. Unfortunately, that did not reasure him.
"I think you'll have to come with me to my appointment. I don't think I can get you home myself right now."
Looking around for the nearest person, Bolt inquired for directions.
Kotone nodded uncertainly, and simply followed closely to Bolt as he found a person to talk to.
The woman they approached was rather plump, and dressed plainly, but she has a pleasant look about her, as though she were a mother, or grandmother. "Can I help you, young man?"
Bolt gave the lady a small smile and shuffled his feet as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it's kinda embarasing. You see, we're new here. A joker of a friend dropped us off here and went ahead. The only directions he left me were 'Go to the forest north of the city.' So I was wondering if you could at least point me in the right direction."
The woman had looked slightly cautious at Bolt's arrival, but Kotone peeking out from behind his coat seemed to soften her a little. "How awful." The woman frowned, then nodded, and smiled warmly at Kotone. "And you with such a cute little girl...Anyway, you can't miss it. Go straight through the market and out the city gates."
She hesitated a moment, then reached into a bag she was carrying, and pulled out a small shawl, offering it to Kotone. "You'll need this...the forest is fairly chilly in the afternoons..."
Kotone looked uncertain, glancing up at Bolt...
Bolt nodded to Kotone. "Go ahead." Looking back up at the woman he reached into his pocket. "Thank you. Can I repay you for it though?"
Kotone nodded and smiled thankfully at the woman, which earned her a pat on the head. She giggled and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"It's not necessary." The woman replied to Bolt, smiling. "My daughter has outgrown it. Remy-sama does want us all to look out for each other..."
A raised eyebrow was the only comment for a moment. "Thank you very much. Have a nice day."
Putting a hand on Kotones shoulder, Bolt turned in the direction the lady indicated. "Lets go, kiddo. We have a meeting to attend."
Kotone nodded, waving to the woman as they turned away. The woman smiled and waved back at both of them, as they began to walk again, in the direction indicated...
And kept walking until they got to the gate they needed to get out. Once there, they headed towards the forest. >_>
OOC: Timeskip?
OOC: As you say. ^^
**Timeskip**
Bolt apprached the forest with his charge in tow, realizing that the woman hadn't been kidding. The weather here was chill, reminiscient of late fall, compared to the relatively balmy weather in the city.
A faint dusting of fog covered the strange trees, wrapping the green of the trees in a haze of white, partially obscuring the view of the trees. Kotone wrapped the donated shawl around herself tightly, looking up at Bolt for direction...
Sai cursed quietly. "Damnit. Why couldn't this have been a 'small' forest?"
Turning to the girl, he tilted his head. "How are you holding up? Think you can walk for a little bit longer? I hope the 'gate' is close by."
Kotone smiled up at Bolt. "I'm fine. It's a little cold, but this is a warm blanket." she assured the man cheerily. "Ano...What gate are we looking for?"
Sai let out a small chuckle... "I don't know. As you might have heard before the fight, all I was told that there is one here. We can only hope that it's not hard to find."
With that, he started walking slowly into the forest.
Kotone hesitated, then pointed straight into the trees. "Ano...Bolt-san...there's something in the middle of the forest...is that it?"
Bolt looked that way... "Erk. Probably. Shall we see?" The man made a beeline for the center. Along the way, he found a couple straighter branches and munched on them.
"I need some more fiber in my diet." was his only comment to the girl.
Bolt notices as they start off that he cannot see a single thing more than five feet into the forest, but Kotone seems quite assured.
Kotone giggled at Bolt's comment, admiring the fauna surrounding them as they walked. Suddenly, she blinked, tugging on Bolt's jacket sleeve.
"Ano...Bolt-san...it's this way." she informed him, gesturing slightly to the left of where he'd been heading.
Sai shrugged and followed the directions. The girl seemed to know exactly where they were going. "So. Tell me about your brother."
"Ah! Onii-chan's a university student in Pittsburgh." Kotone replied pleasantly. "We live in a big house with boarders, while he and Laika-san work on their projects."
Kotone spoke for a few moments on school, or the people she lived with before stopping in what appeared to be an empty clearing in the forest...
Looking around, Sai kept his eyes open for anything strange. "Here?" Sai raised his voice. "Ok, whoever is out there. How about showing yourselves?"
Kotone blinked, and looked around. "Bolt-san...you can't see it?" She asked tentatively, her eyes fixing on a seemingly empty area of the clearing.
Bolt started walking towards where Kotone was looking. "I'm guessing that I can't see it and you can. Well, here goes nothing."
Kotone hurried along behind Bolt, nervously eyeing what, to her, was a swirling vortex of color. "Bolt-san...is this safe?" she asked, just as Bolt stepped within arms length of the 'gate'.
"I hope so." He didn't stop.
Kotone squeaked in suprise as Bolt stepped into the gate...and vanished. She bit her lip, looking nervously around. "Ano...hai!" She said, squeezing her eyes shut, and diving into the gate.
And the clearing in the forest was suddenly empty...
OOC: Whee! Another merge! To be continued, in: CardCaptor Shukuen!