[metatokyo] Power Of The Seven, A MT/Clans fanfic

Meagen narrowed her eyes slightly. As her speed increased, the world around her became darker and silent. Soldiers of various factions seemed frozen in place to her, the battle turning into an eerie sculpture gallery.

*So this is what it all gets down to...*

There were no tactics involved, no alliances. Everyone was fighting everyone else. Only the very distinct looks of the armies involved prevented the battle from becoming a mass slaughter. Some distance away from her, Draegos was engaged in a swordfight with some Mihoist she couldn't recognise. They seemed to be moving sluggishly, which probably meant they were in full bullet-dodging mode to everyone else.

Suddenly, a bright light shone over the battlefield. Practically no-one took any notice of it: only Meagen was moving fast enough to have any time to think of the surroundings. But in her dark world of bended physics, its brightness was especially noticeable, almost blindning.

Meagen's heart filled with hope. "Are you the seventh?", she asked. There was no response, but somehow she felt sure she was right. "Please, help us!", she called out. "This can all be stopped, if you just..."

The light shone brighter, then winked out. Meagen's heart fell.

"No! Don't go! You have to-"

She fell out of hyperspeed with a lurch, just in time to see Draegos fall. His opponent had pierced him right through with his sword - armor and all - and Meagen was sure that awesomeness or not, the Texan was not going to get up on his own. A deep, violent rage welled up in her, blotting out all other thoughts and she-

-she sat up on the bed with a violent surge of adrenaline. Slowly, she composed herself, looking around the faintly-lit room, and then checked to assure herself that her boyfriend was sleeping peacefully next to her, not immediately threatened by any sword-weilding deadies.

Draegos stirred at her touch, and opened one eye. "Wha's wrong?", he muttered, seeing she was awake.

"Oh, nothing", Meagen sighed. "Just had a terrifying prophetic dream of your death that will come true despite my best attempts to hinder it."

"Ah. 'kay."

She smiled, kissed him slightly, and they went back to sleep.

------------------------------------

Somewhere in Megatokyo, a magical transportation aura shimmered into existance, then resolved into the form of a red-haired woman in an expensive-looking blue buisness suit. She looked around, then nodded.

"It has begun", she said to no-one visible, and then walked forward. A few snowflakes fell to the ground behind her, and quickly melted in the hot summer night.

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AN: And... it begins. ^__^ Comments and such are, of course, welcome.

"A straight to the point opening. Don't see many of these."

Erika Hayasaka stood behind the counter at Megagamers, glancing at her watch every now and then. Piro was late again, and she was in a hurry. She adjusted her Miyu outfit and tapped her foot slightly.

There was a clatter of CDs on the counter. "Excuse me...?", said a male voice.

Erika turned around, and experienced a profound deja vu. On the counter lay two CDs signed with her name, and an unfamiliar guy was staring at her with a knowing smirk.

It wasn't the same guy as before - one of Piro's weird friends from America, as she recalled - but a similar enough type of guy, especially with the jacket and glasses. He seemed to be well-armed, and held a strange-looking gadget in his hand.

Ah, one of *those* people.

Erika reached under the counter for the device that would alert the nearby EEK team. "Can I help you...?", she inquired impassively, keeping eye contact.

The guy nodded, then suddenly pointed the gadget at her. "Remember", he said.

And she did.

He caught her limp body in one hand, then let it drop onto the counter, and left as if nothing had happened. No-one saw him go.

--------------------

Erika slowly came to, feeling someone shake her insistently. She opened her eyes and with some difficulty focused them on a face. A familiar face, with a wild mop of red hair over it.

Largo looked grim as he checked her pulse and shone a flashlight into her eyes. He prodded a bit at her neck, and she heard him mutter: "...no bite marks. It must be a psychic vampire."

He was holding her close, and yet she didn't feel threatened. He certainly didn't have any ulterior motives right now. His examination, though obviously not too professional, was not in the least intimate. She felt a bit like a piece of evidence.

And even if he tried to cop a feel, she felt too tired to do anything about it right now...

"l33tmaster?", she heard another voice from somewhere above them. "We take girl to hospital?"

Largo shook his head. "They would not understand... the f00lz..." Then he seemed to have an idea. "...no, wait. There is one place where they are aware of the true nature of things. Where l33tn3ss is prized, and undead are treated with the loathing they deserve." He stood up dramatically. "Follow!"

Erika's back was on the way to a painful encounter with the floor, but someone caught her swiftly and held her up in a fireman's cradle. She squinted slightly at the ninja with brightly-colored hair.

"<...oh, it's you...>", she said faintly.

Junpei nodded. "<Fallen warrior need help. Then come back to battle stronger. But now, rest - Junpei bring you to place of healing. Trust l33tmaster.>"

Erika managed to smile very slightly before falling unconscious again.

--------------------

The door opened and a Rei wearing a Senshi uniform similar to Sailor Saturn's walked out, a pensive look on her face. IntelliAyanami jumped up from where she'd been sitting next to Iain Caduceus, trying to cheer him up. "Well...?", she said.

Magical Girl Rei shook her head. "I'm really not sure. All the symptoms correspond to energy draining by a demon, but the magical signature is completely different." She paused, then glanced at Iain, still rather miserable after such an attack on his boss and favourite Main Character. "Excuse me", she asked, "could I read your aura for a minute...?"

He looked up, somewhat surprised, but nodded. Rei closed her eyes and moved her hands in front of his face, as if trying to frame it. Finally, she stood up and nodded. "That's it. That's the signature I felt."

"You're not accusing-", IntelliAyanami began, but the other Rei lifted her hand. "No, I mean it's the same *kind* of signature. Similar power."

"So the attacker... is a *Technomancer*?", C-kun asked.

"That's what it feels like to me. Maybe we should get Meagen to double-check", Magical Girl Rei suggested.

"I'll call her", IntelliAyanami nodded.

C-kun stood up, his face serious. "I have to look into this. Ayanami-san, Ayanami-san, Mizuno-san, please excuse me." He summoned his holotop, keyed in a command, waited for an authorisation, then vanished in a blaze of light through the nearest Ethernet port.

IntelliAyanami sighed. "Well, it looks like we're not getting much further right now, 'mam. I'll let you know when we have something."

Acting Head Nurse Tohru Mizuno stood up from where she'd been observing the proceedings. "Thank you, Rei-san. Please tell me when Meagen-sempai gets here." She hurried outside, or would have, if someone didn't choose that moment to try to enter the waiting room.

Good reflexes on both sides avoided an accident. "Sorry...", she began, only to realise the other person had said it as well.

Tohru and Lightsider regarded each other through the doorframe, both of their faces just barely hiding a deep pain. The akward moment stretched until Lightsider broke eye contact and stepped back, allowing Tohru to pass. This she did, vanishing down the coridoor without a word. The doctor walked up to IntelliAyanami, who had to remind herself once again that htting him would not make anything any better, and would probably make her fist hurt.

This post has been edited by Meagen on Jan 12 2004, 03:58 PM

*bows* M'lady, this completely rocks so far. I'm very much looking forward to the rest.

Now, this is high-quality H2O.

Ooo, very nice! Can't wait to see more!

Dammit, everytime I try to hold onto my hiatus, people keep posting cool stuff like this!
How am I supposed to get my homework done with all these awesome fanfics?

Finally, something interesting happening in SD. I was beginning to lose faith in you guys.

Very nice, I can't wait to see the rest of it

Ahhhhhhhhh...another one of Meagen's "reality askew" posts, just like in the "good ol' days" (you know - 6 months ago or so). *grinz madly*

Sw33t! I was kind of hoping for the story to turn into an RP, but still this is enough to satiate my thirst! Nice job, Meagan!

^^ Ahhhh, such happiness to come back to the forums to! Swimsuits, fanart, fanfics...

Much happiness, Meagen!

Meagen, you've still got it. You even get Main Characters right.

Nice to see someting new from you.

Sabyr
... under a blue sky ...

Meagen, have I ever told you that you're awesome? No?

YOU'RE AWESOME!

I can't wait to see where this goes.

Squ33k took another sip of his soda. "Finally," he thought, "a movie that lives up to the preview."

This was going to be fun.

He shifted in his seat and felt something in his left pocket. Reaching in, he pulled out a $5 bill. "Dang... I could have gotten those Raisinettes..."

He folded it in two and put it into the correct pocket for money, took another handful of popcorn, and watched the next scene.

The telephone rang cheerfuly. Everything always seemed to be cheerful in the small house that Meagen and Draegos had bought to live in, when she abandoned her position as Head Nurse and he - as YLF commander.

They had changed their typical attires when they became civilians - they mostly wore jeans and t-shirts now. Draegos favored black clothing, and his pantlegs always seemed to get ripped and torn in various places. He looked pretty much the same as always, especially on the rare occasions when he put on his old holster and armor for some reason. Meagen had always had the fashion sense of a Power Ranger whose hero costume was blue. Jeans and a seasonally-appropriate top in some shade of blue was her attire most of the time.

Today was no different, and the aforementioned phonecall found her in a light blue t-shirt proclaiming that the wearer was cute. She finished dripping cranberries over her meat before answering. "Hello?"

Her face changed to a look of alarm. "What?!" She cried, then listened for a while, nodding occasionally. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Right.... Uh-huh. I understand." She hung up.

"Who was that?", Draegos asked, looking up from his part of the dinner.

"Wrong number", Meagen said unconcerned, sitting down and starting to cut into her roast.

"Ah. That reminds me...!", he said suddenly. "Rei-chan called when you were busy cooking. She wants your help with something. Sounded pretty upset..."

"Hm. Prolly important, then." Meagen considered this for a moment as she finished cutting a small piece of the meat. She ate it, then stabbed her fork into the rest of the dinner and ate it in one gulp - mashed potatoes, garnish and all. "I'll get over there now."

--------------------

Meagen was on her way back home, nodding thoughtfully to herself. Her own scan had confirmed Magical Rei's impression, but didn't reveal anything beyond that. Afterwards, she helped tend to the Main Character for a while, feeding her high-sugar foods (since CPAE would not work on her), and generally giving her the treatment for energy drain victims.

Erika was recovering, albeit slowly, from the drain-caused apathy, but there was a haunted look about her that suggested there was something more traumatic about her experience. When Meagen had asked, however, Erika said she felt tired and wanted to sleep, so she had left her in the nurses' care.

Her steps carried her up a rather steep slope. At the top, there was a nice view of part of the city, with the sun setting behind it. Meagen stopped to take it all in - the black outlines of buildings, punctuated here and there by the yellowish light of a window, and the deep red color of the sky beyond.

A shadow grew slightly bigger in the street behind her. The red-haired woman smiled silently as she watched Meagen, considering her next move.

"Excuse me, 'mam", said a voice behind her, "But this is a No Lurking zone."

She turned, startled, to find the brown-haired girl standing there, smiling at her in a polite, but inquisitive way. Despite herself, the woman whipped her head around to look at where Meagen had previously been, and saw no-one there. She turned back, composed herself, and said: "Ah, yes. Your powers are quite remarkable indeed..."

"Powers?", Meagen looked genuinely surprised. "What powers?" She gave a wide, disarming smile.

The woman opened her mouth, closed it, then shook her head slightly. "In any case", she began, getting back on track, "it's because of your nature that you've been chosen to be the agent of change."

"Chosen?", the ex-nurse blinked. "By whom?"

"Well, mostly me", the woman admitted with a grin. "You may call me Sayaki, by the way. I'm what you might call a freelance meddler - and this plane will soon need some serious meddling. I think you're the best person to do this, Meagen Image."

"Who?", Meagen asked, with the disarming smile again.

"Ah, yes, pardon me... my mistake. You're not the *same* person as her, but..." Sayaki paused. "... Meagen. Just Meagen. Am I right?"

"That's more like it!", she nodded happily.

Sayaki smiled. "The first thing you should know is that what happened to Erika Hayasaka was only the first of a series of attacks. There will be more attacks, and they will target the female Main Characters." She lifted up a hand, stopping Meagen's next question, and added, "And if you figure out why Erika was the first, then you can probably guess who will be next. Farewell... for now." Sayaki turned around, and vanished in a shower of blue sparks.

Meagen blinked slightly. "Whaaaa...?"

--------------------

Despite her cute and rather infantile exterior, Meagen was not stupid. Her mind was working as well as when she had been a more serious character, and her mastery of the Silly gave her an acute awareness of the world around her, especially when it came to clichees.

Still, she could only do things that were *funny*. She considered going to where Sayaki was and asking for clarifications, but then shook her head. The mysterious woman's base of operation had not been revealed yet, so having that kind of outside knowledge at this point wouldn't be funny, it would just be stupid.

*What did she mean by that...?*, Meagen wondered, as she went on her way down the other side of the slope, towards her home. *If I figure out why Erika was the first target, I'll know who's next... What makes Erika special among the Main Characters, from the point of view of an attacker?...*

Meagen stopped, then broke into a run. *Security! Erika has a faction, and all the time she spends there, she's virtually untouchable.* With one bound, she was on the rooftops, and hopping along to a nearby part of town. Thoughts raced across her head. *If they didn't get her by the time the pattern of the attacks was established, she could lock herself in and be safe. That means they'll go after the second well-defended character now...*

She was nearing her target now. *No-one knows where she lives. Can't attack her at school, too many people. But the perfect opportunity is when she finishes classes and goes straight to...*

*The Cave of Evil!*, Meagen finished her reasoning, her last jump landing her directly in front of this building. The last rays of the sun were quickly dying down, and strange multi-colored light was sipping out into the street from within the rave hall.

As she was considering her next move, she heard a familiar voice from a nearby dark alley, though the words weren't directed at her.

"<What do you want?>", Miho was asking someone, her voice threatening, with just a small undertone of fear.

There was a short pause, and a man said simply, "Remember."

The next thing Meagen noticed was a very bright flash from that alley. She got there just in time to catch the falling Miho by the shoulders, and ease her onto the ground. Perfectly on cue, various Mihoists began pouring out of the Church, attracted either by the flash of light or the sudden surge of power that had come with it. A thickening crowd of them began to form around their prone Mistress, laying with her head on Meagen's knees. They stared in collective shock while Meagen had an acute sense of impending doom. She began counting under her breath.

This post has been edited by Meagen on Jan 13 2004, 05:35 PM

Hrm, very interesting. When guessing the pattern, I would've said Erika was first because she appeared first in the comic, but that would've made Kimiko the second... *ponders*

Keep writing, I wanna see more!

oh, man, now I'm curious as to what happens next, keep up with the story, it's really interesting....hmmm, I wonder who's attacking everyone?

Reminds me of an old comedy routine:

Pay you heed to this tale of the Seven,
Being told by our l33t writer Meagen;
For as one-by-one all
But the last of them fall,
She’ll be surely increasing the tension!

Go Meagen!

Note to self: do not read Meagen's posts while sitting in the front row of a Data Structures class. People look at you funny when you laugh in class for no apparent reason.

(This is the first class I've taken in a computer room, and it's already coming in handy. :^) )

Most impressive, I look forward to more.

You go girl.

Interesting indeed.

Cool stuff, Meagan-san.

w00t! Mas, mas!

"Meed...mo...mopmorn.", Lady Asmodeus comments with her mouth full of popcorn.

The movie was already a great success, more people were trying to crowd into the theater even though the movie had already started. From the faint ambience, the small batwinged girl could hear the whispered echoes of chaos streaming from outside the theater were riots had begun because all of the showings for this week had sold out. Soon, the theater would be forced to show only this movie, in order to meet up with the high and dangerous demand.