I'm not a native English speaker, please don't judge :(. (Never trust Quick edit anymore....)

Chapter. 1:1 Vincent Walter________________________________________________

"Hmm, does these clothings look good on me?" I asked myself while turning my body around at front of a mirror to see if the set of clothing fit me.  

As I stare into the tall and clean mirror wondering if I look good or not, I could see a teenager from the asiatic regions of earth who were around 1.6 meters tall. Looking at myself through the mirror of my reflection I then smiled and tried to flex my arm with my black and red checkered shirt. But in the end the expression changed to a sulk as no muscle expanded with the reason being that I had never trained my body ever since I was born. Now rising my gaze slowly away from my slim arms in the mirror until I could see my plain face that had a silly grin to it, brown eyes and black messy short hair, I could only comment with a “meh” as I scratched my hair thinking that it fit me perfectly.

Anyways... I am Vincent Walter, soon to become an adult at the age of 15. Also the only son of the most well known couple in the world of technology known as the Walters.

The reason why they were so well know, was because my parents have invented countless of inventions, which not only advanced the technology era a few years forward but also improved the security risk, health risk and all the daily needs of your daily life. These inventions didn’t just cause an uproar in the universe, but it also won them the most technology trophies. Sadly it was not as big as the inventor who started the space era or rather space expedition around 1000 years ago...

Even though I didn't really care about their accomplishments, just knowing that I am their only child made me only ponder each day at front of my workstation if I should try to surpass them or not. With that in mind, I turned around and walked a few steps away from my mirror across the plain and chilly bedroom with all sort of devices I had made laying around everywhere, until I reached my 8 years old workstation. Staring down onto my old table I then slided my hand across the smooth and cold metal surface of the table with a large ESD mat and all kinds of tools stuck on the wall behind to the it. Now gazing at my awesome working tools that I called partners, I could recall my memories of the past, the memories that which decided my fate and set me on the path of an engineer like my father and mother.

…

“Dad! What are you making this time?” The seven years old me asked with a cute tone while sticking his head up from the opposite side of his father’s working table, while looking curiously at him. Looking at him do his work I could only see him smile with success each time he used the screwdriver or another set of tool to build his weird device that looked like some sort of bag. It took a while though before he could answer my question, but it was probably because he was in an intense situation since my genius mother usually assisted him with her second pair of hands.

Actually sometimes I wondered why he didn’t use the robot arm that every working station had to assist him, was it because he loved the traditional way? Either way, I didn’t mind since it allowed me to skip the boring school because they thought that I assisted my father on his work like a trainee.

After a while of quietness or rather the sound of tinkering, I had observed every detail he used to construct the device at front of him while he sat on a chair. Soon after I noticed that he had completed the device, because he gave out a sigh of satisfaction that had accumulated from the stress of doing the heavy work alone and then he stood up from his chair while brushing off the dripping sweat from his forehead.

:hotinhere:

“Hah… Son, this is a small waist bag that can be attached to a belt with the function of shrinking objects within the diameter of 15 centimeters to a tenth of its size” he said with a smile while trying to act cool as if he didn’t break a sweat while trying to construct it.

:ano:

After he had said that, I could only gape in awe of the device that was the first of its existence and also of how it could shrink objects with a certain mass and form...

He then patted my head with a smile and said “Well, I actually made it for you Vincent”.

“Waaaa! Thank you father!” I said and hugged his legs with my eyes closed and gently massaging my cheek with the help of his warm jeans.

:kya:

After a few seconds snuggling around his legs I could see my father give out a big grin and said “Only if you can create one identical to this”.

:agift:

Shocked from what he had said I took a few steps back from father and asked “But… this is my first time making something...”.

:whosh2:

“Tch, tch, tch, This is a challenge from your father” He said with his pointy finger swaying up and down taunting me.

“But this is also the first gift you have ever given me...” I said while sulking hoping that I would have to...  

:noei:

“I believe in you son.. Just let me put in the parts and the schematics in the bag and attached it to a belt so that you could try to build it at home where mom have just installed a brand new working station in your room.” he said while searching the rubble of parts in his private room of the workshop and packed a few of them inside the bag.  

:keih:

“Don’t worry Vincent, there is no time limit. Just take your time and enjoy it.” He said with a smile to me and gave me the belt.

“After all in the past few years you have shown great interest but have yet taken the first step, don’t you think it is time for you to try it once at least?” he added while gently scrubbing my messy short hair with a grin that indicated that he was right.

:keuhkeuh:

…

Now touching the 5 bags attached to the belt on my waist including the one my father made years ago, I could only remember the look of my father that day, gaping with his mouth open as if I did something impossible. Well thinking about it I did create the device in one day afterall. “Cough” Of course, I totally didn’t ask my mother for help that day who single handedly made it together with me without breaking out sweat like my father… She probably laughed behind his back the whole week after seeing my father weep in his bed.  

:panda:

Fiddling with my cool looking black belt with the bags for a while, I soon after started to recall another memory of my past. The day I got the challenge was also the day I had met my first friends or childhood friends. The reason why it took me so long to obtain a friend was because I didn’t really try to socialize with others, but instead I read a lot of books about the latest technology, novels and all sort of stuff that were abnormal for a young and supposedly playful child. Everyone else just thought I was weird and distanced from me instead who always sat near the corner alone as I read books in the classroom while they talked about video games, guns, the other gender, martial arts and what they did with their friends the other day and so on so forth.

Anyways if I could remember it correctly... It was right afterward I had gotten the challenge from my dad as I started to sprint as fast as possible to my home, which was around 100 meters away from my father’s working place. As I did I also met a lot of my father’s co workers on the way and each time I passed one of them I also greeted them with a wave and a smile, which of course they responded with the same response I did. After a while of left and right turning I was soon after close to my home, which just needed a left turn on a corner a few meters away at front of me and a few meter dash to my front door. But as soon as I took the turn on the corner, I accidently bumped into someone.

:cries:

…

With a “THUD!” I fell onto the floor backwards landing with my butt first at front of the person I bumped. Holding my forehead which was now red from pain because of the bump, I opened my eyes that was once closed from reflex of the incident, just to see a really cute short red haired girl on the floor with a white and green school uniform and a black skirt of above knee length at front of me.

“Watch where you are going!” I said angrily at her without thinking even though I knew I was at fault because I didn’t check around the corner before dashing, but still my pride didn’t allow me to admit it.

:kawa:

But no answers was heard from the person at front of me, which made me worry about her anxiously instead. Maybe I went a little bit too far? Now gazing upon her eyes with anxious feelings of my wrong doings, I could see a few tears welling up in her crystal clear blue eyes with long black eyelashes.

:whosh2:

“Sniff...Sniff...Sniff…” Could be heard from the young girl, who soon after started to scrub her eyes with both of her tiny hands while trying to hold in her feelings.

Just looking at the girl trying to act tough at front of me even though the hints told otherwise, I was now aware of what I had done to her and facepalmed myself of how stupid I could be. The atmosphere felt really awkward as I stared at the girl, hence I decided that I had to do something to ease the situation.

That is when I realised that this was just like a situation in a novel I had read a few weeks ago. Luckily I had the required objects to do it. Quickly I moved closer to the crying girl and gently gave her a big hug and a few pats to her smooth and silky short hair that seemed to be a natural red colour, other than that I tried to soothe her pain as I did.

“I’m sorry...” I repeatedly said for a few times with my ear next to hers, while I started to gently pat her back instead. I couldn’t help but smell her pleasant and sweet fragrance while I did though. But after a while she then stopped crying or rather the sniffing and somehow everything went better than I had expected.

"This should be fine I guess", I told myself after a while and helped her up and soon after put some distance between us since the atmosphere started to become more awkward than before even though the situation called for it.

Looking closely at her, she had a pale skin and was around my age. I would give a 10 out of 10 for cuteness, but other than that, I knew that a few gentle pats and hugs wouldn’t have forgiven me or so the novel said... Hence I searched for the lollipop, which I have noticed that my father had snuck into my bag before making me leave the workshop. Probably because he wanted to encourage me to work on the belt. Anyways the main character gave something sweet to the other person, which meant that I also had to give something close that happened to be the lollipop.

“He...here” I hesitantly said and stretched my right hand forward to her with my rainbow coloured lollipop on the palm while trying to glance away because of embarrassment.

“Fo.. for me?” the redhead shyly asked with glimmering eyes with her hands near her chest as if she wanted to pray for something.

KAWAIIII! I wanted to scream but didn’t...

:kya:

I couldn’t help but give out a smile as I saw her cute face questioning my decision and her eyes blinking with those long eyelashes. But soon after I could see that she struggled to pick the lollipop up from my palm, since for some unknown reason she hesitantly decided not to and dropped it a few times and then retried once again after another...

After a while of watching her yes and no decisions, I remembered that my father’s challenge was waiting for me and what he did to make me decide decide once and for all. That was by forcefully shoving it upon me... Hence I gave out a sigh to distract her and make her confused for a sec, which as planned she really did and quickly I made my move by grabbing her hand with my empty hand and gently pulled the girl towards me so that she landed on my chest. Soon after I embraced her with the same arm to my warm chest. This made us look at each other embarrassedly face to face as if we were a couple.

“Here” I said once again and forcefully gave her my lollipop as she looked up to me while resting her chin to my chest. As I did though, I could once again smell her sweet fragrance. Probably the popular shampoo brand that has been going around here I guessed.

“Tha..Thanks… I guess” she said as she took the lollipop while her pale and smooth face turn bright red.

Looking at her cute lips I soon after noticed that she still had a few tears near her crystal clear blue eyes on the beautiful face. Quickly I took out my handkerchief that my mother have told me to always have near me and gently scrubbed the last tear off from her smooth face and asked “So, what’s your name?”.

Waiting for her answer I could see that she hesitantly tried to answer, but finally said “Cat...Catherine”.

But right after i had I heard the name Catherine, I started to get a lot of goosebumps around my body… Blinking my eyes a few times as I shrug my head confusingly if I had heard that right, I asked her once again just to make sure who she was...

:perche:

“Wait, Catherine from class 2B?”

She nodded and looked away since she knew why I asked her that question...

Suddenly a strong fear struck my heart and in reflex I went into hiding position behind Catherine, which made her cutely jump a bit and right after I checked the vicinity for someone. Hoping that what I feared didn’t come as I checked the vicinity for something for a few seconds with her confusingly looking at me.

I soon after gave out a heavy sigh in relief and hugged her since what I feared didn’t come… Although thinking back, I didn’t know why I hugged her, was it because she made me calm down with her petite body? Other than that, I soon after found out the hardway of my mistake...

“What the heck! Get OFF my SISTER!” I could hear someone shout from the end of the hallway to the left side of me. And whoever he was, the gap between us quickly shortened with each long step he took as he ran towards me. Struck with fear, I quickly released Catherine who let out a cute “eek!” and I ran with my life in the line to my apartment a few meters away.

“I CAN MAKE IT!” I shouted with confidence and fear...

As I made my way to the front door, I stumbled a few times like a idiot, but soon after regained my pace once again to the door. But as I did, I could hear a few cute chuckle from behind me from Catherine...

:cries:

A second later I was now opening the front door of my apartment, which released a ray of light filled with hope from behind it onto me. Smiling with tears flowing out of my eyes I then felt something tingling on my stomach.

Quickly my heart went “Doki doki doki” beating so fast and pumping the blood to my head so that I started to see and feel everything in slow motion.

In curiosity of the source of the tingling feeling on my stomach I then slowly turned my head to my stomach so that I could check what it was…But what I saw was her half brother Dario giving me a falcon punch to the stomach, which made it vibrate as if my stomach were made out of water and a single drop of water disturbed it causing it to pulsate like waves.

:punch:

I didn’t know what he did to obtain such strength, but he did have the strength of a giant that snapped me out of my slow motion and made me fly until I got stopped by a wall with a “Thud!”.  Slowly gliding down from it I saw that Catherine were jumping around while cheerfully clapping her hand to her half brother Dario who blew some air onto his hands of as if it was a gun and said “Fatality”…. Watching her I let out my last words “Ka.. waii…” and soon after passed out for an hour…

:kya: :imdead:

…

Well that is what I remember at least and after various incidents we somehow became childhood friends. But even though I wasn’t really sociable with others, for some reason wherever I went the other students always distanced from me or rather us. This lasted for a few years until I didn’t care anymore and went on with my reading of magazines about the technology or something near that. But whenever I could, I always hanged out with my new made friends who were Catherine and Dario, even though we started out rough at the start nevertheless it was always fun to be with them.

It was only later that I found out that there was a weird rumors circling around the school… Something about me being the slave of the sadistic brother and sister who beated me to a pulp and if anyone went near me they would also be beaten to a pulp. No idea how that escalated so quickly… Not that I cared though but still, it was weird that I somehow always got into the same class as them from that day on...

But enough about that. Right now we have more important matters at hand and that is deciding if these clothings on me  is good enough or not for my 15th birthday. Rotating my waist around left and right, I checked for the last time my back and front to see if anything was out of place with the help of my tall mirror in the bright lit room. Fixing a few mistakes on my sleeve and the collar of my shirt, I then gave a few poses to judge how I looked on them together with my belt that had 5 bags attached to it. They had everything that I needed from tools like screwdriver, pencil, a few papers, ESD mat, you could say that I had everything that I needed to build or repair something outside of my home. Hence I always had them on me wherever I went even though I didn’t really need them, but I thought of them as part of myself, which is why I did.

“This should be fine I guess” I said with a sigh and then switched the lights off which engulfed the room in total darkness before going out of it. But since I had been living in this room ever since I was born, the darkness didn’t really affect me at all. But I did see a tiny fraction of pluto covering my whole window with a few bright lights from the city on its surface… Other than that, all you could see was the shadow of the giant space station blocking the sun from bathing its sun over Pluto.

Afterwards I opening the door to the outside and fixed my sleeves for the last time and soon after went to the rail of fences on the second floor, to look down to the lounge room to see how the party goes.

Taking a peek everywhere I could, I could count up to at least 20 acquaintances of my father that I knew chatting with each other with a drink and some kind of chocolate cookie at hand. These people also had their own unique and distinct features from around the universe. Even with all their uniqueness though, they all had something in common and that was that they lived in this international space station named Ashinova, which had the diameter of 25km I believe.

Ashinova had a long tube like structure in the center that had all the vital parts of the space station while also having a donut like structure called the sectors ,which was connected to the tube with the help of train tunnels. The sectors were divided by 20 and right now I was in sector 16.

Even though we call this the international space station, it was still rare to have a traveler to come this far unless it had something to do with technology. Not only that, being a dwarf planet that didn’t orbit the star system, no one really wanted to go so far out.

Right now the Ashinova were orbiting around the half terraformed pluto and the reason why I called it half terraformed, was because it could now hold lifeforms but it was still a cold and freezing planet since Pluto is so far away from the sun. Which meant that barely no one wanted to ever live there unless it was for hunting a creature living there that provided a lot of energy.

It’s a creature that adapted quickly to the changes of the terraformation and quickly became the top predator or rather it was the only living creature that could live in the cold and desolated dwarf planet. But lets not get into details with that…

Looking around a bit more I could see that Catherine and Dario sat or laid in Catherine’s case on a couch near the corner of the big lounge room while playing with a device that everyone had in some sort of shape or form. But what they had was a unique model that my father had made a few years ago, called a support monitor bracelet in short SMB. It had all the basic functions and needs just like a mobile phone, but severely upgraded as it had more than just that. Two of them is a 3D display and the function to show your status and so on so forth.

Anyways, looking at the all natural beauty Catherine who were laying on the couch fiddling with the SMB, you could only whistle in amazement with her natural slender and curvy body. Her pale body had the perfect proportions that anyone would do whatever they could to obtain. Not only that, with her black qipao that had golden dragon markings and golden lines on the edge of the dress which also had a length that reached her thighs, black knee stocking and long black gloves that both had sakura flower markings at them. Combine all them together, you’ll get a model that would put those in the industry in shame. Everyone who glanced at her few revealing smooth parts would probably immediately fall in love.

:lahla:

Thinking back, I have actually lost count of how many boys have tried to confess their love to her, although with Dario at her side for like 24/7, they never dared to do it up front. Instead they sent or rather put letters into her school locker that were next to mine and Dario’s until it was so full that another letter would probably burst the lid open.

Well as each school day passed I was tasked to get rid of the unread letters by request of the cute little Catherine. As I did, I always noticed that the boys from the seniors or juniors gazed at me with a malicious intent as I dragged the bag filled with their love letters each day through the class hallways to the room with a trash incinerator. To tell the truth, I didn’t really mind doing this everyday though since it was kinda fun to get patted like a puppy by Catherine as I grinned happily to the other guys that probably wanted to rip me to pieces as they watched from a distance…

:keih:

One day it got so out of hand that the gang of cool seniors stood in the incinerator room waiting for me. Luckily it was also the day that I wasn’t the one who threw the letters as Dario insisted to do it instead for me because he somehow got wind of it… It took them a week later to come back to school… Not that I had any idea what really took place in that dark flamey room.

:haiha:

Anyways seeing her with that overkill outfit though, I could only sulk because what I had picked was just some plain clothings. This gave me a feeling that urged me to go back to the room to change to something else but decided that it would just be a waste of time, hence I didn’t. Besides, they wouldn’t fit with my belt that I loved to proudly show anyway.

Now looking at the handsome Dario with brown short hair and also with a black overkill tuxedo suit, who sat like a gangster next to Catherine with his feet on a small stool I had made for fun, who was also fiddling around with his SMB. You could see that he was a well built and balanced muscle man that fit perfectly with his suit as if it were just made for him.

Truly, he would be called a perfect man if it wasn’t for the awesome dragon tattoo on his right arm, which made him look like a yakuza but handsome. Even if I were a girl I would still probably scream after him at this spot right now… Actually the bag that I dragged to the incinerator had also Dario’s love letters..

Anyways, looking at them fiddling with their SMB’s I couldn’t help but smile, since they used the latest model my father had made with a few of my own design added to it. I did envy them a bit though, since only those that had reached adulthood could obtain one, which was 15 by the way. Hence today will also be my last day to envy them and obtain my own SMB. The reason why you could only obtain one at the age of 15 was because it served as a passport and the proof that you were allowed to travel through space.

Soon after I gave out another a heavy sigh because of my plain outfit and then readied myself to go down the stairs to my birthday party to meet the guest, friends and my parents.

:noei:

...

Funny enough I somehow ended at front of a ton of nicely stacked presents instead... With a grin I shaked every wrapped box at front of me to guess what was inside of them. And just with that I could feel that they were high grade materials because of how they sounded as they hit the wall of the box or each other and also the weight of them.

“These lazy geezers did it again” I chuckled.

:lahla:

Probably too busy with their work, they just took a few leftovers from the workshop and wrapped them in a nice presents expecting me to not know where they came from. Not that I really cared though, it saved me the trouble of asking them for it later and not only that, each guest here have at least helped me once when I was in a slump or taught me a trick or two for the past few years, which was a big help and I appreciated it a lot.

Bowing in gratitude for my guest but actually towards the presents, I then nicely stacked them back to how they were suppose to be.

As I was about to leave, I could then hear a box fall onto the floor with a “Clang!”

"What, where did this come from?" I asked myself and went closer to the box which had fallen to the floor.

Picking it up, I then tried the same sorts of tricks I did with the other presents but to no avail. Whatever I did I could never guess what it was, hence I came to the conclusion that it must be something I had never gotten before. Just like any child with curiosity these days, I couldn’t help but say something which happens to be the first sentence that came to my mind "What lies beyond the unknown?".

Funny though I didn’t even know where that sentence came from but suddenly a blue light shone brightly through the wrappings, which startled me and once again it was dropped on to the floor with a “Clang!” and a pulsy wave that felt cold and tingling as the pulse touched my shoes.

Quickly picking it up to hide the shining light and to stop it from sending waves of pulsation to the guest, I could then hear a shout behind me calling out “Vincent!” which by the looks of it was from my mother who stood a few meters away from me near a table and waved.

Having no time left to somehow remove the bright light of the unknown present, I instead put it inside my shrinking bag before she could call me once again, which no kid ever wants their mother to do…

“Vincent!”

“Crap…”

:cries:

...

Chapter.1:2 A happy birthday?___________________________________________

The chilly lounge room of the apartment in the first floor were dark because of the lamps being turned off, although it would have actually been a total darkness if it wasn’t thanks to the fifteen fickling candles illuminating the room from the spectacular cake at front of me. As I was sitting down on a chair quietly, I could also hear the crowd singing beautifully...

“Happy birthday to you… Happy birthday to you…” The crowd sang happily while looking at me and standing around a long wooden brown table which could fit at least 26 people that had a few cakes at top of it but only the one closest to me had candles. Staring at those smiles as they sang which made the flames flicker and make the shadows dance, as they did I sat quietly on my chair with my cheek red from embarrassed.

:blush:

...

It took a while before they were done singing. Taking a few glances at them I knew that it was now mine turn to do my part, as they were standing there with happy grins with silence. With a smile I blew all the candles off from their light with a “Fooouh” sound, that engulfed the lounge room in total darkness.

A second later I could hear the lamps getting switched on from the front door and as it slowly lit the room in bright light. So did the claps that sounded like a train coming closer as it got louder with cheers from the guest surrounding the table. A few even gave out some whistles before everyone stopped with their applause and then sat down on the chair so that they could dig in from all sorts of cakes on the table and chat happily with each other.

Of course I sat on the end of the table on the seat reserved for the main character of the day with my father and mother at the opposite side and my childhood friends next to me. Greeting both of them with a handshake, starting with the charming and handsome brother and afterwards the cute little sister, I could then see a tiny bit of glimmering tears welling up in those crystal blue eyes as I did. Gently brushing of her red bangs and feeling her forehead with the back of my hand to see if she was sick or anything. I noticed that there was nothing wrong with her physically and then dumbfoundedly asked “What’s wrong Catherine?” Afterall it was rare for me to see the tough girl cry ever since the first day we had met.

Soon after I had asked she brushed my hand off and crossed her arms with a cute “hmph” while looking away as if she was expecting me to know the reason and apologize to her.

She then opened her attractive and charming lips and said “As usual Vincent, you’d still choose those presents over your friends, which you haven't seen in a year.”

Urgh!, what a grave mistake I had made, I have forgotten that I haven’t seen them for a year since they were out training in their dojo to have their secret inheritance be passed down to them from generation to generation.

:whosh2::noei:

Quickly I tried to find an excuse and as soon as I had found one I pointed with my finger to the nicely stacked presents next to the front door and calmly said “But Catherine, if you look over there you could see that those nicely stacked presents over there doesn’t even have a hint of anyone touching them”

Shrugging both of my shoulders with a poker face I afterwards added “Hence wouldn’t this serve as proof that I didn’t go to them first?”

“After all, knowing me I wouldn’t bother to stack them nicely again” I said trying to state the facts even though my arguments was ridiculous and so bad that it would be a miracle to be believable.

Now looking at her to see if my excuses did work, all I could see was Catherine trying to make a pouting face so that I would feel bad, although the opposite of what she expected happened instead… Tons of the word Kawaii flew straight into my face and nearly made me fall over and get a nosebleed, because that natural beauty without makeup just made her look more cute than angry. It was as if the sun had pierced my heart with their ray of light, or a cupid that shoot multiple arrows into my heart.

:kya:

Staring at her I could see that she started to blush instead after she had noticed that her pouting didn’t affect me as she had expected it to. With her shiny lips she then said with a bossy tone “Brother, explain to him will you?”

Dario who was carefreely leaning with the chair and with his hands behind his back while watching our conversation without popcorn, now joined us with a laugh and a smirk. “Well Vincent, we were actually betting for the fourth time in the row if you would choose your presents or anything else”

:agift:

He then patted my shoulder with a grin and said “As you can see, I won once again”

Shocked of the confidence she had in me, I quickly made a puppy face to her in hope that she would forgive me.

With another “hmph” she crossed her arm and looked away with struck me with a heavy feeling of rejection... But soon after she looked at me with a grin that just wrote revenge all over her face. Hopefully it wouldn’t be as bad as I’d believe it to be...

“I forgive you if you treat me to a dinner that would empty your pocket in a flash tomorrow”

:panda:

Urgh! An effective blow had been dealt on me, which immediately made me nervous and sweat quickly dripped down from my head as I looked away trying to hide my feelings from her. Usually I would spend my money right away just for my friend, but to think that it had to be tomorrow, which was the day I was going to spend my hard saved earnings to buy a important part for my engineering project at home.

:hotinhere::whosh2::noei::nei:

But looking at her it seems that she would never give up hence I was about to give up with my hand raising the white flag, but suddenly Dario laughed and boastfully said “Well what a coincidence, I too was going to treat you guys to a dinner with the money I got from the consecutive wins”

:agift:

“Really?” Catherine and I happily asked in sync but with different reasons.  

:gimme:

“Yeah after all, the three of us has finally been reunited after a year of special training, or in your case Vincent, creating something with your weaponsmithing skills...” He said with a grin at the last part...

“Besides, this is also your special day Vincent” he added with a smile but then looked at Catherine.

“And think about it Catherine of what he has been making us each year, don’t you think that he actually went to check the presents to find any upgrades to add to our arsenal? And the reason why he didn’t want to talk about it was because he wanted to surprise us?”

“I… I guess…” She hesitantly said with guilt that made her start fiddling with her fingers.

Quickly I gave Dario a thumbs up as Catherine were distracted with her sulk ice Dario just saved me from walking on a thin ice. Now I can finally finish what I had started the day we had split up the group to do our private issues.

“Anyways, I’m sorry Catherine, I guess it is my fault after all since usually people would greet their guest first before doing something else and four times in a row at that.” I said while apologizing to Catherine.

:goodjob:

I then stretched my clenched fist forward to the middle of the three of us and said “I hope you guys will forgive me from my mistake”

"Heh", Dario let out a shrug and did the same as me.

It took a few seconds for Catherine but after a sigh of guilt she afterwards did the same as us.

Looking at each other with a  grin, we quickly raised our fist to the air while simultaneously said “For our reunion!” with a few laughs after that, since the other guest looked at us confused as they had no idea why we were doing it.

“Well, I think it is about time we eat the cake right?” I asked the obvious question while holding a knife trying to cut the specially made cake just for the three of us.

“Of course!” Both of them said while licking their tongue and readied themselves to battle stations with their sporks.

...

After a few minutes of eating the delicious cake and chatting with each other cheerfully, Dario suddenly grabbed my right arm with my spork and pulled me closer to him, which made me bit confused.

:wat:

Thinking of why he would do that, I immediately remembered what he did in the past, which made me quickly try to back away and run. But since he was so well trained compared to me, I just kept being pulled closer and closer as each second passed...

:nei:

As soon as he was close to my ear with his mouth, he then whispered with a evil smirk “You had better buy something expensive for her after this”

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I screamed inside of me...

:perche:

Damn you deceiving bastard! Here I thought you were nice to me for once, just so you could stab me once again in the back… But yeah I probably should, since she had such confidence on me, hence I nodded with a poker face.

Totally not because he was a black belted martial artist and somehow became the best soldier at Ashinova at the age of 15… The veterans are probably weeping with envy in their bed right now of how they could lose to such a young and handsome person. Because of that he had been in a dire need of a sparring partner because no one could beat him, which was what the rumours was saying lately of course.

:cries:

“Hey, sign me in to what you guys are planning” Catherine asked us who was whispering to each other while eating a spoonful of cake.

"You’ll see soon" Dario said while winking at me which laid the bomb as she noticed that it was I who was suppose to do something soon… Now I can’t back out of it or she’ll question me...

"Clink! Clink!"

After Dario had replied, we could soon after hear my dad hitting his glass of wine with a spoon to ask everyone for attention so that he could make a speech.

The room quickly broke out in silence.

Father cleared his throat with a "Ahem!" and then calmly said " Thank you guys for coming here for my son's big day."

He then glanced at everyone until he stopped at me and said “Son, you must be excited to obtain your SMB tonight right?

I nodded in agreement.

With a proud smirk he straighten up his back and said “We the USEE aka Universal Space Equipment Engineers have poured our time, pain and love to secretly make a one of a kind SMB for only you to have!”  

After he had said that everyone other than me and my childhood friends nodded proudly in agreement since everyone worked for him. Soon after he signaled someone in the back which was my mother who walked to my father with a open and high teched container. Looking closely it was the small container with the highest security available which had some kind of watch looking SMB in it.

He picked the SMB up from the container and said “We are proud to present you the SMB Alice!” and raised it to the air so that everyone could see.

Suddenly the guest stood up and started to applaud as if they were ready for it and had prepared this scene to come.

:panda::panda::panda::panda::panda:

Just with a glance I could see that this SMB model was unlike no other I had ever seen before.

Staring at it, I could then see my father take the pose of a pitcher, his eyes started shine brightly with the burning flames of his soul indicating that I should get ready before it is too late.

"Catch!!!" he yelled and threw the SMB at me.  

:goal:

In reflex, I quickly covered my face with both of my hands and closed my eyes. Waiting for impact, all I could hear was a mechanical sound from the SMB vibrate through the air to my ear, which made a gentle contact to my right arm and hugged it as if it was a octopus.

Opening my eyes in surprise, I could see a round display that automatically rotated as I moved my wrist around, faced to my eyes at all times. It looked like a watch, although it had a thicker metal band, and the display had weird  markings around the edge as if it was some kind of language. The blank display also had a single button at the bottom. From the look and weight, it was some kind of titanium alloy.

After checking the SMB with my friends for a while I then looked happily at my father.

Continuing with his half speech, he then asked me “Vincent, do you know why it is called Alice?”

"No, Please explain father"

“Unlike our SMB, which have a Artificial Intelligence, yours however have a Smart Artificial Intelligence, which is called Alice!”

Shocked with my mouth gaped towards my father, who had made such a revolutionary AI that everyone deemed impossible, just to give it to me. I could only wonder why he made this one of a kind SMB instead of contributing it. But before I could ask, he soon after answered it.

:wat:

“Well, in a few weeks we will mass produce it giving each a unique SAI that could think for itself, learn by itself and even feel the feeling we humans have. Not only that, we have given Alice all of our knowledge and features that the other will not have!”

“I could name you the difference, but I wont. You will have to find out about it yourself” he added with a laugh.

“But it comes with a price… Vincent, click that button would you please? Oh, Catherine and Dario, Please refrain from helping him when he does” He added with a cold expressionlessly face, as if he was trying to feign poker face because of the button or something.

Me and my childhood friends looked at each other confused and eventually on the guest and my parents instead who just stared at us with a sad expression, as they waited for me to click that suspicious button.

:keuhkeuh::keuhkeuh::keuhkeuh::keuhkeuh:

Having second thoughts about this, I threw my last glances at my friends who nodded to me and wished me luck.

"Click"

"Contract initiated" Appeared at front of me in a 3rd dimension image. Although after waiting for a few seconds nothing really happened, but suddenly a cute chuckle could be heard from the SMB with "Ehehe". And a strong mechanical sound could be heard from the inside of the watch.

:wat:

Staring confused at the SMB that was starting to heat up, a sudden pain of thousands of needles piercing my forearm could be felt, which made me scream so loud that it echoed throughout the room until I had lost my breath. Trying to remove the SMB in instinct, all I did was make me fall from the chair to the floor, screaming more with tears running from my eyes. Rolling around on the clean floor, I could see that my friends tried to help me, but my father stopped them and told my mother to go fetch something.

I started to get dizzy for some reason, my right hand started to go numb, not understanding why, I tried to slam my right hand a few times with the SMB on the floor, hoping that it would hopefully ease my pain but it didn’t.

Laying on the floor helplessly while the guest watching over me with saddened expression. I could see that the 20 marks, started to pulsate and fill up one by one with some kind of red liquid.

After a while, my mother ran up to me and laid my head on her soft thighs and gave me some kind of liquid to drink, which made me feel a lot better.

"Contract complete, body modified, now Loading setup." could be heard a few seconds later.

…

I could only hope that what just happened was part of the unique feature that my SMB had… or the customers would sue him...

Anyways, now trying to stand up after that the immense pain had stopped together with my dizziness. My friends quickly helped me up and dusted my clothes off. But at the same time, I couldn’t help but glance at Catherine's cleavage and her pink & black bra, because her qipao was designed with the mind of revealing that part… I believe they must be F cups or something.

:016::am:

Now that I was standing up without problems, I could then hear the claps from the guests and my parents. Not only that, my parents also had a few tears welling up in their eyes, which my father quickly brushed off, trying to act cool as if he wasn’t a sensible person, he then said “Sorry, Vincent. One of the features requires your blood to modify your body a bit…”

“Anyways, let me give you another gi…..”

:Xno:

The Lounge room was now lit by a bright red light and a loud siren could be heard, which interrupted my father and made everyone look around confused as the buzzing sound of the microphone could be heard through the speakers that every apartment in Ashinova had.

“WE ARE UNDER ATTAAaarrrGGHGHH!!!!” The sound of flesh getting cut apart could be heard and a high pitched shriek from something unknown, which ended the microphone.

"Fortification has been initiated"

"Every safe zone with a citizen in it will turn to fortification mode within 30 seconds" It kept repeating together with its siren.

“Citizens have been detected in this room, now activating fortification in 30 seconds.”

A lot of whispers and mumbles could be heard in the lounge talking about what they had heard. That included me and my friends next to me.

“This is not normal. There is no way that something passed the defensive systems. But if...” Dario said with a worriedly.

“No… We must get ready for the worst” He calmly added which made me and Catherine nod.

After a while you could notice that the guests were beginning to panic, since they was getting louder and yelling about what to do from left to right.

Oddly though... I felt calm in this situation, shouldn’t I be doing the same as them, running in panic I mean?

“QUIET!” Dario suddenly shouted, which left everyone speechless.

“Mr Walter, you should have some weapons even if you are a civilian right?

“Ah, yes Dario.”

“Mr and Mrs Walter and you, you, you, you…….” He kept pointing until it was the 16th person.

“Go get the weapons, please I believe we are being under attack and worst case scenario, our army might not make it in time.”

“The rest, help me barricade the door and make some cover, we’ll never know if we need the extra protection.”

Whoa, No wonder he was the top dog in the army of Ashinova.

Just with his presence and his orders, everyone calmed down and followed them, even though he was only 15 years old, you could only commend him for his performance.  

…

As I were helping with the barrication of the door with a few random and heavy furnitures, I could hear that the front door was about to be fortified.

"This room will now be fortified in 5... 4..."

But suddenly a big earthquake shook the whole space station, which in turn made a lot of furnitures in the room fall over and collapse the barricade. Some were even fragile enough like vases which broke on impact when it fell onto the floor.

After a few seconds, the shaking calmed down and eventually stopped, but the aftermath were that the lights started to flicker a lot and the front door wasn’t even fortified like it was suppose to be. Broken glasses and plates could also be seen scattered everywhere on the floor with a few cakes lying on the floor.

Confirming that everyone is okay, the room that was once lit was now dark since the lights had stopped working completely. Luckily it wasn’t total darkness, as a faint emergency light could be seen on the floor which barely made it easier to see. Not only that, every electricity required device with a cable stuck to the wall had stopped working. From those hints, I could guess that the main power cell exploded and hopefully the hull of the station could withstand the blast or at least still use the emergency lockdown to close down the rooms with a leaking hole to the space.

“Flip the SMB lights on” Dario ordered everyone while simultaneously doing it to his own.

I noticed that everyone in the Lounge room started to flip their lights on right after he had said that. Of course I tried myself but found out that I couldn’t because all the screen said was “Loading”....Which made me give out a heavy sigh...

A while after those that went with my father and mother came back with lots of rifles and some kind of weird device. They shared the weapons to everyone but me, Catherine and a few others, since they didn’t have enough for everyone. Luckily Dario got one, since they knew that he was a fully trained soldier.

“We need some cover everyone, flip anything that could cover us a few meters away from the door!” Dario said which made most of us start flipping bookshelves over so that we could cover ourselves from whatever was going to come. As I did, I noticed that a few guest setup the devices on the floor, which appeared to be the prototype AI controlled turret. Quickly they took picture of everyone who was not an enemy and then helped the rest with the barrication on the door or something that would help us hide in cover.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

A minute later a suddenly scream could be heard from behind the door. Everyone including me immediately looked to the door since we were curious to what was going on behind there.

“Don’t move…” Dario quietly said, which made everyone returned a nod since they didn’t want to risk the lives of the people here for a risky move.

A yield for help was soon after heard and a few heavy knocks was made to our front door, but kept getting lighter and lighter as if the source was dying, which ended with a scream and a “thud”.

Everyone were stuck in a trance as if we thought that whatever was behind the door would pass by if we were quiet. And that we were lucky enough for not being that person behind the door.

A scratching noise could be heard from the door, but was soon afterwards replaced with silence.

"Scratch, scratch..."

A few seconds passed...

:wosh:

And one of our guest near the door then out of fear took a few steps backwards a bit but accidently stepped onto a few broken glass that they couldn’t see, which let out a loud cracking noise.

The guest threw a few glances everywhere at us as if he had hoped that he would be forgiven and that hopefully that whatever was behind the door wouldn’t notice it.

We let out a sigh of relief after a few seconds as if we were safe from danger. But we was quickly proven wrong, because suddenly a few high pitched shrieks could be heard from behind the front door, shrieking in intervals as if it was calling for someone after detecting something.

"Dun! Dun! Dun!" The unknown creatures tried to bash the door.

You could see that the door started to slowly bend into a U shaped door, since it was made out of metal hence its sturdiness, but was not a strong one like the fortified one..

Luckily enough, that none fortified door were strong enough for everyone to get to cover behind the bookshelves and ready their weapons.

While the door was soon about to break loose from wall, father then ran up to me who were covering behind the tuxedo suited gentleman Dario with Catherine.

Now standing before us, he pointed into one of the bookshelves we couldn’t budge and said “Vincent, I want you to push those blue books and then go inside with your friends through the old cleaning robot systems.”

Hesitating for a second, I then decided to turn my father down, but suddenly the door blew open, which made the door glide on the surface of the floor with a grinding sound of metal that left scratching marks.

Tons of weird spider like creatures that I couldn’t clearly see started to pour out from the hallway to the apartment.

“FIRE!” Dario shouted and fired his rifle.

"TATATATATATATA" Could be heard from the automatic rifles and turrets..

One by one, the creature fell, but still they tried to crawl forward with their last remaining life. Forcing the defenders to kill them completely instead of focusing on those pouring in.

Not only that, with the big space around us, a few of the creatures jumped around as if was a hare and made most of the bullets just missed them instead since our guests were just a normal untrained civilian.

"Grenades!!!" Dario said and threw a few near the entrance and at least one behind it.

“Ka-booom!” could be heard that shattered the creature into pieces and left a burning mark on the undamaged floor.

This gave our defenders the time to reload, but still a few failed to reload since they were struck in panic.

"Go, Now!!" Mother then shouted while she was reloading and then kept shooting after she was done.

Hesitating again, Dario then grabbed my sleeve and Catherine’s while dragged us to the bookshelf and opened it by pushing the blue book. What was revealed then was a vault like door, so we rotated the mechanism until we unlocked it.

While we were, I could see that my father's guests got overwhelmed by a new enemy, a bat like creature which shoot out weird bullets from its mouth and pierced through their defenseless skull, until it got stopped by the strong metallic floor. Those that saw it screamed with profanity words then tried to take revenge against those bat like creature that flew around with flawless maneuverability which made them miss.

Those hit by the bullet from the bats couldn't even scream, it was a gruesome instant death with blood and brain goo leaking out of the head.

Even some of the spider like creatures got by the defense and jumped onto one of our guest and then chopping that person mercilessly with their legs, which served like a butchering knife of some sort. Not only that, a few even started to chew the guest alive from head to toe...

Not being able to stomach what I had seen, I soon after went inside the old systems crying whereas Dario went in first, then Catherine and me lastly.

I could only hope that they somehow survive...

…

Chapter.1:3 The wait____________________________________

As we crawled into the old and dark system with dust everywhere, we found ourselves in a tiny room with a smaller tunnel at the end. Not only that, since I crawled last and with Catherine before me, I could have sworn I saw something black with pink stripes… Soon after we sat down in the tiny room and waited.

“Shit!!” I let out in a scream and hit the wall of the old system as hard as possible, which kinda hurt more than I thought.

"Calm your nerves or you'll attract those things" Dario calmly said from the utmost right of us while sitting down and hugging his weapon together with his knees.

“But! Where did those things! Come from?”

:angry:

“Shhh… You are as confused as I am” he added.

I gave out a heavy sigh to calm my nerves and then apologized and asked what we should do.

Catherine then looked to me and Dario and said “I think it is best that we wait until we can come up with a good plan”

Nodding in agreement we sat there with our backs touching the cold metal wall next to each other and our hands hugging our knees, waiting until someone came up with a good plan.

We were also probably hoping for someone to open the door to the old system, so that they could tell us of how they succeeded in defend the apartment against those weird creatures.

But minutes passed and all we could hear were nothing but silence. Not having the resolve to think about what had happened to my family and their friends a while ago, I then looked at my friends if I could find anything else to do.

“Click, click, click….”

I saw that Catherine was trying to call someone with her SMB by clicking on the orange screen at front of her although to no avail. Probably because the stations in Ashinova are down because of the power outbreak. But reminded by her actions, I too tried to do something with my new SMB, sadly all it said on the orange screen were “Loading”.

Staring at the SMB, I then gave out a heavy sigh as I looked away to Catherine to see if she had made any progress.

:perche:

As I stared at her charming short and messy deep red hair with a length that reached her neck and bangs that would have nearly reached her blue crystal eyes if she didn’t brush it to the side. I could also see a single long braided tail at the middle of the back of her hair, which was long enough to reach down to the end of her tender butt. Also at the end of the lengthy braided hair, there were also some kind of triangle metallic mark which held the end of the braid together.

Actually it was I who made it for her 4 years ago. It is made out of a high grade material type 8 I believe, strong enough to deflect the strongest bullets, plasma and lasers even though it didn’t need to be, but it was still my priciest material I had that day and the most beautiful in the eyes of an engineer or rather mine at least, hence why I made it out of the titanium coloured metal. I also got the design from a really REALLY old game, while I was searching through the barely existing dark net with my high spec computer, I believe it was around 1200 years ago… Called something like the mark of the Assassins Creed.

I’m still glad that I made it though, there were always something that was missing with her cool and awesome hairstyle. Now looking back to my SMB, to see if there were any progress of the “Loading”, it now said “Deal with it”...

:perche:

Confused I knocked a bit on it, which changed the text to “Ha ha ha”. Reading it I could only wonder if she were trying to taunt me… Alice I mean.

Ignoring the recent incident with a shrug, I could hear that someone was about to cry, or at least started to sniff a bit before crying.

Looking at the direction of where it came from, I noticed that Dario was patting on Catherine’s back, while signaling me to ask her what was wrong…

Yeah, he shoved the responsibility to me… What a bro.

:noei:

Taking a hard breath to calm my nerves I afterwards approached Catherine and teasingly asked “So, how is our strong Catherine holding up?

Ignoring my question, she stared intently at me while sniffing and asked "Sniff.. Will we.. sniff... will we all survive from those monsters?", a few tears started to well up in her glittering eyes.

Quickly I took out my recently cleaned handkerchief with the actual purpose of cleaning my devices and tools, which she didn’t know about… And was about to give it to her, but changed my mind as soon as I saw Dario do the gay shout pose. But right afterwards I retaliation with a wink at him, which made him immediately back off with his rifle to the corner and shiver.

:cries:

Catherine who noticed that she was crying afterwards, tried to grab the handkerchief to clean her tears herself. But instead I quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her to me just like the time I met her for the first time. Gently I lifted her head upwards and brushed her bangs to the side, and gazed through her eyes as if I could see through her soul, which also made her blush a bit. Afterwards as I was staring into her glittering crystal blue pupils I brushed her tears off gently myself.

"It's okay Catherine, your big brother and I will protect you" I told her in a confident voice.

Suddenly she looked away from me and crossed her arms with a “hmph” and tauntingly said “Says the one who doesn’t even lift” and tears kept pouring out slowly from her eyes.

… That sentence seriously shattered my pride as a man into pieces as I sulked at her...

:noei:

Still she had a point, because with her miraculously slender arms and curvy body, she was actually really athletic and could easily lift 30 kg weights on each hand without breaking out in sweat. Meaning if you poke at her you would notice that she had a lot of hidden muscle in that perfect body. Of course Dario could even lift more than that. While I could barely do 10 kg lifts without panting a lot.

Aah… This also reminded me of the past when she sent me a invitation to join her family dojo.

…

One month after I had made my dad weep in his room the whole time because I crafted the bag that shrink objects in one day even though I cheated, which I didn’t tell him of course. That day, someone pushed the alarm button for the front door for the first time in years.

“Pling, pling, pling!” could be heard.

Sprinting to the front door, to see who it was behind the door. I opened it which revealed Dario and Catherine in their school uniforms.

“Uh, Hi! Wazzap?” I greeted them.

“He..here!” Catherine said and stretched her hand out with a letter that could be easily misinterpreted, although I knew it was a letter of invitation.

“What’s this?” I asked to confirm my guess.

“A invitation to our family… “ she then paused a few seconds with a blush and then added “dojo…”

:kya:

Looking at the letter she held at front of her towards me, I hesitated for a moment since trouble was written all over it. But suddenly a strong presence which resemblance the feeling I have felt ever since we three started to go out and play with each other in our free time at school, a heavy presence from her half brother Dario.

Looking at him, I could see that he made the cutting off the throat motion behind her back without her noticing, probably what would happen if I didn’t accept it… Scary Yakuza… No wonder the other kids didn’t want to play with us in school, I thought for myself.

Looking back at the cute Catherine trying her best to give it to me I then scratched my head and said “uh.. Sure Catherine”. And soon after I took the letter which made her smile in gratitude while Dario wickedly grinned happily.

Please don’t karate chop me to pieces Dario, I pleaded to myself as I gazed upon him.

:hotinhere:

“So where is this family… dojo?” I asked.

“Sector 3” she said.

“But I have never been that far away before, to tell the truth, I barely know sector 16 even though I live here and besides when should I come to visit?”

Suddenly Dario forcefully gave me a bag, which he have been holding for a while that I didn’t notice.

“Lets go right now! And here is your outfit by the way, go change in your room while we wait in your lounge room” he said with a bigger and wicked grin than before, as if he had been expecting that this would happen.

I nodded and showed them inside to the lounge room, gave them a cup of tea and soon after went inside my room together with the bag to change my clothes.

“What the?” I questioned myself as I changed to the outfit.

:hotinhere:

Looking at the belt that came with it I knew that Dario was up to something since the white karate outfit that fit me perfectly had a black belt with a 10 dan on it for some reason… Isn’t that the highest rank or something? Hence I decided to walk to my stash that had my most prized metal plate which costed a fortune for a kid at least.

A type 4 plate which is strong enough to stop a armor piercing rifle bullet. I picked up the plate from the stash and quickly attached a few leather strap to it with the help of the tools on my working station. Equipped it at front of my chest, I then stood at front of the mirror adjusting the plate so that it wouldn’t stand out.

“Goood…” I said with a grin.

:agift:

Now done changing, I walked back to the lounge room where both of them was calmly drinking the tea in sync. Afterwards they gently put the glass of tea onto the table and gave the thumbs up towards me.

Looking at them with a smile, I then said “Lets go then, shall we?”.

...

“Whoa” Looking at the gigantic double door in sector 3 in awe, I could only wonder who these kids were. Other than the hints hinting that they had something to do with the Yakuza.

With a few knocks from Dario, the door opened and revealed a large japanese tatami room with tons of karate students of all ages in battle stances. Looking at them I could see that they shouted each time they made a punch into the air. The odor of sweat could be smelled strongly from the dojo. Looking closely, they were only white belted but still they looked skilled as each time they made a punch it had finesse and elegance written all over it.

Standing there speechless, Catherine then hooked my arm which made me brighten up in red,

“What are you waiting for? Lets go!” She said while smiling and dragged me past another door with Dario walking beside her.

:blush:

Past the door, I now saw a lot of red belted students that karate chopped 3 thick stone bricks at front of them, some even did a roundhouse kick and shattered bricks in the air that someone threw at front of them.

But she still kept dragging me past yet another door, which revealed green belted students cracking 6 thick stone bricks with their thumb or forehead…

:wosh:

Then yet another door, which revealed blue belted students running through a course one by one filled with traps of sharp knives, flame breathing holes and all sort of deadly traps.

Some even got hit and had to be taken to the medical room while heavily bleeding everywhere...

:whosh2:

Now shivering as I walked with Catherine and Dario to yet another door…

This time it revealed a room filled with black belted first dan students, who sparred with each other until one of them gave up while spitting out blood onto a bowl of redden water. But as soon as they noticed Dario and Catherine, they bowed for some reason even though they were hurt.

:noei:

But we kept walking and for each second that passed by, I gained more fear but Catherine’s arm kept me calm… for now at least.

… It kept going until I saw a notice board say Black belted 10 dan, which surprisingly my belt also had. Have I walked up to a trap?

As Dario slowly opened the door, I suddenly felt a presence that soothed my heart that was beating so fast in fear because of what I had seen. You could only call this place hell…

:perche:

Other than that, I saw that Catherine let my arm go and went together with Dario to kneel before someone without looking at the person. Following suit I tried to kneel like them to no avail, so I just made a normal kneeling position.

Looking at the tatami floor just like my friends, I could hear a masculine tone of an old person speaking. “Oh, so is this the guy?”

“Yes, grandfather”

“Dario, Catherine… Both of you may leave” he ordered them.

Hearing my friends walk away and closing the door with a “dun!”. I was then left there alone without support.

“You may lift your head”

Slowly raising my head and looking at the direction of where the voice came from. I saw a old man with a long white hair and a long white beard while stroking repeatedly. He had brown eyes, but he just stared at me for minutes without doing anything or so I thought.

Suddenly a strong presence fell over me, which nearly made me pass out from fear or instinctively stand up and run. Luckily my cold lucky charm strapped around me kept me alive or rather kept me in place since it was kinda heavy...

After at least 10 minutes with my head looking disrespectfully at the floor instead of the master while also panting heavily I then mustered my last strength and said “Hi?”

:kawa:

“Hahahahaha” He laughed as he kept stroking his beard.

"Good, good!" he praised and the atmosphere quickly went back to normal and I could once again breathe normally again.

“But I can’t accept it yet…” he said which only made me question what he meant.

:agift::keuhkeuh:

“Your last challenge is to win against one of my best pupil near your age… Yes I can even feel your opponent from here, you may come in!”

The double door slowly opened which revealed Dario in his outfit. He slowly walked inside which kinda looked cool until he was at front of me and bowed.

Staring at him I could only give out a "Gulp"

Glancing at both of them while shivering, I quickly realised something weird with the sentence the old man said before “Your last challenge is to win...”.  Did he mean what I think he did? Yeah, I don’t really need to confront him head on right? Hmm… but at least lets do something that have a higher chance of winning.

:keih:

So instead of fighting Dario head on who stood a few meters away from me with his stance, I looked at my master and proposed to him with a bet.

"Uh… Old man!, how about a bet?"

Not knowing what I should call him, I just said old man since he was old.

:keih:

"Ooh, do tell me choosen one"

:keuhkeuh:

"I will let Dario punch me freely once at my stomach and if I can still stand up after that I'll win" I said with confidence.

"Ooooh"

"Then how about a kick instead?" He asked.

"The legs is at least 3 times stronger after all, and if you can accept that, I"ll accept your bet." he added.

:keuhkeuh:

What the hell did I get myself into... I asked myself whilst swallowing my drool once again.

"I accept" I said with whilst shaking endlessly at front of him.

:hotinhere:

He then looked at both of us with a nod, as if he was signaling us to get into position.

I took my stance a few meters away from Dario and took another heavy breath to calm my nerves that was shaking because I didn’t know what to do to minimize the damage of a kick. Shaking my head a few times to remove these thoughts I then looked fiercely at Dario, which he returned with a grin of delight.

“I am ready” I said while Dario bowed once again as response and soon after ran to me with lightning speed. Standing there watching him, I could see that he went for something that looked like a flying roundhouse kick. But it was so fast that I couldn’t see how he did it. But when his feet made contact to my stomach with the plate, I Quickly flew backwards for at least 10 meters and hit the wall with a “Thud!”

:punch:

Nearly passing out, I cough out blood onto the floor as I tried to stand up with the help of the wall.

Barely able to stand as I feeling immense pain from my ribs, I walked slowly back to the front of the old man not giving up after I have gotten so far and powerlessly fell onto my knees. Quickly I adjusted my posture so that it looked like that I was kneeling to him instead.

But now that I think about it, would I have died if I didn't have my lucky charm?..

:cries:.

He then stood up with a smirk and said "Good!! You have won with the help of your wits and luck, hence from now on you are now accepted as part of our family" and then he laughed.

"Thank you… Grandfather I guess."

Even though I thanked him, I didn't know anything about what he meant with the family part. I thought it was just a test to join the Dojo?

"HAHAHAHA!! Quickly adapting to it I see, you may leave and come back if you wish to train, but first!" he said while stroking his beard once again.

:haiha:

“STUDENTS! COME!!!” He then shouted so that the whole dojo could hear that quickly responded by pouring out of the door into the room. They sat down in rows at front of the master and knelt before him with respect together with Catherine and Dario at the front.

“State your name child!” he said to me.

“Vincent.. Vincent Walter”...

“Vincent! You are now also a part of the Yeager family. You may not be bound by blood, but know this! You are the first one in centuries who have walked past the hallway while my family members trained in hell without running with your tail between your back. You passed 4 deadly test and also survived none the less also the same age as my granddaughter and grandson”

“Everyone! Welcome your new family member!”

“YEAAAAAH!” Those behind me cheered happily as they ran up to me while I struggled to keep my consciousness because of the immense pain I could feel each time they touched me...

I soon after passed out and was brought to their custom made medical center in their dojo with top of the line medical equipment.

...

And from that moment on, Dario never stared at me anymore nor did he give off a uneasiness feeling to me. Starting from that day he was just a normal friend or rather my best friend who tried to kill me… Not only that, Catherine kept bugging me each day, trying to find out of how I had won, but stopped 3 years after I had given her the Assassins creed mark braid pin.

:sleepy:

I also remember laying in that medical center for a week with her and Dario bugging me each day while my parents just sent a few letters that said “Noob” at first but then they sent more letters together with my favourite foods asking about my health and an explanation. It looks like they fully trusted the equipment that had the USEE letters of their company on them. Hence why they didn’t bother to visit me, even though they were probably worried sick at home.

...

Meanwhile behind the scenes that day.

"I am sorry grandfather, to think that an untrained child at my age could get away alive with our secret technique passed from generations". He said while bowing.

:perche:

"Dario, didn't you notice?" Master asked him.

:isupercare:

"Grandfather, what do you mean?" He asked with a question mark written all over his face.

:nei:

He then stroked his beard and looked into Dario as if he had seen through his pure heart and said " I'll not tell you, this will serve as a good training for you. Think about it clearly and one day you will get it."

"You are not allowed to ask anyone for help either, nor are you allowed to tell anyone of what took place here" he added.

:keuhkeuh:

"Yes, Grandfather"

:noei:

"You can leave" Master then said and Dario bowed once again and quietly left through the doors..

“Hehehe… What should I name them?” The master laughed to himself.

:keuhkeuh:

...

Anyways back to reality.

Ashamed of what she had said about my strength a while ago, as a man I cannot let this slide.

Without thinking I started out by gently holding both of her smooth cheeks, slowly brushed her bangs once again to the side and gently rested my forehead to her forehead. A warm sensation could be felt and her sweet fragrance could be smelled. With my eyes closed, I calmly said "Please don't cry, I might not be strong. But I will create anything that you could use to protect yourself  with the strength I know you have"...

“Besides, didn’t I create you this bracelet for this purpose?” I said and held her left hand which had a beautiful looking modern design of a bracelet made out of type 8 metal with the titanium colour. The length it had was longer than normal bracelets, because it nearly covered her whole forearm but enough to not disturb her joints.

:jumping:

This isn’t just any normal bracelets, which I gave her last year though. Once again, I stole another design from the Assassins Creed series, but added my own little touch to it. A hidden red plasma blade under the forearm from a red crystal that pops out of nowhere with the click of a button. Although my design and creation had two flaws. 1 day of recharging the battery for a 20 minute use, and a incredibly skilled user was needed. Luckily, I made a sensor that protected the user of accidentally activating it with the hand in the way...

With my free hand I then held her right hand that had a ring with the same design and clicked a button which let out a “Click” sound.

“Swwu Wwmm”

A red sharp plasma that looked like the blade of a rapier with the length of a arm appearing out of the underside of the bracelet, which cut a hole on the roof of the system and even a few pieces of my hair. The crispy stench of burnt metal and hair could be soon after smelled.

Looking at the blade which was cutting apart the systems right now, you could see that it had some kind of red aurora flowing around it.

Clicking on the ring once again, and said “Be confident you are strong”

“Until death?” She asked with more tears than before.

I then hesitated for a second and looked at Dario for some help.

:hotinhere:

All he did was nod with a grin….

I gave up and said "Until death"

Catherine then brushed her tears of quickly and gave me a big hug. It was a hug that actually made me feel her soft breast pressing against me, but I didn't mind at all...

:wat:

"Sorry for crying" She said.

"It's okay, everyone loses their cool once in a while, especially from those ugly creatures" I said while patting her back.

"Even though you are not really strong enough to protect me, you were considerate enough to have filled me with confidence, Vincent" she added as if she didn't care that she once again broke my heart...

“Uh, Vincent… Can I get one of those plasma blades like my sister?” Dario interrupted while quietly asking me while patting my shoulder with a puppy face.

Staring at him I then made a grin, since he usually doesn’t ask me of anything.

:wat:

“Yeah, I might have a blue one in my room…” I said with a proud smirk as my nose grew longer because it was my victory.

“Really?” He said with a smile hoping it was true.

“Yeah, I was planning to give it to you next year… but… You’ll have to get it later somehow”

:agift:

“Thanks!” He shouted and tried to stand up and bow, but failed as he hit his head on the roof.

Looking at each other, the 3 of us finally laughed.

Then something struck my mind. There was actually someone else in that dojo training with these two, someone 5 years younger than us with blonde hair looking from the corner of the room each time I visited. What was she called again?

The moment I muttered “Silvia”, Catherine and Dario quickly became quiet with fear.

"Shit, I left her at home today because she had her homework to do" Dario said angrily while punching holes into the old system.

"Okay, calm down guys" I said whilst hovering my hands up and down.

"This is the plan, since we don't know where this old system leads to, but only that it is connected everywhere so that the cleaning robot could pass by with ease."

"Hence one of the exits is bound to be near your apartment."

They nodded.

"Lets start crawling then shall we?"

"Ladies first" I quickly added so that Dario who took crawling positions at front of us could hear.

Hah that's what you get for indirectly making me remember the pain I suffered after the Dojo.

:haiha:

...

Chapter.1:4 The Rescue Mission!_______________________________________________

After a while of crawling through the dusty systems, we somehow made it to somewhere close to the hallway of their apartment in sector 16, which we believe it was. From what I had heard, they said that they didn't have a system like this connected to their home. This made me wonder why my apartment had one, but as I pondered about it I suddenly got stopped by the soft butt of Catherine at front of me, as I crashed into it which made her let out a "Eek!" and retaliate with a kick soon after.

We now sat down at front of a wall as I soothed my cheek from pain. Anyways we believed that the wall at front of us is a way to the outside because there was a button next to it. And knowing this space station there is only a button to go out but not inside because of no reason or whatsoever, hence we needed someone to stay and watch.

As we were dusting our clothes off we also discussed the plans.

"Okey here is the deal, Me and Dario will go and rescue Silvia. Hopefully she is still there somewhere, because I know she is a smart girl" I said.

They then made a sad face as if they will never be forgiven for leaving her at home alone, after the last part of my sentence.

:perche::perche:

To spark their confidence back I said "The probability of her still being alive is really high guys, If from what I had guessed. These creatures only notice you if they either see you or hear you"

They then looked up to me and nodded.

"Catherine, you will be holding this exit and if you hear us knocking, push this button once again to open it"

"Roger"

"Dario, if one of those creatures are inside your house, kill it quickly before it calls for backup"

He nodded and picked up his rifle which he kept from my house.

“Brother, don’t forget to grab my Silver Eagle 50.cal barrett and my combat knife” Catherine said to Dario.

Ah, the Silver eagle 50 caliber anti tank sniper full auto, fully homemade and customised to fit her needs… The third gift I also gave her together with the plasma blade last year and a combat knife, afterall she is a fully trained assassin, which was why I stole a few designs from the assassins creed game and why I know she were skilled enough to use them… If I remember right everyone born in the Yeager family had to train to either become some kind of soldier, medic, mercenary or an assassin anything that had to do with the army at a young age, which is something I shouldn’t talk about or they’ll be out for my head… I am just glad that everything I gave her had my initials secretly hidden where you can’t see them without taking them apart.

Anyways, even though I call myself an engineer, I am actually a all rounder who can craft all sorts of equipments as long as I have the materials and the tools for it… I am lucky to be able to borrow my father’s workshop and the strains of his genes. Hehe actually, my mothers...

After a while of my pondering I then looked at Dario and saw that he nodded once again.

I responded with a nod back and said "Commence mission!"

With a push on the button, we stormed outside the systems and checked our vicinity.

"So far so good" and we signaled Catherine to close the door.

Looking around more closely with the help of Dario’s flashlight from his SMB since mine didn’t work properly we saw tons of weird purple coloured organic threads covering the walls and doors as if it was a infestation. Touching it, it felt thick, slimy as if it tried to grab me. It looks like it spreads everywhere with the help of some kind of pulsating and glowing orange cyst or tumor.

It looked like the energy source we gathered from the creatures in Pluto… Maybe I am wrong.

Having enough of checking the weird infestation, I asked Dario where his apartment was, since I couldn’t find it.

"Over here" he replied while waving his hand back and forth. Then pointing on the notice board to the right of the front door, which said Yeager Family on it.

I walked up to the door and tried to open it, but could see that one of those cyst stuck were onto the door, covering it with threads to make it impossible to open.

“Take a few steps back for me” He said while aiming the rifle to the weird glowing tumor.

Just like he said, I did as I were told and hid behind him.

“Pang!”

Some weird orange liquid squirted out of the tumor, which also made it shriek in a cry like a living creature. Soon after the tumor folded its threads back to its body and from pulsating orange it went blank like a dead creature. Disgusted by what we saw, we quickly went inside, since the shriek might have called for allies.

Closing the door while Dario checked the vicinity, luckily it looked like the infestation didn’t pass through the door which meant that every closed door might be safe. Not only that, because of the infestation blocking the emergency lights, I couldn’t see without the help of Dario, but since this place wasn’t infested I could, hence I told Dario to go get the weapons while I try to find Silvia.

“Dario, go get the weapons, I’ll try to search for Silvia”

He nodded and pointed to a room, which I believe he hinted that she should be in there. We soon after went our separate ways. While we were running to our destination, a banging noise could be heard from the front door. “Shit, I’d better hurry”.

I quickly ran to the door and then opened it which revealed a pitch black room. Soon after that I could hear a cute shaky voice asking for who it was "Who… is it?"

"It's me, Vincent your brothers best friend, we must get out of here"

:gimme:

I could then hear small steps coming from the darkness. It sounds like the steps of a child with her shoes on, which was getting louder like accelerating train.

“Vincent!!” A cute yell could be heard from the darkness and as she ran, I could see that she stretched her hands out for a hug.

Since the petite 10 year old girl with blonde hair and green eyes ran to me, I hugged her in relief that she was still alive. Although I couldn't help but think about how weird this family's gene were. One had brown hair and brown eyes aka Dario, meanwhile Catherine had blue eyes with natural deep dark red hair. And lastly Silvia with blonde light hair and green eyes, were they all half brother and sisters?

Was it some kind of gene modification? Well whatever... I decided not to stick my nose to where they doesn't belong, rather these features fit them perfectly anyway, I can’t wait to see how Silvia will look like as an adult.

:kya:

"Come, lets get out of here." I calmly said to her.

She nodded and followed me from behind while holding my hands. Those small pale hands was actually very strong, since I could feel that she was nearly crushing my hand. Was she afraid of the banging sound or maybe because I didn’t have a sort of flashlight as I walked toward the entrance?

Soon after we then met up with Dario who was covering behind a table at front of the front door. He had the Silver Eagle sniper which took me a half of a year polishing and engraving those awesome marks and crafting the weapon itself took me 2 years… While the Combat knife only took me a quarter of a year. And last and not least, the Black Eagle Rifle I made specifically for him that took me 3 years, I am so proud of my Eagle series since they all had the classic look of the weapons from 1300 years ago, unlike the new ones that had more of a sci fi style. This was the biggest reasons why all the weapons I made took such a long time. Which for the most part was because I had to optimize them so that they would be better or at least at the same grade of the weapons we use today.

:hotinhere:

Hopefully my father and mother didn’t mind me taking their high grade materials and using their tools.

Anyways he handed me the rifle which he had gotten from my father, also a few magazines and grenades. We then discussed the plans and with the help of the information we obtained from my parents apartment. What we came up with was that it was best to throw a few grenades in succession to kill of the majority of the unknown creatures. Hence why Dario also gave Silvia a few grenades.

Now waiting for the door to burst open with our grenades readied.

We waited.

Just like deja vu, this front door also turned into a U shaped door. And then finally gave up by bursting open and then gliding on the floor with a metallic sound until it hit the table and stopped with scratch mark on the floor.

We quickly threw our grenades, but Dario who was a trained soldier timed it so perfectly, that the moment the door bursted open so did the grenade land behind the door.

“Ka-booom!”

A big explosion causing splinters to spread everywhere and left a burn mark behind the door and shattered pieces of spider like creatures and bats.

Not waiting for them to regroup, we kept throwing grenades until we felt it was safe to sprint out.

And when it was, Silvia jumped onto Darios for a piggyback and grabbed the Silver Eagle 50.cal Barrett. It was if they had combined into a tank so that they could sprint outside and annihilate them with good mobility.

 [th_0tive.gif]

“PA, PA, PA” The Silver eagle echoed throughout the corridor that most likely attracted more creatures which the grenades probably already did, while killing every wounded creature with one bullet and with a tiny smoke coming out of the barrel each time. Of course anything else that was coming, was shoot by Dario with his Black eagle. As they made way to the old cleaning system, I shoot at the opposite direction, covering their escape. Luckily his watch could illuminate strongly to the surroundings, or I wouldn’t be able to shoot without missing a lot.

“Knock, knock!”

The wall opened and Dario dropped Silvia with the Silver eagle and she crawled inside with it.

But since creatures kept pouring out from the corners of the hallways, we didn’t have any time to rest nor did we have enough time for one of us to crawl inside. Also our ammos were getting low...

“Shit, Vincent this is my last magazine!”

:nei:

“Same…”

“Dario, you don’t have any grenades left?”

“I have one left!”

:agift:

“Use it at your side and crawl inside, don’t forget to pull me inside!”

“Roger!”

He threw the grenade at his side and then jumped into the system.

Quickly I too followed him by walking backwards and shooting, but I had made a big mistake…

What seemed like a flawless plan was actually a bad one. Dario was the only light source I had, hence all I could do now was to drop the weapon and crawl inside because I couldn’t see the incoming creatures from the darkness. “Shit…”

"Quickly Vincent! Get here!" he said.

:nei:

I dropped the weapon to lose some weight and quickly ran to the old system with a bit of light coming out of it in the darkness, jumped into the system which Dario then quickly pulled me inside. Trying to click the button with my feet when I was far inside enough, I then felt a sudden pain course through my leg.

“Aaaargh!!” I screamed and got pulled outside by some snakey silhouette. As I hanged there upside down with something holding me leg the only thing I saw was the wriggling part at the bottom of the creature, which was illuminated by the SMB’s from my friends.

The creature quickly flinged me hard onto the wall afterwards, which made me lose my breath and finally coughed on the floor as I tried to catch my breath back. Soon after I could also feel that something heavy forced me down onto the slimy and infested floor, which also ruptured my lower abdomen and made blood drip out of my mouth as I laid there powerless.

:Xno:

“VINCENT!” I could hear them screaming as my head started to get dizzy with weird echoing noises of what I believe is bullets being fired upon something.

:nei:

Feeling my lower abdomen with my hand I felt that my warm blood slowly gushed out of my body. It seems that I had been stabbed by the creature, who now let out a “Grrrrrrr” Sound and drool from the creature leaked from the mouth I couldn’t see onto my back. It then whipped me with its tail so that I coughed out more blood and flew once again onto the wall and landed helplessly with my back on the infested floor, while staring into the glowing reptile eyes in the pitch black darkness.

...

My heart started to beat faster, my mind broke into dizziness, time started to slow down as I laid there looking into the only source of light which came from my friend’s SMBs.

Staring at them I could see that they were crying. A few seconds felt like hours as the empty cartridges from the fired ammos from the sniper and rifle slowly fell onto the metallic floor in the systems with a “clang!” which made them bounce away and then slowly roll on the floor away, as they did, they also echoed throughout the systems. Although the noise slowly disappeared as it seems like I started not to be able to hear anything because of the heavy headache I started to feel.

Looking at them more carefully with the pain I felt throughout my body. I could see that Catherine used the long barreled Silver Eagle to her advantage by resting the barrel on Dario’s shoulder while aiming from behind the back in full auto, which I had warned her about not to do, since it took a big toll on the arm, especially with the bad stance I could imagine she had. I should scold her later...

Dario himself, sprayed the Black eagle while screaming, which I couldn’t hear but seeing from his mouth language it seemed to be so. But all they did was to no avail, the creature which got heavily shot by them didn’t even get dented by the bullets. Rather the small ones which tried to crawl inside the systems got hit and killed instead as they got shredded by the bullets into pieces.

Well Silvia just sat there with a saddened expression… I knew it, she was a smart girl afterall.

Looking at them I could only try to stretch my hand out towards them with my last strength and wave a goodbye.

Just to be stabbed on my arm multiple times from the creature which now seemed so gigantic.

“Kya kya kya kya” The creature laughed as it was mocking me while my friends watched me slowly die.

Luckily my arm was still in pieces…

Soon after I could see that Dario hit the wall with his rifle with a saddened expression… Man you should have saved those bullets for later. Why the rifle though? It did nothing wrong...

“Go idiots” I then said with my last strength.

:cries:

Dario looked at me for the last time, said something I couldn’t hear and soon after pushed the button, which closed the door on me and engulfed the hallway in total darkness. He probably knew that all he did was to no avail and without any ammo left on the rifle, he was finally forced to go...

“Kyaaaaaa!” The creature shrieked after it had won the battle with a few losses.

Soon after it tuck its tail inside a wound it had just made on my leg and started to pull me somewhere. All I could see as it did were the tumors glowing in the darkness with its orange colour. Although they didn’t illuminate the surroundings...

I left a blood trail on the infested floor as it pulled me to somewhere alive.

I could also hear creatures just run or flap their way past me without doing any harm to me either.

All I could feel was the slimy floor and my body in pain that instead started to go numb.

A few seconds later, I saw a light come from somewhere to the right side of my head.

Turning my head to the light, I could see the deep space with a thousands of stars shining brightly from some far away place...

Jupiter was still as big as ever…

Pluto is still a tiny snowy globe…

And Earth… So far away but still blue as ever…

Actually I could only see Pluto that blocked everything else.

....

Still... am I just going to die here like this? By blood loss because a bitch creature caused it?

I still haven't even avenged my parents yet… How could I die before that?’’

Why am I so calm even though I am about to die?

Where is my fear?

What’s going on...

.... I can’t think clearly anymore...

…

Hey… I forgot to read the latest chapter of my favourite light novel… Crap…

...

... I can’t even feel the pain anymore...

Wait, am I shivering?

...

Its so cold…

Is there no blankets?...

Please give me blankets...

ah…

… so tired….

Let me just…

take...

a quick nap…

…

For a while...

O..okay?

…

Don't forget the...

blankets...

…

…

:sleepy:

:imdead:

...

…

…

...

"Emergency Regeneration activated"

“Health bar depleted for regeneration”

"Loading is still in progress"