Chapter 01 - Union (Prologue)

Chapter 01 – Union (Prologue)

Gossport City. 8:25 PM in the East Prosperity business district. Giant skyscrapers are lined against the cloudy night sky. Bright neon lights, video advertisements, and highlights of various businesses, V-Tubers, and popular streamers are displaying on large LED screens installed into various buildings. As with most buildings in the city, the skyscrapers are crowded together. From what little space are available between the buildings consists of alleyways that lead to either more tall buildings or public streets within the district.

On the streets of a certain area within the business district are a pair of quokka statues, Gossport City’s mascot. The statues are common throughout the city, as if paying homage to guardians. The statues are placed inside or outside buildings, businesses, districts, or a general area, welcoming citizens and guests who enter. The quokka statues are always smiling, a smile that many people consider to be eternal, a reminder that happiness in Gossport City will never fade into darkness.

Standing next to this particular pair of statues in front of an alleyway is a bespectacled young man, age 23, who never seem to smile. He is dressed in a black dress shirt with a red tie, and black khaki pants. The color of his eyes are dark gold. His black hair is a bit messy, his side bangs stopping slightly past his ears. On the left breast pocket of his shirt is a symbol of the Crux constellation. 

Quietly, he scopes out the area, his right index finger and thumb resting on the right hinge of his glasses. The coast is clear. He walks to the quokka statue to his right, staring into its marble eyes. The statue's eyes glows and a laser scans the young man's eyes. 

"Identification recognized. Now deploying the holo-fields."  An electronic female voice from the statue speaks. 

A glint of light flashes around the area, creating an AR image of the entrance of the alleyway. The projection seems lifelike, as if the scenery is unchanged. However...

“Arcturus reporting in,” the young man speaks, seemingly to himself. “The holo-fields have been successfully deployed. The AI sentry drones are in disguise. AR image of the contained is now in effect. Currently standing guard at the entry point.”

“Good work, Arcturus,” a relaxed voice comments through the young man’s glasses. “Procyon checking in. Still searching for that distortion. I'm keeping an eye out for any of those URO creatures that may be lurking about.” 

The person relaying the message is also a young man, aged 22, with bright orange hair. He's leaping across the neon signs in-between the open spaces of the tall buildings, en route towards his destination. There's a perpetual cheerful yet laid-back air and attitude about him. He, too, is wearing the symbol of the Crux constellation on his attire as a button on his jacket.

Unlike Arcturus, Procyon is wearing a visor across his eyes, a V-Comm. 

A V-Comm is a visual and voice communicator authorized by the organization Crux for knights to use during missions. The device enables the user to see within the cover of darkness and detect heat radiation. Though the device is durable and runs on electricity, it is not water-resistant. 

As per organization protocol, V-Comms must be charged after every mission in order to maintain the safety of its users, as well to ensure knights are thoroughly prepared for any sudden mission. [Note: Arcturus's glasses is modified to serve as a V-Comm.]

“How goes it on your end, Pollux?” Procyon spoke.

A young woman, Pollux, is standing in a dark maze-like alleyway. Bright neon lights are illuminating the streets in the background. Alongside her is a young man: Vega, age 21. He has short brown hair and hazel eyes; a small mole is below his left eye. He wears a short, dark green jacket and a black shirt. On his left facial cheek is a barcode, and around his neck are x-shaped stitches. His Crux symbol is a chain earring on his left ear. Vega is standing behind Pollux with the face of determination, yet also slightly trembling.

Pollux, age 23, has black hair with one strand dyed cotton candy blue, and piercing emerald green eyes. She wears rectangular glasses with brown metal frames on the lower half, and oni horns atop her head. Her attire consists of skinny black jeans and a neon pink hoodie with an image of the face of a menacing blue and red oni on the back. Her Crux symbol is designed in the black area of the oni's open mouth. The two knights are also wearing their activated V-Comms.

“Pollux here. Still trying to locate any Unidentified Radiant Objects, be it creature or inanimate object. How much longer until you locate the distortion?” she asks, slightly annoyed at Procyon.

Procyon complains. “Gimme a break, the contained area is a fairly large scope this time around."

“Aren’t you supposed to be one of the fastest knights among us? Don’t cause us any more problems than we already have on our hands. I want to eat dinner, for crying out loud!”

“Right~ Right~. I’m on it. Don’t give our newbie a hard time, you hear?”

Pollux switches off her communication line with Procyon and removes her V-Comm, turning to face her comrade standing behind her. 

“Bet this is different from those simulations back at the academy, huh? You sure are trembling an awful lot. Feeling cold?” she asks with a teasing sneer and a caring smile.

“I’m not cold!” Vega blurts, immediately standing upright, puffing out his chest.

“Oh, is that so? So, you are scared?”

“O-of course not!”

“Riiight. Listen, the first missions after the academy are usually nerve-wracking, but don’t let it get to ya. If you let those nerves get the better of ya, you won’t live to see another day. That’s how it is as a Crux Knight. It’s our duty to protect the peace and maintain safety throughout our assigned cities. The people of Gossport are counting on us, so we can’t afford to let them down.”

Vega’s nerve slowly loosens after hearing Pollux’s speech. He is beginning to feel that he can rely on her. He smiles and nods his head with utmost duty and respect. “Right!”

“Moreover, you are being inducted as the fourth strongest knight of the Crux Knights. You should start living up to your position; you've earned it, after all.” 

Pollux turns around, placing her V-Comm on her head. Immediately, her comm screen detects traces of the color red and orange, the radiation color of an URO. 

“Get your Quasar weapon ready, newbie. The target could be around any of these corners. This is your inductee mission, so prove yourself worthy of your ranking.”

“Right,” Vega affirms with renewed determination. He opens the communication lines of his V-Comm. 

“Vega here. An URO has been detected on our V-Comms, northeast of our position. It could appear around any of these corners.”

A dark figure, much taller than Vega, suddenly appears behind him, blending within the darkness of the alley. Its sharpened claws are speeding downward. Vega detects the presence behind him, but it was too late for him to react.

Pollux swings her Quasar weapon, a kanabō, a two-handed spiked metal club used by samurai in feudal Japan. Pollux, however, wields it with ease in one hand. The spikes on the kanabō are radiating a brilliant blue, which is being powered by the lapis blue sapphire stone attached at the end of the weapon's handle. The sapphire stone shines a bright white light whenever a Quasar is activated.

The actions transpired in less than a second, yet it feels as if it was a quick-time event. The outcome, however, is that Pollux missed her target by a hair. The impact of the Quasar destroys a wall of a nearby building, creating a gaping hole. 

The dark figure leaps upward and pounced from wall to wall, fleeing the two knights at its top speed and turning a corner within the maze.

“Shoot! Missed! That looked like a pard type URO!” Pollux mutters through her clenched teeth.

“That was the URO?” Vega frightfully asks.

“Not THE URO, but AN URO. There’s two of them now.”

“Two of them?!”

“We gotta hurry an’ take care of ‘em pronto or things could get dire. You can repay me for saving your life by taking down one of 'em!”

“R-right!” Vega activates his Quasar weapon, a halberd. The blade, beak, and point of the weapon is emitting a brilliant blue light.

“First, let’s take care of the URO that’s lurking around the corner!”

The two knights set out to surround their target. Pollux turns the immediate right corner to sneak upon it, and Vega takes the next right corner in order to engage it. The creature is in Vega's full view: a basilisk, the upper half of its body as a rooster, and its lower half as a serpent. 

Vega closes his eyes (out of fear) and raises his halberd to attack. Meanwhile, Pollux slides into view behind the basilisk, raising her kanabō to end it. She slams her weapon onto the basilisk’s lower half, smashing it into the ground. However, the upper half of its body is still intact and in motion. 

As the creature lunges towards Vega, he swings the blade of his halberd, beheading the basilisk. The basilisk let out a loud hiss and implodes before it could finish. The energy particles of the basilisk promptly disperses into nothingness among the air.

“Vega, are you alright?” Pollux worriedly inquires.

“I think so! Did I get it?” Vega's eyes are still closed in fear.

Noticing Vega’s eyes were shut and is timidly holding the stick of his halberd with two hands, Pollux sighs softly and smiles. 

“You can open your eyes now. You finished off the URO, a basilisk type. I’m proud of you.”

Vega slowly open his eyes, seeing an uninjured Pollux and an empty space where the basilisk once stood. 

“A…basilisk type? What’s that?”

Pollux sighs, slightly annoyed, and walks past Vega, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“You should seriously study your URO bestiary more. Thank goodness Capella didn’t take your spot on this mission or who knows what would have happened, knowing her luck.”

“Eh? Why? What am I missing? What don’t I know? Who's Capella?” Vega inquires rapidly.

“Beats me. How should I know what you don’t know?” Pollux completely dodges his question. “In any case, we still gotta go after that pard. After that, our mission is complete!” She beamed with a huge grin, bearing her teeth.

“Umm…Procyon here.” The V-Comms relays the incoming message to Pollux, Vega, and Arcturus. He is now speaking sheepishly yet still relaxed. “I successfully eliminated the distortion…but…a gryphon URO escaped from the distortion before I had the chance to eliminate it.”

“YOU MEAN THERE’S ANOTHER URO RUNNING AROUND IN THIS GOODNESS FORSAKEN ALLEY MAZE!?” Pollux exclaims at the top of her lungs, fuming.

“Umm…oops?”

“Get it together, guys!” Arcturus scolds, impatient. “Procyon, it’s your screw up so you take care of it! Pollux, Vega, take care of that pard!”

“Right!” Pollux and Procyon quickly reply with fluster.

“Why am I also getting reprimanded?” Vega thinks to himself, still timidly gripping onto his halberd with two hands, a sweat drop hanging from his head from embarrassment.

***************

Pollux and Vega had been navigating the alley maze for some time. Pollux begins to imitate lengthy meows as she is running. Vega, who is running beside her, looks at her questionably, unimpressed. 

“Uhh…may I ask what you’re doing?” 

“What do ya think? I’m calling for the pard.” Pollux smiles her signature toothy grin.

“What makes you think that will work?”

“I don’t know, but I used to have a pet cat in my childhood.”

“This pard is nothing like your pet cat!”

Before either of them could take another step, something crashed into the ground directly in front of them. The impact barely misses the two knights. 

Dust and debris cloud their vision as a deep, low, growl is heard and menacing golden eyes pierces through the dust cloud. Once the dust settled, standing before Pollux and Vega is the pard they have been searching for. Its fur is velvet red with many yellow spots.

“Well, well, kitty has come out to play.” Pollux continues to grin, though her expression is now playfully sinister, ready for battle.

In comedic fashion, Vega exclaims, “You mean the catcall actually worked?!”

“Vega, stand in an alley with an open space. This one’s all mine.”

“Ms. Pollux, I don’t think that’s a great ide - ”

Vega could not complete his sentence. The battle between oni and pard has already begun! 

The pard leaps forward, its sharpened claws extended and ferocious fangs ready to bite. Pollux counters and repels the beast with a swing of her kanabō, but not before damaging the walls of two buildings between her. The pard lands on its feet, arching its back as it prepares for another attack. Pollux swings her kanabō to her right side, destroying yet another section of a building’s wall before lifting to point her weapon at her prey.

“Oh you’re a tough kitty, aren’t ya?” She runs forward at her top speed, as did the pard leaping forward at its top speed. The kanabō and the claws clash in rapid successions against each other, their impact ringing loudly through the air like clashing swords. 

At the first sight of an opening, Pollux jumps above the pard, landing on the upper wall of the building, and kicks off downward towards her prey with at full strength, creating yet another hole in the wall. The pard dodges out the way, landing onto the side of the building, digging its claws inside the wall.

Not allowing a single second to pass, Pollux swings her kanabō at the beast. Her attack misses yet again as the beast leaps away in time. However, it didn’t get far. 

Pollux is fiercely grabbing the fur of its lower neck in her right hand, her weapon in her left hand. In one effortless motion, she slams the beast onto the ground with all her strength and raises her weapon high into the air with one hand. Vega quickly looks away before Pollux deals the final blow to her prey. 

There seems to be no trace of the pard. Pollux slumps her weapon on her right shoulder, turns towards Vega and gives a victory sign with her fingers, grinning from ear to ear, eyes closed. It's almost as if none of her violent tendencies is unusual to her.

“Note to self,” Vega mutters quietly to himself, “never tick her off.” 

A loud wing flap echoes throughout the air, followed by a large gust. Vega directed his attention upward, only to see a gryphon swiftly flying towards the entrance of the alley where Arcturus is on guard on the other side of the holo-field. 

“That’s the gryphon Mr. Procyon is supposed to finish off! If it flies through the holo-field - - !”

“No worries,” Pollux assures, still grinning. “He may be a pain the ass, but he always gets the job done in the nick of time.”

The gryphon releases a loud cry, flying closer and closer to the entrance, readying its talons for the breakthrough. Mere inches away from the AR projection, the beast is abruptly crushed into the ground. A long sword with a brilliant blue light is lifted from the ground and is sheathed. Procyon gaze upon the gryphon's comedically mangled body before it burst into small particles that faded into nothingness.

“Aaaaand what a knockouuuuut!” Procyon cheers gallantly, pretending to be a sports announcer, raising his two fists into the air.

“Mission complete!” Pollux, Vega, and Procyon happily cheered through the V-Comms communication line.

On the opposite side, Arcturus turns away from the holo-field. He mutes his communication line and facepalms himself, shaking his head vexingly. 

“We’ll definitely be hearing about this at tomorrow’s meeting,” he groans to himself.