Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Nexus Earth - Chapter 8:Wings of an Angel

[Justin OOC]

Traning had been hard. But now Sakura finally got a break. It had been a full year since she last attended Jindai Academy, and a part of her wondered how her friends would react to her return.

The Senkaimon gate was diverted though at the last second as Japan's gates seemed to be blocked. Instead she emerged on Earth amidst the charred and blasted landscape of the China seaboard, with no landmarks to guide her.

There was no sign of human life though there were a handful a lesser demons nearby, all of which scattered as soon as she emerged from the disappearing gate.

She was alone, and somewhere deep inside she had the feeling that something was desperately wrong.

In Japan, amidst the commotion of war and possible evacuation preparations, One of the techs scanning the wastes saw the immense spike in Aradian power and quickly notified Captain Ishiyama. Not being able to investigate, he quickly dispatched Ayashi, his Lieutenant, and a squad of 4 battle armored troops to investigate. "Bring whoever it is unharmed. They're likely to have questions."

[Sakura]

This was impossible, Sakura thought to herself, and she looked around the area, a horrified expression on her fact. This was bad, very bad, something was seriously wrong... "Mother?" The sound of her voice was beautiful, and distressed, then her eyes narrowed as she saw and felt the demons around her.

Walking forward several steps, she drew her sword with lighting quickness, and as one of the demons began to flee, she had her sword at it's throat. "You! What the hell happened here? What evil have you and yours brought about!"

[Justin OOC]

The fact that it wasn't immediately struck down did register in the demon's brain as it lay beneathe the blade. It tried to remember that day, but months of hunger had weakened it considerably. "L-l-l-l-light f-f-f-from sky... burned al-l-l to ash.... No peo-p-p-ple left-t-t-t. Cr-r-r-ossed water with pack, found no life here al-s-s-s-o."

It looked at her sad and pathetic. "No hurt-t-t-t, nothing h-h-h-here..."

[Sakura]

She considered a moment, the demon wasn't a threat, and it claimed it wasn't responsible for this evil. While she didn't care for the demons, and she would fight them if they were doing evil, this one didn't appear to be doing anything wrong. And to kill something living just because it was trying to live, if it wasn't hurting someone else, was not good either.

"You really shouldn't be here, you belong on Bazaroth, not earth, go home.." Light from the sky, that sounded like the source of this attack came from above. She looked up, and suddenly, wings manifested around her, and she shoot straight up, leaving the demon to scurry away, perhaps grateful to have escaped her blade, perhaps scornful.

But for her, at the moment, that was inconsequential, what she wanted was a view of things from high above. Moving at increadible high rate of speed, she continued go straight up, until she could get a good view of things from above, several miles above, in fact.

[Justin OOC]

As far as the eye could see, the land had been scoured clear of life. Only rubble and ash remained. There were few demons, all sickly and almost decrepid looking, reinforcing the utter lack of sustenance for them. Far in the distance a tiny mote of life seemed to grow larger, as the Satoshi dropship was closing in on her position.

[Sakura]

When she saw the dropship, she halted in the sky, all six of her wings manifesting around her, as still as she was, and she hovered a moment. Demons on earth, if a bit sickly, a light from the sky, and now a high tech dropship. This was wrong on so many levels, earth shouldn't be this hectic..

What had happened to her home? Making a descision, she altered her flight pattern, and headed straight for the dropship, perhaps she could find out something this way. After all, in this madness, it was at least something that appeared to demonstraight some measure of life remaining on earth.

[Justin OOC]

The ship stopped about a hundred meters from her. "Unknown Aradian, you are in a restricted zone, please come aboard and we will conduct you to Satoshi airspace."

They seemed unfazed by her display of power, and the back hatch of the dropship opened invitingly. Inside two of the CRT 5 members waited with their Lieutenant, as the fourth piloted the ship.

[Sakura]

She didn't really pause to consider, if they were inviting her aboard, she would be pleased to accept. That was one way of finding out 'what on earth' was going on. Actually, the turn of phrase, as it came to her, couldn't help but make her smile slightly, a smile that quickly vanished before she set foot on the hatch of the dropship.

The moment she set foot on the ship, and was no longer flying under her own power, her wings simply vanished, like they had never been there at all.

She glanced at the CRT team who were waiting for her, and she sheathed her sword in a smooth easy stroke. "So, anyone care to tell me what's going on? I leave earth to train for a year or so, with my father, and return to a wasteland? And where is my mother?"

[Justin OOC]

"The two members remained silent and closed the hatch as the ship banked and headed back for Japan. One of them contacted them and asked for the Captain to meet them on the landing bay.

"The Federation attacked, alot of people died. As for your mother, where did she call home? That will give me a better idea."

[Sakura]

"Tokyo, Japan." She replied, and her voice which had been controled, had just a hint of concern in it. With things so changed on earth, anything could have happened, and that thought triggered a memory. She closed her eyes a moment, and remembering her mother's words before she departed.

Life, darling, isn't certain, and things can change in an instant, but that shouldn't stop us from living, or taking joy in life. I intend to be here when you return, but if I'm not, for one reason or another. Remember, that I love you, no matter what happens.

The angelic young woman waited to hear the replies as the dropship took her onward.

[Justin OOC]

"We were hit bad in the bombardment, most of Japan looks as China's seaboard, but if she's in the registry, we'll find her."

The dropship continued on and was quickly cleared to a private landing field.

Waiting there was a man with bluish white hair, wearing a black and white kimono, a sword that radiated holy power humming at his side. The woman next to him wore the same attire, though her only adornment was the symbol of the Sacred Amaha family, something all Aradian's were trained to respect. Perhaps more interesting was the immense demonic power radiating fromher right wrist.

The Woman stepped forward and smiled. Welcome to Neo-Tokyo, I am Masane Amaha, custodian of Satoshi Heavy Industries while Captain Morisato is away." She had openly claimed Amaha blood.

The man next to her looked at her carefully then he smiled. "My, If it isn't little Sakura. So you've finally come home." Raisho Ishiyama was an old friend of her Fathers, one of the only full blooded Aradains that had remaine don Earth.

[Sakura]

She was about to bow politely to the woman, after making note of the demonic force manifesting from her, something that made her wary of the woman, and had most of her attention concentrated on her. However, when she was distracted by the words from the the man, and she turned her gaze fully on him, then her eyes widened. "Uncle Raisho!" She was so happy to see someone she knew, she threw herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck.

[Justin OOC]

Raisho hugged his "neice" and smiled. "So your father finally let you come home did he?"

He nodded. "Could have been a better time, though if it were much sooner you may not still have been here."

"Much has changed Sakura."

He looked to the others dismissing his Lieuteant and the others, save Masane.

"This is Sakura Sonja Terra, Child or the Seraph Teiren, and The demon hunter, Mikoto. Sakura, this is Lady Masane Amaha, last Female member of the Holy Clan, Bearer of the Witchblade, and Servant of Heir to the Royal Amaha bloodline, Kai Morisato."

He sighs. "I'd introduce you to him, but our little prince is off trying to stave off interstellar invasion." It was clear he wasn't happy with the situation, but he accepted it.

Masane laughs. "The way you say it Raisho, it's as though you don't think Kai has enough women around him." She wasn't happy per se, just amused at the absurdity.

I'm sure you have lots of questions, let's go somewhere more private, and We'll see if we can provide you answers."

The pair led her throught complex and to a secure room with a large bank of video screens on the walls. "Allright Sakura, ask away."

[Sakura]

"Yes, my training period is over, actually, I'm an honorary member of the Sabaoth, at this point. Father says I'm already in the top percentle of Asrai warriors, with potential to become one of the greatest." She responded to his question about her father.

Then she winced, as she considered what she had just said. "Oh, I guess that sounded a bit prideful and arogant, neither of which I should give place to in my heart."

She shook her head slightly, and turned to look at Raisho and Masane. "You don't need to tell me, it's not good, is it? If mother was here, she'd be with you, which means she's gone.. isn't she?" A tear trailed down her cheek as she spoke her words.

[Justin OOC]

"You are right to be proud of your heritage, you come from strong and righteous warriors, among the best of the best. Do not let pride rule you, and you will do fine.

Raisho looks somber. "Five hundred and Fifty people survived the Federation bpmbardment of Japan and China. Mikoto sadly was not one of them Sakura, I am sorry."

"Kai's fighting so that never happens again."

[Sakura]

She gasped slightly, as the numbers came into stark reflection. "550 out of more then a billion people? Oh, Light have Mercy." In the light of that number, her grief at her mother's death seemed almost, inconsequential. It wasn't, of course, no death was an inconsequential thing, but it almost seemed that way.

Tears continued to fall down her cheeks, and she made no attempt to wipe them away, she simply wept, and let her tears fall. She said nothing at all, she simply reached out and grasped Raisho's hands, and continued to weep. She was not simply weeping for her mother, she was giving grief to the shear loss of life, giving her tears to the dead.

At the end of that moment, she closed her eyes, and she spoke quietly, but loud enough for them to hear her. "I am Sakura Sonja Terra, Daughter of the Seraph Tieran and the Demon Hunter Mikoto Terra. Honorary Warrior of the Saboath, Guardian of the Eternal Light, Child of Earth and Aradia. My mother was one of earth's defenders, with her soul now returned to the Eternal Light, I pledge myself to earth's defense in her stead."

[Justin OOC]

Masane was the one who moved first, wrapping her arms around the younger warrior. Don't hold it in Sakura, let it out, there will be time later for you to defend Earth."

"You're here in the right place to do it, that's all we do here."

Raisho for his part just sat their holding her hands, saddened for her loss, and knowing there was worse news yet to be delivered.

[Sakura]

Masane's compassion was her undoing, the control and composure she had been trying to establish, was lost. Instead she simply wept, making no further attempt to regain control over herself, she simply allowed her grief free reign for a time. How long, she didn't know, but finally she drew back, looking around for something to wipe her eyes dry, her vision blurred by tears.

[Justin OOC]

"That's better. Now we can continuee this informal debriefing Sakura, or we can simply come back to it later."

Raisho looked to Masane to protest, but Witchblade stared daggers at him, even as she held the hands of the young angelic warrior.

"I can get you a place to shower and get cleaned up and rest if you want and we can have your clothing cleaned. I'm sure we've got something for you to wear for awhile."

It was hard to believe that the woman with such a maternal instinct was the bearer of the most powerful of all demonic weapons.

[Sakura]

She considered the offer a moment, and she glanced at Masane for a instant, then she nodded. "If we have time, a shower and a bit of time to clean up would be very nice, but, if the matter is serious enough, I would like to hear it now." She paused. "As to clothing, anything is fine, the only thing I'm carrying now that I must keep with me is my blade."

[Justin OOC]

"Go get cleaned up, things are busy, but not critical." Raisho scoffed.

"We cannot send her to him, so until we here from them all we can do is wait."

She looked back to Sakura. "We'll meet here in an hour."

Afterwards Masane showed her to arather spartan room,complete with a shower.

[Sakura]

Once in the room, she undressed, pausing a moment only to look over the room, then carry her sword place it carefully on the dresser. Once her sword, with belt and sheath were set aside, she began to remove the rest of her clothing, though not quite with the care she took in placing her blade.

Still, she was very neat, removing and folding her clothing, rather then simply dropping it in a pile. She placed the clothing on a chair next to the door, then walked into the shower, and began to get cleaned up.

There was still an edge of grief to her, but it wasn't a terrible grief, more of a gentle sorrow, and she wished her mother's soul was at peace, wherever she was.

Once she was clean, her pale hair washed, reaching all the way back to the back of her knees, she tied it back for a moment, then dried off. Returning to bedroom from the shower, she found a lovely kimono and a pair of slippers laid out for her. She smiled slightly at her uncles touch, it was a pale rose color, with white patterns.

Sliding the kimono on, and slipping into the slippers, she picked up her sword, noting that someone had taken the rest of her clothing, no doubt for cleaning, and she walked out the door, to seek out Masane and Raisho.

[Justin OOC]

The Captain and Clan leader weren't hard to find, especially considering the signature of their powers. They both turned to greet her with a smile.

"You were right Masane, she does look abit more relaxed now."

The two led her to the main operations room of the makeshift base. Walls of monitors showed sattelite images from Mars, views of demons in Siberia, and Status on fortifications against impending attack around the globe.

[Sakura]

When she saw the operations room, and the data on the monitors her hand went to her mouth. "Light have Mercy." She glanced back at the two leaders her eyes a bit wide. "Just how bad is it? Demons, Interstellar attacks? What in the name of all that is Good and Holy has happened on earth in the last year? And why haven't I heard about it on Aradia?"

[Justin OOC]

"Because our access To Aradia has been blocked. Because I am the only Aradian currently active on Earth, I didn't see the point in burdening Kai with it. As you can see, we have more pressing matters."

"Demons are making their way across Siberia towards Europe. They're searching for something. I now at least 3 S-class demons came through."

"Across the globe we're preparing fortifications and shelters should The Federation get this far." He frowns. "If they do, then 99% of humanity will die."

[Sakura]

She considered that a moment, then she glanced at Raisho a moment, and she frowned. "Access to Aradia has been blocked? How odd that I came though then, though perhaps it's more that in part, I belong to both worlds."

She glanced at the preparations for the various fortifications, and then at the indications of demons working their way across Siberia.

"I am not sure how much help I can be in building shelters, though I suppose I can offer my aid there if you need it. However, dealing with some of those demons, that is the sort of thing I was trained for."

[Justin OOC]

"For the moment, the demons are not important."

It was an unheard of comment for an Aradian to utter.

"This world may not last the week, if their fleet makes it past us, nothing will survive."

He looks dor and agitated.

Masane frowns. "They will find a way to stop that Raisho."

There was calm assurance in her voice.

"Our access to Aradia is blocked one way. Aradians could come here, but they could not go back from here. Also where they'd come out is almost totally random. I don't know how it could be done, but even my Tenseiga cannot allow passage."

[Sakura]

She frowned, then she looked back and forth between both of them. "Then how can I help? It sounds as though it would be best if I could join the others you have sent, but I take it that isn't possible? I am no engineer, or architect, I am warrior trained, to be a guardian against evil. I can attack these ships, if they come, but even then, I am not sure what good I am to you here."

[Justin OOC]

Masane nods. "I understand." She looks to Raisho. "Give her a team to take with her into Siberia." She forestalled his protests. "I believe in Kai, so I will plan for the future."

She looked to Sakura. "I'll give you a few of our soldiers and a translator, and a dropship. Track the demons and find their base of operations, or just kill as many as you can."

She shakes her head. "I can't spare much more than a single team, but your mission is to find their base and report to us. When the others come home, we'll take care of that problem for good this time."

[Sakura]

"That is something that I can do." She paused a moment, to consider what else she might be able to do. "When the others return, please let me know, we can either join forces and continue my mission, or carry out the next task that must be seen to."

[Justin OOC]

Her Five person team seemed young, no older than her, but each was clad in irridescent green and black Mjolnir armor, and only when they spoke could she tell them apart.

The leader was Kelly-087, then there was the weapon expert Grace-063, Communication specialist Randal-071, followed by close combat specialists Eric-091 and Ajax-004.

They were armed to the teeth with weapons Sakura had never seen before. They had the ship ready to go and awaited her orders.

"We have reports of a large group of Demons in the Ural mountain range, I suggest we start their, Agent Sakura." Grace's voice was deadpan and stiff, showing immense amounts of training.

[Sakura]

She looked them over a moment, then she nodded slightly, but she also wanted more information about her team. Still, best to learn on the way, by doing, rather then waiting or hesitating. "Very good, then, let's go... as we do, you can brief me on your weapons and armor, and individual capabilities. Also, who is the pilot, how are we getting there? Also, I've no idea where to go for our ship, so you'll need to direct me there also."

[Justin OOC]

They led her to the ship and Randal sat at the controls. They were cleared to launch, and did so, beginning the six hour flight to the Ural Mountains.

In that time, Grace gave her a complete rundown on teir equipment.

Five Satoshi battle rifles, four energy swords, two stunsticks, about thirty grenades, some Flashbang, some fragmentation, some smoke, and a couple low yield plasma. Grace carried a portable rocket launcher with six rounds, in addition to the light mortar with six rounds. Rounding out the laod were a pair of shotguns and each of them had M-6 pistols. It seemed like alot, but Grace assured her they were used to carrying more.

"This is a light load considering this is recon. We brough a little heavy gear in case we need to extricate ourselves fast, but if this were serious, and major, there'd be thirty more people and alot more heavy."

She never dropped her formal tone, it was slightly disturbing.

[Sakura]

She listened closely to what Grace had to tell her, but she frowned slightly at her formal tone. Sakura reached out and put a hand on the Grace's shoulder, attempting to be somewhat friendly.

"Relax, please, I believe we'll be working together for a while, and I would like us all to be friends, or at least on good terms if nothing else." She considered the others in the unit, looking around a moment. "that applies to everyone here, actually."

[Justin OOC]

They didn't visibly relax, but Sakura could feel as though they had. Kelly nodded to the others. "We've got a little time, let's enjoy the time out of the suits, Helmets at least. Randal, leave yours on, I'll fly us back, so you can have it off then."

"Roger Kelly."

Each of them removed their helmets. Kelly was a caucasian blonde with sharp blue eyes, and her face spoke of her youth, she could be no more than eighteen. Grace was redhead, her hair cut fairly short, her freckles plainly visible. her emerald green eyes hinted mischief. Eric and Ajax were suprisingly Asiatic despite their names. Each had brown eyes and black hair, but Ajax had a scar over his right eye. it looked like he should have lost it, yet it was still there."

"So are you really an Aradian like Cpatain Ishiyama?"

[Sakura]

She smiled, then held up her palm turning it sideways. "Half, the other half is human, my mother is fully human, though she possessed some unusual capabilities, as a demon hunter." Then she winced, and her manner turned a bit sorrowful, and she looked down a moment. "Though she's dead now, and I wasn't here to help... maybe I could have made a difference."

[Justin OOC]

Kelly nodded. "She died in the Rain didn't she?"

Her voice spoke of loss too. "Our ships decimated the fleet that did it, and now the remains serve as part of Satoshi. Captain nagare killed their leader in single combat, and they pledged to serve us as needed."

"Most of them weren't involved with bombardment, but it doesn't make it easy. Of course the general populace doesn't know that part of where the ships came from."

Grace nods. "Half-Aradian eh? there's alot of halfbreeds in the CRT's.Some people have issues with it, I've always thought anything that makes us stronger.."

Eric nods. "Can't judge a person by their heritage. They can't control it, so long as they fight to protect Earth and her people I'll fight alongside them."

Ajax nodded. "Lady Masane is essentially three quarter demon because of the witchblade, yet she's our leader for now. Captain Nanamura trusts her, as does the Head Captain, that's enough for me."

[Sakura]

She listened to their replies a moment, and then she smiled slightly. "Actually, according to my father, my human blood gives me potentials that a pure blooded Asrai simple doesn't have."

She paused a moment. "And potentials pure blooded humans don't have either, on the other side of the equation... though I'm not sure exactly which is which. I'm simply myself, though I suppose, if you'd like a run down of my capabilities, I could cover that?"

[Justin OOC]

Kelly nods. "That would be nice, it's good to know who you're fighting alongside."

[Sakura]

"Let's see..I'm combat trained, mostly with regards to hand to hand, and melee, and the sword I bear can enhance that further... I know a few powerful mystical attacks.. I can fly close to 1000 kilometers an hour.. which in case your wondering, is about 16 and 1/2 a minute, I can lift a number of tons, and my skin is hard enough to take small arms fire." Was counting things off as she spoke. "Some of my spells are area affect, though I have a number of alternatives."