Densetsu no Batoru Part 1: Legends Awaken!

[RoxxyRobofox]

These characters and this story would not stop running around in my mind so now it's your problem! Enjoy and look forward to updates later.

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Doctor Jotun and his colleagues walked hurriedly through the halls leading towards the testing chamber where after five years of sleepless nights and soul-draining labor, they would finally see the completed fruits of their labor in action. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the final leg of our project.” Jotun said in a strong, rolling voice. His colleagues nodded dutifully as they walked but remained silent. “We have put aside cultural differences and rivalries and combined our efforts to create something extraordinary. No matter what happens in this room today, we all have something to be proud of.”

One of his colleagues, a horned man with deep red flesh and a thick, reptilian tail, adjusted the cuffs of his lab coat. “Yes, yessssss, this is all very nice talk but let's not forget that if the project fails that the Kira system is doomed.” Dr. Frost furrowed his thick, bushy brows.

“We're well aware of that, Doctor Agni. I have faith in our work, however.” Jotun stared from behind thick spectacles. Agni hissed, wringing his palms as he shot Jotun a hostile glare.

“Convictionsssss alone will not save our sysssstem.”

The doors to the testing chamber hissed open, whirring dully as they slid into the walls. The team of scientists and engineers shuffled through the door. Jotun and Agni broke off from the pack and approached three figures covered in white sheets standing in the center of what looked like a large chrome arena. Several obvious trap doors were lined on the steel floor in various areas and on the far left of the room was a booth outfitted with monitoring equipment. It was here the rest of the team dispersed to, taking positions and firing up equipment.

“Thissss android is the fighter that we, the thermavore people have developed, with assssistance from our collaboration with the rest of the Kira sysssstem.” He reached out with a clawed hand and tore the white cloth away. A woman was revealed, with black horns angling upwards from her temples. She had short black hair and deep red skin made from fine scales. Her tail was long and thick, and her eyes were golden with thin iris slits that stared ahead lifelessly. She wore a sleeveless black top and baggy pants that were tucked into pointed boots. As she was uncovered, her eyes glowed brightly, the neutral look on her face quickly replaced with a frown. “Ifrita unit online. I am ready to kill.”

Jotun stroked his thick beard and nodded solemnly. “A dangerous weapon to be sure. The next android
was made with only minimal input from our teams. The fereian people are reclusive and we were surprised that they even wanted to collaborate at all.”

Agni tapped his chin and nodded. “Desssperate times, doctor.”

“Indeed. But yes, here's the fighter they sent us.” Jotun pulled off the second sheet, revealing a short figure standing just above five feet tall. Flat chested but wide hipped, this figure was covered in thin brown fur and sported white, straight hair that hung to shoulder length. The fighter's head was topped with a pair of fuzzy, pointy ears. A long, white t-shirt that just barely covered a pair of jean-shorts, thick work gloves, and a heavy pair of hiking boots was the outfit this warrior was clad in. Serval's head tilted upwards with a faint whir, teal eeys flickering rapidly as data scrolled along them. “Serval online. AI mounted... Uhm, h-hi.”

“Looks frail. Let'ssss hope she doesn't hold the others back.”

“Hrrm.” Jotun pursed his lips and moved on to the final figure. “This fighter represents the collaboration of the Arret Alliance. Our combined research, knowledge and every breakthrough in design and engineering has culminated in this, our finest specimen.” He pulls the third sheet away to reveal a woman that would be considered human in a distant land. Her spiky, bright red hair was done in a ponytail and hung halfway down her back. She wore a blue fighting robe tied with a white belt. White armbands covered her wrists, and even powered off as she was, her green eyes seemed quite bright. With the sheet removed, her body hummed top life and she smiled brightly. ”Lynne is online and ready to battle!”

“Thisssss one is enthusiastic.” Agni clicked his tongue. And his ridged brows furrowed. “But is she powerful enough to back it up?”

“I'm certain once you see her in action, Agni, that even your high standards will be satisfied.” Jotun walked back towards the monitoring equipment. Agni shuffled along a foot behind, looking between Jotun and the androids that were lined up. The crew manning the monitoring equipment reported back and forth in stern tones. Jotun turned towards the androids, folded his hands behind his back, and gave undivided attention to the arena.

One of the scientists turned towards Jotun and Agni. “On your command.”

Jotun nodded. “Begin the sequence and activate the combat drones. Let's put these girls through their paces.”

The team flipped switches and monitored energy output. Meters superimposed over schematics of the three androids rose and updated in real time. The three figures in the arena stirred, lifting their heads as their eyes flared brightly for a moment.

The trap doors in the arena floor slid open and platforms began to rise. Each platform held several combat drones; spindly machines whose limbs ended in crushing bludgeons covered in spikes. In all there were a dozen of these and the metallic humanoids whirred dully as they began to shuffle towards the three fighters, arms lifted as they prepared to strike.

From his position, Jotun called out to the girls. “Lynne! Ifrita! Serval! This is the first test we will be doing of your systems. Your objective is to destroy these combat drones. They're programmed to fight at full capacity so don't hold back!”

Lynne turned to look towards Jotun and yelled out confidently. “Not a problem, boss!” Turning her attention back towards the approaching drones, she balled her hands into fists, rushed towards the closest target... then froze. “Error, combat program cannot be loaded. File not found! Wha-” Lynne was cut off by the brutal swing of a combat drone slamming its spiked mace into her head, Her neck made a troubling buzz as she stumbled from the blow, her eyes flickering.

“What? What happened?” Jotun said, looking towards his crew. The people at the monitors were in the middle of a panic as they started pulling up data files, sifting through code and scratching their chins in thought.

“Jotun, sir, it appears that the combat AI we developed for unit Lynne is... gone!”

Things weren't looking any better in the arena. Ifrita lashed her tail and scoffed at Lynne, who was frantically dodging attacks in an attempt to not get her head knocked off. “Pathetic. Fortunately for you, I am at full capacity, which means this demonstration is almost over.” She turned her sharp gaze towards the drones advancing on her and held her hands out to her sides. Red flames wreathed her arms and she sprung towards them.

“These insects are no match for thermavore technological superiority. Get ready to- Error, combat program not found.” She stopped her advance, her eyes went wide and the flames immediately dispersed from her body. “I... I can not decide how to start! What's happening?” The combat drones closed in on her, and began to attack. Ifrita was too slow to dodge the blow coming for her gut and as the blow landed, she bent forward, icy blue sparks firing from her ears. A second drone swung into an uppercut, catching her full on the face. One of her golden optics shattered as she was knocked flat on her back.

Serval wasn't doing much better. “I'm not ready! I'm not ready! C-combat programs cannot be loaded!” Despite Serval's protests the drones continued to try and advance. Serval's motors sounded out as she broke into a full sprint, trying to outrun the drones with pure speed. It worked quite well! Her body was a blur as she raced away from her attackers, but another group had just finished off fighting Lynne. One of the drones knocked Lynne's head clean off with a devastating blow and sent it in a sparking arc. Lynne collapsed and the drones moved to cut Serval off.

Serval held her hands up, her fingers arching with electricity. A glowing honeycomb pattern appeared in front of her, deflecting their attacks. Just as she had defended herself however, the drones chasing her had caught up, and one swung right into her back. Her shirt tore open and a back panel was bashed in with a blast of fizzling current. Inside sparking systems sparked and popped. She fell to her knees and her eyes went dim.

All three androids had been laid out in under a minute of fighting. Lynne's head had been removed from her shoulders, the neck joint sparking from sheared wiring. Ifrita laid on her back, a hole in her stomach showing damaged components. Serval was on her knees with an open back panel, smoking from her ears.

Agni turned to Jotun and hissed angrily. “What happened?! Thossssse were supposed to be our besssst hope against Genes! They fight like firssssst graders!” He reached out to grab Jotun by the collar of his sweater and dragged him in to glare into his eyes.

Jotun gripped Agni's wrists and pulled his clawed hands away. “Agni. The combat programs we developed were somehow deleted.”

“Backupsssss! There's no way we don't have them!”

Another engineer from the monitoring station looked over. “They're gone. The backups are gone, and the available memory had been written over with trash. The data's gone.”

Agni hissed. “Then we shall ssssimply write new programming! We can-”

Again Jotun cut him off. “Each android had combat programming that developed with their AI over the last five years. They're not drones, so we cannot simply make a program and plug it into them. It would not function anywhere near as effectively.”

Throwing his hands up in frustration and with nothing more to say, Agni shoved his way past Jotun and stormed off. “Foolssss! We've been doomed by your incompetence!” The doors to the testing chamber slammed loudly behind him as he left.

Jotun rubbed the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut,. He could already feel a migraine bubbling in the front of his head and the flesh under his eyes briefly shuddered. After a moment to collect his thoughts, he turned to the rest of his team. “Alright. Have the androids repaired and then meet me in the meeting chamber in an hour. I'll go collect Agni and we'll...” He wanted to say they'd come up with something and that the plan would continue. However, after the loss of years of combat protocols, he was unsure he still had faith. Begrudgingly, he admitted to himself that in a way, Agni was right. His convictions alone wouldn't save them.

An hour passed.

In the maintenance bay the three androids were laid in beds that wouldn't look out of place in a hospital. Lynne's bed was flanked on either side by Serval's and Ifrita's, and dozens of wires were plugged into open panels each android. Lynne's head had been reattached, though the covering on her neck was still removed, exposing thick cables and mechanical joints. She tossed and turned as much as the wiring that connected her to the room's monitoring equipment would allow, then glanced towards Ifrita. “So... haha. That didn't go very well, huh?”

Ifrita didn't respond. She didn't even look over at Lynne as she laid with her arms at her sides, her maintenance gown pulled up so wiring and tools could be plugged into the gaping, occasionally sparking hole in her stomach. Ifrita laid deal still, staring at the ceiling and frowning in silence.

Lynne waited a few moments for a response, the dull hum of machinery in the room accentuating the ever more awkward silence. Wincing at herself, she turned to look over at Serval. “Oh hey! So uh. How're you doing?”

Serval laid on her front and the gown she wore was parted enough that her back panel was able to be accessed. The busted components within were sorted out for the most part and she was online. Lynne's voice startled her and her ears perked up as she turned her head towards the voice. “I... I'm doing well, c-considering what happened. I'm sorry. W-when my combat program failed I panicked. I... I'm sorry.”

Lynne waved it off and shook her head, causing the exposed neck joints to keen silently. “It's fine! I think we all sorta panicked, yeah? But it's not our fault the program wasn't there. I think we did the best we could considering the situation.” She reached out, offering Serval a hand to shake. “I'm Lynne! It's nice to meet ya.”

Serval's furry ears pinned back, tail tucking in close as the hand approached her. She stared for a moment as if unsure what to do, then reached out to take it. “S...Serval? I think we're already programmed with each other's identities though... O-oh, did your memory systems get broken, too?”

“Hmm? Oh, naah. I figured it'd just be friendly to like, actually introduce ourselves since we'll be working together.” She shook Serval's hand firmly, then turned towards Ifrita. “So what about you, huh?” Lynne smiled brightly and offered the scowling android a hand to shake.

Ifrita actually looked over at the offered hand. She made no other movement though. Just when it seemed like she wanted to remain silent again, she spoke to Lynne in a quiet but angry tone. “Leave me alone.” Lynne slowly withdrew her hand and rubbed her shoulder.

“Sorry, Ifrita. I just-”

“You just had your head knocked off by a training dummy. You should be less concerned with making friends and focus instead on the fact that we failed our primary function so badly that robots used for target practice by rookie soldiers handily turned us into the system's most expensive pile of mechanical trash.”

Serval winced and buried her head into her pillow, while Lynne pursed her lips and yelled. “You don't have to be a jerk, you know! You're acting like we're total write-offs!” Ifrita actually sat up a bit, propped up on her elbows. She glowered at Lynne and flicked her ling, thick tail.

“You've just been beaten by the lowest rank of combatant. Instead of analyzing the weaknesses in your performance, you're fooling around with unnecessary introductions while the kitten is trying to hide her face in fear. I am perhaps salvageable but you and the fereian are fundamentally flawed.”

Serval squeezed her eyes shut and trembled, her furry tail coiled around her leg. Lynne grit her teeth and sat up, gripping the sheets of her bed so hard her hands trembled. “What?! We have just as much strength as you! As a matter of fact, Serval lasted longer than both of us, and YOU were taken out first!”

Ifrita's eyes widened, and she bared her teeth angrily. “Watch the tone you take with me, Lynne. I can do far worse things than a combat drone.”

“I totally agree! You definitely do things far worse than combat drones do. Like win fights.”

For a moment, red flames singed through Ifrtia's gown and Lynne leaned forward, hands propped on the edge of the bed as if a moment away from launching herself at the thermavore android. Serval squeaked and covered her head with the pillow, trembling powerfully as she tried to shut the imminent fight out of her senses. However, just before things got out of hand, the doors to the repair bay opened. Ifrita's red flames cooled and Lynne leaned back into her bed. Serval remained buried under blankets and pillows.

Jotun and Agni walked through the open doors and into the room. Agni was staring at his clawed feet, tail whipping about with agitation. Jotun took a few steps past him and clasped his hands together. “I see you three are back in one piece after what happened in the test chamber today. We're glad you're functional.”

Lynne offered Jotun a smile. “Oh yeah, we're doing alright. Uh, but I'm really sorry about failing the test. My combat program didn't load though...”

Jotun nodded. “You can not be blamed for your performance. It was an unforeseeable software issue. Fortunately, we have come to a solution for it.”

Ifrita crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly, giving Jotun a sideways glance. “You are going to restore our combat data from a backup.” She sounded less like she was making a suggestion and more like she was making a demand. At that, Agni bared his teeth and hissed.

“The backupsssss were compromised. Nothing remainsssss of those programs. The solution the board hasss come up with is idiotic and dessssperate but no other viable optionsssss remain.”

Jotun looked between Agni and the androids. “The solution Agni is referring to is admittedly not optimal. We have decided that the only way for you to reach anywhere close to the potential you had before those combat programs were deleted is to go and train under the person we asked to help us design them. He is a great warrior named Kroken.”

Lynne sat up, leaning forward with excitement in her eyes. “Kroken? He's a legend, isn't he? Like, defeated a hundred warriors all by himself and didn't have a scratch on him!”

Ifrita rolled her eyes and drummed her fingers against her biceps. “That sounds made up. Organics are not that str-MMMF!” Lynne threw a pillow at her and had made a direct hit. She smiled smugly as Ifrita tore the thing in half and sent fluffy stuffing everywhere.

Agni's tail thumped against the ground and the sound drew the girls' attention back towards him. “The sssship you three will be provided has basic comfortsss and automated maintenance stations fitted into it. You will alsssso find a training room and a program with bassssic martial arts studies to help you get up to speed on your trip. We expect you'll reach Kroken in about two monthssss. Then you will have eight more monthsss to regain your former strength before time is up and your enemy arrivesssss.”

“Great! We're going on an adventure then! I can't wait!” Lynne's voice was sharp and cheerful. Ifrita looked considerably less amused. Serval poked her head out from her hiding spot, finally able to will herself to speak. “S... so when do we leave?”

“The moment your repairs are completed. I'll meet you all at the airstrip and your ship will take off for Kroken's moon. I wish you all the best of luck.”

As Jotun turned to leave, Agni did as well but not before leaving a parting comment. “Don't fail usssss again! We won't be wasting resourcessss on fixing failuressss.” With that, the doors closed behind the scientists.

Lynne looked over at Serval and bounced, practically vibrating with excitement. “Didya hear that? We're going out on a trip to learn how to fight from a real master! Isn't this gonna b-” This time though, it was her turn to get cut off. As the pillow Ifrita threw struck her in the back of the head, wiring tore strand by strand until her neck joints popped loose, bolts tumbling everywhere. Sparking from a few ruined wires, Lynne's head tumbled into her lap upside down, eyes crossed. “Error. Unexpected hardware disconnect. Error. E-error...”

“Finally. A reprieve from your prattling.” Ifrita actually allowed herself to smirk, then laid back and relaxed her arms at her sides. She did have to admit though, she was intrigued to see if this Kroken could make her stronger and wanted to test the limits of her potential.

It's going to be an interesting year.

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Part 2: Legendary Pirate Interrobang!?

[DukeNukem 2417]

NICE! I definitely feel an anime influence from this one.....methinks I'll be following it for a good long while.

[Yop]

Really looking forward to reading some more parts!

[LongTimeLurker]

Intriguing - I'm looking forward to seeing how this relationship develops!

But the lizard + cat + human alliance is going to need a much better backup plan.

[Patashu]

Oh man, this exceeded expectations! Really cool how we've got equal parts fighting, robotic humiliation and character/world development going on here. Even without a real antagonist yet there's still a lot of meaningful banter going on. I hope Serval gets a moment to shine at some point btw, can't have her being shy ALL the time~