A Brave New World (Full)

[_Nialla_Daugherty]

Daphene collected herself when a knock on the door derailed her train of thought. She blinked to awareness and stood up, making her way to the door. She peeked through the eye hole to discover the mail man holding a small metal box. Unlocking the door, Daphene wiped any remaining surprise off her face and replaced it with a relaxing smile.

"Hello there," she said, opening the door slowly.

The mail man smiled and said, "Is this the residence of Daphene Lopez?"

Daphene nodded. The mail man reached into his pocket and retrieved a small, electrical green pad. He handed it to Daphene as he prepared to hand her the metal box. Daphene accepted the pad, and with her finger, signed her name. The screen blinked a couple of times with the message "Processing.." A few seconds later it read "Accepted". Daphene handed back the pad in exchange for the metal box. After waving goodbye, Daphene shut the door.

She proceeded to lock every lock, shut every window, and turn off any lights. She brought the box to her room, the light from the TV screen the only light available. She set the box on the floor and went to her bed. Lifting up the mattress, she picked one key from many that hid in the bed frame. After she retrieved the key, she picked up the box and placed it on her bed. There were a couple of locks, each requiring a key. Daphene carefully unlocked both locks and continued to open the box.

Inside the box was a hardcover books. Books had been banned from the Baridya to cast away even the existance of the Surface World. Books were very very rare and extremely hard to get ahold of. All reading was done via computer. This was Daphene's third book.

Without even reading the cover, she opened the book, feeling the texture of each page. Pictures of animals and... green plant life she had never seen before were on several pages. She even found the same brown pole with fluffs of green that showed on TV. It was called a tree.

__________________________________________________________

(Pic up soon!!)

Two soldiers were always stationed at the ends of cave communities. This was to keep both cave dwellers in and surface barbarians out. Who knows what diseases the surface could hold.. with all that radiation... It would surely lead to uncertain doom if Baridya was exposed to such a thing.

The soldiers required to patrol Baridyan borders wore gasmasks to protect them from any radiation if a surface dweller did happen to venture into the caves. Every inch of their bodies was covered with clothing to protect them. Only military had access to firearms, and border patrol used FN P90s. They were small, easy and comfortable to carry, and a 50 round magazine is always nice.

Rodney was a perfectly brain washed soldier. He never asked any questions, he only did what he was told. He was certain that only destruction would come from the Surface World, which was why he gladly accepted to rid any wondering surface barbarians or ill minded cave dwellers.

Rodney's partner was off to look for some snacks when heard tapping against the cave surface. He stood perfectly still and looked down the caves. Boarder patrol eyes are more superior in the dark than any other cave dwellers. He stared down the hallow cave and captured a silhouette. The figure didn't seem to carry any fire arms... let alone anything dangerous except for the staff that it tapped about.

He took careful steps as the figure continued to walk forward. As it got closer, Rodney was able to make out the figure's features. It was a man who barely looked like a threat. As the man walked passed Rodney, he began to follow him, the barrel of the P90 aimed at the back of his head.

After sometime the man called out. As soon as he did, Rodney cocked the submachine gun. "You are trespassing. You will have to leave this area and return to wherever you came from, or suffer consequences. This is my only warning."

[Vishra Shae]

"Quiet strange for a man to threaten another, don't you think?" Fajin asked slowly turning his body towards the direction the voice had come from. "I had no intention of causing problems and would have gladly discussed the situation with you." he add with an obvious infection towards the passed tense, "But it seems that you are quite bent on either my destruction at your hands or the storms, this of course fairs poorly for me either way." Fajin was simply stalling for time as he zeroed in on the man. "Then again you seem somewhat reasonable for you didn't shoot me on sight, so I think it only fair to tell you to cover your ears." Even as he was finishing his sentence his extra lungs were full of densely pressurized air. When the last words passed through his Fajin opened his different thought allowing the extremely compact air to pass through a mutated larynx.

The result was an ear shattering noise and burst of wind. The sonic vibrations shook the loose stones and dust in the cave and the burst of air was so powerful that it forced Fajin to dig his heels into the ground, but that was not enough and the force pushed him backwards anyway. Lastly the noise rang through the cave and began to amplify as countless echos reverberated back to him. Together the echos sounded like the cacophony of sirens, gunfire, and bombs all at once. It was so horrible even Fajin covered his ears in pain.

After a moment of audible anguish Fajin began to stagger the direction he was going assured he could not be followed by the now possibly dead but more likely stunned person. As the seconds passed he picked up more and more speed, until he reached a full sprint which he maintained for an strangely long period of time due to him extra intake of oxygen. It wasn't until he was almost in the city that he saw it. When the sight finally registered within his mind it seemed to melt his brain. He simply stood in awe at the illuminated wonder before him. It was like the pictures in he books back at the monastery yet different in many ways. Still Fajin had never seen anything like it in his life. After a few minutes of slack jawed staring Fajin was forced to run further towards the city, lest he be caught by the lunatic farther up in the caves.

[The_Jere_Bear]

Jerimiah woke up to a loud bang. When he heard it he shot up with his father's rusty hunting knife. Without his glasses he couldn't see anything, and hearing the echoes, he realised it was just a loud sound... Probably someone who got too curious about the surface world had been shot by a guard. It often echoed from such events. He was often paranoid at strange loud sounds though, and had grabbed the knife because of it.

He put down the knife, groped for his glasses, then flicked on his bedroom light before he put said glasses on. He went to his TV and flipped it on. Nothing was on on the few chanels there were. So he decided to step into his tiny basement and shoot his old Daisy BB gun... "Maybe it'll work for me today," he hoped to himself.

[Miruku to Koneko]

Lynn sat, staring. The end of this class; her grades, they were none of her concern.
It's up there, she thought to herself, I'll go someday. All I need is science.

The teacher, a tall man nearing a staggering seven feet tall smacked her desk with a ruler. "Miss
Uotani! Pay attention when I speak to you!" His wiry-looking body jerked oddly with every syllable.

Does this man ever close his mouth? I've been listening to him preach this story to us for over
an hour. She didn't even glance up at him, simply stared blankly at the dry-erase board, now
glowing light blue with the projector's light. Bold white letters were stamped in an anciently ugly
font. She hadn't cared to see what it said.

"I'm sorry, but I'm sending you to the principal's office now, Miss Uotani... Get your backpack,
books and assignment." The class giggled. Names like 'freak' and 'loser' came from the rear of
the room.

She silently picked up her things and walked out the door, eyes fixed robotically. As she shut
the heavy wooden door behind her, she turned sharply down the hall, exactly the opposite way
from the principal's office, and out the school door into the absolute breezeless air.

"Wind is up there, too...." she mumbled under her breath, wondering what it would be like to
stand in the giant currents of air. A thousand times better than the fan on my ceiling, she
told herself before jumping lightly down the steps and towards her home.

[_Nialla_Daugherty]

Rodney's voice echoed in every boarder patrol and back up unit's walkies. "East side...breech...requesting backup..." Rodney's voice trembled. He coughed a couple of times before he continued, then hesitated briefly. "Suspect is ...is armed.. with a staff, but... he's a hell of a lot more dangerous with out it."

Chase was coming back with some white, blind salamanders. They were a typically a tastey snack for the long, usually boring hours patrolling the cave boarders. It was when a loud chaotic boom in Rodney's direction was heard that he had dropped the salamanders and readied his weapon behind some stalagmites.

He was able to make out a bald man, sprinting toward him. The city was just in the man's reach; Chase could not let the outsider have passage. With out warning, Chase opened fire, his bullets surrounding the intruder.

___________________________________________________________


Daphene's fingers ceased to flip pages. Her intestines coiled when she heard a loud explosion on the east side... where what sounded like was a boarder patrol area. Her ears remained perk, trying to distinguish any other sounds.

"Attention Barydians," the anchor suddenly seemed to raise his voice. Daphene's eyes peered up at the screen. Footage of the East side boarder patrol region was looped on the screen. Many boarder patrol units, as well as heavier equipped soldiers, made their way to the area. "...not to worry," the anchor man's voice said after catching Daphene's full, undivided attention. "We may possibly have another extension and boarder patrol is simply keeping escavators safe from unknown cave territory." The anchor man continued on but Daphene refued to listen.

That's the East side boarder.. no way there would be an extention to what they think is near an exit of the caves.

Daphene shut the book and pushed her bed slightly. After folding over a rug that took over a large portion of her room, she removed bits of cave rock, begining to reveal a metal save She dragged out the safe with a number pad lock on its face. After entering a code, the safe opened, revealing two other books. She grabbed the one on her bed, placed it in the safe, and shut the safe. Placing it back where she found it, she immediatley put the rocks, the rug, and her bed back to normal.

When she finished putting her book away, she shut off the TV and grabbed the couple of knives that sat on top of them. Placing one in each of her garters, she walked through her hallway, and exited the front door.

She had to see what the hell was really going on.

[The_Jere_Bear]

Jeremiah was about to load his BB gun and start firing it when he heard shots. "Jesus Christ, what is going on out there?" he said aloud to himself. He went over and grabbed his father's old 30/30 rifle. It wasn't allowed but he quickly dusted it off, still in good condition, loaded some bullets, and stepped up stairs.

He peared out, living close to the east entrance was always fun. He never knew when he'd actually have to fight off a surface dwelling intruder or two... But he wasn't taking chances.

He saw a bald man, with what he remembered from the history book from the surface his grandfather had grabbed before heading down here, to look sort of like a buddhist monk or something of the sort. "What the hell?" he whispered, "I thought the buddists had all died in the war? And even if not, those clothes aren't from around here." He took aim, hiding behind his door, ready to fire in a moments notice.

[Miruku to Koneko]

Lynn listened attentively to the thundering noise. Yeah, a surface dweller... she thought silently,
I bet...if I could meet them....
She slowly turned her head in the direction the terrible sound had come from. "I'll go. Yes."

She broke into a full sprint, shedding her pack, shawl and books.
This opportunity may never come again..., she told herself, turning a sharp corner and running yet
harder to force herself up a hill. "I'll go to the surface. I have science! All I need is someone's help!"

Hearing more shots fired, she turned the next corner at breakneck pace, and opened her wings full
span.

"NO!"

[Vishra Shae]

As Fajin tried to continue a number of loud shots stopped him dead. He turned his head just in time to catch a small projectile in his arm. The sheer force of the bullet threw his small frame a few feet. Fajin let loose a yelp as the pain racked his wound, he pulled his arm close to him and caught himself using his staff. The result made a strangely beautiful display. He would have tried to blow them away with his strange gift but he had just been sprinting and had not had time to fill his lungs with air.

In this difficult situation he thought it best to flee, and Fajin did so, in a manner so elegant that it dazzled the eyes to view it. He used his staff to pole vault himself into the air, using his good arm he pushed himself even more vertical. He balanced himself for a fraction of a second before pulling the staff away only to land on his feet. He then spun his staff quickly and using his fall's momentum Fajin slammed his wooded staff into the earth. It bent a little bit at first but it snapped back throwing a large amount of dust and other small particles into a makeshift smokescreen, and while under this cover Fajin ran quickly into the city, to find a place to hide. This time he used only to of his lungs for breathing and began quickly filling the other two with pressurized air in case more of these increasingly violent people where to attempt to harm him again.

[Miruku to Koneko]

This wasn't good. More noises meant more trouble.
This isn't gonna happen. I'll be killed for this, but I won't care. The surface is the goal, she told
herself again. No shame in dying for what I care about.

Her outstretched wings flapped hard against the still air. It'll be easier to fly there, too. The wind
will help keep me aloft, she thought, but this is what I have to work with for now.

Taking off from the top of a hill, she managed to sustain flight, and quickly gained extra altitude.
That cloud! That's where he is, I know it, she reassured herself, tilting her body towards the
destination and controlling her flight.

[_Nialla_Daugherty]

Daphene made it outside her door just in time to catch a cloud of smoke by the East entrance. She squinted to try and make out...anything. All she could see from her home was a swarm of soldiers and a quick figure. Did I just see that..? Daphene descended from her home down to where curious crowds gathered.

"Nothing to see here, ladies and gentlemen," announced a boarder patrol officer. "Please return to what you were doing. Thank you."

As the everyday mindless crowd muttered in a language that could only be interpreted as "Okay," Daphene continued to get as close as she possibly could without causing trouble. She dashed behind some stalagmites, her ears perked and listening in radio conversations.

"I've lost sight of the suspect. I shot that son of a b***h though,over," a radio echoed. A soldier ducked his head and spoke into his own. "Copy. Is he armed, over?"
Daphene gathered that it was a man. A frail, bald man. But... a man... from the Surface World...

Soldiers continued to monitor the area, shoeing any loiterers and searching the area for their "suspect". Daphene only wondered what kind of lame a** excuse was all over the TV.

[DestroyerX]

Zero had been walking for quite some time while all of the events were unfolding on the surface world, he had caught some chatter on a old busted radio he had found awhile back. Some words crackled up because of the age of the radio, so all he could hear from it was. 'Suspect...son of a...bald...armed...' ...it just struck Zero in a state of confusion, was the radio malfunctioning or were they talking about a suspect that was the son of a bald armed whatever. Humanoids...a strange creature to some certain extent, but they were handling their own problems on their own so he shouldn't interfere even if he was close enough to helping.

He kept walking and walking until finally he looked to see a small town, or at least what it seemed was the ruins of it. Suddenly his right eye turns green as he begins to look left and right examining the ruins from his point of view. He couldn't really scan any life forms from where he was as his right eye returns to normal, 'No lifeforms...proceed...' He thought to himself as he began to walk towards the town as the wind began to pick up alittle, making his cloak flap with the wind while he ventured towards the town in hopes of finding some data as to what his purpose was and what the heck was going on here. He then approached a building filled with vines, though he named it the L building since all that was left of the sign was half a L. He walked up to what looked like the doors as he pushes on it softly with his right hand...nothing happens. He pushes the door a tad bit harder hoping that that would open it...no effect, finally he decided that the vines holding the door in place would keep the door from opening, which meant he would have to force his way in.

"Photosyntic lifeforms...you will have to forgive me for my actions..." The Reploid softly said as he held up his right hand, suddenly the sounds of gears turning was heard as the inside of his hand suddenly opens up and moves the pieces of his right hand around until it made the shape of a hand cannon...which is what it was actually. The hand cannon begins to glow as he aims it right at the door, after a few seconds of charging his attack, he closes his left eye as his right eye began to glow green again. "Target...fire." He softly said, which was the que as a somewhat small sized fireball shoots out of the handcannon and hits the vined door with just enough force to break it off the hinges and burn the vines off of it. As his right hand reverts back to normal he makes his way up to the door, pushing the doors down with his shoulder as he entered the building. He looked around to see that it was like the inside of a small forest...his search for data wouldn't be easy in this building.

[Vishra Shae]

Fajin continued to run towards the city, his attention centered on evasion. His efforts were somewhat successful at first but at one point he was cornered by a pair of dim witted soldiers. The result of this brief encounter ended very poorly for the two of them. It amused Fajin because he finally had a reason to let loose and use his training.

The time seemed to stand still as Fajin reached the underground city, his arm was bleeding profusely leaving a trail that no doubt the guards were using to follow him, and to add to his troubles the loss of blood was reducing his speed and the arm wound was racking his entire body with pain. His strenuous activities were slowing and his feet began to drag slightly, it was just a matter of until he would be captured. So he did the only intelligent thing his clouded mind could concocted. Pointing his head directly towards the ground Fajin jumped as high as he could before letting loose the pressurized air. The force of the 'power scream' threw his body high into the sky. At the peak of his jump Fajin took a deep breath and let loose a smaller yet still powerful scream forcing him this time sideways to the top of a building.

Fajin landed hard on top of the building completely drained of strength, his eyelids began to feel heavier but he fought to the very end to stay awake. In the end he failed and fell into a deep and restful sleep.

[Miruku to Koneko]

Lynn's attentions turned to another loud blast of air and a small figure clothed in orange garments
landing on top of a building. That's him, I'll bet everything, she breathed, flying a little faster as
she saw he was injured...badly, at that.

Nearing her landing, she tilted back, wings and all, beating against inertia. Her landings were never
graceful, but they were landings, nonetheless. Coming to rest at the rooftop, she rushed, still
propelled forward by the speed of her flight, toward the injured, and apparently unconscious, man.

[The_Jere_Bear]

Jerimiah waved away some dust and smoke coming from the outsider. He felt like shooting at the guards but knew better. This man obviously had no radiation poisoning, meaning he was no threat. They just should have showed him out... Unless he didn't let them.

"He's a scrappy lil' bugger, I'll give him that," Jerimiah thought to himself. He decided to hide the gun down his back, being tall this wouldn't hinder him nor get the compact gun revealed. He saw the man fall to a building, or more so, jump/fly to it with some concussive sounds.

Jerimiah walked out, and trudged to the building, trying not to be seen by guards. Whoever this man was, he was sure there was no reason for him to die just for surviving the harsh conditions of the surface world. "I at least hope that he doesn't die before I get to him," he thought, "or at least someone else will get him, with good intentions."