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CODE:S[trat]

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CHM-Mayune
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CODE:S[trat]

Post by CHM-Mayune » Fri Jan 11, 2013 5:25 am

Summary: Three centuries ago, there were ten mystical items, called Strat, with unknown powers were created to fend off the evil, named Gartos. This evil had limitless power. Ten different individuals arrived and used these items to seal Gartos. A century ago, these items were unearthed which caused for Gartos to set free and stole five of the items to possess them with its dark powers and make them its strongest soldiers against the heroes. These heroes are called Stratters, who can use Strat. They have the mission to stop Gartos and its band of strongest soldiers once and for all.
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Chapter 01 - CODE: Prey
Riiiing... Riiiingg...

The sound of the alarm clock rang through the small room. Someone stirred and an arm raised up, hand reaching to the object. The barely awake person slumped the hands over the two bells above the alarm clock, which caused the ringing, to stop.

The person in question pushed its hands upward, which showed to be a sixteen year old female, wearing pajamas. The girl's hair flowed down freely, causing her to look like Sadako, one of The Ring's characters.

She stood up and went to the mirror, checking how her hairstyle looked like every morning. She grabbed a comb and started combing her hair and started to look well-kept. Grabbing the ponytail, she put back the comb and tied her hair and went to the door, opening it and shouted,

"Good morning!"

Her voice rang all over the house she's residing in, causing her mother, older sister, and older brother to look at her.

"Good morning." They greeted in unison.

The three were in the dining room, their mom preparing the food for them. But in the younger girl's case, she raided the fridge instead.

"Mayu, what are you going to eat?" Her mother asked in a gentle tone.

"I'll take of that."

"Same as always."

"You should try to eat proper food instead of what you can see in that fridge." Mayune's sister scolded.

"I'm in a diet." Mayune replied nonchalantly.

"Whoa. In that slim figure of yours, you're still taking diet!?" Her brother exclaimed, surprised.

Mayune turned to face her siblings, "I don't call this slim though, but if I eat heavy meals, I'll get that stupid old body back in no time."

After citing that line, she finally picked the food. It revealed to be crackers called, Soraflakes. She opened the crackers and started biting the first cracker, and looked at the clock. Her eyes widened at the short and long hands of the clock which read: 7:00 AM.

"I'M LATE!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, which her family covered their ears from the loudness.

They looked at Mayune, who is rushing to "fix" herself for school. Since she has schedule at 7:30 AM, the poor student needs to be there before the time, and the time she consumes in travel is 20 minutes.

After all that rushing, Mayune went back to the position she first went during that surprise at the time, looking at her family.

"Alright... time to go... to school." Mayune said, taking pauses due to panting for breath. Then she finally head to the door, putting on her shoes for school.

"Okay, take care." Her mother, sister, and brother said in unison.
-S-T-R-A-T- After all the trouble Mayune encountered, she can finally see the rooftop of the school she is attending, Shinnoya Gakuen. She shifted from running to walking and checked her wrist watch, the time saying: 7:20 AM.

Shinnoya Gakuen's uniform for female students consists of a white sailor cut blouse, red checkered necktie, and red skirt that reached their knees. For the male students, they wore long sleeved polo and black slacks and red necktie. Male summer uniform is only an arm-length polo.

"Wow, I must've rushed too quickly." She commented. "Oh well, time to go to my class."

She quickly went to the second floor, in the west wing of the school to get in her class, 2A. Just as she opened the door to her class, she was greeted by another girl with a large grin on her face.

"Good morning, Mayune!"

The said person being called was taken aback by what her classmate did.

"A-Alice... G-Good morning." She stuttered as she sweatdropped.

The girl who surprised Mayune, Alice, took a good look at the other. "You seem late today." She commented.

Alice had a blond hair that reached to her shoulders, bangs that covered her large forehead (which she's insulted when someone teases her with it), the back of her hair had a ponytail formed in Y, and the side of her hair was formed in braids. She also had hazel eyes.

"I woke up late," Mayune replied with an ordinary tone. "I thought it was Sunday so, yeah."

Alice doesn't seem convinced at her classmate's answer. "I think you just want to escape the quizzes today."

"Hah, me? Escaping quizzes?" Mayune questioned Alice with pride. "I'm not the type to escape quizzes."

"Then tell me what was the real reason you just came here."

"I told you, I woke up late and I thought it was Sunday."

The two were silent, having a staring competition that seemed lasted for a century. After a few minutes, Alice sighed in defeat.

"Alright, I believe you." She said. "But next time don't wake up late. Just a friendly advice."

Mayune nervously laughed at Alice's words. "Of course, this won't happen again."

The bell rang, as a signal for everyone get inside their classrooms. Their Homeroom teachers also went inside, now doing their daily preparations for the lesson.

-Lunch time-

Mayune, Alice, and the one guy, Ken'ichi, went to the cafeteria to order food for their lunch. Mayune ordered a Ramen, Alice ordered a Vegetable Salad, and Ken'ichi only ordered a Yogurt.

"That's all?" Mayune asked.

"Yeah." Ken'ichi nodded.

Ken'ichi had black spiky hair, which almost exploded in every direction, but his hairstyle senses made him style his bangs to the leftmost side and the back of his hair exploding in any direction it wished to. He also had brown eyes. His heighter is slightly taller than Mayune and Alice, with Alice only centimeters taller than Mayune.

"Are you in a diet?" Alice asked.

"Why would I be in a diet with my body looked like a skeleton, anyway?" Ken'ichi shot back.

"And what's with the Yogurt?"

"It's my favorite."

"Whoa. Can you take all that sour taste? I only eat Yogurt once a day." Mayune spoke up, looking at Ken'ichi's yogurt, which is strawberry flavored.

"Nah, I got used to it."

"Let's go in that shade." Alice interjected.

The two stopped talking and Alice pointed at the direction of the table with no one there. True to Alice's words, there was a tree above the table and the set of chair for 4 people. They quickly went there so as to no one will occupy it before them.

-A few minutes later-

They finally finished eating their lunch, and they remained their seat, as to rest after their lunch.

"Ne, Alice..." Mayune spoke up, prompting Alice to look at the former. "Your pendant is nice."

Alice trailed the look that the other gave, and noticed that she had a blue colored pendant hanging on a stainless necklace.

"Oh, thanks..." Alice said slowly.

"Where did you get it?"

"My mom just gave it to me saying that this will fit for me."

"I see."

For Alice, it was unusual for Mayune to comment something nice or beautiful... She always loved cool things and things that interest the latter that is not considered much ordinary for a girly girl.

The bell rang, a signal for the students and senseis that the lunch is over. They went to their respective classrooms and their respective subject senseis went in and finally discussed the lesson.

-After School-

"Alright, I'm going this way." Mayune said as she pointed to the west side of the school.

"Oh! So we're going the same way huh?" Ken'ichi spoke up, delighted that his classmate is also going the same way home.

"Lucky." Alice said. "Well, I'm going east from here, so, goodbye."

"Bye Alice. Take care!"

They finally separated ways. Mayune and Ken'ichi were talking about random things with sometimes the former was comically punching him in the face while the latter is trying to pull the ponytail.

"Oh, don't you dare taking that thing off or I'll shave that porcupine hair of yours." Mayune threatened.

Upon hearing the shave his hair part, Ken'ichi quickly removed his hand in fear of getting his signature hairstyle ruined.

"Besides, isn't that supposed to be forbidden within the school premises?"

"Ohh, now what are you, a seitokai chou?"

"Not really, just wondering."

"Besides, the higher ups don't even scold me for that."

"Wait for next month. I'm sure they'll check your hair."

As they reached the intersection, the street lights went from red to green. After they crossed the street passing the intersection, Ken'ichi stopped walking, prompting for Mayune to also stop.

"Well, I'll go straight here." He said, looking at the east direction.

"Alright. Bye Ken."

"Yeah. Take care."

"Same to you."

Just like what they did with Alice, the two finally separated ways and went back to their respective homes. Not like what Mayune know, she was being watched by someone. Someone that doesn't look like human. It kept jumping from one building to another, just to keep an eye for its prey.

The predator had expected for its prey to go on a direction where no one will expect help. It waited for a chance to attack... and it finally jumped from the building.

Mayune, who had been thinking she could feel there's always someone watching or following her, she quickly whirled around, only to find a white armored thing attacking her. With instinct, she quickly dodged and ran away in fear, not knowing what was that or why it was attacking her.

Now that she realized that there's no one around, she had to trust her stamina on how long she'll last long running away from this... thing, who kept chasing her as if there was no tomorrow. It was fast, she noted, but she doesn't know how long she can handle running. After a few minutes of running, she got a sprained left ankle and tripped, landing painfully on the cement ground.

The chasing stopped and the white armored being looked at the human with bright red eyes. Its head looked like connected to its armored chest. It had claws used to shred things and a clawed feet.

"POTENTIAL, FOUND" It said in a deep mechanical voice. "ELIMINATE: POTENTIAL"

"Potential?" Was the only word that Mayune took interest with. Potential? What kind of Potential this thing is talking about?

The armored being finally raised its left claw, prepared to do its job -- eliminate a Potential. Just as it lowered its claw with force, Mayune quickly raised her hands, hoping it will protect her even though it was no use. She closed her eyes, bracing for an impact and...

Nothing.

She couldn't feel any pain. There was no pain at all. That thing must've stopped attacking. Mayune slowly opened her eyes and was surprised on what she saw...

A boy a year older than her had two long pincers on his arms locked on the attacking claw of the attacker, preventing its reach from the target.

"Oi oi oi, going out of the hide already?" The boy taunted. "Good thing you did that, I'm getting tired of you guys playing hide and seek."

"MOVE" The being commanded. "POTENTIAL MUST BE ELIMINATED. AN ORDER FROM THE SUPERIOR"

But the boy didn't take on its command and finally swat away the locked claw from his pincers. "You're not that lively, eh?" He joked.

"Oh well, time to finish this off. I still have things to do."

The boy opened his right pincer and started raising it, charging in his current position. His pincer glowing brighter and bigger every second. The robot noticed this as a delay for him to strike. This made it a chance to attack. It pulled back its claws, gathering force, and finally thrust forward.

The human noticed that he's already done charging his weapon and he lowered the glowing pincer down with all the force he can muster. He aimed for the incoming claw and hit squarely on the said part, destroying it.

The robot didn't faze on the damage it recieved. It jumped backward to calculate a battle strategy. It needs to eliminate the obstacle to eliminate the Potential. After it was done analyzing, it jumped to the boy, hoping its calculations were correct.

But the boy knew better. He also jumped for the robot's direction and opened his pincer, which was still on the same size and aimed it to the waist part. He snapped the said part of the robot, falling to the ground as he landed without a scratch.

He approached at the fallen enemy and noticed that its eyes and core, which resided to its middle chest armor, still glowing, as if it was active. His right pincer returned to its original size and used it to pull the core out. Which resulted to shutting down the said robot.

"Retract."

At the mention of the command, his pincers glowed bright and shrank as it turned back to his hands and the pincers turned into rings on his ring finger, one on each hand.

He noticed Mayune still sitting on the ground. He extended a hand to her.

"Wanna let me help you?" He asked.

Mayune thought up for a moment. Knowing that he's a male and all. He can't be trusted, but he saved her life and she also had some questions in mind that he would answer. She nodded and took his hand, which in return the boy pulled her up.

"By the way, name's Acubens." The boy introduced.

"Mayune. Aizirk Mayune."

"Oh, not a local?"

"Not really, just half."

"I see."

The boy, Acubens, helped Mayune get home safely. Although her sprain got ease, she still couldn't walk properly. And Acubens relied on the other for the directions.

"So, why did that robot called me a Potential?" Mayune asked, still remembering the incident earlier.

"Do you really want to know? Because answering this will change your life forever. And this will involve you."

"...I don't really care anyway. I've been too bored to think about it. I've always wanted some fun in life."

"But, this is not just some walk in a park. Oh well, I'll answer this. Potential are those kind of people who can use those powers I used against the enemy a while ago. And is called a Strat. Strat is an item which bestowed powers to a person whoever uses it. Those kind of powers depends on the item. For example, my rings give me the pincer weapon I just used. And another one is a different weapon or a different concept of power."

"I see. But, why do they hunt Potentials?"

"Because they see us as a threat. I know they're going to do something worse than just conquer the world."

As their lenghty talk goes on, they didn't notice that they're infront of Mayune's house already. And it was already 5:00 PM, and sun is now beginning to set.

"So, I guess this is the end of explanation." Acubens spoke up.

"Yeah. Thanks for the explanation."

"And be on your guard everytime you're on the roads." Acubens said with a serious tone.

Mayune turned to Acubens after he said the line. And noticed he was really serious about it.

"They might attack you at any moment at any day. There's no guarantee for your safety if you're exposed in the streets." Acubens added. "Now that you know you're a Potential, your safety must be number one at all times if you're going alone outside, else bring a friend to go with you or go to places where there's a lot of people. They don't attack in public."

Mayune was reluctant to speak up. But for her safety, she only nodded to confirm and keep in mind about what Acubens all said.

"Well, I hope I'll keep that in mind."

Acubens smiled, hoping he didn't scare the other. "Don't be scared or feel exposed when you're outside. Just let people see you and you're fine."

"I get the meesage. Now, bye."

Mayune staggered to get infront of the door and get in, leaving the boy standing there like a statue. He was silent for a while and turned to his left side and wondered.

"Aizirk, huh? Sounds familiar."
-S-T-R-A-T- "Looks like we got ourselves a new Potential."

"The question is, is she qualified to use a Strat?"

"Why are you so excited giving a Potential a Strat? We don't need more than four involved in our secrecy."

"Actually, we're missing one Strat. The user must've died without removing it."

"Or hid."

"Or ate it."

"What the heck that's supposed to mean? No one can eat a Strat."

"Okay, enough jokes. We only have five of them and one's missing. And the other four are in their right owners."

"Hmm, someone must be hiding it from our radars."

"No need to fret. That missing Strat is in the safe hands."

"What do you mean, Acubens?"

"The missing Strat you're talking about... is with that Potential."
-S-T-R-A-T- "WHAT THE-"

Mayune quickly went back home to guard the house while her family members are out. Her sister and brother are at work and her mother is in the grocery buying stuffs.

But what shocked her is the reappearance of Acubens. She didn't believe that someone who saved her would be a thief.

"YOU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?"

Acubens looked behind him to see Mayune pointing him the accusing finger of a thief. He only put his hands in the air to show her a golden bracelet with different colored stones around it, for about six pieces.

"This. I had to wait for your mother to go out so I can look for this thing."

"So you can steal it? That's an old stealing tactic." Mayune pointed out coldly, putting down the accusing finger.

"Wha- You've got it wrong! I never meant to steal anything! All I did was to look for a Strat!"

"That won't decieve me."

"Well, if you won't believe me," Acubens grabbed Mayune's right hand and gave her the item forcefully. "Try to focus your thoughts into that Strat. And the spirits will answer your call."

Mayune stopped being annoyed at the boy's antics and calmed down, looking at the item. She clenched her hand and closed her eyes, doing what Acubens instructed.

In the darkness, she could see three blurred things dashing left and right and suddenly around her. They had three different colors. One was light green, one was dark blue, and one was grey. She couldn't make out their figures on what they are, but she was sure that they are animals of the wild.

After a moment, she could feel something within her heart. It was a fleeting feeling of pain. As if they wanted her to feel their pain. She could feel her heart skipping a beat.

"-ne..."

The voice was faint. It was far away. She didn't know of the source, but she knew it was a familiar voice.

"Mayune..."

It was getting closer. She didn't know where it was coming from. But the one who called her knew where she is-

"MAYUNE!"


The said person quickly opened her eyes, gasping for air and sweating as if she had been awakened from a nightmare.

"What did you see?"

Recovering from the shock, Mayune looked at Acubens with an anxious expression. "I saw three different colored blur things. One was light green, one was dark blue, and one was grey. And they looked like animals I couldn't figure out which. But... I felt something, as if they were in pain or if someone is..."

"I see. I guess I'm not wrong at all."

"Huh?"

"They wanted to test you. The previous user isn't around anymore. And they needed someone to be their owner. They used the pain during their battles with their previous owner to test you if you can handle it. If you stand strong before I call out to you, they'll recognize you as their owner from now on. But if you stagger and fall, they won't recognize you and look for another one."

"So this is a one-shot trial thing?"

"Something like that. The spirits from the Strats choose their owner carefully. Each of them has their own way to test the Potential."

Mayune hummed as she looked at the Strat. Its looks like a bracelet that thieves would get their eyes on. She didn't even knew of this bracelet until now. And it looked like it didn't even rust or fade a bit.

"Try to put that on."

Mayune nodded and opened the bracelet's locked and put it in her left wrist and closed it, and surprisingly fit in.

"Grats. Now," Acubens put his left hand to his left pocket, grabbing something. He pulled it out and gave her a white card, its design was simple and something business people would use. Mayune accepted the card and looked at it.

The company that Acubens is having a part-time with is S-Protect, which she assumed to be "Strat Protect". There also placed the address of this "company" and she thought it's almost near here, which could be one of her advantage in coming here daily. It also had phone number which she described it having an odd number combination.

"If you're interested in joining us, come to that place and we'll register you for training for free. In six days."

"Wait what." Mayune blurted out flatly. "What kind of training is this? Some hellish training for military or what."

"Not that kind of training, in our training course, you learn how to battle. Fight evil and all that crap mentioned why do good guys fight."

"But I'm not even sure if I can battle."

Acubens laughed at Mayune's childish negative thoughts. "That's old school. Everyone in our place says that at the start, but now they're like fighting professionals who can take down everything in one shot."

"One shot sounds unbelievable. Don't give me manga references."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing. Now get out before my mother gets back."

"Oh, sure. I almost forgot." Acubens went to the door and waved goodbye to the new recruit. He almost went to open the door knob, but stopped when he remembered something. "Oh, and, if you're going tomorrow after school, be sure to change to your most comfortable clothes. Our training involves some back flipping."

The sound of "comfortable clothes" made Mayune more interested in the training. She thought she was going to the place in school uniform. Which would be took awkward for her to train due to the skirt.

"Anyway, time for me to go, see ya." Acubens said as he left the house, leaving Mayune to wonder herself about today.

"Well, today's not a bad day after all." She muttered as she looked at the bracelet. While it didn't look the best bracelet, it already fit her style.
A/N: 22KB, huh. I think it's pretty ok for a first chapter.

Oh, and, Soraflakes is a replacement product of Skyflakes, which is one of my favorite local biscuits since it doesn't that have lots of fats or carbohydrates.

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