97AN: Well, as you all know this companion story too is receiving a revision now so as to make a better overall story introduction, particularly concerning Flame of Recca. The revision is also to connect things to MGS4's storyline better, so naturally, there are going to be many changes which I hope that you all will enjoy
Some of the many anime and video games that will cross over into this fic (so far) (note: Please have a look at ShardclawKusanagi's "Metal Gear: Soldier X" for a full cast list):
Metal Gear Solid series (will include AU versions of characters from the Metal Gear Acid games)
Flame of Recca (manga with some anime elements)
Weiss Kreuz (TV series 1 and OVA)
Ayashi no Ceres (manga)
Real Bout High School (manga with some anime references)
Burn Up eXcess (anime and manga)
Ranma ½
Noir
Madlax
Neon Genesis Evangelion
King of Fighters/Fatal Fury
Detective Conan
Full Metal Panic
Rozen Maiden series
Black Cat (manga)
Elfen Lied (anime with a lot of manga elements)
Basilisk: Koga Ninpuchou
Alice 19th
Witchblade
Witchblade Takeru
Phantom of Inferno
Shadow Hearts series
Yume Miru Kusuri: A Drug That Makes You Dream
Tsukushite Agechau 4/I'm Gonna Serve You 4
Love Potion
EVE: Burst Error
EVE: The Fatal Attraction
MinDead Blood (both the main game and expansion disc)
Gore Screaming Show
Mushitsukai
Gun Katana
Before Dawn Daybreak
Virgin Roster
Disclaimer: I own none of the above anime/games and their respective characters.
Prologue:
2012… three years after the occurrence of the Big Shell incident.
Many events occurred soon after the said incident; most notably the reformation of the special operations unit known as FOXHOUND. A feat accomplished through the actions and efforts of former commanding officer of the old FOXHOUND, as well as a former comrade of Big Boss, Roy Campbell, and many others. This new unit was officially formed to act purely as an anti-terrorist unit, making it different from the FOXHOUND of old, so as to ensure that stability endured in the world. Stability enough, at least, for the war economy to endure.
This new FOXHOUND had one secret purpose though, to support the legendary soldier Solid Snake in his hunt for Liquid Ocelot.
This reformed FOXHOUND would soon gain several new recruits into its ranks. These recruits were all men and women from various countries throughout the world, ranging from kids to adults. Some were experienced combat veterans, some among whom had been soldiers since they could remember, while others among them were new soldiers fresh out of the academy, and some others were civilian volunteers. All of these recruits were unique in their own way. And all of them had their own stories, separate from those that involved Solid Snake.
This is one of those stories, yet it focuses on not just one recruit, but three. For it is a tale of the formation of a partnership between three very unlikely people, and the bonds they would create with those around them. Through these bonds, more stories will become unveiled, stories that seem apart from that of FOXHOUND's, yet they will all lead to the same path. Though whether that path will lead to triumph or ruin for those following it has yet to be determined.
Chapter 1: The Step Towards a Journey
April 7, 2012: Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean:
On a small island located several hundred miles to the south east of Japan, there stood a large mansion. It was three stories tall and looked as if it could comfortably house a large number of people, which was what it was designed for. The mansion was located not too far away from the beach where a large dock had been built, in which ten yachts were docked there. On the surface, the island seemed to be the typical privately owned tropical island that the owner would use to entertain his guests. But the island held a horrifying secret within its dense forest, which was completely surrounded by an electrified fence, which was routinely patrolled by armed men.
Two guards sat on the docks, both of them had an assault rifle strapped onto their shoulders and they were both talking to each other.
"Can you believe that we get assigned to guard the boats as our job?" The first guard asked his companion sitting next to him. "I mean who's going to steal 'em? This has by far got to be the most boring and useless job on the planet, and the pay sucks. I'd like to meet the guy who said that working for a rich guy is a guarantee to quick and easy cash."
"Well it's better than the job that a friend of a cousin of a friend of a buddy of mine has got." The second guard replied. "From what I hear, the guy was actually on the Big Shell all those years ago and barely escaped alive, and before that he was actually there during the Shadow Moses incident. But he didn't get to see much of the action though. From what I heard from him, some female soldier snuck up behind him, knocked him out, stripped him naked, and then just left him on the floor. The guy had a nasty cold for weeks. Who knows where that poor bastard could be now?"
The first guard laughed at that story and said. "I guess you're right, there are worse jobs than ours. Still, once our contract expires, I think I'll try getting work with one of the PMCs. I hear that with all the wars that have been cropping over in the Middle East and such, there's plenty of profit to be made what with the war economy being how it is."
"Heh, that's as long as you don't mind dodging the enemy bullets and even worse stuff that the other side could throw at you." The second smirked.
"I'm sure I can work something out, besides I hear that the nanos from the SOP helps to fix that. The only remaining thing is which of the big four PMCs should I send an application to. Anyway, I lost my pack of cigs, could you give me one of yours?"
"Certainly." The second guard answered and then he reached into his pocket and took out his pack. "Alright here, take one."
The first guard reached over to take a cigarette, but then suddenly groaned and fell over.
"Hey, what's the matter?" The second guard asked his fallen companion. "You sick or something?" Then he noticed a dart sticking out of the man's shoulder, he suddenly felt a sharp sting coming from his neck. As he lapsed into unconsciousness, the guard saw a figure dressed in a green and black sneaking suit and wearing a strange skull-like mask pull itself out of the water and onto the dock. He also noticed that the masked figure was also carrying a pistol with a silencer attached to it. The guard was about to call out for help before darkness overtook him.
The masked man looked down at the two sleeping guards and then searched their bodies, finding only ammo for his M9 pistol, and a loaded UPS Socom. The rest was simply ammo for their assault rifles, which were locked from anyone other than their registered owners to use making them essentially useless to him, and a set of keys that he found on the second guard.
"Well thanks for all that, even if it wasn't very much," He said to the unconscious guards as he took the equipment he could use. "Have a good snooze."
The man then reached up and pulled off the mask that he was wearing, revealing that he was in fact a young Japanese boy with long shoulder length black hair and blue eyes, who had recently turned seventeen that month. He put his two weapons away after checking to make sure that they were fully loaded and then activated the codec on his left ear.
"This is Drakken," The boy reported. "I have begun infiltration of the island and I am awaiting instructions."
"Good work, Drakken." Colonel Roy Campbell answered as his face appeared on the codec screen. "Now, enter the building through whichever entrance that you believe is the most convenient. As soon as a free member of our support team is available to save your mission data for you and provide assistance, I'll call you. Until then, make finding the prisoners your top priority."
"No problem," Drakken answered. "The sooner I get this mission done, the sooner I can enjoy some free time and get some well deserved rest. Drakken out." With that, he ended the transmission.
The boy called Drakken paused to check that the two guards were safely asleep before proceeding to drag them over to a storage shed. He was able to find the key to the shed, unlocked it and dragged the unconscious guards inside. Before he locked them inside, he made sure to take off their radios and turned them off before tossing them away into the distance in case they did wake up.
Drakken then turned and began to do an observation of the mansion not too far ahead of him.
(The most convenient location, huh?) He thought. (Well, I guess I should get a closer look...)
Several minutes later, Drakken watched from inside a locker as three guards walked by. When they passed, he quickly shoved the door open and dashed out of the locker, firing his M9 at the surprised guards. They fell down unconscious before they could even turn around to see who had shot them.
Drakken carefully inspected the bodies of the fallen guards, this time getting a set of keys from one of them. He then gave a sigh as he thought a bit on the mission objective. It wasn't that he didn't want to be doing this, but the circumstances which had started this whole thing simply made him uncomfortable, even though he had seen some pretty nasty things on battlefields or the end results of them, some of which were even worse than this.
(Buying a number of young people through who knows how many human trafficking groups just to force them to kill each other…I can't understand how anyone could get their kicks that way.) He thought to himself as he thought on the mission.
A few weeks before a large human trafficking cartel had been brought down and an analysis of their records, which had thankfully been recovered intact, had revealed that a number of their sales could be tracked to the owner of this island and tracing the shipments to the island was not too far behind.
Normally, a strike team of some sort would have been sent in to the island and that would have been the end of that. However, something odd was found in the records regarding the sales, the buyer had only seemed to care about buying young people, male or female, without any other factor in mind aside from the age. Even the health of these people didn't even seem to be taken into consideration. An interrogation of some of the traffickers would end up revealing the reason for this.
The people being bought from these traffickers were to be used in a game in which they were each given a weapon, sent out into the island's forest and forced to kill each other. The buyer and his friends, meanwhile, bet money on who would survive. The victims did not have much choice in the matter as they each had an explosive collar around their neck that would explode if they did not obey or tried escaping or removing the collar.
As a result, it was deemed safer to send in a trained operative to infiltrate the island, locate the prisoners, and inspect the collars they were wearing to see how they were assembled and it would be determined how things would proceed from there. The FOXHOUND support team would have an expert at bomb disposal on the other line who would listen to Drakken's description of the collar; Drakken was also to photograph the collars with his cell phone and send it to a specific e-mail address which the expert would analyze so as to determine how this explosive worked. If this explosive could be disabled or removed without too much trouble, then Drakken was to do that, carefully following the expert's instructions, and Drakken afterwards was to get the prisoners to one of the boats and get them off the island where a waiting chopper would see them and the proper authorities would take care of them. On the other hand, if the explosive was too complex for any but an expert to even attempt to disable, Drakken's assignment would become a bit more complicated in that he would have to locate who it was that had the trigger for these explosives, take him out, and then protect the prisoners until help arrived. In either case, though, the operation would be finished by a strike team.
"Well, there's no use dwelling on the mission any more than I should." Drakken reminded himself, and then remembered the guards at his feet and mentally kicked himself for just leaving them there for so long. "In any case, I'd better get these guys out of site and find wherever they're holding those kids…"
Several hours later, Drakken watched as each of the kidnapped teens got into the yacht that he had hotwired and had also set the autopilot to the coordinates where the chopper would find them. Luck had been on their side this time, as the explosive collars' design was basic enough that removing them safely was something that Drakken could do as long as he was careful and followed the explosive expert's instructions to the letter as, basic design or not, these were still live explosives and very dangerous to whoever happened to get caught in the blast. Thankfully, Drakken was able to pull this off without making any mistakes.
As soon as all the collars had been removed, Drakken had helped to get the kids to the dock and onto the yacht, without the group being discovered mainly due to the fact that a few of the kids could either speak or understand Japanese, English, or Chinese, all three of which he could speak, and so he was able to direct them to the docks.
After a quick inspection of the boat, Drakken gave instructions to the oldest one about what to do as soon as the boat reached its destination before starting the engine, which roared to life, and then proceeded to get off the boat and untie it. The yacht then sped out of the docks towards its destination.
Drakken then heard the sound of a group of people coming his way and quickly got into one of the other yachts and ducked under the deck railing so as to conceal himself. A few seconds later, the approaching people had arrived in the form of four guards who had apparently heard the sound of the departing boat. From the looks of it, the guards had not entered alert mode yet; probably because they had just assumed one of the guests had left their engine on and that was the reason for the noise. The guards, however, soon saw that this was not the case when they saw the boat leaving the island.
As one of the guards reached for his radio to alert everyone else on the premises of this, Drakken reacted quickly, firing his M9, having taken aim at the man's head. The guard collapsed to the ground on his back, dropping the radio in the process.
This definitely caught the attention of the said guard's companions, but they did not react quick enough as Drakken was able to get in another head shot on another guard, who proceeded to join the first one for a nap on the ground.
The remaining two guards then made a run for it, but not before Drakken was able to get in a third shot, this one striking one of the fleeing guards in the back as he, unlike the other one, had not been as quick to duck while running. That guard quickly began to stagger before collapsing face first into the ground.
Drakken, however, was not wasting any time as he quickly got up and leaped out from the yacht. He knew that he had to stop the one remaining guard before he made it to the mansion to alert his bosses and fellow guards.
Now technically, that would not be a problem now considering that the kids had been as good as rescued, but being discovered right now would still have complicated the mission quite a bit. Drakken, for one, had not contacted FOXHOUND headquarters yet to report the escape and in doing so give the go ahead for the strike team to move in, and he would rather have made the call under calm circumstances. Also he was not very enthusiastic about the idea of being chased by a bunch of armed men until help arrived.
Drakken briefly closed his eyes and began to focus, channeling the chakra, energy produced within the body that was mix of physical and spiritual energies, inside of him into his feet. This move served to enhance his speed and at the same time ensure that his target would not hear his approach.
Drakken then dashed after the fleeing guard, and soon came up behind him within a few of seconds. He then reached out and grabbed the fleeing guard by the back of his neck and sharply pulled him back and out of site of anyone from the mansion being able to see him.
The guard stumbled back a bit, but did not fall down. This sudden appearance and attack by an unanticipated enemy had caught him off guard, but he was not going to go down without a fight as he made to aim his assault rifle at Drakken, confident that even if he missed the gunshots would alert the other guards nearby.
Unfortunately for him, as he was about to aim, there was suddenly nothing there for him to fire at, his enemy had vanished. The shock at this was brief though, as the guard suddenly felt a presence suddenly seem to appear behind him and he did not need to look to know who it was.
"Wyvern's Sting!" Drakken said from behind the guard, as he swiftly drew out a pair of long thin needles called senbon needles and jabbed them into the side of the guard's neck, aiming for specific pressure points so as to cause unconsciousness rather than death. The guard stiffened up for a moment, as if paralyzed, but slackened out as he lost consciousness. Satisfied, Drakken let the guard fall to the ground.
"Well, that certainly was cutting it close." He said with a sigh of relief and then proceeded to hide the bodies of the unconscious guards. When he was finished, he activated his codec and selected Colonel Campbell's frequency.
"This is Drakken, mission accomplished," Drakken reported as soon as the call connected and Roy 's face appeared on the codec screen. "I got those kids into a boat and they're headed towards where the chopper is waiting. I would have reported in sooner, but I had to take care of a few curious guards first…don't worry, they're not dead."
"Good job Drakken," Roy said with a nod of approval. "The rescue team will be on its way and waiting for the people that you rescued. In any case, what's your situation over there?"
"Everything's normal for now, sir; so far none of the people on this island know that I'm here nor do they seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary." Drakken answered, and then gave a light smile. "Anyway, though I should probably grab one of these pretty boats for myself to make my getaway, would it be alright if I just waited for the strike team and they could give me a lift back to Japan? I found something that I could do to make things easier for those guys using my 'secret weapon' and I promise I'll make my report on this on the way."
Roy was silent for a moment as he considered what Drakken said, and also because he knew just what the boy's 'secret weapon' was.
"Alright, I'll give you permission; just be sure to do this quickly as the strike team will be arriving within twenty minutes or so." Roy said with an exasperated sigh. "Just please don't overdo it like you did the last time."
"Hey, I didn't overdo it," Drakken objected. "No one died right?"
"That may be true…" Roy answered. "However, it was hard to get the authorities to believe that was caused by an accident, especially 'you know who'."
"I understand, you have my word then." Drakken said with a nod, knowing full well who Roy was referring to. "I'll try to keep it down, Drakken out." And the transmission ended.
With that, Drakken quickly went up one of the nearby hills so as to get a good look at the mansion and find the specific part that he was looking for. When he did, he gave a light smirk.
"Time to demonstrate the reason for this codename of mine." He said as he held out his right hand towards the part of the mansion he had in mind.
FOXHOUND Headquarters, Washington, D.C.:
"Excuse me, sir." One of the support team members said to Roy as he stood up. He had only joined FOXHOUND a couple of weeks ago and was just starting to learn his way around the group. "About this operative we sent in…Drakken, or Riku Hanabishi...was he really able to get all those kids out of the mansion without the enemy noticing him?"
"Yes, fortunately." Roy nodded. "But then again compared to a lot of the other operations that our people handle, this one wasn't too difficult, plus Hanabishi-san is skilled enough in the ninja arts that we were confident enough to send him in alone."
"Wait, 'ninja arts'!" The man's eyes widened in surprise. "Do you mean…is that kid, really…?"
"Yeah, he's the genuine article." Another FOXHOUND support team member, this one more experienced than the newcomer as he had been working at FOXHOUND ever since Roy reestablished it, spoke. "I know it's surprising at first the kind of people we have here, but trust me you'll get used to it. For one Hanabishi isn't the only ninja we've got working here; not to mention our roster of members include a psychic, a guy immune to any form of poison, a berserker, and a lady who can communicate with the dead."
"Well, at least I can't complain about this job being boring…" The new guy said with a nervous smile. "Anyway, Colonel, could you tell me why Drakken is still on the island? Shouldn't he be using one of the boats to get away by now?"
"Drakken said that he could do something to help the strike team out, and I trust his judgment enough to approve it." Roy replied. "Though I have to admit, that willingness of his to be helpful can get him to overdo things sometimes…"
"Overdo things?"
"You'll understand, soon enough." Roy said simply.
"And when you do, trust me, you'll be glad for that alliance we have with his clan, Hokage, and the other ninja clans allied to FOXHOUND." The other support team member added. "Anything else you want to know?"
"Yeah, about the codename…it's German for 'dragon' right?...Anyway, could you explain the reason why he has that as his codename? I mean it isn't part of any of the rankings as far as I know…"
"There are other FOXHOUND members whose codenames are not from the rankings like Demon, Eden, and Venom, you know."
"But aren't they special cases? Then does that mean…?"
"If you can promise that what I tell you will not leave this room…" Roy paused and the man gave his solemn promise that it wouldn't before he continued. "Alright then, as you guessed, Drakken is a special case like Demon, Eden, and Venom. The reason for his codename is because he has the ability to control fire. From my understanding, it's an ability that has been passed down through his bloodline for generations. Combining that with the ninjutsu that he knows, it makes Drakken a rather formidable operative."
"I see…" The support member gave a nervous smile. "Think I can understand what you mean about being worried that Drakken might overdo things, even if his intentions were good ones."
"Let's just hope it doesn't turn out that way." Roy said before lapsing into his own thoughts.
(It's been two years since the alliance between the new FOXHOUND and the ninjas of Japan was established, and it seems to be holding fine for now so long as Reese doesn't do anything to strain it any more than he already has.) Roy thought to himself. (This wouldn't have been possible though, if it hadn't been for that 'him'…Speaking of which, I can only hope that when he returns he can find some peace…)
"I think I may have overdid it a little…" Riku Hanabishi said with a sweatdrop and a sheepish grin as he had a look at the damage that his flame had done.
Beforehand, when he had been looking for the prisoners, Riku had found where the guards' weaponry was stored, which was in a large storage shed near the parking garage. After having gotten the kids out and on the boat to safety, Riku had decided that getting rid of the weapons cache would make things easier for the strike team in case any of the guards tried resisting. Unfortunately, things kind of went wrong from there.
As soon as the fireball he threw hit the shed, it caught fire and proceeded to explode within a few seconds, something Riku was expecting. Unexpectedly though, the explosion had torn open the garage's door and as could be expected, a good deal of the ammunition that went off as a result of the fire and much of it emptied into the garage. These bullets probably ended up hitting either the gas tanks of the vehicles inside, or some containers with gasoline in them, or both, as this caused a second explosion, which sent the flaming wreckage of one of the vehicles flying out and into the nearby forest. Presently, the guards were trying to put out both the fire in the garage and remains of the shed and a forest fire.
"I wonder if these guys are even going to notice the strike team's arrival." Riku commented to no one in particular as he turned and headed back to the dock to wait for the strike tam, and also to prevent anyone from leaving the island.
Unbeknownst to Riku, a series of events would occur that would send him and others down a path that would change their lives forever.
Another new door has opened and long and great journey is about to begin…
AN: Alright, with this I have completed the revision of the first chapter of Dragon, Crow, and Rabbit. I'll admit that this took longer than I thought since I had to write out Mei Ling and also try to make this intro work better storywise.
Now this is only a taste of the changes to come as like I said, I'm going to be making changes so as to give the Flame of Recca characters some more story significance so FoR fans be prepared to see some appearances of more of your favorite characters soon. It won't be the next chapter though as I'm going to need that one to focus on Nagi, but the next one will definitely have what you're looking for.
I can also say that this revision will of course include new scenes to go along with some that have been slightly rewritten, you can also expect to have two original new story arcs occurring just before the Ceres arc.
Well, that's all I have to say for now.