Kikata's eyes narrowed, Richard seemed confident. She bit her lip as she slowly slid two strips of paper into the larger pile that sat between them. She took a second take of her cards and nodded, her gaze shifting back towards Richard whose grin widened even further and he carried his own two strips into the pile.
"I don't know Kikata, had we been playing for real money this whole time I think I would own that nice little house of yours." Richard said as he walked back to his cards. He shot her another confident grin as he gripped the thick cardboard and pushed them upwards so he could look. Two large "A's" Stared him back in the face, with a third ace in the river. "You ready?"
Kikata nodded, watching as he flipped the large cards over.
"Three of a kind. Ace." He said triumphantly.
Kikata's eyes widened, but to his surprise a smile spreading across her lips, "Straight." She said. "Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" She boasted.
Richard hung his head as Kikata reached out over the pile of paper and pulled it towards her.
"Now what were you saying about my house? Pretty soon you'll be working off your debt cleaning it!"
"Yeah, yeah a lucky river for you." Richard said running his hands through his hair.
Kikata shrugged, "Now that I get your silly game my natural prowess as a competitor will simply overwhelm you."
"Natural prowess huh?" Richard smirked, though he was rather impressed with her vocabulary. "So here's a new question for you." He began as he sat back on top of the playing cards, "How many years did you spend learning english?"
"Years? Well I hardly devoted years to it. I learned english much the same way I learned the other fifteen or so languages. I studied the language softwares and then I would watch movies to further my understanding."
"That easy huh?"
"Well. I wouldn't call it easy but with the help of the software you can learn languages rather quickly if you put the effort into it."
Richard chuckled, "Maybe one day I'll give it a try."
"You should. A little culture wouldn't kill you."
"Hey! I'm a pretty cultured fellow." Richard said, straightening his poster and rubbing his knuckles against his shirt.
Kikata laughed, "Oh sure, sure." She leaned back in her chair, her brow lowering as a low, musical beeping sounded, "Someones calling me." She said rising to her feet. He took Richard in hand and climbed up into her pilots seat, she gasped, "Fisc!" She sang out as she answered the call.
Fisc's image appeared on the screen, "Hey there guys." His voice called out.
"Hello! Why do you call? Miss us that badly?"
"You know it. Hey I'm sorry about Runo."
Kikata winced slightly, "Yeah...we'll see. He's sent me a few lengthy emails apologizing, but, I don't know."
"Well, how ever you feel."
"Kikata?" An oddly familiar voice called from behind them.
Suddenly a face popped up over Fisc's shoulder, "Oh my god! Prila!?" Kikata nearly screamed, "What are you doing there!?"
"Oh right. That's why I called, well partly." Fisc said, leaning over so Prila could fit more on screen.
"Kikata, You're never going to guess what happened just a day after you left!"
~ ~ ~ ~
The day after they left...
Prila sat behind her desk, idly sorting through documents on the computer. Her eyes flicked towards the entrance as the doors slid apart. Two armored guards entered, positioning themselves on either side of the door. She sat up straighter, wondering what was going on. All of the military personal had left early that morning.
Suddenly a third figure emerged. The general walked up the steps, entering the lobby with his hands folded behind his back.
Prila rose to her feet, rising her hand in a salute, "Sir!"
"Prila Tchan?"
"Y-Yes?"
"Oh good, I arrived just on time. You are dismissed from your post, please come with me."
"O-Okay." She stammered, collecting her small bag of belongings before following the general towards the doorway. She walked just behind him quietly as they made their way down the steps and into the docking bay. A large vessel sat, its engines still humming as the General walked towards the ramp.
"We heard about the work the Guards did here, we were quite impressed."
"Oh...you must be mistaken. I-I'm not a guard I just work the desk." She looked around the brightly lit cabin, walking towards a long table and sitting where the Generals hand pointed her.
"No. I am not mistaken." The general said with a grin, sitting down before her, "Prila. We would like to give you a promotion. We would like you to serve under our command as a Nova Guard."
Prila gasped, "B-But I can't! I want to but I have a hormone condition that inhibits me from leaving the station."
"We know all about your condition Prila. And we have put our best team into developing a stronger antidote. We are ready to give you a year long supply of a new, stronger pill that you only have to take once a month."
Prila nearly wanted to cry, "B-But why now?"
"Well. It is apparent that your skills have gone below our radar. We need quick thinking, hard hitting Guards like you on the force." The general rubbed his chin, "And...there is one more reason."
"Yes?"
"Prila, what I am going to tell you might be hard to take. But I am appalled that this has not been told to you much, much earlier."
"W-What do you mean? What is this about?"
"Your father."
Prila recoiled in shock, "My father?" She repeated in disbelief, "But he was just a scientific researcher. I don't see what-"
"Your condition. Your father passed it onto you."
She cocked her head to the side, "But. It's a female hormone disorder and no one in my family has had anything like it. In fact I have never heard of this condition on anymore before."
"That is because your father contracted the condition during his research. It had no effect on him so we let him continue his work. No one thought that it might be passed from generation to generation."
"Why was this kept secret?" Prila asked, still wrapping her mind around it all.
"Because of the nature of your fathers work I imagine. It was controversial at the time. It dealt with things such as genetic advancement. They wanted to see the bounds of our genes to perhaps build the most perfected versions of ourselves. Stronger, smarter, even larger. They pulled the plug on the research as they continued to come up with dead ends."
"So...my condition is the result of government testing."
"That's right."
Prila nodded, biting her lip as she thought it over, "Well. If you think I can function as a Guard then I accept."
"That is just what I wanted to hear." The general said rising to his feet. "Come with me, let me introduce you to your new partner."
Prila rose to her feet excitedly, following the General out of the ship to where a Guard ship stood in the docking bay. A tall neko stood outside of the ship.
"Prila, this is Fiscious. He has a little experience working as a team so we decided he would be the perfect match."
"Hi." She said weakly, holding out her hand towards him.
"Hello there, you can call me Fisc." Fisc said with a grin, "They've got my ship equipped already, so we can start as early as today."
"That's correct. Fisc will be giving you a run through of basic protocol. But It seems as though you have combat under control."
Prila blushed, "I-I have trained independently."
~ ~ ~ ~
Kikata smiled widely as Prila told her story, "Oh, Prila that is great!"
"Yes I know! And I've got my own armor and everything!"
"You're just one of us now-"
"No like, my own armor! It's been specially designed for um." Prilia's eyes flickered towards Fisc, "Well you know."
"Uh huh yeah I understand." Kikata said. "But wow, what are the chances you would be put together with our friend?"
Fisc chuckled, "Yes when I heard she had already run into the great Nova Force I was hardly surprised. You guys are really making waves out there."
As Fisc talked Prila mouthed the words, "So cute." To Kikata, grinning as she stood up a little taller on the ladder, hovering her chest above his head as she pressed them together. A small peep escaped Kikata's lips who quickly covered them with her fingers.
"What?" Fisc asked, looking over his shoulder to see Prila leaning on his chair innocently, she shrugged. He shook his head, "Anyway, there is one more reason why I called. Just a little something that the general showed some of the military men stationed at the base while he was there. It is from the events yesterday.
Kikata leaned forward as a video was sent to her display. She recognized the restaurant that she had taken cover in. "This video was taken by the New Order."
"That's right." Fisc's voice called over.
The video showed a shaky view, the prisoners lined by the door and the soliders standing around as if they were waiting for something. The camera looked up towards the sky to see the blue and white of a Guard ship passing over head. Suddenly the soliders pushed the prisoners forward, their hands were not yet bound. They screamed for them to go to cover as they fired into the air. But something seemed strange, the acted as though they were the ones helping the prisoners.
"They were trying to make anti-government propaganda." Fisc said as the video came to a close. "We have collected other similar videos that seemed to be aimed towards the public eye. Lucky for us these events will be released as they happened."
Kikata nodded, "Good thing, huh?" She sighed, "Perhaps its a good sign they are taking such measures. They seem to be desperate."
The video minimized, Fisc's face reappearing on screen, "Yeah. I don't know, these guys gave us a scare but I have a feeling this will blow over. Just be careful, they might get a lucky hit in or two."
Kikata nodded, "Maybe...Hopefully."
"Well, we better head out. We'll be in touch." Fisc said.
"Bye!" Prila called with a wave.
"See you guys around." Kikata said, sighing as the screen went blank. "Well that was all sorts of odd."
"Yeah." Richard laughed. "Do you buy it? Think this will blow over?"
Kikata gently lifted the human from her shoulder, "Everything seems to point towards it...except for that technology..."
"The mind control?"
"Body control but yes. How could an organization advanced enough to put such horrid things to use be so unprepared for a fight. They know what they would be up against."
"You think that it was a bluff?"
"How do you mean?"
"Let's say its a card game." Richard said, hopping off her hand once she set it on the table top. "They've already put a few bets in, and we have called them."
"Okay. I follow." Kikata said with a nod.
"Now they know we are confident in our hand... and they want to keep reeling us in because they have a hand they don't think we can beat. They want us to put down our guard, put all of our chips into the pot under the illusion that we have an unbeatable. They essentially put us in a win or die situation."
"That is if they have a hand that could beat us."
Richard nodded, "Either that. Or they're just a bunch of crazy radicals that will be put down within the month."
Giantess World
Nova Force by Ginbug