The Legend of Kitsune

"Grandma said the fox god would protect us..."

muttered the child as she stared blankly, clutching a ragged, fox-like doll against her chest. Tears had left streaks of clear skin under her eyes, contrasting with the rest of her face which was covered in ash. The only survivor of another savage raid, the girl had been watching her village burn to the ground. Blood had caked down her leg from a gash in her thigh.

Her expression changed to that of anger as she flung the doll at the dying flames.
"The fox god is not real! If she was, then everyone wouldn't be..."

The girl fell to her knees, overcome by sorrow.
"Mama!.. Papa!...Grandma!..." she cried out, but only the rustling of the leaves and the crackling of the embers replied.

Saizo stood behind her, clenching his fists. He had heard that Yuron's men were on the move and tried to intervene, but he was too late. As he surveyed the area he found the familiar giant footprints of demons - huge mechanical beasts driven by those with spinal implants known as Alaya Vijnana.


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Saizo had the implants too. He was captured in a raid as a child and lost his family in the exact same way, but he was able to escape the first day they put him in a test machine. He fled deep into the mountains, where he was found and taken in by the Shadow clan - a small group of resistance fighters.

"There is nothing left for you here." Saizo spoke sternly.
"I will take you to our camp. There are other children there, and people who will take care of you."

The girl nodded, still staring hopelessly at the remains of her village. Saizo picked her up and walked back to his machine, which had been idling with it's cockpit open at the edge of the forest. Raiden - as he had named it - is both a curse and a blessing. These demons are the very reason villages like this one are attacked. As only physically-fit children seem to survive the Alaya Vijnana surgery with no complications, Yuron has been buying them from slavers to grow his army - brainwashing and forcing the children to pilot his mechanical beasts.

Saizo and his clan have thwarted dozens of raids. Trained in the ancient ways of the Shinobi, their hand-to-hand combat skills and reflexes are unmatched, allowing them to control their demons more effectively and outclass even Yuron's elite pilots - despite using salvaged and poorly maintained units. But with only nine remaining demon drivers in the clan, they could do little more than defend the villages in the valley.

He jumped into Raiden's cockpit and let the exhausted child rest on his lap. A three-pronged cable latched itself to his spine, and the machine made it's way back to the resistance hideout.

Centuries ago these machines were called mobile suits, and they served as the core of military forces throughout the galaxy. Their proportions were much larger then, but research in  Alaya Vijnana revealed that the sheer size of the machines caused paralysis in pilots. By reducing the frame proportions, the side effects were eliminated and allowed a stronger synaptic link between pilot and suit, giving birth to the "Nirvana" state - wherein a pilot's full consciousness is transferred to the mobile suit during battle.

This technological advancement, labeled Alaya Vijnana Type-N,  led to an arms race that erupted into a great war between Earth and Mars. In the culminating battle between Gundams - the strongest of mobile suits -  the moon was caught in the crossfire. Mile-wide chunks of moon rock plummeted down to Earth. Entire cities were reduced to barren craters, and more than a third of the the population was eradicated in an instant.

Seeing the destruction they had caused, the remaining twelve Gundam pilots made a pact to go into exile and hide their machines where no one could ever find them. In the aftermath of the tragedy, mobile suits were decommissioned and Alaya Vijnana surgery was labeled taboo. With the cities in ruins, the people moved to the forests and mountains, reverting to a simpler way of life. Countries and government ceased to exist, and in the following decades small communities and villages became self-sufficient.

"Saizo"

Three and a half centuries came to pass, and what was history became mere myth and legend - with only the fragmented moon above serving as a reminder. It seemed the peace would last forever, until it was broken once again by a man named Yuron, head of the remnant faction "Neo Gjallarhorn". Descended from one of the last twelve Gundam pilots, Yuron spent his entire life searching for his ancestor's machine. Ganryu, pilot of the Diablo Gundam, broke the pact and left clues to a hidden hangar where he concealed his machine along with an army of mobile suits and Alaya Vijnana implants - so that one day his family might return to power.

With notes passed down from generation to generation, Yuron finally discovered and unlocked the secret hangar hidden deep below the old capital's ruins. After studying the records that were collected there, he had the Alaya Vijnana implanted into Galahad, his eldest son. Galahad reactivated the Diablo, and from then on their reign of tyranny spread throughout the land.

It has been 12 years since Saizo's escape, and in that time he has rescued many children like the one he's carrying now - but he feels frustrated and powerless. Other than fighting off raiders and ambushing supply convoys, the resistance has done little to stop Neo Gjallarhorn's advance. With so few demon drivers in the clan, they must choose their fights wisely and resort to guerrilla tactics.

Their base of operations moves every few days, and today they've set up camp at the foot of Misty Rock, the tallest in the Moonfall mountain range. The Raiden slowed down as it approached the camp, and came to a complete stop in an open maintenance bay alongside seven other demons. Saizo carried the girl down and passed her over to elder Nora, an old healer who travels with the clan to care for the injured.

"She's tired and hungry." Saizo spoke in a calm voice.
"As are you. Come, we've got rabbits!" Nora replied cheerfully.

"Only one survivor?" came an even older voice from behind her. Elder Bunta emerged from a tent, limping towards them with a sheathed katana for a cane - the Shadow clan's symbol of leadership. His left arm dangled in a sling.

"I was too late." Saizo replied, glancing back at the Raiden. "It was a small fishing village by the river to the east. I counted 4 demons, heading north. I can lead a team to cut across the valley and-"

"No." Bunta interrupted. "You must rest. I'll have Hikaru track them. You have done enough for today."

Saizo gritted his teeth, but surrendered. He knows the old man all too well, and to go against his decision is like pushing against a concrete wall.

"Very well." Saizo grumbled, as he walked over to his comrades gathered around a fire pit. They passed a rabbit around as he sat down on a hollow log. Hikaru shoved the rabbit in his face, but the glow of the flames and the smell of charred flesh only reminded him of the village.

"No thanks." He muttered, reaching into his pocket instead for the dried figs he always brought on missions.

"More for me then!" Hikaru laughed as she stuffed her mouth. At only 16 she was the youngest warrior in the shadow clan - feisty and nimble and the only one who could match Saizo in a sword fight. She pretended to be dead when her village was attacked, and waited until the drivers got out of their machines to check for survivors and loot, before surprising them and slashing their throats. The shadow clan arrived to find a young girl holding a bloody dagger, and three unmanned demons.

Saizo felt a wave of exhaustion come over him as a cold gust of wind almost blew their campfire out. He got up and walked over to elder Nora's tent to check on the girl before calling it a night. A dim lamp lit the inside of the tent, and Saizo found the old healer wringing a damp cloth and patting it on the girl's forehead as she slept on a stained mattress.

"She's got a fever. The cut on her leg must be infected. I've given her medicine and she'll be just fine." Nora smiled as she tended to the child. Saizo nodded, and was stepping out of the tent when the girl opened her eyes and spoke.

"Grandma...it took grandma..."
Saizo turned back, not sure if he heard it right.

"Your grandma?". The raiders only ever took children.

The child stared blankly at the ceiling, as if to recall what had happened the night before.

"They hurt her...they kept asking where she was...but grandma did not answer..."

"Where who was?" asked Saizo, puzzled.

The girl turned her head to look at him, her face as expressionless as it was when he first found her.

"The fox god."

"Hah! That's just a silly old myth!" Nora chuckled. "She's probably delirious Saizo, now let her rest and you go get some sleep too."  the healer tried to push Saizo out of the tent, but something about the way the girl spoke made him believe her. Saizo squeezed past Nora almost knocking her over.

"And they took her because she didn't tell them?"

"Yes...The demon with the wings...It took her and flew away..."

Saizo's mouth fell open.

"Diablo?! Diablo was there?!"

"Saizo please, stop interrogating the poor thing, she's been through enough..." elder Nora pleaded as she grabbed Saizo by the arm, sensing the growing tension in the warrior's voice. He wanted to know what Galahad needed from an old woman, but the girl started wincing in pain as blood seeped through the bandage on her thigh.

Saizo exhaled and began to calm down. "Alright. I'll speak to her in the morning." he said as he took a long look at the girl who had now fallen back asleep.

As Saizo walked towards his tent he tried to clear his thoughts. His mind was still racing as he laid down in his own hammock and kicked off his boots, but complete exhaustion soon took over and he fell into a deep sleep.

It had only been a couple of hours when he awoke to the sound of Ahab reactors firing up. Hikaru tore into his tent and shouted  - "Get up you idiot! They found us!"

Saizo jumped up and made his way to the maintenance bays as fast as his feet could take him.  Elder Bunta was already getting strapped into his own demon. He was among the first that escaped from Neo Gjallarhorn and the oldest ever to survive the Alaya Vijnana implants, but the surgery paralyzed his left arm, regaining movement in it only when attached to his demon. Saizo was getting hooked up to the Raiden when he noticed Elder Nora running towards them.

"...thought it was a regular wound..." Nora said, trying to catch her breath as she held up a small coin-like object in her hand.

"..tracking device...in the girl's leg..." - Saizo could just barely hear her say as the Raiden's hatch hissed shut. It lurched forward, tearing itself free from the dock before it could disengage. The black and red machine turned to elder Nora. "Look after her." Saizo spoke through the Raiden's loudspeaker, before running off to join the other demons - the ground shaking with every heavy metal footfall.

Fourteen Neo Gjallarhorn demons closed in on the camp from every direction and were attacking simultaneously, launching missiles and lobbing frag grenades in the dark. The shadow clan demons split into two squads. Saizo's team broke through the enemy line to flank them and divert their attacks away from the camp. Bunta's formed a defensive perimeter around the camp as the rest of the clan performed their emergency evacuation protocol, packing away the tents and equipment and loading everything into their trucks.

The shadow clan's combat skill and mastery of the terrain allowed the resistance fighters to whittle down the enemy forces to just four machines, and it seemed they would survive the ambush with minimal losses - until a winged demon landed with a crushing thud on one of their flatbed trucks - it's bony tail whipping about as if it had a mind of it's own.

Hikaru radioed Saizo, but he couldn't understand what she was saying as interference kept cutting her off.

"ca...der..at...ck...nd..b..ckup!..."

He radioed back as he took out another enemy demon, shoving Raiden's lance straight into it's chest.
"Didn't get that last bit Hikaru, still got that rabbit in your mouth?"

Saizo's expression changed when Hikaru started screaming and he finally made out one word -

"ca...der..at...ck!........Diablo!.."

The Raiden fired it's thrusters and made a beeline for the camp, arriving at the clearing just in time to witness the Diablo tear elder Bunta's machine in half with it's clawed hands. Saizo roared in rage as he charged towards the enemy machine, but it spun and lashed it's tail at him with such force that it sent the Raiden flying into a supply truck, knocking Saizo unconscious.

It was already dawn when Saizo regained consciousness, waking up to plasma cutters throwing sparks at his face.  The Raiden's hatch was damaged and would not open, but Hikaru and a few other survivors were already working to get him out.

"Bunta?" he asked her as he crawled out, but Hikaru just looked away. Saizo jumped down the wrecked Raiden, and ran towards elder Nora, who was carrying the child.

"Shrapnel..." was all the old healer could say, as Saizo took her in his arms. She was barely breathing, blood-red stains slowly growing larger in several spots on her shirt. The girl opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Grandma taught me a poem..." She spoke softly -

 "Through a gap in the crag, by a dying tree,
 the doorway remains hidden -
 to the highest peak of Misty Rock,
 where the fox god waits in silence -
 for a warrior worthy of her sword,
 Kitsune shall awaken,
 if his heart is pure and he offers her
 the root that is forbidden."

With those words, the girl exhaled her last. Saizo gently laid her lifeless body down on the ground and brushed the wisps of hair from her face. Elder Nora walked up to him and placed Bunta's sword in his hands.

"This is Saizo Augus - " elder Nora spoke aloud so all could hear. "- Seventh lord of  Shadow clan."

Hikaru was the first to lower her head, and all others followed,  acknowledging their new leader. Saizo looked down at the old man's katana, remembering his mentor who was more like a father. He was no more than eight years old when Bunta found him in a cave, feverish with an infection from his Alaya Vijnana implant which was only a few days old then.

"I see you have the forbidden root." Bunta said, sounding amused. The young boy clawed at his back in pain. "I'm a monster!...They made me a monster!"  he cried out. Bunta limped closer and extended his working hand to help the boy up. "...then I shall make you a good monster."

Saizo fastened the sword to his hip and looked around at what was left of their camp - at the faces of those that survived, at the bodies of those that didn't - and at the Raiden, which was now nothing more than scrap metal - then he turned his gaze upwards, at the mountain that loomed over them - the largest of the moon fragments that crashed down to Earth a long time ago. Towering over all the others in the lush green landscape - Misty Rock's highest peak broke through the clouds, and was always out of sight.

" THE LEGEND OF KITSUNE "