((Ignore me))

Johnny looked confused as he walked out of the gun shop.
"No ID?" he thought, "Do I look under 18?"
Turning around, he walked back into the shop.
"Listen," he said, "I'll make you a deal. You give me this gun so I can go about my,... *ahem* business,... and I'll give half the turnover. Sound good?"
The man looked at him, straight faced for a moment, until a wide smile broke out.
"Which gun?" he asked intently.
"This one." said Johnny, picking up a laser powered assault rifle, model LPAR710. It was the best gun you could possibly get, and he was gonna get his hands on it.
"500 credits." said the man, prompting Johnny to take out his CreditCard and scan it over the buzzer.
"Cheers." said Johnny as he walked out into the busy street.

Running. Something Keraos was forced to do a lot. And something he was doing right now.

Let's go back to before he started his lovely little hike. About two hours ago Kero had arrived in the sleepy town of Durang, a town near the boarder between Wolfrum and Antinium. He had been there once or twice before while on the Quest, and nothing exciting had ever even threatened to happen there. He thought it would have been the same this time, so he went down to the local pub and ordered a drink (non-alcoholic, of course, since they all knew he wasn't of age). Thing things went south.

A rowdy group had busted into the pub while he had been talking to the bartender. Maybe "rowdy" was a bit of an understatement; they were downright nasty. They then had sauntered up to the bartender to start grilling him about things that had absolutely nothing to do with Questing. In fact, it soon turned from questions to out right extortion. Kero had felt that he had no choice but to help the bartender, and then had taunted the group's apparent leader into accepting a challenge to "take it outside."

They had soon found their way to the front of the restaurant to settle their little score. Both the people from town and the rowdy group members had decided to come around to watch, soon surrounding Kero and his opponent, leaving no room for escape. Then the brawl had begun. To all outside observers, it had looked like a straight up fist fight, and it probably appeared that way to the group's captain as well, but Kero wasn't fighting with only his hands and feet. Even though his psych was likely some of the weakest in existence, that didn't mean he couldn't use it well. Everyone knows that a lot of little numbers will add up to be one big number and, well, that was pretty much what Kero did to make his usable. While almost unnoticeable, a little shove there and a little pull here could easily put his opponent in a very bad position. It made it much harder to fight when there are small pushes in random directions in places like the back of the knees or the midriff. So, in the end, Kero had almost easily sent the cocky captain down to get better acquainted with the dirt. Unfortunately, however, the group he had been leading had not taken the news so easily. So that was why Kero was running now.

As Kero ran to the exit of the town, he suddenly disappeared. The group hadn't seen it, and just figured he had run out into the ample protection of the vast woods that covered Antinium. In fact, Kero had duck inside a nearby house for as long as it took for the idiot bunch to start traipsing around in the woods. He thanked the family for letting him in (they all looked still extremely shocked from him bursting in), and started heading towards the other exit of the town. Before then, however, he needed to ask around to confirm some things he had heard about the area. While many of them didn't always seem to remember it, it was a Questers duty to try and seek the truth about whatever they could. It was just too bad that almost no one did anymore. Most "Questers" nowadays were just people who had wanted to get rich quick and then quit when they realized how much hard work it was going to be. Groups like the one that Kero had just run into. Groups like the Vikings.

At a man's house in Argenta, a group dressed in black and red busted through the door. They checked the whole house, but failed to find what they were looking for.

"Looks like nobody's home," said one Viking.

"You think we should we wait here until he comes home?" asked another.

Then a red-haired young woman dressed in black walked into the room, and immediately every eye was focused on her. "Honestly," she said. "Do I have to do everything myself?"

She stomped her foot on the floor, and then knocked on the walls until she found a hallow spot. "Ha! I heard he was a clever man. He's hiding beyond this wall here."

"But how do we get in there?" asked one of the Vikings. "There must be a secret switch or something."

"Gorge!" called the red-haired woman in a gentle but far-carrying tone.

A man who could scarcely fit into the room pushed his way through the doorway.

"Gorge, honey," said the red-haired woman, stroking the giant's arm. "The man I'm after is hiding behind this wall. Can you help me get to him?"

Without saying a word, Gorge then proceeded by walking up the the hallowed spot and punching his fists through the wall. The old man was found inside, whimpering. "Help! Help!"

Gorge grabbed the elderly man sat him down roughly on a kitchen chair.

"Mr. Piper, I presume?" asked the woman. When the man nodded in response. As if she were an invited guest, she sits across from him and introduces herself. "My name is Rose Iba, but most call me Red."

"I know who you are," Piper replied. "You're the leader of this bunch of thugs called the Red Vikings."

Red acted like she didn't hear this outburst and continued speaking. "I hear that you have some information that could be very valuable to us. As a former Quester, they say you came close to finding the ancient world called Earth."

"Forget it!" Piper spat at her. "I'm not telling you anything."

"So you do know something..." said Red. Suddenly her whole appearance changed as if she had transformed into the She-Hulk. "WATCH WHAT YOU SAY TO ME!!!"

The Vikings backed as close into the wall as they could without drawing attention to themselves.

"Don't think that just because you're an old man, that I'm afraid to do anything to hurt you." Red had a deep dark look on her face, and her voice sent chills down everyone's spine. "You can tell me what I want to know, or you can wait until after hours of torture to tell me. Either way, I'm getting what I came for. So, Mr. Piper... What's it gonna be?"

The old man clearly lost his nerve and he caved. "All I've heard were rumors. Some claim to have found a life signal with their radars near the GX-4 quadrant. But as far as I know, these are still just rumors."

Red's face returned to its deceptively sweet appearance. "You see? That wasn't so hard, was it?" She stood up and stretched. "Well, we've got a long journey ahead of us. I'm sorry we have to cut our visit so short Mr. Piper. Take care!"

Johnny watched the group of thugs across the road smash their way through the door of the house. There looked like there were only around seven or so of them.
"The hell they doing?" thought Johnny, loading his gun as he ran across the road towards the house.
Stepping through the remnants of the door, he held his breath and listened for any sounds. There were sounds of people talking in the distance, which Johnny quickly tried to follow.
He came to a small room, with a large hole in the wall. Peering round, he saw a group of people dressed in black and red, with an old man and a woman sat at a table. The man looked rather distressed.
He wanted a way to lure one of them out, just to test his new gun, and this would be it.
Knocking on the wall, he edged back and waited.

When Red got up and started walking to the door, she heard someone knocking on the wall of the house. "Horrible timing... We could wait for them to give up and walk away, but I'm not that patient. Guy, Tom, Jim, go outside and kindly inform our guests to stay out of our way."

The three man stepped outside, weapons drawn. They weren't planning on getting into a fight, but they wanted to look very intimidating.

"Who's there?"

Claude walked through the dimly lit streets of Argenta. He knew the streets well. THe next left would take him to the gun store. THe one after that would bring him down a cul-de-sac. But the third left-turn would bring him exactly where he needed to go. He remembered what his employer had said... A man called Piper is said to know the location of Earth. Get to his house and question him. But take caution; the Red Vikings are said to have interest in him. He had to smile, remembering this. He'd run into the Vikings a few times, and each time usually ended in violence.

Just what he was looking for.

He took the third left and found himself in an even darker street. Which made it easy to see the light streaming from the broken down door and shadows of people fluttering in the street. "Just in time.." he said, as he cracked his knuckles. "This should be a piece of cake." He walked up to the door, scanning for any possible traps. None. So these men weren't watching their backs. Perfect. He stepped completely into the house, and began to hear voices, though muffled. A lot of yelling. Then frantic mumbling. A pleased statement... two knocks. Then silence. Whispering. Footsteps. He made his way towards the source of the noise. He probably wouldn't need it, but just in case... he threw a quick charge into his gun and armor. Both began to glow subtly green.

He turned into a hallway, to see one man standing and hugging the wall. He wasn't dressed in Viking garb, which told him this man was another bystander. A bystander with an axe and gun, of course. He heard the three sets of footsteps scramble towards the doorway, and the statement, "Who's there?" He did not answer, though, since the question was obviously for other man.

Johnny lifted his LPAR710 up into the air, and unclicked the safety catch. Glancing behind him, he saw a man stood behind him.
"He looks friendly enough," Johnny thought to himself, "unlike these bastards."
"Me, now get out of this man's house." said Johnny to the Red Vikings. "One shot of this, and you'll all be dead. So, weigh up your chances, realise that you leave or die, and go."
Johnny took their "thinking time" as a chance to work out their chances. Small firearms were all they had on display, and they looked as though they were pretty fresh recruits, which probably meant they were pretty bad shots.
"No chance." Johnny thought.
He also took the time to observe the man behind him, he was a little bit shorter than Johnny, but was wearing some light armour, and had a wide stance.

"Hey, Red!" called one of the three. "This guy out here is threatening to take us all on alone if we don't leave!" He said this with a chuckle. He seemed to find the thought to be ridiculous.

Red considered for a moment. Then she figured it wasn't worth it, even if she had him outnumbered. "Whatever. I already got what I came for. We were just leaving anyway."

Red strutted herself out the doorway, paying no attention to the men outside. Some of the men looked disappointed at the lost chance for a brawl, but Red had no interest in wasted blood.

Old Mr. Piper didn't move a muscle. He appeared as if he was in a trance.

Jake was on the only hill outside the town of Durang. Jake had a fantastic view however he was not here for that. Jake was originally in Argenta, however Jake had moved out here for a reason. Jake had spoken to a old friend. Mr. Piper. Jake and the old man had been friends for about 3 years. He had told him his secrets of getting close to Earth and wanted Jake to carry them on and try to finish what he started. However if Jake was to do that he would need to reach space. No one had reached space. It was going to be very hard to. The planets surface was hard enough to reach, yet alone the stars above that.

Jake had a large metallic looking cannon on top of the hill. It was his latest project. Jake was investigating Mass Acceleration again. Something that was pivotal in Jake's space plan. Jake was at the side of the cannon messing with some wires. After a couple of groans and moans Jake was sure he had got everything right. Jake got to the back of the cannon and started to press buttons. After a few minutes Jake pressed the fire button and a small shell was fired over the town. Once it got into the middle it exploded into a massive bright light for 5 second and then dissipated. A large purple trail of light was leading from where the shell had exploded to where it was fired. Basically Jake had given away his location to anyone who wanted to find him. However Jake was too happy to worry about that. His cannon worked. If he could use this for more bigger objects then it would mean Jake was one step closer to getting his ship in space. However Jake knew he had a lot of work ahead of him yet

(Ignore,stupid maintenance messed up post)

(ignore)

(ignore again v.v)

As Kero left the town, an explosion caught him by surprise. After a few seconds, and blinding flash of light hit him. Bright enough, in fact, to make it so bright he couldn't see even after the light had gone away. The flare of white was seared into his vision for at least a minute afterward. This must have been what a flash bang grenade was like, minus the noise. Even so, it was still pretty effective, even if that had not been its primary purpose. As his vision cleared, he say a trail of a purple afterimage. Just in the direction he was headed anyway. Perfect.

As he approached the only hill in the area, he saw what he figured must have been the cause of the light. A giant cannon pointed skyward was planted at the highest point. Nearby there was a man with blue hair that seemed to be celebrating something. Most likely the firing of the cannon, for whatever reason. He approached cautiously before calling out, "Hello! Are you the one who just fired of that light?" For what reason could he have possibly done that? Probably was something to do with Questing if he was in this Godforsaken hicksville with a machine that heavy. He was probably one of the ones who only ever looked up. So many questers were so obsessed with trying to find Earth that they forget that they actually have to be able to get there. While he might not seem it, especially with the fact that he was trying to escape from it, he was somewhat of a fatalist, especially when it came to questing. If the Architects wanted us to be able to get Earth, they must have left some way to get there, better than blowing a hole through our only protection from Veku's deadly rays. So instead of keeping his eyes skyward, he chose to point them down to Raytail itself. If humans were destined to go back, the means to it must be already here. If they weren't, then nothing human's ever did would let them go. That was just how he felt. Rather ironic considering he was trying to escape a fate of his own, but that was just who he was. A "fatalist" who wanted to escape fate.

((Posted as site went down))

Claude was forced to sigh as he watched the Vikings leave peacefully. He was really looking forward to a fight. Still, what's done is done. He moved forward into the room. Old Mister Piper was still seated, pale as a ghost. He put one leg on a crate next to the man. "So, now that those idiots are gone, I hope you'll tell me exactly what you told them." He felt disappointed when the man was obviously still in his trance, and therefore wouldn't answer. It looked like this would be a dead end. He focused on some of the mumbles he heard... and realized that the talk involved something about the "GX-4" quadrant. Still, if this was the case, this man was a dead end. He had either given false information, or was a fool to have believed to have discovered Earth. But he wouldn't bring this up to the Reds, of course. He turned away from the old man.

Shunashi was in her laboratory researching in her remote home in Antinium. Turning through the pages of her notebook, she tried to figure out the theory of where Earth could possibly be. She had to come up with something, because tomorrow was there was a Terra meeting, and she had to at least have a lead to discuss it. Lately she had done research on Raytail's host star, Veku. Her predictions and astrophysical theories had suggested that Veku was not an ordinary-sized star. She tried to make a connection with Veku and some other celestial bodies she could spot. She rubbed her fingers on the side of her forehead, as the growing migraine began to creep over her. She flipped to the page in her notebook when she listened to her staff at the recent Terra meeting. She walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water, when it struck her. She quickly grabbed her pen and opened to the nearest blank page...

"Our host object Veku is an object with theorized capabilities that Earth, may orbit a similiar object."

She decided that that was enough for the night, and went to bed. She woke up the next morning, excited to share her ideas with her staff. Being the Leader of Terra, she had to make it impressive enough to help get her employees off their butts and 'theorize' some more.

That morning she woke up, still dazed from the night before. She slowly got up and seemingly sleep-walked to her bed. Before work, she had to take a stop at the Wolfrum Library District 2 to drop off her Astrophysics field guide, she had already learned everything she needed. She put on some stylish clothes and did her hair, although that didn't take long because it was considerably short. She felt well for being 52, but she would never quit her dream.

She walked to work, because the Terra Observatory was right by her house, considering her being the founder and leader. She got there before anyone else, because she always had to do a little work beforehand. She attached her notebook to her clipboard and walked over to the enermous telescope. Anywhere you go it is hard to see the skies because of the material surrounding Raytail, but she had special filters for that. She looked at a few of the objects she thought that could be Earth. She checked them off the list as a 'No' as she used special observations to look at them. The same thing every day, All checked. She put her clipboard on her desk.

"Dr. Viasuna?" asked one of the younger employees, Janet.

"What is it, dear?" she responded, whilst looking through the telescope.

"Which conference room will I need to go to today?" she asked.

"Room S, get the others. I'll meet you there in a second." she said. Janet nodded and regrouped the employees to bring them to the conference room. Shunashi finished up her work and grabbed her clipboard to enter the room. All of the employees were sitting down in their chairs, just the way she liked it. The employees were silent and ready to begin.

"Welcome, Terra employees. Today we're here to discuss about Earth, just about every day, huh?"

Some of the employees laughed at her corny joke.

"I was thinking last night and I came up with this idea. I'll put it on the projecter for you."

She clicked it on and put her notebook on it.

"Here is my new theory." She pointed at it. Eyes stared at it for a while. A few shrugs came by and a few eye-rolls also came by.

"Hey, I think its true!" she laughed.

"Well, Doctor, I'm not exactly sure about it." said Chan, one of the older-aged employees.

"Let's hear what you've got." she asked. Chan nodded and brought up his notebook. He clicked it on.

"My theory states that the flora and fauna of the Antinium region is a connection to Earth. Perhaps we can use its roots to detect its materials then possibly trace it back to Earth." he preached. Dr. Viasuna gave him a, 'Possibly face.'

Later, she would show them the Vekus that were around the universe. She asked for others ideas, but none led to any evidence. As their meeting was about to end, various men with projectilators entered the room. They asked her,

"Give us the information."

She denied it, very slowly. No, no, no she muttered. She turned behind her and simulated a picking up motion. She dived out of the glass window from 10 floors. Having being a very valuable woman, her rescue helicopter soon flew under her. And soon after, about 20 other employees fell down. The helicopter flew away. Swearing muttered among the crowds, but then they just broke out laughing. Even with all these death threats over Earth information, with a little Taekwondo and a few projectiles launched into their body, they'll be out in no time. They flew off to Argenta to do more research and possibly negotiate some deals with the government.

Gerard was just sitting back waiting for something, anything to hit him. Being a Quester is all well and good, but what the heck do you do when you have nowhere to start. He rolled over on the lake he was suspended upon. Water was so much nicer to lie on than grass, and those seemed to be his two options right now. What to do from here? He had nothing, zilch, nada! IF he didn't get something quick somebody was gonna get that much closer to Earth! What was he sitting around there for anyway? Gerard jumped to his feet, still suspended above the water when all of a sudden a bright light shot up and blinded him, scaring the living daylights out of him. You normally don't see giant pillars of death shoot up abot 100 feet from you!

With the sudden concentration break he fell into the water, however he quickly regained his composure and swam to shore. "What was that!?" He thought out loud. "I'll tell you what it was, it's where I'm gonna start!" So he raced toward the light and soon climbed a hill where he found another boy about his age and some older man dancing some foolish jig. Probably of making this strange contraption he had with him make enough light to blind anyone within a 100 meter radius! What was this dude up to? Well time to open his big yapper.

"Ey' what's goin' on over here?!"

Jake smiled as looked back out into the purple light trial. Jake heard a voice and sighed. Jake should of known his little escapade would of attracted attention. Jake turned, Expecting to see a bunch of vikings. However it seemed it was only a kid. Jakes purple hair fluttered lightly in the breeze.

"Of course it was me"

Jake walked around tot he back of the cannon. Pressing more buttons and recording data from the blast. Jake was impressed with the data he had collected. He had successfully proven Mass Accelerator tech actually worked. Thing was the governments still would not believe him, not matter what he did or shown them. His proposed project was expensive. A massive spaceship to find earth. It had huge engines with technology that at the moment did not even exist. Jake knew there were corporations out there doing the same thing Jake was doing. Jake was by far the closet to getting there. his problem was he lacked funding and support. but he was just going to sell himself to other people.

"Well it was nice to say Hi but i need to go. no doubt the Vikings will have reported to that tyrant of a leader of theirs. That means i need to go and hide. Again. Mr.Piper was nice...But sometimes i wonder whether learning his secret was actually worth it" jake sighed and began to slowly ease the cannon down the hill and away from the village

(ignore)

Shunashi looked out at the sprawling cityscape of Argenta. She peered down at all of the vehicles and people mindlessly walking throughout the alleys. She knew that she had to find Earth or the people of Raytail would have to live a life in misery forever. She took out her notebook where she calculated the physics and ideas of how the creation of a space-vehicle could transport them to Earth, once they found it. But she knew that breaking the shell that covered Raytail on the way out would kill everyone inside. She tried to calculate how something like this could be possible. Her scientific knowledge was extreme, and she knew that many groups would have a bounty on her, just to find out about her equations and such. Luckily she had a strong military force to guard her. The employees were silent, looking down as Shunashi was. She landed on the government building helipad. A government agency was there to greet her.

"Greetings, Dr. Viasuna. Please come inside." he offered. She nodded and he bowed and they walked with him to the building, with the rest of the employees following behind. Inside was a massive circular table. She had a reserved seat.

"I'm afraid I will have to ask your staff to sit behind these soundproof glass walls. Is that okay with you, doctor?" the guard asked.

"Why is that?" she responded.

"We have some private discussions to take a hold of." the Chairman said.

"That's alright with me, Dr. Tai." she nodded with a slight frown. Dr. Tai has been the chairman of the liberalistic branch of the government for many years. He also took a hold of the advancement of technology and science.

"What are you latest finds, Dr. Viasuna?" Dr. Tai asked.


"I have nothing else to show you today, sir." she lied. She did not want to give her information away so fast.

"We will supply you with extra resources when you require them. Please do not waste them, we are running low on funds to advance this technology. Besides, this Earth superstition could be nothing more then a presidential scam to keep the citizens busy. I suggest keeping to your astrophysical work, Dr. Viasuna." Dr. Tai said, his chin flapping up and down.

"I understand, sir." she nearly whispered.

"Please escort her to the helicopter, she has some expirements to do in Auria." he said.

"What? I haven't scheduled anything for today except this meeting." she said.

"Not anymore. You know how to do this, right?" he asked.

"Of course, but-"

"Just go, and I'll be happy to see your test results." he interrupted. The employees were let go. With all the arguing in the room, she was bombarded with questions until she said,

"No more paparrazi, I've got a gig in Auria to attend to." she said and smiled. The employees rolled her eyes and followed behind.

Next stop - The remote city of Ganse

Red felt a small vibration in her pocket, and her phone started to ring. "Hey, there. What's the buzz?"

"Hello, Red." The Viking on the other end sounded flustered, apparently enlivened by the chance to speak to Red. "We have reason to believe that Jake Tenshin, that Quester-wanna-be, may have recently performed tests in the Antinium region."

"Antinium, huh? I just love the water there. Perfect for bathing. Thank you, sweety! I'll be there as soon as possible."

Kero only watched him as he started to go off with his cannon, shaking his head almost sadly. Mr. Piper, he had met him before. Poor old man was almost senile. He would tell everyone who would ask him about his discovery about the "GX-4" quadrant and life. Sure, one had to look awhile to find him, and that had tricked many Questers before, but the man told lies, even if he believed them to be the truth. Hell, it might even be the truth; maybe there was life in this GX-4 quadrant. But, whatever the live was wasn't Earth's. Everything that he had found had said that Earth was incredibly far away. There was no way that Earth would be close enough that we could sense life on it. This so called "sensing" of life was really just the analyzation of many, many photos that had been taken from Raytail and looking for a battery of things that might suggest it had life. Very imprecise, but it was the best that humans could do without space travel, another thing that needed to be found before Earth, and probably the largest barrier. After all, they would need to break through the roof of the world, as it was called. There were two problems this, though; one was waht would happen after the ceiling was broken, the other was how to actually break through the metal. So all he could do now is keep tracking down that hint.

That hint was now pointing him to Auria, not exactly nearby. He was on the boarder to Wolfrum, and the fastest way to Auria was through it. And he thought this place had been the middle of nowhere; all of Wolfrum was just farmland. You might not even see a soul after days of walking. Truly sad, and very lonely. He looked at the boy who had approached after him, then at the purple haired guy who had just done the experiment. He said to them, "Are you two questers? If you are, I have a little lead I'm following and it might be hard to do alone. You guys want to come with me?"

(ignore)

Shunashi had just entered the borders of Auria. The landscape was slowly become more barren, as the helicopter flew over. The warmth began to increase. She looked down at the adobe huts surrounding the rare oases that dotted the deserts. Soon after, she found her testing location. The helicopter landed on the helipad. With no sight of civilization in miles, she did not want anyone to see this. Her employees disembarked the copter and followed her into the laboratory. She issued safety glasses to all the employees to herself, as she did with the antibacterial aprons. Today, she had to anaylze examples of Raytail's manmade atmosphere. She supposed that if Raytail had some connection with Earth, the atmosphere had to have something similiar.

She had to make this quick. She issued gas masks to her employees. They were going to travel up on a lift to get a sample of the atmosphere. She and two other employees embarked the lift and it brought them up. It was mysterious up there, spooky you could say. But she wanted to get out. Humans didn't belong here. She used her atmopsheric device to collect samples and then they swiftly went back down.

"Hey, you're still alive, you little old lady!" one of the employees said when she came down. She gave a friendly smirk and then looked at the device. It read high traces of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and oxygen. Also a few traces of nitrogen. She recorded this in her lab book, as she told the other employees to do aswell. They were ready to leave back to the governmental building in Argenta. As they exited the laboratory, she noticed something in the distance. Because of her exceptional eyesight, she knew what it was. A spy.

"Get the spy!" she screamed. She grabbed one of the security guard's guns and jumped into the helicopter, and quickly took the helm. The spy soon noticed he was discovered, and she landed right by his location. She shot her TY6-Z9 assault rifle barbarically at the bunker he was hiding in. She nearly sobbed as the driver had asked her to go back to the passenger seat. It was bad for her to get so angry, her blood pressure level rose.

She had never been successfully spied before. But now, a spy with voice recording and video recording devices had successfully captured all of the information that she had just recorded, and even possibly some parts of her notebook. She wanted to get revenge. On whoever that was, they were going to die.