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Private Notes
"Gilgamesh and Balarant. For one hundred years now, these two star systems have been locked in a war whose cause was long ago forgotten. At first they managed to contain the hostilities. But by the time I joined up, the front had enlarged...and 200 worlds belonging to them had been caught in the flames of war.
I fought. At first I fought sincerely, to defend my home world of Melkia. But the war just dragged on and on, with no end in sight. I'm so tired now. Everyone is so tired."
On the edge of the Astragius Galaxy, the decommissioned Gilgamesh battleship Teltain approaches asteroid Lido. It deploys a platoon of Scopedogs, which attack and infiltrate the base. Chirico Cuvie, an AT pilot newly-transferred to the Teltain, protests that they are attacking one of their own bases, but his platoon leader orders him to be silent while they begin looking for their objectives. Left on his own, Chirico discovers one of the objectives himself - the body of a woman, lying suspended in a tube of swirling energy. She wakes and sees him. Shocked and bewildered, he closes the tube. His mind racing with questions, he is nevertheless ordered outside - and barely escapes an explosion meant to end his life.
Lost and adrift in his damaged Scopedog, Chirico is picked up by the Melkian battleship Bauntaunt and questioned about his involvement in the Lido raid. the intelligence officer who question him, Captain Jean-Paul Rochina, is convinced that Chirico knows what happened to "the Prototype," and takes him back to Melkia for further questioning. There, Chirico escapes and flees into the vast outback. Unaware that Rochina's commanding officer, Battentain, has ordered a homing beacon planted in his body, Chirico is determined to find out what sort of mess he's been caught up in - and who exactly that woman on Lido was.
"That day, the accursed war which had so disrupted my destiny ended. But its end was ultimately meaningless for me. The moment I saw her, my own private war has begun...a war for which there would be no end."
"The armistice which finally ended the Hundred Years War was signed right around the time I deserted the Melkian army. That was six months ago. I had slipped away from the military's eyes...and lost myself in the crowds in the city of Uoodo."
A Melkian satellite tracks the progress of Chirico (now called "Program K"), as he enters the sinister Uoodo City. Mere moments later, he is caught by a gang of bikers who toss him into a truck along with other victims, and roar away to evade the Uoodo Security Police. Taken to the bikers' fortress on the outskirts of the city, Chirico and the other slaves are forced to dig for jijirium in the ruins of a computer factory.
Later that night, the police pay a call on the fortress. Uoodo's chief of police has come to inform the gangleader, Boone, that their arrangement must be dissolved - now that the war no longer serves as a distraction, he can no longer turn a blind eye to the slave raids. Boone attempts to bribe him with even more riches, but a sudden slave uprising takes all of them by surprise. Grabbing a motorcycle during the confusion, Chirico escapes back into Uoodo, chased by bikers. The Melkian spy network intervenes, and Chirico falls into a scrap yard. He climbs into the wreck of a Scopedog, the only shelter he can trust.
"It was a place that held a familiar scent for me. With only the cold feel of metal on my hands, a once-dead warmth now glowed to new life inside me. And, feeling as safe as a child held to its mother's breast, before I knew it I was fast asleep."
"My endless wandering since deserting the army had brought me to the city of Uoodo. And I was now in trouble with the Boone Family, a gang of thugs who ran the city."
The next morning, as the Bone Family begins to scour the city for Chirico, he awakes and meets Bouleuse Gotho, the owner of the scrap yard. Gotho serves him breakfast and discusses his plans to salvage some of the ATs he has found. Coconna drops by, hoping to buy a meal with gossip from the streets. Elsewhere, a new chief of police takes residence in the city's central tower: Gimual Iskui, a member of the Secret Society. Iskui immediately hatches a plan to deal with the troublesome biker gang.
Chirico goes to work repairing one of Gotho's salvaged Scopedogs. Vanilla Vartla arrives, wanting to buy guns now that the city is crawling with hostile bikers. Intrigued by Chirico's expertise with the Scopedog, Vanilla starts to ask questions. Coconna returns with news of the bikers, and Chirico brings the Scopedog to life. He marches out to confront the Boone Famil - and proves more than a match for them in his AT. Just as they rally to destroy him, the police spring a trap of their own, ambushing the gang and turning the street into an inferno.
"The flying bullets, the flames. Before my eyes lay a scene so familiar to me. I was back on the battlefield...I and my VOTOM."
"Since deserting the army, I'd come to the city of Uoodo. But this battleground city was like hell itself...and contained every level of depravity."
The Melkian spy network notes Chirico's predicament and dispatch a rescue order. Firefighters leap into the fray, dousing Chirico's AT with foam, and just as quickly disappear. Gotho arrives, curious about who saved Chirico's life. Later, Gotho patches him up and makes a business proposition. Chirico's skills could be put to good use in one of Uoodo's Battling arenas, where AT pilots fight in mock combat.
They go to an arena, where Chirico notices a mysterious cloaked woman who Gotho calls "The Phantom Lady." He introduces Chirico to the other Battling pilots, who take offense when Chirico berates their sport as "play fighting." One pilot challenges him to a match, and Chirico accepts. Afterward, though, another pilot steps in to take over - Lieutenant Conin, from the Lido operation. Now working for the Secret Society, Conin is determined to kill Chirico in the arena, but Chirico proves the better warrior.
Gotho's joy in Chirico's victory is short-lived, however, when Iskui's police arrive to take Chirico into custody.
"Chirico! Chirico Cuvie! Answer me! From where dost thou come? Who ordered you to come to Uoodo? Why are you in this city?"
Chirico thinks he hears the voice of God, but it is instead Serge Borough, who is working with Iskui for the Secret Society. Chirico is now their captive in the impregnable police tower. Outside, Vanilla plans to bust Chirico out.
Later, Vanilla bribes a cop for the blueprints to the tower, and Coconna brings Gotho to meet with him. Together, the three pool their resources and tunnel through the city's sewer system using an industrial laser from Gotho's arsenal. Just as Chirico is taken from his cell for another round of interrogation, his rescuers arrive and whisk him to safety.
They recover at Gotho's scrap yard, and a call comes in - for Chirico. He is offered another chance to fight a Battling match, this time against an unknown opponent for big money. Chirico accepts, and the opponent turns out to be Captain Oriya, another commander from Lido. Borough and Iskui watch from the shadows, determined to see Chirico die. Chrico wins again, but just as Oriya agrees to reveal the secrets of the mission, Iskui orders his troops to open fire. Chrico barely escapes, and spots a limousine driving away, carrying The Phantom Lady in its back seat. Her presence here cannot be a coincidence.
"As I saw the limousine speed away through the flames, I couldn't help thinking how incongruous it looked amidst the battle..."
"Since deserting the army, the war ended, and I found myself in the city of Uoodo. Now I have the city's police force trying to kill me. But why? I've done nothing to have earned these constant attacks."
The police step up their assault on Chirico, and he abandons his now-damaged AT to escape with Gotho and the others. They hide out at Vanilla's home to plan their next move. Gotho tries to convince Chirico that his future is in Battling, but Chirico is too full of questions. He slips away, overpowers a street cop, and sneaks into the police tower wearing a stolen uniform. He makes it all the way to Iskui's office and holds the man at gunpoint, demanding to know why he has been hunted ever since Lido. Iskui agrees to take Chirico to a place where his questions will be answered, and the two leave in a private helicopter to the heliport outside Uoodo.
Meanwhile, gotho and the others have found an abandoned underground subway, and are making their way to the same location in order to scout for information that can help Chirico. They make it inside just as Iskui springs a trap. Chirico is surrounded, but Gotho provides him with a diversion from the control room and he evades capture. meeting up with his rescuers again, Chirico blunders into another room deep inside the base - The Phantom Lady's living quarters. He boldly approaches her, recognizing her as the same woman he saw on Lido. She flees before Chirico can ask her any questions, and police troops pick up his trail again. Vanilla manages to hijack a helicopter, and flies his friends to freedom.
"It was her. Was that really the Prototype? But what is she?"
"For a man like me, who knows only how to fight, combat in Uoodo was something I could not avoid. And within the battle, I met her once more. Now all I can do is try to pursue here. She's tied deeply to my destiny. But what sort of destiny is it?"
Police helicopters comb the edges of the city, firing randomly in search of Chirico and his companions, who now complain that their continued association with him has gotten them into more trouble than they bargained for. Tired of their bickering, he wanders off into the city. Overhearing gossip about a outgoing shipment of jijirium, Chirico ambushes a cop to get more specific information. Coconna, who has been following him, is caught by a rogue member of the Boone Family, who carries her off to the bikers' fortress.
Elsewhere on the planet, Rochina is ordered by Battentain to take a personal role in the tracking of "Program One." Rochina is to take up residence in Uoodo and report directly for there as he obtains information about the secret society and the Prototype.
In Uoodo, Chirico has developed a plan with Vanilla and Gotho to hijack the jijirium shipment. As they make ready, Coconna returns. Frazzled and beaten, she wails that the only way she could escape the bikers with her life was to tell them about the jijirium shipment. Chrico is encourage by this; their involvement should only make things easier for him. And he is proven right - the bikers attack the airfield from which the shipment is to be taken, throwing the entire place into chaos. Using a rebuilt AT with Vanilla providing covering fire from the stolen helicopter, Chirico swiftly makes off with the very truck that was hauling the prize.
"Everything had worked out perfectly. I cared nothing for the jijirium we now had. But if I was right, and it was tied to the Prototype, then perhaps she would come to get it back. Perhaps..."
Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna are ecstatic about their new found riches. They have enough jijirium to live in luxury the rest of their lives. But Chirico shows no joy; he has other plans for their treasure. Elsewhere, Borough proposes to Iskui that the time has come to play their trump card against Chirico. Rochina, meanwhile, dispatches his operatives into Uoodo city to start observing Chirico directly.
Coconna reports to Gotho and Vanilla that the police are active throughout the city, looking for the stolen jijirium. Gotho realizes they will probably never get out with their treasure and suggests they instead use it to buy their freedom. Vanilla is incredulous, but Chrico agrees with Gotho's plan; it will also serve his purposes.
Shortly after Albert Killy gives Borough and Iskui permission to use the Prototype against Chrico, Gotho is brought into police headquarters. They strike a deal for the jijirium and let him go, seeing this as the perfect opportunity to nab Chrico. Gotho travels to a ruined coliseum where he is to meet Iskui. Coconna drives the jijirium truck up a policeman elsewhere in the city and runs off. The policeman reports to Iskui that the treasure has been recovered, and Iskui breaks the deal, refusing to pay Gotho anything for his trouble. Gotho slinks off and Chirico roars into action, bearing down on Iskui in a Scopedog. No the final trap is sprung. Another AT (a Brutishdog) appears and grapples with Chirico. For the first time, he is evenly matched...and for the first time, he is beaten! Police surround him as he gazes into the face of his mystery opponent - The phantom Lady!
"Who are you? Near-perfect reflexes, almost supernatural intuition. Who are you...?"
During the battle, Gotho managed to make off with the payment Iskui originally promised him, but he didn't hang around to see if Chirico made it out. Having rejoined Vanilla and Coconna, he gleefully counts his money. But they all grow uneasy as more time passes without Chirico returning. Later, they learn that he won't be coming back; he is now a police prisoner. Coconna is adamant that they have to go to Chirico's rescue.
They make an attempt to disrupt the police caravan that is taking Chirico to headquarters, but their first flyover in the stolen helicopter is unsuccessful. Gotho and Vanilla are ready to take their money and run - and Coconna realizes the money is what will give them the means to help Chrico after all.
Sometime later, they fly over the caravan again...but this time instead of attacking, they dump their money out the window. Predictably, the Uoodo streets fill with people, stopping the caravan dead in its tracks. This time it works - Chirico breaks free and escapes back to Vanilla's home with the others. Acknowledging their sacrifice, he finally begins to feel trust and friendship.
"Friends. I was almost embarrassed to feel it. But a long dead warmth had begun to rekindle somewhere in my heart."
Sleep in Vanilla's home is broken by the sound of thunder. Police units have begun to literally take the city apart to find them, and before they know it they are boxed in with no escape! Vanilla, Gotho and Coconna despair for their lives until Chirico snaps them back to attention and leads them through an impossible route to safety. Having lost everything, they refuse to go on, but Chirico does not expect them to, in any case.
Iskui and Borough receives reports from their assault units, who report that Chirico's hideout has been destroyed, and now they ponder wheat to do with their troubled "Prototype." On the streets below, Chirico makes his way into the AT hanger of a Battling arena and goes to work on a Scopedog. Gotho and his companions prepare to leave Uoodo through the underground tunnels when Coconna demands that they turn back to help Chrico. Gotho and Vanilla are typically reluctant, so she turns back on her own. She follows Chirico's trail to the arena, and Vanilla appears in the nick of time to save her from being caught by a guard.
Reunited once again, the three find Chirico inside, building a Scopedog into a heavily augmented Red Shoulder style AT. This is when Gotho makes the connection - Chirico was once a Red Shoulder, one of the deadliest AT pilots in the war. No sooner have they agreed to aid him in his continuing battle, that the police arrive and prepare to move in. Chirico takes cover, ready to return their brutality in kind.
"They could never understand the pain of being a Red Shoulder. Thinking that, I prepared to meet the advancing energy. Only by fighting could I forget the horrors I'd seen. I fought on only so I wouldn't remember. But someday..."
The Phantom Lady meditates in police HQ and is approached by Borough, who demands that she prepare to go into battle once more. She refuses. Borough angrily overrides her, freezing her with the name "Proto-One."
The police roll into the Battlig AT hanger, and a Scopedog appears to challenge them. The exchange is devastating, but brief - and the AT is demolished. The police open it up, but Chirico is not inside. Behind them, another Scopedog emerges; and this time it's the real thing! Chirico lets them have it full force, blowing them to bits and escaping into the streets to do more damage. His companions follow with still another Scopedog for later use.
In police HQ, The Phantom Lady is subjected to a mind probe to investigate her erratic behavior. Borough and Iskui are shocked at what they find. Her initial memory from awakening on Lido reveals that Chirico was the very first human being she ever saw. Iskui presumes that she had been contaminated and will no longer follow orders - but Borough insists that she must be made to kill Chirico in order to break the mental connection. Iskui reluctantly agrees.
Rochina and his spy network watch with interest as Chirico makes his way toward police HQ. He burns out his Red Shoulder Custom and moves to his other Scopedog, which takes him directly into the police tower. There, The Phantom Lady waits for him in her Brutishdog...but this time Chirico gets the upper hand and takes her captive. Rochina learns of this and dispatches the news to Battentain. Now that Chirico has made contact with the Prototype, it is time for the Melkian army to move in.
As the police regroup outside the tower, Chirico finally speaks to The Phantom Lady. She admits that she does not want to kill him, and he asks her - her name. "Proto-One" is all she can answer.
"The woman who had changed my destiny was not longer an enemy. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was sinking deeper and deeper into quicksand. But at the same time, I felt something amazing. Never before in my life had I wanted so much to keep on living."
Proto-One tells Chirico what she knows, but is unable to answer most of his questions about the conspiracy they are both caught up in. When their discussion is interrupted by attacking police, she vows that this time she will fight with him, not against him. Together, they charge into battle.
Iskui is desperate to end this debacle, and Borough gives him the idean to fight fire with fire; they will send in Battling pilots to attack Chirico. While they arrange for this, Chirico makes contact with Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna. He suggests a rendezvous point and moves out with Proto-One. Seeing the forces arrayed against them, Vanilla tries to back out, but Coconna holds him up with his own pistol. This does the trick.
Inside the tower, Chirico and Proto-One are attacked by the Battling pilots and quickly outnumbered. Proto-One is knocked out of her AT, and Chirico rushes to her rescue, calling a name out of the blue: "Fyana!" He scoops her up and rushes her to safety. She is puzzled by the name, but is glad to accept it as her own. They attempt to escape the tower, but are finally overpowered and separated. Chirico falls to safety just in time to meet up with Gotho and the others, but Fyana is take away by police.
The skies above Uoodo rumble with the sound of approaching airplanes. Scopedog platoons parachute down toward the city. The Melkian army has arrived. But Chirico is concerned only with the woman he has been parted from.
"Fyana...but why did I call her by that name?"
"I had managed to escape the police...but hadn't been able to take the Prototype with me. I didn't even notice the airborne AT units drifting down like snow."
Iskui and Borough watch helplessly as the police tower is surrounded by Melkian Scopedogs. Rochina leads the assaul force, demanding that they give themselves up. Instead, they call Albert Killy, who orders Iskui to wait for the backup he is sending. Borough is to escape to the heliport with Proto-One.
Rochina barks the orders to move in, and all hell breaks loose. Chirico and his companions discover this, and Chirico explains to them what he has learned, namely that all these events have centered around the Prototype, who is an experimental Perfect Soldier created by the Melkian army. Chrico was just a pawn in the Lido raid, and it has made him a fugitive.
Iskui is killed as Rochina's men enter the police tower, but the Prototype is nowhere to be found. Overhearing their radio transmissions, Chirico deduces that she has gone to the heliport and he intends to follow her there via the abandoned subway. He locates her, and asks her to escape with him. She cannot, claiming that if she tries to leave her captors, she will die.
Finally, time runs out. Rochina's army attacks the heliport and are met by a new enemy: Tortoise-type ATs sent by the Secret Society to cover the escape of Borough and the Prototype. The entire base, like Uoodo itself, collapses in flames. Chirico walks through the inferno alone, cut off from everyone he now holds dear.
"The city of Uoodo was disappearing. Vanilla...Gotho...Coconna...Fyana...please don't leave me to be alone. Where are you? Where have you all gone?"
