A cross-over between Bubblegum Crisis and Highlander
Cast of Characters
Immortals:
Patrick O'Brien - 877 year old Irelander, considered one of the best
and most honorable fighters among Immortals by friend and
foe alike. His other adventures can be found at:
http://www.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~copelasa/irelander
Stephen Kowalski - Encountered O'Brien in the 1970's, has a score to
settle. Barely over a century old, he refuses to follow the Rules
of Immortal combat.
Rebecca DeJeniere O'Brien - Patrick O'Brien's wife, 869 years old. An
artist by trade.
Frederic Rillio - An Immortal who had the misfortune of running into
Kowalski.
Richard Smythe - Multi-Millionaire who was instrumental in the recovery
effort following the Second Great Kanto Earthquake of 2025. He
considered himself out of the Game until crossing Kowalski's path.
Tochiro Segawa - Immortal who was beheaded by Kowalski just before the
opening of this story.
Olga Heismann - Immortal who was beheaded by Kowalski just before the
opening of this story.
Methos - The oldest Immortal, 5,000+ years old. Usually gives his name as
"Adam Pierson," an alias he used while posing as a Watcher, in order
to avoid the endless challenges from both good and evil Immortals,
eager to either test themselves against the oldest, or absorb his
supposed enormous amount of Quickening. He first encountered O'Brien
in the mid-1990's after nearly accidentally exposing Immortals to the
world. Although O'Brien wouldn't call him a friend, he tolerates him
because he saved a friend's life.
Li Chin - Young, idealistic Immortal who has started an anti-GENOM
Political Action Committee.
Annie Devlin - Female Irelander, approximately 175 years old. Has usually
fought for Irish independence and re-unification. As O'Brien has
repeatedly avoided getting involved in the Troubles, she harbors an
enormous amount of contempt for him and feels he has betrayed his
own people. Only the fact that he could easily take her head has
prevented her from challenging him outright.
Knight Sabers:
Sylia Stingray - The leader. Scientist and daughter of Dr. Katsushito
Stingray, inventor of the boomer android. Wears a white "hardsuit"
in combat. Combat specialty is coordination.
Priscilla S. (Priss) Asagiri - Lead singer of the rock band "Priss and the
Replicants." Wears a blue "hardsuit" in combat. Combat specialty is
power-fighting and marksmanship.
Linna Yamazaki - Aerobics instructor. Wears a green "hardsuit" in combat.
Combat specialty is close-combat and speed.
Nene Romanova - AD Police dispatcher/coordinator. Computer hacker. Wears
a blue and pink "hardsuit" in combat. Not a strong fighter, her
in-combat duties are mostly computer-related, i.e., blocking boomer
signals, jamming weapons locks, and hacking into high-security
computer systems. Even changing the orbits of weapons satellites is
all in a days work for her.
Others:
Mackie Stingray - Sylia's brother. Assists the Knight Sabers.
Leon McNichol - AD Police investigative detective. Also an expert in boomer
combat. Has a crush on Priss (which she hasn't returned), though he
knows she is a Knight Saber after seeing her in her hardsuit with her
helmet off. He then made it clear to her that he knew. Because of
this and the fact that his recent assistance in the destruction of
Largo was instrumental in saving Sylia's life, Priss has begun to
rethink her opinion of him.
Daily Wong - His partner. Has a crush on Leon (which he hasn't returned).
The "brains" to Leon's "brawn."
Joe Dawson - A Watcher. At approximately ninety years old, he is the "semi-
retired" head of Asian Watcher Operations. He had lost both legs in
Viet Nam and walked with two prosthetic limbs and a cane until his
retirement when the Watcher organization paid for cybernetic legs in
appreciation for not only years of service, but repeatedly saving them
from themselves.
"Doctor" Raven - the Knight Sabers personal mechanic, and owner of a garage
which houses their secret training facility.
Todo - The chief of AD Police.
Dr. Sho Kawachi - GENOM scientist.
Kate Madigan - Head of security for GENOM, who apparently died in episode
6, but since I think she's so cool, I worked around that annoying
little detail.
Quincy - CEO of GENOM Corp., the chief manufacturer of boomers. Also the
most powerful man on Earth.
Fargo - Sylia's informant.
Bernard Willis - Patrick's 20th century Watcher.
Brian J. Mason - A high-level GENOM executive who murdered Sylia's father
in 2022 and "acquired" boomer technology in the aftermath. He was
defeated in 2032 and was killed by Sylia herself.
Largo - A "super boomer" who wished to free boomers from servitude and rule
the world as a god. He was defeated and destroyed by the Knight
Sabers and Leon McNichol as this story begins.
Definitions - Bubblegum Crisis:
AD Police - Advanced (Division) Police. The police division set up to deal
with boomer crimes. As most of the crimes in Megatokyo _are_ boomer-
related, the AD Police have become its chief law enforcers.
Boomers - Bio-mechanical androids, many of which are outfitted with
heavy weapons. C-Class boomers are the most common type of
combat boomer, however S-class "sexaroid" boomers are not uncommon
on the black market, though they're officially illegal.
Boomeroids - Humans who's bodies are over 70% cybernetic.
GENOM Corp. - The world's largest corporation. After the Great Kanto
Earthquake of 2025, GENOM grew in power and influence until it
became, literally, the de facto economic and political ruler of the
world.
Hardsuits - Ultra-light, ultra-strong body armor invented by Dr. Stingray
and perfected by Sylia. When outfitted with various weapons and other
hardware, this becomes the chief tool of the Knight Sabers.
Knight Sabers - A mercenary group who oppose GENOM.
Definitions - Highlander:
Definitions - Highlander:
Immortal - One who cannot die except by beheading. There are still many
Immortals in the world of 2033, with new ones being discovered as
older ones die. They come from all races and all countries, but
each of them have at least two primary things in common, being
unable to identify their biological parents, and an inability to
produce children.
Quickening - The power of an Immortal. The Quickening is released when
one Immortal is beheaded by another. The energy is absorbed by the
victorious Immortal, adding to their own power and strength. To
witnesses, a released Quickening is similar to electrical discharges
like lightning and acts in much the same way, causing massive
destruction of whatever is around at the time of the beheading. It
can also have a semi-mystical nature and has been said that on rare
occasions it can overpower the true nature of an Immortal, turning
a good one towards evil, or an evil one towards good. Some Immortals
claim they can get information from the memories of vanquished
Immortal foes. Others claim to have had visions during absorption
of a Quickening. It is also said that one Immortal can feel the
Quickening of another pass if they had an emotional attachment, such
as a Teacher, close friend, or lover.
The Game - The battles between Immortals leading up to the Gathering.
The Gathering - The final stages of the Game. As Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos
Ramirez said to Connor MacLeod, "When only a few of us remain, we will
feel an irresistible pull towards a far away land, to fight for the
Prize." There are some who believe the Gathering has been going on
since the last century, and others believe the Gathering hasn't even
started yet.
The Prize - The power and Quickenings of all the Immortals who ever lived.
It is said that the Prize is enough power to rule the Earth forever,
and should an evil Immortal win the Game mankind would be plunged
into an eternal darkness.
The Rules - how the Game is played. The four major Rules are, no fighting
on Holy Ground, no two-on-one fighting, no mortal assistance, and no
fighting with any weapons besides swords. These Rules are followed to
the letter because of a respect for tradition, sometimes the only
thing an Immortal has.
Watchers - A secret organization of men and women who have been in
existence since antiquity. Their main rule is "observe, record,
never interfere." Their purpose is to record the lives of Immortals
so that their stories can be told after the Gathering.
This story begins at the very end of BGC Episode 6, "Red Eye's," immediately
after Leon shoots Largo, and continues until the beginning of Episode 7,
"Double Vision." I have assumed that the portions of "Double Vision" that
take place in America happened _before_ "Red Eye's," since the date that was
given for Vision's concert in Texas was March, and in "Red Eye's" everyone's
walking around with spring clothes on (and no date was given for "Red Eye's"
either, so far as I know). Also, I mentioned that Priss' parents adopted
her, and after they died she was in an orphanage for the *second* time
before running away. This was necessary in order to fit BGC into the
Highlander universe (no Immortal can identify their biological parents).
However, it is the _only_ alteration (and a minor one at that) I made to any
of the character's backstories. HL fits into BGC surprisingly well (and
vice-versa), so just chalk it up to "minor liberties taken by the author."
This story begins at the very end of BGC Episode 6, "Red Eye's," immediately
after Leon shoots Largo, and continues until the beginning of Episode 7,
"Double Vision." I have assumed that the portions of "Double Vision" that
take place in America happened _before_ "Red Eye's," since the date that was
given for Vision's concert in Texas was March, and in "Red Eye's" everyone's
walking around with spring clothes on (and no date was given for "Red Eye's"
either, so far as I know). Also, I mentioned that Priss' parents adopted
her, and after they died she was in an orphanage for the *second* time
before running away. This was necessary in order to fit BGC into the
Highlander universe (no Immortal can identify their biological parents).
However, it is the _only_ alteration (and a minor one at that) I made to any
of the character's backstories. HL fits into BGC surprisingly well (and
vice-versa), so just chalk it up to "minor liberties taken by the author."
OK, HL fans, I know that according to "Scotland The Brave," Annie Devlin is
dead, but I hadn't thought that the continuity of the novels was actually
being followed by the producers of the TV series, and by the time I found
out those scenes were already written and it was too late to change
anything, and frankly, would have weakened the story. I thought HL novels
were considered by TPTB as Trek novels, that non-binding "parallel universe"
thing. Lord knows there's enough parallel universes in HL _already. In any
event, since this takes place over thirty-five years from today, _any_ HL
character could be dead already. I mean, Methos is a major character in
this, and _he_ could be offed in next week's episode. So just stick Annie's
head back on in your mind for the duration of this. In any case, events in
this story are non-binding for the simple fact that it _is_ a future tale.
LEGAL STUFF:
*The Bubblegum Crisis characters, situations, mecha, and general universe
are property of AIC and are licensed to AnimEigo. No copyright infringement
is intended here.
*The Highlander characters (Joe Dawson, Methos, and Annie Devlin), the
specific concepts of Immortality, and the Watchers organization, are the
property of Rysher Entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended
here, either.
*All the rest of the characters are the product of my own delusions.
*The song "That's When I Reach For My Revolver," which appears in chapter 3
was written by Clint Connley, and originally appeared on the Mission of
Burma EP "Signals, Calls, and Marches." Currently, the original is
available on Rykodisk's Mission of Burma compilation CD, and a cover version
(a very bad one, IMO) is on the new Moby album. It is not used here by
permission, but I could get it if I really _had_ to. No copyright
infringement is intended here either!
Lotsa thanks to Michael Ko for his "World of Megatokyo" web page which made
it a whole lot easier to set the scenes.
Finally, extremely large amounts of thanks to my beta readers, Monica Jordan
(MJordan104@aol.com), Samantha Copeland (copelasa@vuse.vanderbilt.edu), Mike
Forfar (rforfar@mail.monmouth.com), and Gregory Smith
(viggen@holly.ColoState.EDU). Couldn't have done it without you guys!
Also thanks to sw@eyrie.org, who suggested posting it here.
I hope you enjoy.