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---

Even in the ten years since the attack, they hadn't recovered everything that had been destroyed. The waters hid it, the wreckage of a massive ship. It had once been a symbol of man's progress, their technological prowess. But now... it was a rusted hulk deep beneath the ways. Here and there, aquatic plants grew and flourished. Fish swam in and out of the structure. There was on particular entry point that they most commonly passed through, however. It was a gigantic hole. It was not torn by some explosion, or ripped by debris, or rusted out from the length the wreck had spent deep beneath the waves.

No, even after ten years, the cause of the damage that sunk the ship was clear. The edge of the immense hole was warped and melted, a beam of extreme heat had struck the battleship and gone all the way through.

A sudden current of water disturbed the fish. The ship creaked, and the animals who had chosen to inhabit the wreckage fled...

... As a dark shape passed by... a being that had not stirred for ten years...

---

SEED headquarters was a bustle of activity. Doctor Kawaguchi's predictions were... oh, how soon was it? It would be any day now. The Nephilim's return. It had been a scramble to collect the candidates, some weren't even here yet. But they didn't have time to wait. No, SEED had to be prepared. For the good of all mankind. The preservation of the human race itself. The candidates that had already arrived were in Tokyo. As planned, they would not be too far from SEED headquarters. If today was the day of the Nephilim's return, they could easily be collected. But ideally, today would simply be the beginning of their training. There was so little time, the models they had now were finally ready. There wasn't enough time to give them proper training, but it was what they had.

The oblong command center was even more busy then the rest of the place. Communications flew from one end of SEED headquarters to the other, and one message in particular stood out among all the rest.

It was time to collect the candidates.

A certain white-haired girl glanced up at the flurry of activity for only a moment... before returning to her book.

It was no surprise.

---

"Jeez, what's with this?"

She hadn't done anything. Why was she being held back!? Ayaka folded her arms and sat back in her seat, twintails bobbing as she looked away. There wasn't even a teacher here to tell her what she did... Pick on the model student? Was there somebody lying about her? Hmph. This was just plain ridiculous and there was no way around that. She had studying to do, exercise... plus there were some things at home she wanted to do! Why was she still here? Ayaka was pretty irritable, to say the least. The purple-haired girl simply glared to the side, then faced forward and looked down again. She sighed. Well, at least she'd be able to make it clear to these idiots that there'd been some kind of misunderstanding...

The girl didn't realize just why she was here. Only a few moments later, the other candidates would be brought to the same room by school faculty, told to stay behind for some unexplained reason. Likely in a similar state of confusion. After all, one of them had to be taken from the nearby elementary school. It wouldn't be until the SEED operatives assigned to their collection arrived that there'd be some kind of indication as to what was going on...

... And when they arrived at headquarters, they'd truly understand.

Izumi Yuna

Yuna frowned slightly upon hearing that she had to stay at school. She decided not to wonder too much about it; after all, she was relatively involved with the school's happenings. There were a number of sound reasons that she'd be asked to stay.

She packed her things away neatly into her bag, before making her way to the room she had been told about. Standing at its door, she hesitated for a moment, feeling uneasy about the situation. After a quick look around the hallway she was in, she lightly knocked on the door and opened it.

Stepping inside, she noticed there was another girl in the room, who was looking very irritable. Yuna vaguely recognized her as an underclassman. After quietly closing the door behind her, she smiled at the younger girl.

"Hello there," she said softly, moving deeper into the room, but choosing to remain standing instead of taking a seat. "Were you asked to stay after classes, too?"

---

Saito Masaki

Masaki sat in a wheeled chair, and fiddled around with the mecha he had been assigned, making sure everything was in order and working. Technically not what he was supposed to be doing, but he had a hard time caring. Everyone around him was so busy with whatever that there wasn't much chance they'd pay any mind to a guy who looked like he was doing something useful.

Exactly how Masaki liked it.

Pushing against the mecha's leg, he rolled away from it, stopping near a counter. On the counter was an impressive computer, which had an uncountable amount of wires running from it to the vaguely-humanoid machine. He briefly studied the information being displayed. He let out a small sigh, seeing that the numbers hadn't changed at all since he had last checked - he really was wasting his time at this point.

His eyes glanced around the hangar, stopping on a screen that hung over the exit of the room. It was a sort of news bulletin, displaying any information that mattered to SEED.

The one thing it had been showing all day was a reminder: the second Nephilim attack was due any day, according to Kawaguchi. It also said that today was the day that the candidates were to be brought in.

'Candidates.' Masaki clicked his tongue disapprovingly. They were people. Children, no less. And they'd be informed that they were to stop the most terrifying monster the Earth had ever seen.

Poor girls, he thought, rolling back over to his mecha. That'll be an unpleasant surprise.

Rina was sitting in her desk watching as the other students in her class were about to get up and leave school for the day. "Rina, if you don't mind you are going to have to stay behind after class." Her math teacher said, he then walked up to her desk and handed her a sheet of paper with the room number she needed to be in. "Uh sure I guess I could stay." Rina said softly and watched as her friends left the classroom as well. "Do you know what this is about?" Rina asked wondering if she had gotten into some sort of trouble, he gave his student a shrug. "They wouldn't say anything, just go to that room and wait there." After he said that he was back at his desk grading papers.

Rina gave an annoyed sigh but nodded as she left the classroom and headed over towards the room she was told to go to, as she walked down the hallway Rina watched as the last of the students left the school and went to the busses. When the young girl made it she looked back down at the sheet of paper with the room number and opened it, when Rina got in she was surprised to see two other girls in there. One of them was an underclassmen and the other an upperclassmen both she had seen in the hallways but never spoke to them. "I'm guessing you both were asked to stay behind?" Rina asked going over and took a seat next to Ayaka.

~Hiroko & Kaede~
"Hey. Hey, Hiroko?"

"Yes, Kaede? What is it?"

"We're where going, again?"

Hiroko Fujiyama sighed lightly. This was the third time her goddaughter, Kaede Kobayashi, had asked the same question, with the words jumbled in different ways every single time. At least this time the words were mostly lined up correctly. Normally, If it were somebody else, Hiroko would no doubt hit them with a notepad or something and tell them to listen better. But Kaede was a special case; she'd taken a pretty nasty bump to her head during the Nephilim attack ten years ago, so the godmother had to expect this kind of thing from Kaede.

"We're going to pick up the girls SEED has chosen to help defend against the Nephilim attacks; the magitech girls."

"Ah, right!" It all seemed to click in Kaede's head. They were going to the school, right? Now she remembered clear as day. That was where the magitech girls were that would fight the Nephilim! Because normal people didn't stand much a chance, if any at all, so they were needed because they could synchronize with the MagiGears SEED developed and use them as anti-Nephilim weapons. Kaede had wanted to be one of them, but Hiroko refused to permit checking if she was even capable.

For her own safety, Hiroko had claimed. Because fighting those Nephilims up close was dangerous.

---

~Hotaru~
Why am I here? Hotaru asked herself. She was far from friendly, but she wasn't exactly the sort who was antisocial enough to warrant being held after school. Yet here she was. In a room. Being told simply to wait, without being given any reason.

AD 2032 T+ 10 Years, Nephilim Contact
"Attention all personnel to your stations, repeat all personnel to your stations. Thank you."

He looked down at the watch clamped securely on his right hand, an old gift from his father when he was young apparently it was supposed to be waterproof and shockproof meant for men that used to summit mountains it supposedly belonged to a grandfather of times past who was an acclaimed adventurer or something like that. He had always wanted to climb one of those high soaring peaks and when he was younger his father had promised to take him one day. This was before it all fell apart, back when people worried about having enough money to buy their first luxury car and of how big of a pool they wanted in their backgrounds after all of it peoples priorities changed. He had a feeling that he would never be able to go climb a mountain, to traverse the deadly ice falls of the Himalayas, or what was left of them at least he would never get to experience the sights his father described. That would of probably made him sad seeing his son give up on his childhood dreams. But he had a new purpose and that was to make sure that nobody would get hurt by those things ever again, so that countless mothers would not have to stay up crying as they watched the names of the dead scroll across the screen some of them out of grief for those that had fallen, others out of guilt being happy because nobody they knew had come up yet. So maybe climbing some mountains could wait for at least a little while.

The slight whrr whrr of the portable communication device in his pocket drove his mind away from introspective wandering. Portable communication device what was it with these scientist people he silently wondered they could never give anything a simple name, they could not just call the damn thing for what it was a glorified cellphone. It told him that it was time for him to get to command to get ready to oversee everything while the Doctor and a few of their people went and picked up the test subjects, a bunch of girls no even fit to be called adults that would soon have the fate of an entire world thrust upon them. He was offered a place in the small cadre that was going to go explain the situation but he declined respectfully. He was not going to be the one that infected their pretty world with the horrors of Nephilims, he did not have a place in that world of school and everyday lives his place was here in the world in which they would be anointed into. Beside their were much more friendly operatives that could ease them into the process with kinder faces that could pull of the lies that needed to be told.

The glint of the polished antiseptic white wall shined back at him as he stood in the adjoining hallway outside of the command center casting his reflection back at him. A man of thirty looked back at him dark eyes looking back that seemed to draw in every detail, with a well kept head of dark hair that was obviously groomed with attention at an early time. The crisp black uniform that SEED had provided for him was well cut and fit his body well though he had decide against the use of the cape and the hat even though they did add a certain authoritative flair for practicality purposes they would just get in the way. But the Doctor had been specific when addressing the fact that he should at least try to look his best for when the girls arrived instead of his much preferred standard workout attire that he wore almost constantly. Nodding once as he give himself a once over making sure all his medals from his time in the JSDF and buttons were in order. Once he passed his own inspection he nodded and let out a breath as he walked up to the doors and they slid open automatically as he entered the heart of operations.

"Commander on deck!" The man assigned to guard the door called out and saluted being relieved a moment later by a quick nod and nothing more as he progressed deeper into the command center. It still felt odd after many years of him being the one saluting that he was now in technicality the one up the totem pole. Though he was no commander of an army he was instead to be commander of a handful of girls as they tried to fight hell he could of never imagined that when he was younger. But none the less he was not just Shion Tetsuya he was Tactical Commander of Operations Shion.

Absentmindedly he ran through a check with the rest of the command crew making sure that sensors were running, the satellites were up, and everyone was on high alert. Even though today they were just gathering the girls and future pilots of the MagiGears if Kawaguchi was right then sooner rather than later they would be dealing with something that almost destroyed humanity the first time around and Kawaguchi seemed to be right more times than she was wrong. So it was best to be prepared so that they weren't surprised when the killer death machine dropped from the sky.

"And so it begins." Tetsuya muttered to himself with a hint of excitement upon his face that was seemingly masked stoicism.

Shiro sat quietly in a corner desk, eyes twitching about the room occasionally then back down at the cell phone in her lap. There was no teacher, nor had there been any signs of one for some time now, but she wasn't exactly the type to take chances. They were being held after school for a reason, and if it was because they were in trouble she didn't want to compound it by using a cell while campus. Especially if they were currently in something like detention. That would be like speeding in a school zone. But risks aside, with no idea how long she would be left behind, she had to let her brother know she was going to be late. She'd hate to worry him. She couldn't just call him, so text message would have to do

"Hey, Onii-san. Being held late after school today. I Think I may miss Judo, so don't worry about me."

In seconds she received a response, glad she remember to put her phone on silence.

'Are you in trouble? Did you hip throw another bully?

Shiro scowled at her phone and began to furious type a response.

"NO! I didn't do anything! Stupid Onii-san!"

'lol, okay fine, I'll believe you for now. Any idea why there are keeping you?'

She sighed sweeping her eyes about the room and the other students where apparently in the same situation as her, whatever this situation was. by the looks on their faces no one else had been told anything either. This was most unusual. I mean, yeah sure it wasn't exactly odd for students to be held after school for one reason or another. but even the dense of school punks would be aware of what exactly they had done or been accused of to be detained after classes. Seemed everyone here is in the dark, and that was simply not normal.

"Not a clue. I'm not the only one being kept here. Don't really know any of these other girls. None of them are trouble makers as far as I know. I'll try and keep you posted.'

'you do that. I'll keep dinner warm for you in case you're really late.'

She smiled faintly and replied

"If you cooked it, don't bother, I'd rather avoid the attempted poisoning.'

'stupid imouto-san. Stay safe'

She smiled at her phone, carefully clicked in closed and slipped it back into her school bag. Still no word or sign of anyone of authority. She took a deep breath and folded her arms. Fine then, she would wait for someone to explain this madness. She was a patient girl, she could wait.

"Ok, we'll need Roshi, Flick, and Juza on healing, Kye and Slade for tank, and anyone who can do dps on deck..." Eliza thought to herself as she idly sketched the new shield she hoped would be dropped tonight on her game. They'd been working towards this boss fight for weeks, and tonight was hopefully going to be their chance to take him out! She didn't lead the charge, but often the girls who ran the groups asked her for recommendations. She didn't want to lead the show, but was always happy to lend a hand! Her cell phone blinked again for the fourth time in minutes, if she was stuck in class she'd at least organize the party in advance.

"I hope everyone makes it tonight, it'll be nice to catch up with my friends overseas." The blink of several confirmed emails on Elize's cell phone reaffirmed her hopes. Most of her friends had offered to make it online tonight. There was another email from several of the regular "clan" that made her smile.

"Happy Birthday Pixel! Hope you're having a blast beta-testing!"

Looking up towards the other girls, ensuring she was quick about a response, thanking for the warm wishes. "Thank you everyone! I'll be online tonight. That lava monster is totally gonna get his butt kicked!!" As she looked towards the other girls held in this class, she sighed to herself as she realized she didn't recognize any of them. One of the things with her being a transfer student, and honestly, more concerned with her games then trying to get to know her classmates made her a bit of an "NPC" she was there to give a few one-liners, that was it. She was just the shy girl with the glasses, the horribly smudged glasses Elize noted as she began to clean them for what seemed to be the fourth time today.

Noting the time, she wondered if she'd get to her home in time to meet online. As a precaution, she plugged her laptop into the closest outlet in case she had to hope to a cyber cafe for cheap wi-fi, she spoke to the other girls held in class. "I hope we find out why we are here soon...I gotta get online! There's monsters to be stomped..."

Sometimes, he had to wonder.

Being as cancerous as they were, maybe the human race should just roll over and die when the Nephilim came, instead of putting up a fight for their survival? There had to be a reason that the Nephilim from ten years ago only attacked populated areas, and, just like Chernobyl, nature eventually reclaimed those abandoned places for itself. It was a grim little thought that wormed its way into his mind, festering and awakening him in the darkest hours of night. It was a smidgen of doubt that was stamped away the moment Ikuu reminded himself of what he had lost. If these alien invaders didn’t want any sort of fight, they should have annihilated the human race immediately. By doing a sloppy job, they had only set the entire 7 billion humans that still survived against them.

And, if Kawaguchi-sensei’s predictions were accurate, soon, those Nephilim would be able to experience just how much humans have advanced over the years. Of course, it would have been nice if the vanguard of the human defense weren’t child soldiers who he’d be forcibly drafting into SEED, but…well, they’d have to make do with it, at least until the Doctor stopped fantasizing about magical loli panty shots and started making standardized magical weapons that any person could use.

He stifled a smile as he remembered the time when he discovered just how much of a magical girl otaku Sumiko was. While the genre had changed significantly after studios began to take darker spins on the traditional idea of magical girls fighting supernatural monsters, it was still an industry rife with moe-fanatics that squealed like pigs during risqué transformation sequences. At least her taste in magical girl anime wasn’t that bad. He’d tried a few of the series, and found them to be a good distraction late at night. Symphogear in particular. He could see where the professor had drawn inspiration for a few of the MagiTech weaponry designs.

With a few quick steps, his boots ringing against the hard floor of the school hallway, Kako Ikuu made perfect ninety degree turn as arrived at the classroom in which the candidates were held, before lifting up one hand and sliding open the door with just enough strength that it opened without a sound. If any of the young girls in room were particularly perceptive, they would have noticed just how smooth and unblemished his bare forearms were. Synthetic skin WAS rather nice to look at, just like how mannequins were nice to look at.

He allowed himself a brighter, almost motherly smile as he waved with his right hand and said, “Hello and good day, girls. I’m Kako Ikuu, and I’d love to explain why you’ve been asked to stay in this classroom in particular, but I’d think that Sumiko-chan would kill me for stealing the role of ‘Kyubey’ from her, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”

His left hand bent upwards into a forty-five degree angle, placing a large box onto one of the unoccupied desks, before lifting open the cover. An assortment of small desserts were clustered on the first layer, pretty much gleaming in the afternoon sun.

“I made too much yesterday night, so help yourselves. If you dislike sweets, I have takoyaki in the middle layer and nikuman in the third.”

"Ah, Japan! The land of the rising sun! Full of a great many wonders such as Mt. Fuji, egg plants, and hawks! Also anime, manga, visual novels, light novels, and other such amazing products... Muhuhuhu..." A tiny blonde girl was giggling somewhat excitedly to herself, looking somewhat out of place given that a) she was full of energy and excited and b) she was definitely not Japanese in any way, shape, or form. Even if all of her worldly possessions she had on her was of Japanese make such as the smartphone that she was using to snap pictures of the scenery and the others, as well as the rather flashy [I Love Akihabara] t-shirt complete with various smiling maids inked on the fabrics. Or maybe that rather huge bag of reading materials bought from certain bookstores. Or her suit case full of clothes that resembled cosplay outfits in both look and function.

All in all, Elizabeth L. Lancaster was a person without negativity or concerns at the moment. The absurdly youthful looking girl was actually bouncing up and down in anticipation, wondering what all the fuss and hullabaloo was about, slight frame barely held in place. She was not sure WHY she was brought all the way to Japan from her native Great Britain or why her parents had allowed her to go so fast, but she wasn't complaining! The Japanese sure knew their stuff and her ride over was anything but unpleasant, seeing as she had the time of her life checking out the various merchandise before being rounded up. As such, her mood was the intense sort of happy that threatened to boil over and needed to be shared with everyone else.

"Oh boy, I wonder what else is coming up next! I mean there's a group and everything and people are acting like the Men in Black at the moment with the government looking officials and everything and wow what's that over there and ooh, I can't wait!" The young Englishwoman continued to babble, her enthusiasm distinctly contrasting along with the suspicions and darker thoughts of just about everyone else, making her appear even more out of place than before. Still, the girl was an intelligent person and she knew that something was coming up that would probably affect those gathered here to a certain degree. She just didn't know how much, and what the news was. Still, it wasn't shady looking in the least and thus she would bear an open mind until given a reason to prove otherwise. After all, one had to give a chance to experience new things after all, and this was something interesting right here!

Alexandra sighed as she was transported to the school in a rented limousine. Why did she have to come here again? She attended a private school, for smart people who happened to have enough wealth and privilege to go somewhere away from the commoners. After all, she had quite different priorities and needs than the average person.

Still, here she was, deposited in front of the school with nary an explanation nor aside word. She frowned with a harrumph as she folded her arms, making her way into the school. It was as dull a place as she expected, though it probably had to do with the fact that it was empty of people. Even then, it didn't change the point, and she walked through the halls with a calm pose and raised head, shoes clicking on the floor while blond twin tails bounced along. Even if no one was there, she was on display, and she would not be found wanting.

At last she arrived at the room she had been pointed to, slipping in to see that there were people already present. So be it then. Much as she would have liked to be there early, she would just have to settle for this. She puffed up a bit then, showing no fear but rather strength as she entered then, walking past the instructor (She had to assume it was an instructor), to sit in a chosen spot, near the front, but not too far away from the other people there.

"Thank you, but I'm not hungry," she replied, waving off the offered food, while also wondering what a 'Kyubey' was. She didn't expect an answer to that though, and settled in to hear what this man had to say. Her precious time was being wasted right now, and she would not stand for that when there were better things she could be doing.

Everyone was so old…

Hidden underneath a large table, back pressed against the wall, Junko was counting the intimidating big people that worked their way into the room.

At first she had just wanted to sit there until somebody arrived for her to talk to. Her mother had brought her here and told her to wait patiently before giving her a firm kiss on the forehead and both cheeks. Then, just as quickly as the woman had come to drag her out of school, she disappeared. It was all very frightening.

Through her boredom and terror, she worked her way into an imaginary fortress under the table.

The first girl that had entered the room with her attractive purple hair was fuming silently about being dragged here. If there was any reason for her to not leave the shadows of the table, the girl that unconsciously stared daggers in her direction would definitely be it. She reminded Junko of her mother when she didn’t get enough sleep. Terrifying and cranky.

Fearing being scolded for no apparent reason, she sat silently and watched the girl from a distance.

Silence seized the room as all could be heard was the periodic mumblings or shifting positions of the purple-haired girl. Then a soft knock came from the door. Scurrying back closer to the wall then she had initially been, she waited until the figure stood still and started talking to the purple onee-san before peeping out.

The standing girl seemed to be attempting to communicate with fearsome onee-san. The respect Junko had for the stranger rose significantly. What a brave soul! Not even Papa dared engage Mama when she was silently sulking about work. She held her breath, hoping that purple-nee-san wouldn’t start yelling as a result. The thought was enough to send Junko’s heart into a nervous frenzy.

It was for that very reason when the door suddenly opened to give way to a blonde-nee-san, Junko jumped, bumping her head against the table. Rubbing the bump scornfully all the while fighting hard to push back tears and stop the trembling of her lower lip, the girl looked out to see if anyone had noticed her.

Luckily, it seemed she was still in the clear.

The crowd of possibly angst-filled teenagers was too much for her innocent ten year old self to handle. The unconscious fear of pimples and other facial blemishes held her back as she continued to watch trio silently.

Yet the poor girl did not know the horrors in store…

She felt a heavy atmosphere coming from the door before suddenly, more and more people streamed in. Even the youngest among the group that had arrived was likely just a few years older than her! Left trembling as the once silent room now bustled with anticipation, annoyance, and teenage angst, Junko brought her knees to her face.

She knew nothing of what they talked about. Not to mention there were three foreigners…

There was no way she could possibly peek out now that everyone had settled down.

So she simply waited under the table that housed the tasty desserts brought by a kind man. What she was waiting for exactly, she didn’t know. She also had no idea how the box of desserts had gotten itself onto her lap.

What she did know, however, was that the desserts were well made, better than anything her mother had ever bought her.

Sitting there in the shadows, the carefree ten year old started to stuff her face with both hands.

Ayaka

Ayaka was somewhat surprised to see another girl enter the room. Generally, unless they were troublemakers who had all banded together to perpetrate the same 'crime', students didn't get lumped into the same room if they had to stay after class. This girl didn't exactly look like some kind of troublemaker any more then Ayaka felt she did, even if she had apparently mastered the skill of asking about the completely obvious.

"Of course I did," she replied, her tone short and irritable, "Why else would I be here? What are they even doing, sending us to stay after class like this..."

Then another girl came in. What the hell was this? It seemed like she was totally confused as well, asking if they'd been told to stay behind too. Really, Ayaka usually felt like the school faculty did pretty well, but this was just plain stupid. More and more, Ayaka started to realize there were other people here. All girls, too. A girl tapping away on her phone, some foreigner playing a game(idiot, did she not even get how irritating this all was?) Some other foreigner who looked like she was too young to be here(thought she could just be a late bloomer, Ayaka guessed) and way too excited, and a final foreigner who seemed a lot more sensible then the other two at least.

And then... a man came in. There was something strange, a feeling that something had changed, the moment he entered. Ayaka couldn't put her finger on why, but she did notice that his arms didn't look the same as the rest of him. They were almost... too perfect?

"I'd rather find out why we're here then stuff my face," she said, simply, her tone still carrying the air of absolute irritation, "Besides, your candy just got stolen."

There was someone else under the table, apparently, as the box had vanished beneath it. Ayaka couldn't quite see who it was from this angle, but that meant the room was packed full of even more people then she thought. What was with this? Why all girls?

Little did Ayaka know that they'd soon be picked up. Little did she know that they would indeed learn just why they were here.

And from that point on, all their lives would change.

---

Yuki

Silently, Yuki shut her book. In the bustle of the control room, she had not once looked up. Even when the commander entered, she did not move, quietly reading from her book. And then, finally, when he stopped, she had shut her book, placed it beside her seat, and rose to her feet. She quietly crossed the room, crimson eyes laser-focused on one specific spot, disregarding of all else around her as she walked through the control center. Finally, arriving at her spot directly beside the commander, he gaze shifted to look up at him, fixing on him.

Her mouth opened, the utter silence usually kept by her broken.

"It's starting soon."

With that, she quietly turned and walked away without another word. No explanation of what she had said. She paused for a moment only to grab her book off of the seat, before leaving the room entirely.

---

Across the hanger, nearby a certain engineer, there was quite the bustle of activity. A set of highly-advanced equipment was being brought out, transported to a nearby chamber. The chamber would be under the direct scrutiny of Doctor Kawaguchi herself. Word had it that the Doctor was excited, no, ecstatic to meet the candidates. Some even said her excitement bordered on the obsessive, though hopefully that was just the Doctor's strange attitude getting through. Even with her excitement, she was careful about warning of the Nephilim's attack potentially starting at any time. They needed the candidates now.

So really, there was no question of what each piece of equipment could be. Entirely unique, each and every one...

It was the MagiGear.

---

The censor was old. It had been down there a while. SEED had wanted to cover their bases, but it had been difficult to keep maintaining something so deep under the water. So it only began to respond when the shape was right on top of it, and had snapped the silvery pole in half.

It would show up as a brief, but terribly noticeable blip on the monitor in SEED headquarters.

~Hiroko & Kaede~
"We're here," Hiroko said, taking the key out of the car and stepping out, Kaede not far behind her. This was the place where the girls would be; young girls that SEED had deemed capable of fighting giant alien monsters capable of destroying entire cities, risking their lives for humanity's sake. The cause was noble; at least Hiroko knew that much. Kaede probably either didn't care or didn't get the full extent of it.

The two walked through the school halls for a brief moment, until the duo had arrived just outside the door where the selected girls would be. "Could you wait out here while I get the girls, Kaede?"

"Sure!"

"If headquarters calls, bring this to me," Hiroko said, handing a small comms device to her goddaughter. Then Hiroko stepped in. One, two three...Hiroko counted nine girls in total at first glance, with a possible small margin of error. Not stepping very far from the door, Hiroko spoke clearly and deliberately. She wanted to avoid repeating herself if at all possible; time was of the essence here.

"Good afternoon, girls. My name is Hiroko Fujiyama, and I've been sent here to pick you girls up and deliver you to SEED headquarters. There's a lot to be said about precisely what you're doing here, but I'm quite busy and no doubt our boss would like to meet you as soon as possible. I'll leave it to her to explain."

Mai

The black car slowly stopped at the side walk of the building, is this it? The question popped up in her head but she didnt know for sure, it surely seemed like this would be it. Mai was sitting in the back of the car with her hands neatly placed on her lap, her brown coloured eyes where focussed on the building that they stopped at, but the woman that was just driving the car had already opened the car door for her.

She quickly stepped out of the car taking another look at the building with the wind blowing through her long purple hairs she tought back about the conversation that the two of them where having on the way here. Something just didnt feel right, why did she need to stay after school to be brought here. The woman just started walking towards the main entrance of the building and opened up the door for her again.

She gave an odd stare to the woman when she passed her and continued on walking down the halls with the woman besides her. It looked a bit like a school, was it a school? It looked a bit like a school where teenagers would go to, mai had seen how those schools looked like in an anime. She gazed around a bit, what was going to happen why did she feel so tense. There was definetly something very important happening here. She felt nervous her heart started picking up the pace bit by bit as they kept on walking. She stared at the woman suspiciously as she passed by her before continueing to walk down the halls beside her. Why was she even concentrating on that. The woman stopped in front of a door, why did she stop. Was she mad at Mai for being so tense. Mai noticed a white haired girl (kaede) standing in the hallway near the door close to her. She only gave a tense smile at the girl before the woman opened up the door in front of them and waited for her to enter again.

Mai looked up to the woman again and slowly started walking into the room till she was standing in the door post. Her eyes widened at what she was seeing. She only started feeling more tense when she saw all the girl sitting in the room with two people standing in front of the classroom that looked like teachers. The woman behind her gave a gentle push against her back and she took a step forward in respons as the woman closed the door for her again without entering herself. Mai looked behind her to see the door has closed and the woman just left her here. Mai started to panic and the girls didnt really look like they where her age but a lot older. The woman had said it in the car to her that she needed to attend this meeting.

Mai panicked for a moment and suddenly bowed down to the two teachers standing in front "T-there was a-a trafic jam and i-i-i umm... s-sorry" she felt like bursting out in tears. It felt so humuliating doing this but it was the right thing to do. Did she need to introduce herself to the others now, she tried to skip out under the teachers and slowly took a step deeper into the classroom. She didnt even look if she got any attention from the other girls in the room and just started walking along the door side of the room. Her arms where pressed against chest when she kept walking looking for a seat that was still free close to the wall. She kept her head low and didnt look up to make any eye contact with the others.

She sat down almost at the end of the room and started fiddeling with her tumbs. Was she taking an entrance exam for this school or something is that what they were doing here. Mai took tiny peeks through the room to look at the other girls and see how they where like. A girl under the table caught her eye. But she felt scared to even say something at this point. She just remained staring at the girl under the table that was eating a whole bunch of sweets. Mai learned about healthcare when she was young. This was defenitly not healty what she was doing she just wanted to shout it out to her but she couldnt help herself to keep staring mindlessly at the girl.

Rina looked over toward Eliza one of the foreign students as she asked a question how long that they would be held in here for and shrugged to herself. "I honestly have no clue how long we will be here for, though playing a game later on sounds a whole lot of fun," Rina said with smile, and then heard the door open her blue eyes going over towards the man who was standing just outside the entrance, he introduced himself as Kako Ikuu. Rina assumed that he was the one who would explain why they were all being held back after class. The one thing that she quickly noticed that his arms were very shiny more then they should be. she quickly got up and started to curiously poke at them and could tell that the skin was fake and assumed that the arms were very good prosthetics. Rina then quickly grabbed one of the treats and quickly smiled enjoying the taste of it. "These are really good." Rina said with a smile.

Rina then looked to see another woman standing behind Ikuu and another girl just outside of the door and heard her mentioning SEED and the were going to be taken to their HQ. Rina quietly wondered why SEED would want them for and crossed her arms over her chest. "What does SEED want with a bunch of girls?" Rina asked looking to the other girls that were in the room .

Izumi Yuna

The girl Yuna had spoken to was clearly not happy about having to stay back -- something Yuna completely understood.

"Eh-heh, I guess we'll find out soon,"

More and more people eventually entered the room. All girls, Yuna noted with curiosity.

Next to enter, breaking the trend, was a man who seemed to be in his early twenties. He implied that he knew why the girls had been gathered, but said he would not be explaining anything. Yuna was now uncertain about what was going on -- this was unlike any other time she had stayed after school.

The man placed a box of sweets on a table next to Yuna, but they didn't particularly interest her. Her eyes were busy dancing around the room, memorizing the faces of the girls that surrounded her and trying to figure out why they were here.

Finally, an older woman entered the room. After a quick greeting, she dropped the bombshell -- they were somehow getting involved with SEED.

Yuna's mind raced. in the midst of her worry, she noticed that the box of sweets was gone... and munching noises coming from under the table.

She bent over, to take a look. A very young girl sat, shoving food into her mouth.

"Oh! Hello sweetie," she said, surprised. Kneeling down, she offered her hand to the child and gave her a soft, reassuring smile. "It looks cramped under there."

It was then that Yuna noticed the other young girl entering the room, stammering nervously and looking distraught. Yuna frowned. SEED apparently wanted the girls, for whatever reason. It was already strange that they were all only high-schoolers, but the two youngest could only be in elementary.

What could SEED possibly need with elementary-aged children.

Holding the hand of the girl who sat under the table, Yuna addressed the man and woman. "These two aren't supposed to be here, right?" she said, gesturing to the young girls, still wearing a slight frown.

As Elize continued to plan her next big game event, more girls, all various classes and backgrounds. Some native to the country, other's were foreign like her. Were they all part of the same school? Elize's brow furrowed as she began to scan the school's social networks, seeing if she could find any similarities. As another girl, she later learned was named Rina commented on her game sounding fun. Rina smiled as she looked up from the LCD screen. "It's pretty fun! Me and a bunch of friends back home play World of Blades. It's mainly an all girl group, so we have a blast! You're welcome to join us tonight if you want." She offered helpfullly, remembering what it was like when she started gaming was awkward. When she found her group, she had so much more fun.

She used to be so much more withdrawn, but that game seemed to help her come out of her shell. She could find links between people, groups to work together. even strategies on the big bads of the game. So she felt it was her duty to welcome anyone interested into that world.

Elize noted the new man who entered the room with a curiosity. Something just screamed "off" about him. Asides he reeked of military. There was something odd about his arms, but Elize dismissed it. She had been awake a little too long again, and running off caffeine and energy bars. They seemed almost shiny...,maybe? "That can't be right?" maybe he just came from a spa? Dismissing that from her thoughts when he mentioned the subsidiary of the game company that offered her the trip, along with the beta test and the apartment she'd been set up in.

"SEED?" Elize assumed they were just some stuffy publisher that bankrolled the dev company. Did they actually need her for something? Her heart began to beat faster as the other girls began to stammer their own responses. Did they know who SEED really was?

Closing her laptop, Elize met the woman's gaze as she quietly closed her laptop. "You guys paid for me to be here, I don't see how I can say no..."

Alexandra looked about the confusion and general hubbub once their purpose here had been revealed with disdain. Were they all really this stupidly ignorant? She'd known flat out coming here had been part of some SEED program, so it wasn't a surprise that it would be SEED who brought her here for whatever. But maybe they just operated differently in Japan than they did in America. Japan did have their own way of doing things after all, compared to the USA.

She did have to agree with the sentiment about the little kids being here though, the hopelessly nervous one that had just entered, and the little girl hiding beneath the table. What use would they be to an elite organization dedicated to fighting Nephilim? That would just end in disaster, she was sure.

Well, at least the revelation settled her worries about whether this would be a waste of time or not, since even if it was it would probably still be in some useful purpose. From what she understood overhearing conversations at high class functions involving the organization, they weren't ones for massive bureaucracy and red tape, so what happened next would be at least a little bit important.

She let out an audible sigh, resisting the urge to play with her hair a bit in exasperation. "What, didn't any of you read the forms when you signed up," she asked in return to the girl who had asked why they were here. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I signed up to be a member of an elite organization dedicated to protecting the world should it ever be in danger again. Maybe you should read the fine print before you sign up for something you're obviously not qualified for."

Finishing with haughty disdain at the cluelessness of everyone involved here besides her, she looked to the two people here from SEED, the man with the odd arms, and the woman who was apparently going to be their chauffeur. "Well, I'm ready to go," she told them, just as eager to get to the important bits as she was to get away from the stupid people. This was what she got for assuming commoners had brains they could actually use.

~Hiroko & Kaede~
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I signed up to be a member of an elite organization dedicated to protecting the world should it ever be in danger again. Maybe you should read the fine print before you sign up for something you're obviously not qualified for."

"Oh, they're qualified, alright," Hiroko said. "Yes, even the little ones. I'm probably no more fond of the idea than my co-worker here, but if you're a girl in this room, and you're not me, you're qualified. You wouldn't be here otherwise." Turning to the door, Hiroko said "Come along now. We don't have much time, so we'll have to hurry along a bit. Time is of the essence, everyone." Making sure the girls were behind her with each step, Hiroko made her way to leave. And of course, she was intercepted by Kaede the moment she left the room.

"So how'd it go? We've girls the got?"

"Yes; they'll be just behind me. Please make sure nobody falls behind, Kaede."

"You got it!" Kaede watched Hiroko's back intently. If somebody were to fall behind, it would now be her job to make sure they caught back up. Hiroko wasn't the sort to wait for people, so it was important to her that none of these girls fall behind. SEED was counting on them, after all. It sounded like a good thing to do. Put on a MagiGear and fight the nephilims, and save the world. Why oh why couldn't Kaede also be allowed to get in on the action? She understood Hiroko was concerned about her safety, but...

Well, it's the thought that counts.

---

~Hotaru Kazami~
"Secret organization? Saving the world?" No way. Hotaru wanted no part of that crap. The last thing she wanted was to put her life on the line with the whole of humanity cheering for her. It'd be way too embarrassing. And what about school? Can't get anywhere without a degree. What would happen if she wasn't allowed to return to school; would this SEED group teach her stuff instead? Or would she just go on to be deemed an uneducated moron? Not that she particularly liked school or anything; just that the notion of not going and putting herself on the line for the sake of everybody else was completely idiotic. She'd have nothing to do with it!

...or so she told herself. But, sure enough, Hotaru found herself getting up to her feet, and following the lady in the suit. This would be so great, she mentally seethed. She really wanted no part of this. But she'd do it anyway.

“Oh look, the calvary is here,” Ikuu mused, when the familiar face of Fujiyama-san popped into the classroom. It WAS getting a bit boring, when his attempt to stir up a more ‘calming’ atmosphere by offering sweets was foiled by the fact that most of those girls must have been on diets or something, refusing to eat and being all ‘business-like’. What a pain. He scratched his head as the two bridge bunnies pointedly added to the enigma of the whole situation, answering the questions directed to them in a mysterious manner.

But he reminded himself that Kyubey would probably fire him for ruining her crowning moment of fun, telling the girls to make a contract and become a technological girl, so…yeah, it would be bad if he lost his financial stability, wasn’t it. Peeking under the table and smiling at the young girl who hid there, munching selfishly at the box of sweets, Ikuu said, “It’s time to go, kiddo.”

And then, he took the box from her with minimal effort, packed up the three-layer gourmet selection of homemade foods, before walking on ahead, stepping in front of Hiroko and Kaede, before handing over the food box to them. “I’ll be biking along the car, so if you don’t mind, it’d be good if you placed this in the trunk of the car or whatever, yeah?”