ManaGun - Stage 01

"Uh...thanks?" she said awkwardly, "Charlotte Trigger but I go by Charlie."

"Trigger? Really?" the man asked with a laugh as he handed her a small box, "Well I'm Marcus King, your new partner."

"Partner? I just thought they'd put me through basic training then send me off somewhere." Charlie said as she opened the box.

The box only contained three things; a bronze badge with her name on it, some kind of wrist bracer with a long black oval-shaped jewel embedded in it, and a genuine handgun-model managun. A smile spread across her face as she picked up the badge first and admired the way her name shined on it in the light.

"All training with the B.U.S.T. is done on-the-job nowadays. We tend to lose a lot less rookie agents that way." he explained happily as she pinned her badge to the inside of her overcoat, "Speaking of, we've actually got our first assignment already so we've got to hurry over to the practice range to make sure your gun's working properly."

"Roger." Charlie said seriously as she put the managun in her leg holster.

He smiled and motioned for her to follow him as he walked out of the room. She tucked the box with the jeweled bracer still in it under her arm as she chased after him. He set an uncomfortably quick pace for them as they twisted through the maze of other people towards their destination.

"Let me give you a run down of how the B.U.S.T. works as an Agent while we walk," Marcus began, "Right now, you're a bronze rank Agent. I'm a gold rank Agent, two ranks above you. Complete missions successfully and eventually you'll raise your rank. A higher rank means more benefits. At silver rank, you get access to perks. At gold rank, you get access to new weapons and finally at crystal rank, you get to take on S-class missions."

"S-Class missions?" Charlie asked as she finally caught up.

"Yeah, missions are separated into four classes; C, B, A, and S. C-class missions are the least dangerous and also pay the least upon completion, while S-class are the most dangerous and pay the most. S-class missions are super rare too, since it has to be something that threatens the entire world. And I don't just mean the people of the world, I mean the planet itself." Marcus explained.

"Got it. But let me ask, why do they make you wait until you raise your rank to let us use perks and other weapons?" Charlie wondered.

"Perks and managun types other than handguns tend to take a toll on the body. Completing missions doesn't just get you paid, it strengthens your innate mana. Especially if you collect a high score during a mission." he said.

"A high... score?" she asked, confused.

"You saw the bracer with the jewel in the box, right?" Marcus asked and waited until Charlie nodded before he continued, "That's a device that keeps track of your performance during a mission. Defeating enemies makes your score go up and the tougher the enemy, the more it goes up."

"How in the world does it do that?!" Charlie asked incredulously.

Marcus just smiled and shrugged as he slowed down. Charlie saw that they had reached their destination. A large sign read Shooting Range above a large square hole in the wall where one would usually see doors. She could understand why doors had been forgone since throngs of people moved in and out of the range at a steady pace. They joined those throngs and Charlie saw row upon row of Agents lined up at a counter, taking shots at moving balls with targets painted on them a small distance away.

"Come on, we're this way." Marcus said as they took a left turn away from all the other agents and towards a separate room with a sign overhead that read Calibration.

The setup inside the room was like a smaller version of the shooting range they had just left, but with dividers clearly meant to separate individuals. She followed her new partner to one of them and pulled out her gun as he pressed a big red button and stepped aside. Four red targets in each corner of where she could aim showed up.

"So is this your first time working with a real managun?" Marcus asked her as she took aim at the top left target, "Hold up, don't fire yet. Answer my question first so we can get this set up correctly."

"Well, they gave us one they said was modified during the obstacle course test. Is this one any different?" Charlie asked with her gun at the ready.

"Oh yeah," he replied with a chuckle, "Biggest difference, you're going to have to reload. Your basic managun only holds eight shots at a time. When you've expended them all, the bottom of your stock will pop out, but won't fall from the gun. We call that your clip, by the way. Anyway, just push that back in and it will siphon off a bit of your body's mana to reload the gun."

"So eight shots and then my clip pops out from...here?" she asked as she pointed to where she thought he meant on her gun.

"You got it. You can also press the little bright blue button just above the trigger on the left side of the gun to pop your clip early, in case you want to reload to a full clip in preparation. Make sure you keep good track of your ammo count. Most rookie injuries happen because they lose track of ammo and take a hit while they're reloading." Marcus said, pointing out the button in question as he talked about it.

"Understood."

Charlie waited a couple moments to see if he had anything else to say but he just gestured with his head towards the targets. She nodded and aimed her gun. Each target lit up precisely where her gun pointed and after she shot each one, they disappeared and several new targets popped up. After four more shots, she got to see the gun's clip pop out for the first time.

"Reload!"

Charlie shrieked and nearly dropped her gun when the voice came out of it. She whipped her head around to Marcus, who was clearly just as surprised as she had been. She wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse.

"Reload!"

"Fine!" she yelled at her gun as she slammed her palm into the bottom of the clip.

There was a slight tingle as the clip drew her mana out and slid back into the managun. There was an oddly satisfying click as it locked back into place and she fired at the last seven targets that popped up. After nothing new came up for a full minute, she pressed the little button Marcus showed her and reloaded manually.

"Well... it looks like your gun's shooting straight. That's good." Marcus said with a slightly nervous chuckle.

"Why does it talk?!" Charlie demanded as she stuffed her gun back into its holster.

"You're going to have to ask Doctor Gadzook about that one. She made the gun specifically for you. Now come on, we have a mission." he answered as he led the way out of Calibration.

"But my gun talks! Shouldn't we get me a normal gun?" Charlie pleaded as she chased after him.

"Gadzook's taken a personal interest in you. She probably just put that reload reminder in to up your chances of coming back in one piece. Despite how weird that reminder is, your gun shoots straight and holds all eight shots properly. That's what's important." Marcus said as he led her through the complex.

She wanted to argue further but worried what consequences there might be for speaking out against the orders of a senior Agent. She sighed and followed him as they entered a wide open area that was filled with small airships meant to fly a handful of people around quickly. Her eyes filled with stars as Marcus led her closer to one of them.

"Wait, are we flying to the mission?" she asked in an excited squeal.

"Fastest way to get where we need to go." he told her with a smile.

Each airship was designed similarly to the fishing boats she had grown up around, save that each one had a large oval balloon that floated over it. Six propellers would allow the airship to speed forwards and backwards and two wing-like rudders would allow it to swim through the skies in much the same manner fish swam through water.

Charlie followed Marcus up the ramp that led onto the deck. To her surprise, there was nobody else on the ship. She had expected a captain to steer but there were only two large mana engines, six large padded seats and a couple of oversized storage boxes. She watched Marcus take a seat right before the ramp that she had walked up fell from the ship entirely. A small guardrail rose up to occupy the space the ramp had been.

"Charlie, hurry up and grab a seat before the ship takes off!" Marcus shouted to her as the ship started to rumble under her feet.

She rushed over onto the seat next to him and was nearly thrown off it as the ship suddenly jerked forward. It accelerated slowly out of the base and before long, they were in the open skies. The early evening sky, with the sun no longer visible but the last of its light still illuminating everything, stretched out forever before her as they headed away from the floating island that served as B.U.S.T. 's main headquarters.

"Much as I hate to ruin somebody's very first flight through the open sky, I've got to brief you on our mission." Marcus said loudly, to be heard over the wind in their ears.

"Right, sorry." Charlie replied as she slowly tore her eyes away from the magnificent sight and focused on her partner, "So what are we flying into?"

"An evil carnival." he answered casually.

Charlie looked at him dumbfounded for a moment, which made him laugh as she tried to figure out whether or not he was joking.

"I'm dead serious, as ridiculous as it sounds. The night before last, a massive carnival appeared seemingly out of nowhere. At least 15 people have been confirmed missing after it popped up, all humans, and we were contacted to investigate. The town it's in is small, so the local police won't be able to spend the resources or manpower to assist us. We're on our own." Marcus explained.

"Wait, how are we so sure it's evil then? I mean I don't like clowns either but..." she wondered.

"Well for starters, there's a bunch of blood everywhere. Plus it literally appeared out of thin air, seems to be abandoned and has been reported to have all sorts of screams and maniacal laughter. Mix that in with the people who went missing when it appeared and it's not exactly hard to do the math." he said, "The only way it could be more obvious is if they called themselves the Circus of Human Sacrifice or something."

"So what is it called then?" Charlie couldn't help but wonder.

"We'll find out when we get there. Anyway, the mission's pretty simple. Explore the carnival, rescue the hostages if possible, and neutralize any major threats. This mission's been labelled as a C-class, so we shouldn't have too much trouble between the two of us." Marcus said as he leaned back and enjoyed the ride.

"Maybe we can get some cotton candy too, if we're lucky." Charlie added lightheartedly.

"I doubt they have anything safe for human consumption." Marcus replied cheekily, "Besides, we'll probably be a little too busy for food. Places like these always have armies of killer clowns, monsters that look like costumes, jugglers that throw knives and all kinds of icky bugs. Probably some themed enemies too but those won't be nearly as plentiful."

"That many people would really work for an evil carnival?" she wondered.

"I doubt most of them will be real people. Most evildoers who pull these sorts of stunts use armies of minions conjured into existence with a ton of mana. Little more than fancy puppets without strings that won't do anything but mindlessly attack without any regard for strategy or self-preservation." he explained.

"Oh..." was all she could think to say.

She hoped she really was as ready for this mission she felt.

(Author's Note: Hey, thanks for making it all the way through! Pretty goofy, right? I came up with this ridiculousness a while ago and just had a ton of fun making it. I hope you're enjoying it.)