First Time?
Ravaged by the climax of an ancient war, the wasteland of planet Alterra’s western continent, Frontier isn’t the most comfortable place to call home. Nevertheless, pockets of settlers eke out a living in the harsh parched earth, among them the Courier known as the Revolver Knight, Kenji A. Randan. With a symbiotic dragon armor and a host of eccentric allies, will he live up to his mentor’s reputation or end up as a notch in the belt of one of his enemies? Find out as RK continues…
Before you dive in, I also recommend going over the Cast section too for a quick who’s-who.
THE STORY THUS FAR:
Kenji is a Courier; a job title that used to just mean ‘delivery boy,’ but in the harsh, cutthroat West has broadened the job description to everything from temporary farmhand to sabotage. He resides in Wayside, a small town formed by former criminals who had come around, but didn’t wish to face charges in the eastern cities. Along with his friend, Angie, a mainlander elf staying at the local guild dormitory, he runs odds-and-ends missions handed down by his mentor Ryoko. Everything would be nice and low-key, if not for the fact that Kenji’s symbiote soon starts drawing an unusual amount of attention from both the authorities, and less savory sorts.
On a job to investigate and bring back stolen Armacite crystals from the Black Iron Bandits, Kenji and Angie find these formerly small-time thugs have not only gotten their hands on Tomakari machinery, but are aligned with a cabal of demons. After being attacked by the cyclops, Archon, Angie’s true nature is revealed as having been unwittingly spying on Kenji and his developing powers via the spellblade she was given years ago by the Man in Blue. When the scope of what she had done sank in and she began a short-lived battle against The Man, her own estranged mother, and the rest of the demonic inner circle, Scott and his minions took the chance to scuttle off, but not before rescuing Kenji.
Five weeks after Angie’s disappearance, Kenji goes on a rampage in the Black Iron Bandits’ stronghold, bent on finding out where she- and the Man in Blue went. After escaping before a GunCon raid as his new, mysterious white flames start to overtake him, it’s revealed by Ryoko the connection between he and the mystery man, as well as inadvertently revealing that she’s the reason the siblings are orphans.
After discovering Angie fled with Z to the mainland, Surrenia, he attempts to get airship passage from Scott (who of course insists on yet another duel), only to have the Chimera hijacked by Sara and steered in the opposite direction to a crash landing on the shores of Far Eastern Xanang. After discovering Sara’s thievery had been for the sake of her master and father figure, who had been poisoned by the rival Yamano clan, Kenji agreed to help her and her sister, Sora meet with the enemy to reclaim the master. Meanwhile, GunCon Officer Shiro attempted to investigate and apprehend him, on orders from Yamato, of the Central Guard. (Whom, incidentally, is also relaying orders to Kagemaru, stuck on the opposite shore of the continent due to his usual luck.) Shiro succeeded in stealing Kenji’s weapons, but Sara chased him down in the forest while the others proceeded to the meeting place. Faced with Shiro’s ability to slow time to a near-standstill, Sara was severely wounded with the gun she sought to reclaim, but overcame the officer with a shower of shrapnel from all sides. Even with time halted, he could find no escape and resigned himself to destruction. The exchange, of course, went foul- one of Z’s demon servants, Morbid, had been posing as the Master’s unconscious form and began a surprise attack, along with Jiten, Yamano ninja clan master and walking biological weapons factory (read: lethally poor hygiene.) The battle ended with Sara teetering between life and death, but in her sister’s care and stabilizing. Kenji moved on, across the border into Surrenia.
While crossing the vast, grassy plains, Kenji was abducted by a dragon and taken to the airborne sanctuary called Halcyon. The high priest of the Holy Dragons greeted him warmly at first, but was in fact seeking his dragon armor, based off the DNA of his elder brother to prevent the other dragons from finding out and trying to appoint Kenji to his position. His arm severed by a surprised attack at the start of the battle, Kenji eventually allowed the dragon within him control of his body. Regenerating the lost limb, but coursing with energy that threatened to incinerate the host body, he battled Raith only to be interrupted by an assault from Z’s forces. A strange machine poured viral gas over the sanctuary, weakening the dragons for the slaughter. Damaged in the fight, the sanctuary crashed into a town, where GC had already prepared a barricade. Kenji escaped through the underground, only to end up face to face with Angie- as an opponent. The both of them fought while talking out why she left, and in the end, Kenji broke off one of his spines to serve as a holy spellblade for her, much as Z had done years ago to make her into his spy.
Next came General Leonis of the Surrenian Army and his elite unit, the Dragon Slayers. In spite of his old body, at the threats of Officer Yamato, Leonis fought Kenji to test his might, only to succumb to a heart attack in the heat of battle. The Dragon Slayers withdrew, but to say his daughter Erika was unhappy with the development would be an understatement, and despite his last words, blames Kenji for his demise.
Meanwhile, recovering from his wounds at Halcyon, the human side of “Z” flashes back to the events that made him what he is today. A powerfully built, but staunch pacifist, he was taken from his hometown by a military draft the king of Surrenia ordered, expecting war with the neighboring country of Trahn. Bidding his love goodbye, he set out. With her older brother guiding him with the principle that swords could be used to defend what’s important instead of just being seen as pointless bloodshed, the both of them served admirably, but were ultimately defeated by the Trahnian’s modern weaponry, including bioweapons. At the depths of anger and despair, a demon in armor appeared before Zeke and bestowed his the power of Zagara so that he might ‘end all conflict,’ with the unstated but obvious goal of ending all life to do it…
Sensing the coming of Kenji and Angie, the armored demon Aegis teleports the still wounded and disoriented Z far away, and with members of Z’s inner circle including Angie’s mother and the lycanthrope scientist Winston, faced Kenji and Angie down to his last. However, it was only a manuever to buy time…
Disc 3 opens with Kagemaru attempting to reach Kenji and Angie in the frozen, magic-free country of Trahn before other members of GC with more lethal intent do. With little other to go on, Angie and Kenji seek shelter with the elf village in the great forest, which she left behind so long ago. Using the Dark Elves’ tunnels to make their way under the harsh mountains of Trahn, the pair found the hidden laboratory of the GENUS company, a group of bioweapon and monster producers. With the help of Mr. Genus’s daughter, Kenji was saved from being overtaken by the dragon armor by undergoing a fusion process. They were also reunited with Erika, from Surrenia, who was there on royal orders to have an anti-Z weapon made. Together they set out… directly into a GC ambush as well as a surprise attack by a desperate Raith, decomposing alive from the Dracovirus.
In the end, our heroes were taken aboard a GC-Central Guard airship bound for Atlantis’s quarantine zone, Z having pilfered the key to the city from the Tomakari Manor, grievously injuring the President in the process. Z has caused the sunken city to rise, and assimilated much of the island’s crystal generator power in order to summon Zagara’s original core back through the holy shield and be restored to its terrible full power. The stage for the final battle is set…