Oddly enough, I actually have more to write already. This chapter is going to be a bit longer than the prologue.

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I'll bet you're wondering what that video log was all about. "Who is Darkstar?" "How did this happen?" "What curse? Am I cursed for picking this up??" Well, be patient. There's a story to be told. I can tell you right now that no, you are not cursed for touching Darkstar's final log. No, the curse was never like that. It was far more sinister.

Darkstar was, without a doubt, the greatest swordsman of her time. If she had a blade, you had an army. She knew how to strike, where to strike, and she could decimate any opponent within seconds. She always insisted on working alone, not out of overconfidence, but because she did not work well with groups. In the heat of battle, one can forget who to strike and who to protect, no? No, she knew she'd do more harm than good with a squad. Nevertheless, she was eventually assigned to one. Our story begins on that day, the first day of being a part of Zeta Squad.
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"Mmmh... no... no... no, please I.... NO, GOD-" Darkstar awoke screaming. 'Another nightmare', she thought. Ever since birth, she had been haunted by a rare but still reoccurring dream. Each time was the same: A man made of shadow approaches her and speaks in a menacing and demented voice, "YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO EXIST. YOU ARE AN ABOMINATION!" and then proceeds to shove a blade through her gut. 'What does it mean? I know I wasn't-'
A knock on her door interrupted her train of thought. Before she even had the chance to respond, the door was thrust open. A large man stepped through and glared at Darkstar. "You tryin' to wake up half the damn order?" the man shouted.
"No," Darkstar replied, "But I'm not screaming so I can have the largest knight in Haven scream back. Get out before you get hurt."
"Whoa. Little Miss tough girl over here," the man said sarcastically. "You're lucky I'm not here to pick a fight, because if I was, you'd be in a world of hurt right now."
"Sure, sure. You keep telling yourself that, and I'll keep pretending to believe it."
"You're supposed to meet up with your new squad outside of the Arcade," the man said through clenched teeth, and walked away.
"New squad... *sigh* Right." She grabbed her Nightblade and a pack labeled "Other Swords" and headed to the Arcade.
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That's all for now, but I will be adding more to this chapter at some point today. Maybe.
*3 days later*
*sigh* Alright, I got distracted. It's been a busy few days, and it's going to be busy for a while. I'm probably not going to get around to this for a while.

*Skip to the three stars if you just want to get to the next part.
Hello. I found the motivation/time to write again, so here you go. I've decided that I'm just going to put out segments as I get new ideas rather than trying to think up entire chapters at once. It will still be in chapters (I plan on having five for now), but they'll be updated as I think of new material.***

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"So, you're Zeta Squad I'm assuming?" A man turned his head to see where the voice came from. "Ah, you must be Darkstar," He responded. "We've been waiting for you."
"Unwillingly, might I add," Said one of the men he was talking to. "If it were my call, we would have left already."
"Well, it's not your call, Echo." The first man said flatly. "We have a fourth squad mate. Get over it."
Echo grunted.
"Anyway, welcome to Zeta squad. I'm Surge, our squad leader. Over there," he pointed to the other, shorter fellow he had been talking to, "Is Lukan. He's a little.... Twitchy, if you know what I mean. Don't piss him off. And this is Echo, as you may have guessed. Not a very happy man, but he has a good heart."
Darkstar spoke curtly, "Great. So I'm stuck with a maniac and an [bucket]. This should be fun."
"Hey, don't be so quick to judge. They'll grow on you, just give it time. I had to get used to 'em at first too."
"Listen: I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to explore and kill things. Stay out of my way and don't kill my target, and we'll be just fine."
'Oh no' Surge thought. 'You're one of those 'one-man-army' kinds, aren't you? This won't end well...' Surge knew plenty of knights that thought like this. He had watch them charge in, sword raised, only to run away screaming. That is, if they didn't get torn to pieces right away.
"Well, you're under my command now. I don't care how good you are, you don't do anything out there without my permission. That means don't kill it unless I want it dead. Understand?"
Darkstar rolled her eyes. "If I want it dead, I'm going to kill it. If that's a problem, you can kiss my-"
"STOP TALKING!!!" Lukan screamed. "ARE WE GONNA GO BLOW STUFF UP OR WHAT?!"
"...The crazy one is the bomber?" Darkstar said in shock. "Who said that was a good idea?"
"Now now, Darkstar." Surge spoke calmly. "Despite his mental state, he is actually one of the best bombers I've ever met. And trust me, he won't plant it if he knows you're nearby. He's only messed up once so far."
"Lukan's right. If we sit here talking all day, we'll never get anything done." Echo sounded distant. It seemed like he was lost in thought about something. But what?
"Right," Surge responded. "Spiral HQ has asked us to go and search around Depths 16-18. We've been getting some strange readings from around there, and they want us to check around there. It's more of a recon mission, but we've also been asked to investigate anything we find and, if possible, eliminate any threats we find. Understood?"
The other three nodded.
"Alright. Let's go!"
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More coming later (meaning probably a few days). The next segment will be one of Darkstar's logs, just in case you were wondering.

Hey all. This the end of chapter 1! After this, I'm going to leave this alone while I wrap up schoolwork and find a new job. Here it is: the finale of Chapter 1!

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They explored every inch of the area they were assigned to. They scanned every corner, lifted every rock, and still found nothing other than the monsters living in the area. They were about to give up the search when...

"...Guys, hold up." Echo turned to face his leader. "I think I might have found something." Surge began to feel the wall next to them.

"It's a wall, Surge." Darkstar said. "You found a wall. How does that help?"

"Wait..." Echo approached the wall. "It looks like the wall is fractured." He tapped the wall with his sword. "Hear that? It sounds like there's something on the other side."

Surge nodded. "Right. Lukan, if you would?"

Lukan cracked a creepy smile. "WOULD I?" He bounded over to the wall and set a Super Blast Bomb. "BA-BOOM! HAHAHA!" The wall gave way, revealing a dark passage. Even though he knew it was there, Echo was still sort of surprised. Although, he felt more surprised that he had missed that before. He usually didn't miss this kind of thing.

"Alright, everybody." Surge spoke quickly. "We were told to investigate anything suspicious. I think this qualifies. Stick together, alert the squad if you find anything, and be careful. We don't know what could possibly be in there."

"Got it."

"Sure, whatever."

"GET ON WITH IT!"

The cave went on for a long time. It seemed like hours had passed when they finally saw a light. "Hey, what's that up there?" Echo already knew, but he doubted the others had even noticed it. Typical.

"Whatever it is, it's what we're looking for." Surge broke into a run. "Let's go!"

The others quickly followed, Darkstar in the rear. Echo secretly admired how, despite being a total ass, she was always looking out for the team. 'Maybe this won't be so bad after all' he thought to himself.

The tunnel finally opened up into a massive, empty room. Echo was confused. "What is this?"

"It's an empty room, dumb-ass," Darkstar responded. "As in THERE'S NOTHING HERE!"

Surge looked just as confused as Echo. "This is strange... Who would go through all the trouble to hide an empty room?"

"I don't know, but we might be-" Before Echo could finish, a door slammed over the tunnel and the lights dimmed.

"What the- What is this?" Darkstar exclaimed.

"It's a trap, dumb-ass. As in there's going to be a lot of things in here shortly. And they're all going to try and kill us."
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Darkstar looked around in panic. If it was a trap, then it had to be something big. That's the only explanation she could think of as to why the room was so huge. Something literally massive was going to be at their throats soon.

As if on cue, a massive construct dropped down from the ceiling. It was kind of hard to see, but it looked like a massive Trojan. It's feet were bigger than three knights. It had a sword half as tall at itself. There was no sword that could hurt this thing. Darkstar looked over at Lukan. 'Maybe if...'

"Knights!" A voice sounded from several speakers in the room. "Enjoying your stay so far? Well, here's a little something we've made for you. We were hoping to save it for the going-away party, but I guess we can give it to you now. Hope you enjoy... THE MECHATROJAN!" The voice laughed maniacally.

"Well, if this isn't every bad guy ever," Echo remarked. "Alright, where do we start on this thing?"

"I think I've got a plan." Darkstar began. "Lukan, pull out some ordinance and blow this thing's legs. Echo, see if you can find a way to climb up to its head. Surge, you and me will circle around and draw its attention. Sound good?"

The Mechatrojan was advancing on them. "Sure. Good plan." Surge shouted to Lukan, "You got any Deconstructors or anything?"
Lukan's eye began to twitch. "YESYES! LET'S GO! KA-BOOM TIME! WAHAHAHAHA!"

"Good. Then we'll- CRAP! MOVE!!" The four jumped just in time to dodge the Mechatrojan's blade. "Go go go! Let's take this thing!"
Darkstar went with Surge and circled around to the left of the giant. "Surge!"

"Yeah?"

"Shoot at his head a few times. Get his attention over here!"

"Got it!" Surge took aim with his Master Blaster and fired a few rounds at the thing's head. They didn't do anything, but the Mechatrojan did shift it's attention toward the two of them. 'Good' Darkstar thought. 'Well, not good, but still good. Don't mess up, Lukan.'
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Meanwhile, Lukan was trying to find a good place to plant a bomb. "THERE'S NO GOOD PLACE FOR THE BOOM! ECHO, YOU SEE ANY GOOD SPOTS FOR THE BOOM!?"

"Hold on!" Echo concentrated for a moment. "There! See that light spot? The armor's probably thinner there. That's the best spot for-"

"GOOD TO KNOW, SHUT UP NOW!" Lukan sprinted for the weak spot. 'Plant on spot, set detonator for three seconds, shove another one on if needed.' He thought. It sounded good in his head. "TIME FOR BOOM, BIG GUY!" He placed the bomb on the lighter spot and set its fuse time, then sprinted away. "YOU READY FOR SOME FIREWORKS, KIDS?!" The bomb went off, filling the room with the sound of crunching metal. The mech was left briefly stunned, and collapsed to its knees. Lukan saw this as a chance to lay down some more devastation. "WHAT'S THAT? YOU WANT MORE?! CERTAINLY!" He pulled out another Deconstructor and charged at the exposed leg, repeating the same process as before. A second boom sounded, digging deeper into the construct's leg. "WHAT? MORE? WELL, WHY NOT?!!" He latched another bomb onto the inside of the leg and set the time, but as he was placing the bomb, the massive Trojan grabbed him and pulled hum up to its face. "LEGGO A ME, YOU BIG PILE OF SCRAP! YOU WANNA GO BOOM?!" Just as he was speaking, the bomb went off and severed the leg. The Mechatrojan let out a robotic cry and fell forward. "YEAH! TAKE THAT YOU- oh no." The hand let go of him and he fell towards the ground. "NO! NONONONO, THIS IS BAD!"

"Lukan!" Echo jumped up onto the side of the falling giant and lunged off. He caught Lukan in midair, and the two landed rolling on the other side of the room. "Lukan? You owe me one."
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*DARKSTAR'S LOG, NO. 099
Darkstar's log, six months since the Skylark crashed. Man, was today crazy. We met up with this... Mechatrojan? I think that's what it was. Man, that thing was huge! About ten times the size of your average Trojan, that's for sure. I'm not sure how we did it, but we pulled it off. Thanks to Lukan, actually. He blasted a hole in its leg and brought it down. I guess the impact from falling must have done it in. Or maybe the Deconstructor messed up some circuitry and shut it down. Either way, we brought it down. Crazy stuff. I don't know if there is anything bigger on Cradle. I hope there isn't.

Why do I only ever find the motivation to work on this during the early hours of the morning. *sigh* Anywho, the next art will be of Surge, which will happen whenever Gal and I finalize the details. I'm also going to cut this chapter a bit short, as I'm rapidly losing interest in this again. As it turns out, finding a job is not easy, and it's taking more time out of my life than I feel it should. But, you don't care about that. You want to know what happens to Zeta squad, amirite?

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The grounds around the compound were deserted. It looked like nobody had been here in years. Echo was beginning to wonder if it was worth the trouble to come down here at all. "You sure we have the right place, Surge? This place looks like nothing has been in it since last century."

"Calm down Echo." Surge responded. "This is the place alright. There's no other facility we know of that's this big around here, so this has to be it."

"Well, what if it's not? What if this is all just a-"

"Not another word, dammit. Quit complaining and get a move on." Darkstar yelled from the rear.

"I'm right here, you know. You don't need to shout." Echo had grown to respect Darkstar as a fighter, but grew more weary of her attitude every day. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something else about her. Something very dark... He knew it was something big, but he couldn't figure out what. 'What are you hiding, Darkstar? What could it be...'

"Stop staring at me or I'm killing you."

"Huh- what?" Echo snapped back to reality. "Oh. Sorry. Zoned out for a bit."

"Great. Do it again, you lose your eyes. I f'in mean that."

"YOU TWO DO THIS EVERY MISSION! CAN YOU BOTH JUST SHUT UP FOR TWO SECONDS AND FOCUS ON THE MISSION INSTEAD OF HOW BIG THE OTHER'S SWORD IS? I WANNA GO BLOW THINGS UP, DAMMIT!!!!" Lukan's voice was loud and maniacal, as per usual.

"Fine. Get a move on, Echo. Time's 'a wastin." Darkstar said smugly.

"Hmph." 'Laugh while you can, you [wheel]. Laugh while you can.'

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The squad moved forward, unaware of the pair of eyes watching them from the shadows.

"Yes, Zeta squad. Keep going. Lead Neji to his prize." A voice muttered. "Lead Neji to the elevator. Lead him to the power! So long as you carry the Cursed One, Neji can see you. After all these years of waiting, Neji will finally have his prize."

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The squad explored the facility for hours, but found nothing. Not even a working scuttlebot. The facility was completely inactive. And yet, there was still a powerful energy reading coming from it. They had no choice but to search deeper. But what they would find there would change everything...

"...Guys, hold up. What's that over there?" Surge pointed to a faint light down the hallway.

"I don't know. Let's check it out!" Darkstar started running towards the light.

"I don't know guys. That doesn't seem-"

Echo stopped and looked around. His squad was already heading for the light. "Real nice, guys. Real nice." He broke into a run and followed after his comrades.

Darkstar had a strange feeling about this. She didn't fear the light, but she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen soon. "So, what are we deali- Woah..." What lay before them was a huge elevator, big enough to fit half an army. On the side was a screen with a strange symbol on it.

"Guys, keep me covered." Surge said, moving towards the screen. "I'm gonna hack into the system and figure out where this elevator goes."

"You got it." Darkstar responded, and turned to face the hallway they came in from. "Echo, you cover the door over there. Lukan, make sure nothing sneaks up on us from the elevator."

"I... I DON'T... Yes. That's a good- I'LL BLOW EM UP!"

All of them looked at Lukan. 'Wait, did he just show sanity?! The f***?!?' Darkstar had never been more confused in her life.

"...Aaanyway, this doesn't seem to hard. Just gotta cross this wire... loosen up this bolt... Cut that.... aaaaannnnd.... there. Now, let's see where... where this... My god...."

"What? Where does it go?"

"This can't be right... According to this, this goes to..." He paused "... The planet's core."

From out of nowhere, a sword came flying across the room and landed sqarely in Surge's back. He gasped and fell backwards to the floor. "FOOLS!" A voice sounded from across the room as a shadowy figure emerged from behind the elevator. "You've shown Neji where the treasure lies. Now, Neji will have the power to crush you all!!! Thanks for all your help. Especially you, Cursed One. NEAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Neji flipped onto the elevator and hit the release. "And now, you all die!" He took out a large and nasty looking bomb and threw it behind him just as the elevator began to descend. It exploded, and set off a chain of explosions after it.

"Echo! What do we do?! We've got to get out!" Darkstar was frantic.

"No s***! Come on Lukan! Grab Surge and let's go!"

"WHERE, YOU IDIOT? THERE'S NOWHERE TO GO!!!"

"To the elevator! It's our only chance!" Darkstar knew it was crazy, but it was either Neji or an exploding facility. Anything besides the latter sounded perfect.

"No argument here. Let's go!"

And with that, they three jumped to the elevator as the facility exploded and burned behind them.

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And that's chapter two done! What do ya guys think so far? I'll begin work on Chapter 3: Fight now, R.I.P. later! at a later date, but for now, this is where it lies. I know, ending on such a cliffhanger. I'm so evil. >:D