THE ASHURA PROJECT written by John “Dragon Lord” Mercer

CHAPTER 1: A DEMON IS BORN (picture)

- Tokyo, Japan seemed like a normal bustling popular town of over 8 million people, but somewhere within its boundaries is the diabolical Hamaya Corporation, a large zaibatsu (financial corporation) that is the world’s #1 corporation. Inside the main building is the head of the yakuza and CEO of Hamaya Corporation, Yoshi Hamaya, who was now having a talk with his subordinates. However, a talk with Yoshi Hamaya means certain death if you’re not careful.
- Outside of the boarding room, waiting to talk with Mr. Hamaya, were his Research & Development team aptly named the Saint Beasts, the four silent sentinels of the Corporation who are wearing their lab coats. Each of the Saint Beasts had special talents needed to bring the world to its knees, as well as do research on how to stop his ultimate nemeses: Terrorist Eva Sirkowski and former Hamaya agents Blackie Chin and Mélodie.
- Ex-yokozuna (grand champion of sumo) Sanzo Tanaka was waiting by the big gold doors of the boarding room. Madoka Torajima, a delinquent girl who has a long-time grudge against Blackie, was fixing up her trademark pink hair. Former Boston syndicate member and anime otaku Ryuichi Yamaguchi and bishonen (pretty boy) pro wrestler Hikaru Hiwatari were reading copies of the InuYasha manga as they wait. Hikaru compares himself to Sesshomaru, but Ryuichi usually focuses his sights on trying to look up Kagome’s sailor uniform.

- All of a sudden, a loud thunderous boom was heard as the doors were flung wide open that shook the Saint Beasts momentarily. On the floor were rough bully-types battered, bruised and covered with blood. Then, the Saint Beasts heard shouting from inside. It was none other than Mr. Hamaya himself.
- “Blunderers! Fools!” he boomed. “I won’t tolerate such incompetence! YOU ARE FIRED! Get out of my sight before I decide to kill you”
- The only thugs that was strong enough had to carry what was left of their comrades and slinked away with their pride intact, which is the only thing that was left intact after the brutal beating. Then he summoned the Saint Beasts inside. Although, they were reluctant, the Beasts had no choice.
- “Another hard day at the office, boss?” noted Ryuichi.
- Yoshi just growled and then explained everything to the Saint Beasts.
- “I am Yoshi Hamaya,” he began to explain. “I’m the richest man in the world. My corporation is top-notch worldwide! Can someone tell me why I’m not happy?!”
- “Sanzo think you need more decaf,” Sanzo said nervously.
- Yoshi quickly grabbed Sanzo by the throat and started to choke him, which prompted the Saint Beasts to pull away the high-strung chairman.
- “Mr. Hamaya, calm the fuck down!” shouted Madoka. “Sanzo don’t know much, OK? Don’t take your anger out on him!”
- “Whatever’s got you pissed off, we’ll take care of it,” added Ryuichi. “Remember, we’re your R & D Team, all FOUR of us!”
- Yoshi calmed down and let go of Sanzo’s throat and headed back to his desk. He apologized for his erratic behavior.
- “It’s those three again, isn’t it?” queried Hikaru.
- “It’s ALWAYS those three,” Yoshi sighed in anger. “Eva, Blackie and Mélodie have been a thorn in my side for too long. Every agent I send on a mission has failed me. Even the high school bullies I’ve hired couldn’t stop those bitches in their tracks! The Hamaya Corporation doesn’t tolerate failure…and neither do I!”
- “Shit!” thought Ryuichi. “I don’t want to know what happens to the loyalist of his soldiers.”
- “So what Saint Beasts do about three bitches?” asked Sanzo.
- “You’re the Research team,” demanded Yoshi. “YOU think of something! Why else would I be paying you to find some way of putting Eva, Blackie and Mélodie in their places?!”
- “No need to tell us twice, old man,” quirked Madoka. “We’re outta here and into the lab.”

- “One more thing before you leave,” added Yoshi. “If you don’t have the solution by 9:00 AM tomorrow morning, my subordinates will PERSONALLY hand you your resignations.”
- Out of nowhere came two ninjas each wearing a mirror image of their outfit. These two are Yin & Yang, Yoshi’s twin sons and the oldest of the family. Their clothes have recently been blood-stained from the beating to his last subordinates which the Saint Beasts saw flying out of the board room.
- “And see if you can find our idiot son Matsuhiro while you’re at it,” ordered Yoshi. “It’s been too long since he reported to us.”
- The Saint Beasts headed back to Hamaya’s private laboratory on the outskirts of Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, trying to contemplate their fate.
- “What we gonna do?” cried Sanzo. “Sanzo should’ve asked for more time. How we think of plan for tomorrow?”
- “If you shut the fuck up, we’ll think about it,” Madoka snapped. “Believe me! I want to get back at Blackie myself for having Mr. Hamaya favoring her over me as a top bodyguard!”
- “At one time, I loved Tan-chan,” said Ryuichi, using his pet name for Tampopo, Blackie’s real name. “However, this turn of events is troubling Mr. Hamaya, and if we don’t find a solution fast, it’s our necks.”
- “We’ve tried everything in our power to stop them, yet they keep coming back,” pouted Hikaru, combing his long blond hair.
- “Sanzo have idea!” Sanzo said proudly. The others looked down in embarrassment.
- “It’s food again,” thought Madoka. “It’s always about food.”
- “Sanzo thought we hit three girls with everything at once,” he explained, “but have all attacks on one person!”
- The idea sparked Ryuichi. “You mean create a Super Soldier?”
- “That loincloth must be too tight on you, Sanzo,” insulted Madoka. “Remember in Miss.Dynamite Episodes 14 & 15? Our R & D comrades in Cuba created Super Socialist Soldier Elian Gonzales and failed miserably!”

- “True that the Cuban super soldier was created, but that was only a strength enhancement,” concluded Hikaru. “What our large partner is saying is we must create a Super Soldier that utilizes all of the tricks of the trade.”
- “You mean like Cell in Dragon Ball Z!” noted Ryuichi.
- “Correct,” added Hikaru. “However, we need DNA samples of Eva, Blackie and Mélodie before we begin.”
- “And don’t forget, we need DNA samples of Yin & Yang as well,” added Ryuichi. “This Super Soldier must be strong, fast and powerful enough to stop those three.”
- “And it has to have OUR DNA, too!” Madoka chimed. “Now that’s what I call a plan!”
- “We’ll tell Mr. Hamaya tomorrow,” concluded Hikaru. “Great plan, Tanaka.”
- “Thanks, Phoenix Man,” Sanzo smiled. Then, his giant stomach began to growl. “Sanzo hungry, Sanzo want food,” he moaned.
- The other three Saint Beasts began to faint and were completely embarrassed.
- “I should’ve known THAT was coming,” Madoka groaned.
- “But soon, Eva, Blackie and Mélodie won’t know what will hit them,” smirked Hikaru.

- Meanwhile, off the coast of Panama, Eva took hold of a cargo ship from Colombia loaded with enough ammunition for a whole battalion and more drugs than a Planet Hollywood party, heading for a little R & R in El Salvador. Blackie was standing by with her sword out in case they meet up with resistance fighters and/or any of the U.S. Armed Forces stationed in the Caribbean.
- “Well, this is the first time I ever had a vacation in years,” Eva sighed happily. “No Yankee pigs, no resistance movements, no terrorists (besides me) and best of all…NO HAMAYA CORPORATION to give us trouble.”
- “What are we doing in El Salvador in the first place?” asked Blackie. “I don’t understand why we traveled all the way from South America to get to there.”
- “I know a few good friends before I met your ass,” Eva retorted. “I worked alongside both the Contras and Sandinistas in Nicaragua before I was transferred to GAP Central. They play a mean game of Blind Man’s Bluff back then, before the land mines were taken out.”
- “I don’t suppose El Salvador has a sushi bar around here,” Blackie said. “I’m starving.”
- “Sushi is basically raw fish,” Eva noted. “When we dock, I’ll try and catch you some so you can do it yourself. I’m sure Central America has some rice crops standing, that is if they’re not burned from previous wars.”
- Unbeknown to Eva and Blackie, a lone U.S. Coast Guard speedboat was tailing them at silent running. Then, all of a sudden, the speedboat began to zoom past them.
- “HOLY SHIT!!” Eva exclaimed, spinning the wheel wildly. Blackie dropped her sword and fell hard on her bottom.
- “Where did you learn how to drive,” Blackie complained, “at the Moscow Academy for retarded pilots?!”
- “We got Yankee trouble, BIG TIME!” shouted Eva. “Get off your ass and help me back there!”
- The speedboat had a speaker equipped to its squawk box and a woman spoke into it, barking orders at the cargo ship Eva and Blackie are on.
- “Attention, cargo ship terrorists!” she began to yell. “You are carrying illegal firearms and narcotics! If you don’t surrender yourselves and the cargo to the U.S. Coast Guard, we’ll be forced to take drastic measures!”
- Eva noted that the orders had a certain French accent to it. She knows only one person who would join the military.
- “Hey, Mélodie!” Eva called back using the ship’s bullhorn. “What are you doing way out here?”
- The woman in the speedboat was Mélodie and she was shocked to hear two familiar voices which she wished she hadn’t. “Oh God fucking no,” she groaned. “Please don’t let it be who I think it is…”
- She looked through her telescope and saw Eva steering the wheel and Blackie waving back to her saying, “Konnichiwa!”
- “Je devrais être resté au Montréal,” Mélodie whined, meaning that she should’ve stayed home today. “Of all the people, why did it have to be Eva and Blackie? What did I do to deserve this shit?!”

- After a short interlude, Mélodie detoured Eva and Blackie’s cargo boat to San Jose, Costa Rica for a short trip. Mélodie always knew that Eva and Blackie would always cause some sort of trouble and everyone will try to get involved to stop them one way or another.
- “You guys have no fucking clue what you’re getting yourselves into,” Mélodie said to Eva and Blackie. “There’s been enough war in Central America in the past 15 years and we don’t need another one with YOU GUYS STARTING IT!”
- “Relax, Mélodie,” Eva said. “We’re just visiting some old friends of mine who used to be a part of the Contra/Sandinista war in Nicaragua and are now living in El Salvador.”
- “And for some odd reason,” Blackie complained, “I have to tag along for the ride.”
- “The Secret Police, not to mention the entire Coast Guard,” Mélodie warned, “will be on our asses if you don’t straighten the fuck out! We had enough trouble with the Hamaya Corporation already. I doubt we’ll be seeing the last of them.”
- “They’re probably too busy counting their money to worry about us,” Eva smiled. “I don’t think they’ll come back.”
- “Apparently, you don’t know Yoshi Hamaya,” Blackie retorted. “I do. I used to be his fuck-friend and personal bodyguard. He’s scheming something right now, and let’s not forget, there’s also the Saint Beasts.”
- “You mean Draco, Lardass, Pretty Boy and Bratty Maddy?” Eva quipped. “Those four loonies couldn’t invent a common cold without first catching one.”
- “Don’t forget, I also loved Ryu-kun, too,” Blackie added.
- “How many people did you sleep with in Hamaya Corporation, Blackie?” Mélodie asked curiously.
- “It’s none of your beeswax, Mélodie,” Blackie snapped. “Somehow, Hikaru-kun and Sanzo-kun are the only Beasts I’ve never been with. And don’t start with Torajima! She’s been against me ever since she joined the Corporation!”
- “Well, whatever the Saint Beasts are up to,” Eva stated, “we’ll be ready for them.”
- “I hope so,” Mélodie thought. “Who knows what those four can create for that bastard Yoshi.”

- Back in Tokyo, the Saint Beasts gather pieces of things that contained DNA samples. Shreds of Yin and Yang’s old clothes, one of Ti-Vite’s headbands and one of Yoshi’s old business ties were added to the mix. The Saint Beasts contributed their own blood samples to the mix and combining them into one Petri dish.
- “That’s all the Hamaya DNA needed,” Hikaru checked. “Now we need something from Eva, Blackie and Mélodie.”
- “Sanzo find strand of black hair when Sanzo fight against giant girl,” Sanzo said when he got a small lock of Mélodie’s hair during a competition in Canada where he lost.
- “I’ve got one of Eva’s old guns,” Ryuichi said holding up a Kalishnikov pistol. “I was nearly done in by this baby when I was visiting Tan-chan.”
- “I would’ve brought Blackie’s HEAD for the mixture!” Madoka growled. “All I can come up with was her old leather outfit. I kept it as a burning reminder to why I hate that slut even more!”
- “That’ll do nicely,” Hikaru noted. “Drop everything into the mixture and we’ll get right to work.”
- Sanzo, Madoka and Ryuichi dropped the blood samples and items into a chemical tank and joined Hikaru behind the safety glass. When the Saint Beasts were fully protected in the radiation suits, Hikaru activated the switch to start the process. A stream of lightning and all sorts of colors began to swirl around the laboratory.
- Finally, after a few minutes, the radiation disappeared and the tank seemed normal. The Saint Beasts took off the radiation suits to discover the tank was empty.
- “What the fuck?!” yelled Madoka. “Where the fuck is it?!”
- “Sanzo not know,” Sanzo said. “Sanzo sure that all items in the tank when experiment began.”
- “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Ryuichi said with a worried look.
- “It seemed our experiment failed,” Hikaru sighed dejectedly. “And to add to the problem, all of our contributions to the experiment have disintegrated.”
- “That’s just fucking great!” Madoka complained. “Mr. Hamaya will have our heads! What’ll we do now?”
- “Go see live-acton Sailor Moon movie?” suggested Sanzo.
- “That’s the smartest thing you ever said, big guy,” Madoka chimed. “We might as well go and enjoy ourselves.”
- The Saint Beasts hung up their lab coats and put on their normal clothes before heading out to see the movie.
- “You think Sailor Soldiers real, Dragon Man?” Sanzo asked Ryuichi.
- “Maybe, I wish they were,” Ryuichi answered. “If they are, I’d love to get me some of Ami-chan.”
- “You’d get some with EVERYONE in a sailor uniform, dragon-breath,” Madoka teased.
- “Not everyone, Maddy,” Ryuichi snapped back. “Just Ami Mizuno! I couldn’t give a dragon’s ass about the others…although Chibi-Usa is real cute.”
- “You think the little girl is cute?!” Madoka shockingly said. “You’re sicker than I thought!”
- “She’s over 900 years old, Maddy!”
- “And don’t call me ‘Maddy’! It’s Madoka!” she yelled back to Ryuichi.
- “I’m sure if he wanted Hikaru would go for that blonde slut Minako.” Madoka said.
- “Actually, Madoka, I would go for Makoto,” Hikaru said back. “Minako may be beautiful, but not as beautiful as me. Besides, Makoto’s well-trained in martial arts like myself.”
- “That figures,” Ryuichi sighed with Madoka. “That’s you all over, Hikaru. Never date a girl prettier than you.”
- “Are you sure we have everything for movie, Phoenix Man?” Sanzo asked.
- “Of course, Tanaka,” Hikaru said. “In case we forget anything, we’ll head back to the laboratory.”
- As soon as the Saint Beasts headed out the door, the lights went off in the laboratory. However, something did come out of the chemical tank and it covered itself with a large shroud and headed out the door, but tripped on a couple of wires. Some of the wires sparked near some of the spilled chemicals, and before anything happened, a large fire consumed the laboratory.
- Within minutes, Tokyo’s police, firefighters and ambulances were on the scene and began to put out the 2-alarm blaze. One lone firefighter out of a group saw someone covered in a shroud, the same person that came out of the chemical tank. He uncovered the shroud to see a young naked girl with short black hair and blue eyes.
- “Miss, what’s your name? We’ll help you out,” he said to her.
- All she can remember was the shroud around her. She saw the name ASHURA in big bold letters. “Ashura,” she said in a weak voice.
- “Don’t worry, Ashura. We’ll rescue you,” the firefighters said covering her with the shroud and handing her an extra gas mask. The firefighters put out the blaze and rushed Ashura to the nearest hospital in Nerima.
- Even with all the smoke inhalation from the laboratory, Ashura made it out with a few dizzy spells. Pretty healthy for someone just being born.

))”< To be continued…