Zettai Karen Children History
Sep. 16th, 2014 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
espersionsHyoubu Kyousuke’s Japanese father was a researcher into paranormal abilities, and his mother had esp. Hyoubu senior’s research led to his wife’s premature death; stricken with guilt, he forbade his esp-gifted ("esper") son from ever using his abilities, no matter what the reason. “You’ll be someone’s tool," he told the boy, "or you’ll be killed.” His father drank himself to death, and Kyousuke was orphaned at the age of 7.
After his father’s death, Kyousuke was taken in by an old friend of his father’s, also an ESP researcher. There he met Tsubome Fujiko, the man’s daughter (also a telekinetic); and a non-esp user (“Normal”) Commander Saotome Eiji, who was forming a special WWII paranormal abilities unit, made entirely of espers. He managed to convince Kyousuke that it was all right to use his abilities, particularly if he could help others by doing so. He and Fujiko joined the commander’s unit, even though at the time they were both children.
Although the unit was initially intended to be experimental, and not involved in combat, gradually they were pulled into the war. Kyousuke initially tried to fulfill military objectives set before him with a minimum of enemy casualties, even managing to save and retrieve two enemy dolphins with the ability to make predictions (“pre-cog”); but after one of his comrades was killed, dying before his eyes, Kyousuke took out his rage on an enemy aircraft carrier, destroying it — and somehow he managed to do this using his dead comrade’s power, as well as his own.
The pre-cog dolphins were chary with their predictions, revealing some and hiding others. One prediction they showed Kyousuke was a vision of a future city being destroyed by war, and a beautiful woman meeting a man on a rooftop. She declared her love for him and then reached out her hand, calling forth her telekinetic power to attack him. He shot her in the chest and she died, smiling sorrowfully. The young Kyousuke was instantly captivated by the woman, wanting to know the mystery behind her life and death, and the reason for her smile. He was seized with the desire to live until he could meet her and change her tragic destiny into a happier one.
Over the course of the war, Kyousuke's unit suffered many more tragedies, yet it held together cohesively because of the bonds between the fellow espers, and also because of the great love they all had for their commander. At the end of the war, with the Japanese defeated, Kyousuke’s commander approached him with a prediction the dolphins had made: that at some point in the future, a war would break out between espers and normals, and that Kyousuke would lead the espers, destroying the world. Not wanting the occupying army to know what kind of “monsters” he had created, Commander Saotome shot Kyousuke three times: twice through the chest and once in the forehead. The other members of the esper unit were simultaneously executed as well.
But somehow Kyousuke did not die. He got up again and killed his commander, and everyone else who had been involved in the murder of his comrades. He went on to form P.A.N.D.R.A., an organization devoted to rescuing abused and abandoned esper children — and eradicating every Normal from the face of the earth.
Ten years prior to the start of of the main story, Hyoubu Kyousuke (who has avoided aging via manipulation of his telomeres, and still appears to be 16, his age upon his death) witnesses the birth of a girl called Kaoru. He has determined that she is the one who will grow up into the woman in his vision; however, by that time his goals have changed. He wants her to one day lead his organization in the future genocidal war against Normals. Hyoubu is captured at that time, and placed in a special, unescapable prison cell — from which he quietly escapes on a regular basis, and then returns. He remains, nominally, in detention because he feels that PANDRA can fly under the radar, consolidate power, and attract less attention if its leader is believed to have been neutralized.
Meanwhile, Kaoru develops "Level 7" paranormal abilities as a small child, along with two other girls exactly her age. There are only seven levels, as esp can only be measured up to Level 6. These three are the only Level 7 espers in all of Japan, and as such are guarded as "national treasures," or "persons of mass destruction," based on perspective. They can't go to school because of their danger to other children, and are therefore taken in by a government agency (B.A.B.E.L.) designed to protect espers and use their abilities. Unfortunately, working for BABEL is the only real career path open to espers, who are still systematically discriminated against, representing less than 5% of the population. Even from a young age, the girls' powers are called upon to prevent predicted disasters, and they are known by the code name, "The Children."
The girls become increasingly difficult to control, as their powers make it difficult to discipline them, even with "limiters" placed on them. Limiters are anti-esp devices, but can only reduce the girls' powers to "Level 4," which is still formidable. Their supervisor at one point uses shock collars to discipline them, comparing them to wild animals. Hyoubu doesn't interfere at this point, perhaps because he feels this sort of treatment will bias the girls against Normals, making it easier for him to win them over to his side. However, when they get a new supervisor, Normal esp researcher Minamoto Kouichi, Hyoubu finally does release himself from prison and make himself known to The Children. This is because the gentle Minamoto, who treats The Children humanely, as ten-year-old girls rather than tools or monsters, is none other than the man who will one day shoot and kill Kaoru.
Hyoubu immediately begins to try to turn The Children away from Minamoto, encouraging them to join PANDRA and live with the other esper children rescued by his organization. He also tries to turn Minamoto from them, revealing to Minamoto the vision of the future that shows him killing Kaoru. Minamoto refuses to abandon his charges; and The Children reject Hyoubu's advances, although Kaoru finds herself drawn to him, and becomes increasingly convinced that he isn't a "bad person."
Hyoubu taunts Minamoto, saying that one day he plans to make Kaoru his bride. Later he admits that he loves her — but "not like that." This is true, after a fact: he is in love with his memory of the adult Kaoru whom he first saw when he was a child. He has the precognitive dolphin's brain preserved in a jar, so that he can look at the prediction whenever he likes, and does so often. However, he has set aside the idea of any sort of "happily ever after" with Kaoru, because he knows he won't live long enough to see her into adulthood. Age is catching up to him.
He considers, often, simply killing Minamoto, but he knows that this would permanently turn The Children against him; more importantly, he absolutely will not do anything to make Kaoru sad. He also comes to realize that Minamoto is the key to Kaoru's development into the "queen" and savior of all espers, in the predicted war between espers and Normals. At one point he serendipitously hits upon the solution of turning Minamoto into a child, the same age as The Children, even giving him weak psychic powers, so that he would live in the girls' world. As an esper like them, he would be on Kaoru's side in the coming war, and therefore wouldn't kill her. Hyoubu can only perform such a feat, however, at the cost of his entire remaining life energy; this he offers freely. Minamoto is tempted (not understanding the cost), as he had had an unhappy childhood; but The Children convince him not to throw away his past, and so he rejects Hyoubu's offer.
Repeated skirmishes between PANDRA and BABEL have the paradoxical effect of bringing them all closer together, particularly between The Children and the PANDRA kids that Hyoubu has rescued; they even end up attending the same school. Hyoubu finds himself inexorably drawn to Minamoto as well, who powerfully reminds him of his old commander, whose memory he hates with every fiber of his being, and whom he also once loved, to the same extent. He saves Minamoto's life repeatedly, always insisting it's somehow in his interest to do so, although that excuse wears increasingly thinner and thinner over time. Hyoubu seems perfectly content when Minamoto is shouting at him, and goads him into it at every opportunity; it's when Minamoto thanks him for anything or behaves kindly towards him, that Hyoubu explodes into a rage.
A common enemy leads to an uneasy truce between PANDRA and BABEL: the organization Black Phantom, which kidnaps and brainwashes espers, and then sells them off as disposable tools. They also engage in human cloning. They even go so far as to implant explosives inside esper children's brains, as a failsafe against anyone trying to overcome their brainwashing. Hyoubu is appalled by this, and goes alone into Black Phantom's headquarters, to destroy them or die trying. He is overpowered; but rather than allow his corpse to be used (and cloned) by the enemy, he hits upon the expedient of having his body teleported to undefined coordinates, into the true void of "imaginary space."
After his father’s death, Kyousuke was taken in by an old friend of his father’s, also an ESP researcher. There he met Tsubome Fujiko, the man’s daughter (also a telekinetic); and a non-esp user (“Normal”) Commander Saotome Eiji, who was forming a special WWII paranormal abilities unit, made entirely of espers. He managed to convince Kyousuke that it was all right to use his abilities, particularly if he could help others by doing so. He and Fujiko joined the commander’s unit, even though at the time they were both children.
Although the unit was initially intended to be experimental, and not involved in combat, gradually they were pulled into the war. Kyousuke initially tried to fulfill military objectives set before him with a minimum of enemy casualties, even managing to save and retrieve two enemy dolphins with the ability to make predictions (“pre-cog”); but after one of his comrades was killed, dying before his eyes, Kyousuke took out his rage on an enemy aircraft carrier, destroying it — and somehow he managed to do this using his dead comrade’s power, as well as his own.
The pre-cog dolphins were chary with their predictions, revealing some and hiding others. One prediction they showed Kyousuke was a vision of a future city being destroyed by war, and a beautiful woman meeting a man on a rooftop. She declared her love for him and then reached out her hand, calling forth her telekinetic power to attack him. He shot her in the chest and she died, smiling sorrowfully. The young Kyousuke was instantly captivated by the woman, wanting to know the mystery behind her life and death, and the reason for her smile. He was seized with the desire to live until he could meet her and change her tragic destiny into a happier one.
Over the course of the war, Kyousuke's unit suffered many more tragedies, yet it held together cohesively because of the bonds between the fellow espers, and also because of the great love they all had for their commander. At the end of the war, with the Japanese defeated, Kyousuke’s commander approached him with a prediction the dolphins had made: that at some point in the future, a war would break out between espers and normals, and that Kyousuke would lead the espers, destroying the world. Not wanting the occupying army to know what kind of “monsters” he had created, Commander Saotome shot Kyousuke three times: twice through the chest and once in the forehead. The other members of the esper unit were simultaneously executed as well.
But somehow Kyousuke did not die. He got up again and killed his commander, and everyone else who had been involved in the murder of his comrades. He went on to form P.A.N.D.R.A., an organization devoted to rescuing abused and abandoned esper children — and eradicating every Normal from the face of the earth.
Ten years prior to the start of of the main story, Hyoubu Kyousuke (who has avoided aging via manipulation of his telomeres, and still appears to be 16, his age upon his death) witnesses the birth of a girl called Kaoru. He has determined that she is the one who will grow up into the woman in his vision; however, by that time his goals have changed. He wants her to one day lead his organization in the future genocidal war against Normals. Hyoubu is captured at that time, and placed in a special, unescapable prison cell — from which he quietly escapes on a regular basis, and then returns. He remains, nominally, in detention because he feels that PANDRA can fly under the radar, consolidate power, and attract less attention if its leader is believed to have been neutralized.
Meanwhile, Kaoru develops "Level 7" paranormal abilities as a small child, along with two other girls exactly her age. There are only seven levels, as esp can only be measured up to Level 6. These three are the only Level 7 espers in all of Japan, and as such are guarded as "national treasures," or "persons of mass destruction," based on perspective. They can't go to school because of their danger to other children, and are therefore taken in by a government agency (B.A.B.E.L.) designed to protect espers and use their abilities. Unfortunately, working for BABEL is the only real career path open to espers, who are still systematically discriminated against, representing less than 5% of the population. Even from a young age, the girls' powers are called upon to prevent predicted disasters, and they are known by the code name, "The Children."
The girls become increasingly difficult to control, as their powers make it difficult to discipline them, even with "limiters" placed on them. Limiters are anti-esp devices, but can only reduce the girls' powers to "Level 4," which is still formidable. Their supervisor at one point uses shock collars to discipline them, comparing them to wild animals. Hyoubu doesn't interfere at this point, perhaps because he feels this sort of treatment will bias the girls against Normals, making it easier for him to win them over to his side. However, when they get a new supervisor, Normal esp researcher Minamoto Kouichi, Hyoubu finally does release himself from prison and make himself known to The Children. This is because the gentle Minamoto, who treats The Children humanely, as ten-year-old girls rather than tools or monsters, is none other than the man who will one day shoot and kill Kaoru.
Hyoubu immediately begins to try to turn The Children away from Minamoto, encouraging them to join PANDRA and live with the other esper children rescued by his organization. He also tries to turn Minamoto from them, revealing to Minamoto the vision of the future that shows him killing Kaoru. Minamoto refuses to abandon his charges; and The Children reject Hyoubu's advances, although Kaoru finds herself drawn to him, and becomes increasingly convinced that he isn't a "bad person."
Hyoubu taunts Minamoto, saying that one day he plans to make Kaoru his bride. Later he admits that he loves her — but "not like that." This is true, after a fact: he is in love with his memory of the adult Kaoru whom he first saw when he was a child. He has the precognitive dolphin's brain preserved in a jar, so that he can look at the prediction whenever he likes, and does so often. However, he has set aside the idea of any sort of "happily ever after" with Kaoru, because he knows he won't live long enough to see her into adulthood. Age is catching up to him.
He considers, often, simply killing Minamoto, but he knows that this would permanently turn The Children against him; more importantly, he absolutely will not do anything to make Kaoru sad. He also comes to realize that Minamoto is the key to Kaoru's development into the "queen" and savior of all espers, in the predicted war between espers and Normals. At one point he serendipitously hits upon the solution of turning Minamoto into a child, the same age as The Children, even giving him weak psychic powers, so that he would live in the girls' world. As an esper like them, he would be on Kaoru's side in the coming war, and therefore wouldn't kill her. Hyoubu can only perform such a feat, however, at the cost of his entire remaining life energy; this he offers freely. Minamoto is tempted (not understanding the cost), as he had had an unhappy childhood; but The Children convince him not to throw away his past, and so he rejects Hyoubu's offer.
Repeated skirmishes between PANDRA and BABEL have the paradoxical effect of bringing them all closer together, particularly between The Children and the PANDRA kids that Hyoubu has rescued; they even end up attending the same school. Hyoubu finds himself inexorably drawn to Minamoto as well, who powerfully reminds him of his old commander, whose memory he hates with every fiber of his being, and whom he also once loved, to the same extent. He saves Minamoto's life repeatedly, always insisting it's somehow in his interest to do so, although that excuse wears increasingly thinner and thinner over time. Hyoubu seems perfectly content when Minamoto is shouting at him, and goads him into it at every opportunity; it's when Minamoto thanks him for anything or behaves kindly towards him, that Hyoubu explodes into a rage.
A common enemy leads to an uneasy truce between PANDRA and BABEL: the organization Black Phantom, which kidnaps and brainwashes espers, and then sells them off as disposable tools. They also engage in human cloning. They even go so far as to implant explosives inside esper children's brains, as a failsafe against anyone trying to overcome their brainwashing. Hyoubu is appalled by this, and goes alone into Black Phantom's headquarters, to destroy them or die trying. He is overpowered; but rather than allow his corpse to be used (and cloned) by the enemy, he hits upon the expedient of having his body teleported to undefined coordinates, into the true void of "imaginary space."
