The Story Behind Bubblegum Crash!

In the year AD2010, Doctor Katsuhito Stingray achieved one of the greatest leaps in scientific knowledge and heights with the creation of synthetic life forms called Cyberdroids. The Cyberdroids were essnentially superior versions of the humans who created them. A synthesis of organic and inorganic compounds, the Cyberdroids by far surpassed any other technologies of the day. They had the ability to load information instantly into their minds and process it with the precision and speed of a supercomputer if made to do so. They were also hardier and physically more able than humans to take on dangerous jobs in space and under water. Thus, mankind reached a breaking point in its existance: Manufacture artificial laborers or uphold their status as the supreme creatures on the planet? It was then that human beings sacrificed their placing above all other creatures in order to once again enslave a race that held more possibilities than most would have liked to believe.

BioEscape Corporations was responsible for this breakthrough in scientific research. They had beneath them Doctor Katsuhito Stingray, a foremost mind in the fields of cybernetics and biotechnology. Doctor Stingray, a genius who knew few or no bounds, had sacrificed everything he had to give birth to the perfect 'child.' The Boomers which he created meant everything to him. They meant quite a lot to certain other groups, too. Among the companies that had been funding the Doctor's research was GENOM, an already powerful but still obscure company that manufactured heavy machinery for construction jobs. GENOM's Chairman, Mister Quincy, noted with satisfaction that the Cyberdroids were able to perform hard labor without the problems that humans faced, such as fatigure, irritation, and such. Wages would not be a problem with an instrument of construction. Therefore, he took it upon himself to give as much money as possible to Doctor Stingray's laboratory, all the while Doctor Stingray remaining virtually incognizant about this.

In AD2022, two years after the birth of the first Cyberdroid, Mister Quincy proposed that GENOM acquire the rights to these beings. Doctor Stingray was immediately furious at this. While he had been up until that point unaware that GENOM was funding his projects, he was perfectly aware that GENOM had made a name for itself as manipulative. GENOM was monopolizing industry as it were--with the Cyberdroids, they would have everything they needed to put the world at a standstill. Mankind, which had by that point become incapable of survival without its technologies, was in the palm of the Chairman's hand. Now all he needed were the Cyberdroids and he would achieve domination of nearly every industrial field.

Doctor Stingray was appalled at the immoral company's desire for his 'children' and publicly refused to allow GENOM to have the sole rights to the Cyberdroids. This posed a certain danger to the company and Mister Quincy was unwilling to let a single man destroy his empire. He handed his Secretary Brian J. Mason an order to silence Doctor Stingray permanently. Mason accepted willingly.

Soon afterward in that same year Doctor Stingray, who had by that point utterly abandoned his children to pursue his work, was stalked by Mason and his bodyguards, all Boomers. Mason approached Doctor Stingray and without words fired a shot to the Doctor's head, killing him. Whiz Laboratories was burnt to the ground as Doctor Stingray's eldest child, Sylia, watched in horror. All of her father's hopes and dreams for a civilized world centered around Boomers were dashed and within weeks GENOM owned sole rights for the manufacture and sale of the Cyberdroids.

Three years later the city of Tokyo was devastated by the Second Great Kanto Earthquake. Kanto, a region in central-eastern Japan, was thrown into chaos in a few seconds with an earthquake was registered well above eight on the Richter Scale. The earthquake alone was not what shattered the city, however. For days afterward fires raged and demolished buildings, taking millions of lives as they swept through the city. With all those lives lost, many children were orphaned and sent to over crowded and under staffed orphanages. The rest of Tokyo was demanding to have the city rebuilt, however. They had no power, no homes, no businesses... nothing.

Until GENOM stepped forward.

The Chairman Quincy offered to use GENOM's products, the Cyberdroids, to rebuild the city into something far greater than it had been before. He promised an economic rise and swore to restore the city to what it had been before. What he sought to create for them, he claimed, was a 'Mega Tokyo.' So desperate as they were, the people accepted Quincy's generous offer. They saw work, homes, and their old lives before them. Quincy was the only man powerful enough to give them what they wanted, and they desired nothing more than to bring pride back to their decrepit homeland. This being the case, Quincy's Cyberdroids were welcomed into the city with open arms, gaining the nickname 'Boomers' because the inhabitants of the city felt that the economy woudl 'boom' with the presence of the Cyberdroids.

The Boomers brought with them something of the economic boom people have expected, but they also brought along trouble when they were not properly maintained. Due to overheating, overworking, abuse, misuse, and nearly any other reason, the Boomers would go berserk and rampage throughout the city. This became an extreme problem. In AD2027, the AD. (ADvanced) Police Department became an official entity, though it had existed for years beforehand. The AD. Police dealt largely with Boomer rampages and occassionally with terrorists. They also handled problems with cyborgs, or 'Boomeroids,' which were human beings who had been augmented to a point where they were seventy percent or more artificial, such as the case with Caroline Evers and Billy Fanword in AD2027. The AD. Police got off to a rough start and caused almost as many problems at the Boomers and terrorists they were after. Whereas the Boomers learned stragegy and became more intelligent over time, the AD. Police lost their veteran officers and got rookies who could not handle themselves well in combat. Their death rate was astounding, to put it mildly. The toll this took on public morale was equally incredible. Because the AD. Police could not always stop the Boomers in time, many civilians were lost during their battles. Outcry against the force grew with time and soon the police were told that they were only allowed to use the large weapons systems when it was absolutely necessary. This put them at a severe advantage.

In AD2030 another side was hard at work. Sylia Stingray, Doctor Stingray's daughter, had received a Data Unit the morning after his death. It contained information on his research and various projects, including personal body armor called Hardsuits. The basic plan in the Data Unit was nothing compared to what Sylia later created, but it was the beginning of the most powerful personal body armor available. Sylia, who possibly surpassed her father in genius, developed the Hardsuits into their general designs: One for long range combat, one for melee combat, one for communications, and her own, which had close combat and long range combat capabilities, and communcations equipment. It was not optimized for a particular field outside of survival, and surviving was one thing that Sylia excelled at.

The Hardsuits alone were not enough for Sylia to begin reaping her revenge on GENOM. She accumulated a large number of contacts within Mega Tokyo and outside of the city, stretching to six of the seven continents. Sylia had links to nearly each and every business, technology, laboratory, and intelligence resource on the earth. She had moles inside GENOM, the government, and she herself could break into any computer system which had contents she desired to view. Ultimately, Sylia could had done anything. Alone she would have faced some severe troubles, though, so she recruited three women to help her cause: Priscilla S. Asagiri, Linna Yamazaki, and Nene Romanova. The four of them formed a mercenary group called the Knight Sabers.

The Knight Sabers, along with Sylia's younger brother, Mackie, Doctor Raven, and Fargo, Sylia's most trusted informant/fixer, chose to battle GENOM. Each woman had her own reasons. For Priss, it was to avenge the death of her lover whom Brian J. Mason had killed. For Linna, it was for justice, although she is undoubtedly the most mercenary of the group. For Nene, it was because she longed to help others and do the right thing, putting to use her talent with computers. For Sylia, it was a variety of reasons: Revenge, hatred, and order. She had a personal vendetta to settle, but moreover she did not want to see GENOM dominate the entire world as it intended to. Of all the Knight Sabers, Sylia's own reasons for waging war with GENOM are the most questionable and shady.

From AD2031-33 the Knight Sabers fought with GENOM to create a balance in which Boomers could remain as tools for mankind but not became weapons disguised as those tools.

Enter the world of Mega Tokyo AD2034, Bubblegum Crash!