Akihabara0048

Prologue - Part 1 - The Attack

Takamina
__________

As we finally reach the backstage area, we finally relax. We had just completed the biggest concert we have ever held on Akibastar. In fact, it was the biggest concert throughout all of space, that anyone in the history of AKB0048 has ever put on. I look to my fellow Successors, and smile. "Alright, great work out there!" I shout. They all look back at me, and smile. I sit in my chair, facing my mirror.
Dear God I'm sweating a lot.
Being the Captain is a big responsibility. So big, that it can become stressful. Besides the Administration team, I have to take charge of the other members in the band. And it's very hard to ensure they're all okay. But still, like all over previous Takaminas before myself, I manage. I always do.
As I reach for my bottle of water, I hear someone behind me. "Hey, mind if I take some too?"
It's one of the other Successors who were on stage with me. Mariko Shinoda the 8th. She was a Trainee from the 75th Generation, Mimori Kishida. But since her Succession as Mariko, it's been fun to get to know her more. I had no idea she wrote her own letters to fans as well. Hand-written, no less. Bless her.
I smile and hand my bottle to her. "You look like you're about to burst."
"I put on the best performance I could... I'm exhausted, though. I may have overdone it."
I smile. "There's no such thing as over-doing a performance," I tell her. "If you want to put the extra effort in, do it. It might spark a new dream in a young girl's heart."
She smiles back, maybe even giggles. Small things like that are what makes me happy to be the Captain. At least I get to enjoy giving the others the confidence to make each performance sparkle, as much as I try to, as well. It gives me satisfaction.

+++

Yuko
_______

It's now the next day, and we've immediately been called to another planet for the next concert. This time, we're holding a guerrilla - that meant forbidden, or illegal - concert in Lancastar. I'm looking forward to returning there again. 7 years ago was probably one of my very first concerts. I can't even remember if I was a Successor then, or still a Trainee. When we were there 3 years ago, we weren't performing; the trainees were. It was still fun to see them shine. But at the same time, it was worrying. The fact that the trainees can shine like Centre Novas when they're together, it makes me think about things.
As we all walk to the Flying Get, we hear alarms. A screen appears for us, showing the DES invading Akibastar. I really hate those creeps. It's because of them, alongside the D.G.T.O that music and entertainment was banned. It's their fault it was even regulated in the first place. But one day, I swear, DES, Zodiac, and D.G.T.O will no longer exist.
"Here they come..." I mutter.
As we board, I head into the LAS area, with Takamina and the 14th Acchan following me. We all climb into an LAS ship, launching it from the Get, and into the fight. I press a button while steering my craft towards the DES ships, which launches a special kind of weapon - restriction bubbles. Why bubbles? I was never able to figure that out for myself. Some say it's because the DES ships are manned, and we therefore are not allowed to inflict any lethal combat. But the real reason why, I will figure it out one day.
A DES pilot strikes at Acchan's craft, but Acchan ejects her pod shortly before the craft explodes, which Takamina grabs a hold of. Turning her pod back into a platform, Acchan looks at us.
"I'm going after them."
"Acchan, no!" Takamina orders.
"I'm sorry, Takamina-san," Acchan replies. "But I won't let them harm you, Yuko-san, or any other AKB member." With that, she flies towards the crafts, unsheathing her Mic Sabers from the bottom. However, just before she can slash the Sabers in, a massive glow surrounds her. Her love for us and the band must have caused her Kirara to glow, in great resonance to the original Acchan.
But it glows too bright. And too white.
When the light fades, we see that the DES machines are gone. Acchan must have managed a slash in the light. But she is missing, too. She must have disappeared into the next dimension, even without being a Centre Nova.
But we knew one thing:
We had lost the 14th Atsuko Maeda.
As Takamina and I head back to the ship, guilt trips inside me. Acchan the 13th was my inspiration, and I felt overjoyed when Nagisa became the 14th Acchan.
But now that she had vanished...
Oh dear God, what am I going to tell Yuka, Orine, and Chieri?
And the other 77th Trainees?
And Kanata, and Mariko?
How will I tell them about Acchan's disappearance?