Kiss Players issue 1

Transformers: Kiss Players #1 » Chronological »
If you're still reading after seeing this, there's no hope left for you.
Published in	Dengeki Daioh
First published	August 21, 2006
Cover date	September 2006
Manga	Yuki Ohshima
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Chronology	2006

Faced with the possibility of her own demise, the timid Atari Hitotonari makes a decision that will change her life.

(Also, there's, like, a bunch of dicks and jizz and stuff.)

Synopsis

What a wonderful day! I sure hope no giant robots take a yack on me!

In a residential area of Tokyo, schoolgirl Atari Hitotonari slowly and precariously walks along the top of a narrow wall, miserably wondering why she was the only one to "survive". She loses her balance and tumbles to the ground, tearfully agonizing over how it feels wrong to be alive.

Elsewhere in Tokyo, the Earth Defense Command races to the scene of a Transformer attack on the Yamanote train line. As the public are directed to take cover in evacuation shelders, Commander Hitoshizuku Amaō arrives and receives a field report from a distressed EDC operative. The operative informs Amaō that agent Shaoshao Li is currently in pursuit of a fleeing Legion which has camouflaged itself as a car, but that her fusion time limit is almost up. Amaō comforts the girl with the promise that they will not lose any more Kiss Players...

As Atari lies on the ground, she muses aloud that she can only feel the pain caused by her fall because she is alive, and wonders if her mother and father are now free from pain. Unable to bear the pressures of continuing to live in a world without her parents, Atari cries out that she wants to die... but the last thing she expects is for a voice to reply to her, asking if that is truly her desire. Atari looks up, and sees only a car, which quickly advances upon her, chasing her into a dead-end alleyway as the voice continues to repeat its question. Just as Atari realizes that the car has no driver, the vehicle splits apart, reconfiguring into a monstrous robot form that Atari realizes must be a Transformer! The Transformer leans in and once more asks Atari if she truly wishes to die... but faced with the very real possibility of death, Atari realizes that she wants to live. As if in answer to her prayers, what appears to be another Transformer comes to her rescue, flooring the monstrous robot with a roundhouse kick. The new robot suddenly drops to its knees, however, and disgorges a naked, slime-covered Asian woman as Atari watches in shock and horror. The robot announces that the Kiss Player fusion time has reached its limit, necessitating a forced ejection. Within seconds, Amaō's EDC team arrives on the scene, confirming that this gooey woman is Shaoshao Li, and her robot is an EDC Autorooper. Curiously, Amaō recognises Atari, and speculates that she and Shaoshao have been drawn to each other... as she knew they would be...

As it turns out, the Legion may be down, but it's not out: as its fist bursts out of the building into which it was thrown, the Autorooper instructs Atari to kiss it or she will die. The confused Atari is informed by Amaō that the Autorooper has chosen her, and that she is a Kiss Player, but the girl is too panicked to act, and the Autorooper's arm winds up being torn off by the attacking Legion's prehensile tongue. As the horrified Atari looks on, the Autorooper asks whether or not she regrets doing nothing. Atari stands up, and announces that doing nothing is the last thing she wants. Kissing the Autorooper, Atari fuses with the robot, which promptly regenerates its lost arm and, with one smooth attack, tears the Legion's head off. Although Amaō is delighted with Atari's display of Kiss Player power, Atari is shocked at what she has done, vomits, and passes out.

Atari awakes as dawn breaks the next day, in a bed in an unfamiliar room. As Atari wonders where she is, an Autorooper appears at the window, carrying a small girl in an EDC uniform on its shoulder. The girl introduces herself as Ringo Chikuma (although she tells Atari that she can call her "Princess Ringo"), and clambers onto the bed to drape her arms around Atari, pleased to meet the Kiss Player whose power exceeds that of Shaoshao's. Ringo soon reveals that she is a few biscuits short of a barrel, however, as she wonders what "flavor" Atari is, kisses her open-mouthed, and bites her tongue so hard that she starts to bleed. Atari shoves her away and cowers before the demented girl, as Ringo wipes her own mouth off and welcomes her to the EDC with a manic grin.

Some time later... in the dead of night... at Narita International Airport, a cargo plane with EDC markings comes in for a landing. Watching from somewhere nearby, a mysterious woman in a skin-tight outfit reports via cellphone that "the package" has arrived. As the plane's doors are opened, exposing the dead body of Optimus Prime, the woman smiles and remarks that's it's been a long time...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

• This issue is the chronologically earliest piece of Kiss Players fiction. It is followed by the third Kiss Players radio drama, which deals with Atari's induction into the E.D.C.
• Optimus Prime appears here following his death in The Transformers: The Movie. The Kiss Players manga occurs in the five-year gap between the movie and "Five Faces of Darkness", which only exists in Japanese cartoon continuity (in American continuity, little to no time passes between these two animated adventures, while in Japan, an extra five years were inserted into the timeline). As such, this is chronologically the earliest appearance of Marissa Faireborn, four years before her animated debut in "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3".