Quatre's Origin Story
Note: To all Gundum fans, this is not Quatre Rebarba Winner I'm talking about. It's Quatre Tsuki Motoro
About Four Million Years Ago...
The deadline approached. He was only young but he was the best trainee Quatre had left. It had been difficult to infiltrate Lychan–held territory but he felt his trainee was up to the task. It wasn't as if he had sent someone so young into the heart of the Lychan Empire. This was the only a minor province on the outskirts of their influence. It was, in fact, the nearest Lychan base to the Death Dealer city of Spiral Mountain. The most recent reconnaissance mission had revealed the Lychans were using the base for small-scale shipbuilding; not a weapons depot or an artillery-testing complex. Security would have been tighter at such an installation. The construction of armored courier shuttles was not considered to be high security at risk.
Quatre looked away from the building but was keenly aware of the squadron of jets that had been routinely patrolling the airspace of the shipbuilding complex, as well as the pair of Battlechangers guarding the main entrance. Checking his internal chronometer, he verified for himself that it was almost time. As the Death Dealer's surveillance director, Quatre was responsible for those precious few infiltrators they had left. The School of Espionage was still a smoldering memory from the most recent attack. The Lychans had a few terrorists among their ranks and Quatre was clandestinely gathering information on those responsible for killing twenty-seven of his students.
The planetary Energon supply was never before at such a critical level. It had been a grave risk, not to mention a slight bending of Yami's instructions, that he discovered a small cache of high-yield energy rods in the shipyard's auxiliary hangers. He had Shadi and Tarawa with him at the time. Both were efficient warriors, but they made even better spies. They had located the facility's communications center and had recorded a conversation between Maputo and Sasuke that indicated something unprecedented and large was under construction at this facility. There were also indications that the Lychan leader, Kaiba Minaru, had been on an inspection of the facility not long ago. Something important was definitely going on. If the Lychan leader himself was on an inspection tour of low security shipyard on the outskirts of the Lychan Empire, it was every indication that the Death Dealers should be concerned. The fact that the energy rods were there rather than the Lychans standard Energon cubes reinforced his concern.
Since the bombing of his school he had wanted to give his best trainee, Shippo, an assignment that would reinforce his self-worth. He was trying to alleviate Shippo's self-persecution at not being able to save more of his friends and fellow students. Quatre had always preached about how clear heads were needed in this business and giving this assignment to Shippo would do wonders for him. The capture of some energy rods would boost the spirits of all the Death Dealers.
Quatre had discussed his proposal to Yami Yugioh and Yami agreed the operation. Yami had a personal discussion with Shippo regarding the danger of breaking into any Lychan base, but Shippo always felt he needed to prove himself to the others and accepted the job without further discussion. Shippo didn't seem to be ruffled by the inclusion of Miroku to the operation. Quatre simply justified to Shippo that Miroku had more cargo space to carry the energy rods. He just cleverly left out that Miroku was an expert driver, sensed warrior, and, well 'inventive' when circumstances demand it.
Quatre glanced skyward as the main fighter group, lead by Staryu soared overhead. Not long now.
Quatre's audio microprocessors whirred. Shippo's signal! Quatre took one last visual scan of the area. He signaled the All Clear to Shippo and Miroku , then activated the equipment he had set up. It would only intercept the electronic detector grid of the Lychans duct system for a few astroseconds. The grid in Section 6379 buzzed briefly, then faded. He then noticed a pair of hands lift a section of the ducting and slide it out of place. Quatre's energon pump skipped a cycle. Miroku had climbed out of the grated duct and was hand several energy rods. "Success!" Quatre intoned to himself. Shippo was all right and had secured the energy rods! Quatre was relived to see them both functional. Stealing the rods from the hanger would have been tough enough but navigating the supply ducts must have been challenging. The ducts were all electronically protected but they were not illuminated. Shippo and Miroku would have been sneaking through the ducts with only the natural light of the energy rods to guide them. They would not have been able to touch the ceilings nor the walls. The energy rods they acquired would last about a quartex, under normal conditions. It was the same story...the Death Dealers had only been finding Energon in miniscule amounts over the centuries, always needing more than they could hope to scrounge for. The war had taken its toll on this planet's inhabitants.
Miroku transformed to his vehicular form and opened the rear hatch. Shippo placed the rods inside shut the hatch, and transformed to his roving saucer mode. They had a conversation going but had not waved or made any acknowledgement that Quatre was in the area at all. It would be futile anyway, even if they had known where to look...Quatre had a way of concealing himself that made even Larva envious. Quatre had been known to leave a room of only ten Death Dealers without any one of them aware he had left! It was just part of the job.
Quatre kept track of Miroku and Shippo's progress out of the Lychans province, yet kept an optic sensor on the base as well. "What are they building in there?" he wondered aloud.
Shippo and Miroku were out of sight when the trio of fighters lead by Haku appeared on the horizon and headed for the blue and white ground vehicles fleeing Lychan territory.
Obvious to the abrupt change in his protégé's luck, Quatre transformed into his vehicle mode and hovered over to an accessway not dissimilar to the grate that his comrades had fled moments before. He switched his external systems to high gain and reverted to his animal form. There were three Lychans who were very adept at locating individual Youkai : Pazu, Yoh, and Vash. They had their own talents for sensing when a specific Death Dealer or Lychan was near. Quatre had that talent as well. By analyzing energon signatures and engine vibrations for certain Youkai he could identify with certainty individual animals. Squirtle was by far his deadliest opponent. He could not detect him though, nor could he identify the presence of Yoh. Vash was in the base someplace though.
Quatre walked stealthily for some distance through the deadened tunnels that ran under the base. He stopped short for an intersection and took some readings. Quatre spoke softly to himself:
"Power surges to the left...seems there are more energy rods than they could possibly use in a facility this size. Energy readings from the right jump off the scale."
Quatre walked at a quicker pace than before down the corridor to the right. He quietly opened a hatch to the main halls of the complex. Making his way along the aft end of a construction bay, he ran behind at least nineteen armored shuttles in various stages of completion. Quatre noticed that the further into the structure he traveled the more sturdy the bulkheads and braces in the rooms appeared. He ducked into the shadows of the next room. There was darkness to hide in here. Braces and load-bearing pipes were radially disturbed through the room as if to protect the base from a large explosion just beyond the next room.
"This cannot be a weapons-testing site. Our aerial recon would have discovered it by now."
Quatre quietly stepped up to the airlock's control panel, rerouted the security alarm to another junction and forced the airlock open. Before him was a large open pit, circular, with portable computer consoles and several Lychan at a cluster of consoles at his immediate left. Quatre saw Ren on the way out of the room. After he left, Quatre accessed his audio file on Pokemon: Ren. He raised a small pair of speakers from each of his shoulders and activated his voice modulator circuitry. Speaking into a comm.-set, which was part of his armoric helmet, he spoke in Ren's voice:
"Nako, I cannot get the airlock open. It is not responding to my security codes. Get over here."
Quatre was pleased with his performance. The directional speakers made it appear the voice was actually coming from the area of the airlock. Ren was something of a dimwit anyway...Nako shouldn't have expected to hear anything different.
"Baka. You probably deserve to be here when this thing goes off, Ren. Just give me an astrosecond and I will be right over."
After tapping a few commands into his console Nako moved over to the corridor that led to the airlock Ren could not exit. As soon as Nako was out of sight, Quatre made a break for the circular opening in the floor, which dominated the vast room.
"By the Millennium Rod!"
Quatre almost suffered a momentary shutdown when his optics gazed on the impossible; a starship the likes of which he had never seen before. Lychans were first with flight, but actual starship technology had eluded them. Only the Death Dealers had been able to construct power drives to propel a ship of substantial mass. "The only energy source capable of powering a ship that size..." Quatre's voice trailed off, still awestruck from the angular lines and forbidding color of what was probably the first-ever Lychans starship. And the size of it...
At that moment, Tsukasa entered the room with twenty-six Sentinel animals who split into two protective rows of guards as Yukisho entered, walking from the hatchway to the elevator system outside the starship, between the even rows of Tsukasa's drones. Yukisho carried a small container, which had an eerie yellow glow near the semitransparent lid. From Quatre's viewpoint he knew immediately what it was.
"The Lychans are planning to power their starship with the Golden Seal!"
Every Death Dealer knew what the Golden Seal was. It was the most stable, near limitless supply of energy known to Youkai science. It was nearly worshipped by Death Dealer elders as being a genuine artifact from the fabled Primacron.
What was undisputed was the fact that the Seal had been used for millions of years to provide power to the formerly majestic Mount Miharashi. Mount Miharashi had been the Death Dealer's most beautiful and prosperous city on the Spirit World. Until it was destroyed by its own protectors. Somehow, Kaiba Minaru had altered the Constructicons personality circuits and turned them to the Lychan cause. They plundered the city after destroying much of the city's crystalline beauty. Kaiba instructed them to receive the Golden Seal. The Lychans had been in possession of it ever since.
Quatre watch in futility as Yukisho descended to the very depths of the complex and installed the crystal in the engine drive system. The crystal provided a stable flow of energy, but the crystal structure itself was not as stable. It required special care to transport it.
Quatre limited to himself, "One good rifle shot at that crystal and the entire complex, starship and all, would be gone. There are some high- ranking Lychan troops here. The war would no doubt be over shortly afterward. But I cannot make a move until Tsukasa calls off his Sentinel puppets," he uttered in frustration.
The Sentinel animals, which formed a protective path for Yukisho, were all facing outward. Although they didn't realize it many of them were looking at that area Quatre was concealed in. 'If I so much as twitch, a few Sentinels will see me, and Tsukasa will have made his personal quota for the day.' Quatre remained still until Yukisho had returned from below and the Lychan had filed out. He returned to his entry point in the city without further examination of the starship. Too many Lychans were milling about now that the main drive and onboard computer were powered up.
Alexo and Dartio were no longer at the main gate. They were on active patrol now, and Quatre's position. Replacing the hatch he had exited he activated his positional speaker again, this time making a sound of a Death Dealer low growl. The projected sound was apparently coming from the other end of the compound and was fading in pitch to imitate a vehicle that was leaving in a hurry.
Almost faster than his optic could register, Alexo had switched to vehicle mode and sped off after his prey. Dartio still had his back to the unseen Death Dealer. Quatre took aim and fired at the remaining Battlechanger. Dartio shook violently for a moment and was rendered inert.
"The pharaoh has got to hear about this place," Quatre said as he transformed and rapidly left the complex behind.
The glorious peak of Spiral Mountain was slowly rising against the Spirit World's armoric horizon when the deafening sonic shockwave nearly buffeted Quatre off his thrusters. Quatre halted and transformed to animal mode to face whatever had found him. Domini, still in flight mode, roared skyward again as Amiza had his turn for a strafing run. Laser bolts screamed from the energy barrels of Amiza's dagger, impacting Quatre in the upper torso.
Receiving a signal from the antenna on the right side of his head, Quatre bravely stood the challenge the birds that had now transformed to their animal modes. They approached their easy prey with an evil gleam in their optics.
"You do realize you are in Death Dealer held territory now?" Quatre commented civilly.
"All I see is a coward who seemed to be fleeing our territory, am I right, Death Dealer?" Domini challenged.
"Come on, Domini, let us teach the little pest not to step on our turf," Amiza said with his usual malice.
Domini raised his sword and aimed it at Quatre. "I do not suppose you were prepared to get caught today, huh, Death Dealer?"
Quatre responded to Domini with a tap of a panel on his forearm. "Never accuse me of not being prepared!"
At that moment, a shriek from the sky screamed downward, a blue and white Spiritronian bird dove toward the armor surface. At the same time, a pair of augers erupted from the planet, toppling Amiza and Domini onto their backs.
The two surprised Lychans as Reuthin watched and Nomed transformed. The stunned warrior's optics could barely register the split-second transition between vehicle and demon.
"I appreciate your punctuality, brothers," Quatre retained his calm demeanor, knowing full well he now had the upper hand.
Amiza and Domini slowly got to their feet, but made no overt hostile action. Instantly, Reuthin had his blaster at the two Lychans. Neither plane had seen him move. His gun arm had immediately twitched from where it had been to where it was now. Amiza glanced over at Nomed and realized that he too had his weapon aimed but had not witnessed to move.
Quatre briefly considered having some fun, but having to notice Reuthin's head and left arm twitch spasmodically, he knew the Jumpstarter probably hadn't had the opportunity to pound a Lychans in oh,...an hour. The information Quatre had recorded regarding the Lychans starship was more important than bumping two more warriors out of the war, though.
"I will need you two to cover me on the way back to...ahh!"
Quatre and the Jumpstarters were strafed from behind by Haku and Alendar. All three Death Dealers were knocked, not having heard the approach of the two new arrivals. Not even slowing down, Haku and Domini changing modes and streaking off after them. At four to three, the odds were in the Lychan's favor, but the Lychans had come across the Jumpstarters before and wouldn't press their luck for a third time.
The rest of the trip to Spiral Mountain was uneventful. Quatre hovered back to Spiral Mountain on one of the Spirit World's highways, the Jumpstarters at left and right flank positions a short distance off.
Inside the city, Quatre greeted Shippo and congratulated him on his successful mission. Shippo was just being discharged from the medical bay following some minor repairs. Thire was the only medic Quatre could see in the medical complex. Kerogi and Gennai must have been on board Wing Zero, finalizing equipment and supplies checklist. The Wing Zero's mission wasn't going to be a long one, but Gennai was very particular about the tools he needed to have, no matter what the duration of the journey. In his med bay, Gennai was king.
"I am sorry I could not cover you on the way back, Shippo," Quatre spoke matter-of-factly, but some of the sincere regret he felt at his pupil's misfortune was evident in his voice.
"Think nothing of it. We got back all right- I even made sure Miroku made it back in one piece."
Quatre felt better that Shippo was still his jubilant self. "Sure. Good going, little buddy. Have you seen the pharaoh?"
Shippo motioned down the hall. "Yami is giving his talk to the assembled Death Dealers here in Spiral Mountain right before we lift off."
Shippo and Quatre walked down to the assembly area. There were hundreds of Death Dealers there, many more than the room was designed to accommodate.
Yami's lecture had mostly to deal with assigning specific tasks to certain high-ranking Death Dealers as well as warrior volunteers.
The Chief of Operations for king Yugioh's group was named Mako. Yugioh stepped back to let Mako take care of a few minor details. Yami walked over to where a small band of female animals had been loitering near the stage. Belldandy, Urda, and Sakura were there, along with a few others Quatre didn't recognize. Yami addressed his long-time mate, Belldandy. "Ready to go, Belldan?"
"Ready, my lord. Urda and I have finished equipping Wing Zero's defense systems."
"I am heading over there now. May I walk you there?"
"Of course."
Quatre saw Yami and several Death Dealers heading toward the ship. He hated to interrupt the Death Dealer pharaoh, but this information demanded top priority.
"My lord, excuse me. Could I speak with you? It is urgent."
Yami looked over at Quatre and back to Belldan. He held his mate's hands. "Go on ahead. I will join you shortly." Yami gestured Quatre to a hall entrance to speak privately.
Quatre decided not to keep the busy leader waiting. "The Lychans have a fully armed and powered starship ready for takeoff."
"What?!!!" Yami was not usually one to lose his composure. The volume of his exclamation had turned a few Death Dealer heads. Yami spoke softly, "You have seen this then?"
"Yes, sire, while Miroku and Shippo were returning here I was able to sneak inside. The Golden Seal is being used as the power source."
"Kaiba has probably received data that we are on a search for energy off- planet. Our time-table has moved up if you are sure that their ship is ready to go. Thanks for the intelligence report, Quatre." Yami pondered for a moment and added, "Find Kico and tell him that the Wing Zero will require protection. He is to assemble and coordinate the remaining warrior contingent of the city to secure our departure. When you are done report to Wing Zero; we are leaving very soon."
"At once, your majesty," Quatre added after he bowed and left to find Kico.
Yami called to Asuko, one of his trusted advisors. "Asuko, I want you to go to the Wing Zero's control room. We need to lift off immediately. The Lychans are on to us and are ready with a starship of their own."
Asuko displayed as much of a look surprise as his face could manage. "A Lychan starship?"
"Right. Tell Fukai he has ten astroseconds to finish downloading information into the new computer system."
"I am on my way, sire," Asuko said while transforming into his vehicle form and zooming off.
Yami now headed for Wing Zero himself, the thoughts of the Lychan's intentions weighing heavily on his mind.
Asuko transformed as the elevator opened up to the Wing Zero's bridge. "Fukai, you are done."
"I have not finished downloading the Galactic Archive yet. All I have had time to install is the Spiritronic Database."
Asuko was not apologetic. "Change of plans, Fukai. Yami wants to take off immediately. You will have to leave some data disks behind and we will download them when there is time."
Fukai was a respectful Death Dealer, especially to orders from the king himself. He left the console, bid a silent farewell to the Wing Zero's intelligence, Andromeda, and headed back to the resident computer that controlled Spiral Mountain, the original Andromeda.
Kico had gotten his troops assembled outside the perimeter of the circular- shaped domed city.
"Death Dealers, we must protect the Wing Zero's departure. Yami's search for energy maybe our only chance for survival." Kico was confident of all his warrior's abilities to drive off an attack that they all knew was imminent.
When Yami reached the Wing Zero he took the elevator system to the engineering compartment. Kikochi had been informed by Goku of the emergency and was yelling orders to everyone within the audio range to get the engines ready for the impending order.
"Settiro, Uykio, you were supposed to clamp down the plasma manifold by now. Is Senbei still flirting with Lind? Kaworu, radio Senbei and tell him to get his tail rudder up here. Kaichi, do I have to tell you a third time to balance the reactor vectors?"
"I am still recalibrating the plasma controllers," Kaichi remarked in frustration. He was a theoretician, not the hands-on dirty-work type. He realized however that everyone available was needed for many unusual tasks.
Kikochi was exasperated. "That was Kaoru's job. Where is he, anyway? Aydrian, you have two more astroseconds to weld that shut or...," Kikochi trailed off on that last order. He turned around and noticed Yami standing near the doorway. He didn't so much as say 'hello'.
"We are doing all we can, my lord, you do not need to keep badgering me!"
Yami was slightly amused. "Easy, Kikochi. I am sure you have everything under control. I will need you on the bridge to handle engineering function when we lift off."
"Be right up, sire."
Yami left for the bridge. As the door swished shut Yami could hear Kikochi ranting again. "Yuki! Komai! Will you two quit yapping and get..."
Yami was thinking about the Lychans imminent attack when it happened. A hollow sounding echo rang through the great ship's corridors. Yami braced himself against one side of the hall. Regaining his balance he headed for the entry ramp at the bottom of the upright starship. There were several Lychans who had made it inside the protective walls of Spiral Mountain. Kaiba had sent all available Lychans in the area who were not onboard his ship already. Dartio, Alexo, Yoh, Mirae, Akuma, and Mokai were causing the majority of the damage to the city. Several Sentinel animals were there as well.
Kaiba had picked up a fortuitous time to attack his hated enemies. Only on rare occasions were so many Death Dealers in one place.
Kico and his soldiers had heard the fighting inside the city and called his troops to re-enter Spiral Mountain to drive the Lychans out.
Many Death Dealers were caught by surprise while trying to board Wing Zero. Many were driven back to find protection from the attack or bravely ran forward to make it to the spacecraft.
"Akio! Quatre! Provide cover fire. We have to get the Death Dealers caught out in the open relative to safety." There was a distinct note of panic in the leader's voice.
Quatre looked around. Death Dealers were fleeing for the outer walls. Spiral Mountain was ironically safer outside the city walls than it was inside. Stingmon seemed to be shooting skyward. Looking in that direction himself he could see that the main attack force was staying on upper scaffolding around the wall or flying at a constant height. Sentinel drones were the ground troops of this operation, advancing at a steady rate leaving half-functioning Death Dealers in their destructive wake.
It was a grisly scene. Limbs were broken off, some Death Dealers were lying half transformed, having been denied an effective escape. Yoh was gorging himself on the fuel of some hapless Death Dealer, greedily drawing the Energon from the fallen warrior. Quatre spotted Yoh. He quickly took careful aim and fired. Yoh was struck dead center. The pulse blast reset Yoh's equilibrium controls to their startup mode. There was no hope of flying. Yoh crawled on the ground, twitching violently. Finally, practically immobilized, a stubborn wing unit spasmed momentarily and Yoh collapsed to the cold armor ground.
Akio activated the ramp to Wing Zero, The large lumbering slab of armor slowly retracted into the ship. The Wing Zero began to hum as the primary system came online. The Lychans hadn't ceased their attack. Many Death Dealers were behind safe cover now and those with weapon were fighting back. Quatre could see that Kico, in vehicle mode, had rammed the Lychan's blocked door, smashing several Sentinels. He dislodged a dozen vehicle Death Dealers before transforming back to his animal form. The Lychans regrouped to take care of the new offensive though they didn't let up on the weapons barrage on the Wing Zero itself. Smoldering craters were the legacy of the Lychan's wrath. The launch area around the Wing Zero was scorched.
Yami had given Quatre orders to clear the remaining Death Dealers. Quatre raised two speakers from his shoulders and began: "Death Dealers, we have no choice but to launch immediately. We will rely on your valiant efforts to make sure that the Wing Zero can get safely away. We will have to lift off with the crew we have on board now." Quatre switched his speakers to stand-by and turned toward Yami, who was taking pot shots at the high- altitude Lychans. "Any message from you would be appreciated, my liege." Yami understood all too well the respect he was granted by all Death Dealers. He wouldn't be gone for long, but a few inspired words could make all the difference on a day like they'd been having.
"Very well, Quatre, put me on." Quatre reactivated his speakers and produced a microphone from his right forearm. Yami's voice was easily heard above the din war. "Death Dealers, we will return to the Spirit World soon with enough energy to revitalize the planet. Peace is worth fighting for. Never give up your what is your birthright since the Lychans began the first Spiritronian War. The heart of freedom lies within you, and we will have freedom for all no matter the personal cost. This is the Spirit World and we are not afraid!!"
The Death Dealers cheered their leader as well as the Wing Zero, the Spirit World's new savior, wishing them both a prosperous journey. Akio headed back toward the bridge of the ship now. Quatre was about to head back as well when he noticed Yami was still at the open doorway.
Yami had seen Belldandy trying to get to the Wing Zero but the explosion ricocheting around her and the other female Death Dealers prevented her from nearing the great ship. Yami had a hand outstretched in obvious futility, to somehow reach her.
"I want to go with you!" Belldan pleaded as loud as her vocal volume would allow.
"Stay back, it is too dangerous!" Yami cared deeply for his mate and wanted more than anything to help her get to the ship. The good of the many demanded the Wing Zero take off while it still could.
Quatre loathed himself for what he had to do. He reached out to grab Yami by the shoulder to gently coerce him to step back from the hatch. Just as Yami and Belldan were saying their farewells a blast much closer than the Lychans had been aiming for impact the area between the Wing Zero and Belldandy's position. To Yami's eyes, the blast caught her full force. Yami felt a tremor in the Ankh, but he could not be sure that it was Belldandy he felt or whether something larger was at work.
"She is gone...," Yami was softly speaking aloud. Quatre moved him clear of the hatch and closed the door just as the air below the Wing Zero's fusion drives began to heat and blur. Spiral Mountain began to shudder, not only from the ignition of the Wing Zero's five powerful fusion plants, but also from the large winches which fought to react the transparent dome at the edge of Spiral Mountain's outer semi-circular wall. The Wing Zero's engines were brought to full power and it began to lift off of it's housing into the sky. From a distance the Wing Zero appeared as a golden jewel being hurled upward by the volcanic mouth of Spiral Mountain.
Belldandy gazed upward and made a silent wish for her commander and mate as the great starship faded from view.
Not far away, the Lychans had their ship ready for take off. Kaiba had one last glance around his bridge at the group of warriors he was bringing with him. 'All efficient and loyal,' he thought to himself, 'Except that incompetent, power-crazed Haku.' Kaiba gave Pazu the order to lift off and gave his navigator instructions to plot a course for the Death Dealer ship.
The Wing Zero traveled for many astrohours. The Death Dealers were starting to settle in. Many were busy with tasks repairing damaged systems. Others strived to get the fledging computer, Andromeda, up to its peak operating capacity. They were supposed to lift off with a crew of two hundred and one, but only a few dozen had made it on board.
Quatre had been manning the perimeter system. There was no sign of the Lychans, but he had a nagging spark in his circuits that told him they would soon be along. Quatre kept glancing in Yami's direction and was disturbed by Yami's pacing around. To many of the Death Dealers, Yami was walking around to the different stations, checking systems status and such. Quatre however had a keen insight into what drove the Youkai's spark of life. He fancied himself an amateur in spiritronic psychology, Quatre worked up the nerve to approach the leader of the Death Dealers in a personal conversation.
"My lord, may I speak with you?" Quatre tried to sound professional. "There is a matter I wish to discuss, time permitting of course."
Yami stepped away from the console he was at and motioned towards the bridge's rear hatch. Once the hatch door slid shut behind the two demons, Yami spoke up. "What is the matter you wish to discuss?"
Quatre summoned all of his courage for his reply. Very matter-of-factly he stated, "You."
Yami 's expression instantly became distant. Quatre was sure Yami would end the discussion before it started. Yami surprised Quatre by his next words. "Go on."
"Thank you, Yami. I am aware of the conversation you had with Belldandy before we blasted off. I saw the explosion."
Quatre could've sworn he saw Yami's eyes flicker. "It goes beyond Belldandy." Yugioh remained silent for a few minutes. Quatre was a definite comfort to have around. The mantle of leadership sometimes distanced a leader from those around him. Yami had heard on many occasions how some Death Dealers had confided in Quatre to help them with their problems. Yami decided to give Quatre a chance. "I do not want you to repeat what you hear, Quatre, please," Yami sincerely said.
"Of course not, your majesty. I am here to help if I can."
Yami remained silent for a moment, then began. "You were right about my being distracted at the loss of Belldan."
"Apparent loss, sire," Quatre interrupted. "We do not know that she was hurt."
In his anguish he must have rerouted his reason center for he had not considered this as an outcome. Yami decided he would try to keep a more objective mind about such things in the future. 'No point in dwelling on the unknown,' he thought. Yami continued. "Thoughtful point. I am glad one of us does not have a clouded viewpoint right now. Anyway, my concern is as much for the Spirit World as it is for Belldan."
"For the Spirit World? What say you?" Quatre was genuinely puzzled.
"For as far back as our recorded history dates, no Death Dealer leader has ever left the Spirit World. The war we are in now has depleted the Spirit World of its once plentiful, abundant energy. Never before has the planet or its inhabitants been so vulnerable; so near extinction. This mission of ours to search for an energy source if of unparalleled importance but it was not right for me to lead it. The Spirit World and the Death Dealers need their leader. My responsibility is to the Spirit World." Yugioh didn't realize how much he needed to say this out loud.
Quatre searched for comforting words. The scope of what Yami had just said had his head reeling with ideas and scenarios he had never conceived before. "You are needed here, my liege. You left Spiral Mountain in the capable hands of your brother. If what I witnessed at the Lychan base is accurate, they will be launching a ship to intercept us. Our mission is the Spirit World's only hope for vitality again. I know I speak for all Death Dealers here when I say you are needed here with us."
"I appreciate that, Quatre." Yami placed a hand on Quatre's shoulder as a silent 'Thank you' for spending this time for allowing Yami to get a few things off his mind.
"I need to get back to the bridge," Yami said, and strode onto the bridge ahead of Quatre.
The Death Dealers were manning their assigned stations. Asuko had taken over for Quatre at the perimeter sensors.
A light began to flash Asuko's station. Quatre stood poised for the news he fully expected to hear. He glanced over at Siphon to see if he was going to beat Asuko to the punch. Siphon had a thing for detecting enemies seconds before sensing equipment. According to the 'blip' on Quatre's screen it was much larger than the Lychan starship could ever have been.
Quatre was both relived and alarmed at the same time. Neither he nor other Death Dealers needed the computer's assessment now- a large fragment loomed into view of the forward viewport. Asuko was still the first to comment, "Look! An asteroid!"
"There is another one!" Hiroko beat Quatre to that one.
"They are going to collide!" Yugioh finished.
The two space borne meteoroid fragments collided at an oblique angle, causing the resulting large shattered chunks of rock to fly directly into the Wing Zero's flight path. Massive, dense rock began pummeling the Wing Zero's outer structure causing visible damage to the forward-most areas. The resounding thuds and shakes were toppling the Death Dealers on every level of the ship. Mako was thrown clear of the pilot's chair, Aiko had fallen near Monochi, and Quatre had been slammed back into the bridge's aft bulkhead. On the bridge, only Asuka had been able to hold on to his station.
Injuries were also occurring on the bridge. Muhei and Kaio both had minor dents. Death Dealers had sprung an oil leak in his shoulder joint. Daiko had been knocked offline and was lying in a small puddle of his own blood.
Yami called Gennai to the bridge to see to Daiko. If Daiko lost too much fuel he could parish. Yami was now issuing orders from the helm console. Mako was offline as well.
Impact after impact damaged the Death Dealer vessel. Yami ordered Yamucha to fire the forward laser cannon. Yamucha got up off the deck and gripped the trigger.
"Fire!" Yami ordered.
A widespread laser blast shot from the Wing Zero, volatizing the asteroid fragments in the flight path. The Wing Zero stopped shaking as the constant hammering abruptly ended.
The Lychan ship was still quite a distance from the Wing Zero, flying all this while in a calculated sensor blind spot preventing the Death Dealers from detecting it. Their ship was about as badly damaged as the Wing Zero and a few Lychans were in rough shape from the unrelenting barrage of meteor impacts.
Kaiba looked up to the main viewport from the chaos around him and saw the Death Dealers ship's laser blast plough a path in front of the vessel. The Lychan leader leaned forward in his command chair to speak to his pilot, Pazu. "Follow them!"
The Lychan ship shot forward, up to the same vector as the Wing Zero traveled. Kaiba had made a decision to move from their concealed location in order to save his ship and warriors. There was every reason to believe that if the onslaught of boulders hadn't destroyed the Death Dealer's sensors, maybe the mini-asteroids in their wake would confuse the sensors enough that the Lychans could remain hidden.
The Wing Zero's laser system was draining the energy reserves of the ship. Yami had already given instructions to Rapidmon down in the engineering to tap power from any system necessary so that both shielding and the laser could function as long as needed. Kerogi made his usual series of complaints about performing 'impossible' tasks and how some energy should be reserved for propulsion.
Yami was adamant. He cut the comm.-link and then looked over to Siphon. "Siphon, I want you to began a damage control assessment. Quatre, I want you and Shin to get to engineering to lend a hand down there."
Quatre and Shin looked to each other in acknowledgement and left for the bridge hatch without a word. Siphon made a mental map of the ship so he could netter priotize the repair efforts. Most of the repair team he would need to assemble from those below. He called to a few Death Dealers who were still on the bridge. "Celestin, Meier, Jukisha, follow me, we have much to do." Siphon led the way to the hatch. The others obediently fell into line but were forced to stop short of the door as Siphon had come to a sudden halt with one hand against the rear wall, and the other cradling his head in what seemed like a spasm of pain.
"Syph?" Celestin was one of Siphon's best friends and was concerned about what amounted to an armoric headache.
Siphon tried to compose himself but answered in a weak voice, "Just a strange sensation. It is passing, thanks." Siphon walked slowly through the hatch followed by Celestin and the two Protectobots.
Every Death Dealer on the bridge had their diodes seize up a little knowing all too well the source of Siphon's brief attack. Yami looked over to Goku and raised his chin as a silent instruction. Asuka swiveled in his seat and activated the Viewtrex perimeter alert system. Andromeda did not have active scan software installed as yet. If Garrurumon could have remained on board the Wing Zero, Andromeda might have been able to surpass its forbear. The ship was now clear of the asteroid field.
The active scan only made one circular sweep of the area around the Wing Zero. A large 'blip' appeared on the scope. Asuko bolted around in his seat. "Viewtrex report; we are being followed!"
"The Lychans." Yami said with obvious loathing in his voice. Yami was still at the helm and proceeded to put the Wing Zero through every evasive maneuver he could remember.
Down in engineering, Kerogi had his hands full trying to keep the fusion plants online. He called over to Aydrian, "Aydrian, we need to strengthen the vessel's structure. I do not know what the bridge is doing up there, but they are going to tear her apart." Aydrian moved to carry out the order but was muttering to himself as he sometimes did. "I really liked the design of this ship." Aydrian seemed to think that things were made only to be destroyed. He was an efficient worker once motivated, though.
Shin and Quatre walked into engineering at that moment.
"Yami sent us down here to help, Kerogi," Shin said, always eager to assist.
Kerogi wasted no time. "Shin, can you get the laser working again? We just had a perimeter alert and Yami may call for weapons." "I will do my best," Shin said.
Quatre started to walk behind Shin. The scientist had assumed Quatre was there and shouted over his shoulder, "If the problem is not with the laser activator, the system controller may have shunted power to the redundant collectors making a simple bypass to the backup power junction our best way to alleviate the crossover." Quatre was sometimes too much like his best friend in that he understood Shin about half the time. In a voice that belied his confusion Quatre carefully said, "...so...you want me to head to the computer vault and reroute the system to the primaries again?"
"Of course, Quatre," Shin almost sneered, "Is that what I just said?" Shin was now at a run. After the hatch closed Quatre stood staring at the closed door.
"No," He said aloud to himself and headed toward the computer's main vault.
The Lychan ship had tried to keep up with the evasive action of the Wing Zero. Pazu was a brilliant tactician in addition to all of his other mysterious and plentiful talents and was able to not only hold his course with the Death Dealers but to close the distance between them to only a few hundred kilometers. Vash had reported the fuel reserves were nearly gone so Kaiba ordered a full throttle blast of propulsive power to catch up to the Wing Zero. 'We'll have to commandeer their ship if we ever hope to make it back to the Spirit World again.' Kaiba thought to himself.
Kaiba ordered Haku to prepare the tractor beam. This meant Haku had to take a forward station to the right of Kaiba. Minaru felt very uneasy when Haku was out of visual range. He called down to Saionji and Touga in the engine room.
"Full throttle now!"
The Lychan starship jolted forward until it was directly off the Wing Zero's port flank.
Everyone on board the Wing Zero heard and felt the vibration throughout the ship as the Lychan's tractor beam locked onto its target. A panel on the opposing vessel's exterior lowered and a cylindrical tunnel emerged from the ship and traversed the distance making an unbearable 'clank' against the port wall of the Wing Zero's bridge. At the end of the docking collar, a rotating diamond blade nit into the outer hull of the now hapless Wing Zero and cut open a large- scale breach.
The hull construction of the Wing Zero had a built in safety feature devised by one of the Digimon's security agents, an Omnibot known as Downshift. As soon as the Lychans diamond cutter sliced through a certain layer of circuitry, emergency bulkheads automatically lowered in place, isolating every component of the ship. This design had two benefits: it would prevent explosive decompression of the entire ship. In this way, damage could be confined to only one or two compartments. The secondary benefit of the system was to prevent hostile boarding parties from penetrating more rooms than their point of entry. The isolation doors would only be released by command codes from the vessel's commander.
Kerogi looked around in futility a four isolation doors locked into place.
"Ferio, can you rig an open comm channel so we can hear what is going on up on the bridge?" he asked.
Ferio never seemed to have an 'off ' day. "No problem, Kerogi, just give me a few." Ferio typed in some commands on his console, then informed Kerogi, "Here it comes!"
The Death Dealers in engineering could hear the speakers abuzz with 'clunks,' 'thuds' and laser fire. Shouting of both Death Dealers and Lychans warriors could also be discerned above the din of the confined battle.
The Youkai were not aware that their relativistic speed had sent them into the midst of a star system. The ships had slowed considerably since being linked together and unwittingly passing by the average yellow star in the heart of the system. The mated ships now fell into an unstable orbit of a naturally occurring blue, green, and white planet. This planet occupied the third orbit of nine in this particular system.
The ship shifted violently, lurching to one side causing most of the battling animals to lose their balance. Yami left his opponent and reached for maneuvering control thrusters to stabilize their orbit.
"G-forces! They're dragging us down!" Asuko yelled above the noise. In the computer vault Quatre heard Asuko's statement and activated a nearby monitor in time to see the periphery of outer space fade from the screen's edges. A large rock-like world loomed defiantly in the current path of the Wing Zero and its Lychan leech.
Quatre wasn't sure what the outcome of their current plight would be, but his programming could not allow the Lychans to gain control of the ship. He quickly devised a command routine to initiate a controlled shutdown of Andromeda. He glanced briefly at the stack of data disks that still needed to be installed. 'We will get you up and running, Andromeda. Do not worry.' Quatre gave a brief glance back at the closed isolation door. He was defiantly trapped in the room. Everyone on board was trapped wherever they happened to be when they were boarded by the Lychans. Quatre's thoughts drifted to young Shippo. Last he had seen, Shippo was on the bridge. 'He will be all right,' Quatre thought, trying to console him. 'He is a tough little guy.'
Quatre, resigned to his fate, was determined to watch to the bitter end. He reactivated the monitor. He grabbed for the side of the computer console as a sudden shudder rippled through the Wing Zero.
"The tractor beam... the other ship has been released!" he said aloud. He switched on the monitor as the Lychan's magnificent yet ominous starship spiraled away from the Wing Zero. The Wing Zero was now entering the upper atmosphere of the planet, picking up speed as it descended. Quatre knew someone was at least partially controlling the ship. They were going down but they weren't out of control.
'Ironic,' Quatre thought while facing his own demise, 'A controlled crash.'
About half the Lychans had stayed on their ship. The engines had tried to save energy, but the reserves were out and with the last flicker of energy the gravitational pull of the nearby planet had won the tug of war for the Wing Zero and ripped the Death Dealer ship away from the grip of the tractor beam. So as not to damage the Golden Seal, Scyther disengaged all supply routes to it. As long as the crystal didn't shatter upon impact, Kaiba would at least have the power source. Looking around him, Innova noticed the seven Insecticons on board running to the escape pods. Saionji and his warriors in one pod, Suaznami and his group in another. The Predicons were already in an escape pod. For some reason, most of the animals had more of an imprinted survival instinct than some of the other Youkai.
Innova was an intelligent Lychan though. He ordered his fellow Constructicons into a nearby pod and joined them. Ryoshi and Ranma had just arrived in engineering from the weapons batteries to a room with four escape pods missing. They traded confused glances and ran, arms outstretched, toward the only remaining escape pod on that level of the ship. They both reached the pod's entry ramp at the same time. With the width of their leg wings on either side, it would have been a comedic sight to watch the two Lychans fighting for the pod's front row seat, had their impending deaths not been so predominantly in their minds.
Quatre gazed more carefully at the out-of-control Lychan ship. Tiny reflections were visible near its aft section.
"Escape pods," Quatre murmured.
The Lychan ship was soon out of sight and the strange terrain of this new world was rapidly passing beneath the Wing Zero at an unbelievable velocity. Hawkmon noticed a large rocky structure that dominated view. The Wing Zero was finally on its way to its resting place. There was no altitude left, nor was their maneuvering power to avoid the gigantic mound of rock.
With the sound of a thousand explosions detonating at once and the unbearable crunching of armor as the ship excavated its way into the mountain. Quatre's existence faded to darkness.
4 Million Years Later, Earth 1985 A.D.
Darkness.
Quatre could began to feel sensations again. Diagnostic systems were responding to his mental commands. He felt he was in touch with his own spark of life. He could sense the energon flow traveling to the remote regions of his framework, down to his hands and back, down to his feet. He still could not see anything; his optics were still waiting for the diagnostic system to check the rest of his vitals. 'Ah, audio,' he thought to himself. He could hear the voices of Yugioh, Alucard, Kaio and Gennai. Another sensation registered: altitude. He was being lifted off the floor. He could tell he was being carried but still could not see where he was going. Diagnostic equipment revealed he was capable of speech and was going to speak to his friend but decided to check the rest of his systems. He took a reading of his internal atomic clock and registered the amount of time that passed.
'Great Hoarus! This cannot be,' he thought, running the test again to see if it read the same. It did. 'By the Millennium Rod, what happened to us?'
Quatre could now sense that Gennai had a panel in his chest and one in his head open. Gennai was undoubtedly trying to fix the rest of his damaged systems. As Gennai closed the panel in Quatre's head, the weary animal began to receive visual information once again.
From the Death Dealer's point of view, a healthy blue glow began to illuminate the optic-visor of Quatre's head.
"Quatre, can you hear me?" Gennai said, leaning over his current patient.
"Gennai?...Yami?" Quatre said slowly, his vocalizer not fully lubed after its long slumber.
Gennai spoke again. "Just lie still. We're going to have Andromeda re- energize you and provide you with and indigenous animal form."
Quatre heard and saw a SkySpy satellite on Andromeda's main monitor. It was in a large constructed city, similar to some structures on the Spirit World. The Sky Spy was approaching what appeared to be a multi-vehicular accident at the entryway of a bridge structure. There were many damaged vehicles present, along with a hundred or more other vehicles in the area. The vehicles were controlled by organics. As the small SkySpy probe descended upon the scene of chaos, Hawkmon noticed it had locked onto a target. A crew of organics had recording equipment there, presumably to document the event. Yami would later explain that it was a television news crew. SkySpy located the news crew's vehicle, a blue van packed with recording equipment, satellite-linked with a 1.4 meter receiving dish on the roof.
"Explore...Explore," recited the audible 'voice' of Andromeda as the probe hovered above its target. The mini-satellite engulfed the van in a holographic container and began sending back a plethora of three dimensional visual, structural, and performance data of every system of the vehicle. Andromeda activated a repair scanner beam once all of the data had been collected. "Repair...Repair," the computer verbalized again what it had begun to do.
Quatre could feel the energon flowing into every one of his systems at once. It was a euphoric feeling...almost a separation of intellect from form. He was only peripherally aware of the major structural changes taking place inside his body.
When the repair beam terminated, Quatre came back to reality. It took him an entire astrosecond to realize he was no longer in his animal form. He sent out mental signals throughout his body just to get used to the new shape he found himself in. He then decided to active his new digivolve circuits and made the transition into his animal form.
"Welcome back to the team, Quatre." The still dazed Death Dealer whirled around to see his former pupil, Shippo.
"Thanks, Shippo. It's great to be back..." Quatre turned in Yami's direction, "...after so long a time."
"I would like to talk with you if you're feeling up to it," Yami said.
"Of course, my lord, I've never felt better!"
Quatre and Yami walked though the command area of their new headquarters, which was formerly the bridge of Wing Zero with some consoles and all of the chairs removed. Quatre looked in horror at some Death Dealers still lying in ruins. Shinji was next up on the repair table. Siphon and Senbei were in rough shape but were now at least cognizant. Aydrian had suffered the worst of all- he had been cut at the midsection by one of the emergency isolation doors. He would undoubtedly require the most extensive reconstruction.
In Andromeda's attempt to disguise the Death Dealers, and, mistakenly, the Lychans, (Andromeda was, of course, still missing some pertinent files), into Earth beast forms, it had taken an automated non-sentient equipment mover animal, called Hauler, and changed it into an Earth crane. Gennai decided that they would take that drone apart in order that Aydrian's surviving intelligence could be placed into it. His own body was too damaged to be worth repairing.
Some of the recently unearthed Death Dealers had already been repaired prior to Quatre. Setio, Kerogi, Koaru, Yuki and Iki had already been converted to earth forms. Yami had ordered that the newly found batch of Death Dealers, found in the engine room and forward compartments of the Digicruiser, be retrofitted to Earth-style disguise though not for the same reason Andromeda altered Yami and the bridge crew Death Dealers one Earth year ago. Yami knew the Lychans could recognize even these newly found Death Dealers if they didn't blend in with Earth vehicles. It wasn't a disguise against the native intelligence of the planet like Yami's group.
There were only three exceptions to the Earth-mode conversion. Wormmon required his Spiritronian mode in order to achieve orbit. Earth technology did not have a compatible vehicle for this purpose. Yami was also forced to forgo alteration to the mechanisms of the Jumpstaters, Nomed and Ruethin. Their mysterious quick-change digivolution technology had baffled many medical Death Dealers for centuries. Gennai basically decreed that they would have to retain their Spirit World modes or sacrifice most of their armoric mobility.
Yami and Quatre walked through the remainder of the ship. Yami was bringing each repaired Death Dealers up to speed with the events of the past few hundred days to facilitate their inclusion into this alien world and their renewed fight with the Lychans. Quatre learned from Yami how the Dinosaur cave had been discovered. That had led to further excavations to try to uncover other Death Dealers and equipment in the buried sections of the Wing Zero. They had spent too much of that year fending off Lychan attacks to really get any productive work done. Further excavating revealed a parts storage facility behind the lower repair center. Everything from transformation circuitry to full Death Dealer body shells were found there along with repair parts of every description.
Yami recounted that just a couple of weeks prior to Quatre's revival, one of the Death Dealer's human friends, Joey Machiso, had taken an assemblage of spare parts and created what he hope to be a new Youkai. The human was a mechanical wizard but had no conception of the intricacies of digitronic intelligence. The project ended in failure but the discovery of the storage facility had yielded the lower computer vault where Quatre had been discovered, deactivated.
"Although we have the reluctant help of the Medabots, whom you'll meet later, we had been severely understaffed with warriors. We really need some of the special functions of those Death Dealers we have uncovered recently. The Lychans have been looking for escape pods which may have been jettisoned four million years ago, as well as their way to the Wing Zero's starship," Yami explained as both he and Quatre made their way to their Wing Zero's entrance.
"There were escape pods, sire. I saw four of them launch before the Lychan ship struck the upper atmosphere of the planet. My last sight was a monitor image of our ship striking the mountain. The room I was in crumpled rapidly and I lost consciousness," Quatre solemnly spoke.
"The Lychans must have found one of their escape pods a few month ago then. There are three new additions the Lychan's forces: Kimaso, Touga, and Saionji. They only appeared a short time ago and have ended up being a nuisance. On the good news side of things, we discovered that a few escape pods of ours were missing just the other day. I'm going to send Komai, Ruethin, Nomed, and Yuki on a long-term planetary reconnaissance to track down where are pods may have landed, and see to the viability of the Death Dealers within."
Yami could see that he was beginning to lose the attention of Quatre. They had made it down the ramp to the outer entrance of the Wing Zero and Quatre was peering around Yami at the foreign landscape that lay beyond. Every Death Dealer was forced to deal with their existence on Earth in their way. Some immediately preferred the new vibrant planet to their energy-depleted Spirit World. Others were homesick for the planet they had called home for millions of years. Yami had to grant each Death Dealers their own opinion surroundings. They did not exactly have the choice of either staying of leaving. As long as the Lychans remained interested in the resources of the planet, the Death Dealers would have to remain.
Yami resigned himself to being able to say anymore to Quatre . "I'm calling a general meeting in about ten Earth-hours. You have until then to explore the area and get used to your new home. Enjoy!" Yami turned back to the ship and headed back toward the repair bay.
"Thank you, my lord, for everything." Quatre gave a quick visual scan of the area through all his normal scan settings and leaned backward as he began the digivolution to his vehicle form. He then gunned his engine and took off in a cloud of dust and gravel driving along the Death Dealers' beaten path away from the ship to explore for himself his new home.
THE END
Note: I'll be coming up with another fan fic soon. I'm going to call it "The Son Of the Pharaoh". It'll be about Yami thinking about his home and his girlfriend who died a long time ago, along with his child. Later, as Yami is sleeping, he hears a little voice from outside his room, saying "Daddy?" His son's name is Tenchi. I'll set it up soon!