Vandread: Unsung Hero Second Wave
AN: Finally managed to get this one rolling. Since I'm done with internship I can now fully focus on updating my other stories.
Once more Patroit-112 is helping with beta reading this. Thanks to him.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread or Gradius.
Chapter I: Nightmare Premonition
Akira Mishima's suicide was a big shock to the Nirvana crew as no one saw that coming, none more than Seth Reager himself who discovered her dead body. At first, some of the crew were quick to paint Seth as her killer considering that everyone knew of their hatred of each other. However, those accusations vanished quickly when Seth showed everyone the data pad that contained Akira's last message before she ended her life.
"I never thought it would come to this. Never did." Akira began the recording, "I'd always wanted to get revenge on the Gradian for taking my sisters from me… even though he had every reason to go after them. I'd always looked up to my older sisters who earned everything through hard work after we'd lost our ohma and fahma in an accident years ago. Them joining the Red Vixen Squadron was a great achievement for them and becoming the leader and second in command was an even greater one."
Tears began forming in her eyes before she lowered her head. "I thought they could never do wrong and even more I thought life was great…until the day when Gradius attacked us and my sisters were killed by one particular pilot… 'The Mejerian Butcher'…The one man who decimated the Red Vixen Squadron." She wiped the tears before looking up again. "I became a Dread pilot just so to get revenge, however the superiors kept me from going after him which ticked me off. Then when I heard of Captain Magno starting up her pirate crew I joined thinking I'd get a better chance at achieving my objective. Funny enough I found my target."
"When I saw the Alpinia in our first battle against the Harvesters, I was shocked. It had the same description of the fighter piloted by the one that killed my sisters. All I had to be sure of was whether the pilot was the same. Thanks to Barnette confronting him, I found out that he WAS the same. Then it got worse when I was assigned to work under him on the G-Team. I felt like I was thrown into hell. So I did all I could to make it hellish for him, but didn't help my case as it put me in trouble with the captain and Meia, heck even my team mates had turned against me. But the ultimate slap in the face was when he showed the crew the video of his parents' execution, the diplomats from Gradius and my sisters were the ones who killed them. I tried to deny it. I did, because there was no way in hell my sisters could be that…vile."
Akira then smiled sadly. "Then I found out that Seth himself had been through even more hell from my talk with Cecilia, even though I already found out about his own issues, like his hatred for his former family when his former sister, Cecilia herself and that other Gradian showed up to retrieve him and the Alpinia. Still my talk with Cecilia…opened my eyes to how much of a hypocrite I was. Then Seth's speech about how he saw us all as a family…was the final straw that broke the camel's back. After that, I couldn't bear to face the man or even the crew ever again due to my past actions."
Akira then looked to her side, tears streaming down her face. "…I'm…sorry…everyone…especially you Seth…maybe if we met under different circumstances…things would have turned out completely different…Goodbye." She brought her laser pistol to her head and pulled the trigger…
Needless to say the crew were shocked completely by the video, but Seth however was furious. Why? According to him, Akira took the coward's way out. He had accepted her as family even if the both of them didn't get along. He was ready to bury the hatchet that night he found her dead in her room, but she basically bitched out. Cecilia tried apologizing to Seth thinking that her talk with his subordinate may have pushed her over the edge but Seth wouldn't hear any of it because Latisian was not at fault. A funeral service for Akira was held. Unfortunately, all it did was piss off the Gradian even more as it was another death that he'd keep with him for the rest of his life just like many others in his life before he left the ceremony in anger. He then secluded himself from everyone for three weeks. It was only thanks to Cecilia, Barnette, Gascogne and his team mates that he came out of his seclusion, but still he was none too happy.
All he now did was work on the Alpinia, competitive target practice with Barnette, talked with Gascogne whom he had seen as another big sister like Miranda and trained with G-Team and Cecilia who had been assigned as Akira's replacement on the team.
…
Seth shot up from his bed, cold sweat flooding over his body as he stared at the ceiling. Why? Well he just had a nightmare where he saw the deaths of the Nirvana crew, Cecilia and himself due to an unknown enemy during a battle with the Harvesters. It sure was not the Bacterians, but it was still that disconcerting. The Gradian sat up on the edge of the bed before groaning in annoyance.
"A nightmare?" He asked himself before getting up from bed and moving to the bathroom, washing his face by the sink and staring at the mirror. "As far as nightmares go I've had worse than this. Still this one's a bit disconcerting."
Seth soon walked out of the bathroom and put on black vest, track pants, jacket, sneakers, trench coat and then his neutral face before leaving the room. Out in the corridor he walked into Barnette who was in her sleeping garments and surprised to meet him.
"S-Seth? What are you doing up this early?" The young woman asked.
"I should be asking you the same question Barnette." Seth replied.
"Had a bad dream." Barnette hugged herself as she shivered. She stopped when she felt a coat come around her. "T-Thanks."
"You're welcome." The Gradian said.
…
Hibiki stared at his Vanguard in the hangar as he thought about the nightmare.
"That light. What the heck was it?" He muttered.
"Mr. Alien." Hibiki turned around to see Dita, Meia, Jura and Barnette with troubled looks on their faces and Seth with a deadpanned expression.
"Okay…what's going on here? Did someone forget to inform me about a meeting?" Seth wisecracked.
"What is it? What are you all doing up so early?" Hibiki asked them.
Seth noticed the tinge of fear in the teen's voice. "I take it that it has to do with the nightmare we all had."
"You too Seth? You had the same dream?" Barnette asked in surprise.
"Ridiculously enough…yes I did." Seth answered. "Though I find it odd that we all had it too."
Meia lowered her head, "I-It felt like it was trying to communicate with us, sending us a message or at least that's how it felt to me."
Seth raised an eyebrow, "You mean the Paksis showed us that nightmare? Like a premonition?! Bloody hell…"
"Hold on…Are you saying you saw the same thing I did?" Hibiki asked her.
"So you saw it to then Mr. Alien?" Dita asked him.
"This is really weird…" Jura moaned, "How could all of us have the same dream?"
"All of us here have something in common. The modifications to the Dreads, Vanguard and Alpinia are proof of that." Meia explained.
"That's still weird. Having the same dream like that is...oh!" Jura stated before stopping as she felt her head throb painfully.
"Are you alright Jura?" Barnette asked.
"It's nothing. I'm fine Barnette. Thanks." Jura said. "Anyways I'm going back to bed." The blonde left the hangar and soon so did the others, except Seth and Barnette, with the former just staring at the Alpinia.
"Premonitions? Really?!" Seth muttered, "I call bullshit."
"You don't believe in premonitions?" Barnette inquired.
"I don't. I see them as complete garbage, just as much as fortune telling." Seth replied.
"That's…quite blunt of you." Barnette sweat dropped.
"No point sugar coating it." Seth said before he felt an arm around his own. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Barnette hugging his arm.
"Are you alright Seth?"
"I'm fine. If it's about the nightmare as far as it goes I've had worse."
"No. I'm mean Akira's suicide. I still think that it's on your mind. Still blaming yourself for it."
The Gradian sighed in annoyance as he gently freed his arm from Barnette's grip. "I. Am. Fine. Don't keep bringing it up."
"If you say so…I just wanted to be sure." Barnette said.
"Thanks for caring." Seth replied with a small smile on his face. "C'mon. We have things to do today." He turned around and walked out of the hangar. He didn't however, notice the blush on the young woman's face.
"S-Sure." Barnette said as she too left the hangar.
…
Hibiki was wondering through the hallway, still trying to make sense of the very same nightmare. He was brought out of his thoughts when Dita called out to him as she came running over to him.
"What do you want?" Hibiki asked.
"Well I was just wondering when you were going to come to my room?" Dita asked shyly as she twirled her fingers inside the sleeves of her pajamas.
"Is that it?" Hibiki asked in annoyance, "Look Dita, does it look like I have time for something like that right now?"
"Then when?" the redhead asked him, "Tomorrow? The day after?"
"Sometime soon ok, just not now." Hibiki told her before leaving.
From the end of the hall, Meia was watching them. Not too long ago she would've told Dita to stopped chasing Hibiki across the ship, but thanks to both Hibiki and Seth she changed. Not only did she start opening up to the rest of the crew, but she became a gentler person while not in combat. Back then she believed men to be their enemies and even considered them dangerous to be around, but now she sees them differently.
"And so a new day begins." Meia looked behind her to see Paiway and Cecilia, with the young nurse writing in her notebook and then pulled out her frog puppet, "I still can't believe Dita would chase a man. That's weird, ribbit."
"Actually that's normal human behavior!" Pyoro said as he suddenly appeared. Then he hiccups.
Paiway pushed the navi-bot in annoyance, "What do you think you're doing interrupting a lady like that, how rude!" It was then she realized something odd. "Hold on, I just heard you hiccup. But you're a machine, you can't hiccup." He proves her wrong by hiccupping, sending the nurse off her feet, much to the confusion of Meia.
…
In the meeting room were Magno, BC, Gascogne and Cecilia. The four were talking about the status of their journey while a hologram was displayed over the table.
"We are approximately 90 days away from Mejere. However, we've yet to receive any word from our home world or Tarak about the threat we're facing from Earth." BC said.
"What about those two pods we sent out before? They should have arrived by now." Magno said.
"They obviously don't give a damn if they're giving us the cold shoulder." Gascogne said crossing her arms, "Because if they did they would have responded."
"Like that should be surprising." Cecilia deadpanned.
"What are you getting at Cecilia?" Magno asked.
"Well you're a group of pirates that both worlds don't trust. They'd think that you're either trying to make them drop their guard before attacking them." Cecilia explained.
Magno smirked, "Well we ARE pirates after all."
Cecilia continued, "There's also the possibility they believe it but without more solid evidence they don't want to cause widespread panic among their people. Bloody politics for you."
"Well the fact that the Earth is coming to harvest our organs should be solid enough evidence for them." Gascogne said.
Cecilia sighed. "If only it was that simple."
A screen appeared at the captain's side showing Parfet, "Parfet reporting!"
"Is something wrong?" Magno asked.
"I'm afraid so. The Paksis is acting up again." The engineer answered, "Worse I can't find the cause of it."
"That's not good news." Cecilia said.
"Another thing is that the Paksis is acting like it's…confused." Parfet added.
"Confused?!"
"I guess that it's got something to do with the residual effects of the ships coming together." Gascogne said, leaning back in her chair, keeping her arms crossed, "Guess it feels the same way we do. Men and women are so different and so alike that we'll never be able to understand each other."
"That sounds so incredulous." Cecilia deadpanned.
The door to the bridge slid open and in came Seth and once again he had his neutral face on. "You called captain?"
"Ah yes. So glad you could come. BC, Gascogne, Cecilia...mind you could excuse us?" Magno said to the others.
Both the second-in-command and the Reg leader slowly left the conference room first, followed reluctantly by the Latisian pilot after Seth assured her that there's nothing wrong, leaving only Magno and Seth.
Magno began, "It's been quite some time since you and the other young men joined us when this all first started.
"You don't say." Seth deadpanned.
"I know I've said it more than once, but you've really become an indispensable member of the crew, even when we consider our home planets' differences."
"It's no big deal. I'm nothing more than a pilot doing his job…which is protecting his family." Seth sternly replied.
"Yes. I'm aware of that. I'm glad to know that you see us all as family." Magno said.
"A big one at that." Seth added. "It took a while but I eventually got to see you all as the family I wished I had from the start…except much bigger."
"Yes, I see." Magno said, "And I also consider you part of the family too Seth, just as much as I see everyone else." Then her tone changed, "Anyways, I'm sorry about Akira."
"Thanks…Though the fault lies with me…I was her superior. I should have been more aware of her state of mind." Seth stated.
Magno stood up from her seat and stared the Gradian in the eyes.
"Don't blame yourself Seth. No one saw that coming. Beating yourself over it won't help matters."
Seth maintained his neutral demeanor even under that gaze impressing the captain.
"True…but like I said…it's another death that I'm keeping with me. Another reminder of a life that I failed to save when I could have." The Gradian said making the captain sigh, "However, that's also a motivator to make sure no one else in this family dies again. I'll use every means necessary to thoroughly destroy anything that tries. No matter who they are. Harvesters, Bacterians, whatever…it doesn't matter. They're dead meat as far as I'm concerned."
Magno watched as the Gradian leave the room, noticing a difference in him. Normally, Seth had a casual demeanor which disguised the stance of a monster ready to snap at a moment's notice and obliterate anyone unfortunate to be in its path, due to the emotional scars he had. This time it was different; this was a soldier on a mission, ready to protect what was important to him at a moment's notice and by any means necessary. The emotional scars were still there; however, they were no longer detrimental to him.
After the doors closed behind him, Magno sat back in her chair and thought to herself as it turned around and slid back to return to the bridge, "It is going to take all of our combined efforts to survive, but I have a feeling that it will take Seth and Hibiki to end this war we've gotten ourselves into."
…
Stepping off the elevator, Seth made his way to the gym meeting Hibiki along the way.
"Yo." Seth greeted the younger pilot.
Hibiki stopped and looked back, "Hey Seth, can I talk to you?"
"Sure little bro. We can do that while we go through your self defence training like I said I would." Seth replied.
"Huh?! Little bro?! Self defence training?" Hibiki asked in surprise.
"I remember telling you that I'll start training you after that chaotic battle. I only didn't get to it because of that incident with Akira." Seth continued.
"Oh that. Also why are you calling me little bro?" Hibiki asked again.
"Because you're family to me even if we're not related." Seth answered, "Anyways follow me to the gym."
"Oh…Sure." Hibiki followed the Gradian, unaware of the torture he was going to go through.
…
In the men's quarters of the ship Duero was reading a book he found while listening to Bart as he chewed handfuls of pills made on Tarak.
"Women sure are weird. At first I believed that they ate a man's internal organs, but now here we all are getting along…well sort of." Bart said before noticing the book the doctor was reading, "Hey, what are you reading doc?"
Duero showed him the cover of the book in his hand it was titled 'Hello Baby'. He then read the next few lines out aloud for the navigator to hear. "The baby's life begins when the seed, that is the father's sperm is accepted by the female egg called an ovum. The two of them join to form a zygote which in turn develops into a fetus."
"A what turns into what? Are you really into that stuff?" Bart asked with confusion on his face.
"I find it fascinating." Duero replied with a smirk.
The two men heard a moan and they looked at the doorway to see a banged up Hibiki shamble in and collapse on the cot.
"Whoa! You don't look so good." Bart said, making Duero look at the cadet with a deadpanned expression.
Hibiki looked up and glared at Bart. "Try going through self defence training with a sadistic Gradian and see if you come out normal."
Bart raised an eyebrow, "Sadistic Gradian?"
"You went through training with Seth and he turned out to be quite the drill instructor." Duero summarized.
"Exactly…That guy made me carry weights and run ten laps around the gym, then he taught me the basic techniques for attacking and defending and then asked me to attack him. He wiped the floor with me and worse he was holding back." Hibiki continued.
"Be glad that Seth's even training you when he has no obligation to. With how he defeated Rabat that time I'd say that Seth has a lot of close quarters combat experience in addition to being a Gradius pilot." Duero stated.
"Really?! I know that Gradians are amazing pilots but I never knew that they are also great in hand to hand combat." Bart exclaimed.
"That's mostly because they are more known for their piloting. Many victims from Mejere can easily attest to their prowess in other forms of combat." Duero clarified before turning back to Hibiki, "Consider yourself lucky that Seth's training you at all, especially considering the bad blood between our planets."
"Yeah. You're right…I should consider myself lucky." Hibiki sighed, "Still he could be less sadistic. I already have the women driving me to my limits."
"Like that's new." Duero said in a somewhat cold tone.
"It's not just that. Dita keeps bugging me about this promise I made her during that big battle we had." Hibiki said.
"A promise?" Bart asked him.
"You promised to go to Dita's room?" Duero asked.
Hibiki nodded with a slight blush, "Yeah it just kind of came out in the moment you know?"
"So what's the big deal then?" Bart asked him, "Just go to her room."
"You go!" Hibiki yelled.
"No way, you were the one who made the promise, pal." Bart countered.
Hibiki groaned, "You got to be kidding me. Go to a woman's room? A real man would never do that."
"No, you freaking idiot. A real man would keep his promise."
Looking over to the doorway Duero asked, "Have you been standing there the whole time Seth?"
"Not really. I was passing by before I heard Hibiki's ranting about his promise to Dita." Seth replied before turning to Hibiki, "Listen bro, I know that you and everyone else on Tarak were raised differently than me and those on Tarak, Latis and other planets and colonies, but men and women being together is normal. And like I said, a real man would keep his promises, so man the fuck up, quit being such a wimp and just go see Dita already."
"He has a point." Duero added in agreement.
Hibiki sighed, "It's not that I want to break the promise it's just…"
"Just get to the point already." Seth deadpanned, making Hibiki snap.
"Look! If I go in there, what are we going to do in there? I mean what are we going to talk about?"
"Good point." Both Bart and Duero concurred in unison.
"You're asking the wrong person for answers. Figure them out yourself." Seth said.
"Well you talk with Cecilia a lot so I thought that you'd have an idea." Hibiki asked.
"That's mostly us old friends catching up with each other." Seth replied before leaving the room. Duero however noticed from the tone of voice that the Gradian may have had experience with the situation Hibiki was in, only that it must have ended on a sour note.
The Gradian made his way to the firing range. He was starting to get moody since the issue with Hibiki and Dita was once again reminding him of his past relationship with the skank Kara again. Some target practice should help relieve the stress. Arriving there he saw that he was not alone as Barnette and Jura were also there.
"Yo Barnette, Jura." Seth greeted them.
"Oh hello Seth!" Jura greeted back while Barnette found herself blushing.
"A-Ah. Hello Seth. W-What are you doing here?"
Whether the Gradian noticed the blush or not he didn't seem to show it as he walked towards the range platform. "I need to clear my mind. Think shooting down targets would help."
Barnette recovered from her blushing and tried to act aggressive. "Well how about a friendly contest. We still haven't been able to decide the winner between us."
Seth smirked as he drew out his Glock 17 pistol. "Not a bad idea Barnette." He then turned to Jura, "Feeling better Jura?"
"Yeah I'm fine." Jura replied. "What about you?"
"Yeah…I'm good. Never felt any better." Seth said as he stepped onto the circular platform that raised him to the center of the firing line.
Barnette looked over at Seth's weapon, "I still find it hard to believe that you use a weapon like the Glock 17."
"What can I say? The weapon just clicked with me when I first found it. It's finding ammo for it that has been an issue." Seth replied before activating the target discs in the back of the gallery. "The same goes for you since you're using a Beretta instead of laser weapons like the others." He immediately took aim and shot down a target before switching to the next one.
"Touché." Barnette said as she shot down a target of her own.
Both Seth and Barnette continued shooting down target after target and quickly reloading when they ran out while keeping mental notes about how many they shot down. Their contest went on until only one target was left for both of them.
From the back of the shooting range Jura suddenly said, "You know Barnette. I want to have a baby."
Surprised both Barnette and Seth missed their last targets and immediately turned to Jura in shock.
"What the!?/What?!" The Gradian and the green haired pilot yelled.
"I want to have a baby with one of them men." She saw the disbelief on their faces and continued, "What? Just think about it Barnette. I'd be the first woman in Mejere history to have a baby with a man. I'd be hailed as a hero."
"Uh huh…keep telling yourself that." Seth muttered before whispering to Barnette, "She's of in her own little world."
"Agreed." Barnette whispered back.
It was then the Nirvana's alarm went off announcing the presence of an enemy fleet.
"Just great. Let's settle this later." Seth said as he dashed out of the shooting range, followed by Barnette and Jura.
…
The Alpinia, Lord British, Vanguard and Dread teams wasted no time launching out in space for another battle with the Harvesters.
"Life form signal detected Commander." Ezra reported, "It appears to be some kind of escape pod."
BC looked at the image of the pod fleeing from the Harvesters. "Is it possible that someone escaped the harvest?"
"Looks like it." Seth reported, already out in space with the Alpinia.
"And those monsters are very eager to get them back." Cecilia added from inside Lord British.
"Too bad we're about to spoil that for them." Hibiki also added already out in the Vanguard.
"Indeed. All pilots retrieve that pod at once! Don't engage the enemy unless you have to." Magno ordered.
"Roger that! Hibiki. After we clear the way, go get that pod and return it to the Nirvana. G-Team, cover Hibiki as he goes for the pod." Seth ordered as he flew at full speed towards the enemy.
"Got it!" Hibiki acknowledged, waiting for Seth to create the opening.
"You heard the team lead. When he creates an opening we cover the Vanguard's path." Cecilia said to her fellow team mates as she activated Lord British's Options.
Seth fired the Swarm Psycom missiles, easily taking down the incoming opposition and giving Hibiki a clear path to the pod. The Vanguard grabbed the pod and quickly made a beeline to the Nirvana.
Unfortunately, a new wave of enemies arrived and went after the Vanguard. The Lord British and G-Team came over to assist with suppression fire on the them. Cecilia watched as the enemies evaded their attacks at the last second making her growl. 'What do you know? These ones are a step above the last ones we've faced.' "Be advised these guys are a lot better than the ones we've faced so far." Cecilia warned.
"Got it. B-Team surround and protect the Nirvana, A-Team split up and engage the enemy." Meia acknowledged the warning and immediately ordered the Dread teams.
"Gascogne is taking off from the Nirvana!" Amarone reported as the delivery ship piloted by the Reg Central leader was out and moving towards the Vanguard and the pod.
"I'm coming in Hibiki, be ready to hand the pod off!" Gascogne ordered as she got within a few miles of the mech.
"Got it! Just make sure you get back safely." Hibiki said as he handed off the pod when the ship got close enough.
"Same for you. Do your job right I won't have to worry about that." Gascogne replied. With the drop off done, Hibiki returned to the battle.
The Alpinia and Lord British were unleashing their arsenal on the enemy opposition which was however turning out to be a pain in the ass with the way the enemy units were somehow dodging the attacks.
Seth growled in frustration, "Bastards have definitely stepped their game up!"
"No kidding! Looks like their masters decided to upgrade them." Cecilia agreed.
A small group of cube-types sped past dreads and struck the delivery ship shaking loose the escape pod it was towing and one of them swooped under and grabbed the pod before making a run for it.
"The enemy is retreating with the pod!" Belvedere cried out.
"Well that confirmed our theory about them wanting that pod." Cecilia stated.
"If what's inside that pod is important enough that the enemy is willing to turn its back on us then we simply cannot allow them to have it." Magno stated, "Everyone get that pod back at all costs."
Seth smirked, "Just the words I wanted to hear." Wasting no time Seth chased down the fleeing enemy with the Options out.
"Jura, Hibiki! Get ready to secure the pod!" Meia ordered the two knowing what the Gradian was up to.
"You're not going anywhere!" Seth yelled as he unleashed Options Lockdown on the fleeing enemy trapping them and taking them out and once more leaving the pod loose. More enemies showed up but the Dread teams took them out before they could get a chance.
"There's our cue!" Hibiki said as he and Jura fused together to form Vandread Jura. The mech wasted no time getting to the pod and secured it with its shields.
"And that's how it's done!" Jura said arrogantly flicking her hair, "Am I good or what?"
Hibiki sighed at the woman's behavior. "Yeah…well better late than never." Then the same woman scooted close to him.
"Listen Hibiki…" Jura began in a seductive tone "…I want to have a baby. Will you give me what I need?"
Hibiki's face immediately went red in embarrassment and began sweating, "Are you serious?! In case you haven't noticed we're still in the middle of a battle!"
"Save the yapping for when we're back in the ship!" Cecilia yelled in annoyance at the two pilots' antics with Annette, Monica and Lisa giggling in amusement. Meia sighed as she ordered the Vandread pilots to return to the Nirvana.
The enemy seemed to fall back and observe which Seth found very suspicious. "Something's not right."
"What do you mean? The enemy's backing off." Barnette said, wondering why the Gradian was worried. Then she suddenly spotted a new signature on the radar. "What? Something's coming."
A new enemy came onto the battlefield which had the appearance of a stingray. Its wings flapping as it swam through the void of space.
"Look alive everyone. There's an unidentified enemy in the field stay alert and be ready." Seth warned as he kept on observing the enemy. It was then he noticed that it was slowly moving towards Vandread Jura. "Shit! Hibiki! Jura! Get your asses back to the Nirvana now!"
The warning came a little too late as the stingray like foe fired its laser attack at the Vandread, scoring a direct hit and forcing the ship to separate leaving the pod loose once again for another group of cube types to grab again.
"The enemy has the pod again!" Belvedere informed.
"That's it! I've had it!" Seth growled, turning to a certain dread. "Barnette! Let's do this!"
"R-Right!" Barnette replied in surprise at the Gradian's outburst. The Alpinia and the dread fused together to form the Valkyrie and it wasted no time bringing out its sniper rifle and chased after the fleeing targets. Inside the cockpit of the mech Barnette felt herself burning up as she found herself on the lap of the Gradian with their hands intertwined on the controls. Luckily for her Seth was too focused on the battle to notice her blushing.
"You fuckers are NOT going anywhere!" Seth yelled. The Valkyrie quickly locked on to its prey before swiftly taking them out with ruthless precision and getting the pod loose again. However, before the mech could secure it the stingray-like enemy fires its weapon once again. Valkyrie brought up its shield to defend against the attack but the laser attack destroyed the shield and also badly damaged the arm too, making both Seth and Barnette hiss in pain.
"Seth! Barnette!" Meia gasped.
"Seth/Leader!" The G-Team members yelled.
Barnette grunted painfully while shaking off the dizziness, "What the hell was that?!"
"Whatever it was…it hurt like hell." Seth painfully stated. Barnette noticed that there was blood trickling down his face.
"Seth! Stay with me!" Barnette yelled in panic.
"Pipe down. My ears are still ringing and I'm barely coherent right now. Otherwise I'm fine." Seth said calmly.
Barnette sighed in relief before noticing the control sphere for the damaged arm flashing. Outside the same arm started to deteriorate, turning a dark rust color from its normal dark violet shade.
'This can't be happening.' Barnette thought as she saw the nightmare coming true. It got worse when the mech powered down leaving it a sitting duck for the enemy. "What's going on?!"
Seth chuckled bitterly, "Just like the nightmare huh? Bullshit…"
The massive stingray got closer to them while priming its weapon to finish the pilots off. However, a powerful laser blast stunned it in its tracks as Vandread Dita came in to save them.
"Looks like it's your turn to be saved for once, hey bro?" Hibiki said, "Besides I'd doubt that you'd want it to end like that. Dreams may seem real when you're asleep, but we're not sleeping now and we can't let it end like this. We won't let these tin cans win."
"Tsk! Cheeky brat. Though you got a point." Seth grunted clenching the controls before glaring at the enemy. "As for you rust bucket, I believe that we're done here." The Valkyrie suddenly gained a surge of energy which helped powered it back up.
"SAYONARA!" The Gradian roared as he had the Valkyrie shove its gun blade into the Stingray and then blasted it point blank in the face. At the same time the Vandread fired its shoulder cannons.
Due to the impact from both attacks the stingray enemy was easily destroyed. With that done, Vandread Dita retrieved the pod once again and it and Valkyrie began retreating leaving the rest of the pilots to clean up the stragglers.
On the way back to the Nirvana, Meia was smiling to herself, "They're so reckless, but they get the job done."
"Is that supposed to be surprising?" Cecilia deadpanned, "That boy Hibiki has a strong will, and a lot of potential in him. All he has to do is learn how to use it. Good thing he has someone like Seth taking care of that."
"Yeah, you're right. I still worry for him though; his condition puts him at risk."
"You and me both. But knowing Seth he will always push onward."
…
With everyone back on the Nirvana, the pilots went to the sub hangar where Parfet overrode the lock to the escape pod, stepping away as a cold mist escaped from it as it opened. "Okay done."
"A cryo pod? That's a surprise." Seth and Cecilia thought.
When the mist cleared those present looked in awe at what was inside.
It was a girl most likely in her early teens with deep, dark blue hair tied into a ponytail. She wore a yellow outfit and had yellow, triangle shaped earrings.
"Is she an alien?" Dita asked in excitement.
"Sorry Dita she's as human as we are." Parfet answered bursting the redhead's bubble.
"She's too into that alien stuff." Cecilia sighed.
"You're just noticing that?" Seth deadpanned.
Hibiki was in the back hopping up and down to try and get a look, but quickly gave up and started shoving his way through the rest of crew. Eventually losing his footing he fell forward and his face landed in the pod. Hibiki immediately pulled out of the pod just as the girl inside opened her eyes.
They were crimson red and then all of a sudden one of her earrings glows and a hologram of a yellow shapeless creature was projected just over her shoulder.
"Did you see that?!" Pyoro shrieked from the back.
"What is that?" Hibiki wondered just as the girl began staring at him.
"It's you. You saved me!" She said before jumping up into a sitting position and hugging Hibiki in a vice like grip. "Thank you, my lord prince!"
Barnette spoke in an awkward, annoyed tone. "Lord…"
"Prince?" Jura finished with a similar tone.
Seth and Cecilia just looked on with raised eyebrows.
Seeing this strange girl hugging Hibiki made both Dita and Jura jealous as they quickly looked at her with disdain.
"I'm going to bed." Seth said and gently pushed his way through the crowd.
Chapter 1 End.
Now you know why Akira offed herself in the first place.
Seth doesn't believe in premonitions. Funny I'm the same.
Leave a review if you'd like. Flames however will be ignored and trashed.