And we're back! This rewrite took me a bit longer to start on than I thought it would, because I got a bit lazy and had a bit of writer's block. BUT, I have gotten past both and now this story and its new plotline are well underway! For anyone who was reading the original, I apologize for not finishing it, but I had several problems with it. First, I hadn't actually planned for the plotline to go further than Gingka's rescue, therefore I did not have a destination for the plotline. Second, while I enjoyed writing the Hikous and the giant enemy monster thing into the story, I did not have an enormous point into having them there, especially the Hikous, and I found that I had given myself too much to work with and not enough plot. However, I have re-imagined this plotline and it is now much stronger AND it now is stronger and better. (And, as a bonus, I found a way to at least partially include the Hikous with a point to them being here, as you will soon discover. ;) ) So, without further ado, enjoy the new and much improved Eye of the Storm 2!
In the center of battle, at the darkest of night,
Sometimes only a glimmer, sometimes a flash of light,
A nebulous shadow, it strikes at the core,
You may prepare your weapons, but futile is war.
A flash of the Eye, and all may be lost;
You can fire your weapons, but what is the cost?
For all that is needed is the sight of the form;
For you to beware the Eye of the Storm.
"Now docking at dock A: WBBA starship one, designation, Eye of the Storm."
"The Eye is back too?" Ren, who had just disembarked from the Infinity with her friends, looked up in surprise.
"Apparently. It's been awhile since we've seen it." Shinobu said, also looking surprised as he stepped to the window just in time to see the shadow of the looming black ship as it docked atop the orbiting space station.
"I wonder what they've been up to? Guess we'll probably get to see them at some point." Zero said, smiling at the sight of the ship they had once been terrified of.
"I believe their latest mission was just general reconnaissance around our space borders." Tsubasa said as he joined the group. "Making sure all of the sensors out there are working properly so that we know when someone enters our territory."
"It is a good ship for that, since it can take out basically any other ship that it might need to." Kite stated, adjusting his glasses slightly.
"Airlock twenty-three online for early disembarking of Eye of the Storm commanding officers."
Zero laughed at this. "They couldn't wait for it to finish docking so they just flew right out, huh?"
"Apparently" Tsubasa chuckled. "Should we go greet them? That airlock isn't too far away."
"I'm up for it." Shinobu said.
"It's in the direction of our shuttle down anyway." Maru spoke up, looking at a map. "I bet they'll probably take the same shuttle if they have nothing else to do here first."
"Most likely." Tsubasa agreed as he led the way in that direction.
"Attention. WBBA starship one, Eye of the Storm, now docked at dock one."
"Ahh, home sweet home." Gingka sighed in relief as he stepped out of the airlock with his metal-masked comrades and looked around, gathering his bearings.
"I'd better make sure that they're unloading the digital information properly." Yuki said before walking off.
"Have a nice vacation, Gingka. We'll see you back here in a few days!" Kenta said as he and the others split off in their various directions, heading towards their homes around the planet.
Gingka chuckled softly and let out a relaxed sigh, standing still just outside the airlock for a few minutes before turning on one heel and striding off towards the shuttle he knew was waiting to take him back to the surface and his father.
"Oi, Commander Stormflight!"
A familiar voice caught Gingka's attention and he turned, smiling as he saw who had spoken. "Well, if it isn't Captain Ootori and his commanding crew. I thought that was the Infinity I saw docked as we were coming in."
Tsubasa chuckled. "Maintaining formality in the docks, I see."
"The Eye still does carry a certain level of secrecy about it."
"Meaning you just don't want to bother taking the mask off yet." Zero spoke up.
Gingka paused and, although the others could not see it behind the gleaming steel mask, grinned sheepishly. "Perhaps." He admitted.
"I'm half surprised you didn't just fly down to the surface in that thing instead of here." Ren said.
"Technically that wouldn't be safe. My science officer did not create these for any sort of traveling, especially not reentry to an atmosphere or leaving it, for that matter. The suits were created for short distances and combat around a certain point, such as the planet's surface or the Eye itself, as you have seen."
"That makes sense I guess." Ren scratched her cheek.
"We should probably get to our shuttle before it takes off without us." Maru spoke up.
"Good idea. Which shuttle are you scheduled for, Commander?"
"The very next one, leaving in ten minutes." Gingka replied.
"I suspected as much. We're on the same one then."
"Then why are we still standing here when we could be walking to it?" Eight laughed, as the entire group began heading for their shuttle, talking and laughing along the way.
It was a few hours later before Gingka was finally able to take off from just outside the shuttle hangar, his suit calculating the fastest flight path to the WBBA Space Core Headquarters and home.
"Headquarters this is Commander Stormflight of the Eye of the Storm, requesting information on the director's location."
"Welcome home, Commander. Your father is currently giving his annual speech to the most recent group of graduates from the Academy. Shall I notify him of your arrival home?"
"Please do, but inform him that I will be dropping by the auditorium to meet him there."
"Figuratively or literally dropping, sir?"
Gingka laughed at this. "Perhaps both."
"I will let him know."
"Thank you. Over and out." Gingka said as he changed course and flew towards the Academy, smiling faintly as he remembered the adventure that had started there the last time he had been there. At least this time, there wouldn't be Argo to mess up the ceremony like before.
Gingka paused to hover over the auditorium, able to see his father on the stage speaking. He noted mentally that there were quite a few more graduates this year than before, wondering for an instant if any of them would be assigned to his command.
"You are about to join one of the strongest military forces in the galaxy." Ryo said. "From here on out, you are no longer cadets." He glanced up slightly, eyes catching movement, and hid a small smirk of amusement. "You are crew members, scientists, perhaps even captains. It all depends on how well you have done and continue to do. Your schooling has already prepared you for what you will be needing to do under the command of your captains and other officers, such as the one who I see has decided to attempt hovering without being noticed." He looked pointedly up at Gingka, causing everyone else in the auditorium to look up as well.
"Allow me to introduce you to your highest ranked commanding officer." Ryo said, motioning for Gingka to land.
"Well, if you're gonna MAKE me do this…" Gingka chuckled under his breath as he arched upwards before diving straight down, flipping over at the last second and landing neatly on his feet with his jetpacks igniting at the last second to soften his landing.
"Commander Stormflight of our very own flagship, the Eye of the Storm." Ryo said, gesturing dramatically to his son. Applause broke out as Gingka bowed for an instant before straightening.
"Anything to say, Commander?" Ryo asked.
"I believe you have probably summarized it quite well already, from what I heard, Director." Gingka replied formally, causing his father to chuckle under his breath before turning back to the microphone.
"In that case, I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors." Ryo said. "You are dismissed."
"I remember when I was sitting in the audience for that speech." Gingka said as he and Ryo stepped off the stage together.
Ryo chuckled and patted his son's back. "That was probably the proudest I've ever been while giving it. Now come on, off with the mask."
Gingka laughed as his mask retracted immediately. "Good to see you too dad."
"Welcome home, my son." Ryo chuckled, hugging his son tightly.
"You should have been with us on this mission." Gingka said. "We saw some pretty interesting things. I had already told you about the new alien race that wanted to ally with us."
Ryo nodded. "I met with their leaders approximately a month ago. A treaty is already in progress."
Gingka nodded. "Good. But hey, enough of business. Where should we go for lunch?"
Ryo laughed. "Always thinking with your stomach."
Gingka looked sheepish. "When I'm not on-duty, yes."
"Let's get out of uniforms first and decide from there." Ryo chuckled, patting his son's back before leading the way to his personal transport.
Unknown to the two Haganes, at that moment, alarms were going off across the city in the prisons, as guards rushed around to find an escaped prisoner.
"It sure took you long enough." Argo Garcia snarled as he followed a masked woman wearing black and blue, her long violet hair tied up into a ponytail for convenience.
"It took us some time to find you and we could not be sure that the Eye of the Storm would not detect our presence until we knew that it was returning home. Even now we do not have much time to get you off the planet before it takes to the cosmos once more." She replied.
"Well then, you'd better have a plan, Miyako." Argo grunted as he and the young woman hid in a closet and waited for the patrols searching for them to pass.
"I do. They would not question their director's personal shuttle leaving the planet until it was too late for them to realize." Miyako said.
"That is quite far and risky to attempt." Argo growled as they continued on, exiting through the entrance Miyako had made when breaking in hours before.
"But escaping the planet itself will be easier with that, plus it will be near our secondary objective."
"What secondary objective?" Argo growled.
"Getting the very construction plans to the Eye of the Storm."
"Even I do not know where the archive that holds those files is." Argo growled. "Only their director would know."
"Or the commander of the great ship itself. Your siblings told me to also kidnap Gingka Hagane. And I have a simple way of convincing him to allow me inside so long as he and his father do not know of what I have done, which they should not."
"Is that so? And why should they trust you?" Argo grunted as they ran off into the darkness of the city's alleyways.
"Quite simple. I am family."
Argo paused his running and looked at the woman in surprise. "You are related to the Haganes?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"I hold no true loyalty to my bloodlines. My mother is the sister of Ryo Hagane." Miyako said casually. "They will let me in and within a few hours we will have both my cousin," she emphasized the word 'cousin' with some contempt, "and our means of escape. They will discover for the first time that I am no sympathizer to their cause and they will wish they had paid more attention to me before."
"I see. Fascinating." Argo chuckled darkly. "It will be a pleasure to watch you work, then."
"We will soon arrive. Ah look. They have enlisted the help of the civilians to find you." Miyako pointed to a billboard that was currently displaying an alert symbol next to Argo's face.
"We can't have that now." Argo said.
Miyako reached into a bag she was carrying on her back and pulled out a few things. "These will serve well enough to disguise you. But we must hurry before anyone sees us. To get you in I will be pretending that you are my copilot for my own ship."
"And how in the world will that even work?" Argo growled, putting on the disguise despite his doubts.
"Why, because they trust me of course. Were you not listening? If I tell them that you are an ally, they will believe me. This disguise will keep them from ever knowing who you really are, and unlike the last time you infiltrated them, they will not know this time."
"This had better work or you're dead." Argo growled as he finally got into his disguise and the two moved off once more.
"It will work just fine." Miyako said calmly. "Do you not trust me even though I am dating your brother?"
Argo shrugged. "You have not yet fully proven your loyalty. Consider this another chance to do so."
"Oh I do." Miyako said in a sweeter tone.
The two then continued on in silence for quite some time before they finally reached the Hagane residence, where Miyako pressed a button to request entrance.
"Who is there?" A voice said through a speaker.
"Please notify Mr. Hagane that his niece, Miss Miyako Hikou, is here to see him, and has brought a friend of hers as well." Miyako said.
"Of course Miss. Please come in. I will notify Mr. Hagane of your arrival."
"Thank you very much." Miyako said, smirking slightly at Argo as the door opened and they were let in.
"Miyako! What a pleasant surprise!" Ryo exclaimed a few minutes later as he entered the entranceway to the home, embracing the purple-haired woman warmly.
"My copilot and I were in the area and I figured I should come say hello." Miyako replied, hugging her uncle back and accepting his welcoming kiss on the cheek. "This is Hayabusa."
"Nice to meet you." Ryo said, shaking Argo's hand and clearly not knowing just who he was really speaking to.
"Same to you." Argo said, making his voice different so that he would not be recognized in that way.
"We were just about to head to dinner. You can join us if you'd like." Ryo said.
"Oh that does sound nice. I'll definitely come, what do you think, Hayabusa?" Miyako asked in a sweet tone.
"Sure I'll come." Argo said, although he was a bit nervous about the prospect of doing so without being caught. However, he knew that he could likely fool the two redheads well enough for the short period of time that he would be around them.
"Come this way, I'll have a maid take you to a couple of guest rooms while we wait for Gingka to come down." Ryo said.
"Thank you." Miyako said, again in a sweet tone that was almost sickening to Argo.
Ryo smiled and nodded to a nearby young woman, who approached and offered to take the two to their rooms.
"I will meet you back down here in an hour, if that works for you." Ryo said.
"That sounds like a good time." Miyako said as she and Argo followed the maid off into the house.
As soon as the maid had left, Argo knocked on Miyako's door, a slight scowl on his face.
"Come in." The woman called in a sing-song voice.
"I thought we were going to be in and out, not going to dinner with them." Argo snapped quietly as he entered.
"Oh it works well for me either way." Miyako said. "See, it would be easier to get away at night when most of the house has gone to bed. However, you do have a point about overstaying. We shall have to see if there is a chance at capturing my cousin before dinner, but it would be difficult to drag him down to his father's shuttle unconscious."
"We may not have to." Argo said. "Just ask him to show us around for a bit and he's bound to eventually show us the hangar bay of the house. That would not be a far distance to have to drag him once he's knocked out."
"You have a point." Miyako said before freezing as another knock came on her door. "Who's there?"
"Just me. My dad said you were here so I figured I'd come say hi and show you around if you're already ready for dinner."
Miyako shot a smug smirk at Argo at the sound of Gingka's voice outside. The two nodded determinedly at each other before Miyako went to open the door.
"Why, that sounds delightful! It has been a while since I have seen you, cousin." She said, still maintaining a sweet and friendly facade that only Argo knew was hiding the serpent ready to strike that he had seen many times from the red-eyed woman.
Gingka grinned. "Yeah, when was the last time I saw you? Has to have been quite a few years."
"Probably. I believe we are ready. I would love to see this house since you've offered to show us. Oh! This is my copilot Hayabusa, by the way. He loves studying various types of ships."
Gingka extended a hand, smiling. "Nice to meet you. Perhaps you would like to see the hangar then. We have several unique ships down there."
"That sounds interesting." Argo replied, hesitantly shaking Gingka's hand and hoping that the other would not see through his disguise.
"Off we go then." Gingka said, turning and leading the way, not knowing that by offering to take the two to see the hangar, he had sealed his fate.