Prologue – The Lord of the Wind
Masaki sat at the Cybuster's cockpit, struggling to stay awake. His Familiars, Kuro and Shiro, had already fallen asleep, but as the pilot, he couldn't allow himself that luxury. He had been looking for the Granzon all over the earth, so he might as well check out what's going on in space. Or so he said, anyway; his familiars suspected that he had simply gotten lost again. He thought his burning desire for vengeance would keep him awake, but thinking of finding Shu was really only making him more disappointed with his own sense of direction. Sometimes a man has to admit he's lost. Maybe he should have stayed with the Hagane crew? Sure, it wasn't exactly his style to be bogged down by the military, but the people there were nice enough, and it sure beat the monotony of space. Stars, stars, the terrifying black void of space, more stars, the moon, more stars, more void, more stars, another moon, yet more stars...
...Now hold on. Another moon?
Yes, this giant white ball just... standing there, near the earth, menacingly. What the Feds had dubbed the "White Star", created by the Aerogaters for some reason that no one was all too sure about. Masaki couldn't help but wonder about that thing. You'd think something that big near the earth would have a gravitational pull and have some kind of effect on the sea and perhaps on Earth's orbit itself, but hey, it's not like he's some sort of space scientist, so no point in worrying about it. It's likely best to just ignore it and the weird mechanical alien bugs pouring out of it. He didn't hear about this in any news report, but then again, doesn't seem like they're heading torwards Earth, anyway. In fact, they seem to be... coming over this way.
"Wake up, Kuro, Shiro!" the green-haired teenager turned to his Familiars' pods, enthusiastically. The two cats yawned and stretched, awakened by their master. "Oh, did you find Shu?" Shiro asked, still somewhat dazed. Before, Masaki could answer, however, they were interrupted by a bright energy cannon being fired. As it turned out, they were quite a bit late to the party.
A beam of that magnitude could only have been fired out of a battleship, and sure enough, Masaki turned to see that the ship in question was the Hiryu Kai, who he had a run-in with near the North Pole, while he was looking for Shu, nearly a year ago. They seemed to have deployed two mass-produced Gespenst Mk-IIs, one red and one green, a white Schutzwald, and what seemed to be an enormous red Super Robot. They really came a long way from having to deploy F-28 Messer jets to fight the Aerogaters. In any case, they still looked like they could use some help. For starters, the red Gespenst was deep into enemy lines, while the rest did their best to attempt to support whoever the madman in that pilot seat is.
"Masaki Andoh, pilot of the Cybuster here! You guys look like you could use some help, once again!" Masaki exclaimed over comms, shortly before pulling out the Cybuster's Zephyr Sword and dashing into the fray, making his way to the red Gespenst in the blink of an eye. He attempted to cover for it, so the pilot could make their way back into formation, but an angry female voice yelled at him over the comms.
"The hell are you doing? If you're not gonna fight, stay the hell outta my way!"
The Gespenst then pushed Cybuster out of the way and charged into the Aerogater bugs.
Masaki recognized this voice from somewhere. Yes, she was at the North Pole! He never got a name, but this attitude is unmistakable, the same woman who would charge torwards one of those Beetle-looking bug-machines in an F-28. In that case, the green one must be...
"Lieutenant Katina, fall back right now! Do you want to die?"
...Yep. The guy attempting to keep up with her and trying to make sure they both make it out alive. Back at the North Pole, his cover fire coupled with her irregular movement were the only reasons those jets could keep up with actual mechs. He sure sounded a lot more angry this time around, though.
In any case, there was no time to think about how these two people he barely knows interact; the mechanical alien insectoid menace was a more pressing matter.
Kuro and Shiro are released from compartments near Cybuster's mechanical "wings", which become small droids, in a maneuver known in La Gias as "Hi-Familiar", in which the pilot's familiar(s) detach from the robot and attack independently. They danced erratically across the sea of stars, mowing down hordes of the creatures. Masaki pulled out the Cybuster's blade once more, but is interrupted by the appearance of a familiar shape.
"It's been quite a while, Masaki." The 9-stories tall machine appeared imposingly from the void of space. As is usual with Masaki, he quickly shifted his focus from the Aerogaters to Shu. The young man charged at his most hated enemy, trying to slash at him with his blade, which the Granzon effortlessly parried with its Gran Sword. "As childish as ever, Masaki. Do you not realize our situation?", Shu chided. "If you really want me to, i'll leave, but take one look at your surroundings. While you and the Hiryu's crew weren't paying attention, you got yourselves surrounded." Masaki, even in his rage, realized what was going on. The Hiryu's big Super Robot seemed to be running low on energy, as it had stopped attacking and resorted to just serving as a shield to the other units and the ship. The Gespensts had broken formation, and the Schutzwald could barely take out an enemy with its shoulder cannons without having to go back behind the Super for cover, and the ship was starting to run low on both ammo and energy. They couldn't survive this skirmish without the help of the Granzon.
Masaki begrudgingly turned to face the Invaders, still seething with rage at Shu. "You bastard, what's your endgame?", he thought to himself. It was somewhat cathartic to channel his hatred for Shu into destroying these weird spacebugs, but it's significantly less satisfying when you're being forced to work alongside him.
Shu, on the other hand, had his exceedingly calm demeanor as always, which just served to piss off Masaki further. With a wave of his hands, the Granzon created black holes, into which he shot off lasers from the Granzon's chest cannon, which would then hit the enemies from other portals created in the meantime, hitting enemies from all sides in an attacked that felt impressive no matter how many times you saw it. And then, in a fluid motion with his other hand, he would slice enemies with the Gran Sword. Masaki couldn't help but to notice all of this. "Look at him! He's doing it all without a care in the world. And that's just how he always is. He does whatever the hell he feels like doing, when he feels like doing it, with no regards to the consequences they'll have on others, and their lives, and-"
Masaki was interrupted by a cacophony of screams over his comms. While he was lost in thought, he had accidentally wandered too close to one of Shu's black holes, and all of the other people on the battlefield were trying to warn him. He tried turning on the thrusters, but the pull was far too strong, even for the Lord of the Wind. Shu quickly tried to close the hole, but by the time his order was recognized, Masaki was already on the other side. His Familiars tried to go after him, but it closed too quickly. And then, complete darkness.
Masaki panicked. He turned Cybuster up to full speed and went in random directions, looking for a way out of what seemed like eternal darkness. Thoughts went rushing into his head. Is this how he was going to die? Would he never avenge his father? Would everyone miss him in La Gias? Who would punish Shu for what he's done?
For the first time since Shu murdered his father, Masaki broke down and cried for what felt like days, but couldn't possibly have been more than a few hours.
And then, a light. A second chance. He wasn't sure where it would lead or who opened it, but he wasn't going to let it go. Putting Cybuster's theoretically FTL speeds to good use, he dashed torwards that opening, like his life depended on it.
Professor Shepard from the West Coast University walked on-stage, in front of his titanic creation. The man was wearing a labcoat with some sort of purple sweater and scarf underneath. Behind him, what looked like an enormous machine tower; almost like some sort of cannon. He was ready to show the world his Black Hole Generator. He had explained that it was more like an opener than anything else, and didn't really "generate" anything per se, but the name proved catchy and he couldn't exactly escape it anymore.
The lanky blonde man walked into the crowd, midway through the presentation. "Sit down, Shaggy! It's about to get to the good part!", a brown-haired girl with glasses chided. "This is gonna be so fascinating! Don't you agree, guys?" She turned to the two at her side, a blonde, fit, young man wearing an orange scarf, and a long-haired redhead wearing a purple dress. To her dismay, however, the two were dozing off. "Come on, guys, he's about to turn it on!" "Oh? I sure hope we don't get sucked in!" Shaggy joked. This of course prompted the girl to go into a long explanation of the whys and hows of the protective casing, and why there was no danger whatsoever, which he didn't really pay attention to.
All four of them started paying attention, however, when the machine was turned on. A blackness that defied light itself formed at the top of the structure, like a ball of condensed dark. However, it then started to swell, and something started to come out of it. The crowd ran away in panic, screaming about some "Blackhole Monster", leaving only the gang, the professor himself, and two security guards in the room. Suddenly, a 30-meter tall giant robot popped out, to the shock of all that still remained there.
Hey there, and thanks for reading this fic! I realize the concept is kinda bonkers, but I woke up with it on my mind one day and wasn't satisfied until I actually put this on paper. Considering this is the first time i'm actually writing a fic, i'd love to hear you guys' input! Was it awful? Was it great? Leave a review, i'd love to hear your thoughts! Please be sure to point out any grammatical mistakes or inconsistencies i make; english is not my first language. In any case, thanks for stopping by and reading all of that. The next chapter is coming soon!
