Chapter 1: The Secret Beneath the Earth
A pettier conflict was now taking place behind a high school in Japan. The conflict was not between powerful leaders of advanced civilizations, but rather two young men- Ken Tenku, a hotheaded youth with a thirst for justice, and Joe Umitsubame, a popular tough guy with a gang of followers that he hardly ever acknowledged.
"Umitsubame! Don't you have anything to say for yourself?" Ken said loudly. "Your crew went too far this time!"
"My crew? No concern of mine," Joe replied in characteristic coolness. "They just look up to me, that's all. I'm not running anything."
"Don't give me that!" Ken shouted, clenching a fist. "I know you're behind what happened at the festival, so…"
The standoff was interrupted by the shouts of one of Ken and Joe's classmates- Akira Daichi, known for his martial arts skills. "Guys! Break it up!" he yelled nervously. "They've been cracking down on fights, and…"
"Nobody's thrown a punch yet," Ken said, turning to Akira. "We were just having a discussion!"
"Oh, sure, discussion, yeah, you can call it that," Joe taunted.
Ken turned angrily toward Joe, but before he could make a move, the ground began to shake beneath his feet.
"Not now…! Quick, everyone…" Joe began to shout, but his warning went unfinished as the ground opened up beneath him, Ken, and Akira. Down they fell, deeper than it seemed possible to survive the fall. Yet survive they did, as the three landed on a strange surface that felt hard, yet cushioned their fall enough that they found no injury to their bodies as they stood. They could see some light coming from above, but in front of them was nothing but darkness.
"…I suppose you're going to say this was my fault?" Joe quipped to Ken, who responded with nothing but a shake of his head and a grumble.
"How did we survive?" Akira wondered out loud, looking up at the chasm above them.
"Strange ground," Joe said, tapping his foot against said ground. "Some kind of cushioning effect… Not like any rock I know."
"Yeah… Not up on my geology but this definitely isn't normal," Ken said, forgetting his quarrel with Joe for the moment.
Sometime later, just as shock was starting to become boredom, Akira pointed up. "I think someone's coming down for us!" The others looked up to see a platform lowering down from above, apparently hung from a crane-like vehicle. On it stood a mustachioed, intelligent-looking man.
"Ah! Professor Kokubunji! Weren't you the guest speaker today?" Ken asked him, looking surprised.
"You must be Ken…" the professor said. "Yes, that's right. I called the lab as soon as I heard what happened… You three should be more careful! Now then… what is this?"
As Joe had done, Professor Kokubunji tapped the ground with his shoe and looked off into the darkness of the cave. "The same as the other sites… Hmm, how would you like to do a little exploring? I have a theory that needs testing."
"I'm up for it!" Akira exclaimed, pulling the goggles he wore on his head over his eyes. "Let's get spelunking!"
"I'm… interested," Joe admitted. "And you?" He looked toward Ken as if daring him to go deeper into the cave.
"Of course! I'm not afraid," Ken answered with a nod toward the darkness.
"Right then," said the professor, switching on a flashlight, "we'll move on and I'll tell you about what I've found so far…"
Ken, Joe, Akira and Professor Kokubunji went deeper into the caves, as the professor shone his light all around and explained his findings.
"It's only recently that these archaeological sites have been found," he began. "They were so incredibly well-hidden that we could only really find them by chance encounters… much like this one in fact. And their origins are a complete mystery… especially since, by all scientific tests anyone can come up with, they're older than any known human civilization. And yet, they're definitely built by some intelligent agency."
"So what you're saying is… they were built by aliens?" Joe said with a hint of skepticism.
"Yes… though most scientists have tried to resist that implication," Kokubunji said, lowering his head a bit. "No matter how valuable proof of extraterrestrial intelligence on Earth would be to science, saying you have some makes one seem a bit of a crackpot. Nonetheless, it's the most reasonable explanation to me."
"Aliens… do you have any idea what they were like?" Ken asked.
"Only that they had incredibly advanced technology," explained the professor. "A material called Gekiganium, used to build nearly indestructible armor, for one. We've managed to translate writings they left behind by comparison with some cave paintings in sites like this… and they speak of a super robot that can defeat any enemies, called Gekiganger III."
"How do we know this is true?" Joe said, still unimpressed. "Maybe some anime fan with too much time on their hands is playing a prank on you."
"See for yourself," the Professor said with a bit of a smirk as he aimed his flashlight at paintings that now could be seen along the cave walls.
"What are they, Professor? Did you find out anything?" Akira asked.
"…Yes," the professor replied after scanning the walls. "And the news is not good. These drawings are a prediction… that the earth will be invaded by an alien army… The Kyo'akks, I've read of them before. However… the drawings also say… they've left something to their descendants here, to fight off the invasion…" The cave came to an end as the professor scanned the drawings with his flashlight. He turned the light on the back wall of the cave, and on that wall was a huge drawing, bigger than all the others- a schematic for a great machine.
"That's…" Ken said, gaping at the size of the plans. "…Gekiganger III!"