The fotoscopical lens focalised on the figure bellow, as the cybernetic brain analysed the received datas, a hint of recognision flickering through it's circuits. It had seen this before. Every time ever since he had put his huge alien bulb on this planet! Had it been a human, Sosai would have gone mad by now!
YOU HAVE FAILED!
Marstora sighed and tilted his head lower. He was expecting to be chewed by the alien for his failure at the hands of KNTG, so he had his excuse ready. What he didn't expected was to have so much trouble with those ninjas. He should have listened to Egobossler's ranting!
An unimportant setback, Sosai! But my plans have not been foiled by their little victory!
LITTLE VICTORY? IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST MECHA MODELS I HAVE EVER DESIGNED! AND I HAVE LOST A TEAM OF MY BEST SCIENTISTS! ARE YOU CALLING THIS UNIMPORTANT?
Marstora lip quivered at the alien's roar
That was my mecha model you dim strobe bulb!
They have won now, but next time…..
Sosai cut him with a burst of laughter.
NEXT TIME? THAT USED TO BE EGOBOSSLER'S PATHETIC EXCUSE! AND KATZE'S! AND GELSADRA'S! YOU COULD BE AT LEAST MORE ORIGINAL!
I know their weaknesses now Sosai! I will not fail…. He wanted to say next time , but he refrained himself. Apparently the alien had little tolerance at this two words!
AND THAT TOO! BY THE SOUNDS OF YOUR EXCUSES YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN THEY WERE! I SHOULD HAVE NOT REPLACED EGOBOSSLER FOR YOU! AT LEAST HE HAD MORE WIT!
One advantage Marstora had from Egobossler, beside a much better skill in the computers expertise was a greater tolerance at insults. But being compared with the blue half-wit who couldn't use a machine did hurt whatever tiny bit of self esteem he had.
I will
defeat Gatchaman this time Sosai! And I will destroy the pulsance
base!
YOU BETTER! OR YOU WILL SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE ROTTING ON THE MARS FACILITY!
Have no worry, Sosai! I will do as you say! I shall report you the destruction of the pulsance base as soon as possible!
With that, Marstora made a quick bow and rushed outside the alien's body, feeling he got preached enough for that day!
The alien fotoscopical lens followed his minion departing, while it's brain mused over the martian's words. After his long experience with the Gatchaman, all he was expecting in Marstora's next report was another shameful defeat at their hands and the lost of another perfectly functionable mecha!
Sosai Z revised his strategies against his Earthern enemies searching for the flaws that hammpered his victory! He did his part in it (or so he thought), he constructed the mechas, watched them blown to bits by that indolent children, listened to the pathetic excuse of his chosen leaders, built another mechas and so on…..What more could it do?
If he could only find a competent human being to do the job.
As he remembered his past years on Earth and the failures of minions, his mind focused on a little detail, something it no longer paid attention.
"I will need you!"
An Earthen saying said that if you want a work well done, do it with your own hand! And while Sosai didn't have any hands, it did had many other meanings to destroy a base. And the one from Cowbella will have to destroyed. At any costs……
"Where are you child?"
1.23 pm, Barney's Pizza Shop...
Here's your pack, sir! It's 3.25 $!
The man tossed the money on the counter and grabbed his packages, flying off from the store without looking back.
Ken looked after him and shooked his head. It was the third customer on that day and all acted that way.
This people had such strange habbits! Ken thought.
He sighed and put the money into the pay desk keeping his rightfull tip. He sighed again as he looked down at the few coins from his hand.
Maybe now I could afford a decent drink at Snack!
The bell's clang made him look up, eagerly waiting for the next customer.
"Joe?"
Joe and Ryu excahanged awed glances upon hearing the huge hen at the behing the counter recognising them.
"Geez, Joe I didn't knew you are that famous!" Ryu elbowed him.
"It's me!" Ken said as he took off the yellow headpiece of his Hen suit.
The boys stared at him in shock for a moment than both bursted into laughter.
"Oh Ken, you're such a Chick!" Joe mocked between guffaws
"That's not funny, Joe!"He huffed
"Seriously Ken, what are you doing here?" Ryu asked.
"Earning a living! ISO doesn't pay us enough for saving the world!"
"So, I see you picked something to remember of your other job! Nice Birdstyle!" Joe scoffed as he tugged at Ken's cockscomb.
"Don't come back begging for a loan!"
"Yeah right! Like you could afford to give one!"
Ken gritt his teenth and clenched his fist, looking speculatively at Joe's chin. His second didn't seem to get the hint.
"Ken the Eagle has become Ken the Hen!" he continued to irk on the Eagle's nerves.
Ken growled and gave a blow at Joe, but the siscillian easilly dodged. Sensing the tension raise up, Ryu butted in.
"Chill out, guys!"
"He started!" Ken pointed to Joe who was still laughing.
BEEEP!
BEEEP!
BEEEP!
Everyone looked down at their glowing bracelets.
"Nambu's calling us." Ryu noted.
"It must be Gallactor! Let's go!" Ken jumped over the counter and rushed out to the ISO's headquarters.
"Hey, Mr. Science Ninja Bird, ready to egg some Gallactors?" Joe shouted behing him as he joggled with some eggs he found on the counter. He therw one at Ken hitting him in the left breast
"Why you…" Ken snarld and lunged at Joe.
ISO headquarters, Nambu's office...
Chief Nambu stared at the members of the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman , now in their civillian attire, gathered in front of him. His gaze lingered particulary on the first two of them. Ken wore a yellow, plucked and glair smeared Hen suit. Joe had his hair tousled, clothes ripped and also smeared with egg glair, and a bruise on his cheek. Ocassionaly he and Ken exchanged angry glances. Chief Nambu groaned inwardly. He thought they had already passed over .
He gathered his thoughts and drifted his attention back at more pressing matter.
"We have received an anonymous e-mail warning us about Gallactor's next move."
He paused for a second, frowning. Joe and Ken still continued to scowl one at each other. Nambu hmphed, which brought back their attention, then continued.
"They are planning to destroy our research base from Cowbella city!"
"But the city is protected by a division of phaser tanks!" Jun intervened.
The chief nodded and went on.
" The Cowbella base is of utmost importance in our researchment ! It is your next mission to go scouting and avert any Gallactor attempt. I have prepared your papers!"
"But Hakase, are you sending us because of anonymous e-mail? It could be someone's joke! Meanwhile Gallactor could attack other places!" Ken chipped in.
Nambu frown as he always did when he was interupted.
"Why would Gallactor want to destroy that particulary base?" Ken pressed
" That is confidential data!" Nambu answered bluntly.
" You must prevent any possibility that that base will be destroyed. Understood?"
All five of them nodded.
"Prepare yourself. You will be departing over five hours!"
Cowbella city...
Helm carefully looked around him as he wandered across the street. It was morning and and they were mostly deserted, except for a matinal passer-by who didn't bother to have a glance at the strange looking blue child. He mused at his runaway purpose as he wondered where he was now. This place didn't seem even remotely familiar, but, comparative with the dark, gloomy air whithin the Castle, he found he liked the something! He got here by sneaking into one of those underground trains he reached by going after another funny dressed up man. That one had a white suit, bird shaped like the penguin man's like and Helmy thought he looks a little like a chicken. So he followed him and got into the underground station's passages of the Castle, from where he sneak into a train. He had travelled into one of those once before with his daddy, and it was fun! He fell asleep at one moment and the hard jolt of the train's halting rudely woke him up. He disembarked into a ground level station, (of course the sentinels being much too stupid to notice a four year old creeping out) and headed to what appeared to be the city's gates ahead of him. Then some nice old man with a herd of cows picked him up in his cart, gave him a breakfast and told him something about a cow festival that will take place into the city.
Helm sighed, he was not interested into it, he came here to find a mother. A slight tweettering made him turn around to see a tousled blonde haired boy slightly older than him, held by the hand by a woman, who was apparently chidding him. She must have been his mother! He was on the right track! And so the blue skinned boy ran to the other child to ask where he found his! He followed them as they took the corner and entered into a shop.
"Does we really have to do this Oneechan?" Jinpei asked again, rolling his eyes as his sister was staring at a glass case.
"Yes Jinpei!" She answered him absentmindedly
"But Oneechan, I know Gallactors are that stupid, but what would they do in a store?"
This time he got no answer.
Jinpei sighed. He knew that "scouting the area" was just a pretense for his sister to loaf the shops. She had a habit to buy ….things, mostly "How to get a man" books or lace lingerie. Last time she bought a bag of aphrodisiac teas and asked him to carry it! He suspected it had to do with her secret plan to get Ken.
"Ohh, Jinpei look!"
The boy looked up at what she was pointing ecstasiated.
Huge on the glass was written in cappitals : DIET TEA! BUY TWO AND ONE FOR FREE!
"Ohh, no!"
"Isn't it wonderfull, Jinpei? Let's go make supplies for the Snack!"
Jinpei sighed again. He had the feeling he knew who was going to carry the packages!
Helm looked around himself. The woman and the boy were nowhere in sight, and he found he was lost in the crowd of people from the store.
"Well, at least I have where to look for a mother!"
He squeezed his small frame among the customers, looking for the best candiadate . He wrinkled his nose at the womans he saw..To old, to fat, to mean-looking…….
Helmy frowned his eyebrows as he continued to watch and walk among them . It's so hard to find a mother!
Something caught the boy's shoulder and looked up dazed to see the watchman squinting down at him.
"Are you lost kid? Where's your mother?"
"Umm, I'm trying to find her" Helm mumbled. That was half true at least.
The man watched him suspicious.
"How does she looked like?"
"Umm,..she's….." Helm quickly look around him as he was searching for an excuse. A mop of dark hair behind a pile of tea bags scattered on the floor caught his eye. The woman behind it was young and pretty and she look like a nice person. Helmy smiled
"Hey, kid!" The watcher slowly shook his shoulder.
"There is she!" Helm bursted, pointing at the dark-haired girl.
Jun was loading teas in her shopping basket despit Jinpei's mumbled protest, when something bore down upon her gipping tightly at her throat. She instantly dropped the tea from har hand and readied herself to defend against a Gallactor squad.
"Take care of that kid ma'am! He tends to get himself in trouble!"
The words dissarmed her as she stared up mouth agaped from the olive coat of the watcher to Jinpei equally shocked face. It wasn't a Gallactor attack as much as she could tell!
"He's your son, right?"
Son? What the…
Jun looked down at the little blue form still attached of her shirt. Helm looked up at the girl, She was pretty. He smiled shyly at her his eyes pleading to keep the game.
Jun blinked several timesas she gazed at the child in her lap. She could not belive her eyes. Him. Here. What was he doing here? The last time she had seen him years ago, he was peacefully sleeping in his crib. "Ohh, that jerk must have been such a rotten father" She mused.
"Ma'am?"
"…Yes?""
"He's your kid, right?"
Jun looked again from Helm's pleading stare to Jinpei amazed one.
"Of course he is!" She smiled and embraced the boy reassuringly.
"Well then, I'm off. "
Her smile faded as she watched the man leave . Jun looked down at Helm again, then a thud made her to look behind , to see Jinpei's form stretched on the floor, next to the pile of tea bags.