Yay for updating on time! Barely, since I did have to write the rest of the chapter today, but on time! Enjoy!
"Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be, Yuki. Let's do this."
Yuki chuckled as his redheaded comrade sent an excited grin in his direction.
"Activating all systems. Standby for full activation of the Stormflight system. Seriously though, how did you come up with that name?"
Gingka shrugged, an excited gleam in his eye as he stood calmly in the center of the platform Yuki had built for testing. It had been a mere two weeks since the piece of technology currently attached to Gingka's torso had been given an official name, and now it was only a matter of minutes until 'Stormflight' sprung to life out of the folded up position it was currently in. Or, at least that was what Yuki was hoping would happen.
After the incident with the first jetpack test, Yuki had been more than cautious in his attempts to keep Gingka from further harm. Aside from the fact that the redhead was one of his closest friends, Yuki knew the dangers his technology presented to Gingka's body, perhaps even life, should something go wrong. Despite Gingka's regular reassurances that everything would go fine and that he still trusted Yuki to build something safe, Yuki remained hesitant. The past two weeks had been spent extensively testing every single aspect, every tiny possible detail of the jetpack and helmet combination. Now, Yuki found himself with no more excuses to keep himself from letting Gingka fully test the system at last.
Gingka, as he stood with the contraption attached to his body, couldn't have been more excited than if he had found that Madoka was unexpectedly coming to see him. Well, perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration. Gingka would rather see Madoka than test something new and exciting any day. But right now, the fastest way to see Madoka again was to finish off the Garcias before they could try anything that would threaten the world.
"Systems finished warming up." Yuki said. "Are you-"
"Yuki, you've asked me at least twenty times if I'm ready." Gingka laughed. "It'll be fine, just go for it and let's see what this contraption of yours can do."
"Very well then." Yuki sighed, a hint of hesitation in his voice as he pressed the remote buttons that would order the technology to fully activate.
At first, all went perfectly well. Gingka, heeding a previous warning from Yuki, stood perfectly still despite the sudden cold metal sliding up and around his face, leaving him in near-darkness.
"How does it feel?" Yuki called.
"... Well, I can barely hear you." Gingka said, wincing as his voice echoed right back into his own ears. "Not to mention it's really loud in here."
"Okay, noted." Yuki said. "Anything else?"
"I can barely see through these goggles. If this is going to work I'm going to need way more visibility."
Yuki nodded and frowned as he noted this on his clipboard. "I was wondering about that. Any ideas?"
"Well maybe use a larger piece of glass, so that I can see more." Gingka said.
"That probably wouldn't work a ton better." Yuki said. "Keeping the glass so that it can't be seen through from the outside is important."
"So that the Garcias think I'm a robot, right." Gingka nodded.
"Yeah." Yuki frowned in thought.
"I mean, I can only see straight forwards. That's going to be a huge problem."
"I wonder… If we rounded the eyepiece and put cameras inside… Then made a surround-faced screen for you to see everything almost normally?"
"That sounds like it would work but would also hurt my eyes." Gingka said.
"True, true. But there's gotta be some way to make it work."
"We may as well try it. That's probably the best way. We should also include some sort of night vision. If it gets too dark I won't be able to see at all with how much you tinted these lenses." Gingka said.
"Right. Shutting down then." Yuki said.
"But we haven't tested the jetpacks yet." Gingka said.
"We can't test them without you being able to see where you're going." Yuki said. "The controls are all in that contraption now. You'd be activating and shutting off the jetpacks and if you can't see when you're about to crash into something then we can't test them."
"... Point taken." Gingka said.
"Alright then, let's get these off of you and I'll get to work on that." Yuki sighed, pressing a few buttons and causing the entire thing to unfold.
"Anything I can help with?" Gingka asked, blinking and squinting slightly at the sudden change in light amount.
"Maybe. I'll call you if I discover anything you can help with."
"You said that last time."
"There was nothing you could help with."
"You sure about that?" Gingka asked, raising an eyebrow as he began removing the technology from his body with Yuki's help.
"Yep. Positive. Why are you suddenly so interested in helping?" Yuki asked, looking up at his friend as he helped him with the contraption.
"Because I'm bored…" Gingka admitted sheepishly. "I can't find anything else to do around here."
"I see." Yuki chuckled. "I'll work quickly then. For one thing, because we need to get to infiltration as soon as possible, before it's too late, and for another, because you're bored."
"Thank you." Gingka chuckled. "I'll just go occupy myself in the kitchen or something."
"Uh, no, you can occupy yourself anywhere but the kitchen or the Amazon." Yuki said.
"... But I'm hungry."
"But last time you were in the kitchen you broke the sink."
"... My butt was on fire and it was better than the Amazon."
"I was referring to the turkey incident."
"That thing was huge!"
"You tried to hang it from the faucet."
"Well yeah. You said not to let it touch the sides of the sink."
"No I didn't."
"Uh-huh. Sure."
Yuki rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Go play some computer game or something."
"... I only know how to call people on there." Gingka grumbled.
Yuki facepalmed. "How could I forget that you were from a village with practically no technology?"
Gingka looked extremely sheepish. "Hey, I got most of my blading skills growing up there."
"I know." Yuki laughed. "But you still don't know how to use a computer."
"Barely… I barely know how to use one. I can turn it on and I can call the others."
Yuki laughed, "Precisely. We'll have to work on that."
Gingka hung his head, embarrassed.
"Why don't you just go call someone?" Yuki laughed. "It'll at least be something to do other than polish Pegasus."
"... Which I was doing for an hour before you called me down here." Gingka admitted.
Yuki chuckled. "Come get me in an hour and I'll get us some lunch."
"Okay." Gingka chuckled, walking off towards the computer room and leaving Yuki to work.
Yuki sighed as Gingka left. Honestly, he would prefer to not have Gingka infiltrate the Garcias' organization. He would rather send an actual robot. But an actual robot would take too long, and having a human being in there who could think (hopefully) was a much better option. However, Yuki knew that this task would be dangerous, and although that had never fazed Gingka, Yuki hoped that nothing would happen.
With all of the other things Gingka had faced, Yuki knew that the redhead was no stranger to dangerous situations. If something had to be done to stop someone, Gingka would do it no matter what the danger. Yuki had seen that much in many situations. This time, he was sure, would be no different. However, this time, it seemed that the bad guys wouldn't be using only beys. Beys were usually nonlethal, although Yuki was sure they could be used as lethal weapons.
The Nemesis Crisis had killed many simply from the natural disasters before it was stopped. Luckily for the world, it HAD been stopped. Yuki was proud to have been a part of stopping it. Now he was going to help Gingka and the others stop this threat. Whatever the Garcias were planning, it would be stopped. If Yuki and Gingka had anything to say about it, it would be stopped before it ever started. It would be nice to have that happen for once, Yuki figured.
"Gingka. To what do I owe your call?"
"Partially because I'm bored and partially because we need to figure out how to make it look like I kidnapped you guys as the robot. We don't want to stage some big street fight every time but if we leave the evidence correctly, then it'll work."
"Agreed." Dynamis said, nodding slightly and pressing his fingertips together in thought. "And strategy will have to change depending on the terrain. Perhaps we should call Aguma as well."
"He is the better strategist. Hang on." Gingka said, adding Aguma into the call.
"Do you have any idea what time it is over here when you call me?" Aguma grumbled sleepily as he came up onscreen.
"Not really." Gingka admitted sheepishly. "But now that I think about it it's around midnight there, isn't it?"
"Later than. Why are you calling?" Aguma asked.
"We need your strategizing skills." Dynamis informed him.
"For?" Aguma crossed his arms.
"To make it look like you and the others were kidnapped." Gingka said. "Got any ideas?"
"That will vary depending on terrain." Aguma said. "For Dynamis and Tithi, it would be best for them to simply disappear. With me, the best thing would likely be to make it look like someone broke in. Leave evidence of a struggle, perhaps break something. Or come and actually kidnap us."
"That would work best, probably." Dynamis said. "It would look more real, especially if someone came in. We could merely struggle for a bit, and then let ourselves be taken out of any sight before simply disappearing."
"Where would we disappear to?" Gingka asked.
"Somewhere nobody knows to look." Dynamis said.
"Yuki's observatory." Aguma said. "It's hidden. Nobody knows where it is and nobody will go looking in the Amazon for someone who disappeared on another continent."
Gingka nodded. "Especially not out here. It's very hard to penetrate this forest. And I assume that the Garcias will want to know most things that I do, such as where you actually are. I expect that they'll order me to kidnap you guys too, because you're the rest of the threat to them. Most other bladers aren't that much of a threat, they'll be ready for them. It'll make my alias more convincingly real."
"Precisely." Aguma said. "Therefore you cannot fail to kidnap us. Hopefully King and Kyoya can get that into their heads."
"They have become a lot more cooperative over these past few years." Gingka chuckled. "Especially King. He really likes the whole network thing."
"So I have heard. If that is all, I am going to bed now." Aguma said gruffly.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry Aguma. Go ahead. Sleep well." Gingka said, nodding.
Aguma grunted and left the call.
Dynamis chuckled. "He is quite the grumpy person when woken up, is he not?"
"Yeah." Gingka laughed. "Then again, we all are."
Dynamis nodded. "Yes. Nobody likes to be woken up in the middle of a good nap."
"Especially not Aguma. Or Kyoya, for that matter." Gingka chuckled and shook his head.
"Quite so." Dynamis agreed. "You should know something, Gingka."
"And that is?" Gingka asked.
"I have been seeing some rather suspicious scouts around lately. They seem to have a uniform on, but I know that it is not the same person. I suspect that they may work for the Garcias."
"Hmm… What could they be…" Gingka paused, his eyes widening. "They could be looking for you and the others."
Dynamis nodded. "We should likely warn them. Especially those who are in more public places."
"You mean King, right?"
"And Kenta." Dynamis reminded. "Kenta was last stationed right in the heart of Tokyo."
"Right." Gingka sighed. "And Ryuga was on his way there."
"They should be able to fight back rather easily." Dynamis said. "Ryuga is powerful, and he and Kenta combined would be a force to be reckoned with."
"True. We all are that on our own." Gingka said. "But these guys may not be fighting with beys, remember?"
"Do not worry about it, Gingka." Dynamis advised. "Worry about what you and Yuki are working on. I will warn the others about the potential threat."
Gingka nodded. "Alright, I will. Be careful, Dynamis. I don't want anything happening to you guys that is outside of our plan."
"We will all be fine." Dynamis said, nodding. "I should go. I hear Tithi calling me from somewhere in the ruins, meaning he probably fell down a trapdoor."
Gingka chuckled. "He's still learning his way around then?"
"Yes." Dynamis chuckled. "And now I must go rescue him. See you later, Gingka."
"Yeah. Seeya." Gingka said, becoming thoughtful as Dynamis ended the call.
"If they're beginning to move… Then we have less time than we thought."
Dun dun duuun. Random ideas to flesh out plots. Yay me. This might be the second to last chapter but I am not sure I can finish it that quickly. We shall see. I will know by next weekend's update, hopefully. I think this story's starting to drag out a bit and get less interesting and lower quality. I plan on fixing that trend in my most recent writing with my next story. Anyway, I may as well give a teaser. Go look up the song (Or at least the lyrics) "More Than it Seems" by Kutless. That song is involved slightly in my next project. Until next time, Galaxy out!
