A/N: I apologize for taking so long (again) on this update. Shoutout to the guest who politely requested a new chapter, so here you are! Politeness goes a long way in my book ^^ I'll try my best to a much more regular update schedule.
Chapter 9 - Don't stop believing
Ryuko stared at the ceiling while she laid on the Life Fiber X-Ray table as she cupped her hands together; her thumbs joined. She had been asked to change into some sort of black tight, full-bodied leotard (only exposing her head, feet and hands) for the upcoming operation, since it would "make things easier" according to Iori.
Her gaze was completely fixed on a certain spot on the ceiling, which allowed Ryuko to concentrate on her thoughts. Her mind wandered off to the countless times in which she had found herself in danger and to her surprise, none of them had worried her as much as the operation she was going to go through in a while.
This was the first time she went through something risky completely alone. Granted, she had Satsuki by her side who would personally make sure everything went as planned and do everything in her power to support her sister but it wasn't quite the same as having Senketsu by her side. Satsuki and Ryuko certainly had a strong, special bond which was unbreakable; a bond between two humans. On the other hand, the connection she had with Senketsu was very different and unique since it was a bond between a human and a kamui. It was a literal synchronization as she became part of him and he became part of her; both of them formed one entity and at the same time they were two separate beings, each with hearts and minds of their own. Not having that reassuring connection this time around made Ryuko uneasy.
"I'll bring you back Senketsu." She clenched her fist, brought it to her heart and blinked. "I'll promise I'll bring you back no matter what, you hear?!" She yelled.
Stating that out loud instead of keeping it to herself made her relax a bit. She wondered if Iori had everything prepped for the operation, so she slowly tilted her head to the left to see what was going on outside the room. She looked through a large window next to the lab's door and caught a glimpse of Iori talking to Satsuki.
"...wonder what's taking them so long." She squinted at her sister. "Satsuki looks dead serious though."
"...finally, there's a 99% error margin, which means we're left with just 1% that will determine the success of this operation." Iori adjusted his glasses and looked up from the notepad. "I'm warning you one last time Lady Satsuki, this is incredibly dangerous. This is the first time we've ever attempted to do this. We don't know what will happen."
"Do it. By all means." Satsuki phrased in a firm tone.
Iori stared at Satsuki and looked at her determined, unwavering gaze. "Once I see that look in your eyes, I know there's no turning back." He smiled sideways and put the notepad back into his pocket. "Oh, by the way, Lady Satsuki, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."
Satsuki raised an eyebrow. "Let me hear it."
"I was planning on telling you a while ago, but I thought it would somehow interfere with you spending time with Ryuko." Iori placed a hand on his hip.
"Go on."
"Nudist Beach and I located a dormant Life Fiber Mesh inside a cave."
Satsuki, surprised at the news, let it sink in a while before answering. "So Ragyo was right after all..."
"Excuse me?" Iori looked confused.
"Ryuko told me about Ragyo's final words. She said that Life Fibers would return to this planet, I just never thought they would return so soon..." Satsuki directed her gaze to the ceiling, perplexed.
"It seems to me that that mesh has been here for quite a while now, meaning it didn't appear all of a sudden."
"I see." Satsuki kept on talking without redirecting her gaze to Iori. "Do you and Mikisugi have a plan to get rid of it?"
"It looks harmless for now. I took some samples and analyzed them in the lab and they look the same as any other Life Fiber mesh. My theory is that it can awaken at any time." Iori nodded.
Satsuki remained silent and looked at Iori. "Encapsulate it. Do whatever you have to do to keep it under control."
"It's taken care of for the time being." Iori quickly glanced at Ryuko through the window. "Glad to see you're killing two birds with one stone."
Satsuki did the same as Iori and her eyes met with that of her sister's for a while. She then looked back at him, intrigued. "What are you talking about?"
Iori redirected his gaze back to Satsuki as well. "We bring Senketsu back and he, along with Ryuko, will help us get rid of the Life Fiber mesh and at the same time Ryuko will get to see him again."
"Don't even go there, Iori." Satsuki snapped. "I asked you to do this for her because I'd like her to have Senketsu by her side again." She pierced his eyes with a cold stare. "And before you say anything, Ryuko will be the one to decide to help out or not. Quoting her, 'Senketsu is not a weapon'."
Iori's eyes widened and he blinked a couple of times before he spoke again. "...I understand. I'm sorry if I came off as being selfish." He took hold of his orange mask that hung from his neck and put it on. "But please let me know if you or Ryuko change your mind."
Satsuki nodded slightly. "Is everything ready?"
"Yes, we just need to call on the other surgeons." Iori clapped twice and immediately a row of men dressed in white and blue gloves appeared behind him.
"Sir! We are ready to proceed with the operation! It'll be a pleasure assisting you!" They all yelled as they saluted Iori.
"The pleasure is mine, gentlemen. Let's get going." He started to walk towards the lab door with his hands inside his pockets; the row of men following him.
Satsuki closed her eyes. "Inumuta. Gamagoori." Both members of the Elite Four quickly zipped to Satsuki's side.
"Yes, Lady Satsuki!" They shouted. Both of them had been previously waiting in a corner talking to each other until she called upon them. Houka Inumuta and Ira Gamagoori wore matching black and gold clothes, similar to those of their powered-up goku uniforms.
"I called you here to assist in my sister's operation." Satsuki opened her eyes and looked at Houka Inumuta first. "You are to help Iori in manipulating Ryuko's Life Fibers. I strongly recommend you talk to him beforehand so you know what he's going to do to Ryuko."
"Understood." Inumuta grinned and headed to the lab.
"Gamagoori, you'll be in charge of restraining Ryuko in case things go wrong." Satsuki pointed at him.
"Understood. I will be serving as Ryuko's shield today then!" He flung a fist to the left side of his chest and flashed a confident grin at Satsuki.
"Excellent." A smile drew upon Satsuki's face. She motioned Gamagoori to follow her and both of them went inside the lab.
Ryuko was sitting on the X-Ray table, swinging her legs back and forth. When she laid eyes on Gamagoori she yelped a little. "What are you doing here? First Inumuta, then Gamagoori, sis?" She turned to Satsuki for an explanation.
"I summoned them here because they are the most trustworthy individuals I know besides Iori. I want to make sure you'll be okay."
"O-oh." She quickly looked to her right and then looked back at Satsuki. "Thanks." A warm smile appeared on her face.
Gamagoori bowed before Ryuko. "I'll be glad to be your shield today, Ryuko."
"H-hey, you don't have to bow down to me, you know..." Ryuko let out a nervous chuckle.
"On the contrary, Ryuko," Inumuta did a little bow, "we're glad we're helping you."
"We want to make sure everything goes as planned." Iori bowed too.
"Thanks." Her face lit up even more. "I mean it guys."
Satsuki approached Ryuko and took hold of her hands. "Are you ready, Ryuko?"
"Never felt more ready, sis." She gave her a broad grin, flashing her fangs.
"Good. I'll be here throughout the whole operation." She pulled her into a hug and Ryuko hugged her back.
"We're ready, Lady Satsuki." Iori looked up from the computer he was working on and adjusted his glasses.
Satsuki broke her hug with Ryuko and stood next to Gamagoori. "Please proceed."
Ryuko laid on the table as Iori pressed a button on its side. Some metal restraints appeared from the table and latched onto Ryuko's legs and arms, closing in a loud metallic snap. "H-hey, what's this all about?" Ryuko complained.
"Things could get ugly when we retrieve Senketsu's thread. We're just taking the necessary precautions since this is the first time we do this. If you move or budge while we're retrieving it we could get you killed." Iori peered over Ryuko.
"Fine. But still, this is so damn uncomfortable..." She muttered.
"Initializing operation." Iori stated. All the men in white clothes huddled up around Ryuko, each one of them with a pair of Life Fiber needles. Meanwhile, Inumuta typed every step of the operation on the computer and at the same time he monitored the Life Fiber Regeneration Capsule, which was almost done charging. Gamagoori and Satsuki stood behind the group of men, both of them with their arms crossed.
Iori flicked the X-Ray on and Ryuko's body went completely black with only her Life Fiber threads visible. She understood then why Iori asked her to dress in black as she stared at herself. The dress she was wearing earlier made it harder to see more tightly woven Life Fibers in her body.
"Inumuta, locate Ryuko's Nexus Thread." Iori lifted the pair of needles above Ryuko and formed an X with them. "Accessing Ryuko's Life Fiber mesh." The needles in his hand glowed.
"Locating." Inumuta typed swiftly and then hit enter on the computer. "It's right behind her neck."
Iori nodded and pressed a button on the table, flipping Ryuko on her back.
"Nexus Thread? Why do you need it?" Ryuko wondered.
"It'll temporarily shut you down. That way you won't feel any pain and it'll be easier to manipulate your mesh." Iori glanced at the computer held by Inumuta, looking at the exact location of the thread.
"I thought only goku uniforms and kamuis had them." Ryuko said under her breath.
Iori grabbed a couple of threads on Ryuko's neck and set them aside, asking his assistants to hold on to them for a while. "Here it is. Nexus Thread located." He grabbed it with the needle's hook. "Life Fiber infused humans have them too." He tugged on it swiftly and the once aware Ryuko was knocked out; her eyelids closing quickly. Iori asked his assistants to put the threads back in their place and flipped Ryuko so she faced upwards again.
As Iori and his assistants cut a bit of one of Ryuko's threads and proceeded to locate Senketsu's thread, Ryuko started to dream. Or at least, that's what she felt was happening. She found herself in what appeared to be a gigantic forest made out of Life Fibers.
"Where the hell am I?" She stood in front of an immense red glowing Life Fiber tree; its Life Fibers moving silently and slowly. She approached it and placed one of her hands on it. She tugged on various of its threads. "This is a weird ass place, that's for sure." She left the tree alone and started to make her way through the forest, plunging deeper and deeper into it.
"Hey, anybody out here?" She yelled, starting to feel creeped out by the place since she hadn't seen Life Fiber animals -or people for that matter- so far. The only answer she got in return were all the Life Fibers moving at the same time.
Her ears perked up, trying to see if she could detect any kind of sound that wasn't her stepping on leaves made out of Life Fibers. All of a sudden she swore she heard a voice calling out to her. "There's someone here nearby... Hey! Whoever you are, show yourself!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.
"Ryuko!"
It was unmistakable. Ryuko knew exactly who's voice that was. "Senketsu?!" W-where are you?!" She started to run around in circles looking at different places trying to find him.
"Over here!"
"Where?! I can't see you!" Her eyes widened, as she could listen to him being closer and closer. She turned around and there she saw him, hopping towards her at a distance. She sprinted to where he was and tackled him, taking him off guard; both of them landing on the ground.
"Senketsu..." she said as she took hold of one of his sleeves and looked at it. She looked straight into his yellow eyes and he blinked. "I-I can't believe it, it really is you!" She pulled him into a tight hug, crying tears of joy.
"Ryuko... I'm really glad to see you too." He put a sleeve around Ryuko's back.
As she hugged him, she noticed Senketsu wasn't made out of Life Fibers like the forest. "...hey, how come you don't look like the rest of the forest?" She broke away from him and looked at his eyes.
"Oh... I actually don't know. It's been like this since I came here."
"What?" Ryuko was struck by his answer. "What do you mean, how long have you been here?"
"When I burned up in the atmosphere I showed up in this place." Senketsu looked incredibly confused.
"What are you doing here Ryuko? Did something happen to you too?"
"What the hell is this..." Ryuko looked to her left and her right, trying to wrap her head around this weird, eerie place. "Senketsu...so you're saying you've been on your own all this time?"
"No. Junketsu's here too." Senketsu's voice wavered a little.
"Junketsu?! What's he doing here?" Ryuko looked around her, as if trying to see if she could spot Junketsu.
"I don't know, we both arrived here at the same time." Senketsu lowered his voice. "I've been hiding from him. Everytime he finds me he heads straight for me and attacks."
"Is he nearby?" Ryuko got up from the ground, holding Senketsu in her arms.
"It's hard to tell, but it's pretty silent, so I'd say he's not around." Senketsu's red horns twitched.
Ryuko looked at their surroundings again and noticed something odd going on in the forest. "Hey Senketsu, look."
Senketsu did as told and saw the forest did tiny, jerky horizontal movements, similar to a malfunctioning computer screen. The movements grew bigger and started to become more and more violent until it stopped all together. Then the forest started to disintegrate.
"We need to get outta here." Ryuko held Senketsu tightly and started to run.
"Where are you running to Ryuko? There's nothing else out there but this Life Fiber forest!" Senketsu warned.
"I am definitely not stopping to see what's going to happen to us once this place is done for." She doubled her running speed, heading for the tree she first encountered. Just when she was about to exit the forest, Senketsu let out a scream.
Ryuko looked at Senketsu and saw Junketsu biting viciously on his sleeve. Senketsu leaped out of Ryuko's arms and pinned Junketsu to the ground.
"Ryuko, get out of here now!" Junketsu snapped his jaws at him and caught one of his horns. Senketsu winced and bit him in the rear. Junketsu screeched in pain, wiggling away from Senketsu.
"No Senketsu, I'm not leaving without you!" Ryuko took hold of Senketsu and lifted him in his arms again.
"He's going to keep on attacking us!" Senketsu felt Junketsu biting and ripping through the hem of his skirt.
"We'll take him on then." Ryuko clenched her fist.
Iori had cut out a piece of one of Ryuko's threads and had asked Inumuta to place it inside the Life Fiber Regeneration Capsule. By the time they were cutting Senketsu's thread, the piece of thread grew to a single, identical thread to one of those inside Ryuko's mesh.
"Almost done cutting Senketsu's DNA thread." Iori announced. He was about to cut through it until he noticed the Life Fiber scalpel he was using wasn't going through the thread. His assistants all stood around Ryuko, each one of them holding onto ten of Ryuko's threads so they wouldn't interfere while Iori put in the newly constructed thread that would replace Senketsu's.
"I can't cut it all the way through." Iori muttered. "Inumuta, do you have any readings?"
"I've got zero. You should be able to cut it." Inumuta adjusted his glasses.
As Iori tried to cut it once again, Ryuko's body jerked to the right. "...what's going on?" He immediately stopped and observed Ryuko's behavior. He saw she winced and her body jerked from left to right, each time increasing in speed. "This isn't supposed to be happening."
Satsuki, along with Gamagoori, made their way through the men in white clothes. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Abnormal reactions in Ryuko." Iori mentioned.
Satsuki stared at her sister, thrashing about on the table. She was extremely worried about what was happening to her but she knew how to hide it and keep a calm appearance. "Should we be concerned, Iori?"
"I highly doubt this is a secondary reaction to the thread being cut. In any case, this might be something happening inside her brain." Iori kept on observing Ryuko and saw she stopped moving. "...doesn't seem like she'll move again. I'll try to cut it once again."
Ryuko stepped on Junketsu, out of breath and extremely exhausted. The cuts on her stomach and shoulder started to close up.
"...finally, we did it. Can't believe you had to put up with this, Senketsu."
Senketsu, on the other hand, stood before an unconscious Junketsu. His right horn was regenerating, as well as a part of his skirt. "Look Ryuko, the forest's completely gone!"
The three of them found themselves stranded in a pitch-black environment, the only beings visible were themselves.
"Now how do we get outta this joint?" Ryuko growled.
"I have no idea. I've tried to get out myself, but I might as well say this place is endless." Senketsu stated.
"What makes you think that?"
"I explored on my own. I hopped for miles, there really isn't anything out there."
Ryuko sighed and sat down in a butterfly position. "This blows. Big time."
Senketsu hopped to Ryuko's side. "It's not that bad once you get used to being on your own." He placed a cuff on the ground and made circular motions with it. "I spent years alone in that basement where you found me."
Ryuko remained completely silent, listening to him.
"You learn more about yourself, I think." He brought both his cuffs to his eyes and stared at them. "And then you probably realize you're nothing more than a piece of clothing."
"Senketsu, that's not-" Ryuko felt a jolt in her right hand. "Agh..."
"Ryuko! What's wrong?" An alert Senketsu noticed Ryuko held her hand in pain.
"My hand, it hurts so much all of a sudden..." She then felt the jolt go through her entire body, resulting in her howling in pain and falling to the ground.
"Oh no...Ryuko, hang in there!" Senketsu placed his cuffs on her body and looked at her, feeling completely useless as she didn't know what could make her pain go away.
Senketsu then saw Ryuko's body twist and turn until it finally began to morph. She screeched, her screech being more like that of a monster than from a human being. He backed away from her and saw her leaning over him, her transformation completed. Her eyes were two gigantic orbs, with slits as pupils. Her fingers morphed into sharp claws, while her teeth grew out of proportion, resulting in a vicious appearance. Her back was completely arched, and her hair was messy. She snarled at Senketsu, just looming above him.
"Ryuko... What happened to you...? This is the same as before...back when we lost control with Nui..." Senketsu backed away even more and stared at the monster before him.
Iori, to his surprise, finally managed to cut through Senketsu's thread and remove it from Ryuko's body. He ordered his assistants to not let go of the threads they were holding onto until he snapped the newly created thread back that would replace Senketsu's thread.
"So far so good." Iori grabbed the new thread with the needles and started to place it inside the gap where Senketsu's thread was. Just when he was about to place it, he heard snapping all over Ryuko's body.
"It's happening, Ryuko's threads are twisting! Hang onto them as tightly as you can!" Iori yelled.
The assistants tried to stay pinned to the ground, holding their respective threads, but the force was too much for them to bear. The ones that hadn't let go from their own threads tried to grab the threads that had were loose but it also was too much for them.
"Mr. Iori, we can't hold onto them! The Life Fibers are too strong!" One of them yelled.
"Inumuta, you said if we held onto these threads we wouldn't have a problem." Iori glanced at him.
"I thought so too, but this is something we couldn't predict." Inumuta looked at Iori from above his glasses.
"Gamagoori, I believe it is time." Satsuki nodded at him.
Gamagoori nodded back and stood by Iori's side. "What's going to happen to Ryuko now?"
Iori clenched his teeth in desperation. "She'll morph into something that's not herself. Her Life Fibers are unstable, so her physical form is being tampered with. There's nothing we can do about it. We need to restrain her."
Ryuko's body started to slowly bend, twist and curl in front of everyone.
"I've seen this before. She transformed into a monster with Senketsu when Nui appeared at Honnouji Academy." Satsuki recalled.
And now she'll transform on her own. Get ready Gamagoori." Iori warned.
When Ryuko's transformation was complete, she started to thrash around violently, snarling and growling at anyone who was near her. She clawed at her own restraints and managed to break free of them. Ryuko was about to send one of Iori's assistants flying when Gamagoori leapt on her and pinned her to the table. She clawed at him while he shielded himself with his forearms.
"Snap out of it, Ryuko!" Gamagoori boomed. "Whatever is going on in that head of yours, snap out of it! This is unacceptable behavior, you should be ashamed of yourself!"
Gamagoori's words didn't seem to reach Ryuko, as she flung her claws to his face, only to have them recoil from his forearms. He pinned her arms to the table and headbutted her. She remained unconscious for a split second and then headbutted Gamagoori back. This time Ryuko's attack 's head flung backwards, but he clung to the table, grabbing Ryuko's neck and holding her arms down with his own arms.
"Lady Satsuki! Talk to her, maybe she'll listen to you!" Gamagoori shouted.
Satsuki appeared next to Ryuko and Gamagoori and looked at her sister, who was biting at the air.
"Gamagoori, I tried it last time, but she only listened to Mankanshoku."
"It's worth a try, come on!" Gamagoori's arms seemed to slip from holding Ryuko's arms down.
"Very well then." Satsuki took a deep breath and raised the tone of her voice. "Ryuko Matoi, listen to me. This is the voice of Satsuki Kiryuin, your sister."
Ryuko's head stopped thrashing around and it slowly tilted to where Satsuki was. Her growling diminished too.
"You need to stop this now. Senketsu's thread is out of your body and we can use it to reconstruct him, we're almost done with the procedure."
Satsuki's words seemed to flow through Ryuko in an instant, but she quickly returned to her reckless behavior. Satsuki motioned Gamagoori to let her grab her sister's head and she looked at her straight in the eyes.
"Ryuko, please listen. If you don't stop this now, you're going to get killed, do you understand?"
The snarling and biting continued.
Satsuki closed her eyes and then opened them wide, a tiny tear escaping her eyes. "Ryuko Matoi, stop fooling around because you are the only family I've got left, SNAP OUT OF IT!"
Ryuko blinked twice, acknowledging Satsuki's words and received a punch to her cheek from Satsuki and got knocked out.
"Now! All of you, hold onto the threads while I place this new one into her!" Barked Iori.
The assistants scurried back to their positions and took hold of the threads while Iori lodged the new thread in into Ryuko's body. Gamagoori got off Ryuko and watched, along with Satsuki and the others, how her Life Fiber mesh untangled and Ryuko's body regained her original form.
"Inumuta, go place Senketsu's thread in the reconstruction room. Prepare two Goku Uniform beams and wait for me there." Iori ordered. "Good job gentlemen, you are dismissed."
"Affirmative." Inumuta shut the laptop he was working on and headed for the reconstruction room.
The men all saluted Iori, bowed down to him and left.
"Iori, is it finally over?" Satsuki placed her hand on Ryuko's forehead, relieved that the operation went well.
"Yes, we did it. Some rough spots here and there, but we made it. Thank you for letting two of the Elite Four members aiding us. I don't know what would've happened if we had been on our own." Iori wiped the sweat from his forehead. "As for Ryuko, that transformation was rough on her body, so she needs to rest." He went around the table and tugged on Ryuko's Nexus Thread with his needle.
Ryuko's eyes fluttered open very slowly and caught a glimpse of Gamagoori and Satsuki looking at her. "...d-did you guys do it? Is Senketsu going to be...okay?" She uttered.
"We'll try our best, Ryuko. We made it through the operation, but now we need to reconstruct both Senketsu and Junketsu. We're using Goku Uniform equipment, so we don't know how it'll turn out since these are kamuis we're talking about. But on a scale of 1% to 100%, there's a 90% chance we'll bring Senketsu back." Iori smiled at her, something very rare since he always kept a stern look on his face.
"Thanks..." Ryuko smiled back and looked at her sister. "I feel so tired... What happened back there?"
Satsuki embraced Ryuko and held her towards her chest. "I was afraid I'd lose you."
"Oh sis..." She hugged her back, and suddenly felt tears on her cheek. She looked up to see Satsuki was crying silently.
"You really don't remember what happened, do you..." Satsuki chuckled between tears.
"No, to be honest, I can't remember a thing." She hugged Satsuki even tighter at the sight of her tears.
"I'm glad."