Chapter 11: Victory?
Word of New Famille's victory at Karamindo spread throughout the universe like wildfire. With almost no money left to finance the Empire's occupation of the far reaches of the universe, Grand Duchess Merina ordered what remained of the Gormin to withdraw from their posts and return to Zangyack Prime. With the Zangyack, seemingly retreating back to the hole from which they came, the universe broke out in a massive celebration. Just about every type of people on planet in every galaxy was out in the streets, dancing and singing and in some cases, defacing Zangyack monuments. But on some planets, like New Famille for example, the people have been celebrating having a feast. The tents were decorated with ribbons and balloons and many long tables were set up. Once all the food was prepared and set on the tables, every citizen of New Famille, young and old, took their seats.
As for the delegates, they have their own grand table set up in what will become the main dinning room in the the still incomplete new palace for the New Famille Royal Family. Seated at the head of the table was the Queen herself. With everyone seated and with something to drink, Ahim stood up, to give a toast. This toast was going to be broadcasted throughout all of New Famille and the neighboring planets via radio. "Before we have our feast, I would like everyone to please bow your heads and give a moment of silence for not just the brave men and women that gave their lives for this day, but also for the loved ones we have lost. For they were the driveing force for our resolve to defeat the Zangyack." Everyone at the palace, all over New Famille and everyone listening in to the broadcast complied with Ahim's request and gave their respect to the dead. After ten seconds of silence, Ahim rose her glass as she spoke again. "To the future." began the Queen. "May this day be the beginning of an everlasting peace." Everyone in the dinning room raised their glasses and gave a hardy "here, here' in response to Ahim's wish for peace. With the toast done, everyone began to dig in to their dinner. During the meal, everyone shared stories of their past escapades, but no one was able to captivate his listeners like Gai. Gai not only told stories of the Gokaigers adventures, but the stories of all of Super Sentai. The stories were so great, that everyone at the table stopped talking so that they could listen to the young mans tales. His enthusiasm as he spun his yarn was what really true everyone in. Everyone was so entranced by Gai's stories that they ended up staying at the table a full hour after desert was served. It wasn't until Luka suggested that the party be moved to the outside that Gai was finally able to take a breath and stop. As everyone got up and left for the what will become the backyard patio of the palace, Gai pulled Luka over to the side as he had a very important question for her.
"What is it Gai?" asked Luka.
"There's just something I need to talk to you about." said Gai.
"About what?"
"About our future together."
"Is everything okay?" asked Luka a little nervous.
"Everything is perfect." reassured Gai. "i was just thinking…" Gai then pulled the ring he made for Luka out of his pocket. "That maybe that future might involve a family." Luka at first didn't understand what Gai was talking about but once Gai dropped to a knee, she felt a lump crawl up her throat. "Luka, will you-ummm." Gai didn't get a chance to finish as Luka tackled him and gave him a long passionate kiss. Once she broke away from the kiss, Gai could she the beautiful smile that was on her face. "So is that a yes?" asked Gai with a frisky grin. Luka then leaned back down and kissed Gai anew. Gai rolled the both of them over and as he started to get up, Luka wrapped her legs around Gai's waste. Once Gai was on his feet, he carried Luka back to their tent, for some…alone time.
Outside of the incomplete palace, no one noticed that Gai and Luka were not apart of the festivities as they were all admiring the fire works display that the Kappakanons have put on. As the fire works continued, Marvelous took his eyes away from the sky and began to scan the crowd for his crew. Looking around, Marvelous first saw to his left, Dora was resting he head on Don's shoulder and over to his right, Marvelous could see Joe and Mai standing hand in hand. Marvelous then turned around to look back at Ahim. She was sitting with her aunt and uncle, admiring the show. "Are you going to tell her?" asked Navi, speaking directly into Marvelous' ear.
"Not so close, Bird!" said Marvelous swatting Navi away. "I'll tell her. In do time."
"Marvelous," began Navi "the longer you wait, the more time you give to some aristocrat to come in and steal her heart." As Marvelous and Navi continued to talk, Ahim looked down from the sky and began to look longingly at Marvelous. As she watched Marvelous have his conversation with Marvelous, Ahim told herself that come hell or high water, she will tell Marvelous how she feels. Right as she was about to excuse herself to go down to where Marvelous was, Marvelous nodded his head to Navi in her direction and walked off. As Marvelous walked away, Navi flew up to Ahim. "Ahim," began Navi "Marvelous would like to talk to you in private when you have a moment to spare. He will be at the lake."
"Y-Yes." said Ahim. "Please tell Marvelous-san that I will see him shortly." Navi nodded at Ahim and flew off to inform Marvelous. "Oh my." said Ahim to herself. "What does Marvelous-san want to talk about?" At that moment Governess Marie placed her hand on Ahim's shoulder. "Go to him Ahim-chan." Ahim looked at her aunt, then turned to look at her uncle. Seeing Ozi's encouragement in his eyes, Ahim excused herself and left so that she would not keep Marvelous waiting.
At the opposite end of where the palace is being built at what will be the edge of New Famille's new capital city, Marvelous stood at the shores of a massive lake, looking into the reflections of the three full moons that were out that night. As Marvelous waited for Ahim's arrival, he began to talk to himself mentally on what he was going to say to Ahim. "Okay, it's no big deal. It's only Ahim. Maybe a queen now but it's still Ahim. You've spoken to her a million times. Not like this but still." Just then Navi flew up and told Marvelous that Ahim had arrived. Marvelous turned around to face Ahim. When he saw her, Marvelous was awestruck by how beautiful Ahim looked under the moonlight. "Shit!" thought Marvelous to himself. "This is going to be a lot harder then I thought."
"Marvelous-san." began Ahim.
"Yes."
"Navi-san said you wanted to talk to me."
"I do."
"Good." said Ahim. "Because I have been meaning to talk to you for some time now."
"Really?" asked Marvelous. "About what?"
"I just wanted to know if you were happy here." said Ahim. "I know that a quiet life is not as exciting as a life as a pirate. I was just thinking, well, hoping that you would…"
"You're worried that I'm not happy?" asked Marvelous. Ahim nodded in response. "Why wouldn't I be happy? This place is great. I finally have, for the first time in my life, I have a planet I can call home. Yeah, living a life constantly traveling can be exciting but, it's tiring."
"So you wouldn't miss being a Gokaiger?"
"There are things I will miss." admitted Marvelous. "And things I won't miss, like having a bounty on my head. But I'm tired of always going from solar system to solar system. I'm ready to settle down."
"Settle down?" said Ahim. "Who would-I mean, where would you like to settle down?"
"Well…" Marvelous began, but then he realized that Ahim asked 'who' first before 'where'. "Wait, what do you mean by who?"
"What?" said a surprised Ahim.
"You started to ask me, who I wanted to settle down with."
"I-I meant where." said Ahim.
Marvelous and Ahim stared at each other awkwardly for about a minute. "Ahim," began Marvelous breaking the silence. "What are you're exact feelings for me?"
"My…" Ahim's eyes shoot wide open at the question. Her heart began pounding like a drum set in a heavy metal band. "Oh my…" said Ahim internally. "Marvelous-san, are you trying to admit your that you love me?"
"Because…" began Marvelous. Marvelous hesitated for a few seconds. "Because…" Marvelous couldn't understand why he was flustered. All he had to say were three words. "I love you. I love you." Marvelous kept repeating the three words in his head. They were just three simple words but they had a very powerful meaning. "Ahim it's because-"
"YOUR MAJESTY!" came a terrified voice from out of nowhere. Marvelous and Ahim turned to where the voice came from and saw that one of the scholars was running their way. The scholar was running like there was a pack of hungry lions. "YOUR MAJESTY! YOUR MAJESTY!" Once the scholar reached Marvelous and Ahim, he keeled over and began to breathe heavily. As he raised his head, Marvelous and Ahim could see the horrified expression on his face.
"What's the matter?" asked Ahim. The scholar stood up straight to try to answer Ahim but he couldn't get the words out. He was both to frighten and out of breathe to answer. "What is the matter?" The scholar help up a magnifying scope and a handful of gold coins in the other. These coins were part of the treasure the Army of New Famille had raided from the final storage facility. Ahim didn't understand at first but soon realized that the scholar wanted to look at the coins with the telescope. Ahim took the magnifying scope and held it up to her eye. Upon examining the coins, the same horrified expression that the scholar had on his face was now on hers. "Marvelous-san!" cried Ahim.
Marvelous didn't even ask what the problem was, he just took the magnifying scope and started to examine the coins himself. Looking their the scope, Marvelous could see that there were dozens of four-legged microscopic robots all over those coins. "Wait," began Marvelous "these are…"
"Microbots." said the scholar finally able to speak again. After exchanging a quick look, Marvelous and Ahim both took out their Mobirates to call the others. However, their calls were interrupted by the sound of sirens echoing over various loud speakers set all throughout what will be the capital city. These sirens were set up as a warning for if New Famille was ever under attack. And that's exactly what is happening. Looking back at the incomplete palace, Marvelous, Ahim and the scholar could see hundreds of Zangyack capital ships on the horizon.
