Chapter Twelve

"What the hell are you doing in here you jerk?!" asked Tomo in a aggressive manner, moving forwards, before being stopped by Yomi in case the man had a concealed weapon with him.

"Yeah, you weren't invited…were you?" asked Osaka, completely non-threateningly.

"That's true" said the man, blinking once, Kaorin backing away, still freaked out by the eyes. Those things were just so-so weird! Creepy strange eyes with large black pupils and no iris to be seen.

"Why shouldn't we just kill you?" asked Yukari.

"Because you're better then that?" suggested the man hopefully.

"Oh trust me, I'm not above that type of thing" said Yukari, holding a thick iron bar in her hand. "Believe that."

"We aren't going to kill him" replied Yomi.

"How about grievous bodily harm?" asked Yukari eagerly as she turned towards Yomi, waiting for a positive answer. She had a lot of stress she needed to work over, and this type of situation would be perfect.

"No" said Yomi, Yukari looking just as annoyed as she casually dropped the iron bar to the floor, shrieking as it narrowly missed her feet. She thought she would have learned to stop doing stupid things due to anger by now.

"Why are you here?" demanded Yomi, attempting the more intelligent approach as Yukari stood fuming and Sakaki held back Tomo who's arms were waving around the place, making circle of furious intentions. "Why did you come in here?"

"Because we now have a common interest. We both need to survive against a common enemy- you could help me and I could help you. I saw this as the best place to go to."

"How could you possibly help us?" asked Kaorin, grimacing and ducking down as the whole structure rumbled as bombs hit the roof above them. Beside her Sakaki ruefully looked up at the ceiling above. There was no knowing how long the structure could hold.

"Oh, look at how deep this place goes" said Osaka, her finger pointing towards eventual darkness. She moved towards Yomi. "Do you suppose something's down there?"

"Ye-" started Tomo, grunting slightly as Yomi's open palm caught her on the cheek and pushed her away before the wild accusations could begin, Tomo trying to resist the pushing only to find herself staring at a different wall.

"There's nothing there" said Yomi, one arm still held up to prevent Tomo getting into gear.

"That's not technically true" said the man. He watched slightly smugly as the girls (he didn't properly consider them women yet) turned to face him in surprise.

"What do you mean?" asked Kaorin.

"N-nothing's down there right?" asked Chiyo, "Nothing bad?"

The man paused for a moment, staring down at the floor, as though in deep thought. With a sudden movement that caused Osaka to back away in terror his head rose back up and he broke into a grin.

"Oh my no, nothing bad" he said, "Instead, something that may ensure our survival."

"You never told us how you could help" said Yomi, "For all we know you could be bluffing for time or something."

With his hands still held up, his index finger suddenly rose to point up to the ceiling, Osaka looking up expectantly. The man was jolted slightly as more bombs exploded above.

"As I've told you, those people do not care very much for me, and want all of us dead." He pointed to himself awkwardly with his thumb. "I have many years experience using those things, who better to aid you in battle then a person who has used, fought alongside, and against those types of machines?"

"You may not have noticed but they're in great big machines and our best shot is her" said Yukari, pointing in the general direction of Osaka who had a look of faint confusion slowly appear.

"We could always give Sakaki a sword and send her out" joked Tomo, "She might do ok."

Sakaki looked across at Yomi, who shook her head. Sakaki felt relieved. There was no telling what Tomo might try to do.

"Sword?" asked Kaorin. "What do you mean by that?"

Sakaki jolted slightly as Tomo (who had been standing behind her) walked forward and wrapped an arm over one shoulder. Tomo slowly pointed towards Sakaki who looked awkward.

"Miss Sakaki's a trained swordfighter now. But she doesn't do any competitions for some reason." With her free arm Tomo made dramatic swoops, while making swoosh noises. "It's quite something isn't it Sakaki?"

"I-I guess" said Sakaki, not use to boisterous praise.

Kaorin looked up at Sakaki as the image of the tall girl riding a horse to rescue her returned. Only this time she sat upon a white steed, a sword held high in one hand, stretching towards the heavens as Sakaki held out her other hand to Kaorin… Tomo scratched her head as Kaorin suddenly turned away, blushing deeply.

The man, not quite sure of what was happening, had been patiently waiting to speak, attempting to go back to the original conversation.

"And just what do you think we are in?" asked the man, glad to finally say the words.

"Some sort of bunker?" suggested Tomo.

Slowly the man shook his head.

"A cardboard box?" suggested Osaka.

"A tin can" said Tomo, with another suggestion.

"An English university accomodation room?" asked Yukari in the cramped room.

"Why don't you just tell us?" asked Yomi, feeling slightly agitated, as another dulled explosion was heard.

"Good idea" said Chiyo, spotting the look on Osaka's face that suggested something strange was about to be said.

"You are in an Inorganic robotic weapon system" said the man proudly. He stood as the others looked at him in silence. Osaka nodded while Tomo leant back against the wall with a blank expression.

"A what?" asked Yukari.

"One of those machines" said the man pointing upwards towards the unseen machines that flew above the steel roof. "You're in the torso entrance section, a very small part of the whole machine."

"A giant robot?" asked Chiyo, the man nodding.

"Cool!" said Tomo, making a triumphant V-sign. "Super robot and super attacks!"

"You have to be kidding" said Yomi, adjusting her glasses slightly.

"I recognized the small insignia. My former comrades believed it had been destroyed." He tapped against the metal. "Seems they were wrong."

"But would it work?" asked Chiyo. Along with Yomi (who refused to believe) she was the only one not to have a look of blank confusion.

"Well the concealed door worked, so there must be some energy left in it" said the man. "Or possibly a lot."

"So we kick those people's asses with a giant robot?" asked Tomo, trying to explain the situation to herself and others. Yukari muttered something in agreement, and Osaka nodded.

"Well, it all depends on your skills" said the man. "Down that corridor is the central torso and engineering facilities. You'll need to work together- two legs, one person working in each, two arms, the same, the head and the torso."

"Sakaki tie him up" said Yomi, "Let's see if he is telling the truth."

The man grinned. "I think you'll enjoy this" he said, looking towards Tomo. "Oh and you may know me as Davids. My true name takes a while to say and highlights my impediment in my natural language. So just call me Giarc, it's a nickname."

"I'll call you whatever I like" said Tomo.

"How about Giarc?" asked the man.

"Sure, I'm fine with that."

"Humans are strange, strange creatures."

---

Yomi coughed slightly as thick dust gently floated around in the moderately sized room, having been stirred up by the people entering it. She turned on her torch and slowly scanned the room, spotting a chair sticking out of the wall, resting at an angle to the floor, owing to the fact the machine was currently resting upon its 'back'. As she turned she spotted the large screen and control panel resting within the 'roof'. A short distance from her Tomo yelled out as she narrowly avoided falling through an open doorway that due to the machine's current position was built into the floor.

"That leads into what I guess you humans would call the engine room" said Giarc.

"I'll go take care of that" said Yukari, picking up a wrench that rested against the door frame in the floor.

"I'll…help" said Chiyo nervously, as Yukari lowered herself down into the engine room.

"You" said Giarc, staring at Osaka particularly intently, the girl slowly moving further and further back until standing behind Sakaki. "You're the one with the gun skills right?" he asked, "You led to me being here."

"Yes" said Osaka nodding. "It's my duty along with eating bread."

"What?" asked Giarc. "Anyway, the left arm section had a projectile weapon firing capability, and probably has the default weapon available."

"What?"

"The left hand is holding a ridiciously oversized rifle, it'd be best for you to use it."

"I agree with him" said Yomi, "If that is true. You're the best shot we have. God knows how that worked out though. So why not have a look?"

Yomi's head slowly turned as cursing from Yukari and cries from Chiyo were suddenly heard. A light flicked on, and a dim blue colour could be seen on the screen above. Reserve power had evidently been restored. Two hands suddenly appeared on the door frame, and Chiyo's head appeared.

"This thing may start up soon. We'd better strap ourselves down so we don't go flying around."

"Uh, this place had a chair" called out Osaka, "And it has some type of screen, I think it might be a console game room."

"That's a screen to view the outside world" called out Giarc.

"There are control's here too" said Osaka.

"I call the other arm" called out Tomo, running through to the other arm, laughing manically. Yomi groaned as Tomo's head slowly reappeared from behind the wall. "It's like a giant game system" she said grinning, "There's like a joystick and buttons- coloured buttons!"

Sakaki ducked down slightly as a rumble passed through the machine.

"Something's happening!" yelled out the concealed Yukari as Chiyo pulled herself back into what Yomi had already dubbed the control room.

"The people controlling the legs will have to work together" stated Giarc.

"I could try" said Sakaki. Kaorin looked across at her in admiration.

"I could try too, I mean it might work, might as well try huh?" said Kaorin in a frantic manner.

"Go for it" said Yomi, the two walking forwards in what would normally be down, Kaorin close to Sakaki. Yomi tapped a finger against her head. The sooner the machine was at the right angle, the better. This was getting confusing.

"I'll stay in here" said Chiyo, groaning slightly as she fell back into the chair currently sticking out from the wall.

"You'll be tied to the uncomfortable looking chair in the corner" said Yomi, Giarc moaning.

"What about me?" called out Yukari as Yomi sprinted towards the head section.

"Just try to hold onto something" called out Yomi, "You're the engineer now."

"Cool" said Yukari to herself, gripping hold of a pipe. She steadied herself. She hoped this would be like a ride, she hadn't been to a theme park in ages, as they had all been closed due to the threat of terrorism.

Chiyo looked up at the screen as it suddenly burst into full high definition colour, showing off part of the sky as the sand that covered the machine fell away as it began to rise. The sky slowly filled more and more of the screen, as the dim light was replaced by a pleasant light, not too bright, but not too dark.

"Is everyone in place?" asked Yomi, speaking into a small device built into the headrest of her chair.

"Yes" came the reply from the others as the machine's arms reached back and started to push itself up.

Giarc, without a seatbelt, gripped hold of the armrests with his bound hands. "This is all automatic! But in a minute or so you'll have to control it!"

"Let's see what this thing can do" said Yomi, as the two enemies came into view.

---

"What the hell?"

"What is it?"

"The system is reporting the activation of an IRWS!"

"That can't be right! There aren't any around here."

"It says right- there it is!" called out the pilot as the dark green, humanoid robot came into view, two arms, two legs.

The right arm rose, and the fingers drew back, until only the index finger remained, pointing towards the pilots.

"Prepare to have your asses kicked!" called Tomo into one of the microphones, her voice blaring out of a speaker built into the side of the arm.

"Looks like we have a proper battle on our hands" said the lead pilot. "This should be fun."