Chapter 12 – The Past Zero II
[Aldnoah Zero, uninhabited island – 2018]
After the prison being attacked, 3 days later, Inaho and Slaine took the military aircraft, and arrived on an uninhabited island to start their new "mission". The place they landed was a beach. Behind it, there was a large forest.
"Are we really going to live in this uninhabited island… without others?" Slaine said.
Then Inaho started to look around.
"It looks like there's nothing on the beach. If we aren't camping here, there must be something inside the forest."
"But this forest… would it be too dangerous to go inside?" Slaine looked towards the forest. What he saw was only darkness.
However, they did not have other choices, so they took out their guns, and walked inside the forest gingerly.
While walking in the forest, the whole atmosphere was very creepy. They could see some dangerous animals such as snakes and insects roaming around. They tried not to touch anything to prevent getting hurt, or even getting killed.
After several minutes of walking, the whole ambience has suddenly changed. There was a mansion in the deep side of the forest.
"This mansion… Are we supposed to come here?" Slaine tried to knock the door. Thus the door opened.
"Inaho-sama, Slaine-sama! Welcome! It's been a long time for not seeing you two!" A brown-haired little girl stood in front of the door and said.
"Eddelrittuo?!" Slaine said in surprise.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be around Princess to serve her?" Inaho said.
"Vers Empire and the Earth have a new cooperation project. Her Highness… no, her majesty is the one who hosts the program, so she sent me to take care of you."
"A new project launched by Princess Asseylum?! What is it about?!"
"It's now Queen Asseylum! But… you don't know the contents? Haven't anyone explained to you before?"
"No one has explained. We're just told to 'live together' faraway without others."
"That's odd… But I don't know either. By the way, please come in. Doctor is waiting for us. I think she'll explain."
Then the two people followed Eddelrittuo to go inside the mansion.
"So this can't be an uninhabited island. There're people living in here. And living without others is also a lie."
"And my raping plan has been failed."
"You still remembered this…"
"What are you quietly talking about?"
"Nothing special. By the way, you've said 'Doctor' before. Who's she actually?"
"You'll know it later."
The 3 people arrived in front of a door. Eddelrittuo just opened it. The room behind was actually a giant laboratory, with two people conducting experiment inside it.
"Dr. Suzuki! I've brought Inaho-sama and Slaine-sama for you!"
"Thank you! Eddelrittuo!" Suzuki said. "Please come in!"
The 3 people came in the laboratory.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Suzuki Yukika. Here's my assistant, Matsukane."
"I am Matsukane Teruhira! Nice to meet you!"
Dr. Suzuki was a woman with long brown hair. Teruhira was a young boy with black hair and glasses. They were both wearing a laboratory coat.
"I am Slaine Troyard! Nice to meet you!"
"Kaizuka Inaho!" Inaho said. "And Dr. Suzuki, are you that Suzuki Yukika, the one who was the authority of mechanical engineering?"
"Yes, I am. And because of this, I was invited to join this project." Suzuki said. "So Slaine and Inaho, do you know why you are here?"
Both people shook their heads.
"So no one told you the details? That bastard…" Suzuki said. " OK, I'll explain it to you now. Matsukane, could you please bring me my tablet?"
Matsukane took out a tablet and handed it to Suzuki. She opened some pictures and handed the tablet to Inaho and Slaine. The picture was showing a creature that appeared at the prison before.
"This creature… Do you know what it is?"
"It's called the 'Predator'. From the secret documents, evidences showed that it was an alien creature. Before the prison attack, its kind has already appeared on Earth 4 times."
"About the 'Predator', the facts that we know are, their objective is hunting us, humans. Their means are very cruel. They'll peel off their preys' skin and hang the bodies up high, or they'll collect skulls of their victims. However, some evidences showed that they had honors and manners when they're hunting."
"The 'Predator'?! How could this…"
"Do you have any clues?"
"When we saw that monster, this name suddenly popped up from Inaho's mind. At that time, we all had the sense of discomfort, which also made Inaho to nose bleed."
"Sense of discomfort? Could it be…" Suzuki said. "Matsukane, could you give me the dimensional shockwave report 3 days ago?"
Matsukane took out a document and gave it to Suzuki. After reading, her face was full of shock. "I know what's happened…"
"What's this?"
"This is the dimensional shockwave report. It recorded the energy generated by the shockwaves 3 days ago. The report showed that when the prison was under attack, there was a high reading recorded. I think this's the reason why Inaho knows the 'Predator'."
"But what's dimensional shockwave?"
"Do you know who's Dr. Haro?"
"Dr. Haro? Isn't he the authority of quantum physics that always wearing a green helmet?"
"Yes. And his most famous thing is the Miracle Hypothesis." Suzuki explained. "Some forms of matters or energies are able to produce dimensional shockwaves. If the shockwaves are strong enough, it's able to affect other matters, energies, and even minds. Therefore, Dr. Haro has a hypothesis that if the energy meets one point, it's possible to produce miracle, which means everything in the world could be altered. Therefore, many scientists just fall over each other to do research on the shockwaves."
"So that means the shockwaves told me its name?"
"I think so. Also, you two had the Aldnoah factors inside your bodies, which made you more easily to be affected by the shockwaves. Since Aldnoah was originated from the ancient alien civilization, it shouldn't be strange you gained knowledge from that."
Then Inaho looked at the pictures again and started to think. "That creature also knows Aldnoah. Would it know the origin of this power?"
"So why we're here is to help the investigation?" Slaine said.
"Not really. Actually, you two were chosen to test my new armors which is for fighting the alien invader."
Suzuki took out a remote control and pressed the button. An elevator raised 3 special armors up.
"This… This is…"
"The Aldnoah Armor Series, which were inspired by the mecha you piloted. Every single one is driven by the mini-Aldnoah drive." Suzuki said. "Let me introduce. The first one is AAS-01 Orange, inspired by Inaho's KG-6 Sleipnir. The second one is AAS-02 Bat, inspired by Slaine's Skycarrier. And the final one is AAS-03 Gull, also from Slaine's mecha, Tharsis."
"So… we'll be wearing these armor to fight the Predator?"
"Yup, since you're ones of the only people that have Aldnoah factors inside your bodies, you're the best choice to use these armors." Suzuki said. "However, these armors still need some testing. And you also need some training before you could fight the cruel hunter, the Predator!"
After Suzuki said that, Inaho looked at Slaine. Slaine showed a firm stares on his face. It looked like because of the project and the armors, he regained his meaning of existence. Thus on Inaho's face, the rare smile has appeared on it again.
So in the next few weeks, both people have started the testing and training, to prepare for the fight with the Predator.
[Aldnoah Zero, forest – 2018]
After the prison being attacked, several days later, the Predator was hiding in a forest to contact its own planet about the Aldnoah factors found in Inaho's and Slaine's bodies.
(The conversation below is in Yautja language.)
"Contact the Yautja planet. I've found the Aldnoah factors inside two human bodies. What should I do next?"
"Humans are preys. They don't deserve to possess any Aldnoah particles, so your new mission is to eliminate them."
"Got it."
"However, if they have enough prowesses, please combat them in the glory of Yautja!"
"Alright, I'll finish this mission as soon as possible!"
"Hope all goes well for you!" The Predator turned off the conversation.
After the conversation, it jumped off from a tree. Its new mission has begun. However, it did not know where Inaho and Slaine have been.
Therefore, the only way that could attract them was… hunting.
[Aldnoah Zero, uninhabited island – 2018]
After training and testing for several weeks, Inaho and Slaine were now able to use the Aldnoah Armors flexibly.
"Alright, since you two have passed the final test, I think you should be able to fight the enemies in the battlefield."
"Great. We can finally fight the Predator!"
"But where could we find it?"
"By now, I won't hide it anymore. In these few weeks, the Predator has continued its hunting, and attacked a lot of Aldnoah facilities. Now, if it hasn't left the planet, it should still be hunting in somewhere."
"How could this… happen…"
"Sorry, I can't tell you where it was before you two could pass the test. How I didn't want to send you to die." Suzuki said apologetically. "But now you've finished the training, if there's any news, I'll tell you immediately!"
After Suzuki said that, Matsukane ran towards them urgently. "Dr. Suzuki, the Predator has appeared in the Aldnoah power plant in Nagoya. The situation is still one-sided!"
"So it's now the time…"
"Let's go! Slaine!"
[Aldnoah Zero, Nagoya Aldnoah power plant – 2018]
Inaho and Slaine wore their Aldnoah Armors and arrived in the Aldnoah power plant. Inaho's one was the AAS-01 Orange, and Slaine's one was the AAS-03 Gull.
The scene inside the power plant was very horrifying. Everywhere on the ceiling were corpses hanging upside down, and their skins were completely peeled off.
"This is so cruel…"
Suddenly, the Predator turned off its cloaking effect and appeared in front of the two people. Both people then posed their battle postures and were ready to fight.
Then the Predator pressed a button on its Wrist Gauntlet to change its vision to check their Aldnoah energy levels. Comparing to several weeks before, the reading has been increased to a much higher level, thus the Predator began to remove the hoses which connected to its bio-mask.
"What is it doing now?" Slaine said.
"It looks like some kinds of their etiquettes. When they meet their true enemies, they'll take off their masks to fight in the glory of warrior." Inaho said.
After taking off several hoses, the Predator took off its bio-mask and showed its monstrous face in front of the two people. It then roared towards them.
"It's really like the data said. It's really ugly…"
The Predator then extended its wristblades and charged towards the two people. Inaho and Slaine quickly took out their blades to resist. Both sides repeatedly swung their weapons rapidly, thus started the wrestling between sharp weapons.
Comparing with the Predators appeared before, this one has a much higher speed and power. Because of that, the two people were forced to step backward continuously.
"If close combat doesn't work, how about projectiles?" Inaho and Slaine both started to shoot their machine guns. The Predator easily avoided the attacks, then extended its plasmacaster and began to strafe towards them.
Both people used their armors to defend. While defending, the Predator charged towards Inaho and punched his face. Inaho was sent into the air.
"Inaho!" After Slaine shouted his words, because of the prediction ability given by the Aldnoah drive, Slaine knew that he would be stabbed by the wristblades. However, the Predator was just too fast that Slaine could not react immediately. His stomach has already been penetrated. Then the Predator threw him towards Inaho and made them hit each other.
"S… Slaine… Are you alright?"
"I… I am ok… This armor can regenerate our bodies."
Then the 2 people stood up.
"It looks like in this situation, our conditions can't let us defeat the Predator… So the only way to win is to release all of our Aldnoah power."
"But Dr. Suzuki said it may make our bodies overloaded…"
"There's no other way now. So let's go, Slaine!"
Both people started to concentrate. And the Aldnoah drives began to rotate faster and started to emit golden radiance. Their whole body thus was covered by golden particles. The energy was so large that even the Predator was shocked.
"So this is… the true power of… Aldnoah?"
Normally, a common living being is unable to release that level of Aldnoah power. However, now with the Aldnoah Armor Series and the mini-Aldnoah drive, every single Aldnoah energy was forced to be emitted. Even the Predator could not predict this situation could be happened.
Seeing Inaho and Slaine took out their full power, the Predator has finally found its best trophy in the universe. And this time was also the time it could use its full efforts to fight.
The Predator took out its combistick and extended its wristblades, and then charged towards the 2 people. It used its full effort to onslaught them. Inaho and Slaine thus used their blades to resist, which started another round of wrestling. However, this time, the situation has been 180-degree changed. Inaho's and Slaine's speed and power have already surpassed the Predator. This made it unable to resist the attack. Thus its stomach got hit, and it was forced to step backward.
Then Inaho wore his Orange helmet. "The Orange helmet can replace my mechanic left eye to analyze your weaknesses." The weak points have been analyzed, thus Inaho started to shoot his machine gun towards those points. The Predator tried to dodge but since the helmet had also already calculated its dodging patterns, it could not avoid the bullets and took some damages.
Afterward, the Predator tried to extend its plasmacaster to shoot plasma towards Inaho. But suddenly a beam came out, the plasmacaster was destroyed. The Predator then turned to look at Slaine. There was a mobile laser gun flying in the air aside him. "With Gull, I am able to use different abilities of Martian Kataphrakt!" The mobile laser gun was a weapon from a Kataphrakt called Herschel.
The Predator then tried to throw a smart disc towards Slaine. Slaine dodged it quickly by his precognitive ability. But the smart disc just changed direction and flew towards Slaine's back. Fortunately, Inaho has already estimated this and quickly threw his blade to cut the smart disc into half. The Predator was shocked again.
As the Predator was still shocked, Inaho immediately took out his machine gun and started shooting. Slaine also generated more mobile laser guns to shoot beams at the Predator. Since it was not able to react, its every single weak point has been hit, thus it took a ton of damages from that.
Although the Predator has injured seriously, it was still valiant. It ran towards the 2 people to have its last-ditch. Slaine just quickly jumped up and cloned himself into three, and together kicked the Predator's head hard, which made its skullcap cracked. The cloning ability was from Ortygia.
"Now! Inaho!"
Inaho quickly took out a blade and charged towards the Predator. The blade cut through its waist, which made it took too much damage that it could handle, thus, the Predator was finally fallen.
As the fallen of the Predator, Inaho and Slaine finally won their first battle.
However, the Predator was still not dead. While on the ground, it started to laugh creepily.
"Aldnoah… doesn't belong to… preys… The mission… must… be… done…" The Predator pressed some buttons on its wrist gauntlet. The timer on the gauntlet began to count, and the Predator laughed again.
Inaho tried to use his helmet to analyze the gauntlet. "Not good! It's a self-destruct device! Run now, Slaine!"
Slaine immediately picked up Inaho, and began to fly away rapidly from the Aldnoah power plant. "This speed is not enough! The explosion can cover about 24 km!"
"Bat!" Slaine summoned his Bat armor and quickly wore it. He then accelerated to the highest speed. After several seconds, the device exploded. A large mushroom cloud was created. Area of radius 24km has been completely destroyed. Although the two people were outside the range of the explosion, the blast wave still hit them, thus both of them hit to the ground hard.
"Are… are you ok? Slaine…"
"I… I am alright…"
Both people looked at the mushroom cloud. Simultaneously, the Aldnoah drive has stopped rotating. The side effect thus began to come out. The 2 people were feeling the extreme pain from that.
"So… so painful… We really… still haven't adapted… the full power of Aldnoah…"
"Yes… But fortunately, we're not dead yet…"
"And we really take down the Predator…"
After Slaine said that, Inaho managed to stand up. "That's not the only good things…"
"Hum?"
"Our Slaine has reborn. Since he's been jailed, he usually thought of committing suicide. And his life was like losing its meaning. But now, after this fight, our Slaine has finally regained his meaning of existence." Inaho then held out his hand to Slaine. "Let's try our best together, Slaine!" Inaho beamed again.
Seeing Inaho's smile, Slaine's cheeks blushed, then also held out his hand to shake Inaho's hand. Tears started to come out. "Thank you, Inaho! Let's try our best together!"
After shaking hand, they both immediately fell on the ground.
"It looks like we still need ambulancemen to come…"
After Slaine said that, there were clapping sounds coming out. The two people then tried to sit up and figure out where the sound came from. In front of them, they just saw a man wearing laboratory coat and green helmet approaching them.
"So epic… You two have really done the most romantic love story I've ever seen in my life!" The man said.
"Who… Who is this guy?"
"Dr. Haro?!"
"Yes, I am Dr. Haro! But that's not my true identity. I am actually…" The man quickly took off his laboratory coat. Several different colored sphere robots appeared in front of them. "We're the Haro army, the most intelligent and strongest army in the universe!"
"Ro… Robots?!"
"We the Haro army now invited you to join us, and go to different universes to fight different evil forces. We'll provide training for you. And you'll meet new friends there."
After some discussion, Inaho and Slaine accepted to join their force. So this was the past of the Aldnoah Zero, and it was the beginning of Inaho and Slaine in the Final Fantasy.
To be continued…