Chapter 20: Stars Above

I'm using the spelling of Juro since no one corrected me in reviews. I've seen it both Juurou and Juro about the same number of times so I guess it's just translation. Thank you to everyone who helped me get Himeka's name.

Oh and exams are over finally, just a few make-up days I'm not allowed to skip because of all the absences I have…

LunaClefairy: Keep in mind; if the enemy gets the Andromeda key, they basically win. Unlike most of the others, Gemini White knows this and is more or less setting the stage for later. I love the hero thing, but I'm just pointing out how it would be looked at in real(ish) life. Yes it is cool, but they are children fighting and risking their lives and for some reason that tends to bother people.

Matteso585: I'll try and explain everything as soon as I can.

Ngray651: Pfft, exact reaction I was hoping to install in people. You're not supposed to like him.

Delphi: Gemini White will only get worse as times goes on, trust me. For better or worse the police and like will be getting involved as much as they can, which is how I can later justify some of the stuff WAZA and the like can do. As for Zero Blade getting stronger, they're only really just getting into the fights and getting used to their powers. Obviously more will naturally develop as time goes on; getting everything at the start wouldn't be fair or fun, would it?

o-o: Err…this isn't place where that happens, though a lesser power boost will happen soon enough.

There was so much screaming. They were the screams of the tortured and the damned or those as they mourned the loss of loved ones; recklessly throwing themselves into the fight only to be slaughtered as well. Guards fought among themselves as they were divided with rather to remain loyal or join the rebellion. There was so much needless death as everything was ripped apart.

Everyone was dying, everyone was dead…!

In the distance of the crumbling expanse before him he saw her. Countless others were trying to kill her yet she continued to fight them off like the powerful warrior she was. She was strong and she would protect him until her last breath. She turned to him and reached out and tried to grasp his own outstretched hand. Yet he was cruelly yanked away just as fingers brushed with a shout of protest, away and into the surrounding shadows.

And the mass converged onto her and all he could do was watch stupefied as they ripped her in half.

Red on red eyes snapped open and instantly focused on the green clawed hand that was reaching outwards, desperately trying to grasp the nonexistent hand of the past.

Without even truly thinking about what he was doing, FM King Cepheus completed the action he'd unconsciously tried to do and closed his hand, the fingers wrapping around nothing but air.

Once upon a time he would have woken up screaming bloody murder but he'd long since forced himself to stop that. The only thing it accomplished was making any guard that may be posted outside his chambers rush in to 'defend' him because apparently he had sounded like he was dying.

There was no place for such useless things in his life now.

It took absolutely no effort to let the pulsing healing energy waves that had been supporting him fall apart into their natural state, and the humanoid FM gracefully dropped the ground. Pausing for only a moment to make sure everything around him was in order, Cepheus allowed himself to hover just above the ground so it was easy to move about.

FM life forms didn't need to consume food and instead would naturally absorb energy from around them, but that didn't mean they didn't need to enter states of dormancy once in a while. Most FMs either took occasional rest of a few hours every few days, or sleep a day or two ever few weeks. Mass clumps of energy could be woven if one had enough skill to accelerate the recovery period, though they usually would only cut off a few hours at the most.

Cepheus opened the doors and floated past the bowing guard, giving them a nod of acknowledgement (despite their uselessness, all things considered). Since all the stonework around them had been carefully woven with Denpa energy so it was just like an FM's armor, it made it impossible for most FMs to pass through without breaking down the wall.

Cepheus could pass through the walls with minimum effort, negating the energy that would normally block him with ease. The only reason he actually bothered with going down the quarters was more because he wasn't in any rush, in fact, since no one was around…

"Do you have the report?" Cepheus asked to seemingly thin air.

Anyone else would have been shocked as white FM suddenly appeared out of nowhere to their left, but Cepheus didn't even blink even as he still couldn't detect the FM's energy signature. It would normally be offsetting to anyone else but he'd long grown used to it.

The FM was a bone white color which only made the extremely simple black armor and gloves he wore stand out all the more. The sharply pointed white mask connected to the helmet that completely incased the FM's head with his family crest engraved on it. The red 'scarf' seemed a bit out of place until one knew just how effective of a weapon it was when it was either sharpened for a perfectly clean kill or used to muffle a target's cries for help.

"Of course, King Cepheus," the white FM said with a respectful bow which only earned him a flat look.

"Phantom, please just inform me of Libra's report," Cepheus said, not in the mood for this game.

Phantom was one of the few people who Cepheus actually trusted (and not the degrees of mistrust or neutrality he showed most everyone else). Phantom easily knew Cepheus far better than any other FM alive having been his caretaker far before he'd become king and had succeeded in keeping Cepheus alive long enough for him to become the next king.

"Nightmares again?" the unwavering look Phantom received was enough answer, "Very well…Libra, as you know, requested additional support for the mission to retrieve the Andromeda key right before you were forced to rest," Cepheus had practically been comatose by the time Libra arrived and had been forced to rest after receiving a very abbreviated report or else he'd damage himself.

Again.

Cepheus nodded, "I am aware. And the general information they've gathered on the traitors?"

Phantom quickly produced a small cube just larger than a marble. The crystalized stone was a modified type found in certain parts of Planet FM's crust that was purified. From there it was perfect for storing vast amounts of information, which, like everything else, could be recorded and accessed with different Denpa strands.

The two stopped in the deserted hallway, knowing no one would interrupt them. Phantom wouldn't even show himself to others unless it was necessary; being faceless was invaluable if he was to finish plucking the weeds out of Cepheus' courts.

Picking one of the files at random it only took a moment for the image of the pink clad girl to form along with all the information. Humans would describe it as a hologram, something they were endlessly fascinated with for some reason. Phantom didn't know why; they were simple to make.

"Harp is unexpected. The best we can say is that she grew attached to the human she found, which may be connected to that Harp was unable to perform a parasitic Denpa-henkan. At best she could keep her host unaware while she manipulated the body and sent reports, but even then her host grew immune to that in record time." Phantom informed, "And from there a bond somehow formed. Harp left the others and thus why we are only just receiving any news of what has happened."

Cepheus just nodded. Even if that was supposed to be impossible he wasn't surprised, "I heard that Zero is now defending Earth, what about him?"

"He's decided to use this as what we assume is revenge. He's not suicidal enough to outright challenge you so it stands to reason he has decided denying you of what you…want is good enough," Phantom brought up the image of Zero's Denpa-henkaned form, Zero Blade, "No Overdrive has been used so we do not know how that will affect the Denpa-henkan, or if he can even engage it while Denpa-henkaned."

Phantom looked like he wanted to say something more, but decided against it. They had had this argument of why Cepheus sent Zero and not Phantom on the mission that had turned the warrior against them before; dwelling on the past would accomplish nothing.

"And what of the unknown?" Cepheus asked, clearing telling Phantom to not bother asking what they both already knew the answer to.

Phantom brought up the image of Hiroki and Axl's Denpa-henkan, "A complete anomaly that only Libra fought. Apparently he has the most varied basic abilities which includes the ability to hover and…what we are assuming is invisibility."

"Invisibility?" Cepheus took a moment to think, "How many other family lines besides your own have such an ability?"

"Very few, maybe one or two others," Phantom pointed to the blank chest armor and helmet, "But he lacks anything that could be considered a crest, so either it is concealed or the unknown FM does not have a family. Though even with his range of abilities the other FMs have reported him as the least powerful of the four since his basic form of attack does little damage per hit."

Cepheus nodded, "Then it makes little difference. If he was from an even remotely importantly family line we would know or he would have told us."

"And of course there is War-Rock and the human he has Denpa-henkaned with. His abilities are relatively basic and general considering how the others have been specialized. Of course Gemini has reported a rather interesting apparent ability…"

"I already know what abilities War-Rock's Denpa-henkan should possess," Cepheus calmly said "He values brute strength so it only makes sense that his Denpa-henkan would be extremely strong. Whatever Gemini likely reported was most likely him copying basic and possibly even specialized techniques, adapting quickly to suit the opponent's fighting style better, and so on, yes?"

Phantom just nodded, not surprised that Cepheus had long ago predicted what War-Rock would be able to do in his Denpa-henkan. Even though War-Rock had never gotten a chance to preform one with any organic species, Cepheus knew enough to at least make an extremely educated guess. Cepheus was known for his analysis abilities and had an unmatched knowledge at how Denpa functioned and would behave under any number of circumstances.

"Extreme Adaptability …" Cepheus said with a small nod to himself as though he'd just confirmed something, "Well if the difference in War-Rock's wave pattern wasn't enough proof for me then this report just confirms it."

"Adaptability…even more important than just power you know. Imagine an enemy who may be weaker than you can still win simply because they can adapt to perfectly counter your fighting style in a matter of minutes." Cepheus smiled bitterly at a few memories that surfaced, "It only makes sense that those who don't know the truth would just assume they were outright stronger than them."

Cepheus felt an odd sense of bitter humor overcome him; he knew this feeling very well, "It only figures that War-Rock would turn against me, he does not have the natural loyalty others tend to have. It's rather fitting, considering he's the last AM life form that'd he'd defend the biggest potential threat to Planet FM, don't you think so Phantom? Humans are perfect hosts, imagine what would happen if…'someone' ever tried to use them against us."

Phantom kept quite even though he was one of the few who knew exactly what Cepheus referring to. Other than himself there were five or six others out of thousands of FM life forms who knew. The rest had just been fed the lies and propaganda and were content for the most part.

"Libra also expressed his personal concern that Gemini is…enjoying the freedom he has on this mission. He made a point of expressing a concern for his own safety, being such a lower rank than him combined with Gemini's history." Phantom added even if he knew what Cepheus' response would be.

"Gemini will do no such thing; make sure that he is reminded that he is not allowed to pass his so called 'judgment' on any FM present, rank or none. If he does so I will personal strip him of his rank and status," Cepheus paused as he thought the matter over a bit more, "Execute him personally if he murders any of his comrades."

Phantom nodded and followed Cepheus as the green FM king continued down the passage, though he quickly disappeared as soon as they neared others.

It had been nearly a week in a half anything noteworthy had happened in Kodama.

Oh sure there was the occasional Denpa-virus attack, but compared to what had been recently happening that was nothing. No one had seen even a glimpse of the attacking FM life forms, and thus sightings of the growing heroes had also decreased. This infuriated reporters and tourists who hoped to see them and still failed to truly grasp the magnitude of what was happening. Yet with it being the middle of spring break people still tried to catch a glimpse of any of the four children even with chances relatively low now.

Tamotsu was perfectly fine with that since it meant that he could, in good conciseness, take Alouette out to the park. Oh sure an attack could happen anytime, but that didn't mean he needed to constantly be overly weary. Doing that would just drive himself insane and god help the idiot who'd attack the girl.

Of course every time there had been a significant pause in attacks bad things usually happened. The enemy FM life forms were obviously regrouping and planning now, but where that would lead was anyone's guess. And Zero made a point of reminding his blond partner of such even if he was mostly ignored.

Today was a beautiful and peaceful day (not that he'd say it out loud, that was a sure fire way to jinx it) what with the weather pleasantly warm with just the right amount of breeze. Since it was spring break that meant that there were plenty of other children for Alouette to play with, Hisashi more or less dragging her into playing if she tried to be timid.

Thankfully for the younger boy Tamotsu really didn't think he liked Alouette, not like that. He was too young, too childish and that was his saving grace. The past few weeks had made him even more protective to put it lightly. Actually it was starting to near a few months, time just kept passing so quickly with everything that kept happening and goddamn it; now he felt old.

Currently the blond was carrying three different ice cream treats, two separate cones in each hand and a third fruit bar he was trying and failing to prevent from getting covered in ice cream from the other cone in his right hand. Before the treats had even a chance to melt the blond made his way to his stepmother and handed the cone in his left hand to her. She took it with a quick thanks before continuing to chat among the small group of woman around here.

A few of them commented on his hair but Tamotsu pretended to not hear as he briskly walked over to Alouette. For whatever reason woman tended to think he did more than just wash it like you were supposed to, commenting needlessly on it. As he approached Alouette saw him with the treat and smiled and all but skipped over to him.

"Thank you, Tamotsu~" Alouette said before quickly attacking the ice cream.

Since he no longer had to focus on delivering the melting ice cream Tamotsu had also started to devour the fruit bar a moment after licking off any ice cream that had gotten on it. He let out a sound of confirmation between bites, more focused on quenching his thirst with his fruity treat. It was so easy to pretend like everything was so normal right now, and that there wasn't a reason to worry.

Obviously Tamotsu afraid for his own family, afraid that he'd fail and moments like this wouldn't exist anymore. It was extremely likely that Gemini White knew he was Zero Blade and just biding his time like with everyone else. But once again worrying constantly would just drive himself insane, and if he couldn't think clearly he couldn't fight clearly and…

…And that had probably been Gemini White's entire plan. Worry could be an extremely bad thing, slowly eating away until you couldn't even think straight. Then there was the self-doubt in your own abilities that Zero had mentioned when Tamotsu had found out just where that blood had come from.

Subaru had enough demons without Gemini White adding fuel to the fire. It was a good thing that as soon as Zero and War-Rock realized this they managed to convince Subaru to at least attend school and the practices so he could get stronger and take down Gemini White next time. The prolonged gap in attacks seemed to both be helping and hurting the Subaru's nerves, peace trying to coax his body into relaxing but his inner raging thoughts keeping him well aware of what was happening.

Tamotsu tried to clear his head as he absent mindedly chewed on the remaining stick. The whole reason he was out here was to relax and not thing about matters like that. But after over a week of nothing happening he was starting to get antsy from the sudden contrast.

"…got a picture of him, see?...No I don't know his name but he's the newest which means not many others have pictures of him yet…Do you even know who I'm talking about?...No it's not the blond chick, it's that orange head, honestly you never listen…"

Tamotsu perked up and listened as long as he could to the man talking excitedly to a friend via his blue Transfer until he was too far away. With a grumble he remember how the newest 'member' continued to effective elude the efforts of all three of them.

Harp Note (they still didn't know her identity but she didn't know there's so it was only fair he guessed) had at least started to somewhat regularly communicate and occasionally meet with them. She hadn't been too keen to participate in the practices, only wanting to relax until War-Rock ended up making a sexist comment.

Subaru was very unfortunate that War-Rock was attached to his arm.

All joking and beatings aside Tamotsu agreed with Zero that Harp Note was the most balanced of the three. She didn't specialize in strength like Subaru or speed like he himself did, but she wasn't lacking in anything either. There was also the fact that she definitely had the best Battle Cards, and refused to share with Subaru due to War-Rock's own comments. Zero also mentioned that she had the most armor coverage even if it was a bit thinner than their own and that it would have probably been better if he had made armor similar to hers (Tamotsu quickly voiced his opinion on that matter). And with a thousand miles worth of communication they could at least keep in touch better. Harp Note still kept going out of range though, which made Tamotsu wonder just where she lived…

Zero was stirred from his searches about the earth in general when he noticed the boy informing his stepmother and sister that he had to leave. He knew that Tamotsu had nothing planned (living in the boy's Transfer led to him being updated completely on the boy's plans and life in general) and also knew the blond had more or less planned to pass out in the sun and relax before school started again.

"What are you doing, Tamotsu?" the red FM finally asked as the boy walked to a deserted area.

"We're going to go track down a certain ginger," Tamotsu checked the area and made sure no one would happen to walk by at the exact wrong moment.

Zero didn't bother to inform his partner that they'd probably be just as successful as any previous attempts. Sure this would be the first time they activity tried to find the other boy and not just trying to pin him down when they happened to run into him. But even though the orange haired boy stuck out horrible he was somehow still a master at escaping and hiding; the ability to invisible at will tended to make a target much harder to track.

Well, Zero knew it wasn't actual invisibility, at least not conventional invisibility. Probably just a technicality or just a differing variation, but it was something that bothered the FM. That, and how the partner FM never said a word, only making small squeaking or stuttering sounds at best, as if he was afraid to talk. What FM would willingly turn against Planet FM and then not even give their reasons why or at least their name.

It was odd.

And Zero found himself liking it less and less the more he thought about it.

"Then let's start looking now, Tamotsu."

Amachi sighed as he looked over the information once again, but no solution came to his mind. It wasn't as if they didn't know what they needed to do; it was just that their current technology simply didn't allow for the insane power or performance they needed. It was a roadblock they had no idea how to pass.

Well, it wasn't like AMAKEN would be the ones to figure it out now, apparently this 'NAZA' was having this project dumped into their lap. Something about having more funding, better materials and not having their networks compromised at least once a week now.

Speaking of which, Amachi watched with little interest as a few other workers half-heartily attempted to block Rockman from accessing their direct satellite connection. But the boy still somehow had administrative rights that were practically equal to the ones Dr. Hikari himself would have if he logged in so nothing worked. The poor old man, however, was on his last legs and no one was allowed to question him until he recovered more from an episode he had not too long ago.

Amachi was quite glad that even the alarm systems stopped going off every time Rockman accessed the connection, they were obnoxiously loud and getting on everyone's nerves since the blue clad boy had started accessing the connection several times a week just after what had been dubbed the 'Gemini Incident'. Stupid name since unlike the other 'incidents' Gemini Spark (Black and White, Amachi felt stupid for not at least having the thought that there'd be two of them considering the FM's name) was still very much alive. Giving it a name like that only made it seem like it was over.

Interesting pair with one being borderline insane and very swear-happy while the other was ruthless and calculating and rarely said anything remotely as vulgar as his counterpart, opting instead to use pure (and effective) intimidation. He and Cygnus Wing were the only two (three?) FM life forms that had escaped their fights with the child heroes and were assumed to be the only ones still able to fight. It was only a fifty percent ratio of success but it was better than nothing.

Amachi frowned as he thought of Cygnus Wing; the thing that Utagai had become when he'd been possessed. No one had seen the blue skinned FM since the attack that had been meant to cripple AMAKEN, though Amachi had a gut feeling that he had something to do with the stolen Matter Wave converter. Even if Dr. Orihime had the insight to send a less complete version first the FM's still had possession of an extremely advanced piece of technology.

It was because of Utagai's possession that Amachi still looked over the files before him when his coworkers had given up. NAZA now had control of the project so why should they be frustrated with the weapon while they were banging their own heads on what was wrong with the three satellites? To add to the insults to AMAKEN's ability and reliability even the Matter Wave converter project had been moved to NAZA.

Amachi forced himself to stop thinking about all the other problems that had been stacking up, doing that would only just frustrate him more. From the data they had gathered and using a few key words Zero Blade's assumed FM partner may or may not have knowingly given them; they had managed to work out why the gun seemed picky on what it actually worked on.

The 'Denpa barrier' Zero Blade had mentioned explained so much when applied with certain assumptions.

When they assumed that all FM life forms held a natural 'aura' of sorts of Denpa energy around them it made sense why nothing but each other seemed to even faze them. The aura would absorb pretty much any traditional forms of damage and could only be canceled out by another FM's energy; be from simply getting close or what energy they poured into their attacks.

The next question was why did the gun work on Libra Balance's injury while Gemini Black didn't even blink both times it was used on him. But the answer was in the question if you thought about it, they hit an injury and not a perfectly fine FM. It would make sense that an FM could not maintain the energy over such a severer injury; though extent that that applied to was unknown. It could be anything from just a mere scratch or dent in the armor (unlikely considering how strong they were thinking here) or only to nearly crippling wounds. Sadly, the later was more likely, because if it wasn't then the aura (or whatever it really was) wouldn't be worth the effort to maintain.

This was probably why even the high-powered version of the weapon only succeeded in throwing Gemini Black back from the force. His aura-barrier-thing absorbed the actual damaging energy with only the force left to knock him back and nothing more. If the blasted FM could shake off even a fraction of the crap Amachi seen him take from the records then a few trees was probably about as effective knocking him through tissue-paper.

Tack on that the aura was probably self-regenerating as long as the FM had enough energy to keep it subconsciously maintained and that they had no way of knowing of any possible weak points they were in trouble. In theory they would either have to blast the exact same place twice to actually do damage or developed a blast large enough to blow away the entire aura and damage.

It wasn't like the energy put into those guns was small; it was enough to cause them to either need cool-down time or to flat out explode and/or short circuit. And even if they hit the same place twice they didn't know how fast the aura would replace itself. If it could do that in a few seconds or less then they'd never be able to counter it.

There was adding the fact that this was all just 'in theory'. Just because it helped to fill in the gaps didn't mean it was true and even the idea sounded odd when they tried to explain it. It should be impossible; this was basically a paper thin, skintight force field like barrier that was somehow still insanely strong and resilient despite those factors they were talking about here!

'What's even 'impossible' anymore?' Amachi thought with vague amusement. Every time they thought they'd seen it all suddenly something else would happen that more or less gave physics and logic the middle finger.

Amachi rubbed his eyes as they started to ache from being strained so much and he sighed in defeat. At best they could be possible support for the children, but even then they were probably rubbing salt on the enemies' wounds at the most. Until someone made a major break-through they were stuck. Anymore power and the guns started exploding or frying out and if they made them any bigger then they weren't convenient to transport to wherever the next attack was since combatants could move whenever.

Amachi signed as he tapped the screen to close out the information. He couldn't think properly at the moment and he was only going to frustrate himself at this rate. He gave the small side-screen that told of the status of the satellite connection and wasn't surprised to see that Rockman had disappeared off the connection. If he checked one of the scans the satellite did around itself he'd probably see an 'unknown' energy signature right outside the satellite to the point it seemed like Rockman was just sitting there.

That's how it always was; the boy would ride up so he was right at the orbit of a satellite before abandoning the connection yet still staying right by the satellite. Later he'd take the same rout back down and get off, the connection not damaged in the least. At least none of the other three kids had started using them yet, that'd get people even more worked up.

Amachi couldn't help but worry for the children. He knew how humans thought and knew it was only a matter of time before people tried to bribe them into doing less than legal things. And even if they claimed they were above child soldiers he knew that even the army would try and get their hands on the four kids.

If those kids wanted they could probably take over the world, no one could even touch them, much less stop them.

Plenty of people would kill to have that power under their thumb.

War-Rock watched Subaru as the brunet stared out into the expanse of space with a distant look on his face. The past week or so had been hard since the boy was worried that Gemini Spark would try and kill his mother along with the doubt at what Gemini White had alluded to.

Just what was War-Rock hiding from him?

The blue and green FM had refused to say anything to Subaru about his father until the brunet helped him. Despite wanting to know what really happened aboard The Peace Subaru was actually more ok with their arrangement than he thought he'd be; he was protecting not only his mother but all those he'd suddenly found himself caring for.

Protecting the world was impossible to even think about, much less imagine.

But he could protect a few people, and by doing that he was still protecting the world at least.

War-Rock felt extremely awkward around Subaru at the moment, knowing the brunet was definitely thinking about everything that had happened again. One of those topics most certainly had to include what Gemini White had said about his father. However inadvertently it had been; the man and his team had been the ones to start this entire war.

In truth, War-Rock had been fully ready to tell Subaru what had happened to his father that very night. He knew what Gemini White was trying to do, make doubt grow between them so they wouldn't fight as efficiently while at the same time trying to chip away at the boy's feeling of safety in his own home.

But Subaru had surprised War-Rock that night.

"Listen…Subaru. About your father…" War-Rock began awkwardly, knowing he had to catch this early before it grew into a real problem and got them killed.

Subaru cut the FM off, "It's fine. You don't want to tell me yet so it can wait until all this is over. That was the deal right?"

War-Rock just stared at the brunet, having not expected that reaction. Subaru didn't even really look up, instead continuing to run his thumb over the golden pendent. It was amazingly smooth even at the ridges and always held a strange warmth to it even though by logic's standpoint it should be icy cold.

"But Subaru, about what Gemini White said…" War-Rock amazed himself as he tried to press the issue. Well the last thing he needed was the only human on Earth would was compatible with him to hate him; that wouldn't end well with a small army after his head.

"It's fine War-Rock," Subaru once again cut the FM off, pulling the Visualizer over his eyes so he could look at the Wave Roads through his window, "You can tell me when this is over and we aren't fighting psychotic FM life forms who are trying to blow up the world."

War-Rock didn't bother trying again. It was most likely better this way; the less they doubted each other the better.

Subaru continued to look out at the stars and identify all the consolations he knew from where he sat on the 'wing' of the Pegasus satellite. It was quickly becoming easy to keep himself in that odd in-between state, solid enough so he could touch physical objects but still safe from the vacuum of space. It took some experimenting but once he had it, it was easy. Different levels of 'in-between' would yield various results, being intangible while still visible, invisible while still intangible, etc. Yet as interesting as the degree he could control his own physical state was, that wasn't what Subaru was thinking about.

He'd always found it odd how nearly all the FM life forms were named after constellations that were well known on Earth. They probably had different names (since they definitely had a different language on Planet FM) but they just happened to match the constellation names. Or they were actually named after the same constellations so the names just translated over perfectly. But didn't that mean that Planet FM wasn't actually that far away if they saw the same stars. Unless the FMs saw those stars while they traveled through space which meant that Planet FM really was far away…

Subaru decided to stop thinking about the technicalities, why were names important anyway? Oh wait they actually were if Gemini Spark was any indication, but then maybe Gemini had gotten inspiration from the constellation picture itself? No one had expected Gemini to somehow split his conciseness point and actual host into two separate bodies.

Subaru sighed (he also stopped questioning simple things like how he could do such things without air long ago) and shook his head a bit to clear it. Looking down he saw the golden pendent that had somehow embedded itself into his armor. Ever since that one time with Gemini Black the thing hadn't even so much as twinkled much less release actual energy though it still continued to stay warm to the touch.

Subaru wished it would do something again; it made him feel like his father was watching over him that much more. It would probably only do something if someone was about to impale him again, but Subaru wasn't keen to test that theory out. And it could have been a random fluke; considering that the pendent shouldn't have even integrated into his armor in the first place.

Yet despite thinking about his father so much Subaru had no intent to learn what really happened aboard The Peace just yet.

It wasn't as if he stopped caring about what had happened to his father, quite the opposite actually. But Gemini White clearly wanted Subaru to know such information which was good enough reason as any to not learn just how War-Rock knew his father. The white FM was clearly trying to place doubts in his mind, whether it be his own mother's safety or his partnership with War-Rock, Subaru was determined to not let the sadistic FM succeed.

Yet he couldn't help but wonder.

Subaru really wanted to believe that War-Rock hadn't done anything that bad but there was always that chance that he had. Always the chance that the information could ruin their partnership somehow and then what? War-Rock would surely be killed, the Andromeda key stolen and Earth destroyed. No, they had to work together.

Subaru was pretty sure he should take on the apparent attitude that Tamotsu had. The blond knew very well that Zero was using him but had no issues with that simply because now he could protect his family. Technicalities and details aside, what difference did their goals make when they both involved protecting the planet through the exact same means?

Least that was the blond's view.

So Subaru was fine waiting until they had fended off the enemy FMs. Not 'if' but when, because they would win, they had to win; so Subaru wouldn't be selfish and endanger his mother and friends just to satisfy his own curiosity.

What use would it be to find his father only for the very planet and people the man loved so dearly to be destroyed?

And yet…

"Rockman~!"

Tsukasa didn't exactly know where he was walking right now. He just suddenly had the impulse to go out walking with no set designation in mind. Without a care they boy popped in his ear buds and started playing a random song from his Wave Scanner, not caring what it was as long as it successfully blocked out the world.

Tsukasa frowned a bit as he walked; normally he didn't listen to his music nearly as much as he did now. It seemed to be in correlation with his memory gaps, the more he had the more wanted to block out the world. Yet despite how much he should be worried about said memory gaps he couldn't even bring himself to truly care.

One that he had the best memory of was when he took Subaru to his special place on Dream Island. The brunet had left and Tsukasa remembered feeling sad; though over what was unknown. And then next thing he knew he was waking up in his own bed with the only thing different than normal being the mess of various junk-food wrappers scattered about.

It should bother him; this wasn't like falling asleep on the couch and waking up in his bed. The trek back home from Dream Island wasn't exactly short what with needing to not only take a quick boat ride but also change Skylines and then buses twice? Yet the more he thought about them the less he actually cared until they didn't matter; they were just something he now thought of in vague passing with an odd smile for whatever reason.

The green haired boy twisted one wire around his finger as he thought. Of course there were wireless headphones but some people preferred the old fashioned ones or simple needed the wires so they could actually keep up with the ear buds. Tsukasa somehow found himself amused by the thought since he was always losing things now a day it seemed. First cheap ear buds even with the wires, and now hours of the day and pieces of his memory?

Maybe he really was going mental.

There was always the chance that it could be his old condition rearing its ugly head once again. But just as quickly that thought was put down; if it was that then Tsukasa knew he'd know because he wouldn't be allowed to not know. This was an extreme disappointment for the Tsukasa, since he'd be happy to have him back if that'd fix things. Better the evil, no; better the demon you know than some unknown quarry.

Least with his old 'demon' he was actually safer (most of the time) than he'd be on his own.

Tsukasa was cut from his musings as suddenly his Wave Scanner stopped playing whatever song it was on for absolutely no reason. He looked down at the device in annoyance, ready to make the blasted and old thing play once more when something caught his eye.

Tsukasa's eyes widened a bit as he saw the entrance to an extremely impressive garden; even the front arch was made from a perfectly trimmed hedge with other hedges forming perfectly straight paths. Without even thinking he turned and walked into the garden, admiring the beauty and craftsmanship. Despite the branching pathways Tsukasa saw he kept moving straight down the main path, wanting to see what was at the end.

After a moment the bushes turned outward and reviled an extremely large courtyard considering that this was just outside of downtown Kodama. The stonework was simple yet held a pattern that naturally drew one's eyes to the massive hedges that had been trimmed to form surprisingly life-like animals, most of them several times Tsukasa's height.

Tsukasa also saw the beautiful red-bricked building before him. Tsukasa stared at it for several moments before he actually managed to realize that the structure before him was a house, not some public complex like the lack of fence suggested.

"…I shouldn't be here then, what if they think I'm trespassing or something…" Tsukasa started to turn and leave. He didn't know what came over him, just assuming that the property was open to the public simply because there wasn't a fence guarding their front lawn? Not everyone felt the need to have a fence; this was just a larger scale lawn with very trusting land owners.

Tsukasa stopped and decided to take one last look at the beautiful front of the house. While doing this his sight almost instantly locked onto a dainty little glass table obviously meant for one or two people to sit at and eat on a pleasant day. Sitting on that table, however, was a thin crystal vase, a single white flower sitting proudly in it.

Tsukasa's eyes widened as he recognized the flower, even from distance, "No way…A Kadupul flower?"

Unable to resist even the remote chance that he could see such a rare flower Tsukasa hesitantly walked over to the table. The closer he got the more his hesitation seemed to melt away and suddenly Tsukasa was leaning over the table, fingers just brushing the moon white petals as if it'd fall apart even he even breathed on it.

Flawless white petals surrounded the wispy creamy strands in the center almost protectively. Additional thinner yellow petals reached out, a red tint on their underside provided shocking contrast to the almost unnaturally white flower.

Yet despite all its beauty Tsukasa's smile fell after a moment of the most delicate inspection he'd ever done. Even as he felt disappointment wash over him Tsukasa made a point of being extremely careful in removing his hand from the flower.

It was almost a perfect replica of a Kadupul flower, so it could almost as fragile as they were.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" a rough voice called suddenly, making Tsukasa jump a bit.

Silently cursing himself for not leaving as soon as he realized he was trespassing Tsukasa slowly turned around to see the man who'd caught him 'in the act' so to speak. The man was obviously the gardener what with the pocketed green smock and gloves he wore; his skin a healthy tan though that highlighted the scar on his face even more.

Juro Ogami gave the green haired boy an annoyed look, casually flicking off the electric gardening sheers (they didn't work any better than traditional ones but they did at least last longer). Juro grumbled something under his breath and made a mental note to ask his employer to install at least a basic fence. He was getting tired of chasing kids out and cleaning up after they messed with the planets.

"Uh…I was just looking at this flower here…I thought it was a Kadupul flower but then realized it wasn't so…Sorry for trespassing," Tsukasa apologized, hoping the man before him wouldn't be to mad.

Juro gave the boy a questioning look, "You weren't damaging it, were you?"

"No, not at all! I, well, hope to be a botanist or something like that one day so of course I'd not hurt it."

Juro looked over the relatively scrawny boy before him, trying to decide what to do. Finally after a moment the man let out a sigh, "Well that's not a Kadupul flower, it's a plant that was bread and altered to look almost exactly like it so people could finally have as close to the real thing as possible."

"I figured it was something like that. Even now people can hardly cut them free without instantly killing them and then they still die in a few hours," Tsukasa confirmed with a nod, not noticing that the gardener was rather impressed, "Sorry again for trespassing, I don't really know what came over me…"

"It's fine really, just tired of those…darn kids coming here and messing with my sculptures. It's more or less become a second duty of mine to chase off anyone causing trouble," Juro complained, though it was more to himself.

"I can see why that'd be frustrating, making these can't be easy," Tsukasa confirmed and gave another look to the sculptures around him.

"They aren't! I get especially mad when those blasted kids mess with the ones I worked extra hard on so that she'd be impressed and…" Juro quickly cut himself off, not wanting to go off on a rant to a kid he didn't even know.

Tsukasa just blinked as Juro gave an awkward smile, "So uh…what's your name?"

"You can just call me Juro I guess. Anyway, it's nice to see that you have an interest in plants. It's not that often you see a boy these days that actually respects nature," Juro said.

Tsukasa nodded, not sure what to say now. He hadn't expected to come here and make acquaintances with a complete stranger who worked at the home he was technically trespassing on. And yet he had no drive to leave, at least not until he asked a question that'd been bugging him for some reason.

"So…what made you move to Kodama?" Tsukasa asked, feeling more than a little awkward at the odd look Juro was giving him now, "W-well I just noticed that you don't seem to be from around here? You just, uh, don't seem like you'd move to or stay in a city (even if it's still called a town for whatever reason) if you like plants and flowers and…"

"Well I did move here a little less than a year ago. No idea why, I just felt like I should come here so I did. Lucky I actually managed to get a job I like and that I'm good at…" Juro explained while also mentally reminding himself that that was why trying to hit on his employers daughter was a bad idea.

Silence reigned for several moments. Tsukasa wasn't sure if he should just leave or wait for the gardener to tell him to leave; though at this rate it'd be the later. It wasn't like he had anything else to do but it would be rude to stay any longer than he was wanted but at the same time rude to just leave.

Juro wasn't entirely sure what to do but didn't have the heart to kick the boy out just yet. Even if he wasn't meaning to the green haired boy was pulling off one of the best 'kicked puppy' looks Juro had ever seen.

"So…you like the Kadupul flower?" Juro finally asked, deciding he'd talk to the boy and hope the child would get bored and leave on his own. Despite what some of the boys who snuck in would claim Juro didn't enjoy yelling at children all the time.

"Well, I've always liked the Kadupul flower. The plant and bud itself aren't all that pretty and don't give any hint to just how amazing the flower within is. I think it's one of the most beautiful flowers there is, it's a shame it only gets to show its true beauty for such a short time after taking months to bloom," Tsukasa paused as he though over the flower for a second, "I guess that's what makes it so beautiful; all that waiting only to see that flower for a brief moment, but I bet it's worth the effort in the end."

Subaru was jerked form his thoughts as he heard his name suddenly being called over the coms, the voice instantly recognized as Harp Note. A moment later Subaru found himself turning so he could properly see Harp Note as she sat down next to him on the 'wing'.

"So this is where you were, huh?" Misora asked using the coms and only received a nod.

Misora hummed a tune to herself and left the coms open so Subaru could hear the relaxing sound. The blond girl didn't stop even after she reached the end since Subaru hadn't closed the channel, which had to mean that he at least didn't mind the tune. A few more minutes went by like this before Subaru finally felt uncomfortable.

"Why are you here, Harp Note?" Subaru finally asked the girl.

Misora shrugged, "I don't know, I just…thought that'd you'd need someone to talk to maybe? I know you can't be feeling too good since Gemini Spark apparently knows who you are…"

"He knows who you are to, right?"

A nod and Harp added, "And Cygnus Wing to at the very least."

"I just…how did he find out?" Subaru asked himself more than the pair next to him, wondering where he was careless, "Uh, if you don't mind me asking, how do you think they found out about you?"

Misora and Harp were silent for several moments and Subaru wondered if he'd said something wrong. But then Harp finally spoke, "That'd be my fault. Before I defected from them I tried to form a parasitic Denpa-henkan, but I could only succeeded in keeping her unaware for short amounts of time and even that didn't work after a few times. But that was enough to at least inform them of my compatible human's identity."

Subaru nodded slowly.

Finally fed up with Subaru's constant worrying War-Rock decided to put and end to this, "Ok look Su…Rockman. Just because Gemini Spark knows who you are doesn't mean he's going to attack your family anytime soon. The best thing you can do is defeat him before he even gets the chance to!"

"And why wouldn't he? I should be home right now, he could be attacking my mother right now and I'd never know until it was too late!" Subaru countered, deciding he should do just that and getting up.

"Just wait a second, he couldn't attack now because…uh…"

"Oh shush War-Rock, you're no good at these things," Harp said before addressing Subaru, "It's true that Gemini Spark and anyone else who knows could attack at any minute, but he won't."

"And why not?"

"It's the same reason why he hasn't attacked my partner even when he's probably known about her far longer," Subaru paused at that, not having thought about why that was, "In reality the longer this mission takes, the more FMs that are defeated by us and the more of a struggle we put up before they win, which they won't, the more credit they get. Gemini Spark and Cygnus Wing haven't been doing nearly as much as they could, why? Because if they are the only two to not have been truly defeated at the supposed end of all this then they'll get almost all the credit. Our supposedly 'useless' struggle would only get them more rewards and praise if they could actually win against us. Until he deems that it is time to 'end' this he'll only be collecting information on us so they can attack as effectively as possible."

Subaru stared at Harp in surprise having never thought about any of that. In hindsight he really should have been wondering things like that the whole time yet somehow it'd slipped his mind. When it was explained that way it made sense. Gemini Spark's fights before had been for either show or to collect information; only trying to actually end their lives if the chance presented itself or he was just mad.

"That's exactly what I was going to say, but you interrupted me, Harp!" War-Rock said after a moment.

"No you weren't, and you know it."

"Yes I was!"

Misora ignored the bickering FMs, "So…what are you doing out here?"

"…I like to stargaze and you really don't get much better than this…" Subaru said after a moment with a shrug. It was probably a bit extreme to go into space just to stargaze but considering how easy it was now…it was just so calm out here, "Why are you here anyway?"

"Oh well…I knew that you'd be bothered over what happened last week since you didn't have Harp to explain the reason why you shouldn't worry yourself sick just yet. Not that you shouldn't worry that an insane killer knows who you really are who your family is and…that came out wrong…"Misora let out a nervous laugh before deciding to start again, "I just saw you heading up the direct Wave Road so I figured I'd follow and well…here I am."

Subaru smiled as the girl next to him attempted to explain herself without sounding awkward. Misora saw his smile and finally stopped trying to justify her reasoning, the two of them listening to War-Rock and Harp bicker for a bit.

After a moment Misora 'muted' the two (something Harp had showed her how to mentally trigger) making Subaru blink at the sudden silence.

"So…you stargaze a lot, right?"

Subaru nodded, "Yeah, I do it all the time, it's kinda my hobby I guess."

"Other than fighting off evil aliens ever weekend?"

"I wouldn't say it's every week…Probably averages to every other weekend I guess. And sadly they don't attack just on the weekends either," Subaru replied, and Misora giggled at the absolutely nonchalant way he said it. Somehow being involved in a few of the fights and knowing just how intense they got made it even funnier.

"Only every other week eh? With the way people in Kodama talk it almost seems like every day, though I wouldn't know since I'm not around that much…sorry about that," Misora grimaced as she remembered her less than perfect appearance rate.

"It's fine, at least you do show up and you can fight well enough that it's not like you're a liability. And you'll be able to show up more once Harp gets better at communicating us all, right?"

"She's increased it a bit; nearly 1,200 miles now," Misora saw Subaru's face perk up and sighed, "It's not nearly as much as you think. If we all lived nearby then yeah but since I, uh, move around a lot, it's not enough yet." It was only about a third of what was needed for concerts in Europe or the Americas.

"Oh," Subaru said, trying to not sound too disappointed. It was hard to adjust his perception of distance since suddenly they could zip around the world in a few seconds. But even then that meant that she'd have to be practically on other side of the world, "Then why not try and not move around as much? I guess if you can't really help it then there's nothing you can do but even then…how hard is it to stay within 1,100 miles of Kodama?"

Misora smiled a bit at that and had to resist mentioning just how hard it was for her. After the initial testing Harp had been having trouble increasing the range despite how easy it should be. Harp had thought she was being hopeful when she said they could possible get nearly a thousand miles, but right off the bat she managed to get just short of 1,100 miles.

Yet after that amazing success Harp had made hardly any improvement (in her own mind at least). The hard part was establishing the initial connection, expanding it was supposed to be easy, especially since she should be able to use the Wave Roads and connections to her advantage.

"Only a hundred miles added on Harp?" War-Rock teased, though he was secretly worrying a bit. By now Harp should have almost doubled the range at least, especially since the three of them were powerful and all had at least some experience with connections.

"Be quiet War-Rock, it's not like you've helped," Harp snapped; she didn't appreciate people making fun of her communication skills since she prided herself on them, "I just can't seem to sync with the wave pattern of this planet. I have no idea what's preventing it so I can't even begin to fix it. It's obviously something so small I can't catch it until I know what I'm looking for."

War-Rock just 'shrugged'; like he knew what was wrong. The detailed and delicate work with energy patterns that made up forming communications of any kind irritated him.

"So you stargaze a lot?" Misora asked after a pause, "So maybe you could help me…identify some of the constellations? I, well…I'm not very good at finding them and I think they'd help me travel any Wave Roads when it's night…'

Subaru shrugged, "Sure. Well you see that star right there?"

"The one that's a bit brighter than the others?" Misora asked as she pointed to where Subaru and indicated.

"Yeah, it's the North Star. If your trying to find anything else it's a good place to start. The North Star forms the very end of the handle of the Little Dipper. And the Big Dipper is just across from it, right about…there. Yeah, there."

Subaru continued to educate Misora in his rather extensive knowledge of the stars all around them, glad they had practically a 360 view so it was easy find any star quickly. Misora tried to learn as best as she could, though she often found herself agree when she really didn't see the constellation in its entirety, instead letting the boy next to her ramble off whatever various facts that came to his mind.

Subaru didn't mind or even notice; he was more than happy to take his mind off what had recently been happening. And Misora hardly cared that the brunet kept stating random facts she wouldn't remember five minutes from now, just glad to have a moment away from her overly exciting life.

A lot more to get into as things enter this 'lull' before the fighting picks up again. But extremely important things will be happening. In fact, a lot of things will be happening along with a few explanations.