Cosmic Squadron Stellarman Phase 21: Reclamation
Disclaimer: I do not own or make any claim of ownership upon the Super Sentai series, which belongs to Toei. Stellarman and its various characters are mine, and if you're interested in using any elements in your own work, just ask me.
The only illumination was the sickly light that poured from the bank of monitors dominating the room. Valentine processed the feeds from all of them at once as powerful scanners the world over sent out their probing waves, trying to detect the slightest bit of residual Starlight.
Here and there they registered tiny blips, people with latent ability to tap that great celestial energy but the scanners couldn't be tuned finely enough to track them down. There were bigger things on her digital mind anyway. Valentine adjusted the search area, looking for larger responses.
Valentine felt a weird sensation at the back of the computer that was her mind as she searched further. She felt like she'd always been confined to this room, lending aid from behind the scenes. Which, of course, was what she did. What she'd been built for. She knew the job she did was vital, especially now as she probed ever onward for StellarSavage. Part of her wished she could be out there with Stellarman, though, taking direct measures against Proxordo. Especially since Kyle had come back and proven more powerful than ever with Vayon backing him…
Then she heard it. A long, proud kind of hum. It was muffled somewhat, probably thanks to Proxordo trying to hide it, but they'd underestimated the SDA.
There it was…!
3-4-7-8
"Fist of Gehenna!" StellarBurn threw a fiery punch and knocked a hole in Prox Dozer's torso. It was the first attack he'd made. In the blink of an eye the massive Truthcraft had melted into a hissing puddle.
A harsh ringing filled the room and a pair of heavy chains flew through the air, encircling Burn's wrists. Prox Tone approached, extending a humming tuning fork at Burn's brow while Prox Chain tightened his namesake weapons around their opponent.
"You pitiful, pitiful machines…," Burn chuckled. Flames wreathed his body, searing through the chains. He lashed out with a chop that severed Prox Tone's outstretched arm at the elbow. The tuning fork he'd been intending to scramble Burn's brain with clattered to the floor. Before the monster could recover Burn rammed a fist through his torso then jerked it upward, slicing Prox Tone's head in two.
Prox Chain uncoiled more chains from around his arms as he circled Burn along with Prox Hurricane, the miniature tornado below his waist churning fiercely, and Prox Cutter, the chainsaw of his place of his hand revving. Burn stabbed a finger at the Conflicter on his wrist to dial in another attack, and his opponents rushed him. Prox Hurricane tried to engulf Burn in his air funnel, Chain flailing his vicious links, and Cutter slashing wildly. Burn jumped high, vaulting over Prox Hurricane and kicking him hard in the back. Prox Hurricane gasped and lurched forward, catching the ends of the two chains with his raging winds and yanked Prox Chain right off his feet. Before Prox Cutter could regain his bearings, Burn snapped off his saw and rammed it through the monster's chest.
"Three down, two to go," Burn chortled in his throat. He dialed into his Conflicter again, 7-8-6-7-6. "Firestorm," he whispered, then jumped high once again. He sprayed a jet of flame from his palms, blanketing the floor and swallowing up the two unlucky Truthcraft. Within seconds they were reduced to blackened husks, and Burn shattered them with a kick and laughed a contemptuous laugh.
"The new recruit is indeed powerful," Dione said from a gallery overlooking the room. "The rest of the Veritium went into those…"
"It will be replaced," Vayon assured her.
"I thought you said we wouldn't need it anymore, though," Kamandetes reminded him. Haikoga just huffed loudly through his nostrils.
"Very observant, loyal Kamandetes, but I said we'll no longer need to rely on it to strengthen our warriors. And I meant that. Stellarman thought they had it rough before, but they haven't seen anything yet."
Vayon turned slowly, then walked out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Dione asked his back.
"To prepare a surprise, my dear."
"Are you sure about this, Valentine?" Bohdi said slowly, wanting to believe her news but reluctant to do so after all the setbacks they'd been suffering.
"There's no doubt about it," she said, synthesized pride unmistakable in her tone. Stellarman and Commander Thebes watched as she indicated a tiny island about a hundred miles off the tip of Florida on her screen. It was covered in a strange green ripple but beneath it were red, black, blue, yellow and pink pulses. "They tried to hide it from us but only the Ptolemic Machines could be receptacles of that much Starlight. That's where StellarSavage is."
"Well what are waitin' for?" Cliff asked. "Let's go get it back!"
"Not so fast, kid," Aki interrupted him. "Don't you think they'd have it guarded?"
"If they thought we wouldn't find it, maybe not."
"Okay, but what about the monster that took it over in the first place? He's probably still got control, and even if we got StellarSavage back he could probably take it over again."
"Then we need to focus on getting rid of the monster, obviously," Caitlin pointed out.
"…I don't like this," Aki pressed. "I mean, Vayon knows we want StellarSavage back. He wouldn't make it easy on us."
"What happened to her?" Erica asked.
"Excuse me?"
"They told me you were the wild one. What's with all the anxiety?"
"Oh give me a break," Aki sighed. "I'm not allowed to point out the problems with the plans?"
Daniel clapped a hand on her shoulder. "We really don't have a choice. If that's where StellarSavage is we need to get it back before they move it, or worse."
"Indeed," interjected Commander Thebes. "The way the battles have been going we'll need all the power we can get our hands on. Valentine, see if you can establish a remote link with StellarSavage's sensor array, see where they're keeping it. But be careful, understand?"
"Of course."
Thebes fixed her with a confused look. "Of course?"
"Of course, Commander," Valentine said and saluted for good measure.
Daniel and Cliff exchanged glances as the Commander's brow furrowed, then a smirk. The Commander shook her head and led the group out of the monitor room. Valentine turned back to her console, tapping in a familiar sequence of keys to establish contact with StellarSavage's mainframe. At this range, with whatever Proxordo was trying to use to shield it…
FAILURE TO ESTABLISH LINK
"Damn," she cursed, surprising herself. Still, it had been a faint hope to begin with.
There was another option open to her, she remembered. Commander Thebes was unlikely to approve, but…could they afford to play it safe at a time like this? If she used a more powerful computer to attempt the connection, it might work.
A more powerful computer like herself.
A panel popped open on the back of Valentine's neck and a long tube snaked out. She guided the end toward a socket in the control panel, and as soon as it clicked into place the monitor room disappeared. Instead she was standing in a flickering green maze, currents of power zipping along the ground every few seconds.
She felt a warmth behind her and slowly made her way through the shimmering halls, searching for its source. At each junction she peered around cautiously, but never saw anything that wasn't supposed to be in the robot's system. Where was the monster that had hijacked StellarSavage before?
Finally Valentine rounded a bend and there was a scintillating red orb atop a digital pedestal. The nerve center of StellarSavage's operations. She walked over and reached out to touch it, but suddenly she felt a painful shock and was hurled to the virtual floor. She looked up to see the red outline of a parabolic dish hovering over her.
"Hello, Valentine," a pleasant voice addressed her.
Delphinus hummed quietly as it parted the sapphire waters of the Atlantic. Trailing slightly behind was Cygnus, its wings folded against its sides to allow for greater speed. It wasn't designed for the same kind of speed underwater, but it was the only other Ptolemic Machine that came anywhere close.
"What do you think's gonna be guarding StellarSavage?" Cliff asked form Delphinus's rear, just to break the silence.
"If we're lucky, nothing," Daniel replied.
Cliff shook his head and chortled. "You're always so straight-laced."
"I'm the leader, I'm supposed to be. Unless you want to take over?"
"Who, me? No way, I'm too smart for the job. You don't have to pretend to be so upstanding around us, though."
Daniel quirked an eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You act like this is all business, but when a fight gets going you're enjoying yourself," Cliff answered, a smirk on his face. "And admit it, you missing having StellarSavage around. You're jonesin' to be back in the pilot seat again."
"Whatever."
"Admit it. You're the only one who doesn't have a Beta Unit. You can't wait until we pull this off and you get to pilot a cool giant robot again," Cliff smacked his shoulder.
"Thanks, Cliff," Daniel said.
"Huh?"
"For trying to get my mind off all the crap that's been happening. Losing Savage, Kyle gunning for me…It's kind of been wearing on me."
"Yeah, that's exactly what I was doin'," Cliff said. "Are we almost there, Catie?"
"According to the map, that's it up ahead," Caitlin replied. "I'm not showing anything on sonar. I'm kind of nervous about this…"
"We all are, Catie," Daniel assured her.
"Well, he is," Cliff amended.
"Don't slow down, get us up to the shore as quick as you can," Daniel said. "If Proxordo's waiting for us we don't want to give them a target out here."
"Understood." Delphinus surfaced a second later and the swan robot was right behind it. The island was little more than a stretch of land peeking above the water, two steep hills jutting upward near the center. They waited a moment, but the only sound was a hoarse wind rustling through the scraggly trees covering the island.
"So what now?" Cliff asked.
Daniel ignored him. "Catie, anything on the scanner?"
"I see the five blips. The big ones, I mean. But something's wrong. It looks like they should be on the surface, but…"
"Something's throwing them off. Everybody, fan out and look for the Ptolemic Machines. Don't evolve yet but do it as soon as anything happens, got that?" Daniel said.
"Yeah, we got you, boss man," Cliff replied.
"Understood, Daniel," said Bohdi, ignoring Cliff's remark. With chilling ease he vanished into the trees, not making a sound as he went.
"You know, I'm glad I didn't grow up where he did," Aki remarked.
"You can tell us all about after we're back at the Dome. Move out, people," Daniel replied and vanished into the brush himself. Caitlin followed a second later, and Cliff followed her.
"I just don't get that kid," he said to her as they crept along, defeating the purpose of creeping. "Why doesn't anything get to him?"
"I'm just glad we didn't get another Kyle," Caitlin grumbled. "The miserable pervert."
"Liking you makes someone a pervert?"
"If you just stand there and stare at someone all the time, it does."
"He did?" Cliff said, honestly surprised. "Well now I have a new reason to punch his face the next time I see him."
"Cliff, cut the macho stuff out, will you?" Caitlin sighed in exasperation. "We're here to do a job, not boost our stupid egos."
"I know we're here to do a job. But I never said I was as professional as you and him."
"I guess you didn't," Caitlin mumbled. She paused to look around and listened for any unusual noises, and heard one. There was a crackling and a bolt of blue light shot between brother and sister, slicing through a pair of trees and filling the air with dry leaves.
"Catie!" Cliff yelled and ran to her side. She appeared fine, but her ring was already flashing.
"Cosmic Evolution!" Once again Cliff and Caitlin vanished and StellarYellow and StellarPink appeared in their place. Two more bolts like the first shot at them but they somersaulted clear and had their Switch Magnums in hand when they came to a stop behind two more trees.
"Where is it?" Yellow whispered.
"Shut up and let me listen," Pink whispered back, tightening her grip on her gun. The island was deathly quiet after the attack. She didn't even hear the others charging through the trees to come to their aid. For a horrible moment one word hovered in her mind: "Figures." She shook her head to banish the thought and peered out from the direction where the bolts had come.
Coming toward them was another of Proxordo's monstrous soldiers, clad in gleaming blue armor and carrying a massive halberd in one hand as if it were a toy. Atop his shoulders was a cylindrical head studded with wide, alert eyes. There was something off about this one, however. Rather than a metallic cast to the parts Pink could see that weren't covered in armor plate, it looked almost fleshy. That, and every few seconds a small tongue of flame raced up the blade of his halberd. She could feel the energy from it where she hid. It was exactly the same as the dizzying power she'd felt that terrifying moment where she'd been invited into Amro Vayon's presence.
"You can't hide from me, you know," the monster suddenly said, then cleaved through the tree Pink was crouching behind with one swing of his halberd. She hurled herself to the ground as the blade whistled past her helmet, then took aim at the monster and fired her Switch Magnum at his chest. The shot glanced off as if it were a spitball.
Another shot came toward the monster from Yellow's gun, and again it hit him without leaving the slightest impact. The monster swung his halberd and a sheet of energy flew out and bowled Yellow over, the chest of his uniform blackened from the attack. Pink gasped as she felt the power of the attack and nearly collapsed.
"What the hell are you?!" she cried.
"I am vigilance. I am the first of the Truthbringers, Prox Sentinel."
Bohdi had loaded the card for his whip before his uniformed had formed itself around him. As he weaved through the trees he saw colorful shapes--purple, blue, and red--running in the same direction as he was. They were on the hunt for whatever had made those sounds, the same as he was.
All of a sudden it felt like he was back on Chahi, and yet…something was different. He'd tracked the same prey as other hunters before, but only before his powers surfaced had he actually worked as part of a group.
He was glad he'd left.
A second later a clearing came into view, but not one that looked like it had been there before they arrived. Several trees had fallen and over them he could see Yellow and Pink desperately dodging out of the way of a flurry of blasts fired from the countless eyes of an armored monster.
"Equuleus, Power!" StellarRose cried and threw her horse card ahead of her, diving through it with her thin sword aimed at the monster's chest. The tip jabbed through his breastplate, but Prox Sentinel acted like nothing had happened.
"Get going, you guys! I'll deal with peepers here!" Rose yelled. Yellow nodded and charged off in the direction the monster had come. With a moment of hesitation the others followed.
"We can't just leave her, there's something about that monster--" Pink protested as they ran.
"She knows what she's doing," Black cut her off. "If there's a guard, the Ptolemic Machines can't be too far away."
"But--"
"Have a little faith, Catie," Yellow said, and to her surprise she felt a bit calmer.
They had reached the base of one of the hills, and Black raised an arm to call the team to a halt. "You see something, big guy?" Red asked.
Black nodded and pulled some dried up vines away from a narrow cave mouth. "Think we should check it out? I can't imagine where else they could hide the Ptolemic Machines except underground…"
"Me either. Let's get down there and get 'em back before Rose gets in trouble," Red said, leading the way.
If only he could have seen what was going in the clearing. Prox Sentinel, unfazed by StellarRose's sword, swept his halberd and smashed through the blade just above the hilt. She jumped backward, clutching her broken weapon, and watched in alarm as Prox Sentinel pulled the blade from his torso and threw it away. Without missing a beat he advanced on Rose.
"Thorn Capture," Rose said and her weapon whirred as it transformed into a half-ring. As Prox Sentinel brought back his weapon for another wing at her, she threw the Thorn with all her might. It clamped onto the monster's wrist and its chain shot from one end, curling around the trunk of a tree. The surprised Prox Sentinel tried to pull free and electric current ran up his arm. Still, he seemed unharmed.
"You're going to have to accept the bar has been raised, human," he said. "The world will be cleansed, whether you and your colorful friends like it or not."
Then Prox Sentinel seemed to explode, walls of fire erupting outward from his body. Rose shielded her eyes from the blaze, but when she lowered her arm, she realized she was in even deeper trouble than before.
Towering over her was Prox Sentinel, reborn a giant like so many of his predecessors. A huge foot raised then descended again toward her, but she threw herself out of the way and hurled her cards into the air.
She could do this. She had to. The whole team was depending on her…
"You guys feel that?" Blue asked as they continued to descend into the tunnel. Spurts of dirt and rock fell around them as they did.
"It's a little hard to miss," Red replied. "It just means we need to get this over with faster. Come on."
After another minute of walking the tunnel bottomed out and emptied into a vast cavern that looked as if it stretched out farther than the borders of the island above it. Illuminating it was a string of orbs along the ceiling of the Fire of Truth. And dominating the room was StellarSavage. It was an awesome sight to behold from the outside. Red was the only one not captivated, however.
"It can't be this easy…" he said and looked back and forth for danger.
"How right you are," said a snide voice. From out of an alcove in the wall stepped Kyle, an uncomfortably superior smile on his face. "Hey guys, looks like your babysitter's not here…still out there playing with the monster, I bet. Let me guess, you're after that," he jerked his thumb in the huge robot's direction. Then without waiting for an answer he flicked open the Conflicter on his wrist and punched in four digits.
2-8-7-6
"Burn UP!" Flames wept over Kyle, garbing him in his blood-red uniform and black armor. Even as they did Red slammed his wolf card into his Battle Dealer.
"Don't take this personally, Daniel," Black warned.
"Yeah, really," Burn agreed. " 'Cuz I'm gonna fry all five of you." Again he dialed, 2-2-5-7-8.
"Blastfire," he said with a tone that suggested he was looking forward to what came next. His fist erupted in flame, then he thrust it in Stellarman's direction. A fireball jumped from his knuckles and exploded in the middle of the group, hurling them around like feathers in a tornado.
Valentine's avatar picked itself up off the floor, Slowly, cautiously, but the shock that had floored her in the first place didn't happen a second time. She regarded the image of the dish. "Hello?" she said finally.
"I'm sorry about that…greeting, you might call it," the dish addressed her. "It was a security measure in case someone attempted to reach me here."
"Are you the Truthcraft that took over StellarSavage? I wasn't expecting a reception like this."
"I was, once. Now, I'm not so sure," the dish replied.
"Why?" asked Valentine, remembering being told about Stellarman's face-to-face encounter with Vayon where he'd discussed philosophy before siccing his followers on them.
"Because I'm the last of my kind. When Amro Vayon returned to Proxordo, he had learned much more about the Fire of Truth that gives his soldiers life. He no longer needed to animate a shell with it, he could create life itself by compressing the Fire with enough force of will. If I'm not mistaken StellarRose is fighting such a creature right now."
"I came here thinking I might have to fight you," Valentine said warily.
"And if you'd come a few weeks ago, you might have," Prox Override replied. "Vayon hasn't done much with me since I stole this robot from you. Had some of his people analyze it so he could build StellarBurn a robot of his own, but that's about it. I've been left to sit in here and think."
"No offense, but I wouldn't think Truthcraft were built with that in mind. The ones I've observed were built to do one thing and fight people. Some just fight. Then again, I wouldn't say I know a lot about how they're supposed to work."
"I don't think Vayon did either. His underlings built them, he simply provided the power to bring them to life. In any case Truthcraft were never meant to sit around idle. After a while questions started occurring to me. Why am I doing what this man tells me? Why are we created to kill? Was I given life just to steal this weapon? I'm not sure anymore…May I ask you something?" "Go ahead," Valentine replied, not knowing why but feeling more relaxed around the Truthcraft.
"I can tell your creators trust you with a great deal of free will. Why do they do this?" Prox Override asked.
"Because someone able to think their way through problems as they arise is more effective," Valentine answered him. "At least, that was what the guy who designed my brain thought. I don't even remember his name. Zip…Ziv?"
"Did something happen to him?"
"I don't know. I wasn't activated until I was acquired by Stellarman's backers. They told me he just disappeared one day. I started working there as the head overseer, and I never really thought about why I was doing it either. I know I had free will, but I honestly don't think that's so strange. Most people seem to go through life the same way, just moving forward and not thinking about what it's all about.
"But a while ago my superior unlocked higher parts of CPU. The battles were getting more hectic and she thought it would be easier if they could relate to me more as a person than a robot. Once she did I started thinking about things I hadn't before, like wishing I could do more than just relay information."
"But why do you serve them?" Prox Override asked. "You have a mind of your own, don't you?"
Valentine smiled a little. "Because I'm doing an important job. These people count on me to make sure nearly everything in the organization's running smoothly. Honestly, something's probably broken down while we've been talking."
"That doesn't answer my question," Prox Override persisted. "Why do you continue to serve them?"
"Do I need to want to do it for myself?"
The sky over the forest rang as two giant polearms collided again, Rose Valkyrie and Prox Sentinel standing with their weapons pressed together in a titanic deadlock. Rose Valkyrie shoved suddenly as it tried to throw its opponent off-balance, but Prox Sentinel didn't budge. Instead he jerked his halberd up, sending the robot staggering away before he fixed an eye on the robot's abdomen and landed a vicious stroke there with his weapon.
Rose shrieked as sparks blasted from her console. A monitor flashed to life on one side, showing the damage. "That's where the armor's weakest…how did he know that?" she gasped, but a glance at those dozens of watchful eyes answered the question for her.
She gathered herself then desperately called out, "Final Ride!" Rose Valkyrie charged itself up, then flew at Prox Sentinel with its lance outstretched. The monster indeed seemed surprised as the tip of the lance breached his armor, but as Rose Valkyrie angled up carried him into the sky hoping to get the force of gravity added to its attack Prox Sentinel swiped its halberd and caught Rose Valkyrie on its right wrist. The hand creaked then fell away.
Prox Sentinel kicked the robot away and landed heavily but on his feet. StellarRose screamed as her robot tumbled through the air and crashed through a stand of trees before coming to a stop at the edge of the island.
Things weren't going much better below. Black brought back a powerful arm to swing his whip at Burn, who dashed up and shoulder-checked him so hard he went flying across the cave. Yellow brought down his hammer on the ground where Burn had been just a second before when a black boot smashed into the small of his back.
Blue scuttled nimbly along the uneven walls then vaulted off, firing her gun at Burn's unprotected back. The shot glanced off his uniform, then he turned and said, "Fist of Gehenna." Fire wreathed his fist, and as it connected with her shoulder a nasty "crunch" filled the cavern and Blue spun away, slid off the wall and lay still. All of a sudden Burn threw an elbow-punch behind himself, and Pink flickered back into visibility behind him, doubled over, and hit the floor.
"Looks like it's just you and me now, new kid," Burn said, fixing his visored gaze on StellarRed.
"That's my line," Yellow wheezed.
"Whenever you're ready, tough guy," Red said, going into the strongest defensive stance he knew. Burn reached for his Conflicter again, then stopped and rushed Red. He aimed a chop Red's neck, but was shocked to see Red raise a forearm and block the attack. Almost as shocked as he was when Red's other fist smashed into his middle.
Red didn't let up, he didn't dare. He jumped and executed a spinning kick to Burn's side before delivering three successive punches to Burn's unprotected midsection.
"Enough of this crap," Burn growled. "Blastfire!" Again he shot a ball of flame from his fist, straight at Red. He lunged to one side and the fireball streaked past, but it burst as it hit the wall and sent him sprawling.
"So you're saying--" Prox Override began, but Valentine's avatar shook her head to cut him off.
"Let's not have a stupid existential crisis, okay? I do what I do because it needs to be done and I happen to be better equipped than most people. You don't seem to like your boss anymore, you probably understand why we're trying to stop him."
"I think I do…" A tremor ran through their surroundings.
"What was that?" Valentine asked.
"My first decision."
StellarSavage trembled, stiff from weeks of disuse and neglect, but its awakening was enough to freeze everyone in the cavern. It turned its flashing eyes toward StellarBurn and a splitsecond later a huge metal fist was falling toward him. He gasped then rolled out of the way before rock slivers went flying.
"Pussies!" he cried, then vanished. It was just as well. The five of them were staring up in fear and amazement at the robot they'd come to recover.
"Since when can the robot drive itself?" Yellow asked.
Blue picked up a rock and threw it at StellarSavage's face. "Anybody in there?!"
"Nice one, Blue," Red hissed.
"Hello, Stellarman," said a calmer version of the voice that had taken over StellarSavage. "I hope I didn't scare you too badly."
"What do you want?" Red asked.
"A friend of yours is in trouble. Shall we go to her rescue?" Prox Override asked. Without waiting for an answer the robot thundered past and smashed its way through the cavern wall and to the surface.
Prox Sentinel hacked his halberd against the fallen robot's other arm, biting deep into the armor. He yanked the blade free and raised it to swing again when two glistening energy bolts struck his back. Prox Sentinel whirled around and spotted StellarSavage, the hydra heads on its shoulders still swiveled forward from firing.
"What is this?" Prox Sentinel said. Calmly, as if was the most routine thing in the world. StellarSavage replied by hurling itself at the Truthbringer, claws-first. Prox Sentinel started to bring down its halberd on the robot's back, but StellarSavage tackled him to the ground.
In her robot's cockpit Rose wrestled with the controls as sparks flew from the control panel. She flicked on the communicator--which, to her relief as much as surprise surprise, didn't blow up in her face--and called, "Guys, is that you in there?"
There was no answer but a weird buzz she recognized as a hail coming over another frequency. "Hello?"
"Rose, are you okay?!" Red's voice crackled out of the panel.
"I think so, but my robot ain't so good…I'm glad you guys showed up."
"That's not us in there."
"…What?" Rose asked hesitantly as StellarSavage and Prox Sentinel wrestled back and forth, their hands wrapped around the shaft of the Truthbringer's halberd.
"What do you think you're doing?" Prox Sentinel said, still trying to pull his weapon away but no anger tainting his voice. "You're a servant of Proxordo, just like I am."
"Am I? Why was I left to rot inside this robot? Because our glorious leader made me to do one job, and after it was done he didn't need me anymore."
"We are created to serve."
"Because you can count the number of people with a brain he trusts to have as much power as we do on one hand!" Prox Override roared. "He wouldn't even bother with them if he could make us fast enough!"
"Master Vayon, strike down this blasphemer! Rescind the sacred gift he was given!" Prox Sentinel yelled.
"I hear, loyal soldier," a booming voice said, seeming to come from everywhere at once. A fiery aura surrounded StellarSavage. Inside the robot's mainframe cracks formed at the edges of Prox Override's image then lengthened inward.
"What's going on?!" Valentine screamed.
"Vayon is pushing the kill switch. You'd better get out of here," Prox Override replied, also casually, as if nothing was on his mind at all.
"You'll die!"
"Then stop him before he does the same thing to anyone else."
"Don't you want to know what it's like out there??"
"I stopped a life from being taken and once I'm gone Stellarman's robot will be theirs again. I think I've made my mark. I was made to be disposable, remember?" With that a beam lanced from the center of his image and struck Valentine's avatar. Static filled her every receptor, and the next thing she knew she was lying prone on the floor of the Sol Dome control room. Looming over her were Commander Thebes and a group of worried-looking technicians.
"Valentine, what happened to you?" the Commander asked.
"I got StellarSavage back…" Valentine replied, sounding…disappointed?
All at once StellarSavage deactivated. The lights went out in its eyes and its hands unclenched from around Prox Sentinel's halberd. The monster didn't let the opportunity pass him by and battered StellarSavage off its feet.
"Black, get Monoceros out here now," Red ordered.
"Whatever you say," Black replied, inserting the card and pressing the summon button. In a flash the proud unicorn robot appeared before the team and Black jumped into the cockpit. As Prox Sentinel was bringing his weapon down on the helpless gestalt Monoceros charged forward and caught the tip of the blade with its horn.
"Pink, get into Rose Valkyrie! The rest of you, you're with me!" Red ran for where StellarSavage lay, and a second later he'd flung open a hatch on the side of its head and crawled inside, Blue and Pink right behind.
His central eye blazed and a ray ripped from the pupil and straight at Monoceros's neck, but the unicorn robot darted aside and the ray tore into the ground beside StellarSavage. Which, to his alarm, rose to its feet and swatted the surprised monster aside.
"Beta Cross!" Red yelled with a passion. Obligingly Monoceros disassembled and attached itself as a helmet and armor to StellarSavage. The robot grabbed its head and the horn extended outward, becoming a gleaming sword. Before Prox Sentinel could defend himself the blade had sliced into his armor.
"Proxordo will win in the end no matter how many of those metal monstrosities you have," Prox Sentinel said, but there was no mistaking the gasp of pain he let out.
"We just undid the worst thing you guys ever managed," Red said defiantly. "And now I think it's about time we undid you." StellarSavage slashed its sword again but this time Prox Sentinel parried it with his own weapon and sent the robot reeling back with a point-blank eye blast to the chest. "Pink, combine now!"
"Eh??!" Prox Sentinel grunted, but without even turning around he saw Rose Valkyrie rise, then Delphinus appeared in the air, separated and locked into place on the humanoid robot.
"Hydro Pulse," Pink said, and with sparks spewing from its damaged arms Rose Valkyrie aimed the jets on its forearms at their opponent. Two streams of water shot from the jets and battered Prox Sentinel's back. He roared and fired beams from every eye covering his head but StellarSavage ricocheted one back off the flat of its sword. Right into the puncture the same sword had made before. Prox Sentinel collapsed to his knees.
"Care to do the honors, Black?" Red asked.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Black replied.
"Avenger's Blade!" Red yelled. StellarSavage clutched its sword, the blade glowing with dazzling white power. It raised the sword high above its head, then with a vicious diagonal cut cleaved through Prox Sentinel's torso. He started to say something in defiance but StellarSavage slashed again, sending Prox Sentinel's head tumbling from its shoulders. The monster's remains immediately burst into flames and burned away to nothing.
"Let's get out of here," Red said.
*Clink-Clank-Clink-Clank-Clink-Clank-Clink-*
"Would you knock it off with that bloody pacing already? You're driving me insane!" Dione shrieked at Kamandetes. Haikoga huffed in amusement.
The three had gathered in Vayon's audience chamber. Where the latest addition to their ranks was, none knew and at the moment none especially cared.
"I'm sorry," Kamandetes said, something he'd never said in their presence. Haikoga looked around as impassively as always, but Dione and Kamandetes couldn't help being on edge. Even with a powerful new warrior fighting for them and a new breed of monstrous soldier, Stellarman had won again. Not to mention they'd lost possession of that robot. Dione doubted even Vayon in his boundless patience would be taking it well.
"Thank you for gathering here, my faithful," Amro Vayon's voice entered the room. They could see his outline in the shadowy doorframe, but he stayed there for the moment.
"I'm sorry Prox Sentinel failed, Master," Dione said hastily. A laugh came from the doorway.
"The creature was an experiment. I will create more, even deadlier than he was. You see, faithful, this is when we truly begin our war against those who shut their eyes to the Truth!"
"But Stellarman has regained that robot of theirs…" Kamandetes said, then trailed off as if he expected Vayon to pin him to the wall again for overstepping himself.
"Great change only comes through adversity, serpent," Vayon said, and stepped into the light. Dione gasped. His armor was no longer the simple and regal suit of gold she was used to. Decorating the chest plate was the head of a snarling lion-like beast and thick orange and brown plating covering the rest. On each end of his familiar staff was now a long, curved blade.
" 'Amro' meant 'shepherd' in the tongue of those who discovered the Fire of Truth. As of today I cast off that mantle and assume another. Henceforth I am Rogyre Vayon, the General. And today we begin our war on the corruption of this world in earnest."
"Is something wrong?" Commander Thebes asked Valentine as the robot shuffled listlessly around Sol Dome's control room.
"I should be getting back to work, Commander," Valentine said and reached out for her console but Commander Thebes grabbed her by both shoulders.
"What did you see when you were plugged into StellarSavage?" she demanded.
Valentine sighed an electric sigh. "I…I saw one of Proxordo's monsters who turned on them, but when they killed him for it, he just accepted it. Said he'd done enough."
"Then maybe we're doing something right after all," the Commander said with a smile.
"What?"
"Everyone's got to choose their own path, Valentine. If one of Vayon's monsters can learn that, maybe his people can too."
"I hope so, Commander."