And now a late Christmas/New Year/HOLY SHIT AN UPDATE from the author: Man, I am a TERRIBLE author. Not in the writing sense, I'm pretty confident in that field, even if I do worry my writing quality fluctuates due to the erratic way I get chapters done. No, I'm just really, REALLY bad at updating because figuring out how exactly to keep a story flowing without resorting to too much jump cuts and making it feel rushed is...well, complicated. In writing this chapter, I'd probably get a paragraph or two done and then sit there, reading what I last wrote before saying to myself 'now what?'. So yeah, this chapter, as has been the case with some previous ones, was written in bits and pieces so again, I apologise for any fluctuation of quality that may occur. Know full well that everytime I booted up the word doc and got to typing, I did so with all of you, my dear readers, in my thoughts and squeezing everything I could out of me with the motivation to give you guys a new chapter! It only took me half a year XD So thank you all for your patience and thanks to those who read and liked the story in the time between. Seeing your notifications of having favourited my story gave me that extra bit of motivation, so thank you all so much! Merry (late) Christmasu, Happy (late) New Year and lots of love to Haruhi!
Disclaimer: I am obliged by Kyon to mention that this story is a work of fiction and none of the events or people portrayed within are real. Petra be totally a real place though.
Chapter 26: Giant Robot Road Trip
"Well, here they are," my counterpart says, gesturing to the vehicles we'll be taking. They're about the same size as the Stalker that antagonised Ryoko and I when we got here. Unlike the machines we've seen so far, these one are quadrupedal as opposed to bipedal, with squat, heavily armoured bodies. A pair of flexible limb like mounts jut out from the side, between the front and rear legs. On the ends of them are some sophisticated looking guns, leaving me wondering just what they fire.
"Wow!" exclaims Ryoko A. "They may not be as big as your machine, but they still look pretty impressive!"
"Unfortunately, these are the only ones we can really spare you, since the ones like mine need more training to operate," my counterpart explains. "You're not going to see many of mine either; it's a limited production prototype and we're field testing it to see how it fairs."
"Do those weapons possess sufficient firepower to provide adequate protection?" asks Nagato A. She's obviously referring to the guns on our machines. Guess I'm not the only one wondering what they shoot.
"Those things fire pure bolts of electricity," my counterpart responded. "They short out the systems of larger Stalkers temporarily and if you concentrate their fire in the same spot enough times, they'll burn through armour eventually." So we get lightning guns? I'm cool with that. "Anyways, hop inside your machines. We'll be rolling out soon. Had the techs put in a little tutorial program to get you acquainted with the controls."
I watch my alternate walk away before turning to my Stalker. The 'head' of it seems to extend forward to expose the cockpit, retracting once the pilot's inside to produce a sealed, safe environment. Taking a look to both Ryoko and Yuki A, we give each other determined nods and enter our machines. No sooner have I sat down in the pilot's chair does a button light up on my armrest. Pressing it retracts the cockpit within the machine, with the armoured prow enclosing before it to seal me in safely.
Numerous monitors flicker into life and I'm treated to a view of what's directly in front of me once the visual sensors kick in. A pair of hand controls extend from the chair which I promptly grab a hold of. As if triggered by this action, the tutorial program kicks in.
"Hello and welcome to the tutorial for the ATCS-247 Scouting and Support Vehicle. This tutorial will help familiarise yourself with the controls and provide advised courses of action while in operation. Due to time constraints, this program has been set to a brief and minimal rundown of the systems and controls. Please start by moving your vehicle…"
After a bit of clumsy fumbling, Ryoko, Nagato and I manage to get the hang of moving our machines around and followed a marker set by Koizumi aboard the transport aircraft we'd be taking. The thing is huge. Of course, given the size of these Stalkers and the amount they'd have to carry, I can't say I'm too surprised. We're split between two of these dropships, the three of us travelling with Tsuruya and Ryoko B while everyone else takes the other ship. Two other transports with additional reinforcements join us in our journey.
Throughout the entire trip, no one leaves their machine. Instead, we're all tuned into the built-in communication systems to listen to Haruhi explain the plan.
"I don't think I have to tell most of you this, but the Middle East region is still quite unstable, so everyone be on your guard. Once we touch down, I want everyone forming up on the SSVs. Tsuruya, Ryoko and Koizumi, you'll be tasked primarily with their defence. Kyon-that is 'our' Kyon-will be taking point and operating as a vanguard since his Stalker possesses significant stealth capabilities. I want you to rove ahead of us and give us a heads up on anything you see."
"Understood," my alternate replies.
"Mikuru and Yuki-'our' Yuki-will join me at the head of the formation. As for our three guests-stick behind us and stay close. Kyon B, update our course on where you detect anomalous activity. Make sure you keep us posted on any changes in direction or if you pick up anything new. Yuki A, if you can pick up on any of this, you let us know as well."
"Got it!" I acknowledge.
"Confirmed," responds Nagato A.
"Delta and Epsilon squads, you cover our flanks and the rear. Once we actually reach the source of anomalous activity…well, that's up to Kyon B to handle." Haruhi appears to focus on one of her screens intently…probably whichever one I'm on. "When we reach the site, we'll be following your lead, ok?"
I give a firm nod. "I understand. But don't hesitate to take command if things go South. You're the soldiers here, not me." Although I think I've been through enough actual warzones by now to have an idea of the appropriate courses of action to take.
Nodding to my response, Haruhi turns her attention away from the screen she was focused on to the general collective of communications before her. "As per the special considerations imposed upon the SOS Brigade, the details of this mission are strictly confidential. None of this will happen, has happened or ever took place. Remember people: we're dealing with more than we know. Let the professionals do their job and try not to let them get shot. That's all."
Remember that glimpse I got of this universe a while back? The one where a Stalker was performing an aerial drop? That should've given me a good expectation of how we were going to be dropped off in the area. Yet I still reacted typically after the transports had made their arrival and foolishly asked how we were supposed to get out when they were still hovering several kilometres above ground. At first I was like 'what?', but then I was all 'WHAT?!', to put it in the form of a meme. Fortunately, the Stalkers had been fitted for such a drop, though that made the sudden jarring halt caused by retro-rockets and the inevitable thud as the legs hit the ground not much more pleasant.
Once we were on the ground, everyone formed up on the SSVs (that's Scouting and Support Vehicles AKA the quadrupeds we 'foreigners' are driving) and got into the formation that Haruhi gave us beforehand, my counterpart moving ahead of us and activating his camouflage systems. As the transports departed, our guardians scanned the surrounding area for any sign of hostile activity. However, all that greeted us was the barren, rocky and mountainous terrain. It seemed quite absurd for anyone to be out here really-besides the nearby ancient city of Petra, there's not a whole lot out here.
With our perimeter secure, I closed my eyes and tried to focus on dimensional signatures, with Nagato A acting as an amplifier. The signature was faint, ultimately taking 5 minutes for me to find even the slightest traces of it. However, it was enough to give us a direction and I urged everyone to head North-East.
We spent the next 15 minutes moving in silence…that is to say, we were silent. Our machines were clunking their way along obviously. Naturally, people make conversation on such long trips to pass the time. The ice breaker in this case was Koizumi.
"So tell me, Kyon," he buzzed to me through the comm system. "When we reach the source of this anomalous activity, what do you suppose we'll find?"
When Haruhi's involved, you don't guess what you'll find. Her ways are far too incomprehensible for you to effectively see what's coming. Instead, you find out and still find it incomprehensible because what the actual hell. I'd like to cite the magical girl universe I visited as evidence. So really, Koizumi, it could be cyborg demon space dragons with lasers for eyes and chainsaw hands.
But I didn't tell him that-that's just my thought processes (you should be used to them by now). Instead, I gave him "Hard to say. This is some pretty unpredictable stuff we're dealing with."
"So it could be anything?" asked Tsuruya.
"Anything."
"Oooh! Like cyborg demon space dragons with laser eyes and chainsaw hands?" she enthusiastically asked. I'm not sure if that's freaky coincidence (which I long since gave up on since I met Haruhi) or if I can add predictive mind-reading to my list of powers.
"…yes. Knowing how crazy shit is, that sounds totally plausible," I respond.
"It sounds like the Suzumiya you know has a most active imagination," remarked Koizumi. "It would be most interesting to meet her!" Even with audio only, I can see that damn grin of his. And he's just as much of a kiss-ass as ever in this universe, making me wonder just how static and set our personalities must be across dimensions. Is there like a template for the SOS Brigade or something?
Ryoko B just chuckled. "That certainly sounds like what our Suzumiya would come up with!"
There was a bit of silence for a few more minutes before Ryoko B broke it again. "So Ryoko…what exactly is yours and Kyon's relationship with one another?" she asked rather mischievously, activating her video feed and revealing her face.
Situations like this often pop up in manga and anime, with one character teasing another or two about hints of romantic relations between the two. Usually, the other party reacts with shock and hurried denial. Ryoko A, on the other hand, didn't have time for such bullshit it seems, given her response.
"I already told you, we're from different dimensions," she answered calmly, triggering her own video feed. "There's nothing more than that going on, trust me. I mean, we've known each other currently for all of, what, two days?"
"I wasn't talking about THIS Kyon," corrected Ryoko B, with none of her previous tone lost. "I meant the one from your dimension. Yuki-chan said you two were pretty close when I asked." Never imagined Ryoko being this mischievous…come to think of it, is the Ryoko that accompanied me anything like this? The one from my universe…well, I never really got a chance to figure out because I never spoke to her all that much and then she was erased for trying to kill me. Didn't pay enough attention to the Disappearance incident Ryoko to notice much anyway…and she tried to kill me too, so the fact that only one other Ryoko counterpart has tried to murder me in my dimensional travels kind of indicates a bit of variety between different versions.
"Yuki! What the hell have you been telling her?!" Ryoko A scolded Nagato A. She sighed. "Hey, my relationship with Kyon was no different than my relationship with Koizumi…DON'T." She stopped Ryoko B from making a smart-ass comment. "Pretty much, I confided in him a lot because, unlike the others, he wasn't really part of any organisation or hierarchy and was pretty much independent. Plus he was 'chosen', just as the Kyon I arrived with was. I only came into the picture because I was friends with Yuki and…well, one day I thought I'd check on her in the club room and the rest is history basically."
A few more seconds of silence. I get the feeling awkward pauses like this are pretty prone to happening when dealing with subject matter like this. As with the other moments of silence, though, it's quickly broken.
"Well, quite frankly, you're not as fun as I thought you'd be, Ryoko-chan," pouted Ryoko B, drawing a shocked and outraged expression from Ryoko A. "Guess we're not so similar after all. So there's really no one you like? Is your romantic life that devoid, dear? I'd think someone as beautiful and attractive as me would have no trouble finding love!"
It looked like Ryoko B's words were really grating on Ryoko A as I saw her get increasingly irritated. I've never seen someone get so annoyed at themselves…literally. Kind of hard to believe you'd get fed up hanging out with yourself, but I guess when they can turn out so differently as all the Asakuras have, it's possible.
Ryoko A took a deep breath and calmed herself. Then delivered the killing blow. "Alright then, let's hear about YOUR love life then."
More silence. Ryoko B was blankly staring at whatever screen Ryoko A was on for a bit. And then…
"So, Kyon-kun!" she beamed toward me. "Is there anyone you like?" Way to dodge the question!
Clearly, long patrols like this bore Ryoko out of her skull. Well, it's not like there's any harm in telling everyone here who I've got feelings for. Only Ryoko A knows and what are the chances Haruhi will ever meet any of these alternate counterparts? They'll never tell her. What the hell, why not?
"As a matter of fact, yes," I answer with a smile. "None other than Haruhi Suzumiya herself."
"WOAH! Really?!" exclaimed Tsuruya, before falling into one of her trademark fits of laughter. "Ahahahahahahahahaha! I knew it! I always knew there was something between Kyon and Haruhi!"
"Uh, Tsuruya…you do realise we're talking about this Kyon and a different Haruhi?" Ryoko B interjected. "Still, I've always suspected there was something between Kyon-kun and Haruhi-chan! Maybe it might be true after all, if you're into the Haruhi from your world!"
"Hey, you assholes realise I can hear you, right?" interrupted Haruhi, who appeared on the video feed looking irritated and with one of those 'playful but still a little pissed' smirks. "Listen here children: this is a warzone. You may not seem them yet, but the enemy could very well be out there. So how about you keep the chatter to a minimum and pay attention to your damn surroundings?"
There were some nervous affirmatives from Tsuruya and Ryoko B. I decided to put my mind back into tracking the signal. Haruhi's right-we REALLY can't afford to have distractions like this. Yare yare…
Further we went, this time with few words exchanged every now and then. Rarest of them all were the ones from my counterpart, who only ever really reported in when contacted by Haruhi. His scouting hadn't found much of anything yet. With Yuki's help, I made some revisions to the travel path, slowly homing in on the source.
All this time, we never encountered a single enemy, only the barren rocky landscape to greet us all around.
However, 15 minutes after my last course revision, just as the signal became clear enough without the need for Yuki's amplification, we received word from my counterpart. He'd found something.
"SOS 2 to SOS 1, are you receiving?" he came in over the intercom, audio only.
"This is SOS 1," replied Haruhi. "Go ahead. You got something?"
"Oh yeah. Sending visual now." A screen popped up on my heads-up display and showed an unusual depression in the landscape. Within, there was what appeared to be a military base or encampment, with numerous Stalkers and soldiers patrolling and standing guard all throughout the facility and on the perimeter. But what really caught my attention was the gargantuan shape in the middle of it all. It was humanoid in form, made of a dark material, textured like stone but shiny like metal. The gargantuan figure, easily the size of a tall building, appeared to be dormant but there was a buzz of activity all around it, numerous people working all across its form, studying it, scanning it.
"Are you guys seeing this?" my counterpart asked, awestruck.
"Oh we're seeing it alright," Asahina responded. "That thing is massive…even the largest Stalkers wouldn't reach its shin! Kyon-kun, have you ever seen anything like this before?"
It took me a moment to realise they were addressing me and not 'SOS 2'. "No, this is my first time seeing something like this too." The more I looked at it, though, the more of a familiar sensation I received. Could it be…? "This is the source of the signal."
A brief pause. "You're certain?" asked Koizumi.
"Positive. That…thing is generating a similar energy to the fragment."
"Damn it…" uttered Haruhi. "I was hoping they hadn't found it before us, but they've already dug in and fortified the area. And I'm pretty sure we don't want to find out what happens if they find a way to awaken that thing. Yuki, contact the nearest friendlies and ask for reinforcements. Our little task force alone isn't going to be enough." Nagato B acknowledged and changed communication channels. "Don't think we're going to be idling around either until help comes. Every second we waste could make the difference to them unleashing who knows what upon the world. We need to come up with a plan of attack. NOW."