Author: Nadz
Email: vegitto02 at yahoo dot com

Disclaimer:
The title "Nightmare", as well as its storyline, is owned by the author.
All Tekkaman Blade characters are the property of Tatsunoko.
Any original characters are strictly owned by the author of this fan fiction.
This story may not be distributed to anybody without the author's permission due to version control. However, the author does encourage you to welcome your friends to read Nightmare on FanFiction dot net. Much thanks...

Tekkaman Blade III: Nightmare (Third Saga)

Chapter 53 - Defeat

Her hair totally disheveled as bloodied tears of pain rolled down her cheeks, she had no choice but to gasp however she could for air. Yet, she would give no cries for mercy; she would struggle until the end. Seline contorted her face as Delta's metal claws dug in tighter around her throat and began to compress it.

The Warlady gritted her teeth and snarled. Then, she heard the sound of metal from behind her…

Tekkaman Blade stood frozen in the doorway, nothing but anger and disgust filling him as he took in the sight. Immediately, he extended his lance and pointed its razor tip right at the backside of his enemy.

"You monster… especially after all you've done to her," Blade grated in a low tone. "Let her go."

"What I've done to her? You rendered her paralyzed, Takaya. Now, she's no good to either of us."

"Don't liken me to you! Only you would attack someone in that condition. Now let… her… go!"

"Then have her!" Delta snapped, whirling around with Seline with the intent of skewering her on Blade's lance. Yet, D-boy had predicted it, and he shifted his lance to the side and jerked it up, hitting its edge against Delta's extended arm. Sayaki cried out, releasing her grip and letting Seline fall to the floor.

D-boy didn't let his chance go. He lurched forward with anger and thrust his lance at Delta, who evaded in the nick of time and allowed his weapon to lodge into the wall. The Warlady grabbed hold of the lance, and the two struggled to gain control of it. D-boy soon won the contest, ripping it out of the wall and hitting her with its right half. She staggered back, only to see him charge his thrusters and fire towards her.

Growling, Blade plowed into her, sending her crashing through the wall adjacent to the doorway, and both landed on the corridor floor. D-boy stood up through the cloud of dust from the debris, only to feel an object collide into him. He was sent into the opposite wall, his backside banging against the metal.

Before him appeared the scarlet figure of Tekkaman Akuma, her facemask unfeeling as she stood in front of her sister. Sayaki snorted and rose to her feet, stabilizing herself before generating her weapon.

Blade grimaced; Aki had finally caught up from their recent chase. Now, it was two against one.


The boy snapped his eyes open. He could sense it clearly – his mother was engaged in battle, as was his father. It wasn't a stretch for him to figure out what was happening. One of them was in danger.

His heart pounding hard, Okita opened the doors from his quarters and bolted down the hallway.


Blade grunted as he was pushed back, raising the left part of his lance to block Aki's downward swing and shifting the right end to parry Delta's horizontal strike. Both of his opponents were fighting very aggressively, for they had every intention of disarming and capturing him. D-boy pushed forward, trying to knock them away, but that only encouraged them to lunge and thrust again. Blade retreated several meters.

"Aki, how can you fight so viciously?" he blurted, breathing hard. "With me, your own husband?"

"That's obvious, if you remember what I told you earlier about the mind parasites," eagerly cut in Sayaki. "All that trauma and frustration she suffered because of you over the years… is now coming out."

Blade opened his mouth and glanced at his wife, almost dumbfounded. He hadn't considered that.

"Any resentment was incredibly suppressed, so it took the parasite a while to find and amplify it," Delta said. "I have to thank you for that, Takaya, because it allowed me to have complete control over her."

"You won't control her," D-boy snapped back, glaring hard. "She'll be freed once I destroy you!"

"Destroy me? I guess you wouldn't mind that, considering you had no qualms doing it ten years ago," Sayaki grew serious. "But I can overlook what you did if… you forget her… and come back to me."

"Shut up, you deranged bitch!" Blade yelled, firing his thrusters and charging towards Delta. The Warlady contorted her face, raising her sword and feeling it smack against the side of his lance. He growled as he pushed her back, sending her into the wall. Akuma watched silently but soon headed towards them.

D-boy heard her movement, and he grabbed Delta. Whirling around, he threw the Warlady at her sister. Both women let out a cry as they collided and fell to the floor, rolling around a bit before getting up.

Delta flared her nostrils, hurt by the words he just spoken. He was denying her again… for Aki…

Snarling, she crouched and raced forward, ready to beat him into submission herself if she had to.


Glancing briefly out the side of his cockpit window, Hayato witnessed the clash between the two warriors and cursed to himself, again feeling the frustration of not being able to transform when his powers could have come in handy. Even worse was that his ship was damaged and had lower maneuverability than he would have needed to take active part in the battle. Now, he could only circle the perimeter and observe.

Not very far away, purple and red sparks flew as the two armored beings collided. Dead clenched his teeth, pain again spreading across the wound in his left shoulder blade he had received during the recent attack on Delta's ship. Yet, what distracted him more was that he couldn't get the words Bane had spoken out of his head, and because of it, his mind remained in conflict. After all, what was he really fighting for?

"Is this what you want?" Bane sneered, pushing his opponent several meters. "Every moment you hinder me means certain death for a Primary Body at the hands of the Army. Do you want them to perish?"

No, it was definitely not what Dead End wanted. He wanted to somehow aid the Primary Bodies, not harm them. He knew their suffering, considering they were the same as those he grew up with when he lived on the streets. In fact, they were the same as he used to be before he found the Army's Tekka-plant.

He quickly snapped back to attention and just evaded being seriously cut by Bane's sword. The two continued their fray, yet Bane seemed to be a step ahead. Dead End was fighting unusually sloppily, and Bane would strike before he could pull himself together. Now, it was becoming a matter of survival.

Before he knew it, Dead was thrown against the wall of a nearby cliff. He turned around, only to see Bane ferociously charging in for the kill. Dead readied himself, knowing that he had only one way out.

"Vol Tekka!" he yelled, firing the twin purple-red crystalline beams from his shoulder pauldrons. Bane paused and thinly smirked, anticipating this move. Watching the beams approach, he flashed the cells on his own shoulders. Instantly, a convex crystalline-red disk, shaped like a round shield, appeared in front of the Radam and covered the entire front side of his body. Dead's beams smashed into the barrier, only to be reflected due to its convex shape. However, they didn't head for the Space Knight directly; instead, they plowed into the granite wall above him, causing an explosion and breaking off boulders from the rock face.

Dead cried out as the boulders and rocks smashed onto him, sending him downward in a waterfall of debris. Seeing his chance, Bane burst towards the ground and appeared ten meters below his adversary.

"Vol Tekka!" yelled Bane, firing a thick red beam straight up towards the descending Dead, who had nowhere to go with the boulders around him. The beam smashed right into the Space Knight, causing him to scream in pain as it burned through his armor and scorched him. The force of the blast threw him against the cliff again, and he slid down helplessly before crashing and crumpling into the dirt at its base.

Bane landed several meters in front of him and raised his sword, holding it high above his head.

"You are at my complete mercy… What a shame for you to die this way," scorned Bane, flashing a scarlet eye. "But maybe it's fitting, considering dozens of my men must have died due to your meddling."

Dead gritted his teeth, bloodied sweat rolling down his matted hair and just around his closed eye.

"Are you ready to enter hell with them?" pressed the Radam, his scarlet eyes boring through his visor. "Or will you plead for your life, hoping that your conscience is strong enough to bear their deaths?"

Neither made a move, and the helpless Space Knight tensed, the harsh words stinging him. With a growl, Bane swung downwards – only to stop just before the edge of his blade reached the man's facemask.

Dead remained frozen, his eyes widened with surprise. Neither of them said a word, with the only sounds coming from the battle raging nearby. Dead stopped holding his breath and let out a forced exhale.

"No… death would be the easy way out for you," Bane said, a thin smile forming on his lips. "I'll let you live with the guilt instead – guilt that will fester unless you atone… by helping the Primary Bodies."

Dead snapped his eyes upwards, observing the other warrior tremble with delight for a moment.

"You now owe your life to me, so don't waste it. Use it to help your own brethren and destroy the Army in one stroke!" Bane urged. "The Space Knights will only mislead you… and restrain you. Follow the anger in your heart… Use it, unleash it, and fulfill your revenge by punishing the military for Prague!"

A flicker of ire passed through Dead, but he lowered his eyes. Bane retreated several steps back.

"Do that, and you will feel complete… Don't, and you will be at odds with yourself forever."

With that, the Radam turned around and launched himself into the air, heading back to the battle.


"Goliate, we have to take him back!" Hayato pleaded, seeing Dead lying injured by the base of the cliff below. Bane had already flown away, and the path was clear for retrieval. Hayato directed Epsilon jet downwards and landed. He jumped out of the hatch and rushed over to his comrade's side to help him up.

"Come on, we have to get you back to base," the youth pleaded, but Dead merely stared at the dirt.

"We can't just leave the military like this!" Goliate's voice protested through Hayato's comlink.

"We don't have a choice! You and I can't stop Radam alone with our fighters!" Hayato returned, trying to get Dead to snap out of his daze. He fervently radioed the Command Center, requesting to return.


A comm. officer repeated the request to a quivering Milly. The woman turned her head and gave a soft, dejected nod. Not only had she lost Natasha, they had lost a military headquarters to Radam as well.

She closed her eyes, desperately hoping that D-boy could protect what was left of the team.


The boy made his way down the corridors, gripping his yellow crystal. Though he could sense the general location of the fray, it was seeing frenzied personnel running in the opposite direction that told him he was on the right track. He didn't know what he would do once he arrived, but he felt he had to be there.

"Mother… father…" whispered Okita, also sensing a third presence at the battle. "Stay alive…"


The sound of clashing steel echoed despite the alarm blaring through the corridor. The black and gold Tekkaman executed a ferocious swing of her katana-like weapon, grazing the exterior of his right arm. The red and white warrior responded by swinging with his left hand and landing his lance hard against her exposed right side. A growl escaping her throat, Delta buried her left elbow into his now open right side.

"With all the things you forget, why not her?" Sayaki seethed. "Why can't you ever forget Aki?!"

"I did forget her once… at the end of the first war," Blade narrowed his eyes, grabbing her arm in a hold. "But it caused her so much pain I vowed I'd never forget again… pain that you're now exploiting!"

With a snarl, D-boy swung his right armored elbow and buffeted her across her left cheek. She staggered backwards, feeling the cut across her skin. Akuma, who had remained still, took a step forward.

"Stay out of it!" Delta barked, giving her a vicious glare. Aki halted and merely peered at Sayaki without feeling. Delta snorted, firing her thrusters and springing towards D-boy with a horizontal strike.

Blade readied his lance vertically and parried with ease. Yet, he was pushed back from the force.

"Don't you have a shred of remorse for causing me that same pain? All I did was give you love!"

"No, all you did was shower me with obsession! And you ruined yourself because of it!" he said.

"Don't you EVER call Okita my 'ruin'!" Delta yelled with rage. "Don't you ever insult my son!"

"You're the one who has been insulting him… by driving him towards ruin over all these years!" Blade returned, feeling the anger swell within himself – anger that this woman could have done so much damage to the mind of her own child. "And not just him, but you did it to Seline… Yumi… and now Aki!"

Contorting his face, D-boy lashed out with a right fist. Yet, she caught it in time before it reached her face, and she swung her sword with arcing vertical stroke with her right hand, hoping to dig the weapon into his left collarbone. Blade dropped the lance that was in his left hand and quickly seized her right wrist.

The two grit their teeth as they struggled in deadlock. Blade gave her wrist a squeezing twist, and her right hand released its grip on her sword, causing it to clatter to the floor. Delta's eyes flared, and she did the only thing she could do in that position – a knee strike to his gut. Yet, D-boy chose to do the same.

Their opposite knee-caps collided with a strong, echoing high pitched sound of metal. Sayaki let out a cry of pain, for he had overpowered her. With a renewed rush of energy, Blade retracted his right fist from her grip and dug it into her stomach. An intense burst of energy blasted out of Blade's thrusters, and he flew forward, slamming her into the opposite wall. Her eyes widened in pain; D-boy clenched his fists.

Sayaki's mouth dropped open, but not from surprise from his sudden surge of aggression. He had landed another one hard to her belly, and her saliva flew off her tongue and splattered against the interior of her visor. She tried to resist and twist herself away, but she couldn't move as he slugged her in succession.

Punch after punch, Blade pounded at her black and gold armor, believing that violence was all that she understood. Little did he realize that a part of himself was being tainted from this display of savagery. Yet, the assault would not last for much longer. Tekkaman Akuma had seen enough and flew into action.

Blade picked up his lance and raised it desperately, barely blocking his wife's vicious strike. Aki fired her thrusters and led him away from the Warlady, whose backside slid down the damaged metal wall.


He burst through the doors of the medical wing, knowing he was close to the location of battle that he sensed. As he ran, he saw several bodies on the floor – some were bleeding, and he couldn't make out if they were dead or simply unconscious. Nevertheless, he followed the trail of crimson droplets on the floor, knowing they would lead him correctly. The question in his mind was – was this his mother's handiwork?

The sound of battle grew louder, and he rounded a corner, proceeding down that hallway until—

"What the?" Okita whispered, noticing that a room on his left had been particularly ravaged. The white wall next to the doorway had an enormous hole ripped through it, with its debris littered all over the floor. On the ground near the bed lay the crumpled body of a girl, her hair sprawled about in a mess like a mop, with trails of blood rolling down her face and onto the varnished tiles. The boy recognized her slowly.

"Seline?" he said, aware of the operation she had recently undergone. That confirmed it for him; there was only one person who could have been angry enough with her to show such brutality – his mother.

The girl took a few seconds to respond, moving her reddened eyes weakly towards his direction.

"Okita…" she managed to speak. "Did you come… to finish the job… Delta started on me?"

"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "I'm here to find her. They went down this way, didn't they?"

"Yes…" she said, pausing for a moment. "Okita… there's something I've wanted… to ask you… Did you know… the truth… all this time…? That Delta lied to Kyros and me… to secure our allegiance?"

The boy let out a breath and averted his eyes, avoiding seeing the small tears gathering in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Seline…" he whispered, turning his head and leaving the room, heading down the hall.


Blade was struggling to catch his breath as he clashed with his wife. His battle with Delta, along with his beating her, had taken out more stamina than he had realized. He was unprepared when Aki had intervened, and so he was forced to defend for the most part. The Red Devil swung, and their lances met.

"Aki, you have to believe me. I never wanted to put you through that torment for all those years," he pleaded as they headed down the hall. "You know I've always been sorry for causing you all that pain."

The Red Devil only stared at him with her red irises under her visor and said, "Where is my son?"

"He's not your son, the way you are now," he said, taken aback. "He's the son of the Aki I knew."

Aki flared her nostrils in annoyance but soon returned to her stony expression, pushing him back.

"First bring back Aki, then I'll bring back our son," D-boy said with a firm tone. "I promise you."


The Warlady snapped her head up to her left at the call of her name – she could recognize that voice at any given time. Her son was sprinting down the corridor towards her, and she closed her eyes, feeling ashamed that he would be seeing her in such a pitiful state. Broken fragments of her armor lay about the floor on which she rested; her backside leaned against the damaged wall while her knee throbbed.

"Mother!" Okita gasped, kneeling down and peering into her dark visor, seeing blood on her face.

"It's just a few scrapes. I'll be fine in a bit," she smiled weakly. "Okita, I'm so glad you're here."

"I'm so glad you're alright. I was worried," he whispered, hugging her. "I felt you and father…"

"Yes, we fought, and he refused me once again. Now, he's fighting his dear wife down that way," she spat, motioning to her right. "She's his world. He doesn't care about anyone else but himself and her."

"That's… that's not true," he said, pulling back and lowering his eyes. "He's trying to help me."

"So, you've taken a liking to him too?" she narrowed her eyes. "You're choosing him over me?"

"No! No, I… I haven't betrayed you, mother… or our purpose… but… I need more time here."

"My son, do you think Takaya will give you more time?" she said, her tone grave as she touched his shoulder. "When he realizes what you told him was false, he will throw you back into a prison cell!"

"False?" the boy whispered, taken aback. "You mean… about what you told me to tell him?"

"One of the two military bases was never attacked. That way, we could spread their numbers thin while concentrating our own power on part of their forces," she nodded. "It can be an effective strategy."

"Just like something you would do, Mother," he sighed, realizing the consequences would be bad.

"You know my mind – that our attack wouldn't be as straightforward as I'd instructed you," she said, smirking thinly. "By this point, if all is well, either Vesna is captured or Dead has ceased to… live."

"And when Father learns of that, he'll lose all trust in me," Okita tensed. "He'll hate me…"

"That's why it's best that you come home… with your mother," she said, slowly rising to her feet.

The boy narrowed his eyes for a moment, scolding himself for having been so easily duped by her.

"Don't be angry with me, my child; this is for your own good. The more dependent you grow on him, the greater your grief will be. For months, he couldn't even take care of Shinya. He'd left him in the care of that woman Milly! Do you honestly think he will suddenly have all the time in the world for you?"

The boy paused, again taken aback. Was she right? Was he holding on to a delusion, a fantasy?

"I raised you, and I love you, Okita. But I doubt he even cares about truly getting to know you," she said, retrieving her sword. "Now let's catch up to my sister. We might still be able to overpower him."

The youth nodded weakly, his brain beginning to buzz from the weight of her unsettling words.


Author Notes: Sorry it's been so long. Pretty cruel for leaving you hanging during the middle of a battle, but yes, it took me this long to write it (busy w/ work, went on vacation, etc). Also, for those who have not yet received a response from me for their emails or reviews, my sincerest apologies. I will try to resume better contact henceforth...

So, please let me know your feedback, whether by review or email! Delta is one manipulative (expletive), isn't she?

Thanks for reading!