Chapter 3: I Got Your Back
"Before that…" Hatake said, "tell me, he has ingested your blood, hasn't he?"
"Yes…" Zero Two said, "A very stupid thing to do, wasn't it?" she said as her eyes filled with tears, "It's… All because of me… Why? Why did he do something so stupid? If I wasn't there, if I would just never have been created-"
"Then Hiro would have died years ago…." Said Hatake interrupting, "Why do you think he is living Zero Two? Why do you think he is always happy with you? It's because you are the one who gave him a reason to live, you and only you could bring him back to life and that's what you did, I don't see anything wrong in that…"
Both of them stayed there looking after Hiro in silence when suddenly the alarm went off.
"Give me a break, damn it!" shouted Hatake.
"WARNING: VIRM fleet detected 200 Kilometres away from planet ring." Said the intercom.
"A whole fleet?" Hatake said as he turned on the intercom mic, "Oniria!" he said on the mic, "Bring up the energy shield! We have to engage for combat! Prepare all Klaxosaur ships to battle, and get Meteorix ready!"
"And what about Strelizia?", asked Oniria over the intercom, "there are complications with Hiro, Strelizia is out of the mission at the moment…."
"But that many VIRM units?", said Oniria, "Meteorix cannot stand it with that small amount of energy!"
"So, everything ends here?" Hatake said falling down on his knees whispering, "Can't I do anything right?"
"I will do it!" Zero Two said, "You said there is a place for a pistil inside Meteorix right? I will go with you then!"
"You do remember…" said Hatake getting back on his feet, "What happened the last time you rode with me right?"
"I don't care…" she said, "If we don't do anything the planet will be destroyed right? And so, will be… My darling…. So, I want to go, because without my darling… I will be nothing more than dead!"
"Alright then, come on!" he said.
And there they were, inside the Franxx containment unit with both Meteorix and Strelizia ready to launch on the launching pad.
"Let's go, shall we?" asked Hatake.
"No…" she said looking at Strelizia, "If Meteorix is broken there is no hope, we should take Strelizia, even if I don't come back you can still keep fighting with Meteorix…"
"Ready to die I see?" asked Hatake, "alright then…."
They took their seats and launched into the empty space with full power. "Come back alive, you two" thought Oniria looking outside in to space.
They could see the war already in action as they reached the battlefield, flying with Strelizia's spear out, they pierced through hundreds of then in one blow.
"This is pretty easy!" said Zero Two cheering up.
"Don't get too cocky!" exclaimed Hatake, "What we dealt with was just the first line of defence, the S-class are still left-"
Before he could end his statement, a dagger came directly towards them, dodged by Strelizia, they could see them, about three S-class VIRM units coming towards them.
"Zero Two…" Hatake said, "What do you say… about… Going all out once again? We can't defeat them with just this small amount of power you know?"
"Let's do this!" she said smiling, "For Hiro!"
"Right, for Hiro it is then!" Hatake said as he turned his badge and pressed on it, once again revealing those horns on his shoulders.
"However," said Zero Two, "this time I will fight with you!" she exclaimed as she removed her headband. The power's aura from their body could be seen from outside, before the VIRM units could do anything Strelizia, went through all them slicing them with her spear with finally only the mother-ship remaining.
"Alright!" said Hatake "let's finish thi-". The Franxx had run out of power, he looked down towards Zero Two, she was breathing heavily, still trying to keep up with Hatake.
"I'm sorry Zero Two…" Said Hatake,"but at this rate you will die, and I can't let that happen… Because without you, Hiro won't survive..." He picked up her headband and placed it back over her horns and pulled out the computer and initiated pistil ejection that automatically ejected Zero Two and sent the capsule back to Prismertine, he looked towards the VIRM mother-ship, the ship was preparing its plasma cannons to fire at Strelizia.
"Damn, what is this feeling?" Hatake said, "A few years ago, I just wanted to die no matter what but now… I want to live, finally I have found people who really care for me, but… I have run out of time, haven't I?" he said as his eyes closed but then suddenly a spark was seen behind the mother-ship.
"Really? You are going to quit after coming this far?" said the intercom.
"Is that?!" Hatake shouted as the mother-ship got sliced from the center completely destroying it, and there Hatake could see, that gift he got, that blue tint of the sword…
"Hiro..." he whispered. There was she, Meteorix shining with power, Hatake got back on his feet and placed back the metal pieces on his shoulder sustaining his powers as a Klaxosaur mothership arrived to pick up Strelizia. Inside was Oniria, waiting for Hatake to come out of Strelizia, as the exit gate got fixed in front of the Franxx for Hatake to get down, she rushed to the exit of the gate, the gate opened revealing Hatake holding his left arm in pain with blood dripping out of his head but with a smile on his face. She rushed towards him crying, "Why?... Why are you so careless?" she asked as she held him.
"Well as you all say I'm an idiot…" said Hatake.
"You really are!" shouted a voice beside them, it was Hiro, walking towards Hatake breathing heavily as if he had no more energy.
"Thank you…" Hatake said whispering.
Hiro blacked out with a smile on his face…
"Ahh…" Hiro said as he woke up in the resting room, Zero Two was there on the bed beside with Hatake sitting on a chair in between the two beds, "Huh…." Hatake said rising up, "You really need to watch those powers of yours… Zero Two cannot handle that much you know?"
Hiro lifted his hands to his forehead, but this time, instead of horns he could feel a metallic touch over his horns, it was like caps completely covering his horns.
"They are power capacitors," said Hatake, "they suck up the extra energy so you don't go out of control… You see the way Meteorix works is that to become a pistil, it utilizes the energy released by the person controlling it, since you were on full power you were able to fully control it however only for a little time… And I'm sorry about Zero Two, I really didn't mean to but…."
"It's okay," said Hiro smiling looking at Zero Two, "As long as she is alive, I still have a reason to live…"
"You are tensed about something, aren't you?" asked Hatake, "Because otherwise your powers shouldn't go out of control."
"Yeah…" Hiro replied getting up, "I was thinking what the squad thirteen is doing there on Earth with absolutely nothing to start with…"
"I see…" said Hatake, "Can you walk right now, Hiro?" he asked.
"Yeah sure!" Hiro said.
"Follow me then." Said Hatake with a smile.
Hiro followed Hatake to his room, inside Hatake went towards the windows giving a pleasant view of the planet, he placed his hand over the glass and a circle appeared in the centre of the room, both of them got on it, it was like a lift that took them about one floor below to a dark room, Hatake went over and turned on the lights revealing a giant room full of Holographic computers.
"Wow!" exclaimed Hiro.
"You see the Klaxosaur technology is very developed, so much that you can not only travel but also receive signal over hyper speed, and so..." Hatake said as he pushed a button turning on the biggest holographic screen in the center of the room, what could be seen on the screen brought tears in the eyes of Hiro, "Earth…" He whispered smiling.
"Not only that!" said Hatake looking at the screen as the image got zoomed in.
"There you go!" Hatake said.
"Arigato…" Hiro said. On the screen he could see and even hear them talking. He could hear them all, the laugh of Ichigo while talking with Zoro, Zorome teaching everyone and getting mocked by Miku, Kokoro giving coffee to Misuru and looking at the sky with happiness, Ikuno doing her research and Futoshi happily making buns.
**'Arigato' in Japanese translates to 'Thanks' in English**
"So that how you know about everything that happened there..." said Hiro.
"You kept watching…" said Zero Two with a smile leaning against the door frame and fainted, Hiro caught her by hand.
"By the way Hiro," said Hatake "where did the Klasosaur princess die? I'm sure she did not survive such a big strike by VIRM…" he said disappointedly with a clear sign of sadness over his face.
"Well," Hiro replied, "She died inside Strelizia itself-"
Before Hiro could say anything else, Hatake grabbed Hiro by the shoulders and with his eyes wide open, "What did you say?" he asked with a mixed expression of excitement and shock on his face.
Hatake ran towards the exit of the room, as soon as he crossed the door, Oniria grabbed him from behind, "Please… Please bring my… sister back!" she said crying.
"I swear I will…" he said as Oniria slowly let him go, "And this time" Hatake said as he got on the lift, "No more fake promises…" he said with a smile.
Walking though the sky walk with that serious face of his, he thought, "A chance, that's all I want… I just want to thank her…"
Meteorix launched into the open space, and went through hyper speed with an expression of hope on Hatake's face.
"Hiro…" said Zero Two lying on the bed, "Let's do it again… Let's go to the beach once more, together with everyone..."
"Don't worry" said Hiro as held her hand, "Once all of this is over, I promise, we will live near a beach with our own house, happily forever!" he said with a smile.
"That will only happen if the planet itself does not cease to exist…" said Oniria standing near the door.
"What happened?" said Zero Two as she got up from her bed cracking her fingers, "Looks like I'm fine now, ready to fight again with my darling."
"You sure?" Hiro asked.
"Yeah!" she replied.
"Good, I needed a favour from you two anyways…" said Oniria, "I have known Hatake from almost a year now, it looks like he will need help… We just hacked into one of the VIRM communication probes, looks like an Androbot VIRM unit was deployed to destroy Meteorix with its user."
"Hatake…" Hiro whispered, "We have to help him!" he said as he stood up.
"Yes," Oniria said "and that's why you all must go to help-"
"We will be out right away!" said Zero Two as she pulled Hiro with her to the Franxx Containment Unit.
Meanwhile, Meteorix landed on the lonely planet, he went towards the remains of Strelizia with a smile on his face, "I'm coming for you, my princess!" he shouted as Meteorix went even faster, he finally reached there, blowing the top portion of the head of strelizia, he desperately looked for her energy core, on close observation, it was there that energy core emitting a very low yellowish light. "Alright!" Hatake said as Meteorix carefully picked up the energy core and put it inside its storage module.
"All I need now," said Hatake with a smile, "is her DNA and the I can finally get her bac-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the head of Strelizia was destroyed by an inbound missile throwing Meteorix away.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" hatake shouted as a beam hit Meteorix draining it completely out of energy making it fall on knees, Hatake looked up to see what is it, he could see a creature somewhat resembling a franxx flying high in the air with his palm held towards Meteorix emitting a green coloured beam.
"Androbot VIRM unit… VIRM units made with the same amount of strength as an S-class VIRM unit but a bit smarter, one who can talk" he said.
"That's right!" said the Androbot, "So? Any last words?" The Androbot asked.
"Yeah just a question..." said Hatake, "I just wanted to ask… Were you the one who fired that missile destroying the only hope of reviving my princess?"
"Yes!" the Androbot said laughing, "It was a pity to watch though!"
"That's all I wanted to know…" Hatake said as Meteorix got back on his feet with a tremendous releasing of energy that could be seen by the aura emitted around Meteorix's body.
"Wait… How?!" exclaimed the Androbot shocked, "I had sucked enough power from your franxx, you shouldn't even have been able to move!" Fear could be seen on the Androbot's face.
"How could I die… Until I have not killed the one who did not let me revive my princess!" Hatake shouted as Meteorix burst with a tremendous speed, so fast that even before the Androbot could realise Meteorix was behind him, Meteorix kicked on the Androbot's boosters making it crash on the ground.
"Don't ever disrespect my princess… She... She saved me!" Hatake shouted as Meteorix held his sword through the three holes in the center of his sword instead of the handle, as soon as he did, the two ends of the sword bent slightly towards him transforming into a bow, through his arm with which Meteorix held the bow, came out an arrow with four wheels surrounding it, the wheels started spinning at a dangerous speed.
"Seriously?" asked the Androbot laughing, "You think puny arrow like that can destroy an Androbot?"
"You think so?", said Hatake with a grin, "Let's test it then!" he shouted.
The arrow went towards the Androbot with lightning speed causing a blast that cannot be considered less that an atomic bomb getting burst over an oil field leaving a few scrapes of the Androbot. Meteorix landed on the planet's surface taking a knee.
"Damn it!", said Hatake crying as meteorix fell on the sand of that lonely planet, "Am I good for nothing?... I promised Oniria… I promised her that I would bring my princess back… I don't deserve to live… I'm just a disappointment…"
As he stayed there thinking, a giant hyper speed portal opened above with about 30 D-class VIRM units and one L-class unit all ready to capture Meteorix.
"Looks like this is the end…" said Hatake, "There is no hop-"
"Shut it, baka!" said the intercom.
** 'Baka' in Japanese translates to 'Idiot' in English**
"That voice…. Oniria?" Hatake asked.
"What…", said Oniria crying over the intercom "What do you think you are doing leaving us all behind! I have already lost my sister, I can't lose you! You have to… No! You must live! LIVE FOR ME!" as soon as she finished, a portal behind Hatake opened, and through it came Strelizia at full speed piercing her spear through about 20 of the VIRM units.
"Well we can't just let your efforts of bringing us back to life go to vain, can we?" said Hiro over the intercom.
"Let's try the new weapon darling!" Zero two said.
"Don't tell me Oniria gave it to them already…" Hatake thought.
"Alright!" Hiro said as Strelizia held her spear towards the VIRM units, as soon as she did the upper covering of the spear spread like peeling off a banana and a ball of concentrated energy can be seen on the spear's tip, it charged up and a white coloured beam got shot away from its tip, wiping out all of the VIRM units in a single blow.
"Hatake,", said Hiro over the intercom, "Come one let's go hom-" before Hiro could end his sentence Strelizia ran out of power.
"What happened?" asked Zero Two.
"I don't know the link between our minds is all gone…" said Hiro
"I knew it…" said Hatake over the intercom, "You see, the spear cannon you just used requires a lot of energy to fire itself, I knew that this would be a problem as Zero Two cannot supply that much of power and hence I installed a capacitor inside to store the power and unleash it when the spear cannon was used. However, the weapon is pretty unstable and it looks like the power drain was so high that it burnt a few circuits of Strelizia… Anyways come on I will take you home…"
Meteorix carried Strelizia in his arms and took her through the portal.
"I'm sorry" said Hatake crying as he fell on knees in front of Oniria, "I could not complete my promise…"
"It doesn't matter…" said Oniria hugging him crying, "As for now I at least know how much you want my sister back…"
"Come on now", said Hiro catching Hatake's shoulder from the back, "I'm definitely sure you will find another way to revive her, won't you?"
"That's right…" said Hatake rising up, "I won't give up until I have her back… My princess!"
"Oniria!" Hatake said with a smile holding her by her shoulders making Oniria turn beet red, "I need you to do an announcement, I have something to address to the people of Prismertine tomorrow at the great hall and also I got to fix Strelizia."
"Sorry…" said Oniria, "I really didn't mean to give them that weapon, I knew it was unstable, but I didn't want to lose you…" she said as she sobbed.
"Nah" said Hatake as he wiped the tears over her face, "I'm not angry upon you… I'm just glad to know that there are people who care for me… But you really shouldn't have used the hyper speed portal after all it uses a lot of VIRM flow energy and we don't have many stocks left."
"Anyways!" said Hiro, "Cheer up Hatake we have got Humanity to save, don't we?"
Hatake smiled, "Alright then", said Hatake, "let's head back to our rooms, we got a big day tomorrow… Don't forget about the announcement tomorrow Oniria!"
Everyone went back to their room, in silence with happiness and hope on their faces.
Hiro woke up on the next day, "Ahh… the sunshine" he said as he turned his head to the other side.
"What the!" he shouted as he fell off the bed, "Zero Two?!" he said.
Zero Two woke up with a yawn, covered only by the bedsheet, "What happened Darling?" she asked.
"What happened?" asked Hiro, "What are you doing on my bed? Where are your clothes?"
"Well I thought why don't I spend some time with my Darling?" said Zero Two blushing.
"What do you think spending time is?" thought Hiro.
"Hiro I'm coming in!" said Oniria as the door of Hiro's room opened.
"No Wait!" said Hiro as he blocked the doorway preventing Oniria from peeking inside.
"What's the matter?" Oniria asked.
"Well it's nothing, I just… The room is very messy you see and-" before Hiro could end his sentence, Oniria pushed him.
"Oh, come on how bad can it b-" she got interrupted as she looked at Zero Two.
"Hiro…." She said with a murderous aura around her body and an expression on her face as if she was looking at something trash, "YOU HENTAI!"
**Hentai in Japanese translates to pervert in English**
"Don't worry Oniria I was the one who got into his bed." Zero Two said laughing.
"Really you guys are awful, anyways get dressed, we got to be there when the announcement is made, we need to meet Hatake at the balcony."
"Okay!" said Zero Two.
"No, not here Zero Two you come with me!" Oniria said as she dragged Zero Two out to her room.
"Huh…" Hiro said with a sigh of relief.
Hiro dressed up into the clothes that Oniria left for him to wear, the clothing was a navy-blue tuxedo with white coloured lines running over it like a circuit board, a white shirt and a bow. As he walked through the hallway, he got stuck on what he saw, there she was Zero Two in an outfit Hiro could have never imagined, with that crimson coloured dress she wore and her hair rounded into a bun with her horns shining as new, nothing could have been more beautiful than that.
"Quit staring…" she said embarrassed.
"S-Sorry," said Hatake snapping out "You just look beautiful…" he whispered.
"Come on!" said Oniria, "We don't have all day!" she was dressed in a dress and hairstyle similar to that of Zero Two but in a sky-blue colour.
"Sorry for keeping you all waiting" said Hatake from behind, he was dressed in a blue coloured royal gown with the same white lines pattern as of Hiro with a crown emitting blue light over his head.
"Hatake your eyes!" exclaimed Hiro as he saw Hatake's eyes emitting a blue light, "Is your power capacitor broken?" he asked.
"No, I lowered the power capacity of my capacitors, since I need to give a speech to all the Klaxo sapiens, so I thought I might try to look like them at least a little bit." Hatake said with a smile.
"Let's go, shall we?" said Oniria.
They got up over a cable car taking them to a very large hall on top of a hill, the hall could somewhat be considered as a king's castle because of the gigantic size it was, almost the size of two large sized football stadiums.
They got off the cable car and entered on the hall stage, a few Kalxo sapiens from the military were already on stage with a female Klaxo sapien standing at one of the corners with two more Klaxo sapiens who looked like maids. Onira entering first followed by Hiro and Zero Two together and then finally Hatake entered with the Klaxo sapiens cheering upon him. Hatake went forward to grab the mic.
"People of Prismertine!" he exclaimed, "It's been a pleasure, no, it's been an honor serving for you as your king, thank you for accepting me as your ruler, but as you all know things don't remain the same as always… We are always, each and every second fighting against our long-known enemy, VIRM, and to stop this war and bring peace is the only reason why I must go, I must go and save the people behind my very origin who are to win this war together with us! Don't lose faith! We will win, I assure you we will again be able live in peace once more with that same happiness. While I'm gone, I keep…" he said taking a deep breath, "Oniria as in charge of whatever might happen."
"I'm sorry my king!" exclaimed the woman at the corner of the stage, "but you see, the law only allows either the king or his wife to be in charge and no one else."
"The law huh?" said Hatake scratching his head, "Very well then, I change the law being the king, I say that from now on anyone in the king's family or in the family of the king's wife can be in charge in absence of the king or queen." He said absent minded.
"What the hell are you thinking?!" exclaimed Oniria.
"No, I'm all in my senses, it's clear then" said Hatake on the mic, "Oniria will be in charge in my absence, I have also prepared about 50 franxxs for you people to fight with and it will be her responsibility to choose the pairs to fight, fight for justice!" Hatake ended his speech and everyone on stage went to the back stage.
"Hatake", Hiro said, "If you are the king… Then who is your wife?" asked Hiro.
"Ara, I didn't tell you before?" asked Hatake, "It's the Kalxosaur princess, I'm married to her."
** 'Ara' in Japanese translated to 'Oh' in English**
"What?!" exclaimed Zero Two.
-end of chapter-
** next episode will be released anytime between 28th October to 3rd November**