Chapter 7: Past of the Present (Part 2)

Classified Location

4th January 2136

03:40 A.M.

"Was that it?" asked Orion, "That didn't even feel like 8 hours!" said Orion as he got out of his tank, "Alright so the first thing, get Elise up!" he said as he reconnected Elise's energy cube to her body.

"Ah…" said Elise getting up, "So, we are back?" she asked.

"Looks like we are…" said Orion as he wore his military coat back, "The time has come!" he said as they explored the laboratory, there was no single trace of life inside. They went through the rooms but all they could find was maintenance bots that kept the laboratory neat and clean for all these days.

"What are those?!" exclaimed Elise as they entered a room which was supposed to be the jungle biome that Orion loved so much but instead it was a giant doom with two Franxxs standing, ready to launch. They moved forward to investigate, but before they could a holographic screen popped in front of them.

"What the? Mama?!" exclaimed Orion shocked.

"My children!" said the video playing inside the screen with Mama inside, "I hope you slept well all these years, but now the time has come… A lot has happened in these hundred years of your sleep. APE, as I had suspected has taken over humanity. Their leader is now a mysterious person named Papa and now rules humanity! Immortality that was introduced with the magma energy has made every human run out of feelings and now humanity has no goal in life. The capsules that left us a lot of time ago have been able to successfully create 25 plantations that now prosper of life… You must find and destroy APE because, with APE standing, humanity will never be restored. Dr. Franxx has already set up warriors who shall fight with you, Squad 13… That's what they are called. Find them and start a revolution! As your first objective, both of you need to go inside those giant mecha structures you currently standing in front of, they are called Franxxs something that we had designed to fight against the Klaxosaurs. You must fly in them and reach the coordinates already uploaded inside your respective Franxxs. Remember, APE now is your true enemy, do not engage in any fight until and unless you reach the pre-uploaded coordinates. You two are my only hope to restore humanity, now go and bring back to the humans what was once called life!" she said as the video ended.

"What should we do?" asked Elise.

"Follow her order, I guess…" said Orion confused.

"But," said Elise, "we don't even know how to uses these franxxs-" they were interrupted by a large bang outside the laboratory.

"What is that?" said Orion as he ran towards the control panel, "Are they humans?" he said looking at the video input of the gate cameras on the screen. On the screen, he could see 9 humans with horns getting down from their Franxxs.

"It's nice that there is microphone coverage, let's hear them!" he said as he turned the camera microphone.

"This is Nine Alpha," said a boy wearing a white-colored coat over pants of the same color with golden hair and green colored eyes on his intercom, "the entrance has been cracked, we are going in."

"Go, my child," replied a voice from the intercom, "make your papa happy…"

"Sure, Papa…" replied Nine Alpha.

"Papa?!" exclaimed Elise as she heard them, "They are here already, what should we do?" she said as her eyes started showing constant movement due to too much tension.

"Hey, calm down…" said Orion as he held her from both of her shoulders, "We will escape, alright?" he said, "Nothing bad will happen, just stay by my side…"

"But how?" she asked.

"Let's see what is special about those Franxxs…" he said as they ran towards the Franxxs. They went into their respective Franxxs as was shown on the signs beside them.

"Wow!" exclaimed Orion as he got inside his Franxx, the inside of it was a fully white colored sphere and in the center was a helmet hanging. He went ahead and wore it, as soon as he did the screen in front of the helmet turned on giving a clear view of what was in front.

"Initializing systems…" said the screen.

"Hey Elise, how are you doing?" asked Orion over the intercom.

"More comfortable than I had thought…" she said, "my body can directly connect to the Franxx as if I was the Franxx itself. Though the name is a bit confusing to me…"

"What is it?" asked Orion.

"Guan Yin!" Elise replied, "What's yours?" she asked

"Huitzilopochtli…" Orion said as he read the name of his Franxx. As soon as the initialization of the system finished, he could see them, the 9s coming their way inside their Franxxs.

"This is as far as you go!" said 9-alpha from his Franxx's speakers, "Surrender and we will try not to kill you… You have 3 seconds!"

"Damn it!" exclaimed Orion, "What do we do?" he asked.

"3… 2… 1!" shouted 9-alpha, "I warned you!" he said as his Franxx dashed towards Huitzilopochtli.

"How do I move?!" thought Orion as he saw 9-alpha's Franxx coming towards him, he closed his eyes and covered his face to brace for impact. A loud crash was heard, but Orion did not even feel a bit of impact of the dash, he opened his eyes to see what happened, 9-alpha's Franxx was lying of the floor leaning against the wall. Guan Yin had already fired an EMP grenade from her crossbow that rendered the Franxx useless.

"Nobody…" said Elise through the speakers of Guan Yin, "Comes near to Orion…"

"Initiate command strategy 6!" shouted 9-alpha as all other Franxxs of the 9s charged towards them.

"Not a chance!" shouted Elise as a large wall made of metal came from below the surface, separating Elise and Orion from the 9s.

"We have got to get out of here!" said Orion.

"Yeah just a sec," said Elise as she activated Orion's Franxx.

"What the?" said Orion as his body flew in and came at the center of the sphere he was inside.

"It is good that the Franxx is connected to the laboratory…" said Elise, "That is zero gravity you are experiencing right now, the Franxx will move the same way as you move your body, so be careful."

"I see," said Orion, "so, any instruction to do for us?" he asked.

"Where ever I search all I see is the coordinates… looks like we don't have a choice but to get to that place…"

"Alright then, let's get out of here!" he said as both of their franxx's boosters fired up and went high up in the sky.

"I hope they don't follow us in the sky…" said Orion tensed.

"Let's confirm that too…" she said as she triggered a blast making the laboratory break down into pieces. They escaped towards the place they were not sure would be safe but all they knew was that those coordinates were there only hope.

The Lifeless Plains

7th January 2136

07:42 A.M

"We are about to reach it…" said Orion looking at the GPS location, "according to the coordinates, it has to be around those mountains!" he said looking at a mountain range that looked more like worn out rocks kept together on the sand.

"Impossible…" said Elise as they flew to the other side of the range, the mountain that looked like lifeless worn out rocks on one side was a perfect example of life on the other, there was a thick forest that was cut so precisely that it looked almost invisible from the other side of the range. It was spring, as the flowers in the open field in between that thick forest bloomed with colors and about 10 kilometers away from where the mountain slope turned into a plain area was a huge dome made of glass that covered hundreds of kilometers with buildings inside of it.

"So," said Orion, "that's where we are going!" he said looking at the computer screen as the coordinates pointed exactly towards the huge dome.

"But," said Elise with a serious expression on her face, "These coordinates… There is no place to land! If we keep going we will crash outside the dome, into the soil!"

"What?!" exclaimed Orion, "Can't you stop it?" he asked.

"Both of our Franxxs are locked to the destined coordinates…" said Elise, "I can't do anything!"

Both the Franxxs descended towards the ground a few meters away from the boundary of that dome.

"Why…" said Orion as he saw his life nearing death, "Why would she do something like this?" he thought.

They were just a few meters away from the ground when suddenly a few metal plates hidden below the soil moved, removing the soil from that area as the hatch gate opened, making a passage for the Franxxs to directly pass below the soil into a tremendously large warehouse.

"What is this place?" said Orion looking outside as the lights made the warehouse illuminate, giving a clear look of what was going on inside. The Franxxs slowed down and slowly descended towards the landing port that was already prepared for them. The Franxxs landed as the port locks held them in position and gate bridges dropped towards the entrance of the Franxxs for them to get down.

"What do you say?" asked Elise, "Should we go?"

"Of course," Orion said, "this is where Mama wanted us to be after all…" he said as they left their seats and went to the gate bridge and watched the warehouse from the height.

"Sir Orion!" said a voice beside them, they looked towards the person, he was about the same height as Orion, he wore a black colored sleeveless black jacket over a red-colored T-shirt.

"That symbol…" said Elise looking at the symbol on his shirt, "You are one of the capsules!"

"Yes…" the person replied with a smile, "I'm code 572 if you don't remember…"

"It's you?" said Orion looking at him.

"Why not?" said 572.

"But what has happened in all these years?" asked Orion as he and Elise walked with 572.

"Well," said 572, "The last message that we had received from Mama was around 15 years ago, she did not say much. She just made us remember that a few years later you two will be coming so we should be ready to welcome you and tell you about all the events that happened while you two were sleeping."

"I see," said Elise as they reached the exit of the warehouse, "So what has happened so serious?"

"Sir Orion!" said a voice from outside, "Glad to see that you two are fine!"

"Code 532?" asked Elise shocked. In front of them stood a girl wearing blue-colored jeans with a red Coat over a white-colored shirt and had short red-colored hair.

"Yes!" 532 said with a smile.

"Ah, good you're here!" said 572, "anyways so after you two went to cryogenic sleep, there were problems, VIRM got to know about us… The 25 plantations that were created by us capsules, we call them districts and the whole 25 districts together make 'The Federation'. So anyways, we sent out a few people from our sides to make a peace treaty with them that included three conditions-

1. Both organizations will abstain from intervening in whatever internal situation or conflict happened to them unless it threatened humanity as a whole.

2. Both organizations will have their own politically marked territory.

3. Any intervention done to project ARC will eventually lead to a war against APE.

So, at the moment we The Federation and APE are living in peace due to mutual understandings. But anyway since you have come back, it's time for a welcome back party!"

District 14

15th October 2137

04:30 P.M.

"Yes!" shouted Orion as he looked at the computer screen in front of him with Elise beside him.

"So, looks like we can stay out of trouble for now?" asked Elise.

"Yes, the defense system is all online and I don't think that any Klxosaurs can cross those double plasma cannons and even if they do the new generation Franxxs that we have developed so far will wipe them out!"

District 14

9th July 2039

01:30 P.M.

"So…" said Orion looking outside the window of his quarter, "How did Mama expect us to go all friendly with the Klaxosaurs?"

"Maybe we will have to figure it out ourselves…" said Elise.

"Sir!" shouted a person at the entrance of the room. He was breathing heavily in excitement, "We did it! We found a way to create artificial magma energy!"

"What?" said Orion shocked.

"Very well then," said Elise, "looks like we found a way to befriend the Klaxosaurs!"

District 14

8th August 2140

04:26 P.M.

"Easy…" said Orion as Huitzilopochtli patted on the head of a Klaxosaur standing in front of him.

"So," said code 572 looking out of the window of the carrier airship they were on, "Looks like he was right, we have left such amount of artificially synthesized magma energy and have been feeding these Klaxosaurs for so many days now and looks like they have finally turned out to be friendly."

"Yes..." said Elise, "Finally some development in the path of the world Mama had thought of…"

Gran Crevasse

4th December 2043

02:56 P.M.

"So, what are we here for again?" asked Orion as Huitzilopochtli and Guan Yin went inside Gran Crevasse with 10 franxxs of similar models controlled by the security force that came with them and one slightly different one with code 532 and code 572 inside it.

"Well, this place is supposed to be a type of plantation of Klaxosaurs," said the leader of the security force sent with them, "However, lately after that 4-day storm, we have not picked a single movement in this area so there is a chance that something has happened."

"Why are there no Klaxosaurs here at all?" said Elise.

"This is code 572," said code 572 on the intercom, "come to my location, you guys really would like to see this…"

Huitzilopochtli and Guan Yin approached code 572 and code 532's franxx that stood at the end of a tunnel.

"What is it?" asked Elise over the intercom.

"Use your thermoscope and see through the floor below us…" replied code 532.

"Heat signals?" said Elise, "There is something down here… Alright get back we got to blow a hole!" she said as the franxxs stepped back and Guan Yin made a hole by using her crossbow.

"What the…" said Orion as they got down using a cable, the hole Guan Yin made on the floor which was expected to be the last revealed another huge secret underground floor, inside were huge numbers of life support capsules with Klaxo sapiens in them.

"And that's how we got to learn about VIRM and we made our defenses and Franxxs to the far most perfection we could take them…" said Orion as he sat sitting beside Elise in the meeting room with squad 13.

"But," said Ichigo, "Why didn't you come when there was an actual inter-galactic war happening in space? I'm sure you would have noticed at least that!"

"Yeah" said Orion, "as far as I can take the timeline, there was a 4-day storm exactly around the days of the war, and since out radar was under maintenance, we couldn't get a track of what happened during that time, we had also feared that going to an enemy's territory would only bring war, something that we were not prepared for during that time."

"There were still some of my people under the Gran Crevasse?!" asked Seraphime shocked.

"Yeah," said Orion, "You being the princess didn't know that?" he asked.

"I was informed," said Seraphime, "that a few servants will be sent when I first came to this planet, but I thought that the Klaxosaurs were all that there were."

"Yeah," said Hatake, "I read the records on Prismertine, it showed something similar but I too thought that the Klaxosaurs would be the servants."

"Futoshi!" said a voice from the entrance of the meeting room, everyone turned towards the voice. On the door frame stood a girl about the same age as the people of squad 13 with golden hair that reached till her waist tied into a single plate, she had green colored eyes with a cute smile upon her face wearing a light pink colored kimono with a big thermos in her hands.

"Who is she?" asked Hiro.

"Oh, you probably haven't met her…" said Futoshi, "She is my wife, Kofuku!"

"Yeah," said Zorome, "Futoshi got lucky in that field…"

"You aren't lucky by getting me?!" asked Miku angrily as she grabbed his left shoulder.

"O-Of course I'm…" said Zorome scared.

"Kawaii!" said Zero Two as she moved towards her and rubbed her cheek with hers.

** 'Kawaii' in Japanese translates to 'cute' in English**

"Zero Two!" said Hiro, "What are you doing?"

"Sorry," she replied, "I just couldn't control it…"

"Anyways," said Kofuku, "I brought tea for everyone!"

"Tea?" said Orion, "Here?"

"Yeah," said Mitsuru, "Thanks to the highland on the opposite part of the crashed side of Mistilteinn there is perfect weather for growing it ourselves."

"Really?" asked Orion.

"So, what's next?" asked Kokoro, "What do we do now, what if another war comes to us? We are not prepared for anything at the moment!"

"Yeah," said Orion, "looks like we will need to take you all to the Federation, we have better defenses there and also we can upgrade the franxxs!"

"Yeah," said Hatake, "We got a lot of Franxxs that need to be recovered into the best shape…"

"What do you mean?" asked Mitsuru confused.

"Well," said Orion, "Dr. Franxx prepared squad 13 to fight with us so that we could restore the earth, but now as you all know everything has changed, so we will need your franxxs to fight against VIRM."

"Just our franxxs then?" asked Futoshi.

"When did I say that?" asked Orion, "Obviously Dr. Franxx made those franxxs unique for you all because he knew that you all were unique too. So, without unique pilots… Unique franxxs would be useless! So, we are going to train you all in the facility and bring you all back to perfect shape!"

"Don't tell me..." said Zero Two, "the training would be the same as we did in the plantations before…"

"Not the way those bastards did!" said Orion, "Yeah, it's true that the training brought out the best out of the best but also exhausted the energy of the pilots. In the federation, we only focus on a proper diet and body maintenance."

"But what about our children?" asked Kokoro.

"You all can take them too!" said Orion, "What do you say, Hatake?" he asked.

"Yup that's a great idea! But you know," said Hatake, "what I'm thinking right now is that how did the VIRM come back, I mean the time when they came to attack right after we arrived on earth, we defended and wiped out most of their army they brought with them. However, this time it was like double the army we had faced…"

"Yeah," said Hiro, "how is that possible?"

"I don't know," said Hatake, "But I know who can answer that, Sera come with me! We will be back in a while."

"Where are we going?" said Sera as they got out of the meeting room.

"To make a call!" said Hatake as they went to the open field where the franxxs were temporarily parked and got inside Meteorix.

"Hatake?" said Oniria on the video call, "Why didn't you call? I was worried!"

"That's because…" said Hatake angrily, "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO REPORT BACK!"

"Alright, alright!" said Oniria, "Sorry I forgot, after all, you were the one who put me in charge!"

"Yeah, whatever!" said Hatake, "Listen, even though we defeated the VIRM units when we came to earth, there were even more VIRM units that came here today, did some of them got slip past again?!"

"What?!" exclaimed Oniria, "No, we have tried our hardest and not a single unit was able to bypass our defense line…"

"Then how?" said Hatake.

"I don't know…" said Oniria, "I will look around for any clues. And once you return you better take your duties back! Even though I'm treated like a queen here but I really don't like looking at the army fight and me myself not being able to do anything here…"

"Queen?!" asked Seraphime shocked as she somewhat pushed Hatake out of the screen and stood in front of the camera.

"O-Onesan…" said Oniria shocked as she burst into tears, "Where were you?!" she shouted as sobbed.

** 'Onesan' in Japanese translates to 'Big sister' in English**

"Is that how a princess is supposed to be?" asked Seraphime smiling.

"But… But…" said Oniria as she sobbed.

"Don't worry," said Seraphime with tears in her eyes, "I'm alright, I have someone who would protect me… Even from death…"

"J-Just hold on," said Oniria, "I will be there within a week-"

"Don't you dare!" said Seraphime interrupting in a serious tone, "You wanted to be the queen, but couldn't be just because you were small in age… But now you are the queen of Prismertine. So, do what a queen should... Protect your people!"

"Sure…" said Oniria with a sad expression, "I will try my best!"

"Ok then…" said Seraphime, "I will talk to you later!" she said as the call got disconnected.

"You seriously put her in charge?!" she said angrily looking at Hatake who was lying on the floor looking at her with a scared expression on his face.

"W-Why?" asked Hatake scared, "What is the problem?"

"Nothing…" said Seraphime as they got out of the franxx. And walked outside the Mistilteinn headquarters.

"Sera-chan!" said Kofuku, "Come on, you are sleeping at our house tonight!"

"Sure!" said Seraphime, "Good night, Hatake!" she said as they left.

"Hatake!" said Hiro as he came running towards Hatake.

"Hiro," said Hatake with a smile, "What is it?" he asked.

"Well," said Hiro, "I just wanted to ask… When you woke up inside Meteorix, during that fight, why were you crying?"

"Hiro…" said Hatake, "Do you remember the name… Ketteha?" he asked.

"Ketteha?" replied Hiro confused, "No I don't, why?" he asked.

"I see..." said Hatake with a look of disappointment, "It was nothing… Don't worry about it!" he said as his expression changed back into a smile, "Anyways, it's getting late… Go, get some sleep!"

"Yeah, glad to see you are all ok… I really was worried when you suddenly fainted there. Anyways, good night then!" said Hiro as he left.

"Obviously…" said Hatake as he walked through that lonely path to his room, "His memory was once wiped when I met him and then again when he met Zero Two… As the test of that memory editors suggested if memory is wiped twice then the chance of the memory that was wiped at the first time only has a 5 percent chance of coming back…"

"Where are we going mom!" said Ai as Kokoro tucked her in her bed, "Isn't it going to be great! We are going out of MIstilteinn for the first time!"

"Yeah," said Mitsuru with a smile, "But you must be a good girl, Ai… Be good to your friends!"

"Sure, dad!" said Ai with a smile.

"She doesn't know yet…" said Kokoro with a sad expression as they left Ai's room, "Do we have to fight?" she asked as she sobbed.

"Even if we don't have to…" said Mitsuru, "We will have to, I want to end this… All of this, once and for all!"

"Sure…" said Kokoro as she cheered back up looking at that confident face of Mitsuru.

"You know, Orion" said Elise lying on the bed of the room inside the Mistilteinn headquarters that was given to them by Goro, "when mama said that Squad 13 was a special squad prepared for fighting with us, I really thought that it would again be some feeling less zombies ready to tear through some Klaxosaur skin! But it turns out I was wrong… They are… Well… Different!"

"Yeah…" said Orion looking at the sky sitting near the window, "They really remind me of the people of my time…"

-end of chapter-

Next chapter releasing on 22/12/19

The idea of the federation and a few parts of this chapter were given by StrikeForceHeroeTeller.

PS: I'm sorry but no releases this weekend too, I will be out of town.