In hindsight, asking his mother for her support had been a mistake. Izuku's right hand had started cramping sometimes, likely a repetitive stress injury from years spent scribbling into his notebooks. It was irritating, especially when he was doing something that required precision, and he'd had the brilliant idea to simply replace it with a better bionic equivalent. Izuku was a well-behaved boy who normally almost never argued with his mother, but they'd had a furious row over his half-formed plan the day he'd brought it to her for approval.
"You're nine years old!" Inko had shrieked. "You're a child, your body still has so much growing to do! How can you even think about – about cutting off your hand like this?"
Izuku hadn't understood at first. As far as he was concerned, his body was his body whether it was made of flesh and blood or metal and plastic, and a robotic hand would just be much stronger and more efficient than his biological one. Yet his mother had become extremely distressed once he'd revealed his plan, which made no sense to him. How could she object to something which would only improve his body?
Inko had tearfully explained the situation during their half-yearly appointment with Dr Tsubasa, whose medical credentials included extensive experience dealing with Quirks that came with various mental or physical urges. Izuku hadn't been too eager to talk about it at first, but his mother's flood of tears eventually wore his reluctance away.
"My dear boy, I hope you can recognize why your mother is so distraught," Dr Tsubasa intoned gravely. "Your plan to amputate a perfectly healthy appendage is frankly rather worrying."
"I – I know, sensei! I know it was a stupid idea, okay!" Izuku huffed. He greatly respected the elderly man, whom he saw as a bit of a grandfather figure, but couldn't quite keep the irritation out of his voice.
Dr Tsubasa steepled his hands, peering at Izuku over the top of his glasses. "I'm sorry for pushing, Izuku-san," he said mildly, "But both your mother and I would like to understand why you felt the need to come up with such a drastic idea in the first place."
Izuku sighed, looking down into his hands as he tried to put his frustrations into words. "It – my body just feels so flawed sometimes. So imperfect and – and weak. I know I'm still growing, and I've been exercising and doing weight training and stuff, but it's just so slow and inefficient. Biology in general is just slow and inefficient, sensei! Why shouldn't I just improve myself with technology?"
Dr Tsubasa frowned. "Well, improving oneself is most certainly a worthy goal, yet I must say your reaction is rather extreme. Surely you could simply use better tools or equipment to make up for your body's shortcomings, for example," he pointed out.
"That doesn't solve the root of the problem," Izuku argued, still staring sullenly at his hands. "I'll always be held back by my flesh and blood, even if I had the best tools in the world!"
The two of them sat in silence, Dr Tsubasa studying Izuku intently over his folded hands. "Well then, how about a compromise?" the doctor said finally. "Perhaps your mother would be more willing to consider an addition instead of a replacement, hmm?"
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked curiously.
"An ancillary robotic limb," Dr Tsubasa replied. "One which you would use in tandem with your natural hands, instead of outright replacing them."
"T – that could work," Izuku brightened considerably. "Actually, that may be even better than my original idea, because I'd still have my organic hand to work with! But a manipulatory limb would surely require a connection to my nervous system, wouldn't it? Do I need to design some kind of brain interface? Maybe I could use a standard one designed for normal prosthetic limbs! Oh, but that might restrict it to a more natural range of motion. The best attachment site would likely be an area close to my spine, but I'd also have to do some calculations to make sure my body is strong enough to support the additional stresses – "
The doctor smiled indulgently, but his voice carried a note of caution as he interrupted Izuku's runaway train of thought. "Any invasive surgery will still have to be approved by your mother," he warned. "I'd be happy to look through your designs as well. I'm sure Inko-san would feel much better knowing I was keeping an eye on you."
Dr Tsubasa's support was surprising, and was actually far more than Izuku had expected to receive. His face fell as something occurred to him. "I don't think that I'd be able to build something this complex with what I have available, sensei," he said sadly.
The Quirk specialist stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I do maintain quite a few contacts amongst Pro Heroes and Hero Academies. Tell you what, let me see if I can get you an interview with one of their support departments. Not only would they be able to provide you with resources and technology, but they would also be much better suited to vet your technological designs than I."
Izuku almost burst from his chair in a fit of excitement, only just managing to restrain himself from running off to get started. "Thank you once again, Tsubasa-sensei!" Izuku bowed reverently towards the doctor. "I really appreciate your advice and support, as always!"
"It was my pleasure, dear boy," Dr Tsubasa smiled fondly at him. "I look forward to seeing what you can come up with."
- BREAK -
Maijima Higari was a busy man; time was a precious commodity for the head of Yuuei's Department of Support and the faculty member in charge of its Development Studio. Yet he always made sure to set aside some time to interview promising students, those who were referred to him in the hopes of accessing some small fraction of the considerable resources that Japan's best hero school had to offer.
Case in point, one Midoriya Izuku.
The boy entered Higari's seldom-used office with his mother, both of them looking slightly tense as they sat down in front of his desk. He exchanged the usual pleasantries almost automatically with them, his mouth moving on autopilot as he assessed the candidate from behind his signature excavator claw helmet. The green-haired kid was very young, nine years old according to his file, but an insatiable curiosity burned bright within his eyes as he visibly fought to keep himself from exploding with questions.
Higari liked him already.
"So, Midoriya-kun," Higari began, "Tell me about yourself."
"Um, well, I – I like to build things," the nine-year-old said with sudden shyness. "My Quirk, Techopathy, lets me connect to electronic devices. It's really easy for me to fix them up because I can tell which parts are broken. It also gives me inspiration for all these incredible ideas and designs, b – but I don't have the material to actually build them."
"Which brings you here, to this interview," Higari observed. "Tell me more about these ideas, if you would."
"Of course, Maijima-sama," said the younger Midoriya, his enthusiasm growing with every word. "There's just so many of them! Ceramic alloys, anti-gravity devices, powered armor, personal shields, bio-electric tattoos, variable energy fields – "
Higari held up a hand to cut him off. "You certainly have a lot of interesting ideas," he chuckled. "How 'bout we start with your most recent project? Is there anything you've been working on in particular?"
"Er, my main p – project for now is an auxiliary mechanical arm," Midoriya Izuku stammered. "It's the reason why we're here to see you, actually. I've brought the schematics here with me. M – may I have permission to access your computer, Maijima-sama?"
Higari nodded, expecting the kid to pass over a storage drive or similar. Instead Midoriya fiddled with his phone for a moment, before his eyes lit up with the faintest green glow. His Quirk, obviously, which the boy was technically allowed to use since they were on school grounds. There was a ping from his computer and Higari tapped on the keyboard to accept the incoming connection.
He received detailed schematics for a bionic arm, which looked a bit like a robot tentacle, along with a series of interface nodes to be implanted into the body. There were nearly nine hundred pages of comprehensive design notes, detailing everything from joint articulation and projected range of motion to calculations on fatigue loading and potential failure states. Higari quickly skimmed through most of it, knowing from long experience to focus mainly on the technical drawings and the Bill of Materials for now.
Both Midoriyas watched him nervously, Higari finally pulling himself away from his computer to address them. "Frankly, Midoriya-kun, I'm impressed," he said simply. "Your design work is superb, easily on par with most of my third-year support students. Hell, with such extensive documentation I feel like I could jump into the lab right now and build one of these myself!"
"I um, t – thank you, Maijima-sama," Midoriya stuttered, his face red with embarrassment. "But the arm is designed specifically for use with my Quirk. I – I suspect you'll have much more trouble controlling it even if you had the implanted interface."
"Of course, I understand," Higari nodded, tapping the extensive bionics integrated into the top right of his bare chest. "I'm no stranger to prosthetics, as you can see. I myself am heavily augmented due to injuries I sustained during my time as a Pro Hero." He frowned when the boy continued to look down. "Everybody's different, kid. There's no shame in designing something tailored to your own physique."
The boy's mother, who had stayed silent until now, suddenly interjected. "I'm sorry for interrupting, Maijima-san, but are you absolutely certain that both the robot arm and those implants are safe?" Midoriya Inko asked.
Higari took another quick look through the schematics on his computer. "At a glance, your son's neural interface design looks pretty safe and unobtrusive. He's also performed a comprehensive analysis on the strain the extra limb would put on his body, although I'd still suggest getting a second opinion from someone with a medical doctorate."
The older Midoriya nodded reluctantly, and Higari could see that she wasn't quite convinced. "Rest assured Midoriya-san, I will be thoroughly reviewing your son's designs, and I will personally confirm that everything is safe before I allow him to proceed with this project."
The woman nodded again, this time with slightly more vigor, and Higari turned his attention back towards the fidgety nine-year-old. "Midoriya-kun, would you like me to take a look at any of your other work?"
"I – I don't have anything else on hand, sorry," Midoriya said in disappointment, before perking up suddenly. "I've been working on this really cool design for a humanoid robot though! It's based on so many different inspirations and ideas! There's this retired Pro Hero, the Red Comet, who used these awesome piloted mechs he called 'Mobile Suits'. Have you heard of him? Although mine would be more of an actual robot rather than a piloted mecha – "
"I am familiar with him, yes," Higari said carefully, resisting the urge to scratch at his prosthetics as he changed the subject. "How exactly do you come up with these ideas anyway, Midoriya-kun?"
The boy hesitated, unconsciously running a hand through his unruly green hair. "It's strange. With most of my designs, it doesn't really feel like I'm producing something new. Instead, it's like I'm – like I'm just the person putting everything together? As though I'm taking notes off something that already exists, like my hands are moving on their own when I make something – "
"It feels like you're putting together something which already exists in some form," Higari finished with a smile. "I know several accomplished engineers and support scientists who say the same thing." The nine-year-old turned red at the praise once again, shyly lowering his gaze to his knees.
"I've made my decision," Higari said bluntly, "Congratulations, Midoriya-kun. You've passed the interview." Midoriya looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing, while his mother looked on in obvious pride. "I can grant you access to any of the workshops run by the Department of Support, although the Development Studio is reserved for Yuuei students only." He paused, straining to hold in his laughter at the boy's badly concealed eagerness to get started.
"Right, follow me," he said gruffly, getting up to lead the two visitors down the hall to the small lab located near his office. It was tiny and under-equipped by Yuuei standards, yet Midoriya looked like he was about to explode with excitement. Or perhaps faint with excitement.
"This is one of our spare workshops. I'll show both of you around, but first I have something I'd like to say." Higari became more serious as he knelt down until he was at eye level with the nine-year-old. "I can see you have potential, Midoriya Izuku. What you've done so far is easily enough for a recommendation to Yuuei's Department of Support. Keep it up, and in a few years I promise to sponsor you myself."
The poor boy actually did faint at those words, but Higari had already moved to catch him.
- BREAK -
Even with Power Loader's help, it took nearly eight months for Izuku to design, build and test the mechanical arm and the interface implants. It had taken tremendous willpower not to simply charge ahead once they were constructed; instead Izuku spent another three months carefully preparing, training and exercising his body under the guidance of Dr Tsubasa to make sure that it would be able to take the strain of an extra bionic limb.
Fortunately the Midoriyas were related to a trained surgeon. Tokage Setsuo was happy to perform the operation, even if he normally didn't do elective surgeries. Izuku went under the knife with Inko's reluctant consent, but that didn't stop her from worrying endlessly about her son. The surgery was successful, but unsurprisingly his mother insisted on Izuku receiving a full body checkup afterwards.
Which put him back in Dr Tsubasa's increasingly familiar clinic, the Quirk specialist conducting a thorough examination to see if he'd suffered any ill effects from the operation. Izuku's mother anxiously wrung her hands as she hovered nearby, her eyes locked on the twin rows of small metal nubs running down her son's naked back.
"Well, everything certainly seems to be in order!" Dr Tsubasa said cheerily. Izuku hid a smile; the old doctor's moustache tended to wriggle and jump whenever he became excited. "Your vital signs are stable, and there do not appear to have been any unforeseen complications. I believe your neural implants are also operating correctly, but of course I'm sure you will test them yourself."
"Forgive me sensei, but are you quite certain that Izuku's alright?" Inko fretted.
"I'm perfectly fine, Mom!" Izuku huffed. His mother could be so overprotective sometimes! "Both Tsubasa-sensei and Power Loader said I'd be okay!"
"I can assure you quite confidently that your son is fine," Dr Tsubasa added.
Inko sagged, her composure slipping, and Izuku was hit by a surge of guilt. He went over to hug his mother, but Inko waved him off as she wiped away a spattering of tears. "I – it's fine, Izuku. You've worked so hard to get to this point, and I'm sorry haven't been more supportive." She gave him a weak, watery grin. "Now hurry up and put on your shirt so that we can go home and celebrate!"
Izuku had been working towards this for so long, yet now that the surgery was over, he felt… muted. The toll that this entire affair had put on his mother hadn't escaped his notice, and he silently resolved to make more of an effort to respect her wishes in the future.
Dr Tsubasa coughed, deliberately drawing their attention. "Forgive me for bringing this up so soon, Inko-san, but your son has turned ten. Would you consent to allowing him to help out at my clinic? His duties would consist mostly of helping me with my research, especially interviewing and gathering data from patients of around his age."
"I did say I'd consider it when he was older, didn't I?" Inko sighed. Her eyes flickered to Izuku's eager, puppy-like expression before she chuckled wearily. "I suppose you're old enough to look after yourself now, Izuku. Just promise me you'll be careful, okay?"
"Splendid!" Dr Tsubasa boomed, cutting off Izuku's reply. "Then I shall see you next week, Izuku-san, as we discussed."
The journey home was slightly strained, with Izuku immediately heading into his bedroom on arrival. It had changed quite a bit since his Quirk first manifested. The All Might merchandise was still there, but his figurines and posters were now carefully sealed away in display cases and cabinets placed around the edges of the room. A messy workbench sat next to his desk, various half-finished projects and tools arranged in a haphazard but recognizable order. He even had his own computer, a patchwork beast of a machine born from a multitude of custom parts and aftermarket components.
Out of all his creations, pride of place was given to a thin, segmented robotic limb that was wound into a neat coil of dull grey metal. As far as prosthetic limbs went it was actually rather basic in most respects, prioritizing functionality over form. A slew of basic tools such as a multimeter, screwdrivers, and a soldering iron were incorporated into the end effector at its bulky tip, designed to be used alongside a branching five-point manipulator claw calibrated for fine control rather than strength.
Izuku took off his shirt again and moved in front of his desk where he'd placed the mirror he'd borrowed from his mother. He clinically examined the metallic nubs running down either side of his spine, the dark half-spheres standing out against the paleness of his skin. The intricate circuitry of his neural interface was connected directly with his brain and nervous system, the foundation upon which his augmentations would be based.
Connecting the new limb to one of the nodes took only a few seconds. Izuku immediately had his ancillary robotic arm run through a series of exercises designed to test its responsiveness, range of motion, and fine manipulation. It was precise and controlled, if slightly sluggish in its movements. The mechanical arm was definitely slower than his organic one, intended to support rather than to outright replace his biological hands like he'd originally intended. Izuku already had dozens of ideas on how to improve the design, but that would have to wait for the future.
From the very start, simply controlling his bionic limb through the neural interface just felt so incredibly right.
Still, it was easy to see many areas where it could be improved. First and foremost was probably the strain that the secondary limb put on Izuku's small frame. Both the arm's weight and its movements put stress on his back and core muscles, although it wasn't anything that his body couldn't handle. Adding another arm would have a low but nonnegligible risk of causing damage to his vertebrae however, which was unacceptable. He'd have to come up with some kind of… reinforcement, maybe, for his spine in order to provide a fixed and stable anchorage site.
Movement by the doorway caught his attention, and Izuku turned to see his mother watching him anxiously. He realized she'd followed him and had been standing outside his room all this time. "I – is everything all right?" Inko asked timidly. "Any pain, any unexpected aches or bruises? I've got eight different types of painkillers if you need them, including some prescription ones. I also invited Setsuo over to check on you, or we could go straight to the hospital if you'd like. Is the weekend enough time to rest before you head back to school? I can call in to say you're still recovering so that you can rest for a few more days. Actually I'll call in right now, I'll tell them you won't be in for the next week! Don't worry dear, I'm sure they'll let you rest for two or three weeks once I've – "
"Mom!" Izuku groaned, "I'm fine, really! We planned out everything down to my recovery period, remember? I just need some rest, I'll good for school on Monday."
His mother wrung her hands as she lingered in the doorway. "Alright dear," she exhaled. "I just – I just worry about you sometimes, you know."
Izuku's heart sank once again, weighed down by a heavy anchor of guilt. He ran towards his mother, startling her slightly when he squeezed her into a tight hug. "I'm fine," he said once again, voice muffled slightly from burying his face in her shirt. "T – thank you again, Mom, for being so understanding."
Mother and son shared a quiet moment together, not breaking the hug until the doorbell chimed. "That's probably Setsuo now," Inko smiled, barely holding back tears. "I'll go let him in, okay?" Izuku nodded, and for once didn't protest when his mother kissed the top of his head before she left the room. He moved to his closet and pulled on a prepared shirt, idly listening with one ear to his mother's conversation with Tokage Setsuo in the hall.
The pattering of running feet was his only warning before Setsuna burst into his room. "Izu-chan!" she shouted, "Is it working?" Her eyes widened dramatically when she noticed the new mechanical limb attached to Izuku's back. "Wow!" she exclaimed, "It looks so cool! What can you do with it? Have you tested it out yet? Hey, think you can make me one too? It's okay if you need to chop off my arm, 'cos my regeneration is a lot stronger now! I can grow it right back in a week!"
"No more amputation of limbs, Setsuna!" her father called from the hallway.
The young girl scowled irritably as she stomped into Izuku's room. "Ugh, you're such a killjoy, Dad!" she yelled, before throwing herself face first onto Izuku's bed. "I can't believe he's still mad me just for testing out my regeneration!" Setsuna complained, her voice muffled by the bedspread.
Izuku snorted, more or less used to dealing with his cousin's antics by now. "Wanna help me test out the arm?"
His cousin popped up like a spring, her previous frustrations completely forgotten as she nodded excitedly. "Of course, Izu-chan! I'm here to help!" she cheered. "What do you need me to do?"
Izuku took a moment to think, absentmindedly swatting away Setsuna's disembodied hand as she poked curiously at his bionic arm. "Setsuna-chan, do you have anything that needs fixing? Something that runs on electricity?"
"Oh! My Stegosauroclock stopped working yesterday," Setsuna exclaimed, baring her sharp teeth in a way that was more cute than threatening. "Lucky Auntie Inko woke me up on time, or I'd have been late for school! I'll go get it for you right now!"
The nine-year-old girl dashed out of Izuku's room, for once not leaving any detached body parts behind. Setsuna had all but taken over the Midoriya's former spare room, given how much time she spent in their apartment. She even kept her pet lizard here, which her father had insisted on so that Izuku's mother could step in if they ever forgot to take care of it. It was one of those rare animals with a Quirk, although no one seemed to know exactly what it was.
"I'm back with the clock," Setsuna announced. "And I brought the honorable Barugon-sama with me! He's super interested in your new robo-arm too!" Contrary to his cousin's words, the vaguely gecko-like reptile looked distinctly unimpressed from its position perched on top of her head.
"Welcome, Barugon-sama," Izuku bowed politely, before taking the dinosaur-themed clock from his cousin. "Thanks, Setsuna-chan."
Izuku hurried over to his workbench, pushing down his excitement at the first 'live' test of his additional arm. Setsuna followed closely behind, peering over his shoulder as he set the broken clock down. The batteries were still inside, so a quick scan with his Quirk was all it took to reveal a diode which had stopped working.
Removing the two AA batteries and gently prying open the stegosaur-shaped casing took about thirty seconds. Izuku held the clock steady with both of his hands, desoldering the malfunctioning component with the soldering iron built into his secondary arm. The manipulator was used to carefully remove the defective diode and insert its replacement into the circuit board. He resoldered it into place, passing a desoldering pump over the pins for cleanup. A quick check by a multimeter confirmed that everything was working correctly before he reassembled the casing.
All in all, repairing his cousin's alarm clock took less than two minutes.
"That was quick!" Setsuna exclaimed. She tried to grab the dinosaur-themed device, only to be swatted away by Izuku.
"Let me test it first!" Izuku scolded. He double-checked that he'd reassembled everything properly, then reinserted the batteries. The device turned on with a push of a button, and Izuku confirmed with his Quirk that everything was working correctly.
Setsuna immediately snatched up her alarm clock, examining it with a critical eye until it eventually passed muster. She grinned and hugged the device to her chest with one hand, patting Izuku on the head with the other. "Thanks Izu-chan, you're always so helpful! Tell you what, I'll share one of my ultra-mysterious secrets with you as a reward for fixing my Stegosauroclock!"
"What? Uh, I – it was no trouble, Setsuna-chan!" Izuku squeaked. "T – thank you for trusting me, but p – please, you don't have to tell me anything!"
Setsuna's head detached from her body, Baragon-sama still perched serenely on top of her tangled green hair. "Are you suuuuure?" she teased. "Well, family shouldn't keep secrets from each other, so I'm going to tell you anyway!" Izuku cringed as she floated her head around until her mouth was right next to his ear.
"Izuuuuu-chan…" she whispered, "My mysterious secret is – that you're my favorite cousin!"
Izuku all but collapsed onto the workbench, dropping his head into his hands as he groaned. He could hear his cousin laughing crazily as her head zoomed around his room, while the rest of her body did some bizarre dance she'd picked up off the internet. This continued for about a minute, until he felt Setsuna land her head in front of him onto the surface of the bench.
"Seriously though, that was really awesome," Setsuna commented. Izuku looked up, only finding sincerity in her normally impish gaze. "The way you controlled that mecha-arm was incredible, it moves like it's one of your natural limbs! Like you've grown up using it!"
Izuku rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, still somewhat unused to praise. "W – well, that's why I have the implanted neural interface," he explained sheepishly. "Power Loader and Dr Tsubasa both helped me to refine the design a lot. Plus, my Quirk makes it easier to control it too. I have this weird awareness of what the arm is doing, beyond the sensation provided by my implants. Although I'm not sure how it's processing such a high level of haptic feedback – " Izuku continued to describe his creation until he noticed the dazed expression on his cousin's face.
"Ah, of course!" Setsuna said brightly, nodding her disembodied head. "It's like that, huh? I understand completely!"
Izuku could tell she didn't get it at all.
"Um, it's like a blend of my Quirk and a support item," he said uncertainly. Setsuna still looked confused, which Izuku probably should have expected. His cousin's interest in technology was limited mainly to watching pirated movies and dinosaur videos on his computer, or searching the internet for memes. Only Barugon-sama, honored reptile, appeared to understand based on his contemplative stare. As expected of such a noble creature, of course.
"What's this, Izu-chan?" Setsuna had found one of his earliest prototypes, back when he'd considered making it look more like an actual organic limb. "It looks like a regular arm, just all robo-y and cyberneticallyfied." She eagerly detached her left arm from her torso and connected the prototype in its place, only to pout when absolutely nothing happened. "Aww, how come it's not doing anything?"
"That's from an older design which I rejected," Izuku told her. "It's not even finished!" Setsuna either didn't hear or chose to ignore him, reattaching her head to her torso and physically moving the artificial left arm around with her right.
"Izu-chan, look!" Setsuna paused to make sure she had Izuku's attention, then manually waved the robot arm around. "I'm Mister Roubotto!" she declared, in her best impression of a computerized voice.
Izuku sighed, but decided to play along anyway. "Dōmo arigatō, misutā robotto," he sang tunelessly, causing his cousin to giggle uncontrollably.
"So, have you thought of a name for it?" Setsuna asked once she'd recovered her composure. "For your new robo-arm."
"N – name?" Izuku asked in confusion. "But, it's just an arm. Why would it need a name?"
"But it's so awesome, and you built it yourself! Everyone knows you should name to all your creations, Izu-chan!"
"I don't name my biological limbs," Izuku pointed out. "Why should this mechanical one be any different?"
Setsuna pointedly ignored him, studying his ancillary limb with narrowed green eyes. "Hmm, the bit at the end with all the tools looks like a snowflake when it's opened up. Like one of those branching crystals! You know, a dendrite!" Setsuna bared her teeth when Izuku stared incredulously at her. "Don't look at me like that Izuku, I'm smart too!"
"I don't see it," Izuku deadpanned. "Just looks like a normal end effector to me."
"But it does!" Setsuna insisted. "Look at it, Izuku! It looks just like one of those branching, fractal crystals!" She snapped her fingers. "You should call it, like, a robo-dendrite! No wait, a mecha-dendrite!"
Izuku froze, his mind coming to a screeching halt at the bizarre sense of recognition that rose up from deep within his consciousness. There was no denying that the word felt right in some way, and his reluctance towards naming the secondary limb vanished.
"Mecha-dendrite. Mechadendrite," Izuku said out loud. "That's really good, Setsuna-chan. Thanks!"
- END -
A/N: I struggled a lot with this chapter, mainly trying to balance technical explanations for how things work with handwaving. In the end, I just decided to post it so I can move on to the next chapter. For the future, I'm leaning more towards the handwaving, simply because technical details are a pain to write in any semi-believable fashion.
The Red Comet will have a very minor role in this story, with a Gurren Lagann-esq hot-blooded personality rather than behaving like a Char clone.
Yes, it's Ba – RU – gon not Ba – RA – gon. People always get it wrong, especially in crossover movies like Godzillo VS Gamero: Civil War!
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!