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Disclaimer: See chapter 1. "So what do you want to know?" Fei and Magno had returned to the Captain's quarters to talk. Magno was currently sitting at her desk while Fei was leaning against the wall next to the door. "I'm just curious as to why Meia seems like she's always angry or completely emotionless. If I'm going to be working with her, I'd like to know a bit more about her." "And what makes you think you'll be working with her?" Magno asked in amusement. "I'm only good at three things: combat, piloting Gears, and painting. I seriously doubt anything on the ship needs to be painted and me fighting our enemy without Xenogears would just be suicide since most of my fighting techniques are useless in Zero-G unless I'm in a Gear." "You have a point, young man. However, I won't tell you the full story. You'll have to get that from Meia herself. What I can tell you, though, is that her ohma -" "That's the one that donates the egg, isn't it? Sort of like a father donating sperm to fertilize an egg back in my world." "That's exactly it, young man." The Captain smirked mysteriously. "Anyway, Meia's ohma died in an accident when she was only a child. Not long afterward, her fahma sacrificed herself to save Meia. Ever since then, she hasn't allowed anybody or anything to get close to her. That girl insists on punishing herself. She can't *tolerate* making mistakes. She blames it all on her own weaknesses. I remember she used to say to me, 'I have no use to things dear to me. When you let yourself become attached, you become weak. I want to be strong. Strong enough so that no matter what, I can never be hurt.'" "No offense to Meia, but that's a pretty fucked up view of the world." "Yes, I know. When I recruited her, she was waiting for someone to 'take her away from life.' I told her that that if she was willing to find her own way, I would provide her with a place to do so. She learned everything as if her life depended on it. She learned how to control the Dreads faster than anyone I've ever seen." "A prodigy, eh? Sorta like me in that regard. I'm only nineteen, but I'm a grand master of kempo and nearly a black belt in judo. Add that to the fact that I can tear apart Gears with my bare hands and have Chi reserves deep enough to incinerate a large village in a single attack, and what do you get? Either a prodigy or a monster, depending on who you ask." "You're no monster, young man." Magno said, trying to reassure Fei. "You don't have the personality of one." "I doubt anybody that was at Elru would agree with you on that one," Fei mumbled. "What was that?" "Huh? Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud. Thanks for the info, Captain. By the way, would it be possible to get Emeralda signed on as one of the standard Dread Fighters? She somehow managed to bring her Gear here with us and it got transformed into a Dread." "Hmmm. Very well, but I'll leave the final decision up to Meia about whether or not she'll fight." "Captain, I don't mean to be rude, but this isn't a question of whether or not she'll fight. No matter what decision's are made, Emeralda will fight. I know her better than you might expect. She isn't the kind to just sit on the sidelines twiddling her thumbs while other people are out there fighting. If she can help out in a fight in any way, she'll do it." "Then why did you ask?" Magno inquired curiously. "Because I'd like her to interact with people more. Despite her apparent age, she's still quite young mentally and emotionally. I believe associating with fellow pilots on a daily basis would be a good experience for her. She needs friends, Captain. And you don't need to worry about issuing her a laser- ring. With her speed, strength, and ability to morph any body part into a weapon, a laser-ring would be useless and probably get destroyed as soon as she morphed that hand. As for arming her Dread, it has four charged particle cannons, so ammunition won't be a problem." "It shouldn't be a problem to have her join one of the teams. But, like I said, the final decision of where she's placed will be up to Meia." "Thank you, Captain," Fei said, smiling as he walked out of the room. I think I know just the thing to help her out. Wait... why am I helping someone I barely even know? Oh, yeah. Her eyes... just like mine when I look in the mirror. "You're welcome, young man." Hmmm. This should prove to be interesting. Fei was wandering down a hall looking for Meia when a mental message from Xenogears interrupted him. -Auto-repair complete. Systems are fully functional. Power levels at 50% capacity.- "Cool," Fei commented to himself as he turned adjusted his course to take him to the hangar. After a leisurely stroll that lasted only a few minutes, Fei reached the hangar. Entering, he saw Meia overseeing some routine maintenance on her Dread. Perfect chance. "Hey, Meia!" Fei called out. Meia turned to see who called her and scowled when she saw Fei walking toward her. She waited until he was within a few yards of her before speaking. "What?" "I'd like to talk to you about something. Alone. If you're not too busy, that is." "And what exactly is that?" Meia ground out. "Follow me and you'll find out," Fei said, turning and walking away from the group. Meia growled slightly before following the red-haired young man until they reached Xenogears. Once there, Fei turned around and leaned against one of the Gear's feet. "So what did you want to talk about?" Meia asked impatiently. "You're being surprisingly open-minded toward me." "You've yet to show yourself to be as much of an arrogant fool as that other pilot And you've been startlingly polite for a man." "Bit of a backhanded compliment, but hey - we take what we can get, eh?" "Is that all you wanted to talk about?" "Don't care much for small talk, eh?" Fei winced. "No, actually there are a couple of things I'd like to talk to you about. The first of which is adding Emeralda to a Dread team. The Captain already gave her okay, but she left the final decision up to you. And before you ask, she already has a Dread. It's that silver, orange, & green one off to the side over there. Honestly, it won't matter to her if she's on a team or not. She'll fight beside us without even being asked. The reason I want her to join a Dread team is because she needs friends. Putting her in a situation where she interacts daily with people doing the same thing she's doing is probably the best way for her to make friends." "Hmmm. All right, I don't see why not. I'll have to see how good she is before deciding where to place her." "Thank you. Now, on to the main topic. Your parents." "What about them?" Meia asked, tensing. "I was curious why you're always so distant to everyone when you're not angry at someone so I talked to the Captain. I must say, your life has been surprisingly similar to mine." "And exactly why should that matter to me?" "I understand how you feel about your parents. Somewhat. I lost both of mine in almost identical ways. Hurts a lot, doesn't it? Enough that you just want to bury yourself in despair, right?" "You don't know what you're talking about!" Meia growled, looking away from Fei. "Look me in the eyes and say that. If you still mean it then, then I'll never speak about this again unless you bring it up." "If it'll get you to leave me alo -" Meia cut herself off as she made eye contact with Fei. What she saw there frightened her with the similarities to her own eyes. She saw the loss, anger, despair, and self-hatred she saw every time she looked in the mirror. There was a single difference between the two pairs of eyes, aside from the obvious difference in color. Meia could see a spark of resolve in the back of Fei's eyes, as if he was silently vowing, every second of the day, never to let life drag him down into the pits of despair. "I... what the hell would you know?!" "Let me tell you a story about a little boy who lived in the country with his mother and father. His father was a great martial artist and a war veteran, so he wasn't home much. When he was home, he and the boy spent as much time together as they could. The father started to teach his son everything he knew about martial arts while the boy was little more than an infant. By the time the boy was six, he had learned everything his father could teach him. The boy's mother was a very caring person who doted on her husband and son. She would play ball with him for hours at a time, until he got tired. Then she would sing him a lullaby to help him sleep. "Then, one day, when the boy was two-years-old, his mother changed. It wasn't obvious because there was no physical change. No, the change was entirely mental. The mother sensed something in the boy that could cause him to become a very important person when he grew up. Because of that, she began putting him through every kind of torture she could think of - physical, mental, emotional... if it could cause the boy pain, she did it to him. While the father was away on his missions, the mother would take the boy to a lab and perform experiments on him. "The boy tried to tell his father what was wrong, but the father was so in love with the mother that he ignored what was going on behind his back. To deal with the pain, the boy created a second personality inside his head; someone to shove all the painful memories on while he kept all the good memories to himself. The second personality became warped and twisted by the memories and his envy of the boy keeping all the good memories from him. "The torture continued until the boy was six. Then a man came for the boy while the father was there. The man and the father fought. The battle was long and brutal, but the father was overmatched because he had to worry about not harming his family accidentally, while the man had no such limitations. Watching the fight and his mother's indifferent expression to his father's plight caused something in the boy to snap. The other personality took control then. The surge of power from the boy killed the mother and stopped the fight. "Taking advantage of the father's distraction, the man knocked him out and took the boy. For the next ten years, the boy lived as an assassin, working for the man. When the boy was only eight-years-old, he designed and built his own Gear. The Gear was easily the most powerful weapon ever created. Using the Gear and even without its help, the boy killed thousands of people over the decade he worked for the man. "The boy lost track some time after making his three thousandth kill. Soon after the boy had turned sixteen, the boy's father found him again. This time, he was prepared to do whatever it took to save his son's life. After another fight, the father had managed to weaken the man and knock out his son. With the boy out of the way, the father was free to concentrate on the man. There's an old saying where I'm from. It's 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' I know a modified version of that. Hell's wrath pales compared to that of a vengeful parent. "The man was defeated and killed. Before he died, though, he managed to transfer his very soul into the father's body. The father was barely able to remain in control long enough to construct a third personality for the boy to hopefully keep the second from emerging again and take him to a village where the boy could possibly lead a normal life. Some time during the three years the boy, now a young man, stayed in the village, the father lost the battle against the man's soul. "However, the man didn't act until three years after the young man had been taken to the village. Then, he arranged for the complete destruction of the village by causing the young man enough mental trauma that his mind would shut down, allowing the warped personality to take over again. The man's plan was only half successful. The village was wiped from the face of the planet, only a crater remaining to mark the village's former location, but the second personality had lain dormant for so long and the constructed personality was strong enough that he couldn't stay in control for long." "Is there a point to this?" Meia whispered, not trusting her voice to go any louder. "Yes, there is. Despite all that happened to him, the boy swore to himself that he would not let himself be dragged down by despair. His mother's death was an accident. One he was the cause of, but an accident nonetheless. His father saved his son's life at the cost of his own soul. The boy had no control over what happened to his mother and to simply wallow in sorrow and self-pity, waiting for someone to end his life for him, would be throwing his father's sacrifice right back in his face." "Okay, so your life was a lot like mine." Meia admitted, growling. "Big deal. Just what was the point of that, anyway?" "I simply told you a story and gave an example. What you do with that information is up to you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to run some tests on Xenogears." With that, Fei walked a few yards away from Meia and climbed up to Xenogears' cockpit in giant, altitude-eating jumps. Meia watched as the cockpit sealed shut as soon as Fei was inside. The Dread team leader's expression took on a thoughtful look as she slowly walked away from the massive machine. Inside the cockpit, Fei watched her walk away. Why the hell did I do that? I hardly even know her! But... her eyes...
they're too similar to my own. *Sigh* I guess I just can't stand seeing
someone go through the torment I went through. Well, all I can do now is hope
what I told her helps and wait for her to come to a decision on her own. The next few days were fairly uneventful. Emeralda had quickly made friends with Dita, Barnette, and a few of the other Dread pilots after being placed on Meia's team. Hibiki had spent most of his time trying to avoid Dita and failing miserably. To Fei, it was almost as if Meia was avoiding him, but considering that he spent most of his time either training in the gym or working on Xenogears, that wasn't too hard to do. Two days after Magno announced the incorporation of the men into the crew, Hibiki walked in on Fei while he was training. "Whoa," was Hibiki's only comment on seeing Fei leap up and plant his feet against the ceiling, pushing off at an angle a half-second later, despite the fact that the ceiling was nearly fifty feet high. Hibiki watched in awe as Fei began bouncing around the room like a ping pong ball on speed. Fei slowed to a stop next to a large piece of machinery and began punching it. Each time one of his fists impacted against the metal, a loud clang was generated and the machinery shuddered. Fei stopped punching after nearly a minute, leaving the once recognizable machinery piece as little more than a twisted pile of junk. Fei sighed disgustedly and started walking away from the scrap metal. He grabbed a towel off the rack and wiped it over his face once, then tossed it back on the rack without a second thought. "This bites. Emeralda's off with her friends and nobody else is good enough to spar with. Katas and exercise just aren't cutting it." "Just how the heck did you do all that?" Hibiki asked. Fei turned toward Hibiki and smirked, crossing his arms. "Martial arts, kid. You get good enough at it and you can do stuff you only dreamed of doing before. Ya wanna learn?" "Sure!" "I gotta warn ya first. My training methods will involve you experiencing a new meaning to the word pain." "Erk." Hibiki grunted before gathering his resolve. "It'll take a lot more than that to scare me off!" "Good." Fei placed his arms behind his back and spread his feet to shoulder-width. "Attack me." "Huh?" "I need to see what I have to work with in you. The best way to do that is to have you attack me." Fei smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Unless you're afraid to." "I'm not afraid!" Hibiki yelled, charging at Fei. The older man simply continued smiling as he leaned his head backward an inch. Hibiki's right cross missed by millimeters. The teen stepped back a bit and tried a side kick. Fei's hand flashed out and caught Hibiki's ankle a mere inch before it hit him. "Lesson One, Hibiki. Do not let anger cloud your judgment. If you know you have a bad temper and get angry easily, learn to focus that anger into a weapon, not a pair of blinders. You'll have to learn to ignore jibes like the one I used on you unless you want your opponents to have a tactical advantage over you. Now, calm yourself and let's try again." Fei released Hibiki's ankle and the boy stepped back, preparing to attack again. The older man returned his arm to his back and nodded. Hibiki launched into a flurry of punches and kicks. Fei twisted out of the way of each of them without moving his feet once. Hibiki noticed this and smirked to himself. Without warning, he dropped into a crouch and tried to kick Fei's legs out from under him in one motion. Fei grinned and hopped over Hibiki's leg. Hibiki looked up to see Fei's fist less than an inch from his face as the man's feet touched the ground. "Not bad, Hibiki." Fei said, pulling back his arm. "Didn't expect you to try that. Now, stand up and prepare to defend yourself." Hibiki did as he was told and nodded to Fei after sliding into a stance with his arms held up in front of him like a boxer's and his feet at shoulder- width, one slightly farther forward than the other. "Okay, I'll start slow, then gradually speed up until you can't dodge or block my hits anymore, okay?" "Gotcha." Fei did as he said, starting with punches Hibiki could easily slap aside or dodge. Then he started adding kicks, which Hibiki would either block with his shin or twist around. As Fei began speeding up, Hibiki gradually started missing punches or kicks until it was all he could do to block even a single punch. "That's good enough." Fei commented, stopping his assault. "Take a breather while I talk." Hibiki leaned down and placed his hands on his knees, taking deeper breaths than usual. "Alrighty then. You're not bad for someone with no obvious training or experience." Hibiki glared at him, causing Fei to raise his hands in a placating gesture. "What I meant was that you don't carry yourself like a martial artist or a fighter, which can be a good thing if it makes your opponent underestimate you. Judging by how well you did, though, you must have gotten into quite a few street fights on Tarak." "Yeah. It's not easy being a third-class citizen, y'know." "Third-class? Tarak uses a class system? Just like Solarians. How disgusting." "Huh?" Hibiki grunted. "Solarians?" "One of the cultures on my planet. They lived in an aerial city and considered land-dwellers to be little more than domesticated animals. First- class people were nobles or the elite. Second-class were only slightly less privileged. Those of the third-class, however, were land-dwellers that had been captured by Solarians and forced into slavery." "That's close to how it is on Tarak. I was just another cog in the machine back there." Silence reigned for a moment before Fei spoke. "Anyway, I'm done seeing how good you are. Training starts now." "Oh? What are we gonna do first?" "Endurance training," Fei replied with a smile that sent shivers down Hibiki's spine. "Endurance... training...?" Hibiki squeaked. "Yup. I repeatedly beat you to a bloody pulp and heal you afterward." Without giving him any time to protest, Fei charged Hibiki and began raining blows on him that blew through his meager defense as if it weren't even there. It wasn't long before Hibiki felt his world go dark, only to wake up seemingly moments later, without a mark on him. He looked up from where he was lying to see Fei smirking down at him. "You were unconscious for an hour, Hibiki. Let's see if we can do better than that, eh?" Hibiki was promptly pulled to his feet and the beating began again. The teen lasted for about the same amount of time before falling unconscious again. When Hibiki woke up again, he managed to stammer out "H-hold it!" before Fei could attack him again. "What?" "Is this all my training is going to be?! You beating the crap out of me?!" "No. I said this was endurance training. I'm doing this so I don't have to pull my punches as much when I teach you new techniques. With this training, you'll be able to withstand much more pain before it starts to effect your movements. Think about it: how much of a psychological edge would it give you for an opponent to hit you with their strongest attack and you don't even flinch from it?" Hibiki blinked and thought about it for a moment. "Heh. You have a point. I just wish it didn't have to hurt so much." "Tell ya what." Fei said. "I'll train you for two weeks. At the end of those two weeks, you can decide whether you want to quit or keep training. If you keep training, it'll be until I've taught you everything I know and you can fight me without me having to hold back. Deal?" "Deal," Hibiki agreed, before sighing as the beating began again. Fei sighed as he leaned back in the seat in Xenogears' cockpit. Damn. What the hell am I doing wrong? It's almost like it's impossible for Xenogears to go above fifty percent capacity. Well, at least Hibiki's training is going better than this. Hibiki had gotten to the point where he could last under Fei's barrage for nearly five minutes before falling unconscious, and even then he was staying awake more often then not. The teen's pain threshold had skyrocketed even on the first day and Fei had begun teaching him a few practice katas on the second day of his training. I swear, the kid's a friggin' sponge. It's like learning everything I can teach him is a matter of life and death to him. Even I didn't have that much determination when I was first learning martial arts despite my aptitude for it. "Xenogears, have you finished analyzing those crystals yet?" -Affirmative. Analysis confirms that they are Peacsis crystals.- "Hmmm. I wonder what possible reason they could have for being in there... That reminds me. Xenogears, you were running pretty low on fuel from our fight with Grahf. How are you doing on that front?" -Unit Xenogears does not use nor require fuel.- "Huh? Then how the hell are you running? Wait... don't tell me your engine was changed as well." -Affirmative. Self runs on Peacsis reactor core.- "Well, shit! No wonder I haven't been able to figure out what the problem was! I assumed the engine hadn't been changed! Dammit! Alright, let's try this again from a new angle. Describe the probable function of the crystals, based on the fact that they're made of Peacsis and their possible relation to the new engine." -Probable function of crystals is that of energy storage and amplification.- "So those are the new Ether Amplifiers, eh? Nice. Now, what's the status of the Peacsis core?" -Peacsis core structure is incomplete.- "Whaddaya mean, 'incomplete'?" -Self was exposed to The Event for insufficient amount of time to complete construction of Peacsis core.- "Crap. Are there any side effects to it being incomplete?" -Affirmative. Explosion of core due to instability of energy field imminent in three hours, five minutes.- "Double crap. What's the caliber of explosion we're talking about here?" -Instant and total incineration of everything within five hundred meters.- "Triple crap. Is there any way to avert the explosion?" -Affirmative. Prolonged exposure to another Peacsis core will provide sufficient data required to complete construction of core.- "Phew." Fei sighed. "Where's the Peacsis core of the Ikazuchi?" -On the other side of the wall behind Unit Xenogears.- "Fun." Fei groaned before bringing up a holo-screen and patching into the bridge. "Hey, Captain." |Ah, how are you, young man?| "Just fine. Look, I need to ask for a really big favor." |What is it, young man?| "I just found out that Xenogears' engine was transformed into a Peacsis reactor core when I arrived here. While that provides Xenogears with a nearly limitless supply of energy, there is one hell of a downside. The core's construction is incomplete and the only way to complete it is to directly expose Xenogears to another Peacsis core for a prolonged amount of time. To do that, I need to tear a hole in the wall between the hangar and the Peacsis core room." |I see. And you're sure there's no other way?| "Yup. And if I don't expose Xenogears to the ship's core, my Gear's core will explode in about three hours and take out everything but the tip of the ship's nose." |That is a problem.| Magno replied. |Very well, I'll tell Parfet to get her crew out of the core room long enough for you to do what you need to.| "Thank you, Captain. I'll be tearing through the wall in ten minutes." |I'll make sure they hurry.| With that, Magno cut off the transmission. Ten minutes later saw Xenogears tearing a hole in the wall between the hangar and the core room. The Gear stepped forward and stood directly under the Peacsis core, the middle horn just barely touching the core's energy field. Blue energy began arcing between the core and Xenogears. "Okay, partner, let's get down to business. What exactly do I need to do now?" -Unit Xenogears requires exposure to Peacsis reactor core for no less than two hours. Reconstruction process will take place automatically.- "That's it? *Sigh* Look, just wake me up when you're done, alright? I've been losing a lot of sleep working on you, y'know." -Warning. During the siphoning process, the ship's Peacsis Reactor Core will be unstable. Though unit Xenogears is capable of absorbing enough Peacsis energy to prevent leakage to the hangar, prolonged exposure to raw, unstable Peacsis energy will have unknown effects on pilot Fei.- "Whatever." Fei yawned. "I trust your shielding systems, Xeno." With that, Fei relaxed as best he could and quickly fell asleep. As Fei slept, Meia sat at a table in the cafeteria, quietly eating lunch and ignoring the discussion between Emeralda, Dita, Barnette, and Jura. Her thoughts were still churning from the conversation she'd had with Fei. Why the hell am I still thinking about him?! He's just a man! So what if his life was like mine?! Meia angrily speared a piece of meat on her plate and shoved it into her mouth. I shouldn't be thinking about this so much! How do I even know he was telling the truth and not just feeding me a line of bullshit? Emotions are a weakness, so why the hell am I letting this affect me so much?! A hand coming to rest on her shoulder startled the Dread commander out of her introspection. She looked up to see Emeralda gazing down at her. "Are you all right, Meia?" Emeralda asked. "Why wouldn't I be?" "Well, you've been sitting there staring at an empty plate for nearly a minute now." "I was... thinking, that's all." Meia snapped. "Just... leave me alone." Emeralda flinched slightly at Meia's tone and turned around to leave with a subdued, "Alright." The woman only managed to get a few steps before she was stopped. "Emeralda, wait." Meia stated, standing. "I want to ask you something." "Yes...?" "How much about Fei's past do you know?" Emeralda blinked in surprise before answering. "Not much, really. He couldn't remember most of his life up until just before we arrived here and I haven't had a chance to ask." "I see. Then you wouldn't know." Before Emeralda could form a response to that, Meia walked off, leaving the
empty plate where she'd been sitting. The emerald-haired woman stared after her
for a moment, then shrugged and returned to her table. The two hours Xenogears spent in the Peacsis core room passed uneventfully for everyone on the ship. Fei was rudely awakened by a keening wail. "What the hell is that?!" Fei groggily snarled. The wail abruptly cut off as Xenogears answered him. -That was the third attempt made to awaken pilot Fei. Reconstruction process is complete.- "Good." Fei yawned. "Let's get the hell out of here." -Affirmative.- As Xenogears turned around and started walking toward the hole it had made earlier, Fei took a moment to run a quick diagnostics scan of the Gear. It was now running at 100% capacity and efficiency. The ion cannons, however, had been upgraded into a set of charged particle cannons that were fired from the hands instead of the arm blades. "Excellent. Now I just need to test it out." -What should be done about the hole?- "Let's seal it back up." Once it was back in the hangar, Xenogears turned around and began bending the wall back into its original shape. Once done with that, Fei activated a particle cannon at the lowest power setting available and ran Xenogears' right hand along the seams, fusing the wall back together. Fei then guided Xenogears over to where it had been standing before. "Well, the diagnostics scan came up fine so let's see what's been changed." With that, Fei opened the cockpit and jumped down to the ground. He walked a ways away from Xenogears and turned to look back up at the Gear. While the torso had remained unchanged, everything else had been altered even more. The three spikes that formed Xenogears' crown had shortened slightly and become more blade-like. The six spines had been attached to Xenogears' back in a pair of fan shapes and were now half their original lengths. Armor plates had covered the arms, making them look almost identical to the Vandread's arms, but the blades were nowhere to be seen, though there was a slot just behind each wrist at the end of a raised section that ran the length of the forearm. The shoulders had been redesigned into simple spikes similar to the Vanguard's, but larger and angling up a bit. The knees and upper legs had slimmed down and become more articulated, allowing the knees a full range of movement. A knee blade similar to Weltall's angled upward from the top of each shin. Finally, Xenogears stood nearly a head shorter than it had previously. "Nice." Fei whistled. "But what happened to the arm blades?" -Katar blades are now housed within Unit Xenogears' forearms.- "Extend 'em." A wide green sword blade slid out of the slot on each forearm and locked into place, a pale green glow emanating from them. "Very nice. What about the rest?" -The smaller frame is more energy efficient than the previous one. Spines had no visible purpose, so they were reconfigured into thrusters and secondary energy collectors. Stiffness and sluggishness was detected during times when Unit Xenogears was walking on ground. Legs were correspondingly rebuilt to allow greater range of movement and faster reaction time.- "Cool." At that moment, alarms began blaring throughout the ship. Fei looked around and saw Hibiki running toward his Gear. "Hibiki!" Fei shouted, catching the teen's attention. "What's up?" "We're under attack!" Hibiki replied as he leapt into the Vanguard. Fei remained silent as he followed Hibiki's example, then shot out of the hangar after the Vanguard. Once outside, the two male pilots saw eight cube- types flying toward the ship. "We won't even break a sweat on these losers. Hibiki, you got the left four. I'll take the others." "Gotcha. You guys had better get ready, 'cause Hibiki's here!" Hibiki flew toward his designated targets, hacking through the first two mecha like they weren't even there and almost casually dodging enemy fire. As he reached the second two, they began circling him. Hibiki smirked and had his Gear brace itself as the two fighters flew at him. The two mecha collided with Hibiki's in an impressive explosion that was ultimately futile as the Vanguard was completely unscathed by the blast. Checking his monitors, Hibiki saw that Fei had dispatched his foes just as quickly. "Hm. Did all you ladies see that?" Hibiki asked, making his Gear shift into several different macho poses. "Let's face it. You folks just can't get by without us!" Hibiki had just started to laugh when Xenogears came up behind his Gear and backhanded it in the head. "Idiot. Let's just get back to the hangar." Upon arriving back at the hangar, Hibiki and Fei found a not-so-warm welcome waiting for them in the form of an angrily growling Meia. Dita was standing off to one side, cringing away from Meia. "You must be here to thank me for taking care of things again," Hibiki smirked at Meia from the open cockpit of the Vanguard. "Don't be so conceited." Meia replied. "You put yourself in a lot of danger by doing that. You're only to act on my direct orders." "Oh, lighten up, Meia." Fei stated as he landed a few yards away from her, though Xenogears was nearly forty yards away. "Those cube-types aren't even a warm-up. It's not like they could do any real damage to us. Besides, we were already here when the alarms sounded, so why shouldn't we have taken care of it? Not to mention your Dreads didn't have to waste any ammo on those losers." Hibiki jumped from the Vanguard's cockpit to lightly land at its feet. "And how do you expect to beat the enemy if you let a little danger bother you? Well, I guess you don't have to." Hibiki flexed one arm. "You got me now to protect you." "Small dogs always bark the loudest," Meia growled. "Ooh, good one," Fei chuckled. "That may be true," Hibiki replied, "but it's better than not being able to bark at all." "Except that you're not the one that's barking. It's just your machine, right?" "Gh! Are you lookin' for trouble with me?" "What's the matter? Can't handle the truth?!" "Who died and made you king? Who do you think you are?!" "You're *our* prisoner!" "Alright, you two." Fei cut in. "That's enough childish bickering for now. Besides, unless I'm going senile, I do recall the Captain saying that us men were going to be incorporated into the crew." Without waiting for an answer, Fei walked off, leaving the two pilots to
glare at each other and him – though the last was done only by Meia. "Like I said, I saved you guys –" Hibiki started saying to Magno. "We." Fei corrected the teen from where he was sitting next to Bart on the edge of the control well and munching on an apple he'd snagged from the cafeteria. "And it wasn't like the ship was in any real danger, anyway. Those cube-types are even more worthless than the unmodified Vanguards." "Whatever." Hibiki sighed, rolling his eyes. "Since we saved you, at least listen to us when we ask you for a favor. Isn't that how the world goes around?" "How the world goes around, huh?" Magno replied. "All right, what is it you'd like me to do?" "First of all, you gotta do somethin' about that girl. The one that keeps buggin' me with that crazy alien stuff." "Oh, that must be Dita." Hibiki leaned toward the Captain and began speaking in a low voice, as if conspiratorially. "Also that creepy one with the weird thingy on her face. Tell her to quit complainin'. She shouldn't try to butt in on a man's fight." "Negotiations; just not his forte," Bart quipped. "Got no argument from me there." Fei added, taking a bite out of his apple. "Kid really needs to work on his people skills." "All right, why don't we try assigning you to the Reg crew," Magno stated. "The Reg crew?" Hibiki asked. "It's an interesting job. And it's under different management." "Different management, huh? That sounds good to me." With that, Hibiki walked out of the bridge. "And what about you, Mr. Wong?" "What about me?" Fei asked, taking another bite of his apple. "How would you like to work on the Reg crew?" "Naw. I'm happy where I'm at. Don't have a problem with any of the other pilots." "That wasn't a request, young man," Magno said, her voice taking on a slight edge. Fei glanced down at his apple to see all that was left was a core. He tossed the core into the air and fired a small Guided Shot at it, incinerating the leftover fruit. "Okay, okay." Fei stated. "Might as well see what it's like, at least. But if I don't like it, I ain't stayin' there an' I'm still gonna fight if we're attacked, no matter what you say." Magno absently nodded as she continued staring at where the apple core had been. "Later, ladies." While Bart and the women on the bridge were still speechless, Fei calmly exited the room. I don't care what Meia asked. Magno silently mused. If the young man is
capable of throwing around energy blasts like that as casually as he did, I'd
rather not get on his bad side. "Yo, Hibiki! Wait up!" Hibiki turned around to see Fei jogging toward him. "What's up?" "I got sent down here too. Got nothin' better ta do, anyway." Fei nodded toward the door Hibiki was standing next to. "This the place?" "Yup." Hibiki replied pressing the button to open the door. "Reg Central. Gah!" Fei looked in over Hibiki's shoulder to see two counters on either side of the room with three women wearing white and red dresses with big pink bows on the back standing behind each. The girls smiled and bowed slightly. "Welcome to Reg Central!" they chimed in unison. Fei raised an eyebrow and pushed past Hibiki as the teen muttered, "What is this place and what do they do here?" "I'm guessing it's some sort of shop or something." "Close, but not quite," a woman's voice stated. Fei and Hibiki looked over to see a brunette wearing a yellow shirt, red pants, and a sleeveless trench-coat left open. "We don't actually sell things here." "So what do you do, Miss...?" Fei asked. "Gascogne Rheingau. You must be Fei Fong Wong and Hibiki Tokai, right?" "Yup. The Captain reassigned us here. Dunno if I'm gonna stay here, though." "I didn't think the Captain was that lenient when reassigning someone," Gascogne stated in amusement. "I've got no idea either way. But I figure I can leave whenever I feel like it. The only things stopping me are the fact that I've got nowhere else to go and that Emeralda is making some friends here. I'm not leaving her behind and I know her well enough to know she'd follow me if I left." "And what makes you think we wouldn't stop you?" "You could try to stop me." Fei smirked coldly. "But that doesn't mean you'd succeed." Fei's eyes glinted dangerously for a moment before he sighed. "I'd rather not have such thoughts hovering around if I'm going to be staying in Reg and the chances of me wanting to leave are slim to none right now and in the foreseeable future." "There's no way in hell I'm going to wear that!" Hibiki's voice cut in. Fei and Gascogne looked over to see a trio of girls holding up one of their uniforms in front of Hibiki, who was glaring at the cringing girls. "Hey, go easy on 'em, Hibiki. If you're gonna be working here for a while, it's not a good idea for your co-workers to fear or hate you, ya know." "Sound advice." Gasco commented. "For both of you." "I never give advice outside of combat that I'm not willing to follow myself." Fei smirked, then frowned a moment later. "But hell will freeze over before I wear one of those dresses." "Honestly, I don't care what you wear, just as long as you work hard and follow our motto. Girls!" All six of the girls simultaneously posed as they chirped, "Smile, smile, smile!" "Okay..." Fei sweatdropped. "Just what are we going to be doing here, anyway?" Hibiki asked. "Yeah." Fei added. "You never answered my question earlier." "We supply the Dreads with weapons, ammunition, and extra armor. We'll try you two out and see what you're best at." After nearly an hour of trying out various things, Fei and Hibiki were assigned to – "Inventory?!" Fei asked, incredulously. "So we're just glorified errand boys, eh?" "I wouldn't use so crude a term..." Gascogne hesitated, "but that's essentially it." "I guess. It's not bad." Hibiki stated. "But, it sorta puts me back where I started. Just another cog in the machine. You know what? I'm here because I was tired of being cooped up in a place like this! And here you are, trying to tell me... I gotta go back to that?!" "I gotta agree with him. This really ain't much. Despite not having anywhere else to go, I was sorta hoping for something a bit more... challenging. Physically, at least. I'm too much of an 'odd man out' to be just another number cruncher or – like Hibiki said – cog in the machine." "I see." Gasco began, smirking. "So, you two are just like us after all." Gascogne walked off, gesturing for them to follow. Their curiosity piqued, Fei and Hibiki did as they were told. Gascogne led the two men to a corner of the large room they were currently in. She pulled out a whitish-silver sphere and tossed it in a low arc toward Hibiki. When it reached a certain point in mid air, it simply stopped and hung there as it began projecting holographic images above it. An orbital view of a blue planet with several rings composed of chunks of ice and rock, followed shortly by pictures of grandiose streets and parks. "This is Mejele?" Fei inquired. "Don't you think it looks kind of gaudy?" Hibiki added. "Sure do. It's a real clean and beautiful place, though. Don't get me wrong – I hate the way everything's so superficial there. Mejele is a world where everyone's friendly to each other and everyone's havin' a good time. But that's only on the outside. Most of the women of Mejele love showin' themselves off." The image changed to one showing a trio of circular towers with lighted windows dotting their surfaces. A lighted glass dome topped each tower. "They do stupid stuff, like competing with their neighbors over who has a better garden. They're always wasting energy over things like that. And because of it," the lights in the towers went dark, "one of our living units had to be shut down. Our Captain had no other place to go, so she started up this pirate gig with all of us. "For pirates, there's no difference between men and women. That's why we spared your lives. If we were the real Mejelian army, you would have all been dead before you could spit out the word 'please'." Hibiki gulped loudly as images of corpses floating in Zero-G passed through his mind. "I doubt it." Fei snorted. "I've been smacked around by Gears that could tear apart mountains before with minimal injury. And only two people can put up a fight against me in physical combat. One of them is Emeralda." "Don't forget that when we found you, you were only semi-conscious," Gascogne reminded Fei. "Yeah, I remember. The only reason I passed out again was because I didn't sense any potential threats near me. Uh... Hibiki? You okay?" Gascogne looked over at the teen to see him still staring off into space. She smirked as she walked around behind him and smacked him in the back. "Hey!" She stated sharply. Hibiki stumbled forward a few steps in surprise before he managed to catch himself. "So the way I figure it," the head of the Reg crew continued as if she hadn't stopped in her explanation, "you're just like us, since you've also got nowhere else to go." Gasco snagged the sphere out of mid air and spun it on one finger. "The number one rule on this ship is that we've all gotta work ta eat. You can complain all you like, but before you do, make real sure your work's done." "So what're our jobs supposed to be?" Hibiki asked. Gascogne's answer was to set a couple of buckets filled with water on the floor in front of her and shove a mop toward each of the men. "Just keep a smile on your face." "Hn... whatever..." Hibiki sighed as he grabbed the mop and bucket closest to him. "Hey, Hibiki." Fei stated, following Hibiki's example. "Wanna see who can clean half this floor faster? The divider's the middle aisle. I'll even handicap myself to make it more of a challenge." Hibiki smirked in response. "You're on." Gascogne could only sweatdrop as Fei jogged to the other side of the room
and the two took off running, mopping the floor as fast as they could. Later that day, Fei returned to his "room" across from Hibiki's and sat down on the cot. He looked around at the converted cell, sighing. This place is more Spartan than my room on the Yggdrasil, even considering that it's a converted cell. Fei sighed again and leaned forward, only to jerk back again when he felt a sharp pull at the back of his skull. Reaching back to feel his head, Fei found his ponytail was pulled taut for some reason. Aw damn. I'm sitting on my own fucking ponytail. *sigh* Maybe it's time I make some changes. With that thought in mind, Fei began rummaging through some of the boxes
scattered throughout the former brig. In short order, he found most of what he
was looking for. Without a second thought, Fei went to work. Emeralda hummed tunelessly to herself as she walked down the hall toward Fei's room. She'd just finished her last simulator drill and wanted to spend some time with Fei since she'd been too busy to do so lately. As she neared his room, she saw a man wearing a white and blue-gray outfit walk out carrying a bundle of something on the shoulder facing her, blocking her view of his head. "You there!" Emeralda snapped, sliding into a defensive stance. "Who are you?!" "Huh?" The man mumbled as he turned toward her, revealing red hair and violet eyes. "Oh, hey Emeralda! What's up?" "Fei?!" Emeralda gasped, unconsciously relaxing her stance. "Yup! How do ya like the new look?" Emeralda took a moment to examine Fei visually. The most notable difference was his hair. It was cut short enough that it reached to just below his shoulder blades and was pulled back into a ponytail loose enough that his hair resembled Id's hairstyle, but was still kept out of the way. Fei's shirt was similar to his old one, but now the collar was closer to his neck and the sleeves stretched down to his elbows. Underneath the shirt was a blue-gray bodysuit made of some sort of spandex-like material that covered everything below his neck except for his fingers. Covering each forearm was a flat bracer made of black metal that seemed unusually thick. The waist/groin guard was gone, and in its place was a simple blue-gray sash used as a belt to hold up a pair of white trousers with blue cuffs. The top of the trousers was hidden by the bottom of the shirt. Instead of Fei's well-worn tie-up sandals, the man wore a pair of black slip-on boots similar to Hibiki's. "We've changed a lot, haven't we?" Emeralda asked, almost sadly. Fei's smile instantly melted into a somber expression. "Yeah... we have. But, no matter what happens, Emeralda, I'll be there fore you." Fei dropped the bundle he'd been holding and hugged Emeralda, the emerald- haired woman responding in kind. "You've been a good friend and the closest thing I've ever had to a daughter." At this, Fei chuckled a bit and relaxed his hug. "Although, considering your new appearance, I think we may have to change that relationship a bit. How would you like having a brother, hm?" Emeralda beamed at Fei and tightened her grip on him. Despite Fei's changes, the next week was relatively quiet and routine. The only really notable occurrence happened on the seventh day... Meia stared down at the note she'd plucked off her door and read it aloud. "'Did you really think I'd forget to pay you back?' Just what the hell are they talking about?" A small smiley face was drawn on the bottom left corner of the note. Meia continued to stare at the note for a few more moments before crumpling it up and tossing it in the trash can. As she opened the door and stepped out, she felt a slight tug against the front of her ankle. The woman looked down to see a trip wire pulled tight against her foot. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that it ran up the side of her doorway. Oh, shit! was Meia's only thought as she looked up just in time to see a
metal bucket full of freezing cold water tipping over toward her. Her scream of
shock as the water hit echoed throughout the entire residential area. Heh, heh. Fei silently chuckled later that day. The look on her face was priceless! Although, maybe saying, "Not so funny when *you* get soaked, is it?" to her wasn't the wisest thing I've ever done. Gascogne had asked him how he'd gotten a swollen black eye when he came to work, but he'd merely chuckled in response and otherwise remained silent on the matter. Just as Fei was about to begin work, alarms began blaring. "We under attack again?" Fei asked no one in particular as the Reg crew began bustling about. "Most likely," Gascogne responded. "Cool." Fei grinned savagely, heading toward the door. "Later!" Hibiki entered the room from the back just in time to see Fei run out the door. "All right! Time to - hey! Wait for me!" Gascogne grabbed Hibiki by the back of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Stage hands aren't supposed to be up there with the actors." "What?! But you let Fei go!" "That's because the Captain okayed it for him to leave once we got into a
battle. She didn't say anything about you, however." Gascogne dropped Hibiki in
a chair and pressed a button on the back of it, activating a set of restraints
that locked into place around Hibiki. "Just take a load off and watch how it
works, understood?" Less than a minute later, Fei was settling into Xenogears' cockpit as the Gear launched from the hangar. As he took a position beside & slightly back from Meia's Dread and gazed at the odd sphere that was designated as the enemy, a holo-screen with said pilot's face on it popped up in front of Fei. "What are you doing here?" Meia all but snarled. "Getting ready to kick that sphere's ass. Why?" "You're supposed to be working in Reg!" "Actually, that's only when we're not fighting. The Captain already okayed it. You can ask her if you don't believe me." "We don't need your help, damn it!" "Well, you've got it anyway." Meia merely growled in response and cut the link. Fei smirked as he waited for the order to attack. A moment later, the sphere started moving toward them. Each of the nodes covering it spun a bit as a tentacle extended from each one, then hardened into crooked, jagged spines. A wave of light traveled from the sphere out to the tips of the spines, then disappeared. "A... sea urchin?!" Jura's voice filtered over the comm link the Dreads used during combat, disgust evident in her tone. "Hey! Are we seriously gonna fight that thing?!" Meia started to reply, only to be cut off. "An enemy is an enemy. Doesn't matter what it looks like." Fei smirked as he considered his next words. "Besides, just imagine how good it would make you look to destroy something that ugly." Meia considered tearing into Fei for a split-second, then discarded the idea when the Urchin continued approaching. "Team leaders, check and confirm your formations. All teams, commence your attack now!" "Roger!" The Dreads shot toward the Urchin, with Fei and Meia at the lead, Dita, Jura, and Emeralda just behind them. In response, the Urchin's spines began spinning in place and rotating around the sphere as it continued approaching the fighters. The Dreads unloaded missile after missile at the spiked sphere, but the spines simply blocked all of them and wove around Crescens' particle blasts like they weren't even there. "The needles block our shots." Jura commented. "What now?" "These guys are really bad aliens!" Dita cried out. "They've been observing and analyzing our actions." Buzam's voice filtered over the comm-link. "Perhaps now that they have their data, they have no more use for us." "Whatever the reason," Fei grinned, "it's still our job to kill these bastards before they kill us." With that, Fei fired both particle cannons at the Urchin, being careful not to hit any of the Dreads. To his surprise, the Urchin spun horizontally, turning one of the only two areas unprotected by spines toward him. The particle beams seemed to arc toward two of the six red gems set into that area in a pattern like two arrowheads pointing toward each other. Fei's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when the beams were absorbed by the gems. "Well that sucked." Given that he'd just watched his most powerful long-range weapon get effortlessly neutralized and that something about the gems on the Urchin tugged at his memory, it's rather understandable that Fei was caught by surprise when six crimson beams shot toward him. The beams slammed into Xenogears, sending it flying backwards. "Well, I guess you weren't much use after all," Meia said, smirking at Fei over the holo-screen. "Aw, shut up! I don't see you doing any better yourself!" "Are you all right, Fei?" Emeralda asked. "Just fine, sis. All except for my pride." Fei managed to halt Xenogears' backward movement and shot toward the Urchin again. Before he could get near it, the Urchin had already passed by the Ikazuchi, damaging the starboard arm with its spines. Coming up beside it, Fei pulled back one of Xenogears' arms and extended the katar blade to hack at the machine's unprotected side. However, the Urchin once again spun horizontally, slamming its spines into Xenogears' back. "Dammit!" Fei snarled as he was sent flying away again. "This thing's reaction speed is absurd!" "Not to mention it's too fast for me to hit," Emeralda added, "just ignores the missiles, and absorbs your beams." "Meia!" Dita exclaimed. "Let's get Mr. Alien out here!" "No!" Meia replied. "He's one of our enemies because he's a man! Besides, we've already got one out here. We don't need another out here screwing things up even more." "Normally, I'd be extremely insulted by that." Fei snapped at Meia as Emeralda snarled wordlessly at her commander. "But I think killing this bastard is a little more important than something as petty as that." The Dreads fired more missiles at the Urchin, only to watch as they exploded harmlessly against its spines. In Barnette's Dread, she noticed her ammo gauge start dipping into dangerously low levels. "Ms. Gasco! Got an order to go!" In Reg Central, the girls were busily working at prepping the Dreki with ammo to reload the Dreads. "What are you doing out there?!" Hibiki growled at the monitor showing the battle. "No, not that way! Dammit, get this thing off me! You guys need me out there!" Just as one of the Reg crew was about to hand Gascogne a list of munitions, the ship was jolted when the Urchin made another pass by it, nearly knocking everyone off their feet. "This is so unfair!" Hibiki shouted. "Somebody get me outta this thing!" As if on cue, the restraints deactivated. Hibiki looked around and saw Gascogne standing a few feet away, a remote in her hand. "Let's go." Gascogne said, offering him her hand. "You're gonna see what we stagehands do up close and personal." Less than a minute later, Hibiki and Gascogne were launching from the Ikazuchi in the Dreki, a heavily armored ship that resembled a ladybug. Once it was far enough away from the ship, Gascogne fired the thrusters, sending them rocketing toward the battlefield. Once there, five Dreads and Xenogears gathered around the Dreki. Xenogears and Crescens merely hovered to the side as the four Dreads were latched onto by manipulator arms from the Dreki. "All right, girls." Gascogne ordered. "Let's do this all in one go. Fifty seconds tops." "I see you brought Hibiki along," Fei commented as Xenogears floated around to hover in front of the Dreki. "What?!" Meia shouted incredulously. "What the hell is he doing here?!" "I'm just showing him what it's like to be a stagehand, up close and personal." Gascogne replied. "Only fifty percent to go." "Look out!" Hibiki suddenly exclaimed. Fei and Emeralda spun around just in time to see the Urchin approaching them. As the two fighters shifted out of its path, Gascogne simply twisted the Dreki so that the Urchin's spines slammed into its armored back and simply repeated the maneuver when the thing made a second pass at them. "That's some pretty impressive armor you've got there, Ms. Gascogne," Emeralda said, whistling in appreciation. "So, this is what stagehands do?!" Hibiki choked out. "I told you the pilots aren't out there fighting on their own. So do you finally believe me now?" As she finished speaking, the Dreki finished reloading the Dreads. "Delivery complete. Give 'em hell now, girls." "I'm so full!" Dita happily chirped. The Urchin made another pass at the Dreki as the Dreads shot off, Xenogears following Meia's Dread, while Emeralda stuck close to Jura. "Fei, you got any ideas?" Emeralda asked. "Not a one. You?" "Nope." "Damn." Back in the Dreki, Hibiki noticed that one shipment hadn't been delivered yet. "Hey, ya still have one shipment left in there." "Oh, is that so? Well, we brought it all the way out here, so we may as well use it." "Huh?" Only seconds after the Urchin made one last pass at the Dreki, sending it spinning away, the last cargo hold opened up, revealing the Vanguard, which promptly took off toward the Urchin. "That machine," Jura and Barnette gasped. "That's right! Hibiki's here!" "Mr. Alien!" "Good ta see ya out here, kiddo." Fei grinned savagely. "We need the Vandread, so you know what to do!" "Yay! Mr. Alien, let's do what Mr. Fei said and combine our fighters!" Before Hibiki had a chance to protest, the Vanguard was sucked into Dita's Dread, forming Vandread Dita again. "All right..." Hibiki reluctantly stated, then grinned. "Let's do it!" With that, the cannons flipped into place and fired at the Urchin. The speed of the beams kept the Urchin from dodging too effectively, but it was still able to get out of the way with nothing more that a couple of broken spines. "Damn it!" Hibiki growled. "Hibiki!" Fei shouted. "Keep shooting!" Just then, the Urchin began firing off spines in random directions, only these ones weren't jagged or crooked, more like spears. As the Vandread continued firing, Fei and Meia shot toward the Urchin, dodging the spears, hoping to catch it by surprise. Unfortunately, the Urchin then decided to start aiming. Meia's Dread was hit and sent flying backwards while Xenogears managed to dodge all but a few of them and got close enough to strike at the Urchin's unprotected side again. "Got you this time, bastard!" Expecting it to smack him with the spines again as he slashed at it, Fei was caught by surprise when the gems fired another round of particle blasts at him, then spun and launched a series of spikes at Xenogears, sending it flying back uncontrollably. "Damn you!" Fei roared. "I'm not going –" "- to lose to this thing!" Meia growled, unknowingly finishing Fei's statement as she gained control of her Dread and shot back toward the Urchin, only to gasp in surprise when she saw Xenogears about to collide with her. To everyone's shock, however, a bright light flared around the two machines and time seemed to slow down as they stopped and hovered in place. "What's happening?!" Meia gasped as white light flooded her cockpit. "I don't know, but hold on!" Fei replied. Meia's Dread split apart into several pieces as parts of Xenogears rearranged themselves. Xenogears' head retracted into its body as the "crown" separated and hovered over the torso as if waiting for something. The arms detached from the body and hovered to the sides of the torso. Xenogears' feet disconnected from the legs as they each split into a trio of long, jointed claws and the legs separated from the hips. Finally, the spines on Xenogears' back slid against each other and retracted into themselves, halving their length and forming three sets of thrusters. With Xenogears' transformation complete, the pieces of Meia's Dread began attaching themselves to the Gear. The upper section of the Dread's body opened up and wrapped around Xenogears' torso as the arms slid into place on it. The wings of the Dread connected to Xenogears' back on either side of the thrusters. The lower section of the Dread's body split in half and slid in between the legs and torso of Xenogears, forming new hips when the legs connected to them. The nose cone of the Dread segmented and nearly doubled in length as it flipped around and connected to Xenogears' lower back, forming a serpentine tail. A line of fins ran down the middle of the tail's top. The two missile-like pods that were attached to the bottom of Meia's Dread split into two parts apiece, the front parts twice the length of the rear ones. The front parts attached to the Gear's forearms, then split open a short distance from the tips to form three-clawed talons while the rear parts connected to Xenogears' feet and ankles, forming a second joint in the leg similar to a cat's. The odd lump on the new mecha's chest unfolded and connected to Xenogears' crown, with the spikes facing backward, completing the transformation. What was once a Dread and a Gear was now a combined mecha similar to the Vandread. Instead of a humanoid fighter, however, the combination of Xenogears and Meia's Dread created a silver and blue dragon with a forward-facing tusk on either side of the face. Two azure eyes flared into life as the dragon reared back, a synthesized roar emanating from it. "Do you see that?!" Barnette gasped in awe. "It's so cool!" Jura added. "When are those two going to stop pulling tricks out of their sleeves?" Bart asked no one in particular. In Vandread Dita, the two pilots were left speechless at the sight and had stopped firing. Inside the new mecha, Meia groaned and opened her eyes as she felt something pressing down on her back. She turned her head to see that Fei was laying on her and in the process of opening his eyes. "That was definitely an... odd experience," Fei groaned as he sat up. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" "Huh?!" Fei looked down to see Meia glaring at him over her shoulder. "I didn't ask for your help, so get out! Now!" "And I didn't ask to be here!" Fei snapped defensively. "So don't –" Fei was cut off by the Urchin slamming into the Xenodread. "Damn. Look –" "I thought I said to get out!" Meia growled. "You don't get it, do you?" Fei sighed. "We have a job to do, dammit! Now are you going to sit here and bitch while the Ikazuchi gets torn apart or are you going to help me pilot this thing and kick that bastard's ass?" "... all right. Let's go." Fei smiled as she turned back around and her hands moved up to rest on the control spheres before her. "Sorry 'bout this." Fei said as he leaned forward and placed his hands on the second set of spheres, pressing his chest against her back in the process and trying to push the faint increase of heat in his cheeks from his mind. "But I gotta just to reach the controls." Meia nodded absently and wondered why it was getting so warm before ruthlessly crushing that thought and trying to ignore the faint blush on her cheeks. Without further delay, the Xenodread shot toward the Urchin, body-slamming it just as it was about to hit the Ikazuchi again. Before they could strike it again, the Urchin flew off, prompting the draconic mecha to follow at speeds that caused them to become little more than blurs, though a trio of energy contrails marked the Xenodread's location. "That acceleration is incredible!" Barnette gasped. "Meia's so lucky," Jura whined, almost pouting. "YEEEEHAAAAAWWW!!" Fei howled. "You're actually enjoying this?!" Meia inquired, incredulous. "It's one of the few joys I have in life. It's proof that I'm still alive!" "Then we'll just have to see how long that remains true!" Meia replied, urging the mecha to go faster. As they continued chasing it, the Urchin suddenly came to a stop as its spines straightened into spears. The Urchin fired off all the spears, creating a virtual storm of death. Unfortunately for it, Xenodread Meia flowed around the spears effortlessly. In a quick burst of speed, the robotic dragon dodged the last set of spears and came to a stop behind the Urchin, whirling around to face its opponent. "This is exactly what I've waited for!" Fei and Meia said in perfect unison. The Xenodread started moving toward the Urchin as it pulled its arms and legs close to its body and tail, respectively while a green glow formed just in front of its tusks that quickly engulfed the entire mecha. With a burst of speed that made it look like it had been a slug earlier, the Xenodread shot toward the Urchin and punched through it like a bullet through wet tissue paper, a line of green energy the only thing marking its passage. A second later, the Xenodread came to a stop near the Ikazuchi as the Urchin exploded in a brilliant flare of light behind it. "I think it's safe to say they weren't meant to be stagehands," Gascogne quipped, leaning back in her seat. "I'm certainly glad that's over with," Magno sighed in relief. "Don't just leave the spears there." Parfet said as she walked between the Captain and BC. "I think they might be useful." Back in the Xenodread, Fei leaned back and sighed heavily. "Man, that was fun. But it sure is a mess out there." "I never thought we'd agree on anything." Meia stated as she turned partway around to look at Fei. "But do you understand now? You can't win every battle with just your Vanguard out there." "For the last time, it's not a Vanguard and it has a name: Xenogears. And I already knew that I can't win every fight by myself." Fei grinned. "Though the same goes for you and your Dread, y'think?" "Perhaps..." Meia sighed and turned back around. "I'm just glad Mr. Alien is only combining with me!" Dita exclaimed happily as she leaned back against Hibiki, who started futilely protesting. "Hey..." Jura mused aloud in her Dread. "So that means that my Dread might
be able to become something elegant, too. Awesome." Later that day, after the Captain had changed the ship's name to Nirvana, Fei and Hibiki tiredly walked into the area that had been converted to their quarters. "Ah, so you're back." Bart observed. "Hey, what's with those Vanguards of yours, anyway?" Fei and Hibiki ignored Bart's question, staggered into their rooms, and slumped down on their beds in perfect unison. "Are you all right?" Duero asked. "Just didn't expect that last attack to be so damned draining." "Draining? How?" "I used my Chi to increase the Xenodread's speed. Think I went a bit overboard. Most of what I pumped into it just got burned off uselessly." "Chi?" Duero inquired. "This," Fei sighed, summoning a sphere of yellow-white energy in the palm of his hand. While Bart simply stayed where he was and Hibiki stepped up beside the navigator, Duero walked over and studied the ball up close for a moment before speaking. "Interesting, but it doesn't answer my question." "Heh. I was hoping you wouldn't be too curious after seeing it." "Oh, Mr. Alien!" Hibiki flinched and looked toward the source of the voice to see Dita running toward him with a small wrapped package in her hands. Pyoro could be seen hopping along behind her. "Here! I made this for you!" "Uh..." Hibiki hesitated. "What is it?" "It's food!" Dita replied, unwrapping it, then spearing a piece of meat with a toothpick and holding it up near Hibiki's mouth. "Try it." Hibiki hesitantly grabbed the food with his mouth and ate it. As soon as he swallowed, Hibiki sighed in pleasure. "This stuff is great!" Hibiki exclaimed, then grabbed the container and began devouring the rest of it, causing Duero to raise an eyebrow questioningly. "You really like it?! Oh, I'm so happy, Mr. Alien!" "Would ya stop calling me Mr. Alien?!" Duero and Bart stared for a moment longer before the doctor turned back to Fei. "So, about Chi?" "Huh? What are you talking about?" Dita asked. "Persistent, ain't ya, doc?" Fei smirked. "Anyway, Chi is the energy generated by all living beings. Without Chi, you're a corpse." "So how did you use it to increase the speed of the Xenodread?" Hibiki asked. "I've trained in martial arts my entire life. Chi manipulation was just one of the fields I trained in. When you first learn it, it's usually subconsciously and is used to increase your physical abilities, like strength and speed. With enough training, you can fire off blasts of raw Chi that can topple buildings with only a single blast." "That still doesn't explain how you could use it to power up the Xenodread," Duero stated. "I'm gettin' to it. Xenogears possesses a system called the Chi Amplifier. How it works is rather complicated. What it does is much simpler, though. It enables me to channel my own Chi through Xenogears as if the machine was my own body. It's called an amplifier because it increases the effects of whatever I use my Chi for to the size of Xenogears. If it didn't have the amplification ability, I'd have to damn near kill myself just to pull of one or two super- powered punches in Xenogears." "So if I had one of those, my Vanguard might be able to blow away one of those Urchin things?" "If you train hard enough and long enough, then eventually, yes, you'll be able to do things like that, Hibiki. However, that's IF I build a Chi Amplifier for you. You have no idea how hard those things are to build. I learned how to manipulate Chi after only six months of training when I was six-years-old. Think you can top that, kiddo?" "You bet!" Hibiki eagerly answered. "When do we start?" "First we finish resting up from this fight." Fei replied, laying down on his cot. "Then we keep training until I decide you're far enough along in your training to start learning Chi manipulation." Hibiki groaned and returned to his own room, silently vowing to himself
that he would learn everything he could from Fei. The next day, Gascogne was surprised to see Fei and Hibiki walk through the door just after she finished giving the crew their daily instructions. "Hey, boss!" Fei smiled. "What's up? We late?" "Wha – but I thought you two –" "Quit? Nah." "So why'd you two choose to come back?" Gascogne asked. "We might as well pull our weight when we're not fighting." Hibiki replied. "No sense in not doing it." "I see. Well, it'll be good to have you back." |
Xenodread
By: Raiu Kusanagi
The death of a loved one sends Fei over the edge. The following fight alters the course of two realities, tearing several people from one and throwing them into the other.
Rated: Fiction T - English - Chapters: 5 - Words: 34,050 - Reviews: 2 - Favs: 1 - Updated: Nov 5, 2002 - Published: Jun 5, 2002 - id: 818986
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Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten
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