FLCL: Unseal
Chapter Two – "FLCL/Medical Mechania 00"
Ninamori clutched at her head, swaying as the horn bulged and grew, splitting into five horns, and then recombining into one…
Haruko stared in dumbfounded amazement as a reddish arm forced its way out of the girl's head, flexing as if unused to existing. A head, another arm, and a body, all blood red and black, followed the arm. The head was a squarish, TV-like affair, with a dark blue screen. The screen then flashed yellow, a strange reddish symbol appearing on it.
"Oh no!" Haruko knew what that symbol meant. The bracelet on her wrist began to rattle uncontrollably.
The robot managed to force itself completely out of Ninamori's head, and the dazed girl fell backwards, all but unconscious.
The robot advanced towards Haruko, but the woman showed no sign of fear. Instead, she raised her guitar, and grinned insanely. "ITADAKI-MAMMA-SU!" She lunged forward, but the robot simply grabbed the guitar, lifted it – and haruko – above its head, and threw the two through the wall.
Haruko groaned in pain, but before she could move, the robot was on her yet again, arm raised as if to plunge it into her chest.
Ninamori groaned, and stared at the scene for a minute without really comprehending it. "What's going on…" she clutched at her head. "It… hurts…"
***
Naota picked up the letter from his brother again. Sliding the photo Tasuku had sent him partway out of the envelope, he stared at the hastily scrawled message.
"I got me a Blond girl!"
It hurt Naota to think badly of his brother. But Tasuku had a girlfriend back here, in Japan… Did he not ant Mamimi any more? Naota had always put up with Mamimi because he had assumed that his brother would be coming back some day.
But now, it didn't look that way. "Shimata." he muttered. He'd have to tell Mamimi sooner or later, he guessed.
"Naota-kun! Dinner!" His father called up the stairs.
Naota stood to go to dinner, but as his foot hit the threshold to the hallway, his head seemed to split open, spilling out an endless stream of pain, anger, change, and…
Naota collapsed to the floor, breathing like someone just beaten unconscious.
***
"Yes, sir, the N.O. gate has been opened… what? No, sir, we're not sure who opened it. Yes, we're aware that this gives the Medical Mechania Company a clear activation gate… No, sir, we haven't- if you'd let me finish, sir- Look!" Amaro shouted into the receiver, finally. "I know more about this than you, and I'M in charge here! Not you! With all due respect, let me deal with the N.O. gate in my own way, sir!" He slammed the receiver down.
"Problems?" Kitsuribami asked. The brown-skinned, freckled girl seemed out of place even here, dressed as she was in the Department's field uniform. Either she was really attached to her place as Local commander of the investigation team, or she was too stupid to know when to change out, Amaro reflected.
Almost absently, the red-haired man touched his eyebrows, making sure they were tightly attached.
"Yeah, I guess…" Amaro took a bite out of the dumpling he had bought on the way into work that morning. "Did we find out where Raharu we-"
"SEQUENCE BREAKOUT! THE N.O. GATE HAS BEEN OPENED!"
"What the hell-"
"REPEAT, SEQUENCE BREAKOUT! THE N.O. GATE HAS OPENED! WARNING!"
"The N.O. Gate… SHIT!"
***
The Robot slammed its fist into Haruko's face, obviously trying to kill or maim her. However, the woman simply wasn't there – she twisted around each blow like a snake, stretching her body into impossible configurations.
"Nya-haa!" she laughed delightedly. "Can't hit me!" Haruko suddenly twisted out of the Robot's grip, and raised her guitar. "CHANCE!"
She swung with all her might, aiming for the robot's head… monitor. However, the Robot grabbed the guitar in mid-swing and slammed its foot into her stomach.
"H-urk!" The robot stepped backwards for a minute, scanning the room for other threats. It's gaze fell on Ninamori, who was simply kneeling on the ground and holding her head like only the pressure kept it from exploding.
Target Acquired---
|-----------Ethnicity: Nihonjin Est age: 11-13 Targ^$R%TF%$E$TFtdgd5%DY%U--- *beep* *Crunch*
Haruko grinned. "Chance!" She slammed her guitar into the robot's head with a sort of discordant chord, as if all strings were being played at once, hooked to an amp with REALLY bad sound quality. The robot's head literally fell apart, and with a puff of smoke the monitor fell dark. The body was leeched of its color…
***
Naota groaned and stirred, and realized he was on his bed. The setting sun painted his room in sepia tones, leeching the world of color. With a strange groan, the siren that had been roaring in the plant in the middle of town fell silent, and steam shot once more from the giant Iron, blanketing the city in a haze that shut out the sky.
Naota sat up, rubbing at his eyes. A Dark mass lurked over him, though he couldn't really tell what it was. The thing seemed too tall for his pet cat, Miyu-miyu, but…
"Miyu-miyu? Is that you?"
An answering meow from the chair at his desk answered that question. Naota rubbed at his eyes, trying to clear the blurred vision that was preventing him from identifying the dark mass standing before him. Bit by bit his vision cleared, and Naota's eyes widened as he finally understood what he was seeing.
"A GIANT ARM!?"
***
Mamimi picked up her cell phone, and hit the speed dial number.
Breep… Breep… Breep-click. "Hello?"
"Hello?"
"Who is this?"
"May I speak to 'takkun?"
"Uh… Mamimi, is it? I don't think Naota is feeling too well, he didn't come to dinner tonight. But I'll see if he's willing to talk to you. Could you hold on a minute?"
"Su-" Mamimi was cut off by the hold music. "-re…"
***
"Naota-kun? Are you awake?"
Crap! Naota looked around wildly. What am I gonna do!? "Um… Yeah, but.. I'm… don't come in for a minute, okay?"
"Are you ok, Naota?" Naota didn't answer, trying to find a place to hide the arm. "Naota-kun?"
"Uh… I'm fine! Just- just wait a minute, please!" Naota's eyes fell on the closet, and the boy grabbed the arm, obviously intending to drag it in there. However, the arm stayed still, not budging an inch. The two eye-like crystal-things on the lower par of it, just above the wrist, seemed to regard him silently. "Come on!" he whispered. "I have to hide you so my dad doesn't see you-"
"Naota? I'm coming in." The door to Naota's room slid open just as the door to Naota's closet slid shut, closing with a bang that rattled the frame. "Naota? What were you doing?"
"Uh… just cleaning up some clothes," Naota said weakly.
"Um… well, Mamimi is on the phone for you. Do you want to talk to her?"
"No!" Naota almost shouted, and then he regained control of himself. "I- Tell her I'm busy, I'm, sick, or something. I don't want to talk to her. Not until I find a way to tell her about 'niichan's new girlfriend. Naota's father didn't reply, and after a second he left.
Naota let out a sigh of relief, and the closet door was shoved open from inside, a large robotic arm sliding out like a crab.
***
"I'm sorry, Mamimi, but Naota couldn't come to the phone. He… was busy throwing up because he was sick. Goodbye."
"Good-" Mamimi started to say, but stopped when the line went dead.
Standing by the river, Mamimi held the phone up for a few seconds longer, before letting it drop into the grass by the river. The sun set before her, but she ignored it as she though for a minute with her eyes closed.
***
Eri sat in her bedroom staring at her homework. The woman had somehow managed to get a job as a maid or some such, and had brought that damaged robot with her. The woman was needed, Ninamori admitted – the house was big enough that her mother couldn't take care of it on her own – but still, she wished there was some way to get rid of her…
"Thinking, Eri-chan?" The woman's oddly nasal voice cut through to the girl. "You're cute when you do that, you know."
"Ye-" Eri started. "H-hey! Who gave you permission to use my first name, maid?"
Haruko smiled. "Don't you like me, eri-chan?"
"Why are you stalking me like this? Why don't you go bother Naota? You hit him too!"
Haruko continued to smile. "Because the Robot came out of your head. He's useless."
"What do you mean, useless? How would you know? He might have grown a horn, too!"
Haruko ignored the question. "Don't you like me, Eri?" she asked again.
~Fin Chapter Two
Author's notes: None, really! Enjoy the second chapter!
-Lelldorin