Disclaimer: Vandread is a property of Gonzo.
Sorry for the waiting – the third chapter is updated at last.
Hibiki immediately rouse himself – "What in the hell is going on?"
"Looks like we are being attacked." – answered Reiko. – "These are battle alarms."
Suddenly their communicator turned on: "Our scanners detected large enemy forces 5 minutes away from our fleet. Alert all personnel. This is not a drill. Expecting enemy contact in 5 minutes."
"Damn it, looks like I've gotta go out and fight. I'm sorry Reiko-chan, may we finish it later?"
"Hey, you are a patient, you are wounded, and you don't remember anything about fighting, isn't it?"
"No it isn't. This damned battle alarm somehow affected my brain. I do remember almost everything about my previous fighting now. I'm really sorry I couldn't tell the commander about all this earlier, but who would have thought that all that was needed to make me remember was a sound of battle alarms."
Suddenly Hibiki stopped himself, thought about something for a moment, then he continued – "Give me communicator please."
Reiko was puzzled so much that she gave him the device without any word. Then young man pulled himself together and said: "This is Hibiki Tokai from ship's hospital. May I speak with the Commander?"
"You are speaking with him right now. What is your request?"
"Sir, I don't think there is any meaning in going to bridge right now, I'll need several minutes just to get there. And distracting you by going down here isn't wise either. I'll tell you everything I remembered from my previous battle experience, can you redirect my speech to everyone else?"
"Yes, it is possible."
"Ok, I'll start then." – Hibiki put communicator down, cleared his throat and then continued – "Are you ready?"
"Systems are on, You are our star now."
As he was starting his speech each person on every starship and every fighter pilot listened carefully to the advertisement.
"Listen to me everyone. I'm Hibiki Tokai – a robot pilot who was shot down by your forces recently. I'm willing to share my battle experience with you. First of all I'm talking to fighter pilots, if I'll need to tell something to ship's gunners, I'll state it especially. As you already know enemy fleet consists of several ship types. Enemy cubes – they are fast, agile and weak, just one shot and they are dead. Try not to get surrounded or they will crush you. X-fighters, too fast to get, too agile to fire them alone, launch several missiles if you have any or group to hunt them down in order to make your fire so intensive that their agility won't help them. But duel them – and you are dead. Pods – these are hard guys, don't face them, or you'll be out in one shot. Attack from 1 or 11 o'clock and fire in their center – it's a weak point. Spiked guys – that's a big headache, missiles won't harm them, fighter's gunfire doesn't do much damage either, their only weak point – some place where spikes don't grow. If you occasionally can target it – do it without hesitation, though you better try to leave them to ship's gunfire – they won't be able to sustain that much damage. Generally, my suggestion is – let fighters take out cubes and X-fighters and concentrate ship's gunfire on pods and spikes." – at last Hibiki stopped and immediately gasped for air. – "Dammit, it was a long speech."
Suddenly communicator turned on again: - "It was a good speech, young warrior, your information was very valuable to us, but what do you think we should do with that kind of ship?"
Hibiki turned to monitor in the treatment room and saw a giant figure with glowing three-ray star on it.
"Holy shit, what in the hell is THAT?"
"We don't know either" – continued the Commander – "And we really don't want to know. Anyway, it's heading here so we will in no time."
"I'm sorry guys, I haven't seen anything like this before."
"Thanks for your help anyway." – Communicator turned off.
Hibiki sat back on the bed and watched the giant ship in silence with his face showing marks of deep and not very pleasing thoughts, then he whispered – "We won't die easy, you demon."
Reiko looked at depressed boy and said – "We are not afraid to meet our destiny, Hibiki. If we are going to die we will die struggling to force them away from our planet. Keep fighting to the end – that's our motto."
She sat near young man and asked in soft voice – "Now, maybe we can finish?"
Hibiki looked at her with merely recognizing eyes. Then he shook himself and answered – "Well, maybe we can." – he paused for a second and added – "Thank you – Reiko-chan."
Their second try to kiss each other was interrupted by several explosions all over the ship. And it was too much for Hibiki to bear. He cursed the enemy, jumped up from bed and rushed to the exit. At the door he turned back: - "Damn it, I'm really sorry but I have to go." – He was already going to exit the treatment room when Reiko stood up and cried:
"Hibiki, please wait!"
"What's up?"
Reiko walked to him, embraced him deeply and said – "I'm not afraid for myself, but I am for you. Please, promise me to return alive."
"I promise!" – answered Hibiki.
Shidcom told him to kiss the girl, so young boy did. He kissed her goodbye and ran out of the room.
Reiko sat back on his bed and said to herself – "God, please help him and spare his life."
At that very moment several mighty strikes hit the flagship and one of them was directed at ship's hospital. Hibiki ran approximately 60 feet away from the door of his room when he heard a great explosion nearby. He turned around and suddenly caught a gleam of fire in his room. He screamed and rushed back, but he instantly understood, that he was too late. The room was a mess, his bed was broken and there lied Reiko… She seemed almost unharmed, but when young boy kneeled down beside her, the girl coughed blood. She raised her hand a bit and whispered – "Give me your hand."
Hibiki instantly grasped her hand by both of his arms and cried – "Reiko, what's up? Are you hurt?"
She managed to brush his cheek gently, then grope his hand and said – "Don't forget your promise, Hibiki-kun. Please stay alive and remember me…" – she coughed blood again – "I… love… you…"
After saying this Reiko fell silent forever. Hibiki felt her hand weakening the grip. He tried to keep it but the hand was just falling down. Hibiki dropped her hand, snatched her shoulders and shook her crying: - "Reiko, are you ok? Reiko, say something to me! Reiko, hang on!!!"
Several minutes passed before Hibiki could finally understand that Reiko was dead. These minutes were very hard for him. His mind didn't want to accept the fact that the person he… loved? was now dead. And that he was the cause. If only they went to the bridge Reiko would be alive.
"God damn, why did it happen? Why did she die? Why didn't we go to bridge together?" The fight between his feelings and his consciousness however, was won by the latter.
So he stood up with pain and fault in his eyes. – "I'm sorry Reiko. Please forgive me-e-e-e!!!"
Explosions were heard all over the ship. Enemy was closing in. Young boy was running away crying from the treatment room. - "No, why did it happen? Damn it, why did it happen?"
He just ran forward, but occasionally he ended up in ship's main hangar. There he saw a mechanic working on a big yellow robot. Hibiki could hardly see anything through tears covering his face, but this image was too familiar to him.
"Aivoh… here you are." – Young pilot ran to the robot. The mechanic – a pretty girl with short hair and deep blue eyes - turned to him and asked: - "Hey, who are you?"
"I pilot this thing." – said young boy. – "And who are you?"
"I'm ship mechanic as you can see. My name is Seran, what's yours?"
Young man brushed away his tears and was finally able to understand what was going on. He didn't forget his pain and fault – he just couldn't do it – he only pushed it deep inside. – "I'm Hibiki Tokai. I was shot by your fleet some time ago. I heard that my robot was damaged badly, how long would it take to repair it?"
"Well, it's about ten of minutes."
"Hmm, it's not good. Would you mind if I help you? I know him better than anyone!"
"Of course. You are welcome."
Hibiki climbed into cockpit and worked there while Seran was fixing outer side, standing on hover pad. Combining their efforts they managed to finish in several minutes. Hibiki climbed away from cockpit and saw girl, smiling with relief.
"There, done! Thanks for waiting! Ready to launch! Do your best!"
At that very moment another great explosion turned the part of hangar where Seran's pad was hovering into pieces. Hibiki jumped down to the floor of the hangar. He rushed to her and cried – "Seran! Are you ok? Hey, hang on! Hey!"
"Everyone! I wonder if everyone's ok." – then she passed out.
It was too much for a young boy. To see two people dying on his hands in ten minutes was just too much. And it was his fault again – if only she wasn't there repairing his robot she would be alive. Mindlessly he stood up, climbed into cockpit and took off the hangar. Hibiki's sorrow, pain and fault was turning into rage - as deep and great as the universe. – "So much death… Why? Why does it happen? It's unfair! Why do all people I meet here die on my hands? You've gonna pay me for it! Noyarro's I'm coming for you!!! A-a-a-a-a!!!" – He cried all the way while his Vanguard was flying out from the hangar.
The battle was not going well for Melanos fleet – they managed to blow up some Pods and other lesser battleships, but their ships were severely damaged, many of them already destroyed and the Mothership was closing. The defense line was going to break up.
"Don't falter, show them our will!" – cried the commander. Then a small shining star appeared from fleet flagman's main hangar.
Instantly it was attacked by several cubes, but?!
Slash – a cube was sliced into two pieces. Slash – another one. Hit, slash, slash, slash – group of cubes exploded.
"Come on, who's next!" – cried Hibiki and rushed forward to enemy pods. Cubes, pod's fire, fighters flying over him – nothing could stop enraged warrior. His robot resembled a living being burning with rage, wanting to destroy every single piece of enemy and ignoring anything else. The angel of doom, the Sword of revenge – that's what he was now!
Hit, hit, slash – a pod is exploding.
Dodge, dodge, slash – an X-fighter is destroyed.
"I'll get you all, bastards!!!" – cried Hibiki and continued his dance of death.
Astonished by such power and skill the Commander ordered – "That boy! Everyone, follow that boy!" Hope appeared in hearts of the crew as ships began to regroup. Their gunfire became more accurate and intensive. It looked like the odds were on their side now.
Suddenly all smaller craft rushed away from the front side of the Mothership. In a second enormous ray of fire was send towards the fleet, destroying bigger part of it. Hibiki watched the whole scene of destruction.
He understood that now even the remains of person he liked were scattered in the void. Astonished, speechless – and then even more enraged he turned back and beamed to the source of all evil – giant ship closing in. An aura of hatred and revenge could almost be seen around his Vanguard. – "Noyarro-o-o!!!" – Hibiki was already a hundred feet away when a light from the Mothership's port side blinded him. This wave of light overcame his aura and threw young boy into unconsciousness.
Young boy didn't see how the remaining ships of Melanos fleet were destroyed. He didn't see how Rabat's ship flying by changed it's course and got near him. He didn't see how his Vanguard was taken into Rabat's warehouse and how Rabat changed his course to meet with Nirvana. He didn't see anything, he was not in this plane of reality.
Author's notes:
Advertisement: If you like my style of writing – please inform me about it reviewing my story and telling me you want a continuation. If I'll get enough such reviews I'll try to rewrite Vandread using Hibiki's new features. I have several ideas about how his life would change after this way of meeting with Melanos. Otherwise the story will end here. However, constructive criticism in your reviews is always welcome.