Happy Holidays!
Chapter 8: We'll be Here
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"Tori," began Bit sadly. "Did you…watch the news report yesterday?"
"No, why?" he asked.
"All the officials…in that building…they…" continued Leena.
"They all died," ended Bit, watching as Tori's eyes widened in unspeakable pain. "Even the commissioner." Tori was sent into a state of shock, his body trembling with the new knowledge.
"Impossible…" he whispered. "Dad…he wouldn't…he…couldn't…he said he…" Tori couldn't speak anymore. He was having a hard time digesting the news. His father was dead, meaning he was the new commissioner. It wasn't a job he was prepared for at the age of eighteen. He just didn't feel ready yet. "I didn't even…get to say goodbye. I couldn't even keep my promise to him before I left. We had been arguing before that."
"Tori…" said Leena in a sympathetic voice. The young commissioner shook his head sadly.
"I'm okay," he said, raising his head, his eyes meeting theirs. "I'll be okay." He gave a small, ironic laugh. "I guess this makes me the commissioner, huh?"
"I guess it does," said Bit. Tori smiled, but it wasn't an optimistic smile or a cheerful one. It was more like a smirk, but it was phony. He was simply trying to hide his pain and it was working. At that moment, Hikari entered the room quietly. Tori's gaze landed on her and his eyes widened instantly. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost. Hikari simply stared at him, her purple eyes studying him.
"Experiment Akari…" he whispered, but no one really heard him except Hikari. The others were just staring at the shocked expression on Tori's face. He soon broke into a large, optimistic smile. "Hikari!" he shouted happily, drawing everyone's attention. He quickly stood up, his pain forgotten. Hikari was staring at him in confusion. "Hikari, don't you remember?" he asked her. "It's me, Tori." At the mention of his name, she broke into a large smile, filled with relief and excitement.
"Tori," she said happily as she ran to him, hugging him the instant she was close enough. He returned her hug, a smile still painting his face. "Yokata. Haitakata, Tori." I'm so glad. I missed you, Tori.
"I missed you too, Hikari," he said to her, earning him blank stares from everyone else in the room.
"You…understood her," pointed out Jamie. Tori and Hikari broke their embrace.
"Of course," answered Tori, not seeing anything odd about understanding Hikari.
"But…she spoke a different language," said Bit.
"I know that," said Tori. "I was trained to understand it, as well as speak it."
"Do you know why she only speaks that language?" asked Doc. Sadly, Tori nodded.
"I'm afraid this won't be a happy story, but it's possible that by telling it, Hikari will regain some of her memory."
"How did you know that she's lost some of her memory?" questioned Leena.
"My story may explain all of that," answered Tori. He turned to Hikari. "Please don't be angry, and don't run away, alright Hikari? You may not like what you hear." She nodded to him. "Do you promise?"
"Hai." Yes. Tori sighed and walked over to the bed, sitting down on it, followed by Hikari. He then began his story.
"When I was about seven, my dad told me about the research he did. They were working on a project, titled project Mirai. It was going to decide the future of Zi. It was to guarantee the safety of the planet. It was a complicated project, one that would take a while to complete. During the project, we created the Kaijin. It was meant to be the most powerful zoid, used only for incidents like the one during the Royal cup. We made it lightweight but strong, having both good offense and defense. We also made it swift. During the project, my father and a team of geneticists created a boy using gene splicing techniques and a process that sped up his growth rate. We called him experiment Yami."
"That was the man inside the Kaijin!" exclaimed Bit.
"Yes," said Tori sadly. "Yami was given power that we never thought possible. In order for him to handle a zoid like Kaijin, he had to be strong. He is an enhanced human being, made stronger, smarter, and faster than anyone. The only problem was…he turned out to be too independent. He disappeared from the labs about a year ago. It's kind of strange really. He was driven by his need for power and his need for the Kaijin. You see, Kaijin was too powerful, and we realized that we didn't want to control the planet by using something like that. We couldn't destroy it so we put it somewhere where we thought no one would find it. Apparently, we were wrong, since Yami is currently in control of the Kaijin. You see, Yami means darkness or shadow. We knew his nature was to become corrupted. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. In order to balance this force, we…we created experiment Akari…given the name…Hikari." Tori turned his sad eyes to Hikari, who was staring at him in slight shock. "I'm sorry, Hikari. Like Yami, you were also created in the lab using gene splicing and growth accelerators." He turned back to the group. "You see, Hikari was meant to balance the power between Yami and the Kaijin, but she was younger than Yami and wasn't made in quite the same way. She wasn't quite as strong as Yami, but was equal in a lot of other areas. If anything, I'd say that other than physically, Hikari is superior to experiment Yami."
"Does Yami have an actual name?" asked Jamie.
"His name is Kageru Tsubaki. You see, the names we gave them all mean something. For example, project Mirai. Mirai means future. Yami means, in general…well, I guess you could say it means evil. Akari means good. Even the names Hikari and Kageru were given for reasons. Kageru means destruction and Hikari means light. We gave them names suited for what we wanted them to do. However, Hikari wasn't always like this. She spoke our language at one point, but about three weeks ago, the lab was destroyed. In order to keep her from saying anything that would hurt project Mirai, they sealed part of her memory and made it so that she could only speak that language." Tori turned back to Hikari, who was staring at him, her eyes pleading with him to take it all back, to tell her that he was just kidding, that she wasn't created in a lab. She wanted him to simply take it back, but he couldn't. He turned back to the others in the room.
"Do you guys mind if I speak to Hikari alone now?" he asked.
"Not at all," said Doc, pushing everyone out of the room. Once Tori was sure they were gone, he turned back to Hikari's sad eyes.
"Forgive me, Hikari, but none of it was a lie. I'd do anything to change what happened to you, but I can't. Maybe if I hadn't run away two years ago, I could have done something. I'm so sorry, Hikari." He turned away and lowered his head. "I'll understand if you're mad at me. I promise that once I'm better, I'll take you to the capital and see if the underground lab is still operational. If it is, maybe we can get your memory back. I won't blame you if you hate me, though." He tensed when she placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Hikari?" he questioned, turning to her. Her eyes were sad but filled with understanding. She lowered her head and rested it against his back.
'I don't blame you, Tori,' she thought to herself. 'I could never hate you. You were the only one who understood me.' She returned to sitting next to him, her one hand still resting on his shoulder.
"So, you're not mad?" he asked her. She simply nodded, bringing a small smile to his face. Outside the door, two members of the Blitz team were listening and watching carefully.
"You know, you can't help but feel sorry for them," said Leena. "I mean, Tori lost everything and Hikari found out that she's an experiment."
"And with the Kaijin roaming around, it's hard to tell what's going to happen next," added Bit. Jamie came running down the hall at that minute.
"You guys, come quick," he said to them, his voice sounding urgent.
"What is it Jamie?" asked Leena.
"You have to see what's on the news," he told them. They all ran to the living room where everyone was watching TV. The news was on.
"This just in," said the reporter. "The Hero team disappeared today during their battle." This shocked the members of the Blitz team.
"What do they mean by disappeared?" asked Bit.
"Apparently, during the battle, there was a huge explosion. When the light cleared, the other team was left, their systems frozen. Ayame Ryuusei and Toru Yuuretsu disappeared from the battle, zoids and all. We have an expert team out looking for the missing pilots. Tai Kenjitsu and Kyouri Raiden are currently staying at a secure location. The ZBC is doing all they can to help them, but with the current loss of the commissioner, it's proving to be very difficult." The scene switched to a picture of a council room with people flooding it. A man in a suit stood at a podium.
"Please," he said. "We are doing all we can to organize the ZBC. Until there can be an official commissioner, a team of highly respected officials, including myself, will run things."
"What about the commissioner's son?"
"Tori Ragnarok is currently missing. We aren't sure if he made it out before the building was destroyed or not, but we are currently looking for him as well. We're-" The TV was turned off at that moment. They turned around and saw Tori standing there, the remote in his hand. He wore a scowl on his face.
"That jerk," he said harshly. "He thinks he can run the ZBC."
"Tori, shouldn't you tell them where you are?" asked Jamie.
"They aren't actually looking for me. It's just a lie. I'm willing to bet that by tomorrow, they'll proclaim me dead."
"What do you mean?" asked Bit.
"That jerk on the TV was one of the top researchers. He hated me from the beginning. All he wants is to lead the ZBC. He'd kill me himself if he knew I was still alive."
"But won't others believe you?" asked Brad. Tori put a hand behind his head.
"Well…" he dragged, "there's a problem with that. The only people who knew what I looked like are now dead. They were the officials of the headquarters, which is gone now. I guess dad was right when he said even the media didn't know my name."
"So basically, you can't tell them because that man will deny it," concluded Jamie.
"Exactly, and since no one else but him knows me in the ZBC, I really can't do much. They'll call me an imposter and have me thrown in jail."
"So what are you going to do?" asked Leena.
"I don't know," he said in a sigh, sitting down in one of the chairs. "This is just too much for me." He looked to Hikari, who walked up behind him. "If I'm better, I'll take you to the lab tomorrow, okay?" he said to her. She simply nodded. Her gave her a soft smile and then attempted to stand up but sat right back down as a wave of dizziness washed over him. His head began to hurt and everything was spinning. He placed a hand on his forehead.
"Tori, doushitano?" asked Hikari. What's wrong?
"It's…nothing. I just felt a little dizzy, that's all," he responded. He stood up again and turned around, heading back towards the med room so that he could lay down, but he only made it a few feet before the dizziness hit him again, bringing him to his knees. Hikari rushed to his side, followed by the Blitz team.
"Daijoubu?" Are you okay?
"I'm…I'm fine," he lied. The room wouldn't stop spinning and his head began to pound with pain. Bit and Brad helped him up and began to help him back to the med room.
******
"Well, I don't see anything wrong with him," said Doc. Tori was now back on his bed in the med room, resting. "It's probably stress related. He's been through a lot in the past few hours."
"He sure has a lot to deal with," said Leena. "He's the commissioner and he's barely any older than us."
"It's all Kageru and that stupid Kaijin's fault," said Bit harshly. "He's caused enough trouble."
"I wonder how Tai is doing. Having part of his team disappear must be hard," said Jamie.
"I guess that injury saved him," said Doc. "He probably would have been in that battle if he hadn't gotten injured."
"I'm sure that was the Kaijin's fault as well," said Bit.
"We should probably leave and let Tori get some decent rest," suggested Doc. They all silently agreed and followed him out of the room, but Hikari stayed with Tori. She sat down at the edge of his bed.
'Tori, I've missed you so much, and now you're finally back, but I'm not sure what to say to you. This is all so confusing. I just wish there was something I could do for you. I mean, you lost your father and the ZBC all in one day. I want to help you, but I don't know what to do.'
The Blitz team was sitting on the couches, thinking. Everything was falling apart and they weren't sure exactly what to do. The vid screen began blinking and beeping.
"What's that?" asked Bit. Doc stood up and walked over to it.
"Apparently a zoid is approaching us," he said to them. "The pilot appears to be trying to contact us."
"Well, let's see who it is," said Leena. Doc pushed a button and brought up a video screen. The pilot was a fourteen year old girl with bright red hair and dark violet eyes.
"I know I've seen her before," said Bit.
"Blitz team, this is Kyouri from the Hero team. I request immediate back up," she said to them.
"Backup?" questioned Bit.
"Please, I need your help to save Tai," she begged.
"What happened?" asked Jamie.
"He's in a battle right now. We went out on our own to look for Ayame and Toru, but we were attacked. He told me find help and your base was the closest. I'm begging you. Please save him."
"Don't worry, we will," said Bit, standing up. He, Leena, Brad, and Jamie went to their zoids to prepare for battle. Within a few minutes, they were out of the base and into the desert. Kyouri was waiting for them behind the controls of her Storm Sworder, which was currently stationed on the ground.
"Follow me," she told them, taking off into the sky. "It isn't far from here." With that said, they were off to go help the injured leader of the Hero team.
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Happy holidays, everyone! I hope you have a great Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza. Enjoy^.^
Bye!