ShardclawK: Here it is folks, the revised chapter to close off the first and already famed Psycho Mantis arc for this fic. I hope everyone is prepared to take in what's going to happen as since the very loooong delay brought about by my busy schedule of work, gaming, and anime viewing, along with the late inclusions of the stuff ahead that you'll be seeing in this chapter alone was worth the wait.
Like I said in the previous chapter, I'm increasing the pace story-wise a bit and to fully accommodate, I have decided pull out all stops just to bring together this one massive, EPIC chapter while staying true to the revision progress and including some new added stuff as one of them will be a new feature to the story: The Chapter/Arc Recap, which will detail most of the relevant need to know information of what's been happening in the story thus far as means to help new readers get a good gist of the story up to this current point.
In any case, thanks again to everyone who reviewed the last revised chapter with their most pleasant and encouraging comments, especially the ones regarding the crossover with Basilisk into this story, which will surely be answered in this revised chapter, so brace yourselves for plenty of more pleasant surprises to come in this chapter and later on.
In any case, time to kick the chapter of with the new Arc recap, some more new interactions, new twists, and revelations; and, of course, a set of newly revised final battle sequences that everyone's supposedly been waiting for months to bring this arc to a close. Please do enjoy to your heart's content.
What Happened So Far in Soldier X:
Out of concern for his surrogate family consisting of the female task force, Team WARRIOR, Gregory Kinezono, who is also known as Psychic Panther to members of the Black Ops unit known as the reformed FOXHOUND that is currently stationed in Tokyo-3, set out to aid them in their current situation in Neo Tokyo.
However, what he found out when he returned home was that the point leader of WARRIOR, Rio Kinezono was attacked and another one of their own who is a dear one to Greg, Lilica Ebett was kidnapped by forces connected to the Patriots. Later seeking for information to remedy the situation, they received aid from Nastasha Romanenko, an old friend of Maki Kawasaki's, who revealed that FOXHOUND's own Lt. Matthew Reese was responsible for the attack that was lead by the resurrected Psycho Mantis, proving that he was a spy under the Patriots' service all along.
To further complicate matters, the group encounters a mysterious woman who is actually a combat android from another time and space named Seraph, who was in pursuit from one of the deadliest assassins of the group known as Schwartz, Farfarello. After managing to rescue her and driving off her pursuers, they also learn from her that a close friend of hers, Yuina Hattori, was kidnapped by Mantis as well. The group agrees along with Greg to help her in getting Yuina and Lilica back, but not before preparing themselves for the long and hard fight ahead first.
As Greg and Rio head off to a secluded location in order to train in secret so as to strengthen Greg's psychic powers, the remainder of WARRIOR prepares to assist Seraph, while being able to accommodate a trio consisting of one of Greg's comrades from FOXHOUND, the young Hokage shinobi, Riku Hanabishi and his two partners, the younger psychic of the unit, Nagi Naoe and his girlfriend, Nanami Hibino/Tot, as all of them, Seraph included, filled them in of the situation thus far regarding Mantis and Reese while Greg and Rio are filled in on more information by former SouthTown kingpin, Geese Howard and FOXHOUND's Maggie 'Dark Eden' Thompson.
After the training and exchange of information by Geese was complete for the time being, Greg and Rio returned to WARRIOR's current safe-house where they learned of Riku's arrival and his team's willingness to assist them get Lilica and Yuina back, which they also agreed on. During the final preparations for the rescue mission, memories of Greg's forgotten past began to resurface along with the dark emotions which had begun to take a physical form as they began to slowly reveal themselves.
After being able to find Lilica's current location, the combined group of WARRIOR, FOXHOUND, and a mercenary team consisting of the trio of sword wielding women known as the Shinsengumi set off on the mission, encountering Reese's private army of the Death Squad, lead by the immortal ninja mercenary and enemy of FOXHOUND tactician Michael Hansen, Shade. They were able to defend themselves against the Squad, but even with the combined forces of the team's skills and Greg's amplified powers and strengthened resolve, they weren't enough to best Shade in combat. However, just before he was to fulfill his assigned task, the mercenary was called back by Reese and the orders canceled as it was revealed by Reese that the battle was simply a test to further push Greg's psychic limits under pressure.
The group managed to recover from their wounds and find the facility where Lilica and Yuina were kept and went on to rescue Lilica first before they faced Mantis. During the encounter, they were forced to fight a possessed emulate version of Yuina, who was eventually defeated and saved by Greg's psychic ability to use nanomachines according to certain situations. It was then Greg learned that he was a test subject for his own late father, who participated in a human modifying project known as Soldier X, while the remainder of his memories continued to surface.
After learning to his shock that he was responsible for sealing his own memories after the accident which claimed his family's lives when he was still a child, he was able to temporarily overcome the side effects of his powers within him for the time being, now giving himself an even stronger resolve than before. After some words of encouragement from his surrogate family and friends, Greg along with Rio, Riku, Nagi, and Tot proceed deeper into the depths of the facility in an attempt to stop Mantis one final time and gain the answers to the questions they hold, while Lilica and Maya, supported by the Shinsengumi, secure an escape route out of the facility while with Yuina and Seraph in tow...
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Metal Gear: Soldier X
Chapter 10: Final Ascension
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In an urban apartment building back in the United States, Matthew Reese had already stepped out of his SUV along with a group of black suited men wearing the Death Squad uniforms under their clothing. Some of them were holding onto their handguns, despite the fact that some of the neighborhood children who were across the street playing saw this happening. Luckily for them, they scampered away at the call of their parents who were hiding behind the windows among the urban living area.
Reese spat out some of the tobacco that he was chewing from smoking his cigar at the curb nearby, detesting the sight and appearance of the residential area that Greg Kinezono had actually been living in. Considering this was the Southside area of the city, that particular area was mainly occupied and run by average people of his coloured race and the common hoodlums, street children, gangsters, and the like were the welcoming committee to Reese and his troops.
"No wonder he feels at home in a place like this." Reese muttered to himself as he eyed the building some more before calling to his men. "His apartment is on the third floor from here, follow me."
The group of suited men and Reese entered inside the building as if nothing could bother them, not even the piercing glares of some of the curious neighbors that passed them by seemed to faze them as they walked up the stairs to the second floor area where they stopped at the apartment door marked '37.'
"This is the one, his living quarters should be here." Reese said as two of the suits didn't wait to kick down the door, causing a bit of a commotion for the neighbors. Reese kept some suits near him and gave them specific orders.
"If any one snoops around here, you have orders to shoot to kill. No witnesses." He said as he followed the pair of suits that invaded Gregory's apartment.
Looking around some, he saw that it was in adequate condition as a place to live despite the outside appearance. It was only a small sized apartment with four to five sections that would come close to an actual family home and was kept clean for that matter.
Reese turned to the suits once more as he crushed his cigar on the coffee table at the centre of Greg's living room before speaking.
"Search everything that's not nailed down. We're looking for every single document from fabricated birth records to medical bills for this man and anything else that I can use to incriminate him." Reese said as he smoked. "Trash this apartment inside out while you're at it, leave nothing unturned. He may even have spare weapons locked up somewhere."
Thus following the orders of the traitorous, former FOXHOUND lieutenant, the suits began to search every area of Greg's apartment that it was possible something could be hidden in, causing havoc as they trashed the kitchen and bedroom areas, destroying most of the property that was there.
As Reese stood where he was in order to supervise what was happening, one of the suits called to him from Greg's partially destroyed bedroom. "Lieutenant Reese, sir, come take a look at this."
Reese entered as the suit brought him a medicine cabinet that was filled with several variants of up to date medical age painkillers, antidepressants, and antibiotics. Another one brought several silver canisters which were kept in a small ice cooler that seem to contained nano colonies for his right arm and his body.
"Excellent, he must be using these without authorization from his time in FOXHOUND." Reese said as two more agents entered as one of them was holding a bag of documents while the next was carrying a grey suitcase on wheels almost twice his size.
"We also found these as well, sir." One of them said as he showed Reese Greg's confidential records from dental and medical ones, to graduating certificates. As for the suitcase, it was firmly locked by an automated code.
"That suitcase could be holding some sort of weapon, confiscate it along with the records and the nanomachine colonies." Reese spoke as the men walked out of the now nearly destroyed room with them. "Is that all?"
"It seems so, sir. With the evidence acquired in this room today, it will be enough to set your plan into motion." One of the suits said.
"Yes, we're done here. Let's leave quickly before any of his neighbors gets nosey and decides to call the authorities since we've caused quite the ruckus today." Reese said as he began to walk out the room, when he and the remaining group of suits suddenly stopped as they saw a tall and semi muscular white male standing in front of them wearing golden tinted shades with shoulder length grey-black hair that is tied to a single short ponytail a tired look on his eyes and a younger male of American descent with shoulder length dirty blonde hair with red streaks that ran down over his eyes, stood in front of them, both were wearing full bodied hoods over their particular uniforms.
"What's the hurry, Matthew Reese?" The taller man spoke as Reese simply scoffed at the two males, as the younger one's natural glare stayed watch on the Patriots' spy. "I thought you'd be more efficient than this, with the attention that's drawing to you and everything you've done so far and all."
"Hmph, I'm only doing exactly what was ordered by the Patriots to get Kinezono into the position that he's in now, 'sirs'…or should I call you as I know you. The originator for the Soldier X gene, Overboss, Patrick Dixon and the second variant for the Soldier X program, Kendall Martin?" Reese smiled at the mysterious male in front of him as the younger subordinate stepped forward sneering at Reese, clutching at what appeared to be a sheathed blade.
"Commandant! Let me…!" Martin shouted as Dixon put an arm at his side to subdue him as Patrick Dixon spoke.
"Well, it's no surprise that one of the Patriot's first psychic projects for the U.S military could be known of by the likes of you. But I would be more careful about the words you choose the next time you address those designated with the Soldier X gene more carefully." Dixon said to him. "My subordinate here would have shut you up before you could talk to me in such manner and he doesn't take a liking for men of your so called 'level of honor'."
"Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I did as you told me and here's the result. In order to bring your runaway experiment out from hiding, I turned against the group I was overlooking these years under the Patriots orders so that you could pursue him easier." Reese said as he showed the trashed apartment of Greg Kinezono. The blonde male next to Dixon spat at the sight and turned his back.
"So, this is where the reject lives, huh?" He asked as Dixon nodded.
"Well, it's not likely Gregory would be coming back to a place like this as it is. Besides, Martin, he's not even in the country any more. You'll have plenty of time to share your disagreements with him the next time you meet him." Dixon spoke.
"Hmph, what an eyesore." Martin folded his arms as Reese spoke once more.
"In any case, Dixon, why are you here anyway?" Reese asked as Dixon spoke.
"I just came to deliver a message from our employers to you. They have decided to rescind your mission dealing with Gregory Kinezono/Matthews and Yuina Hattori for the time being and you are to go back on the focus on searching for the remaining emulate and biodroids." Dixon spoke, causing Reese to get angry.
"What did you say?" Reese asked suddenly as Dixon spoke calmly to the man some more.
"They've been particularly getting edgy on your movements lately, even their best scientist and psychic, Robert Thorn, who just got informed of what just happened with Greg Matthew's retrieval of the girl you were sent to capture to begin with, is very upset indeed about the whole thing." Dixon said to him calmly. "Instead, they left the job of finishing the retrieval process for the Seraph biodroid and Number 3 to me and my Hunter group."
"The Hunters…the five member unit made up of Soldier X psychics that always had the Patriots backing since the announcement of the Human Enhancement Project just before the Second Impact…" Reese muttered as Dixon nodded.
"As you can see, my other two subordinates are on another recovery mission right now, while what you're seeing here is the only remainder of the group." Dixon said as he stared down at Reese. "As you may already know this, that psychic you betrayed and are trying to ruin actually belonged to our group originally when he was a mere child as the third ranking member of the unit years ago."
"That much I do know, but why is he that important to you, Dixon?" Reese asked as Dixon shook his head.
"His ability as a psychic alone differs from the rest of us, and that alone makes him very valuable not just for the rebirth for the Human Enhancement Project, but for the Patriots as well." Dixon said to him. "I must commend you though for having him prove his worth as he was years ago when he trained under me by having him fight that mercenary ninja earlier. The battle data I received on his nanomachines and physical strength would prove good research material to start the project once more, but I will be needing the actual physical being himself to kick things into high gear once more."
"You…you deceived me, didn't you, Dixon?" Reese asked as Dixon smiled at him.
"Come now, I've done nothing so base in the least. After all I managed to hold up my end of the bargain and get that all new Death Squad ready for you in time as well. The Patriots didn't fail us this time again after their little miracle with Mantis." Dixon said.
"You mean…." Reese was cut as Dixon spoke ahead.
"Your chance of becoming a General not to mention attaining a place within the Director's board of the CIA anytime soon is not too far off, since the Patriots went through the trouble of bringing back some of the most dangerous and skilled assassins for our time." Dixon spoke. "I'm certain that since you failed in having our employers gain Yuina this time around, you'd do better with the group provided to you."
"I see, well that's good to hear." Reese said with a grin. "Still, to think that they'd go through the trouble of sending psychic sweepers to continue where I left off, the late Dr. Matthews must really have been proud of you to carry on that legacy of his, even though…"
"Didn't I tell you before…to shut up?" The male named Martin suddenly drew out what seemed to be a superheated energy weapon in the form of a long katana that fizzled right in front of Reese's face. "You may be a lowly lieutenant for all I know, but my commander already warned you on how you should address us members of the Soldier X unit. Unless you want your lips to be cauterized together the moment this blade touches you, I'd keep quiet if I were you."
"Hmph, understood. It was time that I departed anyway and start to exchange information with the media about Gregory Kinezono." Reese said as before he left, Dixon stopped him.
"Hold on just a moment. Everything else that you confiscated inside Matthew's room is yours, but the suitcase containing and its contents will come with us, if you please." Dixon said to him, holding his right hand out for Reese to give it to him.
"Have it your way, then." Reese signaled the suit holding unto Greg's suitcase and handed it over to Dixon while Martin returned the sword into its sheath, the blade dissipating into vapor as it did so. "Now then, if we don't have any more to say to each other, we shall be leaving now."
"Please do be careful when you report back to the Patriots, Reese." Dixon said to him as Reese left quickly from the apartment building with the suits while the two Soldier X hosts stood next to Greg's apartment.
"Just as I thought, he's not to be trusted." Martin said as he folded his arms. "Are you okay with this, Overboss?"
"I had to deceive him in order to attain the final data on Matthew's nanomachines at this current rate and he fell for it." Dixon said as he fixed his shades. "In the meantime, the selection for his own group of sweepers was quite willing to work for him, considering the only thing they had in common was vengeance."
"Not to mention that we'd played a part retrieving some of the recent corpses for those assassins before." Martin said. "I'd doubt that they would be obedient to Reese's command to a point, but we'll just have to wait and see how he uses them."
"Now that his part's done, we can start plans for our arrival in Japan soon where you will certainly meet up with your old friend, Martin." Dixon said as Kendall pounded the wall next to him.
"That man is no friend of mine, ever since he took everything from me." Martin said, gritting his teeth. "I'll show him eventually after all these years who shall be the one that rightfully deserves to hold the title of Soldier X."
"All in good timing, Martin. For now, we should depart from here and regroup before the local authorities come to investigate." Dixon said. "Both Blood Dancer and Abyss Saint should have completed their mission by now."
Kendall Martin stayed silent as he nodded to his leader. "I see…however, what about the possible witnesses that saw everything that happened?"
"As I said before, there's no need for spilling blood here, all of the proper arrangements will be eventually taken care of." Dixon said with a grin. "Let us go now, Martin."
As the two of them left the building quietly, a tall dark skinned male wearing a basketball shirt and cap silently opened the door from the apartment next to Greg's while another occupant of the building, a young white teenage girl of a slim build stepped out cautiously.
"Yo, is it safe to come out now, Clair?" The man asked as the girl nodded.
"Yeah, it seems clear for now, Trey." She replied as she and a few other people came to investigate Greg's trashed apartment. "What were does guys looking for, dope or guns?"
"No way, Greg's not the type to be dealing into those kinds of things. Those guys looked like some nasty mothers trying to get him into some kind of shit, from the way they were talking about him." The tall male said. "I'm going to call the landlord, Mr. Tanning and tell him what went down while it's best to lay low for now till Greg gets home, got it?"
"Yeah, you do that." The girl said as she nodded and went back into her apartment and locked it from behind.
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Meanwhile, inside NERV hallways back in Tokyo-3…
Linn Aramaki sighed as she sat on one of the cafeteria benches by herself as some of the other staff from NERV were there as well during their break, having a drink or snack and just hanging out with their fellow crew members. She seemed really stressed out after what's been going on recently over at Greg's side and needed time to herself to get over things emotionally.
"I wonder if he and the others with him had already started their fight with Mantis yet?" Linn asked herself with her right hand on her chin as she looked down into the empty plastic coffee cup in her left hand. Next to the cup, the memento pendant that she was wearing was lying on the table she was using, the diamond glistening on the table's reflecting sunlight.
Before she could think any further about what was happening, a tall male with black hair that was tied into a ponytail to the back, an un-kept beard under his chin, and was dressed in a usual blue dress shirt and red tie suddenly sat down next to her holding onto two full cups of coffee.
"You seemed to be really troubled, my dear." The male's voice spoke as Ryoji Kaji broke Linn's deep train of thought as she finally noticed him.
"Oh, it's only you, Kaji-san, wasn't it?" Linn asked as Kaji gave a slight chuckle.
"Please, no need to be formal, Linn Aramaki of FOXHOUND. We're all allies against the war against Angels and now terrorists in this crazy city of Tokyo-3; we should be getting to know each other better. Just Kaji would be fine." He said as he sipped his coffee and offered Linn the spare cup that he had brought with him. "Please, as a show of my understanding for your troubles, you can have this."
"Thanks." Linn simply said as she hesitantly took the cup and sighed once more. "So you know about what's been going on with my boyfriend as well, huh?"
"Well, it's becoming one heck of a gossip topic around NERV right now. And I do have a way of getting around in terms of gaining information in a base like this." Kaji said as he started to speak seriously. "I know it must be hard on you to think that all the odds are against that guy with the way things are…"
"You have no idea." Linn said as she looked up. "Do you think Greg and the others will be alright?"
"Since I've yet to personally meet the rest of your squad, it's kind of hard to tell." Kaji leaned back to look at the GeoFront through the cafeteria windows as he spoke. "But I do know for one thing that ever since that time everyone saw him when the last Angel attacked us, he must be fighting for something other than just protecting those that are dear to him. You may go so far as to call it a way to the acknowledgement of his own existence, I suppose…"
"You talk as if you already know what kind of person Greg is." Linn said as Kaji grinned some. "But even if Greg wanted to fight just to prove his existence in the world, it has to be more than that that he's putting his life on the line for."
"Well, it seems that he is not just fighting for honor or anything of the sort, I suppose. It would be enough for him if he can validate his worth through something like this; he probably was prepared for it to begin with." Kaji said as he stepped closer to her rather dangerously close.
"Hey, what do you think you're…?" Linn asked, feeling flustered as Kaji sat closer to her.
"Now, now, I know you must feel grievous over the way that he's been treating you up to now before he left, but you can get over that if you could have lunch with me." Kaji said as before his face came in contact to hers, another female hand suddenly grabbed his cheek, pinching it hard.
"Yeeeoooww!" Kaji screamed out loud as Misato Katsuragi, Michael Hansen, Solid Snake, and Meryl Silverburgh were standing in the cafeteria room as well, watching what was taking place.
"Kaji, don't you have any shame?" Misato said as she lifted him off his seat, still gripping his cheek skin with her fingers. "This girl's going through a tough time right now because as we speak, her boyfriend is risking his life to get his family back together and here you are all quick to make the moves on her?"
"Come on, Sub-Commander Katsuragi. I didn't mean any harm; she just looked like she needed the company." Kaji replied as Misato squeezed him harder.
"Yeah, right. You're just lucky that her friends are here in place of her boyfriend to take care of things and that I got to you in time before any of them could hurt you for pulling something like this. I'm warning you for your own good if you don't want to incur any of their wraths not to try this stunt again." Misato said as she bowed to Linn. "Sorry about that, Linn. He does this kind of stuff all the time with the female staff of this base as well too."
"I think that's called, sexual harassment, Ryoji Kaji." Michael stated simply folding his arms. "Unless you don't want the new Commander to start setting ground rules to your attitude as of late, you'd better shape up and be more of a help to her and the staff if we intend to get Shinji back, okay?"
"Okay, okay. I'll do as both the good Sub-Commander of NERV and the tactical leader for FOXHOUND says. I'll behave from now on." Kaji said, putting his arms up in a surrender gesture.
"And no more sharing crappy advice to Linn either as well." Misato warned him. "Trying to pretend to know Greg just as much as his friends and Linn does isn't going to win you any favors if you're trying anything sneaky."
"Most certainly, I'll keep that in mind as well." Kaji said. "In any case, why are all of you here?"
"The Commander wants us in the war room to discuss how the terrorists have begun to lay low ever since Arsenal was docked here." Snake said seriously. "He insisted that you join us as some of the word regarding SEELE is also included in the agenda."
"I see, this must be serious indeed." Kaji said as he bowed to Linn one last time. "Well, I must thank you for the time, Linn Aramaki. I do hope we can do this again some other time."
"Oh, believe me, there won't be a next time if you carry on like this!" Misato angrily said as she pulled him away now, this time by the ear. "Come on, Kaji, we can't keep the meeting held back any longer now!"
As Misato dragged Kaji away from the cafeteria room with Snake following behind them, Meryl and Michael were the only ones other than a few of the NERV staff crew in the cafeteria with Linn now.
"You're doing okay right, Linn?" Meryl asked her as Linn nodded a bit.
"Yeah, thanks to your quick timing." Linn replied. "I wouldn't know how to react if that guy came any closer and tried something I didn't like…"
"After hearing the stories about him, it would be safe to say that you're normal reaction would have been a quick slap to the face if you're your usual self, but today's different." Michael said to her.
"My usual self? What's that supposed to mean, Michael?" Linn asked him.
"I meant how you reacted earlier after we found out about Reese and what he's been doing to make Greg and our other buddies, Riku, Nagi, and Tot go through enough hell as it is when they had to face Shade and eventually face Mantis." Michael said as Linn understood where he was coming from.
"Oh, about that, I'm really sorry about before." Linn quickly apologized to him. "I must have looked really foolish, behaving like that in front of everyone…"
"I don't blame you for having to act like that when you did, news like that would make everyone react emotionally just the same way. Even I found it hard to believe when I heard it, but I had to keep my cool for the sake of thinking up a way to help Greg and the others with him." Michael said as he sat next to Linn and spoke to her. "It would be best to keep yourself at a level head about this and just leave things up to Riku, his partners, and the Shinsengumi to help Greg and his family sort things out."
"I know where you're coming from and I understand, it's just that...it just made me angry at Greg that he would do something like this, it's so like him. Even though I should get used to it by now, this happens without anyone of us knowing until the last minute and I react in the way I shouldn't have." Linn said, shaking her head. "It sounds kind of silly to be worrying about him; I know that he's in good hands with everyone over there whose with him, but…"
"Take it easy, Linn. I understand that it's perfectly natural for you to be like this." Meryl said. "But what Michael says is the truth; there are better ways to look at this situation than just worrying about Greg."
"She is right. Even though you're the closest person to him, you could have trusted him and everyone else that was with him to assist him and they would have done everything in their ability to keep the situation in control." Michael said to her.
"Yeah, I know what you guys mean…but considering the situation…" Linn said as she glanced to the side with her eyes lowered. Michael knew that she was still confused about what has been happening lately and decided to cheer her up a bit.
"I wonder…whatever happened to the brave and courageous Linn that I always admired and knew, hmm?" Michael said as he looked about the café a bit as the woman chuckled some to the gesture he was showing.
"What are you doing, Venom?" Linn asked him as he replied to her.
"Normally, you're probably not like this, since I've come to know you over the years." He said. "Knowing you, if Greg was here, you'd waste no time getting into an argument with him for pulling something like this. But then again, you're probably admiring what he's trying to do to make things straight once more."
"You're probably right about that. Even though he can be a bit slow and clumsy at times and selfish to a fault, he's the type willing to take the heat for a friend when they are in trouble." Linn said. "Maybe he tries too hard to be just like you and Garland and as a result ends up in weird situations like now…"
"It must be hard for him trying to keep his status within the group due to his personal problems." Michael said to her. "That is why it's best that I suggest to you start to become stronger for his sake when he gets back here. He will definitely need your support then more than ever for when he starts to depend on you in the future more than ever."
"I think you're right. It must be what he would want anyway out of me." Linn said as she stood up to stretch herself. "By the way, just where are Garland and the others right now?"
"Garland's taken Mana, Kari, and Scorpion over to the simulation room to do some training with them along with the Section 2 guards as well." Michael replied. "I was about to go and join him, you want to come along too?"
"Yeah, I'll try anything to get my mind out of this slump." Linn said as Michael offered a hand to help her stand up. "Will you be joining us as well, Commander?"
"I'd like to, but I've got to join Katsuragi and Snake as well. Ever since everyone found out about Reese, chances are that Campbell would be joining in the discussion as well to talk about what he will do about this situation." Meryl said to Linn. "And don't worry too much about Greg and the others, they will all be okay, we should be hearing from them soon."
"I know, the training will be a good way to pass the time until then." Linn said to her. "Good luck at that meeting."
After saluting at Meryl as she left, Linn turned to Michael before speaking.
"Shall we be going, then?" Linn asked him.
"Anytime you're ready." Michael said as the two of them started to walk out of the cafeteria as Linn began to think to herself over the matter.
(Just you wait, Greg, I'll make sure to become stronger too by the time you come back to me.) Linn thought to herself. (Until then…please do what you can to survive this day.)
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Meanwhile, somewhere else in Japan over at Tokyo-2….
"Seishiro, are you doing okay?" A male voice called out to Seishiro Takeda, the speaker was Marcus Blackthorne, a former FOXHOUND recruit, now member of the Wolf Pack under the name of Ice Wolf was standing next to him with a cup of coffee.
They were a small faction of the disbanded group of recruits that left FOXHOUND a year ago who joined a new one formed under the leadership of Michael Hansen in order to continue the cause of supporting the fight against the Patriots under his leadership under the code name, Alpha. This was after a tragic incident occurred and most of FOXHOUND was disbanded for certain reasons. The fact that Michael participated as leader of the Wolf Pack was kept a secret even to Michael's superiors at FOXHOUND after he rejoined the group.
Today, they were stationed outside a grass field in the countryside, observing suspicious movements near a suburban town that could be linked to the recent terrorist activity in Tokyo-3. So far, nothing out of the ordinary has occurred, but it sure was slow in terms of progress.
He along with Seishiro known as Black Tiger in the group, Trang Nguyen Han known as Black Cougar and Kojiro Shimura, codenamed Hawkeye, were few of the members that were on duty on this side of the country for today. There were a number of their other comrades who were either out on the field or training until they got orders from Alpha to regroup in case something came up.
For the time being, this was a good time to get their minds and bodies organized before their next mission was called.
"You looked really worried, did something happen?" Marcus asked him as Seishiro replied to him with a smile.
"Well, it's really nothing to be overly panicked about as long as Greg is with them." He said to his friend. "I was just having a conversation with him after just being told about what's been going on at their side, and I figured that he would need my words to get him through the fight that's ahead."
"Hey, there's no need to hide things from us; he's in some sort of trouble, isn't he?" Kojiro asked him. "Is it that bad?"
"Yeah, all thanks to none other than Reese." Seishiro said to him as Kojiroh shook his head.
"What did that guy do this time?" Trang asked him as Seishiro told him and his comrades what Maki told him just minutes before about what happened recently from Lilica's kidnapping to Reese's betrayal and Mantis's revelation to Greg. Most of what they heard was pretty wild and hard to believe when they first heard it, but they were now composed enough after hearing that Lilica was now safe from harm and Greg was just about to face Mantis along with Rio, Riku, Nagi, and Tot.
"Man, this is some wild stuff taking place." Kojiro said to Seishiro. "Maybe if Greg had taken up your offer and followed you to join us instead of going back to that group, his family wouldn't be put into that kind of danger because of Reese."
"He would still be in danger anyway since he has something Reese wants. This is probably why he took it upon himself to go and fix this mess that that man started." Seishiro said.
"And you're okay with that?" Trang asked him. "Wouldn't it be best to go and give him a hand? You are the next closest thing he's got to a father since he's come to depend on you as such over the years and he could use your experience."
"I wish more than anything else right now to do so, but then again, we are far from where they are currently located and what if something happens here if we make a move?" Seishiro asked. "It pains me to know about what Greg is going through, but the most I can do is lend him my voice for support. Also…I trust him enough that he can handle things efficiently as a leader should. He may be young still, but he's trying his hardest to be like me for those with him right now and from what Maki told me, he's doing quite an exceptional job so far."
"Does Alpha know about this as well?" Trang asked.
"Yeah, he will most likely tell us what's been happening, so we need to stay sharp in case we got a part to play as well. But chances are that the Hokage ninja clan has already been informed about all of this and have sent reinforcements since Riku's with him." Seishiro said. "Still…"
"I know, you can't help but feel worried about them. It's okay; we'll be rooting for them as well." Marcus said as he patted his field leader. "Knowing Greg and his friends from FOXHOUND since I met them, they will do just fine."
"I trust them enough to believe that they will get through this as well." Kojiroh said to Seishiro as well. "In any case, until the remainder of the Pack returns and we're regrouped, we should be expecting something to happen soon, so keep your eyes and ears peeled."
Nodding to Kojiro's suggestion, Seishiro got back to focusing on the current mission at hand. Still, he had to give one last prayer for a success on the mission that Greg was partaking.
"Greg, please, come back to us alive along with our loved ones." Seishiro said to himself as he placed his clasped hands over his mouth. "I don't know what the future will be like for everyone if you leave us."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As all of this was going on, back at the underground citadel, Maya and Lilica had now returned to the computer room with the Shinsengumi covering for them as they had Yuina Hattori and Seraph in tow now. As they made their way through there, they had to find the safest route that will take them back to the surface without alerting the security detail.
"So, what's the situation like now?" Maya asked her friend while Lilica got a laptop in hand and plugged it into a nearby terminal. "Can we bust out of here without raising too much hell?"
"It seems so, there's more than one way out of here." Lilica said to her. "Still, it won't help to take some information with us. We're going to need as much data as we can if we're going to be prepared for the future." Lilica began to type furiously on her keyboard. "So far, I have only about 30 percent of data stored that could be considered valuable to Greg, Riku and the rest of their FOXHOUND friends."
"Then, we should just keep it safe with us for safety measures until its time for Greg to get back to Tokyo-3." Maya spoke. "This place is like a goldmine of information that we can use later on."
"We shouldn't be here too long...I'll just snag enough relevant data while I work on the exit out of this place." Lilica said. "I just hoping Greg and the others will be able to deal with Mantis and meet back soon with us before something happens."
"Don't worry; knowing Greg and Rio, they won't be late." Maya replied, as Lilica started to download the data into the laptop.
"Ummm...auntie." Yuina Hattori's voice mumbled while she rested in Seraph's arms. The biodroid held her more comfortably as she watched the people around guard the room.
"Will they be okay?" Dee asked Lilica after observing her for a while. The physical strain after the recent fight had made Yuina's body tired and she was catching up on some much needed sleep.
"She could use some serious resting after all that she's been through, but if what Seraph said was true before, they should be." Lilica replied, as Yuina's eyes slowly began to open. She looked at Seraph and the other people around her, before letting out a big yawn.
"Where are we now, Seraph?" Yuina asked her as Seraph replied to her.
"Yuina, you have awakened, I'm glad." Seraph spoke, feeling tired herself. "We're not totally out of the danger yet, we're still at this accursed place where you were being kept."
"Glad to see you guys up and going." Lilica said to the pair as she continued to hack away. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel a bit nauseous, but I'm fine, really." Yuina held her head for a bit. "What about your friends that helped me and Seraph? Where are they?"
"He's still down there with Mantis finishing up some loose ends along with our buddies who are helping him." Maya said to her. "Greg wanted us to get out of this place ahead of him, before the enemy reinforcements come to swarm the exit."
"Will they be alright?" Yuina asked as Seraph nodded at her.
"After seeing what they are all capable of, there's no question about it that they will see through the fight. They will be fine, Yuina." Seraph said to her. "So, Lilica-san and Maya-san, what is your plan from here on out?"
"If things start to get hairy, we should leave the clearing of the path thing to our Shinsengumi friends if we're to get out of here the next time those Death Squad guys show up once more in one piece." Maya spoke as she turned to Lilica. "Anyway, Lilica, from the time you were here, did you get any idea on what functionalities this base holds?" she asked.
"From what I can recall, all I know is that it's a processing facility of sorts for collecting data. It's possible that it's linked to the new Metal Gear that we heard about recently that the Patriots have in the works." She said as Maya leaned closer as to share the conversation between her and Lilica so Seraph and Yuina wouldn't overhear.
"Still, what benefit did Mantis gain by keeping you here? Certainly he and Reese wouldn't have put you and Yuina in danger unless there was something that he didn't want your relatives to find out which in turn will fall into Greg and his comrade's hands." Pei asked as Lilica replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
"It could be the case. Reese may already have known about Seraph's existence before us and he must have had me captured as a means to sidetrack Greg and the others from his true objectives since he would already have gone chasing Yuina anyway just to make things easier for him." Lilica said.
"So the Patriots already were after Yuina and Seraph from the start and used Mantis to even complicate things…" Maya stated sullenly. "What really are Reese's intentions for Yuina and her emulate abilities?"
"I managed to get some information from Yuina from the time she and I got to talk to each other when we first got here." Lilica spoke. "It seems that she's more connected to Seraph in more ways than one...Yuina's very own father is the one responsible for the creation of the emulates, running a project he named 'Eden'."
Maya gasped out loud as she heard this from Lilica as she gritted her teeth. "Of course, it makes sense now. Reese would use her since she's become blackmail material for him and the Patriots to use, so her father would have no choice but to reconsider working with the enemy. We've seen just how deadly Yuina can be when she's integrated with Seraph, are you saying that the Patriots are seeking to turn emulates into a new state of the art weapon for warfare had things gone Reese's way?"
"It's the only conclusion. Wanting her for a special bargaining chip so that they can blackmail her father into forcing him to join the Patriots next set of forbidden projects." Lilica replied.
Turning her sight back to the pair, Maya stayed quiet about what Reese may be planning until Dee's voice broke her concentration.
"Heads up, everyone. It looks like we've got company coming." She said as she took out her katana after seeing a wave of Tengus enter through one of the passageways of the citadel.
"They're coming sooner than expected." Maya growled as she looked at Lilica. "You'll be alright here?"
"Sure, I don't have long again. You guys just go and hold the fort while I work on the escape route." Lilica said typing away.
"Okay, we're counting on you." Dee nodded to her as she went with Maya and her two other partners, Pei and Kanashii to the outside of the computer room. As they did, they stopped to see a wave of Death Squad troops heading from another direction from their position.
"What the...?" Maya glared to the side and saw several more Death Squad members entering the area with sniper rifles.
"Great! There are more of these punks?" Maya exclaimed. "I thought we took care of all of them above!"
"They must be a new batch..." Pei said, as the door behind them that had Lilica, Seraph and Yuina in it locked manually from the inside. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, I'm still up to play with these guys some more." Maya replied with a grin as she took out a handgun. "We can't let them beat us after coming this far!"
Making sure that the gun was loaded at first, she fired single handedly with some warning shots before she aimed at the pressure pipes in the passageway to cause difficulty in their visibility through their specially equipped visors. Steam and cold air rushed out, covering the passageways as Pei managed to cut down three of the troops in the confined space before she retreated for cover from another round of gunfire from the troops behind the ones she just cut down.
Now it was Maya's turn to get some hits in, after shooting down three of the troops in their vital points, she reloaded her guns and simply flipped one of them to counter one of the sword wielding foes that ambushed her from the side. Her expertise in gun-kata was surely helpful at a time like this.
"Drive By Shooting!" Maya said, dashing at her enemy and firing a shot at him, then landing on blind spot to fire again at him. She turned to her side and switched to her assault rifle and fired randomly at the troops while laughing maniacally.
"Let's take them down, then blow this joint!" Maya said, firing at the troops.
"Those Squad goons have got the exit back up blocked..." Dee spoke, taking down two of the katana wielding troops near the passageway they came from with her blade. "Is there another way out of here?"
Just then, Maya heard Lilica's voice contacted her through her com unit. It seems that she managed to work her magic again.
"Everybody, I managed to unlock a secret passage out of this place around the prison areas." Lilica said. "I'll show you on your Soliton monitors right now."
"Okay, we could use that to get out of here too." Maya said, reloading out one of her handguns once more. "Lilica, get out of that room once you're done and let's start making for the exit at once."
"We'll cover you guys on your escape." Pei spoke, taking out her katana as the door behind them opened, allowing Lilica to step out first, but as a caution, she advised Seraph to guide Yuina's eyes from the carnage that just took place.
"Yuina, please follow us this way. Whatever you do, don't try to look." Seraph said as Yuina nodded to Seraph, not wanting to see what just happened, although she heard all of the evident noise from inside.
"Thanks a bunch, you guys. Hurry up and join us soon, okay." Lilica said, as she stepped back, with Yuina and Seraph following her. Several of the troops took aim at them, but before they could pull their gun's triggers, Kanashii quickly stepped in and slew them in a single extended slash.
"As much as I want to continue doing this for your friend's sake, even this is starting to grow tiresome." Kanashii said to Maya. "Its like there's no end to this, they just keep on coming."
"Dammit, Yuji, where in the hell are you and the backup?" Maya exclaimed as she fired some more rounds at the unrelenting wave of Death Squad group in a heated gunfight.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Meanwhile, in Yuji's transport helicopter, just some miles near the drop off point…
"I see…so Riku called his father up and told him everything that's happened, huh?" Yuji asked as Kenshin Mori replied with a nod. The group of ninja males was explaining to him about what's been going on with the Hokage ninja clan since they heard about Reese's recent action.
"Yes, and it was my father who also notified me and the rest of the clan and their allies of the situation soon afterwards." Kenshin said. "Most of the people affiliated with us that were closest to the area at the time for now managed to gather at the mansion where Recca and Kurei discussed on what they can do to help you out."
"Well, considering how things are looking, it was a good judgment call." Yuji said as he continued to pilot the helicopter to the other side of the city. "Maki told me about the alliance of Warrior between the Hokage clan only recently, so it really surprised me to see you guys ready to help us out."
"We made sure to make all the essential preparations, thanks to Kurei-dono's planning." Gennosuke said to him. "Even now, the mansion is gathering its remaining allies and forces to look into this situation as well."
"That's good news; we can use all the help we'll need in case this mission blows over." Yuji said as he listened in on the ninja's words while he focused on the flying.
"Especially with all the recent disturbances happening lately in Tokyo-3, everyone's on edge about the enemy's movements up to late." Raiha said to Yuji. "It was one of the major discussions that went on while we prepared for today."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Two days prior to the current events, at the Uruha mansion in Kurei's meeting office…
After having received information from Riku regarding the recent events involving Reese's betrayal of FOXHOUND and how Riku's friend Gregory Kinezono and his surrogate family had been thrust into the midst of it, the whole entire Uruha Mansion, which was the current base of operations for the Hokage clan, was in a bustle of activity. Members of the clan had all been notified and were either on their way or preparing to get to the mansion as soon as possible. Steps were already being taken to notify allies as well of the current development.
Recca and Kurei had called a meeting with the more experienced clan members who were currently at the mansion. The ones in the room with them right then were Yanagi, Neon, Miki, and Kenshin. They were waiting for five more to arrive.
"Things sure are going to be getting hectic soon enough, that's for sure." Recca commented. "After we'd heard about the terrorist activities in Tokyo-3, I knew we'd be getting pulled into it sooner or later, but not like this…"
"I can agree with you there, brother, but I'm afraid that's how it is." Kurei stated calmly. "We'll just have to deal with it as best we can."
Just as Kurei said this, two individuals entered the room along with Kagero, Joker, and Raiha. The first one of them being a male with long black hair tied back in a single ponytail and bangs of his hair to the sides of his face, while wearing his traditional clothing of a white and black samurai's casual clothing and the second was a woman with long dark blue hair who was of slightly shorter height than the man she was with and wearing a traditional kimono with an extra length that acted as a robe over her head. After pulling back, it revealed a beautiful woman with purple-blue eyes and full lips who looked as if she was in her twenties.
"Gennosuke-san, Oboro-san." Recca said in greeting as he and Kurei gave a respectful nod as the two entered the room along with Kagero, Joker, and Raiha.
"It would seem that things have become quite serious as of late." Gennosuke said as he noticed everyone's expressions as he and Oboro joined everyone.
"From what Yanagi-dono told us, Riku, Nagi, and Tot have come to the aid of one of their comrades from FOXHOUND as he's gotten into some kind of trouble due to a betrayal in the group." Oboro noted.
"If I understand correctly, they are planning to rescue two people, and they are also to face the renowned original psychic soldier of FOXHOUND, Psycho Mantis." Gennosuke added.
"Yes, that's about the gist of it." Kagero nodded. "Right now we're focusing on getting everyone to the mansion as soon as possible and at the same time, provide what backup we can for Riku and his companions."
"Unfortunately, since it will still be a while until everyone gets here, we don't have very many options of who to send." Neon noted.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Recca asked and got up. "If anyone's going, I'll be going. Riku is my son and we do need to help our friends out."
"That may not be the best course of action." Kagero spoke. "There's a chance this may be a trap for us as well. If the enemy knows Riku is among the group…"
"Then there's a possibility that they'll be expecting us." Kurei finished. "And if that's so, sending a clan chief might be playing into their hands."
"Well, we can't just let this play out without doing something, bro; we can't just leave them because of what might be there." Recca replied, looking a little annoyed at this even though he knew his mother and half brother had a good point.
"Recca-dono, I understand your concern for your son and his friends, but if we are going to help them at all, we need to proceed cautiously." Gennosuke spoke and then stood up. "Therefore, I think I should be one of those going. If there is a trap, I should be able to deal with it while the rest of the team proceeds to aid Riku, Nagi, Tot, and their companions."
"Alright, I see your point, and I think it's a good idea." Recca said.
"As do I." Kurei spoke and Kagero nodded her agreement along with the others.
"In that case, the team shall consist of myself, Kenshin, Raiha, and Joker." Gennosuke nodded.
"Gennosuke-sama, please be careful when you go." Oboro pleaded to him as Gennosuke held her hand.
"It will be fine, Oboro-dono. We both have assisted in helping Riku over the years in his training, which helped him to be the ninja that he is today. I'm certain that he will do his utmost to assist his friends through this until the time is ready for my assistance." Gennosuke said to her. "In the meantime, you need to start making preparations yourself, as by the time that their mission is over, considering whom Riku and his comrades will be confronting sooner or later, strong chances are that they will need your medical assistance."
"Alright, I will start to get the rest of the medical team ready right away with Yanagi's help." Oboro said as Kenshin stood up.
"I'll be contacting my team, the Hokage Ryu group, as well and notify them about this. I'll be notifying Madlax and Limelda about this too since they would be concerned about Riku and his partners. Depending on what we find out from Riku, we may have to warn Margaret, Elenore, and Vanessa as well." Kenshin said. "I take it Riku has informed his teammates of Uruha Ryu, correct."
"Yes, he told Recca that when he last called." Yanagi spoke, and then remembered something. "I just remembered, Riku mentioned that Reese had connections to crime groups. Do you think that…?"
"Fortunately it does not seem likely that he has any connection to 'that' organization." Kurei said.
"Yeah, we'd be in a lot of trouble if that were the case, and who knows who else." Recca agreed and then turned to Kagero. "Mom, you were the one who met with Jodie-san and Camel-san last, so…"
"According to them so far, the Black Organization has not done anything that the F.B.I. has been able to detect." Kagero answered. "And their contact within the Organization has not been able to give a report on their activities either."
"Well, I guess the bright side to this is we don't have to worry about that group for now." Neon said. "By the way, should we contact that detective boy, Shinichi, about what's just happened?"
"We may have to, but for now I think it would be better if we wait to talk about that when Riku, Nagi, and Tot get back." Recca said. "Those three are his main contacts with this clan along with Kenshin."
"And our allies from the Lotsuan Order?" Miki asked.
"They've been notified, though they probably don't have much to worry about." Kurei answered. "They're neutral in our fight with the Patriots even though they're our allies in dealing with the paranormal, since they do not use the Lotus for war. They're still safe though since the Patriots know how important the Order is to the world's stability and leave them alone. At least for now…"
"A message has been sent to Manx and Birman so our allies in Weiss should know soon enough." Miki noted. "The same goes for the Aogiri family, Eldian Queen Patricia Curtis, MakubeX and the rest of the new Volts gang at Infinity Fortress, and the ninja clan lead by Riku's friend, Kyoichi Kunugi."
"Have we sent any message to CRI?" Yanagi asked.
"We sent one, but we're not sure if the message has been received yet." Recca answered. "We may have to send someone to go meet them in person in order to fill them in on what's going on. We'll also have to send some people in person to everyone in order to give them a better explanation once we hear from Riku what happened."
"As for our friends at the Kaede Inn, since only Kohta, Lucy, and Nana know about us we've sent a few people to keep an eye on the inn from a distance, at least until its safe enough to contact them. And since we haven't been able to contact MITHRIL, we'll have to wait until either they contact us or we can send someone later to meet with Sousuke and have him relay the information for us." Kenshin added and then turned to Kurei. "Well then Dad, what shall we do now?"
"Alright, according to what Greg has told Riku, they are moving out on their mission in about two days, as soon as they get a lead, we should be getting things set by then ourselves." Kurei said. "Good luck to everybody."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"And that's how everything basically got prepped up for today." Kenshin finished explaining what had transpired in the Uruha Mansion earlier in order to explain as to why they were there. He had not, however, mentioned by name any of the allies that the Hokage clan had discussed during the meeting, however.
"Knowing Riku, he must have taken good care of your friends up to this point. If they were to receive any injuries, they can be managed since my wife Oboro-dono was responsible for teaching him the medical skills needed so he could at least act as an emergency medic during a mission." Gennosuke said to Yuji.
"Let's just hope we can get to them in time before their luck runs out." Yuji replied as he began to worry a bit still about the situation, but began to hope for the best since he was told by Maki earlier that Greg was confident enough to wrap things up. He then began to think to himself, remembering about something he did before he left the safe-house this morning.
(Hopefully, by the time this mess is over and when we finally get back, the downloading for the manga chapters of Gantz in its Phase 2 arc that I promised Greg before he left that he would be getting should be done.) Yuji thought to himself with a bigger grin as he thought about more of the 'other' stuff that he was downloading as well. (Other than that, when I left this morning, I only had a few hours to go until the all the hentai episodes of A Heat for All Seasons, Invasion of the Booby Snatchers, Virgin Auction, Mei-King, Lingeries Office, and Taboo Charming Mother should be fully downloaded into my hard-drive by now, so it will be the very picture of paradise for me once I get back to the safe-house!)
Gennosuke looked curiously at the bag stuffed with DVDs and other perverted material in it, recognizing it instantly for what it was, and then at the grin on Yuji's face as he began to think to himself.
(He seemed like a very skilled officer of the law, but he certainly has similar tastes to Jousuke's when he was still alive.) Gennosuke thought with a smile, fondly remembering his perverted and robust companion. Though he knew that it was completely impossible, Gennosuke almost laughed as he pictured just how well Yuji and Jousuke would have gotten along had they been able to meet.
"Just hang on, Rio, help is on the way." Yuji said in a low tone as he pushed the pedal on his copter further for it to increase its speed in order to get to the destination faster.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"I see, so Yuji isn't too far off with help from the Uruha and the Hokage clan, huh?" Rio asked over her comm. unit to Maki on the other line while she was consistently checking her inventory and weapons as she stood on the platform which herself, Greg, Riku, Nagi and Tot were using to follow Psycho Mantis down into the dark shaft where he was awaiting them.
Two minutes had passed since they started transporting themselves and with the exception of Greg's heavy panting, Riku discussing among his two trusted partners last minute strategies, and Rio talking to Maki and Nanvel on the recent developments, everything was quite normal for now. As the platform sunk down deeper into the depths of the mysterious facility, Rio was just informed about Yuji having picked up four people who said that Kurei, Riku's uncle, and Recca, Riku's father, had sent them to assist Riku and his friends for the remainder of the mission.
"Yes, they shouldn't be too far off from where they met, so it shouldn't be long until they meet Maya and the others as well as the rest of you guys." Maki replied.
"But, I'm surprised…are you sure four guys from that clan should be enough to provide us with the extra help when its time out get out of here?" Rio asked.
"I shouldn't doubt the number, Rio. They can get the job of covering for everyone done, they are all specialists." Maki said to her. "While we do know Raiha and Joker, Kurei's oldest son also happens to be with them as well as someone who, from what I understand, is also a long time member of the Hokage clan who is with them, a man called Gennosuke."
"Hmm, first time I've heard of this Gennosuke guy, but I have heard a little about a Kenshin from before." Rio replied, trying to remember where she have heard of them. "They're supposed to be really good too, I assume?"
"Well, you will have to see it for yourself when you meet them and be the judge of that. I've only heard about them myself from Riku." Maki said as her eyes lowered. "Other than that…how is Greg doing?"
Taking a glance over at Greg's sitting position, Rio made a quick sigh as she saw him, constantly moving the joints in his nano arm as if he was exercising it.
"He seems to be holding up for now…considering he's probably having a tough time reaccepting the memories that he tried so hard to forget." Rio lamented sadly. "What can I do, Maki?"
"The most I can tell you that since you're the closest to him out of all of us at the moment, is to be there as much as you can for him. He may not look it, but he will surely need your support through the final battle ahead even now more than ever." Maki said as she nodded to Rio.
"Of course, I told myself before that I wouldn't let him down no matter what the reason. He's putting every ounce of his strength just to see everything through and get things resolved, so I'm going to do the same and help him so that everyone can come back safe." Rio said as Nanvel came onscreen this time.
"Rio, just to let you know one detail about the nanomachines within Greg's suit at the moment…they're showing the same readings from before and it's been in that state for longer than the length of time it was in during that encounter you guys had with Shade." Nanvel reported. "I think with what just happened to Greg remembering must be related to him being able to stay in that state for that period of time."
"So, that's a good thing, right?" Rio asked. "Is that why it was also okay to let him use the Ascension as well in case something like this came up?"
"Yeah, because if you remember from the training you guys had when he started to use nanomachines as a replacement for his nano-arm, most of his latent psychic abilities can be controlled whenever he's in possession of that lance and if his nanomachines are showing readings like this." Nanvel said. "Normally, he would never be able to keep that power under control if that other personality of his wasn't within his mind."
"Or else, he wouldn't be in such risk, huh?" Rio asked as Nanvel replied with a silent nod. "What can you suggest, Nanvel?'
"For the time being, it seems that as long Greg is able to stay himself with the nanomachines at this level on energy, we shouldn't get any problems unless they run out of power." Nanvel said. "He's got about forty or so minutes left of power time on the suit before that happens, so he's pretty much safe."
"Then, we should be finished before then. I just hope everything works out fine, Nanvel." Rio said to her.
"I'm sure it would, Rio. I mean, this is our Greg we're talking about, right?" Nanvel asked with a smile. "In any case, good luck to you guys for the rest of the mission."
"Yeah, be safe, you guys. See you after this mess is over and done with." Rio logged out as she started to walk over to her surrogate son's position.
"Hey, Greggie…how are you holding up?" Rio asked him, bending closer to look at him, still wearing his cloak and her long hair loose. "You've been pretty quiet ever since we started riding on this elevator."
"Yeah, I should be fine as long as I don't black out again." Greg said as he looked at his right gauntlet with a concerned look on his face. "As a matter of fact, I'm doing a little better than before we encountered Mantis just now; it seems that the nanomachines have started to work on some of the damage on the suit and my body."
Rio looked at the seriousness on his face and sighed as she thought to herself. (I wonder if his mind is still okay after what just happened. I mean, come on, he just got his memory back, thanks to what happened with Mantis earlier…would it have been better that he didn't remember what really happened in his past before meeting me and the others?)
"Hey, Greg, you don't have to hold out on us from now on." Riku said as he came forward, breaking Rio's train of thought. "After what just happened before, I'd say some kind of explanation about what's been going on would be useful to my partners and I right about now."
"Yeah, we just need to be sure of something just before we face Mantis one last time, okay?" Nagi asked as Greg stood on his feet now, his expression a hesitant one.
"Just promise me one thing, you guys…that you won't hate me for what I have to tell you. Whatever happened in my past was pretty much unavoidable to begin with, I mean, I was still pretty much a kid with no understanding of what was happening then." Greg said, pausing as he seemed to be recalling the memories as if they had happened just recently. "The only thing that mattered to me during that time…was doing what my mother told me just before she died…do whatever I could do to survive, for the family's sake."
After a bit of silence passed after Greg said this, Riku was the first to reply.
"Well, you've got our word that we'll have no problem on understanding about how things became the way they became for you, Greg. I mean if whatever happened wasn't your fault then I believe you. We just want you to understand that we still want to help you and the others through whatever you're going through once this mess is done and over with." Riku said. "Besides, you've helped us this far already, so we really don't want to abandon you when you and Rio will need assistance yourselves. It was the Colonel's idea to have us keep you out of trouble to begin with, so you really can't have any complaints about that."
"There's no way I can ever win against that, Riku, but thanks." Greg said with a smile. "In any case, while we still have the time, where do you want me to begin with?"
"Well, it would help us if you would care to tell us what exactly you just remembered before?" Rio asked him as Greg gave her a sullen look first before looking down sadly on the metallic floor of the elevator that the group was using. He sighed a bit before speaking to her and his FOXHOUND comrades.
"I was just remembering how it began…how my family died and how I ended up losing my right hand." Greg said his emotion unchanging. "Now that I've gotten my former memories back, it's still clear to me on how it happened."
Rio and the rest of the group stayed quiet as Greg got into detailing that crucial moment to when he was together with his biological family for the last time…
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It started with several loud explosions; some of them were close enough that it happened right in front of his eyes. Shutting them to block out the sight of death and destruction that was surrounding him, a younger Gregory Matthews of ten years old was hearing the muffled dying cries of the people that were with him that fateful day.
When he finally opened them, there were several fires that were alit in some places while the foundations of the building, a domestic shopping mall in one rural area of the city of New York where he and his family were having a vacation in the United States organized by his late father, were already showing signs of collapsing.
Unfortunately for Greg and those who were with him and his family then, it was the wrong place at the wrong time for a family get-together.
"Gregory! Candice!" A tall and lean woman with light coloured dark skin frantically called out for her children as her clothes of a white dress were now already stained with dirt and blood, both from hers from the sustained wounds on various places on her body and from her slain husband's, Dr. Curtis Matthews, who had died on the spot when the explosions began.
She was separated from her children as the chaos began and most of the building around them started to crumble around them, as the destroyed foundations began to weaken the building's support at an alarming rate. Many other people who were visiting the mall that day also met their untimely ends as a result of the bombing, adding to the death toll that came as a result of it.
After struggling through the fallen rubble and debris, she stopped to see a young boy sobbing over a dead girl's body three years younger than he was. A slab of rubble could be seen covering the lower half of the girl's body as blood began to seep through the open cracks.
"Gregory!" The woman cried out as she ran to embrace her crying son as she instantly found out that the child that Greg was crying for was his younger sister, Candice. Greg himself was covered with cuts and dirt as it seemed that he was trying to get his recently deceased sister's corpse out from under the rubble, but his mourning mother already pulled him away from it and held him close to her body.
"Mommy…Candice….she is…" Greg sobbed as Judith Matthews quieted her son as she cried herself.
"Shhh, I know, Gregory…I know you tried to protect her. It's not your fault that you couldn't…uhhhh!" Judith told him as she grimaced as she spoke. Greg felt a warm and sticky wetness at the side of her abdomen and to his shock, saw fresh blood coming out of a deep gash through her dress.
"You're hurt, Mommy!" Greg cried out as Judith weakly smiled as she felt her strength drained as she fell on top of him, unable to move. "Mommy!"
"Your father's gone too…I'm sorry, Greg." Judith cried as Greg's eyes widened hearing this.
"It will be okay…Mommy, didn't I say to…leave things to me to protect you?" Greg cried out to her as she cried to him while unknown to the two of them, the ceiling above them was about to cave in soon.
"You've…done a good job…watching over me and your sister when your father couldn't." Judith said weakly to him, holding his face as blood from her forehead landed on his wet face while she held him tighter, even though she herself was losing her own strength.
"Gregory…I know you must have hated…your own father for hurting us in the past. But…whatever must have happened…he did what he could for you and Candice…so that you could find what it takes to survive through all of this…through anything that this harsh world will throw at you. So…take my words into your heart…forgive him…for your sister's…and my sake. One day…you'll come to understand everything, why things had to be like this. But, please…Gregory…of all of the important things from this moment, you have to live!"
"Mommy…don't leave me too…I don't want…to be alone…" Greg cried out as suddenly they heard a loud crumbling above them as the rest of the ceiling started to cave in on top of them. "Mommy!"
"Gregory…you were such…a wonderful son. I was so happy…to have been your mother, despite everything in the past." Judith held him tighter as she spoke her final words. "Candice, your father…and I will always…be watching over you from now on…I love you, Greg."
The current Greg shut his eyes at the sight as the younger Greg's eyes watered as they stayed widened in shock and terror as he saw his mother's chest area become crushed under the heavy weight as she covered him with her body while he felt the most excruciating pain shot through his right hand as he felt the weight of the concrete crushing it. The sound of a deafening crash of concrete meeting flesh being pounded into nothing rang through his ears as the slab of rubble landed on top of them, covering everything around his field of vision in total darkness…
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"The only thing I could remember up until now about what happened after that incident was when Rio rescued me from a group of street children that nearly assaulted me after I came to Neo Tokyo." Greg finished as he rubbed his head. "Since that time, I had completely forgotten my parent's and sister's faces or how I was unable to protect my sister when she died in front of my eyes and my mother trying to protect me by shielding me with her injured body as the debris fell on top of us, the very last moment I saw them alive and I lost my right hand."
"It must be tough trying to stay focused after everything's that happened and all…" Rio said, still worried about him.
Greg answered her with a shaky nod. "It probably must be related to what's been going on with my powers. Even now, I'm starting to just remember stuff I couldn't recall from before like my childhood. It's like the gaps in all the memories are being filled up, slowly, but surely."
"Oh, Greg…you don't need to say anymore. It must have been really painful for you at the time." Rio hung her head as Greg shook his head, patting her.
"Hey, now, didn't I say before this was something I have to get used to from now on?" Greg asked with a confident looking smile. "It's not as bad as it looks…I'm still in top condition, Mom. I'm just a bit shaky after learning the truth about my past, that's all."
"Well, if you say so, Greg." Rio simply replied. "Just don't be pushing yourself too much from now on until you're completely better. You're still healing after all."
"I know, I know." Greg said to her. "I'll try to be more careful from now on."
"Do you miss your family now that you remember them, Greg?" Nagi asked him as Greg looked at him in silence.
"Very much, I can even feel the pain in my right arm returning, the same kind when I lost it when we were first hit." Greg said to Nagi. "Though, the strange part of it was I don't really feel angry anymore at my father for what happened…its just like what Seishiro-san said to me not too long ago about times like these."
"And what would that be?" Rio asked as Greg looked back at her.
"'You can't go forward if you keep looking back.'" Greg said in a low, yet assuring tone. "It's a proverb Seishiro-san taught me years ago when we were together during a training session. As much as it pains me still to know about my past now after all this time, the time has come to move on and face what's ahead of me. I really can't say that I'm grateful for those things happening to me…while they made have made me stronger in the end, I still lost precious, irreplaceable things and I still feel responsible for all that's happened…"
As Riku and his partners looked at Greg silently, Rio suddenly came to Greg and embraced him with tears in her eyes as Greg reacted in surprise to this.
"Rio? What are you…?" Greg asked as Rio patted his head.
"It's okay now, Greg. Everything that happened then wasn't really your fault to begin with. You were just doing what a big brother was meant to do, that's all." Rio said to him reassuringly. "You can stop hurting yourself for all the pain that you think you caused for your family. We'll all be making sure to keep taking good care of you like we always did from now on."
Greg felt himself choke up a little as he felt Rio's compassion through her words and smiled back. At least some of the burden he felt he had since he was a child was taken off for the time being thanks to her.
"I know that, Rio, I'll do my best too. Thanks for telling me." Greg said as Rio pulled away from him with a smile, only to gasp a bit as she saw the wound over Greg's right eye start to bleed once more heavily.
"Oh?" Greg simply said as the blood almost covered the entirety of his right eye. In an attempt to stop it from getting worse, he used one of his hands to wipe the blood flow away, but in turn, more blood only covered its place than before.
"Forehead wounds bleed a lot, even if they're shallow." Riku said after observing this as he stepped forward to Greg, holding onto a small container that was from his inventory which had a cauterizing ointment mixed from herbs and after rubbing some of it on his index finger, applied it to the area of Greg's wound, causing the psychic to wince a little as it stung a bit for a moment. "If you're not going to stop the bleeding, there's no point in wiping."
"Sugoi! It really stopped bleeding." Rio exclaimed as she saw the medicine's effect on Greg's wound.
"For now, at least." Greg said. "But, it did a good job keeping the flow back for awhile so it won't obstruct my vision any longer, especially for the fight ahead. Once again, Riku's ninja medical skills become a saving grace."
"Hey, you don't have to put it like that, Greg; it really isn't anything too special on my part. When this is over, you can thank my teacher, Oboro-dono, for all that she did to help me prepare for cases like this." Riku smiled at him as Greg also remembered something else as he looked at his ninja friend with a serious look.
"There's also one more thing…I just wanted to say that I'm sorry if I was too hesitant before when we had to face the decision whether we had to stop Seraph and Yuina even if it meant killing them to save ourselves and I had to leave it to you and Nagi to do it for me." Greg said in a low tone. "If Seraph didn't figure out a way to stop the effect that was placed on the two of them and hadn't told me in time…"
"Greg, you don't need to say it. At least you were able to prevent the worst from happening and we're really thankful that we managed to save the both of them because of you. Besides, something like this should have been expected just in case and it seemed you just weren't mentally prepared for it yet." Riku said, knowing what Greg must have been thinking then.
"Yeah, you're right about that. I guess that even though I've been in this group for so long, I still haven't gotten used to these kinds of things yet…" Greg said sighing as he thought to himself. (Even that personality inside my mind was close to pushing me over the edge about the whole thing, taunting my conscience like it always does.)
Meanwhile, Rio had lapsed into her own thoughts.
(Well, I do have to agree with Greg that he's not the type to go through the mental process of killing somebody unless the threat was serious to his life or the life of a friend. I mean…to kill the very person who he promised to rescue…as if he hasn't had enough to worry about already.) Rio thought to herself as another thought came to mind as she glanced at Nagi silently. (What really bothers me is how Nagi was quicker than Riku on volunteering to end Yuina's life had things gotten worse. Something about him saying he had 'more experience' before is starting to bug me a bit about him, but I'll worry about all that after this is over.)
Thinking of a way to lift the sad mood away, Rio smiled to herself as she lowered the cloak that Greg gave her earlier, showing most of the bare shoulder and the wound she got to Riku…in a nearly seductive manner as she stepped closer to him. Greg almost fell over as he observed this while Tot was quick to shield Nagi's eyes as his face turned crimson while he briefly glimpsed Rio do this.
"Oh, Riku…I was hoping that you could use some of that stuff here too, pretty please, with a cherry on top?" Rio asked in a husky tone of voice that made Riku blush and react nervously.
"Sensei, what are you doing?" Greg exclaimed as Riku gulped in nervousness, as he had no idea what to do in this situation, as Rio approached him, her chest almost revealing itself. "This is so NOT the time to be pulling your seduction techniques just to win favors and on one of my FOXHOUND buddies no less!"
"Ohh, but the wound is starting to bleed again, don't you see?" Rio asked him as she lowered the cloak even more so that he too could get a glance of her now nearly exposed chest. "It's not fair that you alone should get the special medical treatment if Riku's stuff is working so well."
"You've got a point…wait a minute, it is not!" Greg exclaimed, feeling his face get warmer at the sight of his sexy, surrogate mother's seduction skills. "Stop behaving so shamelessly and just ask Riku like everybody else to help you, alright?"
"Hey, it's okay with me, Greg. I was going to ask Rio if she needed some anyway…" Riku replied nervously as Rio began pressing herself on Riku, wrapping an arm around him as Tot sighed.
"Falling for her techniques, Riku?" Tot asked him as Nagi chuckled to this. Even though the young psychic couldn't see exactly what was going on, he could tell from Riku's nervous tone and from what he could feel coming from his friend.
"Yeah, you have to remember that this is your friend's mother and she's twice our age to add. You'd best be careful not to step into dangerous territory if you know what I mean." Nagi said with an amused smile as Greg slapped his forehead with his right hand as he chuckled himself.
(I think I know what she's trying to do, make me and everybody else feel better knowing what we'd been through.) Greg thought as he smiled at Rio's antics. (Still, I feel sorry for Riku about now…Rio is extremely good when it comes to fooling guys by leading them on like this.)
"Well, since things are understandable now, I'll take it from here, thanks Riku." Rio said, taking the container of ointment before the ninja noticed and started to dress the wound with it while Greg stepped closer to Riku and Tot freed Nagi from not seeing what just occurred.
"Hey, Riku, I know that you're probably having thoughts about it, but trust me, she's way out of your league. It's best that you forget that it happened for your own good if you want your conscience to stay clear. " Greg said as Riku replied as his face turned a deeper shade of crimson.
"Come on, Greg. It's not like I was having any bad thoughts about what happened just now." Riku replied.
"Oh, is that so, leader?" Both Nagi and Tot said in unison, making Riku feel even more uncomfortable.
(I really need to work on my deception skills from now on…) Riku thought to himself as Greg spoke to Rio as her back was turned from everybody else.
"Really, sensei…I was serious on the timing of that little display before. We're only minutes away from facing the most crucial battle of our lives." Greg said to her seriously. "Try to keep your game face on for a little longer and we'll get through this."
"I know, I was only trying to get everybody out of that gloomy mood from before." Rio said. "Besides, it's been awhile since I used that in front of you like that. The last time I did was when little Yukari was with us when we last went to check up on her, do you remember that?"
A very familiar name that Greg knew of made him smile as he nodded, as an image of young, petite sized teenage girl of Japanese nationality with long flowing, straight dark hair and wide, curious looking, and innocent brown eyes graced his memory.
"Yeah, I sure do, there's no way I could ever forgot Yukari Imada." Greg said. "I just wonder how she and her mom are doing these days; it's been months since we last checked up on them to see how things are going."
"Who's Yukari, Greg-san?" Tot asked him as Greg simply rubbed his head before answering in a solemn reply.
"Yukari is… you could say she's a friend of the family and a very special friend of Warrior's for the longest time now. She and her mother were in some big trouble around the time we all joined FOXHOUND and Rio was the closest to her the most since that time." Greg replied, almost in a heartbroken tone after remembering seeing her appearance for the first time.
Riku and his partners could tell from his expression that whatever happened to this Yukari that he and Rio had just mentioned must have been something painful for even him to fully explain to them at the moment, especially considering what he was facing inside himself and who he was about to face.
"Hey, she's not just more than 'friends' with us; you were officially titled her 'onii-chan' after all those times you spent with her last time around. I mean, you've practically become one of the closest to her after all she's been through." Rio said as she returned to the group, surprising Riku.
"Greg, just how many other cool secrets about yourself do you have that you haven't told us about yet?" Riku asked him as Greg replied with a nervous chuckle.
"Just give it some time after this is over, you and your partners will come across her eventually, Riku, though I must warn you all first hand that you shouldn't let her appearance fool you." Greg said to them. "She's a very courageous and strong person, both mentally and physically and she's only a high school student at this time."
"Really? From the way it sounded, I thought that she would be older." Nagi said, surprised himself as Greg shook his head.
"I won't ruin the surprise for you. I'll leave it at that for the time being until the time comes, that's the best I can do to spare you guys the heartbreak involved in her past before you'll lose focus, Nagi." Greg told him as he nodded to him.
"Alright then, I won't ask further until we're all past this, I guess." Nagi replied to him. "But taken from what was just said, you're special to this Yukari too, huh?"
"Yeah, you can say that." Greg said to him. "That is another reason why I need to come back from this mission, to see her and everyone else again. I'd promise her that we'd play together again with Lilica last time I saw her and I don't want to break that promise to her as well."
(Even though he just said that he'd been through a lot in his past, he does have a lot of people who mean a lot to him and vice versa.) Nagi said mentally to Riku who agreed with him.
(Yeah, I think so too.) Riku thought. (For the moment, I thought his case was just like Kohta's, but Greg and he are different. To be able to connect with people like this despite his pains…that must be his true power.)
(I think Greg would become good friends with Kohta, Lucy, Nyu, Yuka, Mayu, Nana, and Nozomi once we get to know this side of him better after this is over, he'd probably help them out too. The same goes for Rio-san and everyone else from Greg's family.) Tot thought as well. (I'm really glad that we came all this way with him and Rio-san to know just what kind of person he is.)
"Well, was there anything else that you guys wanted to know about while we've still got the time?" Greg suddenly asked, interrupting their mental conversation as Riku asked first.
"Oh, yeah…what exactly was that earlier with that other apparition of yourself that we all saw from before?" Riku asked as Greg sighed, knowing it wasn't possible to avoid this one.
"I guess it's no point hiding it any longer, but from what I can tell you, it's a side effect of sorts to my recently awakened latent psychic powers. I've had it ever since the beginning when I first realized them." Greg said to his friend. "For it to be able to project itself like that as it did just now into an almost physical form must indicate just advanced my powers have gotten over the years."
"So, your trauma must have had something to do with it, am I right?" Riku asked as Greg replied.
"Yeah, it's the manifestation of my fears and hatred that must have been harboring within my mind over the time I've been alive that it was able to become a personality by itself." Greg replied. "As you all saw as well, it has it own violent tendencies, but more of them are directed to being rather masochistic than usual, accompanied by the occasional mind games as well. It's not exactly a pseudo-berserker effect like Garland's, but if pushed past my body's psychical and mental limits..."
"Is there any guarantee that something like that won't happen again until you can find out how to deal with it?" Nagi asked him out of concern as Greg answered him.
"I was able to suppress that personality for awhile longer, just as I was able to remember my past, granting me more control over him for now at least." Greg replied to him. "You guys don't need to worry about it, I can tell first hand how he will attack before he endangers anybody else and I really can't afford to let him gain control now of all times…not after coming this far."
"Greg...we know it may sound bad, but if you say that you've got things under control with your powers, then I'll trust you." Riku said to him. "But tell us…does anybody else in FOXHOUND know about this?"
"The only people that do know about my second personality, is Linn herself, the Colonel, Commander Silverburgh, Dr. Hunter and Dr. Robert Steiner before he left us to join the Wolf Pack." Greg replied. "And I'm sure Reese knows about it by now as well."
"That must be why the medical records went missing too." Nagi said and then glanced over at Riku.
(Well, I guess this means that Greg's case with having another personality is different from Lucy and Nyu.) Nagi spoke into both Riku and Tot's minds.
(Yeah, and it also seems to differ from the case with Ginji and his Lightning Emperor personality too.) Riku added.
(Riku, maybe it's similar to that thing you said Yukimura-san mentioned a while back.) Tot suggested.
(A while back?) Riku blinked in confusion. (What do you mean?)
(Don't you remember? It was a little after we met Kohta and Lucy and she told you how that thing with her and Nyu was.) Tot said to both Riku and Nagi. (You mentioned that Yukimura-san had mentioned something about Big Boss knowing a psychic who also had two personalities…)
Riku tried to hide the surprise as he remembered.
(Y-you're right…thanks a lot Tot, you're a real lifesaver.) Riku's reply was a grateful one.
(You're welcome.) Tot replied with a smile, glad to have helped.
(So I guess one of the things we need to do after this is contact Yukimura and then…) Nagi began.
"Hey, you guys are still listening, right?" Rio asked, interrupting Nagi.
"Of course we are, Rio." Riku replied quickly trying to act like nothing had happened. "Go on and continue, Greg. So what was it you were about to tell us about some safeguards you had against this?"
As Greg spoke once more, Rio couldn't help but think on something that she had just noticed about Riku and co.
(Those three kept glancing at each other that whole time…) She thought to herself. (There's no question that they were listening to what Greg had to say but…could they have been talking to one another about something using Nagi's telepathy? And if it's about Greg's other personality…could they know something about these kinds of things? Something that we don't…)
As Rio was thinking on whether or not to ask the three of them about their conversation, her thoughts were interrupted by Greg's explanation.
"Well to answer that, if in the case that things do get out of hand, I will just have to apply the teachings that Aika-sensei provided me on how to properly control the levels of my body's nanomachines by using this, the Ascension." Greg said seriously as he took out the lance that he had used in his battle with Shade to show to everybody.
"The Ascension is actually a key of sorts, composed of nanos varying from Nanvel's armor like alloy around the blade area. The way it is designed as of now is meant to with-hold about half of my untapped abilities as a psychic until the nanos' limiters are overridden by the host in case of an emergency or if the nanos themselves are giving off a stronger feedback from before. It has to be used in its complete, final form once all of the nanomachines in my right arm and body along with my mental powers come together in a concentrated form of energy strong enough to change the Ascension's shape, giving it its final form. " Greg said to the group.
"If you had something like that all the time, why didn't you use it when we were confronting Shade?" Riku asked him. "That would have helped us a big deal and saved us less injuries than what we have now, Greg."
"Believe me, Riku, I wished the readings on my nanos were the same then as it is now, but even if it was so, using it fresh off the bat would have been dangerous for me." Greg said to him. "I'd have to sacrifice about seventy percent of both the suit's and gauntlet's powers to achieve the sufficient strength needed to just feed the Ascension with the right amount of power to achieve its final form if I needed to do that. I'd only just be giving myself a lower survival rate at the trade-off when I will need them for the fight ahead the most."
Riku stayed quiet as he heard Greg said this to him as he patted his friend's shoulder.
"I think it would be best to give you guys in a nutshell about how I was able to deal with situations like this by discovering the traits of using my powers and nanomachines along with the Ascension when you'll eventually see once the fight with Mantis starts." Greg said as he got into explaining once more….
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
June 12th, 2011, at an empty and abandoned car park of Old Tokyo's apartment building, sounds of battle cries and grunts, punches and blows were heard as two individuals were seen combating each other. One was a tall good looking woman with light tanned skin and golden brown pupils, long flowing blue hair and was a lone white collar with a green gen around her neck and as also wearing a very revealing, single piece white swimsuit like outfit that was wrapped around only her breasts and lower abdomen areas and had on high heel shoes to match. The other was wearing a black and pin striped motorcycle jacket with white motorcycle gloves, dark jeans and riding boots.
After a few seconds of standing off and examining each other in the shadows, the woman spoke casually to the man standing in front of her as she stepped out to the light. "Are you sure this is alright with you?"
"It was sensei's idea that we trained like this at least once a month." The male spoke, fixing the right side of his glove. "Besides, I'm curious myself on just how effective your ultranate attack capabilities are…Aika-sensei."
"Well, Greg, I'm curious myself how you've improved in controlling that power of yours, especially when going up against someone like myself who intends to go all out." Aika replied to her student. "So, I'm hoping you're prepared to handle what I'll be dishing out to you. Don't hold back anything now."
"The same to you, Aika-sensei." Greg said simply as he got into his fighting pose as he placed his arms closer. Meanwhile, from a safe distance, a small group of women were watching what was going to take place. Two of them were Rio and Nanvel of Team Warrior dressed in their team uniforms since they themselves had just completed a mission before coming there, while the other two were of Aika Sumeragi's female companions that came to see her and Greg in combat action.
One of them was a slightly younger girl with rounded spectacles and short, blonde curly hair, wearing a black t-shirt and loose, short skirt. She looked like a spacey character, but her eyes were fixed on Aika the entire time. She is known to be Aika's partner in the business which was started up since the time of Second Impact known as Salvagers which are hired treasure and artifact hunters who scale into the sunken areas of the world's cities and various places in Japan to retrieve lost valuables of history and valuable data.
Rion Aida just happened to be the daughter of Gozo Aida, who still runs one of the few remaining Salvager companies, the K2 Corporation. Both Rion and Aika work are currently struggling with whatever assignments they could find hoping to find a big pay off on one of their jobs, while dealing with piling debts as of late.
The other female with her had long, red hair and was wearing a backwards baseball cap and low shades while drinking an iced soda from a straw. Her outfit consisted of a half opened dress shirt and tight fitting jeans. Recently joining Rion and Aika to aid in their services as a former Class A agent for the International Crisis Management Treaty Authority Organization, World Secret Agent League Special Expeditionary Foreign Affairs Division that had abandoned her during their infiltration on the underwater and aerial transport craft belonging to an enemy group, the Delmos, called the Regulus. Maypia Alexiametlia leaned against the parked car they used to get there and was observing the action as well.
This was the first time that both her and Rion were able to meet Greg Kinezono and see him in combat as they were curious about Aika's relationship with him and his surrogate mother. The surprising thing to them was Rio's request for Aika to start using her ultranate abilities against Greg during some of their sparring matches, starting from that day.
They knew for sure that not most people would walk away easily from Aika's full power in her ultranate form, but in Greg's case, he would need this secret training to prepare himself in emergencies when he would have to rely on his nanomachines in a tough situation.
"So, why are we here again, Rion?" Maypia asked her partner, who replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
"From what Aika told me about this guy, it has something to do with secret training or something like that." Rion replied while observing the situation. "Those women that came with him are family of his, I heard."
"They sure aren't surprised about Aika right now." Maypia said. "You think they already know about her from before?"
"Most likely or they wouldn't have asked her to do this with that guy." Rion said as she fixed her glasses. "Though, it still boggles me on why he would want to fight her like this."
"He may not look it, but Greg is resourceful." Rio lamented as she came closer to Rion and Maypia to talk with them. "The reason he wanted to do this was to at least start preparing his mind and body for situations when he would also need his nanomachines to help him through. He will need to be quick on his wits and be able to use as much resources that he's picked up over the years including from his time in FOXHOUND so far to be able to get through."
"Still, to spar with Aika in her Ultranate form…isn't he afraid of her enhanced abilities?" Rio asked.
"Well, he's already had Garland Durev, the famous Bloody Hands as a sparring partner, so this should be common to him by now since he knows who he is up against." Rio replied. "If Aika can push Greg past the average limit while he is using the nanos, we should expect different results, if not today, but eventually. That's what Nanvel and I figured out, anyway."
"Let's hope things go okay for him, whatever he can pull off in a fight against Aika in her strongest form." Rion said as she focused back on the two, who were done facing each other and had already started the fight as Aika Sumeragi made the first move.
Battle theme: Wonderful Boy-Shiki Tohno's theme from Melty Blood: Act Cadenza.
Aika rushed in at top speed in a fashion of a blur and came at Greg with a roundhouse spin kick that would have caught him off guard if he didn't defend the blow in time by lifting his left arm to block his cheek. He was sent sliding against the hard pavement while still on his feet firmly on the ground.
Rion and Maypia looked on in surprise at this. This was the first time to see an average person like Greg be able to retain his balance after getting hit by an attack from Aika like that.
"Did you just see that?" Rion exclaimed. "Just who is this guy?"
"He managed to defend her attack in time by mere seconds…" Maypia lamented.
"He's barely even started." Rio said as Greg got into position and took out a combat knife from his inventory and held it with his left hand.
"I see, you're going for CQC, is that it?" Aika asked as she dashed at him once more, executing a flurry of punches at his face. Rolling out of her path in time, Greg made a low sweep at her feet, which was parried by one of Aika's Ultranate Metal's long tentacles. It grabbed unto his leg as it started to swing him around like a ragged doll.
After five, full 360 degree spins, the tentacle threw Greg back away from Aika, but the psychic was able to regain his momentum and used his nano arm to execute a push of air on the ground below him to make him 'bounce off' the ground and was already on the warpath at Aika once more with a flying kick.
Aika ducked from the kick as she saw an open spot on Greg's back and charged at him, but the psychic was already on his feet as he executed a stance that took Aika by surprise, by using his back to create a force field that pushed her away from a distance.
The transformed woman was able to regain her footing once more as Greg looked at her while Rion and Maypia were impressed with Greg's skills so far.
"Whoa, this guy's good." Maypia said.
"Yeah, my words exactly." Rion said as she yawned. "But he really hasn't done anything impressive so far and Aika's still hasn't gotten serious too."
"I see that you've managed to apply your powers during combat now." Aika said to him with a grin.
"Yes, things changed a lot from the last time we sparred, Aika-sensei." Greg said to her, holding up his knife. "As for the case with you and your compatibility with the Ultranate you possess…it seems you've fully become its master."
"Hmph, you're as observant as always." Aika raised an eyebrow at him. "I guess I should be careful from now on the next time I deliver my attacks, since you have a knack for judging your opponent's certain battle conditions."
"So, you're going to get serious now, then?" Greg asked her.
"I thought you never asked. Here I come!" Aika shouted as three of her tentacles came in the form of a drill at Greg from a long distance. Greg simply sidestepped as he used the underside of the knife to deflect the Ultranate drill while he rushed forward to Aika, as he used his psychic powers to cause the ground below her to cause a minor tremor from her position, making her lose her footing for a few seconds.
Once close enough, he swung at her once before spinning the blade by dissolving his right nano index finger by turning it into liquid form and wrapping it around the hilt. It was a close call for her if she didn't move away in time from the added attack Greg made.
(Even though I'm using my Ultranate form's strength at only one quarter of its full power, he's slowly catching up to match my current speed.) Aika thought as Greg lunged at her with the knife once more. (I should push the envelope a little then to start testing his agility then…)
Ducking underneath him, Aika performed a rising uppercut that Greg was able to side step from, only to be met with an incoming aerial roundhouse kick that got him on his right cheek.
WHAM!
While still dazed, Aika rose into the air and grabbed his right nano arm in an attempt to disable its uses for a while, but Greg managed to use his free left hand to blast a force of air at the ground below him, causing the two of them to rise into the air at the same time.
"I've got you now!" Aika exclaimed as she sent two of her Ultranate tentacles to Greg's head area. Thinking fast, using the momentum gained while he was still airborne, Greg then spun his body and used his own knife to cut into the nano arm's wrist area as a thick line of black substance flowed out, almost like blood.
"What did he just do?" Rion asked herself in surprise as she was wondering why he would cut his artificial arm.
To her and Maypia's surprise, Greg grabbed onto the substance with his left hand and at the instant, it petrified into a short, katana like weapon that he used to cut away two of the Ultranate metal's tentacles that Aika was going to use against him while he was falling back to the ground. After he landed, the nanomachines that were formed like a blade in his hands dissolved into the ground like water and he was back using the knife from before.
As Aika landed, she suddenly charged Greg once more who flipped backwards once from a swift right hook, but soon, the entire right side of his body gave away to a numbing sensation as he felt nauseous all of a sudden.
"Greg!" Nanvel called out as Greg's body was also growing weak as he fell on one of his knees. Just soon after, he then felt the full brute force of Aika's whip like kick in his stomach before he can see what was happening.
POW! SMACK!
The next thing he saw was Aika standing over him, while he fell backwards, his body growing weaker by the second.
"Arrgghh…not this again…" Greg groaned as he blacked out into darkness while Rio rushed over to help him up.
A while later, Aika had already changed back to her normal self and was now wearing her working uniform while Greg was resting on the backseat of Rio's car with an ice pack on his head. Nanvel was taking information data from his right arm while Rio was discussing what just happened to Aika.
"Well, what do you make of it?" Aika asked her as Rio shrugged her shoulders.
"It seems that anemia of his could be a problem if he's going into actual combat with his FOXHOUND buddies later on. We need to deal with it as soon as possible if he's ever going to cut it as a combat specialist." Rio lamented as she rubbed her temple.
"Do you think the superiors from that FOXHOUND group know the truth by now?" Aika asked her.
"I made sure to keep it well hidden when he first joined up, so it will be our little secret for now." Rio said as she glanced at Nanvel. "Well, Nanvel, what's the final verdict?"
"Judging from the usages of nanomachines just now, he already had started to increase their potency as the fight begun." Nanvel said to her. "It was no wonder how he was able to hold his own for only thirteen to twenty seconds the most against Aika in her Ultranate form before passing out, they must have helped him see what to expect from her during that fight."
"Twenty seconds tops, huh?" Aika asked as she eyed Rio. "So the more rigorous training he'll get, the chances of him staying in that form for awhile longer when he's using the nanomachines could happen?"
"That's the plan, but we can't overdo it. There's the mental strain to consider, his body and mind can tolerate so much to a point." Rio said. "If we can work on building up those factors over time, I'm sure he can fight to his best when the time comes."
"I hope your plan works, Rio. I know how much you want to see Greg advance in FOXHOUND, but you've also got to consider his feelings about this you know." Aika said to her.
"He already said that he's okay with this, he just wants to be able to do what he can for everyone he cares about with what he can do." Rio said as Greg started to move as he felt the ice pack on his head. "Hey, it looks like he's coming to."
Greg silently woke up, slightly tired and beat, but was fit enough to move his body.
"So, Greg, enjoyed your nap?" Rio asked him as Greg replied, stretching his arms.
"I wouldn't exactly call it one, sensei. If that was a serious fight, I would be dead by now." Greg said, holding his head as Aika approached him. "Aika-sensei, sorry if I disappointed you before."
"It's okay, it was only day one of the training, you only pushed yourself more than you had to, which was my fault." Aika said as Greg shook his head.
"No, don't say that. I was the reckless one who used his own nanomachines like that; at least I learned something today." Greg said as he stood up. "So, what's the plan from now on?"
"Since we're still looking for ways to find out on how you can cope with your anemia that's probably being caused by your psychic powers, we will need to continue this sort of training at least four times a month while Greg practices on his own during the intervals." Aika suggested as she continued.
"Also, it seems to me that you also need a way to store the nanomachines that can be manipulated into shape and form, just as you were able to make a weapon out of them using your psychic powers before. In order to utilize that ability, you will need a proper weapon to transfer them unto and I just happen to have just the right thing. Rion, can you please bring it over here?"
To Aika's call, Rion came to Aika holding unto a strapped, metallic casing which was almost twice her height. She almost stumbled a couple of times as she brought it to her partner.
"Man, what is in this thing?" Rion asked Aika as she laid it on the ground next to Greg's feet. "It's pretty heavy to be a weapon."
"It's actually one of the few items which was actually a weapon I found during a salvaging mission. It must have been used in an ancient war before the Impact hit us." Aika said as Greg went to open the casing, revealing a dull and rusted medium height spear with glyph like writings that covered the entirety of the hilt.
"No wonder Rion said it was heavy, it's just a piece of junk." Rio said simply as Greg examined it.
"I don't know, I could use something like this for the time being. All it needs is some serious wielding work at the metal shop back at Nanvel's workshop and getting used to its weight." Greg said as when he held the middle area of the rusted spear, it came apart into two, as if it was joined.
"Ah, man, Greg. Look what you did now, you broke it." Rio lamented as Aika studied it.
"I don't think so…it must indicate that it is meant to be used as two pieces." Aika said. "Greg, in your time with the Marines, you took combat training for dual wielding weaponry, am I right?"
"Yeah, it was part of their program." Greg replied to her. "Why did you ask?"
(Maybe finding this spear will serve a good purpose for you later, Greg.) Aika thought to herself as she shook her head. "It's nothing, but I want you to keep that in thought. In any case, I've left some of the Ultranate data with your aunt so in the case you will want to use this in conjunction with your nanomachines; I'll figure that this lance will come in handy once you and it are ready."
"So, I got to keep training until the time is right…" Greg lamented, clenching the rusted hilt. "Well, what can I say but thanks for the gift, Aika-sensei. I'll be sure to put it to good use when it's ready to help me in the future."
"I'll keep it with me so I can pitch in modifying it using the Ultranate data right away." Nanvel said as Rio stepped forward with a smile on her face.
"Now that we've gotten that out of the way for now, how about we all go and get some lunch?" Rio asked in a cheery tone. "And it will be my treat at the usual ramen place."
"Geez, here I am covered in bruises and all you can talk about is ramen at a time like this?" Greg winced as he placed a hand on his forehead. "You could at least have some sympathy after I had to go through a fight against Aika-sensei like that."
"Oh, you'll get used to the treatment. Besides, you've got to get more familiar with Aika's buddies too if we're going to keep training with her in the future." Rio simply replied as Rion, Maypia, and Aika laughed at her words.
"You're not even listening to what I have to say to you, are you?" Greg asked although he was still hurting, but couldn't helped but chuckle along with them as he was beginning to enjoy their company and was starting out to be good friends with Rion and Maypia from that time. "In any case, how's business treating you, Aika-sensei?"
"Slow as ever, but we're getting by." Aika replied as Rion spoke.
"My old man is still getting more and deeper into debt by the day because of his good natured attitude and cutting the delivery expenses by half the original price." Rion said, as if she was complaining as an idea came to Greg's head.
"You know, you can always act as a sponsor for Gozo-san's corporation for the next upcoming KOF tournament, Aika-sensei." Greg suggested. "With your skills, it should be a cinch for you to get into a main match or battle royal annual against the popular fighters in KOF. Think of the sponsor and award money that you would be getting if you fought under K2's name, how does that sound to you?"
"Sounds like a tempting offer, but you know how the boss acts whenever I'm out there fighting." Aika said. "My boss always has had a thing of worrying about me taking on dangerous stuff, even when it requires using the Ultranate metal. As I told you about it the first time, fusion between a human host and the Ultranate is highly dangerous…of all the cases since it was first invented, I'm still the only person capable of being able to stay as myself is without putting my life seriously at risk. Believe me, I've seen what can happen when the fusion fails, and it's not a very pleasant memory."
"Worried about endangering your opponents' lives in case it gets out of hand?" Rio asked her. "There are enough scary people in the KOF already that would make the Ultranate feel right at home."
"I'll give it some thought, though Rion will have to put in a good word for it and convince the boss on changing his mind on his business prospects." Aika replied. "Anyways, should we continue this conversation at the place where Rio's taking us for lunch before anybody finds out about what went on today?"
"Yeah, it's about time. I want to try and keep this private from most people as I can until I can trust my power and body in combat in the future." Greg nodded to her as he got into Rio's car.
"Even your FOXHOUND buddies?" Rio asked. "They would get pretty worried about you if they see the wounds that you've gotten during this training."
"I'll do what I can to hide them, I know it may sound a bit cold, but I really need these preparations without them knowing for the time being." Greg replied to her as Rio silently looked at him and nodded.
"Alright, whatever you say." Rio simply said as she got into the car herself and started the ignition to drive off with Aika and her friends following behind them behind.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Since those kinds of sparring matches started, they proved useful to me at times whenever I was in a tight bind and I only had but my nanomachines to rely on in an emergency." Greg explained. "As for the spear, it seems that today is the day to see if all that endurance training will pay off when I attempt to untap its full potential and use it to free Mantis from his curse."
"This Aika sounds like a really strong person, Greg-san. You must really admire her." Tot said to him as he nodded to her.
"That's true, Tot. She's one of the toughest hand to hand combat specialists that I've come across and if you're not prepared, she could very well take even people like Garland by surprise, and that includes when she's NOT using her Ultranate form." Greg emphasized.
"I see…well, it sounds like there's another intriguing person in Greg's life that we'd like to meet soon, at least after all of this mess is done with. She certainly sounds like a really cool person." Riku said to Greg. "You seem to have a lot of buddies outside of FOXHOUND we don't know about that you've probably helped and they also seemed to return the favor, Greg."
"You could be right about that, but I could say the same about you and your buddies, Riku." Greg replied to him as Riku smiled to himself while thinking of what Greg just told him.
(I really wonder just what this Aika person is like that Greg talked about who helped him with the strength of his nanomachines and what their relationship is like?) Riku thought to himself. (From the sounds of it, I wonder…could she be another agent like Najica and Lila?)
"By the way, Greg…do you have any idea on what could happen if your Ascension manages to achieve its final and complete form?" Nagi asked him as Greg shook his head.
"To tell the honest truth, no, I don't." Greg replied seriously. "I'm a bit scared of even knowing myself, Nagi, but I know that I can trust Nanvel's technology on this one since she too worked on it. I'll just have to put everybody's faith into it that things will go smoothly ahead."
"Hey, you guys, look sharp." Rio called out to the group. "We're finally getting close to the bottom of this place."
"Okay, everyone, prepare yourselves. He's been waiting for us this whole time, so he may have some kind of trap prepared for us." Riku said to the group as he drew out a kunai.
"We got you, Drakken." Nagi said to him as the group walked cautiously to the large double steel door that was opened for them, hissing steam can be seen coming out of the room behind it.
"Nagi-kun?" Tot stood closer to Nagi as he nodded to her.
"It will be okay, Tot. I promise that I will keep on protecting you through this and our friends as well." Nagi told her as she nodded back.
"I know and I will do the same too for you and Riku as well." Tot said to him. "Greg-san, Rio-san…we can depend on you guys, right?"
"Of course, kid. We got your backs like always." Rio gave her a thumb up and a smile. "Ready to rumble, Greg?'
"Yeah, let's do this." Greg said solemnly as the group stepped into the hall like room, the walls covered with monitors, wires, and steel pipes. As the group walked in, they stopped as they saw Mantis meditating with his weapon next to him.
"So, you've come after all, Gregory Matthews." Mantis said without looking at them at first. "To think that you made the foolish decision to chase after me only to die…why didn't you just run away?"
"I came here today to find some answers, Mantis. But not only for that…" Greg stepped forward with Ascension in hand. "We came to free you from the curse that Reese has placed on you. We're not leaving here until that happens."
"My, that sounds so amusing and chivalrous. I should commend you for earlier when you were able to break the spell I had placed on Yuina, though." Mantis said as he stood up. "You should realize by now that your own power is only partially what the Human Modification Project should have accomplished all those years ago before they were shut down."
Greg remained silent as Mantis turned to face the group.
"No words this time? You should know very well why your father gave his very legacy to his son in desperation because the enemy wanted the power for themselves." Mantis said as he raised his arm. "But it won't matter just how capable your powers are against the new form of emulate power…you along with your friends will fall before me."
"What is the Patriots intention for the biodroid data, Mantis?" Rio asked him.
"Well, it's not that hard to figure out. This data will change the tides of warfare for years to come." Mantis said to her. "Once the Patriots are able to perfectly manipulate the technology that Seraph provided me, a new breed of soldier can be made."
"And they made you the first subject to prove that?" Riku asked him.
"But of course, isn't it fitting enough?" Mantis asked him as Greg raised his Ascension at him.
"I don't know what Reese exactly did to fill you in on what happened to me from long ago, but we'll get to the bottom of it eventually." Greg said seriously. "Now, Mantis, are you going ahead on fighting us or will you surrender?"
"Giving up before the real battle begins doesn't suit me at all. I did say I will test this new power on all of you, even if you are relying on the failed test subject to aid you in this fight." Mantis said to the group.
(Even with our numbers…we don't bother him at all?) Nagi thought seriously as the group stood to face him firmly as he pointed his weapon at them.
"I see that you all are eager to die." Mantis said to the group coldly. "But before I can pass judgment on all of you, I want you to tell me why risk your lives to face me today. Is it all really worth the trouble?"
"Isn't it obvious by now?" Rio stepped forward first. "It's to put a stop to your rampage before anybody else gets hurt and to set things straight. But while coming down here, I realized something else…no, all of us may have caught onto something about why we're standing in front of you right now."
"That you are also being used by the same enemy that wants control of me and Yuina and I really can't blame or hate you for that." Greg inputted. "Sure, Reese may have betrayed you too, but it's not too late to rectify for what he forced you to do, Mantis. Please, reconsider this and cease this battle…we don't need to fight you."
"I know it must have been hard for you to be a part of this world who rejects you, psychics like us are indeed outcasts, but that gives us no reason to hate the world for that." Nagi spoke. "Maybe it is natural for everyone else to hate us because of the simple reason of not understanding us. Even so, there are still a few people able to look past that and accept us."
"Even you realized it before just you died, Mantis. That this world still needs psychics like you help those who were unfortunate." Riku said seriously. "Is your hate for everyone who you thought may have detested you in the past much stronger than your will to help others after knowing the feeling that you had realized of what it feels like helping someone?"
"Which is why we're all here to make sure that you remember the last moment you had from Shadow Moses, even if that means hurting you." Tot said as she prepared her Muramasa. "We're going to give it everything we've got until you yield to your memories, Mantis."
"Do you all think that you can easily undo what cannot be undone?" Mantis asked as Greg took out his Ascension and held it.
"Whether or not you now have the emulate ability doesn't change the fact that our strength can still outmatch yours once we put our resolve into the fight, Mantis. I've got a job to do and I intend to get it done right." Greg said to him.
"In other words, you'd better be ready for a serious beat-down from here on out. We won't be pulling any punches." Rio warned him as Mantis laughed.
"My, you children sure are entertaining to an extent. Still, to see that you're set to stop me for your reasons are valid enough reasons for me to test your so called resolves." Mantis said as he swung his scythe like weapon that created a strong gust at the group, who remained unfazed by this.
Battle theme: Boss Battle theme from Final Fantasy XII.
"So, to see if you can prove your worth, I too won't hold back this power as well. I'll show you all this power of the biodroid and just how strong MY resolve is!" Mantis spoke as he rose higher. "Show me…your true strengths!"
"Here he comes!" Greg shouted as Mantis hurled a dark sphere at the group, that crashed into the metallic floor on the spot they were just on, creating a medium sized crater.
"Whoa, talk about intense." Rio said after seeing how that attack missed her by just a hair.
"We should be more careful." Tot replied to her as the blonde nodded to her idea. Taking out her Muramasa, she executed her Water Snake attack that sent a rush of moisture in the air around Mantis in the form of a snake at him.
"Futile!" Mantis called out, simply dispersing the snake as it dissolved in front of him, only to send a gravitational force back at her that pushed her back a few feet.
"Alright, have a taste of this as well…Dragon Strike!" Riku cried out from his position, as he charged at Mantis with a flame-enveloped fist. However, what he thought he hit wasn't his intended target, but a barrier put around Mantis' body.
"I already saw that attack coming, little boy. Let's see how you can outlast through my defense." Mantis spoke, as he raised his scythe over Riku's head.
Suddenly stopping mid way in his attack, Riku recovered and used his 'Shadow Step', using his chakra to teleport a short distance from Mantis' position and was already behind him away from the direction of the swung scythe. The young ninja then shifted to his next attack.
"Double Dragon Strike!" Riku said as he added onto his previous attack, now attacking with two, flame engulfed fists at the same time in an attempt to break through Mantis' shield. However, the reflective effect that it had only made Riku's attack just as impervious as before.
"Do you insist on using the same, boring technique twice?" Mantis asked as he turned to the side to see Rio aiming her hand gun and firing at Mantis with a couple of rounds, while Nagi was covering her fire by charging a psychic energy attack.
"Psyche Shot Plus!" Nagi shouted, firing his psychic ball of energy, while Rio's handgun bullets were sent at Mantis' direction. Simply raising an arm, the bullets stopped in front of Mantis and fell to the ground while Nagi's energy attack bounced off Mantis' shield.
"Hmph, this is a sorry excuse for a fight. Are you trying to buy time for your dear friend, who's plotting a way to try and break through my mighty defense?" Mantis said, as if he predicted the plan, Greg suddenly leaped from behind him, his two gauntlet equipped fists in a haymaker style over Manti's head.
"Heaven's Hammer!" Greg shouted as his two fists suddenly missed Mantis as he dashed out of Greg's path while he smashed the spot he was just standing on. After creating a crater after slamming into the ground below him, Greg stopped his advance as he thought to himself what Mantis would pull next.
(Did he just teleport?) Greg thought to himself as he suddenly felt Mantis right behind his back. Without waiting any longer, Greg countered with a reversal attack using a low, sweeping kick while his back was turned.
"Red Haze." Greg lowered his body in time and tried to sweep Mantis of his balance, but failed to do so as the older psychic deflected his kick and raised him off his feet.
"Greg!" Rio cried out, taking out a small flash grenade that she was keeping. After disposing the pin, she threw it at Mantis as Greg used his telekinetic powers to guide the grenade to Mantis's face as it exploded, breaking his concentration for a few moments, throwing Greg to the ground.
"Arrrgh!" Greg groaned as he fell back, almost knocking himself out while Mantis spoke as his scythe began to cover itself in flames.
"You children still have ways of learning how to face the likes of me." Mantis said as he pointed his weapon at Greg and the group. "I'll show you how to properly use psychic powers…like this!"
Before Greg realized it, he was pushed out of the way by Nagi's psychic power as Mantis hurled a huge psychic ball, now that it was covered in pryokinetic energy, hot enough that it almost covered the radius that he, Nagi, and Tot were just standing. The pair was quick enough to move in time before Mantis threw his fiery sphere at the group.
"Be careful, that was a powerful attack." Tot said as she recovered quickly from the extremely powerful move Mantis just executed.
"You watch out, too!" Nagi called out to her as well while Greg was back again on his feet and Mantis was preparing another charged psychic attack.
"So, Mantis is able to produce flames like that as well…" Greg asked as Rio called out to him from behind.
"Frontline, stay focused!" Rio cried out as Greg suddenly dashed in after she managed to evade the attack in time by cart-wheeling while in mid-air and landing on her feet firmly on the platform.
"Sorry." Greg replied to her as he clenched his fists. "Why aren't our attacks getting through to him? Is it because of that barrier he has?"
"It has to be it, or else he wouldn't be able to defend himself so well." Riku replied to him. "The only way we're going to have to get through his strong defense…"
"…is to penetrate that barrier in some way or the other." Nagi finished. "I think I've got something in mind on how to do it, but it's rather risky…"
"Nagi-kun, don't even think of trying that technique again. Remember the last time you did that, you almost died because you couldn't fully control it the first time and everyone's lives were in danger." Tot said to him as Nagi knew what she meant by it and understood, while Greg and Rio didn't just yet.
"I have to agree with Usagi on this one, Crow. It's best that you forget trying out that attack against Mantis, considering that he can turn it back right at us if you don't know what you're doing." Riku said seriously.
"Well, whatever Nagi is forbidden to do at a time like this may sound right for his sake, how are we going to break Mantis' shield still?" Rio asked as Greg suggested something.
"How about we try to flank him with a variation of different attacks while I'll help Nagi concentrate one of his attacks to getting that job done?" Greg asked. "All I need is some time to cast a couple of enhancement nanomachines unto his Sneaking Suit to double his energy for only a short length of time."
"Can you really do that?" Nagi asked him.
"Yeah, my nanomachines can also work as an enhancement for defensive and offensive support capabilities for not just my own Suit, but fellow FOXHOUND recruits as well once it has sufficient energy left in them." Greg said as he turned to Riku. "You're okay with that for now, Drakken?"
"Sounds like a plan, I'm all for it." Riku replied to him. "Alright, Rio, Tot, will you assist me on this one?"
"Sure thing, I got your back." Rio said as Tot nodded to her leader.
"I'll see what I can do to get an opening so you can land an attack, Drakken." Tot said as Mantis raised his scythe once more at the group. "Here he comes again!"
"Are you all done chatting? I so want to finish this fight as soon as possible, so no idle talk amongst yourselves. All your planning is useless against me." Mantis said as Greg and Nagi went on one side of the room while Riku, Tot and Rio went to the opposite direction. Tot prepared another katana attack, but added a little something to the mix…
"Rabbit's Feet!" Tot cried out, taking out the Kuchibashio (Beak King) madogu from her side and throwing it at Mantis'.
"What the…?" Mantis was almost caught by this attack as Tot then proceeded to cut at him with her Muramasa. While the beak-like head had barely missed Mantis, the move that the psychic made to dodge it put him in range of Tot's next attack.
"Rabbit's Tail!" She shouted, pulling out her sword and then slashed at Mantis in a vertical, then in an upward slash. However, all that her blade struck was air as he teleported out of the way once more and was already inches from her body as he sent a devastating punch into her stomach.
"Guuuhh…" Tot cried out, as she spat out some blood from her mouth, before Mantis knocked her over using the psychic power accompanied by his fist.
"Nanami!" Nagi cried out as he saw Tot staggered to stand up. "Hang on a little longer!"
"Hey, is she going to be alright?" Greg asked Nagi, worried for her.
"Don't worry, she's a strong girl. I know…" Nagi replied to him, though the look on his face showed that he was still concerned about her. "Just do what you're able to do so we can make it out of this."
"Alright, but I'll still need some more time…" Greg muttered as he kept concentrating his nanos into his right gauntlet, getting some of them ready for the transfer.
Meanwhile, Riku and Rio were using the slight chance Tot gave them to attack Mantis as well as the shield was down for only a moment.
"Scorching Touch!" Riku grabbed Mantis by the right arm and with the fireball in his hand, proceeded to set his enemy's arm on fire before he could notice it. Riku then spun around himself, igniting fire on Mantis chest area.
"Now, Rio, it's your turn!" Riku said, before Mantis discharged a close range energy shot at his chest area, sending him flying some feet away from him. "Arrrgh!"
"Damn it! Riku!" Rio shouted as she then quickly took out her gun and fired several shots at Mantis while he was stunned by Riku's flame. She then threw another stun grenade in front of him, as she then charged at him with a ready melee.
"I can see you!" Mantis cried out as Rio suddenly dashed away from Mantis's counter attack. Rio used her Anti-Strike move to deflect the blow with her tonfar and even managed to regain her stance as she pressed on at Mantis.
"Spin Strike!" Rio attacked, using a left thrust of her spinning tonfar, switching it to her right fist while still attacking the dazed Mantis, then ending it with a turning thrust below the belt. She then ran towards a wall and ran up a couple of feet up. She was setting herself to perform a next move.
"Fatal Drop!" Rio first kicked Mantis to the side with an aerial kick, then while on the wall, she suddenly leaped off it and tackled him down to the floor with an elbow rush attack.
Rio was about to make another attack when suddenly a wave of psycho kinesis struck her in the face, followed by another wave that struck her once more and sent her flying back when she suddenly stopped in mid air and was held in place by Mantis' power.
"You actually managed to land a hit, well done." Mantis said in congratulatory tone. "And now here is your reward!"
With a harsh cry Mantis built up a large amount of flames around his scythe and then swung it towards Rio, sending a river of fire streaming at her.
"Sensei!" Greg almost broke away, but Nagi grasped his arm tightly.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine." He said.
Just then, Rio suddenly had vanished from where she had been held just before there was an explosion of fire as the attack seemed to hit something.
As the smoke began to clear, Mantis searched to find his enemies as he could tell what had happened.
(That ninja stepped in at the last minute and saved that Kinezono woman.) He thought to himself. (Still, that was a foolish decision. I can tell that boy was hit by my attack and should therefore be wounded.)
Mantis' thoughts were interrupted as he felt something approaching, and then with a simple swing of his scythe, deflected a Fuuma shuriken that was spinning right at him. Then half a dozen smaller throwing star shuriken followed, spinning out through the smoke, they were coming from the same direction as the first.
"Fool, giving your position away so easily!" Mantis shouted as he swatted the blades aside with his scythes and then came towards Riku, who he could now see in the clearing smoke.
Riku quickly drew a kunai out and then ran towards the incoming Mantis.
"To face me head on, you're either brave or stupid." Mantis said as he prepared to attack but stopped as he heard the sound of something being struck behind him. Sensing something coming at him from behind, and too quick for him to dodge it, Mantis quickly whirled around to deflect it with his scythe, at the same time putting a barrier around himself.
Just as his scythe hit the incoming object, there was a loud 'BOOM' and though Mantis' barrier protected him from the explosion, it did not protect his sight from the intense burst of multicolored light that blinded him.
That temporary blindness brought down Mantis' barrier once again, but he could immediately sense the incoming attackers and using his powers of remote viewing to see his enemies, brought his scythe up in a defensive position, stopping the descending blade of Tot's Muramasa, and quickly put up a smaller barrier to stop Riku's incoming attack.
"Nice try, but even if you get rid of my sight, my powers as a psychic can make a more than efficient substitute." Mantis said triumphantly as he felt his sight starting to return to him.
"Too bad it can't see everything." Riku smirked. "What you just hit with your scythe was a firework made by yours truly, a Hanabishi Family Special Number 6. Except this particular one was infused with my chakra, the chakra of a flame wielder."
Though his vision was still a little blurry, Mantis noticed something about Riku that surprised him. Riku showed absolutely no signs of injury from the previous attack.
"You, you're not-!" Mantis began but stopped as he realized what was behind Riku's words, but it was too late.
Mantis then felt something strange coming from his scythe and he turned to see flames reemerge around it, but these flames were not acting on his command. Tot, did not seem to be affected by the flames, in fact steam seemed to be emanating from her katana's blade.
Before Mantis could get away from the two of them, Riku and Tot completed a special double technique they had invented a while ago with their teammates from the team Riku, Nagi and Tot had formed during their time away from FOXHOUND over a year ago, Uruha Ryu.
"Futatsutomoe: Level 2: Mist Serpent!" The two of them shouted at the same time.
Suddenly, a large snake-like shaped apparition composed entirely of what looked like mist seemed to erupt from out of Tot's Muramasa. As it coiled down from the scythe and to Mantis' arm, Riku and Tot quickly broke away from their opponent.
Almost as soon as the apparition touched him, Mantis let out a cry of pain as it coiled around his arm. The reason for this being that the serpent was not made of mist like it appeared to be, but scalding hot steam instead. Mantis then focused and then used a powerful burst of psychic energy to blast the serpent apart as it raised its head to try to bite him.
"It worked!" Tot said as she and Riku retreated so that they would be out of range of a counterattack, Rio had done the same while they had attacked Mantis.
"Yeah, though it took a little longer to produce without Alice around to make sure our movements were better timed." Riku replied with a light grin.
"Well, we at least bought Nagi-kun and Greg-san enough time." Tot said.
Mantis' arm was still smarting from the pain, but he bore it so as not to risk losing his grip on his weapon.
(It seems I underestimated them a little...using those shuriken as a diversion that ninja threw a firework past me and had his friend knock it back at me, probably with the flat of her sword. They must have been counting on my sensing its approach and deflecting it with my scythe, which that ninja must have guessed had enough heat from the flame to set it off. Clever in a childish way, but not good enough.) He thought to himself. (I won't make that mistake again, especially now that I know fire doesn't seem to affect the ninja, and this wound is nothing.)
Meanwhile, Nagi looked over at Greg, feeling he had to advise him.
"Greg, listen, though I won't be using that forbidden technique, there's still a chance my power might do something…unexpected." Nagi said. "If that happens, take cover…"
"Right, I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Nagi. Thanks for the warning." Greg said as he raised his hand over Nagi's chest area. "Okay, I'm just about ready to transfer some of the nanos onto your suit…you have a good half a minute's time, so we're counting on you to get it done within that time."
"And leave it to the two of us to cover you." Riku spoke, indicating himself and Tot.
"While Greggie and I will be ready to make our move once your attack is complete." Rio said.
"Alright, let's begin, are you ready, Greg?" Riku asked as he raised his right hand slightly in preparation for Greg's answer as he and Tot were going to use that as a signal.
"Yes." Greg nodded.
"Then, start the transfer." Riku said and then quickly drew a symbol in the air with his right hand. "Saiha!"
The curved fire blade appeared at Riku's right forearm just before he and Tot suddenly vanished.
"So it's begun." Mantis said as he prepared for the incoming attack. "I don't know what that one is planning, but it will not work."
Suddenly both Riku and Tot seemed to appear right in below where he was levitated and then both launched themselves at him with their blades ready.
Mantis quickly parried Riku's strike and with his scythe's blade and barely had time to block Tot's downward slash at him. Before he could make a counter attack, Mantis had to defend again as Tot and Riku suddenly whirled around and executed a double slash at him in almost perfect unison.
(They really must be desperate to pull this off!) Mantis thought, surprised at the sudden burst of speed in how the two were attacking him and how well coordinated their attacks had become. They were attacking him at a rate too quick for him to make a solid counterattack, at least one that would not require too much energy. (Those two must realize if I use an attack too powerful, I risk making myself vulnerable to an attack from their allies.)
Meanwhile, Greg was just about to complete transferring the nanos over to Nagi.
"Alright, just a few more seconds, bear with me on this one, Nagi." Greg said.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Rio asked, looking at Nagi. "If that guy figures us out, we're all in trouble."
Nagi gave a confident smile.
"Don't worry, I trust the both of them." He said simply.
"It's done." Greg said. "Now, let's see what you've got, Nagi."
The young psychic immediately felt the effects of the transfer as he could feel the sudden rush of energy that the nanomachines were giving him as they raced through his suit. Nagi could even feel the psychic energy within him rising.
"Alright, get ready!" Nagi shouted and held out his right hand, causing a blue ball of psychic energy about the size of a marble appear in the palm of his hand and it quickly grew to the size of a basketball. It was then that the sphere began to pulsate, causing Nagi flinch slightly.
(Got to keep the energy confined to this size.) Nagi thought to himself. (If the sphere gets too big, I won't be able to perform this attack right.)
Mantis, however, had seen what they were doing.
(So that was their plan, humph, how utterly predictable.) He thought. (Now I don't have to worry…)
"I've had enough of you!" Mantis shouted as he used his psycho kinesis to grab Riku and Tot in mid air and then executed a powerful 360-degree slash that cut into the both of them and sent them flying back and crashing into the wall. It was just then that he heard Nagi's voice and had to act quickly.
"Psyche-!" Nagi began, preparing to launch the ball of pulsating psychic energy, now carrying a great deal more power in it than a normal version of it thanks to the nanos that were flowing through his suit.
"You're too slow, boy!" Mantis shouted as he fired a large beam of his own psychic energy at Nagi, Greg, and Rio.
However, before the beam reached them, Rio and Greg suddenly jumped away from Nagi, who suddenly vanished.
"What?!?" Mantis exclaimed in surprise as the beam hit nothing but air and the floor below.
Suddenly, Nagi seemed to appear right in front of him, supported by Riku, the ball of energy still in his right hand.
"Good luck, partner!" Riku shouted as he let go of Nagi and dropped down to the floor below, landing smoothly on his feet.
Nagi remained where he was since he was now levitating due to his telekinesis, which had been strengthened by the nanomachines Greg had given him.
Mantis quickly tried to put up a barrier between him and Nagi despite their close proximity, but the young psychic simply shattered it as it was forming thanks to the enhancement on his powers. Knowing he only had a few more seconds left, Nagi completed the attack.
"Shot!" Nagi finished, thrusting out his right arm as the ball struck its target in the chest area.
"AAARRRGGHH!!!" Mantis cried out as he was struck by the attack and then the ball exploded.
Riku, who had retreated so he wouldn't be caught in the blast, saw Nagi being sent flying back by the explosion, unhurt because he had put a barrier around himself up in time.
"He's all yours, Nanami!" Riku called out to Tot, who quickly jumped out from where she had concealed herself and caught Nagi before he hit the ground.
"Alright, Greggie, it's your turn!" Rio shouted.
"I got it!" Greg said in reply as he charged a now weakened Mantis, preparing to execute his attack. "Panther Cut!"
"What the…?" Mantis looked on in shock as Greg was close enough to deliver a knock back psychic shockwave from his nano fist at close range. The attack was registered on target as a bright flash was seen from the impact area from where Greg landed his attack.
"I'm not finished yet!" Greg shouted, leaping at a short distance towards Mantis as he executed a rising uppercut with his fist. "Spiked Crescent!"
Once more, the attack landed on Mantis's armour, as it started to crack due to the impact of the hit. Mantis staggered back to see Greg staring at him with his fists put up.
"I can't believe it. Did he just land a hit on Mantis?" Riku exclaimed as Rio's eyes widened in anticipation.
"It's more effective now, because of the damage my Nagi-kun did earlier." Tot said with a brief but proud smile as she gave her boyfriend, who she was still holding onto, a hug, causing the said psychic to blush furiously.
"N-nanami, now isn't exactly the time…" Nagi stammered nervously.
"Oh, okay…" Tot said as she reluctantly let go of Nagi. "I guess we'll get back to this later since we still need to fight Mantis, huh?"
"You've got that right; it looks like this fight isn't over yet." Riku said in agreement as he readied Saiha's blade.
Rio looked at them briefly as she was impressed that the strategy had worked.
(Riku and Tot created two clones of themselves and put them in their place without Mantis noticing them, by hiding their performance of the jutsus by making it look like they were taking a fighting position.) Rio noted. (Riku then concealed himself behind Greg, and Tot behind me while sending their copies to attack Mantis, and once everything was ready and Nagi made his attack, Riku grabbed Nagi while we were scattering and carried him over to Mantis so that he could hit him point blank while Tot positioned herself to rescue Nagi…to think they were able to do all that to give us an opening. Those three really are used to fighting as a team.)
After seeing what the group was able to do, Mantis started to laugh at them.
"Ha ha ha! To think that you managed to penetrate my armour, I must commend your ability to work as a team like this." Mantis said as he stood upright. "But, I must disappoint you…it will not stay like this forever, now that I will have to kill each of you before you become more of a hindrance!"
Sensing that Mantis was getting stronger due to the group's previous success of breaking his barrier, Greg kept a brave face and readied himself for a possible counter attack as Mantis rushed him and with a single swing of his scythe, created a telekinetic wave of energy at Greg, who dashed back in time, only to have the upper right shoulder area of his suit damaged, partially revealing his now exposed chest and back.
"Greg!" Rio called out as Greg called back to her.
"I'm okay!" Greg replied to her, seeing that he wasn't severely injured by the attack. (Got to be more careful, he's increasing his pace since he knows that once his armor's broken, he won't be able to put up a defense like before any longer. I've got to keep pressing my attacks until it's time to use the Ascension in its final form.)
"Everybody, just a little more and we will be able to get through to him!" Greg shouted to his comrades to encourage them a little after finally seeing a weakness through Mantis's barrier. "Believe me, we can do this!"
Rio looked on at her surrogate son in surprise to his reaction as she saw him
(Alright, just a little more, Greg…) Rio thought as she braced herself for the attack once more.
"Don't get your hopes up, woman! Just because you managed to penetrate my shield, you won't be so fortunate when I do this!" Mantis shouted, swinging his scythe in a 180 degree radius, creating a wave of searing heat at the group. However, the group was ready for this as Greg used his psychic power to leap over the wave by creating a barrier below his feet to propel himself over the wave and near Mantis' open area.
"Cloud Nine!" Greg said as he lifted his knees and was well over the wave Mantis created, while Nagi had already created a barrier to protect his partners and Rio from the wave.
"How did you…?" Mantis exclaimed as Greg executed a roundhouse kick at Mantis' chest area before spinning his body to gain some distance away as he took out his Ascension and using his psychic power, hurled it upwards in an arc causing it to stun Mantis using charged electrical energy.
"Rain Cutter!" Greg said as the Ascension managed to penetrate the emulate armor Mantis was wearing more of. Pieces of the armor began to crack open and fall off as a result of the attack.
"Yeah, go! Go!" Rio cheered him on. "Greggie, you can do it!"
Spurred by Rio's cheerleading, Greg pressed on as he then went for Mantis' abdomen with a series of focused punches followed by an uppercut that was delivered by a palm blow to Mantis' chin. The mask that was reinforced by the emulate power began to crack as well.
Mantis countered as he sent his scythe flying down at Greg's direction as he rolled to the side in time and made a mad dash for his Ascension which landed on the ground behind Mantis after he executed his previous attack.
"Your insolence is growing tiring!" Mantis shouted as Greg put up his Ascension in time to block it from another incoming scythe attack, catching Mantis in mid air. Pushing Mantis away, Greg plunged his lance into the ground he was standing on, causing the it to shoot a shockwave of a large fire ball while Mantis dashed back away from danger and used his psycho kinesis to create an electrical charge through it while Greg rushed at Mantis through the flames and Mantis did the same by charging his scythe and meeting the end of Greg's Ascension with electrical energy, causing a large spark on impact as they clashed.
"Why, Mantis?" Greg grunted as he fought against Mantis's strength. "Why did you allow yourself to be a puppet for Reese?"
"Why should I answer your questions, when you all are just as good as dead?" Mantis remarked. The two met face to face as their weapons grinded sparks of energy when they clashed. It was turning out to be a true battle between psychics.
"I'm not finishing this fight without getting some answers from you!" Greg let go of his Ascension on purpose and spun his leg to perform a spinning back kick at Mantis who recovered in time and regained his balance. "Stop this senseless fighting now!"
"My, my...you're still willing to fight me knowing what waits in your future?" Mantis smirked. "You can never beat me, Kinezono...I have powers that exceeded even MY greatest imagination!"
Rio, Riku, Nagi, and Tot were amazed to see the two of them were almost on the same level on psychic combat because they were able to counter each other like this. After a few seconds, the two psychics pushed each other off as Greg leaped back to meet his group while Mantis was pushed to his side.
"Damnit…this is getting us nowhere." Greg panted as he stood up. "He's resisting more than ever. We've got to break his will to fight somehow."
"I think Greg's right; we're not sure how much longer we can keep this up if he decides to pull out all the stops on us now." Riku said as Greg decided it was finally time for the trump card.
"Alright, I guess since there's no guarantee on how things will turn out…I'm about to use the Ascension as it was meant to be." Greg said solemnly as he held up his lance weapon and onto the middle of the hilt as he chanted the command for his nanomachines to activate their Charge Drive ability.
"Charge Drive Activation…Oh, Cursed Guardian Flame, grant this blade's might with the divine light of judgment and retribution and bless it with the power to deliver redemption unto thy wielder's souls." Greg said as the nanomachines from the gauntlets began to seep over the Ascension, covering it entirely before it started to vibrate violently.
Taking both of his hands, Greg started to hold onto the awakened spear as his nanomachines began to change it into its true form.
"What's with this resonation of energy?" Greg muttered as his eyes widened, seeing the Ascension come apart into two, separate pieces as he was forced to hold one of them with his left hand. His whole body began to vibrate as if he was fighting an overwhelming force within himself.
"Greg!" Rio called out as Greg shouted back to her.
"I'm okay! It's think…it's trying to…" Greg spoke, before a burst of bright light emerged from the point where his Ascension was and his hands joined. "Wait, this is…!"
"Fool, what parlor tricks are you up to now?" Mantis asked as the light between him and the group disappeared. Rio opened her eyes to see Greg kneeling on his right knee, panting heavily.
"Greg…" Rio muttered at the sight before her as Greg called out to her.
"What is it, sensei?" Greg asked as he glanced at her and the group. "Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, we're okay, Greg. But the big question is, are YOU?" Rio asked, almost stunned as Greg had no idea what she was talking about.
"What are you talking about?" Greg asked her. "You guys are looking at me as if you've seen a ghost or something…"
"You…you baka! Take a good look at yourself and see why we're looking at you like that!" Rio pointed, as her arm was shaking. Greg slowly realized what she meant and almost gave himself a heart attack when he finally looked at himself.
"What…in…the…hell…just happened?" Greg asked as he saw that he was holding not just one, but a pair of the now complete Ascension, which were both transfigured by his powered nanomachines. The upper hilt areas of the two were decorated by wing like fragments and the blade areas of the lances were emitting a glowing and pulsating current through them.
"So this is the Ascension's complete and final form, but why is it in two pieces?" Greg asked himself heard Rio call out from behind.
"Oh, sweet fuzzy, hell yeah!" Rio shouted. "Greg, you actually did it! You really did make the Ascension complete!"
"Rio, if you're going to find time to compliment Greg being able to do something like that, we should be concentrating on finishing this battle with Mantis." Riku reminded her, as Rio nervously chuckled.
"Ah, gomen, sorry about that, Riku." Rio bowed to him. "But, still…I always told you that you were a badass, Greg, you shouldn't deny that!"
"And I told you before that I'm not! I only got lucky!" Greg shouted back at her as he felt something warm emerge from within his chest area. (Wait a second…why does my entire body feel hotter than before? Can this be related to my memories as well? Or is this what happens when both of myself and Violent Greg are finally put together?)
"Are you children done playing masquerading?" Mantis asked as the group rejoined Greg in his altered state. "I'd like to finish this fight and kill you all so I can keep up with my schedule."
"Well, as much as I want to say it will be helpful that Greg managed to get into this state, we're still no match for Mantis." Nagi said in a low tone.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean that I'll just leave you guys out at an opportunity such as this. Now that the Ascension's complete, I can freely do this…." Greg said, raising one of the Ascension above him with his right arm.
"Greg, what is it that you have in mind?" Riku asked him as Greg replied by chanting one of his commands.
"Charge Drive Activation …oh, Guardian Flame, shower upon my closest comrades who have supported me throughout the trials for this day, the needed strength and blessings for the battle ahead." Greg said as he spun the Ascension before planting into it the ground below him. "Kai…Best Ally!"
To everyone surprise, a glowing energy can be seen around their feet's area, small particles of green and yellow nanomachines from Greg's transformed Ascension were seen flowing into Rio's, Riku, Nagi and Tot's Sneaking Suits.
"What…what is this feeling? It tickles all over." Rio asked as she looked at herself as Greg stood up firmly.
"I gave everyone one of you guys a sufficient amount of my nanomachines that will enhance most of your healing properties and augment some of your battle abilities from now on until this fight is over." Greg said to Rio and the others, causing them to smile at each other at the good news.
(This guy…just what kind of a psychic is he?) Nagi thought to himself.
(I wish I could say, but whatever he just did, it seemed to just help everybody out big time.) Riku thought. (I'm feeling a little better than before, more like re-energized.)
(Riku's right. Some of my wounds don't even hurt any more.) Tot replied in thought.
"Hmm, what an interesting ability you've shown." Mantis remarked with amusement. "But it's still not enough to save you."
"Are you ready to finish this, Mantis?" Greg asked him seriously as Mantis beckoned the group once more.
"Fine, Gregory Kinezono. Come here. I'll make it all stop." Psycho Mantis said with a taunting tone. He then pressed his hand to his scythe like weapon, causing it to stiffen up before twisting itself around until its form had changed into a Lance as well.
Battle theme: Kata Tsubasa no TenshiAdvent: One Winged Angel fromFinal Fantasy 7: Advent Children.
Mantis charged at the group, even faster than before can saw him coming. By reaction, Greg lifted his left arm and defended himself from the attack in time.
"We can still do it! We can still beat you and we'll prove it!" Rio shouted, thrusting her tonfars at Mantis, as the emulate integrated psychic countered by deflecting her blow.
"Is that so? Then...prove yourselves!" Mantis shouted, swinging his own Lance at the blonde. The blonde police woman evaded the attack by swaying to her side, but...
"Damnation!" One of Mantis' scythes came to life and performed a 180 degrees cut that caught Rio off guard and almost sliced her chest if she didn't swayed faster than before. Fortunately for her, she didn't even get scratched from the deadly range attack from Mantis's scythe.
"That was almost too close for comfort…" Rio said as she regained her composure, but before she could recognize what was going to happen next, Mantis had moved away from his previous position and was coming at Rio once more. Trying to defend the incoming attack, Rio saw Mantis destroying one of her tonfars as he used his psychokinetic power to break it in half.
"Useless!" Mantis taunted, as he seemed to have spilt into two copies of himself and charged at Rio. She easily attacked one of them, and it dissipated into thin air, while the real Mantis came close to ambushing her from the decoy.
"Shit! At this rate…" Rio exclaimed as he closed in on her, until Riku dived in from above their position and threw a flaming kunai at Mantis to distract him as it flew between him and Rio, buying her time to evade any attacks from Mantis who was above her now.
"Such tricks won't work on me this time around." Mantis said but stopped as he suddenly realized something. Looking below for an instant, he could see both Greg and Nagi with open palms targeted at Mantis while the complete Ascension, which was a pair now, near Greg's feet.
"Okay, just like we planned, Nagi!" Greg shouted as Nagi replied with a nod. "Mom, shield your eyes!"
"I've got it!" Nagi shouted as he focused his psychic power to cast a barrier around Rio's body while Greg focused his own power to cause the kunai to burst into a bright explosion that temporarily blinded Mantis.
"I warned you about doing the same thing twice. You are making this battle rather tedious, Kinezono!" Mantis said, but something was different this time.
FWWOOSH!
A spiral of red flame accompanied by the wind surrounding Mantis was seen heading towards him as Greg had already used the Ascension to execute his Crimson Gale attack and sent it towards Mantis.
"Did we get him?" Rio asked as only to further her disappointment, Mantis waved off the flames that Greg created easily, but not without showing a portion of his armor damaged from the attack.
"Dammit! Just what is this guy made out of?" Rio grunted. "But we just can't give up now, can we?"
"Of course not, Rio." Riku replied as Mantis came at Greg once more, who deflected the incoming scythe attack with the left half of his Lance while he used his right Ascension to thrust at Mantis who moved his body to the side from the attack.
"Have at you!" Mantis shouted, firing a close ranged shot of psycho kinetic energy at Greg's abdomen, which sent him flying back a few feet. Using the twin Ascension, Greg thrust them into the ground to stop him from flying back any further.
Feeling stunned from the attack, Greg felt as if his body were on fire now from the inside. He then began to wonder if it was from the previous attack that Mantis had just used on him or if it was the reaction that he was getting from the use of his powers.
(I'll worry about that later; right now, I've got to take care of this wound.) Greg thought as he remembered the herbal medicine that Riku had made and given to him from before that and took out a vial from his inventory since it was the only one of its kind that he had left.
"Riku, cover me while I deal with this wound, will you?" Greg called out as he began to apply some of it around the area Mantis just hit him with.
"All right, I'm on it." Riku replied as he prepared one of the remaining kunai shuriken he had left. "Dragon Fang!"
Riku then disappeared in a flurry of cherry blossoms, which then headed towards Mantis in an attempt to confuse him.
"I can see through your tricks!" Mantis shouted, but before he could register Riku's position, Rio intercepted by throwing a special electromagnetic pulse bomb near Mantis' body that Nanvel had created a while back, which she had been keeping in reserve. "What the…?"
"Didn't see that one coming, huh?" Rio asked with a confident grin. "It was after what my Greggie did before when he rescued Yuina and Seraph and what I remembered of what biodroids were about that I figured it out…they were simply just like normal computers. I'd hoped that this bomb should slow down your emulate capabilities a little and I was glad that I was prepared to have at least one of these with me."
"Why you…!" Mantis shouted and noticed Rio was right on about the bomb's effects as he felt the emulate power drop slightly by the second, disabling some of his newfound power. "No! It's not possible!"
"I see what Rio-san's talking about now." Tot caught on as Nagi nodded to her. "As long as Mantis won't be able to access the biodroid powers, he's only got his psychic powers to depend on from now on."
"Yeah, we should be grateful that she was able to help us in taking out a power boost for Mantis like this." Nagi said. "Now this fight's gotten a bit easier on our part. We might just have a chance now."
"Don't be so sure of yourselves just yet!" Mantis growled but then realized that he had now forgotten about Riku from before. (No, that blonde managed to distract my focus on the ninja from before!)
Suddenly reappearing near Mantis, Riku had already charged something in the palm of his right had with chakra energy, flames and wind to form a whirling sphere combining the three together. Riku then placed the swirling red orb near Mantis' chest area and executed one of his Overdrive attacks.
"Sky Dragon Demon!" Riku called out as the ball tore and then exploded into the armor on Mantis' chest. That attack managed to obliterate the armor completely, exposing Mantis' chest.
"Gaaaahhh!" Mantis was sent hurling back away as Riku panted for breath from executing the attack.
"Riku, are you okay?" Rio called out to him as he nodded.
"I'll be fine, that was one of my least life threatening ninjutsu techniques anyway." Riku replied to her. "Mantis should be fine as well from that since I used the non lethal version of this technique, but it was mostly thanks to you that I was able to get the chance to land the attack the moment he was open thanks to that bomb you threw at him."
"Ah, it was nothing. Glad I could be of some help, especially after I saw you guys were doing rather well yourselves." Rio rubbed her nose, feeling proud as she looked across to where Mantis was, only to look on in shock as she saw him stagger up on his feet.
"This isn't good…everyone be careful. It doesn't look like he's finished yet!" Nagi called out in warning as Mantis stood up, looking tired, but also very angry as well.
"Damn, now he looks really pissed." Rio muttered as she saw Greg taking up the Ascension once more as he was finishing patching the wounds he had recently received up. "What now, Greggie?"
"He's getting close to his limit. Still, we can't allow him to use any of his more powerful attacks as he is now or we're all done for." Greg said as suddenly, he felt the ground shake under him. "What the…?"
"Is it an earthquake?" Tot asked, holding onto Nagi for support as he answered.
"No way…this is Mantis' doing. Just look at him…" Nagi said seriously as Mantis started to hold unto his head and cry out in pain as everything around them began to shake violently.
"ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" Mantis cried out in agony as swayed his body to the sides. "Stay…stay away from me! I don't want this…I won't let you interfere with my mind, Reese! Leave my memories alone!"
Greg and the group looked on in shock as they saw Mantis like this as Greg realized what was happening and started to call out to Mantis much to everyone's surprise.
"That's it, Mantis! You can fight it!" Greg shouted. "You can't allow him to take away that nostalgic feeling that you had before you left this world at Shadow Moses! Take it back! Take back your memories, your true self!"
Confused by Greg's actions, Rio looked on as she thought to herself about her surrogate son and what had become of him.
(Even though I've spent years raising him…that guy…I really don't understand him sometimes.) Rio thought to herself as she saw Greg beginning to walk towards Mantis. (In this situation, just what could he be thinking? The way things are now, we're all as good as dead…we could all die today at Mantis's hands. So…isn't he afraid of dying himself?)
"Mantis, I know it must have been painful…what you had to endure because of what Reese did to you." Greg said as he approached Mantis closer while holding his twin Ascension. "I'm not even sure of how capable I am of freeing you from the curse that was placed on you…but…"
(I see it now…Greggie is the only one…who can see things a bit differently than the rest of us.) Rio said as she smiled a bit. (He's the one who can give his friends and allies the urge to survive, no matter how tough things seem.)
"If you want to truly fight as a psychic in order to be free, then…" Greg raised the Ascension in a ready pose. "Don't fight us as an emulate or a tool for the Patriots, but as the man who truly was known as the only psychic to battle Solid Snake at Shadow Moses, the man who made that name legendary for psychics like myself and Nagi to look upon…fight as the real Psycho Mantis!"
As if Greg's words had an effect on him, the shaking stopped and quieted down as Mantis stopped clutching his head and looked at Greg through his mask. After a bit of silence between the group and himself, Mantis slowly stood upright as he pointed his lance at Greg.
"If that is your wish, Gregory Matthews Kinezono…then I will be able to satisfy your wish now." Mantis said as he opened his palm to open his mask, revealing his face, shocking the group at his appearance.
"Holy mother of…" Rio muttered, covering her mouth as Riku, Nagi, and Tot winced at the sight. Greg gritted his teeth as he gripped onto the twin hilts of his Ascension harder than before.
"Are you ready now, Mantis?" Greg asked as Mantis grinned at him. "Ready to be set free from the curse Reese placed on you?"
"Yes, please do give it your best shot." Mantis replied as he dashed at Greg who deflected a series of attacks with both Ascensions in time. Then, a swirling dark energy formed around Mantis's hands, as he was preparing his energy attack once more.
"Dark Surge!" He released the attack and sent it at Greg's direction. Greg could only watch in the direction it was heading.
(What the hell…?) Greg could not even think of the right words to say as he saw the energy ball split into two and pinned him from both sides just as Mantis waved his arm at Greg. Getting hit from one of them before and at point blank range was bad enough, but to get it from both sides is even worse.
"Greg!" Rio cried out, holding out her handgun to fire at Mantis from a distance while laughter was heard from Mantis as he dashed forward and executed some more of his energy attacks.
"Shattered Soul!" Mantis shouted as he fired dark, surging energy at Greg, which only missed him by inches with each shot. But Mantis was not done yet as he pressed his attacks.
"Abyss Calling!" He shouted spinning at Greg's area, trashing the wall behind Greg with his winged scythe attacks. Still, with the using the complete form of his Ascension combined with the nanomachines on full power, he was able to completely evade most of the damage Mantis inflicted.
"What's the use of struggling, weaklings? You're already dead!" Mantis called out, attempting to stop Greg dead in his tracks, but the younger psychic was much quicker on his feet than before and had dashed out of harm's way.
"Stop running away and fight!" Mantis cried out as Greg stopped on his sprint, only to defend one more strike from his lance with his own.
"That's it! You've got to come at us with your full strength!" Greg shouted as he pushed Mantis away. "That emulate power couldn't have fully been able to be compatible with you if you pushed yourself any longer, but now..."
"Fool, this has always been my true strength!" Mantis said to him. "This is my real chance of living, boy! You can never undo the spell that the Patriots placed on me, so you have no other option but to kill me!"
"Is that what you really want, Mantis?" Greg asked, attacking with a rising thrust from the lance with his right arm. Nearly getting the hit from Greg's dual wielding weapon attack, Psycho Mantis waved Greg's words off.
"Ha, I'm not listening to a child like you...you don't understand anything." Mantis said.
"There's still time to change and make amends, all you have to do is just let us help you." Greg said as he opened his right hand. "You brought this on yourself and only you can undo the damage you've caused, Mantis."
"Silence! You shall all suffer under my Damnation!" Mantis called out his attack, but Greg had already shifted his attack posture and dashed away from Mantis and was already at his right side.
"I can start to sense the Mantis that Snake fought all those years ago…do you really want to keep going through this, huh, Mantis?" Greg asked him.
"How can you even know about that?" Mantis said, grabbing Greg's collar. "You have little idea about what I had to do just to even keep sane since the Patriots resurrected me! They...they ordered me to do their will, or else they would kill me...I didn't even want to lose that memory I had before they extracted it from me...before they brainwashed me..."
"Mantis..." Nagi said, feeling pity for the man in front of him.
"I understand that, we all do, Mantis. You were forced to do this to begin with." Greg said, wiping some blood that started to leak from his nostrils. "That's why I'll do whatever it will take to break this curse and set things straight…I was hoping to have settled this without resorting to rely on my nanomachines, but now, there's no other choice."
"You're full of weaknesses, dear Gregory…that is why you will lose!" Mantis cried out as Greg was able to kick and free himself from Mantis in time to deflect it with the paired Ascension. He swung it at Greg, but the young psychic swung his right fist and broke through the lance Mantis was holding using his released nanomachines around the gauntlet's areas.
"How did you…?" Mantis shouted as Greg continued to charge at him with clenched fist on the ready.
"Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but today is not the day for me to lose before I can accomplish anything!" Greg shouted as he knocked Mantis back firmly on the ground before taking his Ascension and activated the ability that was infused into his nanomachines.
"Charge Drive Activation, nanomachines at full power." Greg said as the ground area that he was standing on began to tremble under his feet as he planted both of the Ascensions into the ground and commanded his special attack. "Oh, Guardian Flame…Arise and hear the cry of my burning soul! Come forth, hopes of the people, wishes of the dreamers, and guide thy blades to purify the evil before me!"
A stunned Mantis looked up as a rush of surging light surrounding Greg's body coursed through his own as he raised his left arm, as the energy then entered his gauntlets while he took up the Ascension and started to perform a series of slashes at Mantis' body, before raising the two of them over his head and pointing it at Mantis as he finished calling out his technique's name:
"Kinezono Special Technique, born from the awakened memories…Reverse Rebirth!" Greg shouted as he fired a cannon-like wave of light infused psycho kinesis at Mantis' body, pushing him back several feet into the ground and creating a crater where they were standing on.
"Gaaaahhhh!" Mantis cried out, as he fell back from the attack, while Greg staggered himself as he suddenly collapsed in front of the group.
"Did I…overdo it?" Greg muttered as Rio caught him as he fell.
"Greg! Are you okay?" Rio as she was holding unto her shoulder.
"Yeah...just barely..." He muttered. "I think I went a little overboard when I just did that attack…"
"What was it? I don't remember seeing you do anything like that before." Rio said as she noticed that the Ascension had now gotten back to its normal form now. "I see…you can only do that when your nanos are giving the high reading and your weapon's in its complete form, is that it?"
"Yeah, it was how I was able to heal everyone before by using the two in conjunction as well." Greg replied. "Though, I think only once is the limit for now…"
"So, is it finally over?" Riku asked, feeling extremely tired and almost weak from the long fight, but grateful to still be alive, thanks to the teamwork that his partners, Greg and Rio had put in today.
"Yeah...it seems so, hopefully. I can sense no more malice within him, his will to resist any longer is broken." Greg stepped up and kneeled near Mantis's body. "He wanted to be saved from himself, but he couldn't have escaped from this nightmare by himself, a nightmare created by Reese and the Patriots. They were just too powerful, even for him and it had to come to this, just to restore the memories that they took from him."
Slamming his nearly destroyed nano wrist into the ground, tears began to stream out of Greg's eyes as he cried out in agony. "Why, father? Just tell me, why all of this had to happen? Why must the people of this world pay with their lives for the crimes of the corrupt?"
Nagi Naoe was listening to Greg the entire time, as did Tot and Riku. He stepped up closer to the older, defeated psychic.
Nagi sighed and shook his head. "I can't help but feel sorry for Mantis, especially since I sort of have an idea of what he's gone through." Nagi's eyes then hardened in anger. "Reese has got a lot to answer for, doesn't he?"
"Indeed he does." Riku replied grimly with a nod. "And I'm personally going to see to it that it takes him at least a week to do all his answering."
"Let's not forget what happened to Yuina too." Tot added sadly. "That poor girl; I know exactly what she's going through with the loss of her aunt, not to mention having do those things she didn't want to..."
"On second thought, make that two weeks!" Riku said angrily. "I'm sure that I can come up with a way to keep Reese alive for at least that long."
Greg only looked at the three youngsters with a look of seriousness on his face. He wanted to say something to them, but he knew in a way, they were right about one thing...Reese was definitely going to have to pay for the atrocities that had been done to Yuina and Mantis, one way or the other.
"So, is he really dead?" Tot interrupted Greg's train of thought.
"I hope not. Even though I made sure to increase the nanomachines' potency during the fight, I made sure not to overdo it so they wouldn't inflict too much damage on him, and that drop was not too far down, so he should be able to survive." Greg's words stopped, as Mantis' body flinched a little. Everyone close to him stepped back a distance.
A staggering Mantis got up slowly, blood was pouring from his temple. He stared at Greg for a moment before he spoke.
"Well done, Greg..." Mantis smiled at Greg and his group who were in surprise to his change of personality. "You and your friends managed to conquer me even though I had the power of a biodroid. You all…fought with your earnest and strength…it's been so long since I had a good battle like that."
Greg simply shook his head. "Don't say it like that…I myself wasn't too sure about how we could have survived against you….you weren't half bad yourself, Mantis."
"Are you still able to move?" Riku asked as Mantis staggered to stand up as Greg hurried to help him up.
"Yes, I can still move with whatever strength that remains within this body." Mantis said. "Thanks to you and your fellow comrades, Greg, I can feel it now...how nice it felt when I look back to that day when I first helped someone with my powers...you were right, Greg. It truly is an enjoyable feeling that I missed so much, and Reese took it away from me."
"I'm glad you feel like that, but now you need to share something with us..." Greg stood up, fixing himself, even though most of the remaining portions of his Sneaking Suit were now almost covered in nanos that were suddenly dissolving after the transformation he summoned ended after the fight.
"We want to know the truth about what Reese is plotting, as well what the Patriots are also planning." Greg said seriously as he made sure Mantis was comfortable as he rested him on a platform to sit on.
"Greg? Can you trust him? " Rio asked him out of curiosity, but Greg simply looked at her.
"Rio, it's okay. I trust him, since this is what he probably wanted all along." Greg said.
"I trust him too, Rio. Especially since there's a good chance that what he will tell us will be helpful to everyone in FOXHOUND." Riku said to her as Rio stayed silent as Greg started questioning Mantis.
"Okay, Mantis…take your time and start with what you know already." Greg said to him. "First to begin with, what is Reese's game?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Back in the States, Lt. Matthew Reese had just stepped out of an exit of a local news building, when he suddenly stumbled on the sidewalk. A trail of blood then seeped out of his temple when he felt a strong throbbing in his head. He looked up and growled to himself.
(Kinezono...this must be your doing. Damn you!) Reese thought to himself, and then stood up. (No matter though...soon, the world will learn of your secrets and then everyone will be against you at once. And my use for Mantis is already complete. He's no longer useful alive, so I'll send the okay to have him eliminated along with you. I don't care what Dixon says!)
He took up a cell phone and dialed a number. He spoke to the other end, while getting the blood cleaned up.
"This is me. Kinezono's still active." Reese spoke. "Have Mantis killed, and then send the rest of the forces to eliminate Kinezono and his group. Destroy all the evidence, and bury them alive. They won't be able to find Ultimatum and the Guns of the Patriots so easily now."
"They have already seized most of the data, how can you be sure they won't be able to get it to Solid Snake to warn them?" A voice replied on the other end.
"That won't happen. It's about time to start the next phase of the plan anyway." Reese smiled. "Throw them at Greg's direction to divert his allies from getting too much focus on the matter at hand."
"We have already sent a fleet to Kinezono's position. It won't be long before his end will come..." The other end spoke. "He has rebelled enough, but now he has passed this stage of tolerance."
"I agree with you." Reese said. "Time for you to be silenced once and for all, Gregory Kinezono."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"The time for the Patriots to initiate their greatest plan is approaching and as you already know of Reese's involvement with them, it is likely that he has done all of this just to draw you and your comrades away from what is currently happening in Japan." Mantis said.
"I don't get it, what is it that would make them so interested about this country now of all times?" Rio asked.
"It's probably what's going on in Tokyo-3 right now that has something to do with it all, Rio." Riku said.
"The ninja is correct, they suspect that the organization known as SEELE is catching onto their plans for world domination." Mantis said.
"That was the organization that recently fell into the reborn Dead Cell's hands, wasn't it, Greg?" Nagi asked as he nodded silently to him. "Now that I think about it, they probably wanted Dead Cell to slow SEELE down a bit by allowing them to seize control of them for the time being."
"Thus, it gives the Patriots a chance to move ahead with their plans." Greg added. "Tell us how they and Reese found about Seraph and Yuina as well."
"Didn't Seraph tell you all the truth of her origin?" Mantis asked them, as they looked at each other confused.
"She kind of detailed where she came from, but even we don't fully understand everything about her just yet." Rio said as Mantis sighed.
"I see that you all have more to know about the truth of biodroids and how greatly this involves Yuina." Mantis said as he spoke. "Her father was the one who started the project for the development of biodroids called project Eden."
"Yuina's father?!?" Everyone in the group exclaimed in unison as Greg was the first to ask something else.
"Does Yuina herself know about this? Was that why she got involved?" Greg asked Mantis as he replied.
"It appears that she did not know of it this entire time, even though rumors of the project came to Reese and the Patriots' ears only months before this day came." Mantis said as Rio got into serious thinking.
(I think after we get out of this place, we're going to start having to ask Seraph and Yuina what's really going on to save ourselves further headaches.) Rio thought as Greg continued to ask Mantis questions.
"So, the Patriots wanted the biodroid technology for themselves and my guess is that they would have Yuina as a captive to blackmail her father into doing work for them, is that it?" Greg asked.
"Yes, it was one of their intentions from the beginning." Mantis said. "However, now after seeing that Reese has failed on capturing Seraph and Yuina, he would probably be ordered to go after the remaining biodroids that were also spotted under the Patriots surveillance."
"Hold on just a minute here…you just said that there's more of Seraph's kind out there as we speak?" Rio asked, stunned to hear this. "Just how many of them are there?"
"From last I was aware of, a number of eleven." Mantis said, causing the group to stare at each other wide eyed. "One of them fell to this Earth the same time after Seraph's arrival while seven others are yet to be found."
"But that's only seven so far." Riku said. "What about the other three biodroids?"
"They've been on this planet only recently as well, but not as long as Seraph had when she made contact with Yuina." Mantis said as Greg stared at the group.
"What do you think, guys?" Greg asked his comrades.
"I think there's a good chance that Reese won't just stop with Yuina, that's for sure." Riku replied. "If there will be more people who will later be masters for all of the biodroids running around, we'll be having quite a handful of trouble heading our way if we don't find a way to protect or deal with them. We also need to locate them too, and that's definitely going to take time."
"We'll just have to ask Seraph for more details when this is over, I guess." Greg said as he got back to Mantis. "In any case, Yuina's father is in trouble now because Reese endangered his daughter's life and probably will still be in the time to come."
"Most assuredly, but the Patriots will already be moving on with their plans soon…now that Ocelot is close to losing control of his mind and will fall victim to Liquid Snake's spirit." Mantis said. "Listen to me, all of you and listen well, for this is what I see of the future…the Patriots may already have new Metal Gear models being prepared as we speak, enough for a small army. They want to attain enough manpower to create a force to deal with Liquid Ocelot soon to be betrayal."
The group stayed silent as Mantis continued.
"And I must tell you about Solid Snake's fate…he will meet his final days on the battlefield, old, tired, and ragged of his legacy." Mantis said. "Everything you thought will take place to stop the Patriots will not go as foreseen…the Guns of the Patriots are powerful as they stand now and will thrive on in time to come very soon."
"Guns of the Patriots…" Greg muttered silently as he looked at the group and at Mantis in silence.
"Greg, this is so creeping me out." Rio told him. "Does any of it make sense?"
"We've got to believe him, since he knows what could happen in the future, but I'm guessing from what he's told us that we've got quite a fight on our hands later on." Greg said to her as she looked at him silently.
"Miss Kinezono..." Psycho Mantis called out to her. Rio stopped to glare at him.
"First, I must say that I'm sorry that I nearly killed you. Reese was the one who ordered me to partake the order..." Mantis confessed, shocking her. "If by the time your son manages to get out of this alive, I'm sure he'll find a way to make Reese pay for having me go through such indescribable nature. And I must also say how strong you've trained him to be...he's worthy to be your son indeed."
Rio couldn't help but grin at him. "Heh, well...comment appreciated, Mantis."
"I have a suggestion, everyone, if it's alright." Riku spoke, his tone a serious one.
"Go on." Greg said.
"I think we should be heading to an exit right about now." Riku explained. "If Reese has been monitoring all this until Greg just cut off those means when he was fighting Mantis, then I'm sure by now the Patriots know about Mantis' defeat. I seriously doubt they're just going to let us leave here quietly. While we still have time, we should make for an exit before any enemy reinforcements arrive."
"You've got a point there…" Rio agreed.
"The ninja is correct in his assumption." Mantis spoke haltingly. "The Patriots have several more Death Squad soldiers in this base and several squads on standby in the area. It will not be easy to get through all of that."
"It's not like we have much choice though, do we?" Greg said. "Anyway, let's get to the lift and then head to the transport."
Upon reaching the lift and riding it up, the group then began to discuss how they were going to get to the exit.
"Alright then, we'll contact Lilica and see how she and the others have done in getting us a way out of here." Rio said. "After that we'll follow her signal to the outside and wait for Yuji to pick us up."
"True but you've forgotten something, Rio-san." Nagi said. "There's going to be a good amount of space between us and the exit, and as Mantis said, there are still a large number of Death Squad troops in this base."
"Well, we fought through them once, so we can do it again." Rio said confidently.
"Yeah, but there's only six of us counting Mantis, and he's wounded." Riku reminded her. "We'll be carrying him while moving through enemy territory, so we'll be more vulnerable to an attack if we're not careful." Riku then realized something and then turned to Mantis. "Uh…sorry if I'm making this sound like…"
"Do not worry about speaking the truth, young one, I am well aware of my current condition and take no offense." Mantis replied.
"Well, thanks and…once again sorry…" Riku said.
(He sure is surprisingly polite…) Riku thought to himself.
"Anyway, we'll have to move in the right formation so that we can get through this safely, and I believe we should do it this way," He continued. "Rio, you and Greg are to act as Mantis' support during this. One of you will carry Mantis while the other guards the pair. Meanwhile Nagi, Tot, and I will lead the way and guard you all from the front." Riku then paused for a moment before speaking. "Does that sound like a good arrangement?"
"It sounds like it to me." Nagi answered.
"Me too." Tot nodded.
"Well it sounds like a good idea, but…" Rio paused for a moment before continuing. "Isn't that a bit risky for the three of you?"
"She has a point, Riku." Greg agreed. "Are you sure about this?"
"I know that you both mean well, but currently it's the three of us who are in the best of conditions right now." Riku replied.
"Yeah, you both wore yourselves out the most while we were fighting Mantis." Tot pointed out.
"I think we can discuss our conditions later, you guys." Nagi said. "Let's contact Lilica first so we'll have an idea of where we'll be heading."
"Good idea. Hopefully, they should already be out of here before us by now." Riku said as he got contact to Lilica's frequency. "Lilica, are you and the others with you alright?"
"Riku! It's so good to hear your voice after you and the others were gone for a long while, I was worried the whole time." Lilica's face appeared onscreen. "I take it that Greg and you guys got things done with Mantis?"
"Yeah, he did an exceptional job helping him if I do say so myself." Riku said to her. "So, how are things going up there?"
"Maya and the Shinsengumi just cleaned house of the base's security and we're now heading out of one of the emergency exits, I can see the light leading out of here." Lilica said at her end. "You guys can meet us where we'll be waiting for Yuji and the back up, so I'm sending you a map to your Soliton where you'll be able to find us."
"Alright, thanks. We're almost out of here ourselves, so we'll catch up to you shortly." Riku said as he logged off and faced the group. "Okay, I just confirmed that Lilica and the others have already escaped from the base and any further danger, so we should be doing the same ourselves."
"I'm with you on that one, the faster we're out of here, the better." Rio said as she turned to watch Greg. "How about it, Greg, shall we get moving?"
Glancing to Mantis behind him with a serious look, Mantis sensed that he still had some questions to ask him. Lowering his head for a moment, Greg looked up at everyone as he spoke to the group.
"Listen, everyone…I just wanted to thank everyone again for helping me this far, but…I have some more questions I need to ask Mantis and they are rather…confidential ones." Greg said, rubbing his cheek. "Riku, why don't you and your partners take Sensei out of here and go on ahead without me?"
"What are you saying, Greg?" Rio asked as she stepped closer to him. "What's this all of a sudden? Can't it wait until after we're out of here?"
"Sensei…no, Mom, I wish I could do that, but…" Greg stopped as Mantis spoke for him.
"Miss Kinezono, it was I who wanted to speak with him privately one last time." Mantis said to her. "The enemy will not be able to gain if all of us are captured if we do move altogether anyway."
"But…" Rio said as Greg patted her shoulder.
"It will be okay…mom." Greg said to her as he smiled at her. "I will wrap things up here with Mantis before we'll join you guys. Just give us ten minutes to ourselves; I want to clear some things up with him about my past before we move on."
Understanding her son's request, Rio began to shake as she grabbed her surrogate son in an embrace.
"Greg…if anything happens…you have to promise us…come back to us, no matter what!" Rio said as Greg stroked her long, blonde hair.
"I will, you have my word on that, mom." Greg said to her as he looked at Riku. "Riku, Nagi, and Tot…I leave my mother's safety in your hands until Mantis and I will meet you all soon."
"Leave it to us, we won't fail you." Riku told him sternly as he understood that Greg wanted to discuss something private and important with Mantis. "But, Greg…be a good son and obey your mother. You have to come back to everyone; we'll be waiting for you and Mantis."
"Thanks." Greg said as he started to see them get on the transport lift, despite Rio's hesitant movements at first until she joined Riku and his partners. Giving her a silent nod, Rio looked on as the platform moved upwards from the floor they were on, leaving Greg and Mantis by themselves.
"Thanks for saying that when I wasn't able to before, Mantis." Greg said to him as he turned to face him. "Although…you already know that I have my own questions to ask you as I didn't want everyone else who helped me today find out what was really going on, didn't you?"
"Yes, that is the truth, Greg. I want to do it because I know you're the best choice of one to be entrusted with the truth of what is really going to happen soon. Go ahead and ask me what is on your mind..." Mantis asked Greg.
"How much do you know about...Third Impact?" Greg asked reluctantly. He didn't even wanted to remember the memory of seeing it, but he had to find out more about it.
"I am truly sorry for showing you such a horrifying nightmare..." Mantis said apologetically as Greg shook his head.
"So, you have seen it too?" Greg asked him.
"Yes, in one of my future memories." Mantis said. "While the Commander of NERV was still alive..."
"You're referring to Gendou Ikari?" Greg asked.
"From what I learned based on the intelligence gathered from the Patriots network while he was captured by Dead Cell, he had been plotting his own schemes that were contrary to both NERV and the Committee." Mantis spoke. "Are you aware about how he mistreated his son in the past and currently?"
"Based on some of the stories I heard during my brief time in NERV, I can guess their relationship was far from a good one." Greg spoke.
"The Committee had predicted sooner of later, that he would gain the pieces that would become mankind's 'Doomsday Weapon.'" Mantis spoke.
"Did you just say, 'Doomsday Weapon'?" Greg asked in shock.
"He has with him, one of the first Angels, Adam, and the Lance of Longinus...a weapon that will also prove fatal in the hands of the ones using it to initiate the Impact." Mantis said. "The Patriots also know that Evangelion Unit 01 is special in its own way...it's a true offspring of Adam, with a mind of its own."
(That explains the outcome of the last Angel fight…) Greg thought to himself.
"From what I can tell, Third Impact will mean the end, not the evolution of humanity." Mantis said. "Gendou was plotting to use this means in order to control the fate of humanity for his own personal needs."
"Why in the hell would he do that? Is he willing to betray his own organization and the human race as well?" Greg asked. "Is it for some personal gain that he would have wanted to cause the Third Impact?"
"The Patriots wouldn't want this and allowed FOXHOUND and Dead Cell to interfere with Gendou's plan." Mantis spoke. "Since he has served little purpose while he was part of the Committee, they thought it was best that he was taken out of the picture, whichever way that suited them the best."
"But, FOXHOUND had no idea that even Gendou was capable of plotting something like Third Impact to begin with and our enemy was Dead Cell..." Greg stopped to think about it.
"No one else in that group or Philanthropy knew, but Snake himself." Mantis replied.
"Snake knew about this the entire time?" Greg asked, surprised to hear this.
"Yes. An agent of SEELE, Ryoji Kaji handed Snake the data he knew that could help him stop the Impact from happening." Mantis said to him as Greg lowered his stare.
"Kaji? Then that means that he's a spy for the organization that was captured by the enemy!" Greg exclaimed, shaking his head.
"The Patriots thought it was best to distract FOXHOUND and Philanthropy, with the giving away of Arsenal Gear to NERV's possession, Emma Emmerich's return to life, and the capture of SEELE." Mantis said. "During this commotion, they allowed Solidus and his group to seize the Commander, while the officials at NERV were busy thinking what to do about the invasion of the new Omega RAY army and soon SEELE's capture."
"I guess that would explain how Snake didn't want to take any action against Gendou right away...he didn't want to blow his cover..." Greg said solemnly.
"Yes. Gendou was snatched right away before that could happen, and just as how the Patriots predicted, he returned to NERV as a corpse...a payment for his lack of judgment and a perverse sense of command." Mantis spoke. "This was by far the most suitable punishment ever received upon a traitor for the Patriots. Gendou deserved no other chances for retribution, and his death deemed fit enough for one such as him."
(In a way, he had it coming, making those stupid calls, especially on the first day in a while I returned to Japan on that day when the 13th Angel possessed one of their newest Eva units.) Greg thought to himself. "But there's more to this than having Gendou removed, isn't there?"
"Yes, what happened to Gendou is only a prelude to what it is you are to be expecting from the enemy forces in the time to come." Mantis said. "There will also be others who will want to control the Impact as well."
"So there will be others who will take his place?"
"In a way, yes. SEELE has had intentions of controlling the Impact as well. But Dead Cell had betrayed the group and seized control of the facility, thus delaying their plans." Mantis said.
"Wait a minute...Dead Cell was employed under SEELE? For what reason?'
"Yes...until they have managed to seize Arsenal for themselves." Mantis spoke. "SEELE plotted to use Arsenal against NERV, but Solidus found something even better..."
"Are you referring to this Ultimatum Gear that was spoken of?"
"That's right. He felt the sheer power of that weapon, just by mentioning the word. It's a true and perfect hybrid of an Evangelion and Metal Gear, unlike the Omega RAYs...a perfect weapon and also an Ark."
"An Ark...?" Greg asked, having been caught off guard hearing the term.
"It is to house the Patriots and their valuable data from the S3 project." Mantis said.
"Did my father's project part have some connection to all of that as well?"
"Your father's project was to be the next step for super soldier programming, but there was a flaw in the genetic designs. He tried his hardest to find and eliminate the flaw before it was completed, but it was halted despite his protests since he knew the effects. It was part of the Patriots orders as well as those of a former colleague of your father's." Mantis revealed. "Your father's project was for the benefit of the human race, and the Patriots did not want to have any of that brought out in the open like that."
"So he really was betrayed?" Greg asked, now realizing what Mantis told him.
"Yes. But there's much more than to it." Mantis turned his back at Greg before giving him a DVD disk. "You'll understand when you see this…your late father's archives of his work."
"How did you…?" Greg asked as he was stopped by Mantis.
"Neither Reese or the Patriots know that I had this data copied from this facility. I wanted you to only know the truth of your father's work and why he and your family had to die." Mantis said. "Someone is trying to revive the Human Modification Project and it is the very same man your father trusted and respected who in turn betrayed him by being involved in the organizing of the so called terrorist bombing that took your family's lives."
Greg looked on silently in shock as Mantis spoke on.
"The Patriots are currently working on other projects that will involve their control of the world, but not by means of the Impact." Mantis then broke his train of thought as Greg focused on the matter at hand.
"Then, how will they then?" Greg asked as he willingly took the disk and stored it safely. "I thought Ultimatum was the key they needed to fully take over the world once they have access to it…"
"No, there's more to it than just that...there are other potential victims that the Patriots are planning on targeting...that's why..." Mantis began to hold his head with a free hand. "That's why they must be stopped...before they ruin the lives of others before it's too late…"
(The Patriots know eventually that I would share this information with you and have prepared a punishment on my behalf.) He said mentally to Greg.
(Punishment? What does that mean?) Greg asked.
(Yes...my second death.) He simply revealed.
Greg tried not to let the expression of shock show on his face. (And you're just going to accept that, Mantis?)
(They have been keeping watch on my life signs for a period of time now. And they are good in telling which of their operatives will turn on them...just as how they punished Gendou Ikari for his folly, my fate shall be the same.)
(I can't let that happen!) Greg gritted his teeth. (Tell me...what should I do?)
(There's nothing you can do...the implant is close to detonating anytime soon. I'm not sure when my end will come.) Mantis said.
(Damn...what should I do then?) Greg felt deep regret now that after everything that he and his comrades had just been through, Mantis was fated to die at the hands of the enemy and felt his efforts were for nothing. (Can I really not do anything?)
(All I wanted was to finally have my memory back...the one that meant so much before I could have died in peace years ago...) Mantis said. (It was sealed within my mind somewhere, no thanks to the Wiseman's doing...thanks to you and your comrade's assistance in helping me recover it, I can finally be at peace)
(And are you going to just accept that?) Greg asked him in thought as Mantis replied to him.
(My time in this world has already been long past, there's no need for a man like myself to stay here any longer.) Mantis said as Greg gritted his teeth.
(That's so not true! Stop talking nonsense!) Greg replied in thought, surprising Mantis. (You…you have no idea…how badly this world needs people like us more than ever. How can you simply assume that you no longer have any use and just give up your life like that?)
(Gregory…) Mantis said as he noticed Greg trying to fight his own tears.
(There are things as a psychic I don't not fully understand just yet, I may need you to guide me in the future, Mantis.) Greg said to him. (Besides, I'm sure some part of you wants to start making up for the things you did in the past by start helping people, am I right?)
(As true to your words, I do wish to start making up for what pain I've caused to the victims in my past, but I'm afraid I'm not to be allowed that opportunity.) Mantis replied in thought as he grunted in pain while Greg noticed this.
"Mantis? What's wrong?" Greg asked, stepping closer to him.
"They...they have started, Greg..." Mantis started to throw himself around. "They're...going to kill me now..."
"Get a grip, Mantis!" Greg shouted, holding unto him. "It's not too late, just stay calm!"
"No! You must...you must save yourself!" Mantis shouted at Greg. "They...will be coming for you soon...you must escape!"
"What are you talking about?" Greg growled. "I'm not leaving you behind for them to start doing things to your corpse once more!"
"Don't be stubborn!" Mantis said, while holding unto his head. The pain was getting even worse for him as he heard a loud ringing in his head that started to resonate in his skull.
"Dammit, isn't there anything I can do?" Greg cried. "I'm still getting you out of this place no matter what happens..."
Just then, an explosion rocked the ceiling above them. Greg looked and saw slabs of rubble beginning to fall. He quickly used his powers to protect him and Mantis from them.
"Why...are you helping me?" Mantis asked. "Even after all I did to you to make your life miserable?"
"If I need a reason, I'll come up with one later." Greg answered quickly. "For now just rest easy, you're coming with us no matter what."
"Heh...you are a strange, yet good hearted psychic." Mantis smirked to this comment Greg made as the rubble finished falling and Greg proceeded to bring down the barrier and carry Mantis onward.
"Hang on...I'll get you out of here..." Greg said as he can see an exit nearby. "We're almost out of here..."
"Greg...listen to me..." Mantis said, his tone of voice getting deeper and lower. "Yuina...she's all...alone now...you must...she has to..."
"Yeah, I get the picture, Mantis." Greg assured him. "I'll do my best to help the kid out. You've got my word on that."
"That's good to hear, I know you're capable of it." Mantis replied. "And Greg...I have one final request?"
"What is it?" Greg asked, already fearing the worst to come.
"Tell Yuina...that...I'm sorry." He spoke, before his head keeled over while Greg was holding him.
"You can tell her that yourself when we're out of here, Mantis!" Greg panicked, holding Mantis as he fell. "Hey, old man! Don't die on me just yet! We're almost…"
"Ahhh...AHHHHHHHHHH!" Mantis' screams were one of the most horrifying things Greg had ever heard, as he braced for the worst. Suddenly the screams were cut off as Greg heard a loud bang from Mantis's skull, and then his sight was completely obscured by something red. Greg immediately dropped the bleeding body on the ground, as he found himself covered in Mantis' blood and pieces of his skull strewn about over Greg.
"MANTIS!" Greg shouted in horror when the next thing he saw was Mantis dying in front of him. He suddenly caught the body before it hit the floor. "Nooo!"
(G...Greg...) Mantis' voice sounded in his mind as he held up an arm for Greg to hold onto.
"Hang on, Mantis! Please…" Greg fervently asked. (Dammit! Not now! Not to him! How could this happen of all times just as we're so close?)
As Greg tried desperately to think of something, some way to avert the dying psychic's fate, he suddenly felt Mantis' hand grip his own tightly.
(Thank you…) Mantis' voice said in Greg's mind before Greg suddenly felt Mantis' hand go limp and then slip free of his as the psychic looked on in shock and sadness.
"Ah…ahhh….AHHHHHHHH!" Greg cried out as tears flowed from his eyes. "Why?!? Why did this have to happen?!?"
"And so passes Psycho Mantis, the first psychic soldier of FOXHOUND." A voice overhead, above Greg, called out. He laid the body down and looked up with watery eyes. A bright shining light could be seen from the point where the rubble had fallen from.
"He completed his mission and now no longer has any use, and now the same goes for you, Gregory Matthews." A different voice spoke.
Greg clenched his fists and glared up in the direction the voices had come from. Standing in the light were twelve shadowy figures, obviously gazing down at him. There was something strange about these figures in their appearance, as no matter how hard Greg tried to look at them they just appeared to be shadowy human shaped outlines with no distinguishing physical features except that they were different in height and body outline.
"Are you…the Patriots?" Greg asked.
"That is the current name that we are referred to as, yes." One of the voices spoke in affirmation.
"If that's so…" Greg then stared up at the speakers with an expression of outright hatred. "Then you should know that I will not let you get away with Mantis' death!"
Suddenly some of the rubble around Greg floated up before suddenly launching themselves at the figures that had named themselves as the Patriots. The pieces of rubble, however, simply passed through the figures they had been aimed at and crashed into the wall behind them.
"Sorry, but as you can see, these are simply projections…" One of the figures spoke.
"Still that's so like you, Gregory, so quick to lash out at that which causes you pain." The voice replied. "However, unlike Psycho Mantis, it seems you're not as much of a pushover."
"What exactly did you come here for? I doubt you came just to talk to me." Greg shouted back, even though he was actually feeling some fear because he was getting a strange feeling from these twelve figures even if they were projections as they claimed. "If you've come so you can use Mantis again, I'll…"
"You have no need of worrying about defending a corpse, like we have stated, we no longer need Mantis." The first speaker said
"Nor was coming into contact with you our original intention." Another added. "We have our own interests and objectives in this area. The only reason we took this little detour was out of curiosity."
"Curiosity? What do you mean?" Greg asked.
"Mainly in seeing that everything went according to plan, and you, your companions, and all of those you fought from Shade, to the Death Squad, to Yuina Hattori, and finally Mantis…all of you performed your assigned parts beautifully." One of the figures said in tone of voice that almost seemed congratulatory.
"So you mean all of this…Lilica's kidnapping, the death of Yuina's aunt prior to her capture, Seraph's meeting us, our help from Riku and the Shinsengumi, this whole series of battles, and Mantis' death…! Are you saying you people arranged all of it from the start?!?!" Greg shouted half in anger, half in shock as he could not believe all that he and so many had just experienced had been preset.
"In a way, yes." This time the one who had spoken second answered him. "The moment each player arrived, they automatically became inducted into their own specific roles whether they were aware of it or not…"
"Stop talking as if this were some kind of play!!" Greg shouted. "All throughout the course of this, people have died! Some of them weren't even involved in any of this! How could you justify something like that?!?"
"Hmph, a player should stick to his role." One of the figures spoke. "There is no need for you to ask a question with answers that you could not begin to comprehend."
"In any case, we have wasted enough time with you; we have more pressing business to attend to." The first spoke. "Soon the curtain will close on this minor stage…"
"Minor stage?" Greg asked. "What the hell do you mean by that?"
"These events are only small part of it all." The second said, whether if this was in answer to Greg's question or not was unknown. "The necessary steps that will lead to the rising of the curtain of the main stage…which will be Tokyo-3."
"If you manage to survive, that is, perhaps you will be there to witness the final performance." The first one said before all twelve figures shimmered and vanished, leaving Greg standing alone next to the dead body of Psycho Mantis.
Suddenly the area around him began to rock with the sounds of explosions going on close by. Greg immediately knew what was happening.
(They must be starting to destroy this place so there won't be any evidence left of it.) Greg thought and then quickly turned to where Mantis' body lay. Trying not to look at the gruesome way in which the psychic had died, Greg lifted the body and began to carry it towards the way to the exit by resting it on his back.(Mantis, even if I couldn't save you, I'll at least find a place where you can rest in peace…that, I can promise you!)
As Greg walked into the passage way, he heard the sound of smaller explosions nearby along with the sounds of shouts and running feet.
It was the sounds of the troops who had been stationed inside the base, all of them desperately trying to escape as the base was collapsing around them.
(It looks like they don't intend on letting even their own out alive and have me buried along with them as well.) Greg thought as he saw he saw the place crashing down around him. (I hope Rio, Riku, Nagi, Tot, and everyone else who helped me today and were rescued managed to get themselves as far from this deathtrap as soon as possible before this happened. That means that it will be alright for me to try my only option for a quick exit out of this place…)
Activating his Codec, Greg accessed his Sneaking Suits power module as the computer voice read the current information of nanomachines that he had stored now.
"You currently have…30 percent of power remaining in your suit." The module's voice replied. "Your body nanomachines current reading is over 40 percent remaining."
"Transfer all of the suit and body's nanomachines energy into my right arm. I will need sufficient energy to make a make shift tunnel out of here." Greg said to the module as a red warning signal flashed on the screen.
"Warning…confirmation of this command will greatly endanger the wearer's life readings." The module said. "Is this your final acceptance code?"
"Yes, I accept! Get it over and done with quickly!" Greg shouted, bracing himself for the excruciating pain to come as the nanos started to leak over various parts of his suit and lose power.
"Gaaaahhhhh!" Greg cried out, yet struggled to hold onto Mantis's body. Suddenly feeling all of his strength leave his body and through his right arm in pain, he then felt an uncontrollable surge of energy being formed in his right arm.
"I will…make it out of this place! I will make it through this and stay alive for my friend's and family's sake, both my old and new ones!" Greg muttered as he took out his grenade launcher from his inventory which was loaded with four grenades left and aimed it at the wall in front of him. "Isn't that what you told me to do, mother? Now, watch me, your son, keep his word to you!"
Shutting his eyes, Greg clenched his grip on the launcher as he pulled the trigger while the crumbling walls around him caved in on him and Mantis's corpse…
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"GREG!" Rio shouted outside of the crumbling building, just several meters alongside with the rest of the group who had all gotten out safely about thirteen minutes ago, when the first set of explosions started to go off and it was too dangerous for them to remain in the passageway where they had been waiting for Greg to finish speaking with Mantis. Fortunately, they had all managed to escape, with the exception of Greg, who had stayed behind.
For a moment most of the members were considering rushing back in to try to rescue Greg and Mantis but an explosion that blew through the passageway they had just come out of and causing it to collapse, brought an end to that idea.
"Greg…was he…?" Riku could only shake his head as he tried to deny the possibility that his friend had been caught inside the tunnel as it collapsed.
"No...This can't be happening..." Lilica fell on her knees and started to sob. "He promised he that would come back to us!"
"I'm not leaving this place until I see my Greg come out of there!" Rio stomped her feet in anger, and then made as if to run back towards the collapsed tunnel, but was stopped as Maya put her hand on her shoulder.
"Rio...just...just calm down, okay?" Maya sadly spoke; having to fight back her tears but no longer couldn't anymore. "I know that you don't want to hear this and neither do I, but it doesn't look like Greg was able to make it out in time."
Rio only stood where she was as Maya's words sunk in and then collapsed onto her knees and started to punch the ground in frustration as tears fell from her eyes. "Noooo...not my Greggie...not my son! He just can't! After all we went through together and today...?"
As Rio's head met the ground and she began to sob, Lilica walked over to Rio and then knelt down and hugged her friend in an attempt to console her.
"Riku, you don't think that…?" Tot began, and Riku shook his head.
"I don't know…" Riku answered his head lowering for a moment but then it went back up as his expression became a determined one. "I don't know, but I'm not going to let it end like this." Riku then turned to Nagi. "We should return to the mansion as soon as we can and then get Alice and come back here. She should be able to locate Greg and we can dig him out if we have to."
"Yeah, that's probably our only option at the moment." Nagi said in agreement, and then turned to Tot. "Nanami…"
"Okay, I'll tell Rio-san, Maya-san, and Lilica-san so we can get going so we can get some help." Tot nodded and went over to where Rio, Lilica, and Maya were.
"I'll go and tell Pei-san and the others, then." Riku said and turned to where Pei, Dee, and Kanashii were. They were standing near Seraph, who was supporting a still unconscious Yuina Hattori.
(Man, this mission has…) Riku sighed to himself, but Tot's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Nagi-kun! Riku! Everyone! Look!" Tot shouted, causing the group's attention to turn in the direction Tot was pointing in.
"Is that…?" Nagi began as he and the others saw the rubble that had blocked the passage during the cave in give away before suddenly being pushed out from the tunnel by a bright blast of light. After a few moments, a figure then came out of it.
Rio looked up and through watery eyes, she gasped in shock. A small smile crept up on her face.
She and everyone else could see a person, who looked like he was using a long pole to keep himself standing, but even then he seemed to be dragging his footsteps, the reason being that he was carrying something with him over his shoulder. The person who had emerged from the collapsed tunnel was heavily covered in blood, a great deal of it on his left arm, and his face covered in dirt that had been caked up in blood from his wounds. The clothing that he was wearing was tattered, and he revealed a multitude of wounds on his body, many of which he had received in battle.
"GREG!" Rio leaped up and ran over Greg, who obviously had enough battles for one day. As if in a daze, he groggily looked up at the group of people running towards him and he smiled a bit to himself, but the fatigue caught up. He couldn't carry Mantis's corpse anymore, nor could he walk any further. He carefully laid the body on the ground before he made a couple more steps towards his friends.
As he did so, Greg tripped and began to fall forward. As this was happening, the nano arm now rendered useless as a result of the intense battle and getting through the collapsed tunnel, simply crumbled off the joint where it was attached to the natural joint of Greg's real arm and it fell to the ground. Greg felt the fingers of his other arm let go of the lance as he was falling, but before he could hit the ground he felt himself land into the arms of a crying Rio.
"Greg!" Rio exclaimed, her tears falling on his face as she laid him down on her lap. "Greggie...are you okay?"
The injured psychic opened his left eye to look at Rio's face. Despite the pain and weariness that he felt, Greg managed to say something to her, but his tone of voice was weak.
"Hi, Mom." Greg said. "I did it...didn't I? I beat Mantis...I tried to...save him...but the Patriots...they..." Greg paused as he didn't want to remember Mantis' death right then before continuing. "After that…there were explosions and the place started to collapse around me…I tried to follow, but the tunnel caved in and…"
"It's alright, man, you made it out and that's all that matters." Riku said to Greg in a reassuring manner, glad to see his friend still alive. "But your arm…what happened to it?"
"The nanomachines..." Greg stuttered as he chuckled deliriously. "I must have used them all up to protect...Mantis, and get ourselves...out of there..."
"Oh, Greg..." Rio cried, while holding onto her son. "Hang on! We're going to a place where we'll take good care of you! You just have to hang in there!"
"M...mom...it hurts. It hurts so much…" Greg muttered, as Rio held his face. "Please…do this one favor for me…before…"
"Don't you even dare say what I think you're about to say! You're going to get through this! I won't forgive you if you die before I do!" Rio shouted at him, and then paused to calm down before hesitantly continuing. "What is it that you want?"
"Mantis..." Greg turned his head and looked at Mantis' corpse. "I...want...to you to get him...a good...resting place...so no one can ever disturb him again. Never..."
"I promise you, Greg. He'll get a good burial, you can be sure of that." Rio stated. "Now, stay with me…you're going to be fixed up real good."
"That's good to hear...I'd liked that…to stay with you and everyone else from Warrior as a real family from now on." Greg flinched a bit. "Dammit...all the strength's gone out of me...I've never been this tired before…why does my body feel like this?"
"Don't speak, Greg. Try to save your strength." Riku said to him as Greg grimaced. The ninja then took out a case if what appeared to be a kind of lotion. "Okay, I'm going to apply some of this to his injuries so he doesn't lose anymore blood as this lotion will help it clot, after that…"
Riku's voice came too late as suddenly, the few remaining pieces of the nano arm still stuck to Greg's arm crumbled off and blood immediately began to rush out from the joint.
"Oh no…" Riku gritted his teeth at the sight while Tot looked away from it.
"No, don't give up yet." Rio shook her head as she took off his cloak and started to wrap it around the bleeding area where his artificial arm used to be. "If we can stop his arm from bleeding, he just might survive!"
"Wait Rio, before you do that." Riku then took out a vial and poured all of its contents out all over the cloak. "Now wrap it around the wound; this stuff will help slow the bleeding down." He then turned to Maya. "Maya, you, Lilica, and Pei-san hold Greg down as that stuff is going to sting him for a bit." He then handed the jar to Dee. "Dee-san, when he calms down a bit, start applying this to Greg's wounds, but start with the major ones first since I don't think I have enough of it in that jar."
Riku then took out some bandages.
"I'll put these around that cloak just in case, now let's do this." He said firmly.
Almost as soon as the cloak was applied, Greg started screaming in pain and began to thrash around, but Maya, Lilica, and Pei were able to hold him down as the cloak was firmly wrapped around the wound to his arm. Riku then proceeded to tie the bandages around the cloak, while Dee began applying the lotion to Greg's other wounds.
Gradually, Greg's struggling ceased as he calmed down. Then his head tilted over towards Rio as he collapsed into unconsciousness. Rio panicked as she began to shake him. "Hey! Greg! GREG!"
"CALM DOWN!" Dee shouted, causing Rio to stop. "If you do that, his wounds could get worse."
"Oh…" Rio's eyes widened as she realized this. "I…I'm sorry, I…"
"Rio, no one's blaming you, anyone would get hysterical like that in this situation." Maya said.
"So, is he going to be alright?" Nagi asked.
"As long as we get him some serious medical attention, he should be." Riku answered. He then turned to Rio who nodded and she proceeded to get on the Codec, connecting with Yuji.
"Rio, what is it?" Yuji Naruo asked. "Did you guys managed to escape in time?"
"Yeah, everyone was able to get out in time and we're out of danger for now, but we need you to come and get us out of here and take us to the Uruha mansion ASAP!" Rio demanded. "Greg's in need of medical attention, so please hurry!"
"Okay, Rio, just activate your Warrior locator and I'll be able to find you guys." He replied seriously. "Want me to get Maki and Nanvel?"
"No, just tell them to meet us there as well and have them bring Nastasha as well." Rio replied.
"Roger, I'll have one of the people from the Uruha mansion contact Kurei to go pick them up and bring them over. You guys just hang in there, I'll be there shortly." Yuji replied before he logged out
Rio picked up Greg with Lilica's help and had some of the Shinsengumi pick up Mantis's corpse.
(Hang on, Greg!) Rio thought to herself. (Don't you dare die on me now! You still have so many things to do and live for! Don't give up so easily!)
"We need to get these stupid things off of him so it will be easier to move him around." Rio said as she began to press on the buttons for the locks on the Nan-Bracers that Greg was still wearing on his left arm and his feet. Since the nano machines that had made up his nanoarm had already dissolved into the ground they were on, the remains of his right arm was free of the restraints, but after Rio was able to get the bracers off his hand, a ghastly sight greeted her and those standing next to her observing this.
"What in the hell…?" Maya muttered in shock as Lilica gasped, almost on the verge of tears. The inside of the gauntlets were smeared in blood that was caused by the multiple lacerations, rashes, and calluses that were almost covering the entirety of his left hand and legs.
"No way…did Greg fight using those things from the beginning, knowing all along that he was in pain?" Nagi said as Tot covered her mouth.
Riku took a look at the wounds and cursed himself for not being better prepared as he no longer had any medicines that could deal with these wounds.
Turning to the side, Rio gritted her teeth as she was getting impatient after seeing the wounds on Greg's limbs now.
"Dammit! How much longer do we have to stay around till Yuji gets here?" Rio exclaimed, still holding unto an unconscious Greg. Lilica was beside him as well, helping Rio keeping him in place.
"Just hang on, Greg!" Lilica exclaimed to Greg, who was still unconscious from his loss of strength. His eyes were closed, as if he had gone into a deep sleep.
"Come on, Greg...don't die on us..." Maya held the only hand he had remaining, which was his natural left hand and held onto it despite the wounds on it. "He's been through too much...haven't the Patriots done enough damage already?"
Just from above several meters away, Nagi Naoe suddenly saw an approaching emergency helicopter, large enough to carry supplies and a large number of people along with it.
"That must be Yuji..." Nagi spoke to himself. "I guess we don't really need a signal to let him know that we're waiting here."
"It looks like this is where you were." A man's voice spoke, causing everyone to turn to see four men, who Riku, Nagi, and Tot recognized instantly.
"Sensei, Aniki, Raiha, Joker!" Riku called out to them as he, Nagi, and Tot walked over to them. All three were glad to see them.
"I had a feeling back up would be sent, but I wasn't expecting you guys." Riku was smiling in relief.
"Well, both Dad, Uncle Recca, and the others had a feeling that things were going to be hectic here so we made sure to send the best we could." Kenshin replied to his cousin. "We were riding with Yuji-san and got off a little earlier in order to find you all just in case you wouldn't be able to signal him."
"And so here you guys are." Tot finished. "It's a real relief to see you guys, you know."
"So how are things at the mansion?" Riku asked.
"They're waiting for your arrival plus Oboro-dono, Yanagi-dono, and Serina-dono are prepared to deal with any injuries you all may have suffered during the course of this." Gennosuke then looked over and noticed Greg and the condition he was in. "And it looks like we were correct to do so."
"Man does he look bad…" Joker commented as he saw Greg's condition.
"Well, let's get Greg onto a stretcher and get going." Lilica said.
"We can't go just yet." Raiha spoke and turned to look in the direction of Yuji's chopper. "I don't know if your friend noticed but there were several enemy troops below us who were observing that chopper while we were headed here."
"Why did they just let you guys in?" Rio asked.
"Probably because they knew that this was to rescue all of you and so they figured it would be easier just to wait until we tried to leave and then shoot us down." Kenshin answered. "That way, if you did survive your ordeal, they'd have an easier time finishing you off."
"So what do we do?" Maya asked. "We can't fight our way through with Greg like this."
"That is where we come in." Gennosuke said. "The four of us will go ahead of you and eliminate every squad that is waiting for you. As soon as we have given you the go ahead, take off and head for the mansion."
"But…" Maya said.
"You needn't worry about these four; I can tell they're exceptionally strong." Pei spoke and looked at Riku and co. "Isn't that right?"
"That's true, especially since…" Nagi began.
"Look out, Nagi-kun!" Tot exclaimed, as she pushed him aside and took out her Muramasa to deflect a bullet that came at them from behind. Nagi stood up and to everyone's shock, another group of the Death Squad troops was escaping from the rubble of the falling underground base and heading towards the group.
"Riku, it looks like there are more of them!" Nagi shouted to his partner.
Riku looked over his shoulder and the group of Death Squad members coming at them from behind.
"Shit, not these guys again at a time like this!" Rio exclaimed, holding onto Greg's body still. "Don't they ever give up?"
"I don't believe this…Just how many of these guys did Reese send?" He suddenly got an idea and turned to Rio. "Rio, I'm going to try something to get these guys off our backs so we can get everyone of you guys to safety."
"What exactly are you planning?" Rio asked suspiciously Gennosuke spoke to him.
"You're going to use 'that' dragon aren't you, Riku?" He asked seriously as Riku nodded. "Are you sure that you can?"
"Don't worry, what I'm about to do won't be too dangerous for me, Gennosuke-sensei." Riku assured him. "You guys just concentrate on clearing the way for us."
"Alright, if you are certain that you will be fine." Gennosuke nodded as he trusted his student's judgment and then turned to Kenshin, Raiha, and Joker. "Alright, let's get going."
"See you all at the mansion." Joker grinned confidently as he and his three companions suddenly seemed to vanish into thin air.
Riku then turned to face the group as only Nagi and Tot knew what he was about to do.
"Everyone I'm going to use an ability of mine to cover you while you get to Yuji's chopper." Riku explained and then his expression grew very serious. "Now no matter what happens do not, I repeat DO NOT to look back in this direction once I get him to attack. I can control him to an extent, but with the amount of people I'm giving him to take out; he might go into a bit of a frenzy."
Riku then turned and headed in the direction of the incoming Death Squad troops.
"Hey, wait a minute, what exactly are you...?" Rio called after him but was interrupted as Riku lit a flame on the tip of his index finger and drew a kanji symbol in the air, this one different from the previous one.
"Setsuna!" He shouted, calling out the dragon's name. As soon as he called, a long and serpent like creature made entirely of fire immediately emerged from Riku's body and charged towards the enemy. Its head ended in a reptilian looking head, except there were no signs of eyes on it.
The dragon, instead of charging into the soldiers, reared up and looked down at them. As it did, a single large eye in a vertical position began to open in the middle of its head. When it had opened, that eye stared straight into the eyes of the troops below it.
"SHUUNEN!" A loud and ominous voice spoke, coming from the dragon.
The soldiers unfortunate enough to look into that eye suddenly all burst into flame.
Rio, having taken heed of Riku's warning had not seen what had transpired and neither had the others, though they could hear the dying screams of the soldiers as they burst into flames, and started to shout to the others. "Everyone! Follow in my direction and just don't look back! We've got to get Greg, Yuina, and Seraph to safety until Yuji gets here!"
Without hesitation, the group wasted no time in escaping from the emerging group of troops, many of which, upon emerging from the tunnel looked up to see the dragon and its eye and were instantly incinerated. Those that did not look and as a result weren't burned were met with sharp kunai thrown by Riku that pierced through their helmets. After Riku saw that no more soldiers were coming out of the tunnel, he then proceeded to make a gesture causing the dragon to snarl at him, but it then proceeded to vanish, returning to the area Riku had called it out from. Satisfied, he then made to join the others under a tree where Rio was tending to some of Greg's wounds.
(It looks I was able to control Setsuna this time, so it looks like my training has been paying off.) Riku thought to himself and then suddenly sensed movement in the distance behind him and then proceeded to whirl around, sending a throwing star shuriken in the direction of the movement he had sensed.
Riku looked just in time to see a cypher explode as the shuriken hit it.
(A cypher, huh?) He thought. (Well there's no time to have a look and see who may have sent it, I'm just glad it isn't watching anymore…)
"What was that?" Dee Starling asked Riku as he rejoined the group as she could not believe what she and her partners from the female Shinsengumi group had just seen.
"One of my trump cards, or perhaps I should call it one of my 'last resorts'..." Riku answered, panting to catch his breath as he had used up quite a bit of chakra for that. "I figured that that would be the best way to buy you guys some time...And to better answer your question that was Setsuna, one of the eight dragons that reside within me and my father. This one has no sense of sight whatsoever with the exception of that one eye and anyone who looks into it, enemy or ally…well, it's kind of obvious. That's why I warned you all to look the other way, it was to make sure that eye didn't look in your direction or else Setsuna would have gladly burnt you guys up along with those soldiers. Unlike the other dragons, that one enjoys killing more than anything."
"And you said that what you had planned wasn't too dangerous..." Rio shook her head, as she watched Yuji's helicopter get closer to the ground. "...but thanks anyway for it since none of us can really keep our asses covered after spending out our strength like today. Let's just hope that's the last we ever see of those persistent troops."
Just then, they overheard a noise of an approaching chopper as Lilica looked up to see Yuji's copter coming closer to where they are.
Yuji's helicopter proceeded to land several kilometers from the outskirts of the city of old Tokyo. He was shocked to see where the group was waiting for him; it was near the offshore areas around the sunken bays just off the city. He could see a long rising, trail of smoke and ash, which clearly indicated where Rio and company should be.
After he made his landing, he stepped out and saw everyone with tired and sad looks on their faces. But he seemed to lighten up when he saw Lilica Ebett with them.
"Lilica!" Yuji shouted, running to her and the group. He hugged the young girl in a way that a desperate and worried relative would in this situation. "It's good to see that you're alright!"
"Glad to be, Yuji." Lilica smiled at Yuji. "But we can't hang around here too much...Greg's seriously hurt!
He then looked around and met Rio Kinezono and Maya Jingu. Rio was holding onto an unconscious Greg, his body wearing many scars and wounds from the battles that he had endured while he and the group had been trying to rescue Lilica and Yuina.
"Jesus Christ! What happened to him, Rio?" Yuji exclaimed in shock when he saw Greg. "Rio, is he going to be okay?"
"Just barely..." She muttered sadly. "His breathing is weak, and he's losing a lot of blood... he really gave it his all today. He even said that he used up all of his nanomachines to help us as well as to protect Mantis and escape with him..."
"But, how has he managed to survive till now without them?" Maya asked frantically.
"How should I know...I've never seen Greg push his body before like he did today..." Rio spoke. "In any case, only Nanvel and Riku's family can help him now."
"What about Naomi? She has to know what happened to Greg or she will sooner or later. " Maya asked.
"She's going to have a headache when she hears about this..." Rio said. "It's best she doesn't know about it until things cool down and Greg recovers."
"Alright, whatever you say, Rio." Maya said. "Anyway, we can't stick around much longer before more of those guys show up. We'd better get going to the Uruha mansion and get Greg patched up."
"We can't forget Mantis's corpse too." Lilica said. "Greg said we have to get it to a place where he can rest in peace and that no one can ever come to desecrate his grave."
"I can help you guys with that." Riku stepped forward. "I'll discuss it when we get to the mansion, but for now, we should all be out of here before more of the Patriots goons come after us as Maya said."
"I agree." Yuji said, opening the large door of the helicopter. "There should be enough room for everyone. Get in and prepare for takeoff."
"Wait, we still need to wait until Gennosuke-sensei and the others…" Riku was interrupted by a series of incoming codec transmissions.
"This is Kenshin; I've cleared things on my end." Kenshin reported.
"Raiha reporting, I've eliminated all enemies within my vicinity." Raiha said.
"Joker here, all clear." Joker called in.
"This is Gennosuke, I've taken care of the enemy over here and I've received a notice from Kenshin, Raiha, and Joker." Gennosuke reported. "Everything is clear for you and your team to depart, Riku."
"Should we pick you guys up on the way, Sensei?" Riku asked.
"Don't worry about us; we have our own way out on the way to pick us up as we speak." Gennosuke answered.
"Maybe you'll get lucky and pass each other by, Riku." Kenshin mentioned with a knowing smile.
"Who is it?" Riku asked.
"Now, now, we can't just spoil the surprise." Joker replied. "Anyway, just concentrate on getting to the mansion."
"Of course." Riku then ended the transmission and turned to Rio. "They said the coast is clear, so we can go."
"Well, you heard him, Yuji." Rio said. "Let's get going."
"You don't have to tell me twice." Yuji said as he started the chopper to lift up off the ground and within a minute it was airborne and heading in the direction of the Uruha Mansion.
After some time in the air, everyone began to relax as they now fully realized that they had managed to make it out of the base alive. Rio, Maya, and Lilica however were all at Greg's side with Rio still holding onto Greg's left hand.
"Just hang in there, Greg, soon we'll get you to someplace where you can recover and then everything will be alright." Rio said in an assuring tone to an unconscious Greg, but there was also a hint of desperation in her voice as she was still worried about her foster son's condition.
Riku, Nagi, and Tot looked over at the three of them. Riku looked like he wanted to say something, but he then stopped, having decided not to.
"Well, it looks like we managed to get out of this." Riku then turned to look at his two partners. "How are you two holding up?"
"To be honest, thanks to that one technique Greg used earlier with his nanomachines, we're not really that hurt anymore." Nagi said with a sigh of relief. "Just a bit weary, to tell you the truth."
"I know what you mean; I'm definitely going to rest up once I get the chance." Riku said in agreement.
"I see your point too." Tot agreed. "A nice shower and a rest in a soft and comfy bed will make things feel all better."
"And I bet Nagi will be joining you for both of those." Riku commented with a smile.
WHAM!
Riku was now rubbing his head from the joined impact of Tot's harisen and Nagi's fist to his head.
"I was just kidding…" Riku said.
"You may be right about the second thing, but no more ecchi comments about Nagi-kun and me!" Tot said firmly as she pointed her harisen at Riku.
"Nanami…" Nagi blushed furiously at Tot's innocent admittance.
"Did I say something wrong, Nagi-kun?" Tot blinked in confusion as she paused to ponder what she could have said that was wrong.
"Nanami, it's just that if you say something out of context like that…" Nagi wasn't entirely sure how to explain this.
Meanwhile, Pei, Dee, and Kanashii, who had been watching the three partners talk, couldn't help but laugh at their antics.
"You three certainly are an interesting team." Pei commented to Riku, Nagi, and Tot with an amused smile.
"Especially since you get along so well too." Kanashii added.
Their recent conversation now forgotten, the three then began talking with the Shinsengumi.
"Well, it looks like you three are doing fine." Riku commented.
"Yeah, though it's been one hell of a mission if you ask me." Dee commented and glanced over at where Greg was. "So, you think your friend will make it?"
"Of course he will, Oboro-san, Serina-san, and Riku's mom will have Greg-san feeling better in no time." Tot said confidently.
"Those are the best healers in our clan, just to let you know." Nagi explained. "Plus we have an accomplished medical sect, so whatever wounds you have will be attended to as well."
"That certainly is a relief to hear." Seraph spoke from behind the Shinsengumi; she was sitting next to Yuina, who was lying back in a stretcher. "Yuina will definitely need to be looked over just in case." Then Seraph's eyes seemed to lower in what seemed to be a sorrowed expression. "Though I fear she will have more trouble recovering from the wounds from within, than those that are from without."
For a moment the Shinsengumi and Riku and co. said nothing as they realized how true Seraph's words were. Before anyone, could break it, however, it was broken by a sharp buzzing sound coming from the controls of the chopper, which Yuji was manning.
"Uh oh." Yuji said as he realized what was happening.
"What do you mean by 'uh oh'?" Rio asked. "What's wrong?"
"The sensors just picked up something, those two things over there." Yuji pointed through the window to show two army jeeps, each one with an antiaircraft gun mounted at the back, stopped and waiting for them up ahead. Apparently, these had escaped the attack by Gennosuke, Kenshin, Raiha, and Joker.
"Do you think you can evade them?" Rio asked.
"I'll try." Yuji answered as he prepared to take evasive maneuvers.
However, that proved to not be necessary as suddenly something came crashing down onto one of the jeeps from the front, cleaving it in two before it exploded. As the explosion occurred, an outline of something large seemed to move before suddenly vanishing.
"Ah, now I see…" Riku started chuckling to himself as he realized what Kenshin had meant during their conversation. He then turned to Nagi and Tot. "Hey you guys, take a look and see who it is."
As Nagi and Tot walked over to look get a look out through the side door, there was the sound of movement as the group's large and invisible new ally chased after the second jeep. The movement then stopped as the jeep began to pull out and try to get away. Just then came the roaring sound of what seemed to be a large machine gun going off as something began firing on the escaping jeep, which then proceeded to explode and burst into flames.
"Man, talk about firepower!" Maya exclaimed in admiration. "Who was that?"
"A friend, and apparently also Kenshin and the other's ride back." Nagi then pointed a little farther away to indicate a truck pulled over on the side of a road, which was leading to Old Tokyo. He then looked over at Riku and Tot with a smile. "It's kind of obvious as to who it is that's driving, isn't it?"
"It sure is." Riku couldn't help but smile. "It's good to know that at least two of our nakama were able to come and help us."
"Yeah it sure is." Tot's expression was a happy one as she then proceeded to open the side door of the chopper slightly and then called out. "Yu Lan-chan, thank you!! And tell Yu Fan-chan thanks for us too!"
Tot then proceeded to close the door while everyone aside from Nagi and Riku stared at her.
"Do you think she actually heard you?" Riku asked.
"Maybe." Tot answered cheerfully. "And if she didn't I'll tell her in person once we're at the Uruha Mansion, Yu Fan-chan too."
"In that case why did you even bother doing that?" Riku asked.
"Well, I just wanted to say thank you to Yu Lan-chan and Yu Fan-chan for helping us." Tot replied. "They are our nakama after all, that and we haven't seen them for a while too. Wouldn't you do the same, Riku?"
"You've got a point, but I wouldn't do it that way." Riku conceded and then smiled as he continued. "If anything, I'd have just tossed a few firecrackers out the side door over there to write 'Thank you, Yu Lan and Yu Fan' in the sky. That way they definitely won't miss it."
Everyone either fell over or almost fell over (Yuji being one of them since he was the pilot) at Riku's answer.
"I think I much prefer Tot's way of saying thank you." Nagi commented.
Many of the others nodded or voiced their agreement.
"Well, I guess that idea wouldn't have worked out anyway." Riku admitted.
"Well, of course it wouldn't Riku; you might end up blowing up the chopper if you did that." Lilica remarked.
"No, actually I'm pretty sure that I could avoid that." Riku replied, causing everyone to sweat drop and feel a little nervous at what he just said. "The real problem would be the propellers; they'd probably cause the fireworks to move off position just before they go off. I'd probably end up writing something entirely different in the sky." Riku then gave a light laugh. "It might end up becoming either something insulting or even quite embarrassing instead." Riku then stopped to consider something. "But then again, if I studied how the propellers would move the fireworks then maybe I could predict their position and then…"
"Would you just let it lie, Riku?" Nagi asked in exasperation.
As Riku, Nagi, and Tot began talking more on the bizarre subject in front of everyone, almost as if they weren't there, Rio smiled as she realized what they were trying to do.
(Those three…they're trying to cheer everyone up and at the same time hide how worried they are about Greg.) She thought to herself. (I just hope everything turns out alright when we get there…)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
At the Uruha mansion later that evening, Yuji landed the helicopter in front of the large building. Outside, Riku's mother, Yanagi Sakoshita Hanabishi stood next to her husband, Recca Hanabishi, who was also Riku's father. After the helicopter made its landing, the door was flung open and Rio frantically came out, carrying an unconscious and bloodied Greg in her arms. Following her, Riku leapt out afterwards to meet his parents.
"Good Lord!" Yanagi cried out after seeing the injuries on Greg. "What happened to your friend, Riku?"
"There's no time to explain!" Rio exclaimed, her voice having an urgent tone to it. "He's badly hurt, Yanagi...can you help him until Nanvel arrives?"
"I...I don't think I have ever healed anyone with this extent of injuries before..." Yanagi confessed, seeing the condition Greg was in. But after looking into Rio's crying eyes, she nodded her head as she understood what Rio was feeling, being a mother herself. "I'll see what I can do. And don't worry it won't be just me, two of our best healers Oboro-san and Serina-san are prepared to help."
"Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me..." Rio managed to smile, but got back into a serious look and continued to hold onto Greg as she carried him inside along with Yanagi.
Recca then came to embrace Riku and looked at the other people in the helicopter.
"Alright, Riku...we need to know exactly what happened today." Recca said in a stern and serious tone of voice. "I can tell already from the look of you, Nagi, and Tot that what you guys went through and saw is something very serious and not to mention important."
Riku paused to catch his breath, before Lilica, Maya, Nagi, and Tot appeared with Yuji in tow. The young ninja then started to speak.
"You're right about that Dad...and boy do we have a story to tell you and everyone else..." Riku said, wiping his brow. "But first, we need to see about the other 'important guests' we have to take special care of..."
Recca was then able to see a sobbing Yuina stepping out from the chopper, being supported by Seraph, while the corpse of Psycho Mantis had been carefully laid into an open body bag in stretcher that was on the floor of the helicopter. Pei and Kanashii of the Shinsengumi picked the stretcher carrying the body up and carried it over, Dee following in tow. Recca swore he could have gotten a heart attack right then and there at the sight of the body, especially given the obvious evidence as to how Mantis had died. However, knowing that it was more important to help the new arrivals and quickly composed himself and looked at the group.
"Alright everyone, let's get inside so you all can rest and in the meantime, we'll gather everyone who's here right now, while Yanagi tries her best to save Greg..." Recca said and then turned to look at the members of WARRIOR who were there, Maya, Lilica, and Yuji. "Don't worry, we'll get this man here ready for burial, and we'll have your chopper moved into a mini hangar we have where we usually have a small plane in. When that plane's pilot and her crew get here, I'll have her take care of your chopper."
"Oh, does that mean Albert-san is finished with that story he was investigating?" Riku asked.
"Yeah, he said he was on the verge of wrapping it up so he, Sheryl, and Sylvia can come back." Recca answered.
"That should make Tina-san happy, I'm sure." Riku grinned. "And I'm sure Sylvia won't mind having a look at that helicopter either." He then turned to face everyone else. "Well then, you heard the man, let's go in now."
As the group entered, two of the maids came and took Mantis' body from Pei and Kanashii. Meanwhile, Riku, Nagi, and Tot were talking a little with Recca while the rest of the group walked a little further into the lobby. Riku then nodded at Recca and called out to the rest of the group.
"I'm sorry; everyone, but Nagi, Tot, and I will have to leave you guys for a little bit." Riku said. "We need to go and meet with my uncle and everyone else here and tell them what's happened today. We'll see you after that."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Lilica asked.
"Yeah, it'll be more than welcome, but don't worry; you don't have to do that right away." Recca answered. "I think right now you guys should get some rest and after that check on Greg's condition. We're not really in any hurry since we need to wait for Kenshin and the others to come back. When they do, we'll send someone to come and get you."
With that Riku, Nagi, and Tot followed Recca out of the lobby, leaving the rest of the group there. Rio kept cursing herself silently as Lilica, Yuji and Maya looked on with sad looks on their faces.
"Greggie…" Rio muttered sadly as she kept crying, holding onto his Ascension as Lilica held her close, assuring her that Greg will be alright thanks to the medical team that started to work on his injuries.
Meanwhile, Riku and his partners were having some thoughts over what had happened during the course of the day.
"Man, what a day this has been." Riku said as he rubbed his head.
"Yeah, a lot of things, both good and bad, had happened." Nagi said sullenly to Riku's comment. "Do you think…that this is what Reese was trying to gain all along?"
"Not one of us can be too sure, but he probably wanted Greg out of the way for some obvious reason and his wish came true, unfortunately." Riku said. "By taking out FOXHOUND's strongest psychic and causing this chaos for the group, he will be able to move more freely in his dealings from now on."
"I guess we will all soon be getting more problems ahead because of what happened." Tot said. "We should be able to deal with them eventually, right, leader?"
"I'm hoping you're right about that, Tot." Riku said seriously, worried about how the future will be affected from now on after what Reese and the Patriots had just done. For now, they would have to deal with each new problem as it came with the best of their abilities and make sure Greg recovers from the ordeals of the day.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Guuhhh…" Greg's voice moaned as if he was in agony, but suddenly realized that he was no longer where he originally was near his mother. Looking around, he can see that he was back in his mindscape once more, this time without a right hand as it was completely gone now.
"Of all the times to come here…I guess I passed my limit." Greg held his head as he suddenly remembered seeing Mantis dying in front of him. "And in the end…I still couldn't help Mantis…I let him die…"
"That's right! And it's indeed your fault that it happened!" Violent Greg's voice shouted from behind as Greg turned to see his counterpart, glaring at him. "You're the most pitiful excuse for a human if there ever was one. I don't understand why anyone of your friends would go through such lengths of keeping your sorry self around much longer! Your very existence infuriates me!"
Greg then remembered how he had heard Riku's voice speaking to Rio and the others while he was losing consciousness while Riku administered the medical attention he could until he was to be transported to the mansion.
"That's right…Riku tried what he could to keep things from getting worse and even said that his clan would help me get better…" Greg muttered as he stood up. "I don't know why you're so upset with me, what have I ever done to you?"
"You don't recall? You pulled that trick and managed to gain full control of your powers through me before. Did you ever wonder and consider at the possibility that it was from me that you were borrowing your strength from when you thought you could have saved Mantis?" Violent Greg asked. "I didn't even give you any permission to do anything like that and that made me very angry."
"That's because this is my mind and body and you have no right to do as you please with it!" Greg shouted back at him as he raised his left arm as he tried to attack his counter part with his powers, but nothing registered.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Violent Greg put up his arms in front of his face. "Since you used up every last one of your nanomachines, it was easier for me to shut your mind away from the outside world when you lost consciousness and as a side bonus, you won't be able to use your powers in here."
"What?" Greg exclaimed as Violent Greg smirked at him. "How could you do that…?"
"That's right; I've disabled your abilities ever since you collapsed after that fight, thus making you my bitch. I can't tolerate you pulling off all of that flashy stuff while you're in here." Violent Greg said to him. "We're going to be doing this the old-school way, the classic beat-down, fisticuffs style, or whatever you want to define it as."
"After all that talk from before, is THIS how you really want to settle things?" Greg asked him. "Or could the truth of the matter be that since my body is so messed up that I'm unable to move right now, you're probably in the same state that I'm in too?"
"Ha, don't compare me to you. There's no way in hell that I'd ever allow myself to be as weak as you are right now. Besides, this is how everything started and how it will end, Greg. You should have seen this coming." Violent Greg warned him.
Gritting his teeth, Greg firmly raised his left arm and clenched it as he assumed a fighting position and stared at his counterpart firmly.
"Fine then, if that's the way you want to do things, then let's get it over with. It's the only way I can get over and done with your existence so that I can go on and live my life without you tormenting me." Greg said, raising his left arm as Violent Greg grinned at his counterpart.
"Ha, this should be good. I'll make sure to enjoy this moment." Violent Greg spat at the ground near his feet and raised his fists as he faced off at Greg while the storm clouds of the barren field in his mindscape began to darken around them….
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Shardclaw: Okay, that was it, people. Finally the Mantis arc has come to an epic close with an unexpected cliffhanger and I'm sure I pleased a lot of you with all the extra additions that I've managed to throw into this chapter to conclude the Mantis arc. I hope that Arc recap was helpful and well done for the readers to enjoy as well.
Also, I'd like to send a very big thank you to DarkFusion for his contribution to the additions and editing of this monster chapter which has exceeded over 100 pages to make it possible, my first ever chapter in my fiction history to have so many things happening in one chapter alone. I hope everyone had the time to read and enjoy this one.
Anyway, now with the Mantis arc out of the way, the real story kicks off from the next set of SX revised chapters. And what better way to give the fans a preview of what they can be expecting than by having a Tales of skit version of the chapter omake starring me and the main character of the story, my very own, the revamped Gregory Kinezono!
Greg: Uh…I don't know what to really say to the people out there…I did hope everyone enjoyed my performance throughout this revised arc of this story. I must thank all of you for the support and kind words you've given my boss, Shardclaw-san, and me so far...
Shardclaw: What are you talking about, Greg? Everyone must have loved you more than ever since your revamp and the revision for this story kicked off. Sure, it took longer than planned just to get this famous arc over and done with, but at least you can take a break out of the spotlight for now.
Greg: Well, things would be running smoothly as they used to if you hadn't had so much stuff on the side. I mean, with your current job and all those anime plus manga you've yet to read as some of them are to be included into this story in the future, not to mention your un-kept gaming schedule…
Shardclaw: That's true, my otaku schedules a bit of a mess still, but I can handle it… eventually. Besides, you seem to be forgetting one more important thing, my humble tragic psychic guardian.
Greg: And what is that, boss?
Shardclaw: Even though the shipping of anime and game girls for the updates for both COE and SX have been put on hold until this revision job is over, I've still got to deal with the current harem that I've built up over the years, not to mention the recent holiday and birthday exclusive shipments of Bishoujo girls that the great Dark-san have sent, who helped me through all of this since it started.
Greg: And just how important is that anyway? You can never grow tired of that sort of thing, can't you?
Shardclaw: Hey, it's a privilege for one such as me who killed off the greatest wanker man of all time, Gendou Ikari in COE (and I so look forward to doing it again in the revision) and went through a lot putting chapters like this together.
Greg: Well, everyone including the girls definitely do seem to hate his guts, but will there be anyone like that for this story for myself or any of the other anime, game, and original characters to beat up on?
Shardclaw: Well, I wished you'd gotten to give your own punishment to the likes of Kagami Mikage and Kakuzawa, but it's not going to be possible because they will most likely be killed off in Dark-san's fic later on, which, time wise, happens long before this story takes place. In fact Kagami bit the dust a while ago in that particular fic so there's only one more to go. But I'm sure that once things get rolling again you and other characters will have your chance one day.
Greg: You got a point there, but I guess it never hurts to ask.
Just then, several female voices screamed out loud from off stage as three of the Hanaukyo Mai Team girls enter looking panicked.
Shardclaw: What just happened?
Maid 1: Shardclaw-sama, two really creepy looking men are heading this way to see you, claiming that they are…
Just on cue, Kagami and Kakuzawa enter onstage with big, stupid grins on their faces.
Greg: How dare both of you guys show your ugly mugs in the presence of the great Shardclaw and me? Do you two want to die that badly again?
Kagami: Hmph, you may be a revamped version of an original character, but that's all you'll ever be. There's nothing the likes of you can do to people like us, no matter how powerful or popular you'll become.
Shardclaw: Why are you two here, much less appearing this so early? I didn't plan to have you guys appear until much later in the story in a vision during a revised chapter.
Kakuzawa: We've come to take back our rights as men who will do as we please with the females, since we're in a different story that dastardly Dark can't get us, and you can't stop us either, no matter how many changes you make to this story. Once we get you out of the way, we will take your harem and maid army and use them in our experiments…
Greg: Like what you did in the Elfen Lied manga to people like poor Nana-san? We won't allow it! Boss, let me…!
Shardclaw: No, you've fought long enough, you're taking a vacation after all…I've got something even better for times like these.
Kagami: Oh, and what will that be…?
With a grin, I simply snapped my fingers as a bullet goes flying from nowhere and hits Kagami in the nads, causing him to groan in pain and hold his groin. To the wanker men's surprise, a tall woman with blond hair wearing a black battle dress and holding twin pistols leaped down in front of me. Just then, her comrades comprising of a younger girl and three males, all dressed in black decorated uniforms and looking all in their bad-ass glory suddenly surrounded the two men.
They just happened to be the God Generals, the coolest set of villains from Tales of the Abyss and the woman holding her pistol at Kagami's face just happened to be the ever so hawt, awesome, bad-ass, Legretta the Quick.
Kagami: You're…!
Shardclaw: That's right, Kagami. Ever since I've managed to play and beaten Tales of the Abyss, which I'm currently playing on Unknown right now on the second play-through, I've always thought that the God Generals would provide sufficient use to me as part of my security detail. While Legretta-san serves as one of my newest personal bodyguards/wankster assassins and occasional bed warmer, she takes orders from me now as well as her buddies since I was kind enough to bring them back to life so I can use their skills.
At this, Legretta, who is well known to show little to no emotion, blushes at what I just said.
Legretta: Shardclaw-sama…you shouldn't address me like that in front of the fanboys, they can get jealous knowing that we're under your payroll now.
Shardclaw: Sorry, Legretta-san, a slip of the tongue there. Well, here are my orders for dealing with these two, Sync and Largo, you can simply beat the crap out of them until they are just bloody pieces of meat while Arietta can feed the corpses to her monsters unless Dist has plans to dissect them for his research, I suppose?
Dist: Oh, please, who would want to waste time on imperfect specimens like them?
Shardclaw: My thoughts exactly. Oh and don't be afraid to use your Mystic Artes if you have to. Legretta-san, take them away from my sight at once and do as you please.
Sync: Our pleasure, Shardclaw.
Largo: Ha, I will be enjoying this.
Arietta: They will make a fine meal for my friends until the next hated person on Shardclaw's list is called out…
Both men get dragged off stage, screaming high pitched tones to a distance, until we hear the sounds of Sync's, Legretta's and Largo's Mystic Artes going off accompanied by their death cries.
Greg: Okay, I admit it now that was a whole lot better than I originally thought. To think to have even the God Generals working for you now, you're simply amazing, boss. On another note, having an omake at a chapter like this must mean that you've got big plans for SX's future revisions, isn't that right?
Shardclaw: That's right, Greg. Most of you out there are wondering right now about what's going to happen next, what and who else is going to be included into this story later, and what other minor to major changes I have planned for the story ahead, am I right? Well, I can assure you that I've got plenty more surprises in store ahead and you should be seeing them starting from the next couple of chapters before the next major story arc begins as they will be more like filler chapters to focus on the other characters and developments for this story's future events. And it will be MAJOR in terms of starting another phase of the story, just as how the current Gantz manga story is without its most powerful leaders and how everything is changing for the current team.
Greg: You need to lay off that for awhile and go back on focusing on some of the other manga that you need to be crossing over into this story, Shardclaw-san. In any case, does this mean that you're keeping the omakes the same as well by bringing back the Weiss boys to assist in the introduction of chapters too?
Shardclaw: I'm intending on doing that as well. Of course, the omakes won't be as perverted before, I can guarantee you that. I won't let a simple thing such as scantily clad and uber hawt and cute girls from various anime and games get in the way of my introductions of this already famous story this time around.
Girls in the audience: Awww, no fair, Shardclaw-sama!
Greg: That's good to hear. For a moment there, I thought you're going to let your love of animated chicks get the best of you this time around by having them publicly seduce you in front of dozens of fanboys, incurring their jealousy.
Shardclaw: Only once the revisions are over and the updates start moving again. But for the time being, I'm going to do that just for my updates for my other current MGS/anime multicrossover fic, Oh My Metal Gear! 2: Substance since I still have stuff and ideas that also will be crossed into it later on.
The girls in the audience: Really? We can do that, Shardclaw-sama?
Shardclaw: Since I got attacked in the recent chapters of that story for presenting the characters close to the actual ones themselves, it can't be helped.
Greg: You guys don't know the meaning of restraint, don't you?
Shardclaw: Why worry about the details? In any case, thus close this omake for this revised chapter and arc for the first quarter of Soldier X. As usual, please keep sending the encouraging comments and words as they will keep me moving along the revisions with guarantee that it will be accepted with much praise. See you all in the next, revised chapter as it will be a sort of flashback arc to denote what went on during the period of the Mantis arc with an all new and different telling of perspective using some of the other anime and game characters that will be showing up later in the next story arc.