Hey everyone! Another chapter is here! This is my first fan fic and I already have some loyal readers. Whoo hooo! Keep reading everyone! This one you're goanna like!
I don't own vandread. Wouldn't it be cool if I did?
Chpt.6 The beast within
"MAR!" Jura screamed at the scampering boy, "GIVE ME BACK MY DREAD PARTS!" She dashed right after him.
"Oh come on!" He whined, "I won't break them or anything. I just need them for a while." He picked up the pace as Jura came closer and closer.
"Face it Mar! You're STUPID machine isn't going to have my dread parts!"
Mar turned his head to Jura and yelled, "Hey machine is not stupid, you HAG!" of course having your head away from the direction you are going can lead to difficulties. Like Mar's incident as he hit the wall. His head ricocheted off and he landed on the floor.
Jura grabbed the boy and began to shake him furiously. "Now I gotcha! How'd you like to be the first brat blasted into space?"
"I was only fooling around Jura!" Mar cried as blood rolled down his forehead. "I was going to give them back! I swear it!"
"Apologizing won't help you now! I'm going to teach you a lesson that you will never forget!"
"What is going on here?" Misty cried as she entered the room. She noticed Mar being shaken like some bobble head. "Honestly! I can't believe you Jura!"
"This has nothing to do with you Misty, go away! This kid needs to learn proper manners, the strict way!"
"You should be ashamed!" Misty barked back, "Treating a poor kid like that. And you think you're ready to be a parent? Not with those ideas!"
"B-but….But I…Hey! Don't get off the subject here! He stole my dread parts."
"I'm going to give them back!" Mar growled, "But I need them."
"For what?" Misty asked.
"For the machine I'm making. I only need them for a few minutes; I just need to copy their data so I can input it to the machine. I'm sorry that I caused you so much trouble Jura."
"No you're not! You're going to do it again, just because you enjoy it!"
"He said he was sorry! End of discussion! Oh, Mar, your forehead is bleeding." Misty gasped.
Mar wiped the blood making its way toward his chin. "Must've been when I hit the wall."
"We'd better get Duero to look at it."
"Uhhh….I don't really think it's that bad. I mean…it's just a scratch."
Misty examined the cut. "Doesn't look like one to me. If you come with me, I'll give you a nice cookie."
Mar liked the cooking of only two people on the Nirvana. The first was Dita, she cooked delicious meals for her love, Mar was only left with scraps but they were delicious. And the second was Misty; she could whip up something really special. She would always never forget him or his brother and give them a special snack.
"Your homemade cookies?" He watered at the mouth. "I…I'll go. Just don't forget the cookie." He took her hand and began to drag her off.
"Wait up Misty!" Cried a red haired boy chasing after her. He was bright red as he spoke. "I-I was just wondering if you'd like to go on a walk with me."
"Oh that's really sweet but I need to bring Mar to the medical ward."
"Well….why don't I escort you there?" He took the blue haired girl's hand, "It's easy to get lost in such a big place like this."
Misty giggled. "How kind of you." She leaded against him as they strode down the hall, you could faintly hear someone singing a song about cookies but it died down.
Jura was shocked. First she insulted her, and now even guys flock to the red eyed beauty. She clentched her fists in rage. "That brat is gonna pay!" She groweled. (She meant Misty, not Mar.)
Hinoki was in the training dread simulator, trying to shoot as many targets as she could. Ever since she transformed with Hibiki, she began to think she was relying too much on others. If it wasn't for Hibiki, she would have been killed. Five targets hit, only five more to go. Her mind began to wander off. The boy she had feelings for tried to kill her, even after what they went through together. Three targets left, she felt a burning rush of anger inside her. They were allies, she was his leader, and he was her teammate. One target to go. He admitted that he had feelings for her; he gave her that ring as a symbol of his affections for her…One target to go….and in the end, his pride meant more to him than her. She screamed in furry, she got distracted by this thought that she didn't notice the target behind her. It fired making her blow up. She ran outside the training pod and began to pound the nearest wall. Her eyes glowed dark red, her teeth began to become sharp, her nails were like claws, and her marks on her hands began to burn her gloves off. She still pounded at the wall drowning in anger; she seemed to be in a trance.
"Hey you did really well," Parfait said to the furious girl. Parfait was watching her in the control room.
"How could I be so dumb! RAAAHHHGGGGHH! FAILURE! FAILURE!" Hinoki gave one last hit at the wall making a giant dent. The pain in her hand had awoken her. She went back to normal features.
"You alright?" Paiway was worried. Hinoki never acted like this.
"Yeah….Just fine…" Hinoki then noticed the big dent in the wall, "Oh…I…I…I need to go!"
"Wait! Your hand. It's injured. Shouldn't you let Duero look at it?"
"N-no thanks. It's just bruised." She then began to get as far away as possible. 'I thought it was gone. How could I be loosing control of myself again!"
She rushed into her room; she immediately pulled out something from her mattress she was hiding. It looked as though it was first aid kit. Snapping it open, she pulled out a pill bottle. The bottle read 'G-peixus calming drug #5-74, take one tablet once every day if showing these symptoms: Enragement, numbness, blackouts, attacking people for no reason, growth of fangs, red eyes, claws, tattoos spreading.' She twisted the cap off revealing only one blue pill left. She immediately swallowed it and leaned against her wall.
'I thought I took the full bottle with me! Now I'm really screwed. I'd better talk to Yuki about this.' She took off her gloves revealing new markings on her wrists. 'I'm getting worse. Soon, there wont be anything left of me.'She sat on the floor for a few minutes then strode out the door to see Yuki.
While this was going on, Mar was in the medical ward.
"Ow!" He cried as Duero sprayed the cut with something, "That stings! Cant you just put a Band-Aid on it?"
"It's just treating for any infection." He then put a patch over the cut.
"They should make one that doesn't hurt." Mar was about to jump off of the chair he was sitting on when he sensed something. It was something he knew too well. Something that liked to stalk him, Something that didn't sleep, something evil.
"Oh No! She's here!" He began to be more alert.
"Who's here?' Asked Misty searching for this mystery woman.
Mar began to quiver. "She's here. I can sense her evil aura. It stinks of evil."
Something popped up behind him and said. "Ribbit Ribbit!"
"Oh God!" He tripped over a box and fell into a bigger one.
It was only Paiway; the stench of evil was only the smell of medicines she worked with. She seamed to be very happy to see Mar.
"Ribbit Ribbit!" She greeted again, "Did you bump your head?"
"Paiwaiy, why don't you bother some one else."
"I made a vow that I wouldn't check up on people anymore."
"Then why are you spying on me every two minutes!"
"I'm not spying; I'm looking out for you."
"Why don't you look out for my brother? He looks just like me."
"Your brother is too depressed, he also is really boring. You on the other hand, you're funny, outgoing, and determined to make the mystery item."
"Y-you looked at my machine!"
"No….I took a picture of it. Wanna see?" She pulled out a picture and waved it in his face.
He immediately grasped it from her fingers. "This is classified work you looked at! I'll have to destroy this image!" He then ran off down the halls with Paiway chasing after him.
"They act like Hibiki and Dita when they first met." Duero said.
"Maybe they will fall in love." Suggested the red haired boy.
"Am I interrupting something?" Asked Hinoki as she walked in.
"Not at all." Misty said in a sweet voice.
"Is my brother up?"
"He's still asleep." Duero answered.
"Can I talk to him? I-its important."
"Go ahead."
Hinoki walked over to her brother's cot and began to shake him awake. "Yuki? Yuki."
Yuki's eye's opened to see his sister. "Uhhng….Not now Hinoki. I still am in pain."
"Yuki!" She quivered as she pulled out her hand from her glove.
His eyes widened with fear. He turned to Duero, the red haired boy, and Misty. "This matter's private, can I get some time alone with my sister?"
All three of them left. Yuki then turned his head to his sister.
"Did you take the medication?"
"Y-yes." She stuttered. "But…I'm all out now."
He seamed extremely. "If you keep on having these fits, the tattoos will grow. And Duero saw the scars on my hands when he was treating me. He's getting suspicious."
How could Hinoki not forget those scars? She was the one that gave them to him. She went on a rampage before they met the nirvana crew, and she clawed him with her sharp nails.
"I'm sorry." She sniffed as a tear ran down her face.
Her brother immediately hugged her. "It's alright Hinoki. No one will lay a finger on you."
"I can't let those attacks happen again. What if….some one is with me when I have a fit?"
"I won't let that happen. I'll just give the empty bottle to Duero. I'll tell him that it's just allergy medication. He'll make another more of this stuff.
"How can he do that when we don't even know what's in them? They don't even say on the label."
Yuki was pretty stumped on this one but he made a quick answer. "There's some powder of the stuff left in the bottle. He can probably analyze it and find what's in it."
"He's a doctor not a scientist."
"Then he can probably do some blood test. It can probably tell an antidote. I bet if we tell him, he can even find a cure,"
"Thanks for the help Yuki, but I rather not let anyone else get involved." She got out of her brother's hug then walked out the door. "Don't tell anyone. I really don't want to be their charity case. Besides, this is the first time in a while it has happened, I took a pill, and calmed down, it should stop now.
When the doors shut Yuki lied back down. 'She doesn't understand. Just the look in her eyes when she's like that, I know that she's not with me anymore." He grabbed a chunk of the blanket, 'Without treatment, she won't be able to regain consciousness and her berserker self will only remain.'
Meanwhile, Mar was still out of reach of Paiway and he intended to keep it that way.
"Come back!" Paiway pleaded to Mar, "You're going too fast."
"Don't you think I want to keep my distance from you!" He yelled at her.
She made a dive for him. She soared through the air and grabbed on to his back.
"Teehee. Gotcha!" She laughed.
"Gyuuuaaaah!" Mar hollered. The pounce made him loose balance and mad him and Paiway smack into a jammed door.
Paiway stood back up and rubbed her bumped head. "Ooooh. That hurt. You alright?"
Mar stood dusting off his pants and then glared at the nurse. "I would be better if you didn't attack me."
"I-I'm sorry….I only wanted you to play with me. I never had anyone to play with on this ship for so long. And I thought, since you're my age, we could have fun together." She then began to wipe her face.
Mar began to feel that he hurt her feelings "H-hey…there's no use for crying….I can play with yaaah!" He leaned on the door too much and it gave way. The collision from them both made the door loosen so when he leaned against it, it collapsed.
"Oh my!" Georgia gasped running to the scene. "I heard a crash. Are you two all right?"
Georgia was then followed by many others.
"Ow!" Mar moaned, "I'm fine. Hey! What is this room?"
"Could this be another storage room from the colonial era?" Duero pondered.
"There are actual artifacts from those times on this ship?" Georgia asked.
"We did find a room similar to this one about a year ago."
"Wow! Check out this!" Mar exclaimed as he pulled out a book sitting on a table and blew off the dust. "It looks old!"
"Mar! Put that back!" Esra scolded, "That's not yours."
"But it has Hibiki's name on the cover." He held it up for everyone to see.
Everyone was shocked.
"Hey Mr. Alien!" Dita giggled to Hibiki fixing his Vanguard.
"What is it?" He moaned. He wasn't in the mood for Dita's antics.
"Remember when we fought those copies?"
He turned his head to her. "You mean Hinoki's old crew? Yeah, I remember."
"Do you remember when you sacrificed yourself to save the whole crew?"
"Yeah! What does all of this have to do with anything right now? Besides my injuries?" Hibiki still wore a bandage over his chest.
"Well….Do you remember what you said to me?"
He suddenly dropped his wrench. "Uhhh…I don't remember saying anything!"
"Oh Mr. Alien!" Dita whined, "You said you'd see my room."
"Oh…..that….well you see…….I really can't right now."
"Awwww! Why not!"
"I have things to take care of."
Dita turned her back on him. "Hmph. Is it because…..you don't like me?" She then began to weep.
Hibiki flipped. "What! I like you Dita! I….just don't think…"
"If you really did….you'd see it."
'Great! Now look at what I did!' He said in his brain. He sighed and said to her, "Dita…I'll go see your room. But not for too long! Just for a minute!"
"Fantastic!" She cheered as she grabbed his hand.
"Hey!" Hibiki hollered, "You tricked me! I thought you were crying!"
"I didn't trick you. I was acting!" She teased, "Come on. Let's go." She then began to drag him out of the room when they were stopped by Celtic.
"There you are!" The green haired girl cried running to Hibiki. "We need to see you in the mess hall right away!"
"What for?" He asked.
"It has a lot to concern about you! Come on!" Hibiki then followed Celtic leaving Dita following behind.
"What about my room!" Dita whined.
"That can wait." He huffed.
All three of them ran into the mess hall seeing a ton of people surrounding one table.
"Here he is!" Celtic announced, "He was in the hangar."
"Whatever it is, I didn't do it!" Hibiki stuttered.
"Were not mad at you kid." Gosconge said, "We just have something to show you."
Hibiki walked to the table. "What is it then?"
"Here" Duero slid something across and to the boy. "Have a look."
Hibiki grasped it and gave a long stare at it. 'Hibiki's first photo book' was written on the front cover.
"I….I don't understand."
"You were here a hundred years ago…" Duero began, "That is probably one of your belongings you had with you before you went into cold sleep."
Hibiki opened the cover revealing dusty pages. "I can't see a thing on this!" Hibiki complained.
"Give it here." Jura ordered snatching the book. She blew the dust off of every page then wiped the rest with a cloth. "There we go." She placed the book back on the table.
Everyone squealed with delight as they saw the first page. The first page had a woman holding a baby in her arms. There were other pictures with a man holding the baby and others with a girl holding him.
"Awww!" Barnette giggled, "You are so cute as a baby Hibiki!"
"That's me!" Hibiki gasped, "It doesn't even look like me!"
"That's because you're a baby in the picture."
"I can see what Hibiki's saying" Jura butted in, "I mean, the baby looks so quiet, while HE on the other hand is a big loudmouth!"
"Hey! What did you say?"
"Oooooh! Look Mr. Alien!" Dita squealed. "The next page has tons of pictures."
Everyone huddled around. Each picture had a cute little baby on it. Of course in some pictures the baby wasn't alone. There was sometimes the blonde girl from the first page holding him, carrying him, feeding him, or playing with the baby.
"That girl's in a lot of your pictures, Hibiki." Misty mentioned, "Could she be your sister."
"I don't know!" Hibiki growled, "This happened a hundred years ago! How am I supposed to remember? She's probably dead anyway."
He turned a couple pages ahead revealing another part of the book. 'Hibiki age 1' was labeled at the top.
"Oh how cute!" Dita cried, "Hibiki has his long hair!"
"And it looks like he's a loud mouth too." Laughed Meia.
"Would everyone just shut up about that!"
Hibiki's pictures in that part were of him mostly trying to talk and pulling the blonde girl's pigtails.
"How cute!" Misty cried, "I never knew you were this cute at a young age!"
"How far does this book go?" Mar asked as he turned the page to another chapter.
This section was labeled 'Hibiki age 2'.
"You're so adorable at this age Hibiki!" complimented Esra. "Just look at you in that outfit."
"Doesn't look like he likes it." Gosconge you pointed out.
Hibiki (in the picture that they were talking about) was wearing a purple shirt with a bunny on it, with matching pants to boot. He was trying to take the shirt off before his picture, with the blonde girl laughing at him. She was wearing a white dress.
"Okay! That's enough! Next picture." Hibiki immediately turned to the next page revealing new pictures accompanied by a young boy. Just about his age. Hibiki remembered.
"I-I know him. His name is Hikaru."
"Hikaru?" Jura repeated, "Isn't that that pilot that you fought."
Barnette stared at the picture for a long time. "You know, he does look a lot like that pilot. Besides the age difference."
"That can't be him." Meia huffed. "This photo was taken before our time. How can that boy be the pilot without being an old man?"
"Its possible." Duero corrected, "Hibiki was born around that time but her he stand at a very young age. If the same boy was also put into a frozen state, he too could be that that age as the pilot."
"I can remember something else…" Hibiki looked deep into the boy's eyes. He had eyes just like the pilot Hikaru, but this young Hikaru had innocent and kind ones. "I remember about Hikaru…telling me he had to go somewhere…on a ship...I was going on a ship too but a different one." Hibiki untied the cloth tied around his hair. "He gave me this."
"He must have meant on another pioneer ship. Do you remember anything else?"
Hibiki's mind went back to the spirit realm. He remembered the flash back of his old friend, smiling and playing with him. His mind was a blank to everything else of that.
"No…nothings coming." He picked up the book in his hands. "I need some time to think." He then left the room. He felt so upset. 'Could that Hikaru guy….really be…my old friend?'
Dita watched as he left. 'He looks so upset.' "Poor Mr. Alien."
A few hours later, the Nirvana was bustling again. And we meet Hinoki in the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face.
"Why isn't this working?" She growled. She looked back up in the mirror revealing red eyes. "This usually works! It always calms me! But why not now!"
She dunked her whole head into the sink, making every nerve in her face shiver from the freezing tap. Looking again in the mirror she still saw red eyes. 'For some strange reason…I can't calm down. Everything I do makes me more and more angry.' She realized that she now was growing sharp fangs that began to cut her bottom lip.
Her tongue began to lick to red liquid, and it tasted so good to her. She wanted more, but not her own, the whole crew would be a nice meal. Kill, destroy, make havoc, hear the screams, become the berserker that she was! She suddenly realized what she was doing and planning. She could only think of one thing to do. 'Find Yuki, he can help.'
Yuki was still in the medical ward. He just awoken and was very worried about what he had talked about with his sister earlier. He had no choice. She could be in danger if he didn't try to warn the crew. She was more of a danger to herself than anything in that mode.
"Hey Duero, I have to ask you something."
Duero turned from his book. "I'm listening."
"If I told you why my sister wears gloves on her hands, even to bed, would you think I'm crazy."
"I suppose not. Everything that has been happening has been a little crazy even before you came."
"Good. Because this is a little farfetched." He then began, "Have you ever wondered why her old tem was called the five berserkers?"
"Not really."
"Berserk is a word that means extremely aggressive or angry. Berserkers were warriors from a tribe who fought with unrestrained aggression. And I'm telling you this because when my sister was taken, they made her a berserker."
"How?"
"With experiments from the green peixus. They implant into the skin, of every high ranking soldier, a tattoo on each hand. The ink they use is a special gel that they make from their peixus. It was created to make the soldiers stronger, heal faster and make them urge for battle by anger. The soldiers with the tattoos will go insane after a while from the enragement, they will loose all control of their body and the tattoos will spread. That's why they made this special drug for them. It calms them for a while so that they won't be enraged for a while."
"How long does it last?"
"Depends on how out of control they are at the moment. Some only need to take one and it will last them months. Others need to take them every hour so they won't maul their friends. And some just need to take it every once in a while."
"How much does she have left?"
"She took her last one today…she has been in a bad mood today. She's afraid if I tell someone, they'll throw us out."
"That's ridiculous."
"People fear her because of what she is. That's why she wears her gloves, to hide any idea of her being a creature who feasts on blood."
"I could help her if she lets me." Duero said.
"I was hoping so. If it's alright, I think I'll go on tell her. If she hears it from you, she'll probably yell and get herself in a worse mood."
"If you feel that way."
"Duero! Duero!" Cried a boy engineer that rushed into the room. "D-duero! Hinoki…she's bleeding all over the floor in the hall way."
"Is she acting angry?" Yuki asked.
"No…but she is hiding her face with a wall, and she does keep saying something over and over again. I think she's saying…stay away."
Yuki's eyes ware flowing with fear. "Duero, I need to go with you. I've seen her like this before. I actually know how to deal with it."
Duero nodded and they let the boy lead them down the hall to a crowd who were standing near a puddle of blood. The crowd cleared the way to show Duero and Yuki the bleeding Hinoki. Just like the boy said, she was hiding her face by a wall but she was also quivering.
"Hinoki…" said a girl in the crowd, "Duero's here…you can go with him and he can help you."
"No one can help me now." Hinoki said sinking her nails farther into her arms making more blood pour out. "You have to stay away. I…I can't control myself anymore."
"I won't think of you this weak Hinoki." Her brother said, "Get up now. Duero must treat you."
"Its too late or that..." She whispered revealing a smile, "Leave me here so maybe I can die from the blood loss. Its better this way, I can't help it anymore."
"Hinoki please let me help you." Duero touched her arm. She immediately grasped his hand with her claws.
She turned to him reveling what she didn't want anyone to see. Dark red eyes blazed, her fangs stained with her blood, and a tattoo covering her left cheek.
"Run….Now! I don't want to kill you." She whispered.
"I can't let you go untreated."
She began to loose control and tried to punch him in the face. He dodged and countered with his own punch making her fall to the floor. She lay motionless.
"You made that seem easy." Yuki applauded.
"We need to get her treatment right away. She needs to be transported carefully."
Hinoki's arm began to twitch.
"I could always carry her." Yuki suggested.
"That wouldn't be wise."
"I'd be careful."
Both men suddenly could hear gasps by the people in the crowd. Yuki Turned his attention to the floor. He saw Hinoki, standing, licking the blood off her fingertips and her tattoo began to spread. She was almost gone from coming back.
"Everyone," Yuki said in a calm voice, "You need to backup slowly. No quick movements or any loud noises. Berserkers react to that." He then turned to Duero. "Get ready to make a distraction. She won't stay standing there for long."
Duero nodded and Yuki pounced on the girl, pinning her to the ground. "Its safe to run everyone! Go!"
The crowd darted toward anyplace they knew was safe. Hinoki then kicked Yuki off of her and began to attack with sharp nails. Duero stopped her by grabbing her arms and throwing her to the floor.
"Do you think everyone got away?" Asked Yuki.
"They must have found a good place to hide."
"Good. Now we can run."
Duero was surprised by this. "Run?"
"Yeah. She keeps an emergency antidote in a first aid kit she stashes in her room. It's only used for emergencies like this."
With slow actions, Hinoki got back up noticing that the two were gone. Enraged more by this, she pounded the wall and began to look for a new victim.
"Captain," Cried out a girl from her communicator to Magno, "Hinoki's gone insane."
"Insane?" The captain repeated, "What do you mean Insane?"
"Oh dear!" Said the worried Georgia, "I think I know what they are talking about."
"Then maybe you can shed us some light on this situation." BC said. "Please tell us what's going on."
"Well…while we were on the black dread," Began Georgia, "Hinoki began to get…errm…uhh…guess you could say…rowdy."
"Rowdy?" Screamed the girl on the communicator, "How can you call it rowdy?"
"That's enough out of you." Magno told the girl. "Georgia, please continue."
"When she acted that way…she just began to sorta….change. First, her eyes grew red, then her nails transformed into claws, then it was her teeth. They turned into fangs. She then lashed out on her brother. He then pinned her and made her swallow a pill, she then turned back into her old self. Hinoki then told me later that it was a side effect from the green peixus."
"Why's that." BC asked.
"It's because the people of Castile put some tattoo on her that was created by the green peixus."
"Captain, you have to do something." Whined the girl.
"If she's that much of a threat we should eliminate her, but we can't do that to a member of this crew."
"We can't just kill her!" Georgia yelled, "It's not her fault that she's that way. And I know she's still inside that beast."
"Don't worry..." Magno said in a calm voice, "I wont kill her. BC, tell the crew to stay in their rooms."
"Roger." BC began to contact all personnel and give the message.
It was heard all through the ship, everyone immediately ran in their rooms or any room that was secure. Hibiki was left in the dark ness of his own room with his door opened, but he didn't mind around this time. He went into a dream. A dream that was about that boy again, Hikaru.
A boy stood on a hill beside a tree. The tree had beautiful cherry blossoms and a swing was tied to a sturdy branch. The boy looked out in the distance, his hair swayed in the wind. It was the young Hikaru.
Young Hikaru turned to Hibiki, "Hey there! I thought you'd come by here. Its your favorite hiding place from your sis. I don't think its that bad either. Its got that swing." Hikaru walked next to the swing and began to try to get on even if he was so small. "I still don't really know how to swing; you could always push me though. We could take turns."
Hibiki walked behind and began to push the child. The swing almost touched the other branches but gravity pushed it back into place.
The boy laughed with joy. "Higher Hibiki! Higher! Weeeee! We couldn't have done this if you didn't get so tall! Hahahaha!"
Hibiki was still the same age in this dream but that didn't matter at the moment. He needed to talk to this kid. He grasped the swing as it went down making him deal with a very disappointed kid.
"Awwww…." Hikaru moaned, "Why'd you go and do that for Hibiki? I told you, you can have your turn after. And I was so close to reaching the blossoms."
"Hikaru, I need to ask you something."
Hikaru jumped off the swing and faced Hibiki. "What is it; it can't be as important as swinging. I was close to the cherry blossoms. THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS!"
"Hikaru….are you…still alive?"
The boy looked surprised at this question. "What do you mean? I'm right here!"
"That doesn't make any difference!" Hibiki yelled at the child, "This is a dream, a dream that is in my mind. I haven't seen you in a hundred years!"
Hikaru only looked at his feet.
"Hikaru, are you the pilot….the pilot of the red vanguard? If so…I promise I wont be mad."
Hikaru looked up again showing a very sad face. "Hibiki….does this prove anything." He pulled out a knife and quickly stabbed Hibiki in the chest with it.
Hibiki fell to the ground in agony. "Why? Why Hikaru? I thought we were once friends."
Hikaru transformed into the pilot. His yellow eyes now shined with anger, instead of joy.
"Hibiki, you are such a fool….You think that I'd fall for your trap so easily." Hikaru pulled the dagger out from Hibiki's body and began to wave it around. "Think of this as the proof of my existence….I wont loose to anyone. The weak die and the strong survive. I am the strong and you are the weak."
"How can you say that? You hurt your friends. Betray comrades. Desolate planets. How is that strong? You're just a monster!"
"You're just as weak as anyone else. When I find your weakness you crumble at my feet." He now suddenly was holding a girl in his left arm.
The girl had long red hair that curled at the bottom. She Weakley lifted her head to say something. "Mr.….Alien?"
Hibiki's eyes blazed with rage and horror. "Hikaru! Let Dita go! She did nothing to you!"
"She's your weak spot!" Hikaru laughed, "She's everything that you cherish, love, and adore. If I have her at my disposal, you cringe like some puppy! Feel my wrath Hibiki!"
The ground shook as the red vanguard burst out of the soil. Hikaru was sitting on its shoulder with an emotion of victory on his face. "What's the matter Hibiki? Don't you want to save her?"
Hibiki's vanguard burst out of the ground where the tree stood. He stood on the vanguard's shoulder as well. What was left of the tree was only the swing. Swaying on the vanguard's arm.
"I wont let you get away with this!" Hibiki cried charging at the opponent.
'Hibiki! You must save him.' Cried out the mysterious voice.
"Why should I" Hibiki hollered, "A guy like him shouldn't live at all!"
'Remember the past.' The voice cried.
Hibiki's memories of young Hikaru returned. The joy in his kind yellow eyes seemed to show no signs of any darkness inside. He also seemed to be so friendly to Hibiki.
"The boy in the past is dead!" Hibiki hollered again. "A boy that sweet couldn't be a lunatic like HIM!" He pulled out his sword and charged at Hikaru, "How can someone like him be my friend!" He stabbed the robot in the stomach.
Hikaru also started to bleed as the robot began to fall. Hikaru's grasp with Dita weakened and the girl dropped. Hibiki immediately made his vanguard rush to her, in time for him to grasp her hand.
"Dita….Dita please wake up!" He clenched with one hand her hand and the other on the seat of the swing trying to pull both himself and Dita back up on his vanguard. He felt both hands loosing their grip.
Dita opened her eyes. "Goodbye….Mr. Alien." He lost his grasp on her and she began to fall into the shadow of darkness below.
"Noooo! Dita!"
He lost his grasp on the swing and the shadows swallowed him too. He was now on the dark ground.
"H….Hibi….ki…." A voice called out. The figure immerged from the side revealing young Hikaru. He was bleeding in the stomach. He seemed to be in so much pain but he spoke again trying not to cry.
"Hibiki….why did you hurt me? I thought we were friends."
Hibiki couldn't believe it. The boy was hit in the same place as the vanguard. But he wouldn't have been hurt…..unless. It was true, he was the pilot Hikaru.
"H…how can this be?" Hibiki said, "I…I didn't mean to hurt you…"
"Hibiki….it hurts." The boy collapsed making a pool of blood.
Hibiki rushed over holding the body in his arms. "Hikaru! Answer me! Please Hikaru!"
"H…Hibiki….please help. It hurts so much."
"Just try to hold on. The stomach wound can be patched up if we get help."
"No Hibiki….my hand….that's what hurts….it feels like…its on fire."
Hikaru held his hand to Hibiki. It was glowing red. And it began to crystallize. Hikaru cried out in pain.
"Gyaaah! It hurts so much! Please help Hibiki!"
Hibiki began to try to rip off as many crystals as he could but it began to spread like wild fire. It even began to spread to his hands. Hibiki fell from the surprise that it was now latching on to him. He stood back from the boy so he could pull of his crystals a safe pace away.
Young Hikaru tried to tear off his but it wasn't doing any good. His whole hand turned to crystal. He went on his knees and tried to stand but the crystals were already affecting his legs now.
"Hibiki! I'm scared! I can't move! Help me please!"
Hibiki rushed over to the boy only to have half his body become encased in crystal. He crawled on his hands to reach the boy. He reached out his uncontaminated hand. Hikaru reached out his.
"We can still make it." He cried out to the young Hikaru.
Young Hikaru then changed into older Hikaru. He whispered out his final words. "I'm sorry Hibiki. I'm sorry that I turned out this way." His whole body became crystal.
'You must save your friend…or he will become what you hate most.' The voice spoke out again.
"What do you mean? What I hate most?"
Hikaru's crystallized form began to glow. It turned into a giant red orb that was emitting an evil aura. Earth aliens seemed to be encircling around it.
"The red peixus! How!"
'Save him Hibiki!' the voice cried again.
"Show yourself!" Hibiki demanded. "If I'm supposed to take your orders, I would like to see your face."
The voice's body appeared. It was a blonde haired girl, but not any blonde. It was that girl in those pictures.
"You! Who are you! Is it true…you're my sister!"
"Save Hikaru….or the planets will crumble….he is tortured by a false past…show him the truth."
Hibiki's whole body was almost crystallized now. "Do you mean that…Hikaru doesn't know what happened? He doesn't know who I am or his past? And what do you mean by a false past?"
"Time will tell all." The girl replied.
"Mr. Alien! Mr. Alien! Wake up!" Cried the voice of Dita.
Hibiki escaped from his mind and awoken, seeing Dita three inches from his face. Not what people like to see when they wake up.
"Whoa! Don't surprise me like that!" Hibiki scolded. "What do you want? It better not be about your room!"
Dita looked frightened. "I thought you were killed!"
"Wha?"
"You left your door open and I thought…Hinoki came in and killed you!"
"Hinoki! Killing me? That's ridiculous!"
"The captain says she's gone insane. She's out of control. We need to hide in a safe
Room."
The sound of running footsteps could be heard outside the room, followed by the sound of claws clacking on the medal floor.
"That's her!" Dita shivered.
Hibiki immediately pressed a button shutting his door. The sound of footsteps stopped right next to the door.
"Keep your voice down." Hibiki whispered, "She'll go away if she cant hear anything."
Hinoki began to bash down the door with her fists.
"Christ!" Hibiki growled, "She heard me!"
Hinoki held out an opened hand. It began to glow and shot a laser at the door blasting it away. Peering inside the dark room she saw nothing. Only a couple of items, a bed and pictures on the floor. But she could pick up the scent of human in here. She began to slash the bed, searching for any life.
Hibiki and Dita watched as she did this from inside a box with two holes in it.
"On the count of three, we run. Okay Dita?"
"Right." Dita agreed.
"One…two…" Hibiki threw the box at Hinoki, "THREE!"
Dita rushed as fast as her legs could carry her, Hibiki did the same, and so did the berserk Hinoki.
"Crap!" Yelped Hibiki, "She's gaining on us!"
"What are we going to do Mr. Alien!" Whined Dita.
Hinoki lunged for them only to be hit in the stomach with a laser from Yuki's hand.
"Run out of here!" Yuki commanded appearing with Duero. "We can take care of her."
Both rushed out as fast as they could and Hinoki wasn't too happy about her prey getting away by two annoyances. She lunged for Duero but he turned giving her an open gap from the two human blockade. She took it and ran to get her prey.
'I only have one shot.' Yuki thought in his mind pointing the emergency antidote dart at Hinoki's neck, 'I can't miss.' He fired but as a stroke of luck for Hinoki, she tripped from the noise of the fire, making the bullet hit the wall. She immediately got back up and went on the chase.
"Damn! I missed!" Yuki threw the gun on the ground, "What are the chances of Hinoki tripping?"
Duero didn't answer that question. He was more into looking at the bullet. "Yuki, look at this."
Yuki walked over to the bullet revealing that it was melting the metal wall. "What is in this stuff?" Yuki gasped.
"It's definitely not an antidote. Its probably acid."
"Then…the dart…it's used to…"
"When they get to uncontrollable, they, probably use that as a last resort."
"If I hit her….she would have died!" Yuki couldn't believe that the kingdom of Castile would be so cruel. Killing their own allies.
Duero tuned his head over to Yuki's hands. They began to show faint marks like hinoki's tattoos. "How did you shoot that beam before?"
Yuki shook his hands out and the marks were gone. "I was…kind of experimenting with the green peixus liquid myself. It's in a very low quantity so it cant affect me in anyway to become a berserker."
"Fascinating."
After a long run through the halls Hibiki and Dita found the doors to the peixus room.
"Perfect!" Hibiki cheered, "If we can outrun her to the other side, we can get Parfait to lock her in.
A strange glow came from the doors the two just entered through. They suddenly burst right out with smoke covering everywhere. Hinoki burst out of the cloud of mist and drivingly chased them.
"Keep running!" Hibiki told Dita as he dashed.
Dita only went a couple of feet until she tripped. Hibiki tried to help her up but it was too late, Hinoki sprung for the final assault. They were dead.
"This can't be happening!" Hibiki cried.
Hinoki opened claws for the kill, but before she could touch their soft skin, the peixus light blasted her. She was lifted into the air making her scream in agony.
Hibiki and Dita watched as the tattoos on her skin faded away and she went back to normal. The light then slowly put her back on the ground. She laid unconcious. The beast seemed to be as she normally was.
"Did you see that Mr. Alien?"
"Yeah. That was wired, one minute she's acting like a lunatic and the next she's sleeping on the floor."
Hours later, Hinoki awoke to see she was in a white room accompanied with Yuki, sketching something in his notepad. Her head was throbbing.
"Morning." He greeted, "How ya feel?"
"Grrrhhh…My head feels like I've been hit by a wrench. What happened?"
"Let's just say you were in quite a bad mood."
"Uuuugh….If anything else could go wrong in my life. It does."
"On the bright side, the tattoos are gone." He pointed to her hands with his pencil.
"What!" Hinoki checked the back of her hands. Nothing. "How…how could this happen?"
"The power of the peixis progmma." Duero explained walking towards them. "It destroyed all green peixus inside of you."
"That's amazing! I never knew it had those kind of pow…..." she suddenly felt sick.
Yuki took a bucket from the floor and handed it to her. "Here."
She immediately grabbed it, spitting out what she had for breakfast. "Blleeaagh"
Yuki laughed at this. "What did you eat today? You seemed to enjoy it that much, you had seconds."
Hinoki finished and wiped her mouth with her arm. "Shut up you ass!" She growled then began to feel awful again, "Ughhh….why do I feel this way?"
"The green peixus tattoo is used to heal people am I right?" Duero asked.
"Yeah. But what does that have to do with anything."
"Your body could be having side affects from not having it. The green peixus helped with body heat and injuries and without it, your body will need to learn how to do these functions alone."
"Oh Gawd! This sucks!" Hinoki whined pulling her hair out of her face. Something wasn't right. "Hey! When did my hair grow?" Her short hair had grown pretty long.
"You look pretty good like that. Your cuter than you once was." Yuki laughed.
"I should pummel you fo….." She immediately put her face to the bucket again.
"Your hair will get covered in puke if you leave it like that." Her brother pulled a green bandana out of his pocket. "We can use this." He gently ties her hair with it in the back. "It looks good on you."
She wiped her mouth again "Thanks."
"Reminds me of Hibiki." Duero smirked.
"Hey! I'm nothing like him! Why does everyone say things like that?"
And so another obstacle had been defeated. But if you know Vandread that well, you'd know that another adventure was waiting.
This is the end of chapter six everyone. I'm also going to have some other vandread stories to tell so keep reading. In the next episode: Sei is always depressed. He had lost something so special that it destroyed his old self. Mar tries his best to be close to his brother but Sei pushes him away. It maybe too much for Mar when Sei finds something in life to love again, and it might destroy everyone.