Motion on a fourth dimensional plane

Note: New chapter, finally!

Again, I was delayed by a multitude of things - family related, more writers block...all the nice stuff, doubled with how I'll have to go back to school soon. But, through perseverance and toil, I did it. I got this chapter written. It was hard, actually, because part of me kept side tracking. You see, this is what happened – I was up late one night playing Tetris on my Pocket PC. Yes, Tetris. I was sitting there playing Tetris, trying to beat my high score, and while I'm playing, this idea for a fic enters my head. As I kept playing, this idea develops itself further, and my idea apparently came out to be a Naru-centric fic about her struggling to move on in her life after a series of events occur that separates her from the other residents. It probably would have involved a canon-sue or overwhelmingly depressed Naru, an OC, a Naru/OC pairing, and probably would have ripped off several other fics in the process, but I got the framework for the beginning down and needless to say, it would have been pretty damn sappy. Hell, I suddenly entered an emotional state thinking about it.

That idea turned out to have sidetracked me for several days. I couldn't get it, or the feeling I wanted to establish for it, out of my head. I wanted to write it, but I don't have enough of the plot and characters fleshed out to make something. And as I mentioned before, I probably would have ripped off a few other fics in the process as well, making me extremely reluctant to write it, let alone post it. But the idea floated around for a bit and every often I flesh out some more plot details. If I ever write it, it would be one for Naru fans like me – featuring an emotionally shattered and depressed Naru trying to figure out her place and make a life of her own after everybody she cares for leaves. It would either be a sad and depressing story of her struggling to survive on what little she has in friends and money, or take elements of that and gradually build up to that of an 'epic' storyline with her finding her place in the grand scheme of things.

All heavily work in progress, but it was an idea at least. If you've read this, at least comment on whether it would be a good idea or not.

Before I start with this chapter, I would like to first touch base on where Motion is taking place in the Love Hina story. I'm going off of the manga timeline, placing this at 1999, just before the plot with the Beach Café. The story will eventually go there, and I'm hoping it will turn out fine. Take note, however, I may not be abiding strictly by the Love Hina canon. I may mix in elements from both the manga and the anime series, and I might not stick to the timeline specifically, but I will try to keep it together as much as possible. As for pairings, I already know what I will be doing, so don't request or press any. Personally, I like Keitaro/Naru, but I have ideas on how to develop the story to benefit most sides. It won't go complete, all-out Keitaro/Naru, but it's still there, as with some others.

And thus concludes my longer than usual pre-chapter ramble. Readers, start reading.

Chapter 5: Operational Supremacy

Of all things soldiers need, sleep is, quite surprisingly, one of them.

For a moment, the advent of nanites and implants seemed to suggest that perhaps the hypothetical super-soldiers of the Commonwealth could potentially operate without sleep. It was a great idea – our nanites could supply us with a steady concentration of drugs and chemicals that would keep ourselves awake and still remain fully concentrated. This gave rise to the thoughts of enhanced killing machines able to sweep the battlefield at anytime and anyplace ruthlessly and efficiently one-hundred-and-ten percent of the time. As it turns out, that became one of the many initial downfalls of the Commonwealth's nanotechnology implements.

True, soldiers could operate longer than normal, but without sleep? There are some rather interesting affects that would occur as a result of it. This wasn't a mere matter of not sleeping for a day or two, but rather, for more than ten days. In the past, eleven days was a fairly good world record, but the soldiers were doing around that amount as a near minimum because of the nanites. And with that…incidents began to occur. By supplying drugs and chemicals, the process related to drowsiness was eliminated and the soldiers could operate without fault but the affects of sleep deprivation would still develop. As a result, most of us saw some rather interesting things from the squaddies who were selected for the tests. They would, practically in mid stride, forget what they were doing; report that a pink and purple panda was frolicking around the base; start trying to provoke fights with other personnel because they think somebody stole their socks, etc, etc, etc. During the period of roughly three weeks, I saw several good soldiers fall into fits of insanity, some horrible, yet others quite comical.

After the tests, our nanites were modified so they would stop keeping us awake after eight days. They were also modified so when we are in a position ready to fall asleep, they would give us drugs to help us fall asleep faster, for the sake of our health. They also made a setting so that when disrupted by certain sounds or by certain amounts of physical force, the nanites would give us another drug to instantly wake us up. The certain sounds included gunfire and in particular, explosions and detonations.

I found myself suddenly awoken as one shook the area. My first instinct was artillery, get to cover! I tried to get up, only to find myself unable to do so. I then remembered I was tied into a chair. The memories of the interrogation quickly flashed through my head. I was locked inside this room. Was I just imagining it? Was all of that part of the same dream that I just woke up from?

A distinct and sharp explosion sounded off yet again. In the distance, several smaller detonations sounded off and continued so. This was no dream – something was going on. I struggled for a moment, trying to break free of my bonds. These ropes were surprisingly strong. Contrary to popular belief, trying to break free of restraints is much harder than it looks. In reality, the protagonist usually doesn't have a knife cleverly hidden in their sleeve, nor are they able to hastily assemble one from whatever spare materials lying around.

Unfortunately, this was the hole I was in.

As far as my experience goes, the method of breaking out of restraints involved one of two things – either the ropes themselves or the material you're secured to. For me, the ropes were quite secure, overdone, in my opinion, but as for the chair…

I then began to shift my weight back and forth. I needed to see how strong the chair was pieced together. There turned out to be very little movement, but compared to the thick ropes that bound me to the chair, it was better than working with nothing. I continued my motion, rocking the chair back and forth with enough force it was almost at risk of toppling over. As I continued, I could feel a distinct loss of strength by the chair from its legs and back. I was getting closer and closer. As soon as I finished rocking forward, I shifted my weight upwards, lifting myself and the chair up. For the brief microsecond I was in the air, I rotated back, and the angled rear legs of the chair smashed against the ground. Shortly after hearing the sounds of splintering wood, I realized I was much closer to the ground than before.

It worked. By rocking back and forth and then hopping up into the air, I was able to break the rear legs of the chair. In addition, the sudden shift of weight broke the back of the chair as well. I struggled again to slip my hands out from the ropes. I was able to sneak one hand out, and from there, I began working on the other. Within moments, both arms were free. It would only be a minute before I was able to remove the other ropes and free my legs. Once all my limbs were free, I stood up and out of the chair triumphantly.

My first instinct was to move to the door, but I took some time to check over myself. My face was still quite bloody and beaten. Given the amount of damage, I had only dozed off for a few minutes at best, not enough time to allow my nanites to repair all the damage. I checked my pouches. Most of them were empty, possibly cleaned out the same time as when they checked me over for Su's hard drive. The compartments located to the back of my chest armour and the smaller storage spaces hidden on my vest weren't looted, which was a definite advantage. Reaching my hand in, I grabbed one of my nanite injectors and promptly stabbed it into one of my suit seals. I could at least get myself patched up faster.

Finishing that, I searched through some of my compartments for my PDA. Luckily, there was a specific space for it to be fitted into that was well hidden and not obstructive. Pulling it out, I brought up my maps of the inn and the tracking signals for my equipment. They were not located anywhere in the main building. Everything - my rifle, my sidearm, my helmet, and my supply of ammunition were being held at a separate location close to the inn. It was going to be a short walk to get over there and to procure them.

Better yet, seeing how there was an explosion just recently, I felt I needed my equipment for protection and for use. The general rule about explosions – if you hear several of them within a short span of time, they are intentional and meant to do harm. Accidental explosions usually occur only once or twice, often more in a scattered and unsystematic chain. Several could mean, from my experience, a volley of rockets hitting their mark.

I was quite curious, however – who the hell was running around shooting rockets? As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a war going on, but it sounds like there is one going on outside. Should I be asking why I'm hearing explosions, even?

"Hey, anybody there?" I shouted, knocking at the door. No answer.

"Anybody? What's going on out there? Somebody, talk to me!"

Again, I received no answer, except for another set of explosions. I stepped back and examined the door. I remember Keitaro was thrown through it by Motoko's sword technique, and it definitely was not in good shape. Ergo, it would not hold out against any sort of direct force. I backed up a bit more, and charged shoulder first into the door. Through a cloud of splinters and the sounds of snapping and breaking wood, I smashed my way through the door.

That was easy enough.

I was now inside an even smaller room just outside of my 'cell', with another door in front of me. This room had a small table and a chair present, and judging from the now opened door, I would guess that there was somebody sitting here just moments ago. Were they here to watch me, to make sure I would not escape? Come to think about it, if I was a minute or two earlier, I probably would have ran into them. Part of me had the strange suspicion that this person volunteering to watch me was Motoko. Fair enough – her sword would keep me grounded any day.

But she wasn't here now and the exit was wide open. I checked my corners, and then exited. This area was located further into the inn, part of a small area I had no visited yet, but some extrapolation would lead me to guess that I was close to the main entrance to the inn. Once I find the foyer, I could exit the main building and get to where my equipment was being held at.

More explosions rocked in the distance, some strong enough to send vibrations through the building. What the hell was going on? It actually sounds like a war zone out there. I suppose the least I could receive from all this was some peace and quiet – a few hours, a few days even, from the usual gunfire, artillery, and soldiers dying. For now, it sounded, quite ironically, like home.

Whether I was disappointed or relieved, I dare not ask myself. Still, this place does remind me a lot of battle. All it needs is a bit of humanity – screaming and shouting from either soldiers or frightened civilians. Otherwise, it might as well have been nothing more than an overenthusiastic fireworks display gone horribly, horribly, wrong.

I then heard a single, piercing scream.

That was enough of the humanity I needed. I homed in on the source. It was close, somewhere nearby. The sound of the voice sounded familiar – was it Shinobu? What would she be so frightened about? Well, there were explosions going on outside, of course. I continued along the hallways until I reached the area close to the foyer. I then saw her run by in front of me. I tried to call out for her to stop, but found out why she was running in the first place.

Immediately following her was a small, flying, metal turtle.

Was that Su's Mecha-Tama? It had to be. I had to do something. That tiny thing packed a fair bit of firepower, and I'd hate to see it used on somebody like Shinobu. I ran out and pursued the flying mechanical device. It wasn't too fast, so I was able to catch up to it quite quickly. Once in range, I reached my hands out and grabbed hold of it. I struggled to keep it from moving, but my hands kept a death grip on its metal shell. I then threw it to the ground, far from my position, watching as it spun along the floor and further down the hall. If I had a weapon, I would have shot it – of course, but then again I was currently without that luxury. I turned around and faced Shinobu. She stood there, her face evidently plastered in fear, huddling in the corner.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, getting down onto my knees to talk to her better.

She said nothing, only looking back up at me with shock. No doubt, the footage of my close quarter mishap was still on her mind. Was she scared of me? Would she be willing to cooperate? I only hoped so.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked her again. Again, she did not respond.

"Listen, I'm not going to hurt you," I reassured. Somehow, this was feeling quite familiar. I checked behind me, just to make sure Motoko wasn't sneaking up on me. "I need to know where the possible safe areas are. If you can tell me where they are, I can get you and the others there to safety."

Shinobu continued to look up at me. Her frightened and tearful features said everything. Would she trust me? I would hope so. The more she looked back at me, the calmer she got. It was a good sign.

"The teahouse."

Shinobu's voice was barely a whisper. I wasn't surprised. She was still quite frightened after all that has happened so far. Luckily, her voice was not too small for me to hear. I was making at least some type of progress.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"Out the doors and down the stairs" Shinobu said, pointing towards the main entrance.

I pulled out my PDA and checked my maps to make sure. I had moved around the outside of the inn a few days ago and I could remember there was a long flight of stairs outside the main entrance that extended below. If I had to guess, this teahouse was somewhere down there. It also corresponded to the location of my equipment. I needed to get to the teahouse, whether to get the residents to a safe location or to get my equipment.

"Alright, listen to me, Shinobu," I told her. "I'm going to get you to safety. I'm going to bring you down to the teahouse. When we get there, stay out of sight and wait for when help arrives. Understood?"

Shinobu meekly nodded. She understood, and was willing to trust me. It was all that I needed. I got up on my feet and extended a hand. If I was going to help her, the least I could do to begin with was help her up. Shinobu reached for my hand – but promptly backed off and started to scream. Shit, what was going on now? I quickly turned around and checked behind me. All of a sudden, something flew straight at my face. I had my hands out to catch it, but the force this small object struck me with was quite substantial. I lost my footing, and fell back.

It was the Mecha-Tama. The small, robotic turtle was back. I struggled to keep it off my face, but it fought back. It was too close to use its weapons, so I'd assume it was going to try and dispatch me with some sort of close quarters weapons, possibly its wide, gaping mouth. For something this small, it was quite strong. With as much force as I could muster even while trying to hold it back, I gave it a punch or two. It was not enough to force it off. I needed something to even the balance. My eyes quickly scanned the area. I noticed I actually was at the main foyer. Being there meant the kitchen was close by. A kitchen only meant one thing…

"Shinobu, get me a knife! Get me something sharp and pointy!" I barked, keeping the robotic turtle away form my face.

She was quite reluctant to help, but immediately got up and ran for the kitchen. While I struggled, I could hear drawers being opened and pots being cast aside. She then came back out carrying what I needed – a kitchen knife. It wasn't exactly a combat knife, but it was what I needed. I motioned for her to give it to me. Shinobu quickly ran towards me, dropped it off, and backed away. I reached one of my hands out and grabbed hold of its handle. I then thrust it straight at the robotic turtle's neck.

It was a robot, and it probably would take more than a simple stab of a knife to bring it down, but if I was lucky, I could at least immobilise it. The knife entered from the bottom right of its neck and into the body. I moved the knife around as much as possible, trying to perhaps do some damage to the inside of the robot. I swiftly withdrew the knife and thrust it in again, at a different angle and entry point than before. If I'm able to, I could at least disconnect the head from the body.

I continued my process of stabbing and withdrawing, until the head was all but disconnected. A thin piece of plating and what appeared to be a bundle of wires and machinery inside the neck was all that held the head in place. With a final push of the kitchen knife, the head slid off. It continued to move, but to no avail. I pushed the body off me and got up to my feet. The knife was in terrible condition – of course, seeing how it was probably not meant to be used for decapitating a robotic turtle. It was still quite a potent weapon, however, regardless of the damage. Behind me, Shinobu watched on in a horrified state.

"Are you okay?" I asked Shinobu again, as though not noticing the still moving robotic turtle flopping around on the ground.

"…um…yes, I'm okay…I think…"

Shinobu was quiet, but she was at least willing to talk to me. A quick glance into her eyes suggested she was still quite uneasy around me. Suddenly, there was a thick explosion just off in the distance. It wasn't that far off, from what I could hear of it. It was like distant thunder, only shorter, but with a single, acute snap. During that I could have sworn I heard a small yelp. Looking down, I realized Shinobu was grabbing hold of me. I was fulfilling a role not unlike that of a squeeze toy. She then realised what she was holding onto and quickly got off of me.

"I'm sorry!"

"What's going on out there?" I asked, changing the subject. It was something I should have done the moment I found Shinobu – a bit of a rookie mistake on my part, but I could look past it. Another explosion then rocked the area. I looked around and noted the flashes of light outside. Seriously, what was going on?

"Su's Mecha-Tamas are going insane! They're attacking everything they see!"

Well, I now had the sitrep. If they were attacking, I would definitely need my weapons…wait a minute, Mecha-Tamas? Mecha-Tamas, as in plural form? Plural form, as in more than one? So the one that I just had to disable was but one of many?

"Hold on, what do you mean by Mecha-Tamas?" I inquired.

Shinobu's mouth opened, but no response came. She was staring at something behind me, something that must have been shocking enough to render her speechless. I turned around, and realized there was, not one, but three Mecha-Tamas hovering there, watching me as though I was a piece of meat. The guns on their backs then pivoted and locked onto us.

Oh…SHIT.

"Get down!" I screamed, moving myself in front of Shinobu, just as the guns fired.

I turned my back to them and covered Shinobu as much as what my armour can afford. Whatever they fired, my armour held against it, but the force of the impact was quite significant. My knees buckled and I fell to the ground. I kept resolute, however, and stood my ground. This wasn't good enough. I need to get Shinobu out of here, and hell, I needed to get out as well. I readied the kitchen knife, quickly flipping it around and grabbing hold of the flat, topside of the blade.

I had a knife and was going against three targets at a distance. Usually, this was suicide, but given the circumstances anything related to suicide needed rather drastic measures – which, more chances than naught ended up being suicide anyways. I wouldn't be able to rush all three and expect to walk away victorious, so a direct frontal assault was not going to work. My priority was to get Shinobu to safety and that was more important than attacking. But of course, I had only a knife. To get in close to use it on one of them would get me involved with the other two – a rather messy result, if I do say so myself. What would others do in my situation? Well, I don't know about them, but I had to throw my knife and perhaps take out one of the targets.

Throwing a knife was much, much harder than what popular culture and media presents it to be. It wasn't a case of flicking any old knife in one direction and scoring a perfect hit, but rather, required careful training and correct gauging of distance and necessary strength. The trick, as far as I was concerned, to throwing a knife was in the way the knife is held. The technique I was trained in was to hold the knife with the handle pointing upwards with your hand grasping the hopefully flat backside of the knife. It was a Russian technique, which was quite ironic, seeing how the Russians were on the opposite side. Regardless, it was a good way to throw a knife.

I got to my feet and faced the three turtles. I brought the knife up in one hand and as I stepped forward with my left foot, I rotated and swung, applying my chest muscles into throwing the knife. Knife throwing was a near delicate art. While taught, it wasn't emphasized as much as rifle marksmanship was, and because of that, not many soldiers could proudly say they can throw knives.

The knife left my hand and did a quarter spin in the air as it flew along. It landed straight inside the mouth of the turtle to the far left. The force of the impact sent it reeling, leaving me with only the other two. I wasn't a master practitioner of knife throwing, but I wasn't terrible at it either. I could throw a pretty nasty one, actually.

"Go! Get moving!" I shouted at Shinobu as I charged forward.

The other pair of turtles fired on me. Their shots were mainly landing centre mass, but I kept my face and head covered as best I could while running. Three-on-one wasn't nice to get into, but two-on-one was doable. Especially, since the targets were small and that many generations of evolutionary perfection gave me a pair of hands to work with. I grabbed both of the turtles and threw them aside, far from my position. Looking behind me, Shinobu was already running out of the foyer. I quickly followed and exited the building.

It was still dark outside. The amount of time I spent both unconscious and asleep before and after the interrogation was definitely not that long. The moon was glowing pale white above and was lighting some of the area, at least enabling me to see where the steps here. Periodically, explosions and detonations sounded off and briefly lit the area even more. Was all of this being caused by the now apparently numerous Mecha-Tamas? Logic told me otherwise, but seeing how almost none of the occurrences here made any sort of sense, I wasn't sure of my answer at all.

I stayed close to Shinobu and kept watch over her as we ran. The explosions usually made her stop and look around for safety, but otherwise the pace was quite steady. Within minutes we had reached a small building located at the bottom of the long path of stairs. Just like the main building of the inn, this one shared the same colour scheme and old fashioned construction. As we got closer, I pulled out my PDA and checked for the location of my equipment. They had to be inside.

"No! It's locked!" Shinobu cried in dismay. She tried to open the door but a lock from the other side negated her efforts, reducing her to a saddened pout. There appeared to be two entrances, one much larger, and another smaller door. The smaller door would probably be the easier to get through, with the exception of the lock on the other side.

"Allow me."

Shinobu looked up at me as I aligned myself with the door. She looked at the distance between it and myself and tried to protest, but ultimately moved away and behind cover. I started to run, gradually lining up my right shoulder with the door. I turned my face the other way just as I came within a metre of the door and allowed my momentum to carry me through. I slammed into the door and straight through like a comet, leaving the broken pieces of the door and its frame behind me.

"Did you just break down the door?" Shinobu looked from the now open doorframe to me and back as she meekly walked in.

"Yes, I did," I answered. "Why?"

"But…you BROKE down the door! You broke the door!"

"Well, what did you expect me to do, knock? Ring a doorbell? Knock?" I asked her, somewhat rhetorically.

Shinobu looked at me with a great expression of shock and disbelief. It was as though she had never seen somebody break through a door with their shoulder. Actually, she probably didn't, so that was explainable. I had to admit, the look on her face was simply priceless – a surprised and 'oh my goodness, I can't believe what just happened' look. It suited her quite well, if I might add, adding to a childish and frightened aura she projected.

"Come on, we've got to move" I said, leading her further into the building.

The inside of the building was rather spacious with plenty of tables and seats set up. If I had to guess, it could easily accommodate for many customers. I just had to wonder, did they serve more than tea here? Was there also food? I've never actually been in a teahouse before, particularly a Japanese one. I was quite curious, actually.

All thoughts regarding food and tea were rudely interrupted when I realized there was the muzzle of a firearm next to my head.

"Hands where I can see them, soldier."

I raised my hands and quietly swore. I should have at least known Haruka would be here.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I will require my weapons and equipment."

I couldn't see Haruka, but I could tell she was amused. She was holding me at gunpoint, and I was asking for my weapons? What kind of shit did I have to fall into to be forced to do that?

"Aunt Haruka, we need help!" Shinobu spoke up. She then proceeded to summarize all that has happened to Haruka in a frenzied and hurried pace.

"Thank you, Shinobu" Haruka replied after Shinobu finished explaining.

"I'm willing to help," I said. "If you can give me my weapons and equipment, I can re-enter the inn, locate the other residents, and bring them here to safety while you hold the teahouse."

"What makes you think I can trust you?" Haruka asked. Amidst the echoing explosions outside, I could hear a lighter switch on, followed by the smell of a freshly lit cigarette.

"What would you not trust about me?"

"Well, let's see…you broke into the inn and hid there, evaded many attempts to apprehend you, attacked my nephew several times, and you just broke down my door."

Haruka's voice was the same emotionless drawl. Even with what was going on outside, she remained calm as she kept up with this miniature interrogation. Again, I had the suspicion she had at least some degree of paramilitary training. All of that aside, Haruka did have some rather good points as to why she shouldn't trust me.

"Other than those, there isn't anything else. I can help, do you understand me? I can help."

"Aunt Haruka! There's something outside the teahouse!" Shinobu warned, pointing towards the wall.

Upon listening in more closely, I could hear scraping sounds outside. Were the Mecha-Tamas here already? Were they set on breaking in and wreaking addition havoc? The sounds then stopped, leaving the interior of the teahouse in an anxious period of silence. Suddenly, a small section of the wall burst open, sending large pieces of wood flying towards Haruka and me.

"Get back!" I shouted.

The pieces of wood struck me first. Whatever sent them flying must have done so with a large amount of force. The force of the first impact sent me sprawling, and the other pieces threw me to the ground. I felt something collapse under my weight as well. A quick glance told me it was Haruka, who stood behind me with a gun pointed at my head. I was about to get off, right when I spotted one of the Mecha-Tamas flying through the hole in the wall. Everything slid into place – my military and combat instincts replaced my civilian morality and logic. Haruka's hands still held onto her weapon. I didn't have to think about what I needed to do. My hand shot out and plucked Haruka's pistol from her hands.

Guns were guns. Regardless of what time era they were from and so long as they had a trigger and a set of sights, they were always usable. I lined up the front and rear sights, then fired off a pair. The two bullets found their mark, the first striking the robotic turtle in the head and the second one just next to it. I continued to shoot, firing off a third and fourth shot. The Mecha-Tama was thrown back out the hole where it presumably fell to the ground, no longer a threat. Just then, another Mecha-Tama, followed by yet another flew into the room. I quickly engaged them, firing a pair of rounds for each target and dropping them to the floor in a matter of seconds. From the sidelines, Shinobu cautiously uncovered her ears, while Haruka crawled out from underneath me. I handed her weapon back to her, grip first.

"You'll need my help" I said to her bluntly.

Haruka said nothing as she picked up her weapon and got up on her feet. She glanced towards the fallen Mecha-Tamas that lay motionless on the ground, seemingly admiring my handiwork.

"Nice work. You're a good shot."

"I'm a soldier, I do this sort of stuff for a living," I replied. "If I had my weapons and my equipment I can do it better."

Haruka then rubbed the side of her head, as though suddenly receiving a headache.

"Alright, I get your point – you want your equipment. Wait here."

She then walked off, out of the room and out of sight. Moments later, she returned with a crate and set it down on one of the tables. Sure enough, everything was inside – my IW52, my sidearm, ammunition, helmet, combat knife, etc. Everything that I was missing during the interrogation was being held in a small wooden box.

"What's your plan?" Haruka asked me.

"I'm going back into the inn to find the other residents," I explained as I picked up my assault rifle, checking it over for any damage. "Once I round them up, we will move back to this location and wait until help arrives."

"Sounds good, but there won't be anybody coming here to help us, though."

No help? What the hell? There are explosions going out outside, and several of them as well, all of which would be easily seen from practically anywhere. Wouldn't somebody get suspicious? Hell, shouldn't somebody have called the police by now?

"Can't you get any assistance here?"

"Sorry, but no. The police have actually stopped answering calls regarding Hinata Sou and they won't even come near this place." Haruka answered, somewhat amused. "Particularly when that's going on outside."

I knew Haruka could keep her cool in any sort of situation, but how could she be amused in one like this? There were an unknown number of self-levitating, fully armed and armoured robotic turtles flying around wreaking havoc, with no chance of calling in any sort of assistance, and Haruka was calm? Haruka being calm aside, there was no form of help on its way.

Which should I be more worried about?

"Look on the bright side," Haruka continued, still in an almost completely disbelieving state of calm. "You wanted your weapons so badly, so I figure you'd be badass enough to take those things on without any help."

Was that a challenge? The way she said it – it sounded as though she was challenging me to take these things on single handed. The concept of a challenge was often ridiculous. It was more like an overextended version of a cock fight, for the sake of ones pride. I often never answered to any sort of challenge. Quite frankly, there wasn't any purpose to one anyways and there wasn't anything for me to prove. But this one spiked my attention. I felt an obligation to meet it.

I unscrewed the silencer from my rifle and removed the stun rounds. Of course, the stun rounds would not work against the Mecha-Tamas, and it wasn't like stealth was going to help me either. After fitting all my ammunition into their appropriate pouches and areas, I slapped in a fresh magazine. I had a few concerns, namely, would forty-five 6.8mm depleted uranium rounds be overkill? The Mecha-Tamas were armoured, but not to the level that demanded such power. I suppose on some level, sticking to my sidearm would be better. Regardless, I took the time to unload the ring airfoil rounds from the utility launcher and load in shotgun shells. I was thinking about grenades, but quite frankly, that would have been overkill.

"I'll be back," I told Haruka and Shinobu as I put my helmet back on and brought my facemask up into place. "Haruka, hold down the teahouse and look after Shinobu. Shinobu, stay with Haruka and stay in the teahouse."

I left without any addition words. I knew at least Haruka would do what she needed to do. I hoped Shinobu would stay put, but seeing how bad it was outside, I figure she didn't have a choice. At this point, it was up to me - not a problem. It wasn't a nice feeling to know that I was the only solution, but given this situation I didn't mind. I brought up my motion tracker and kept an eye on it as I moved towards the inn. So far, I picked up nothing, and I continued to do so right up until I got into the building's foyer. When I entered, a pair of targets showed up on the motion tracker. A quick switch over to my thermal vision brought up a pair of turtle shaped objects with relatively little heat emissions moving towards me.

When the pair of Mecha-Tamas came into view, I raised my rifle and fired a round for each one. The targeting aids in my HUD were precise and accurate, and better yet, my depleted uranium rounds tore through them like tissue paper. They both dropped dead to the ground. I continued to move. Pulling up my maps of the inn, I checked where I had to go. I went up the stairs and up to the second floor. I did my usual stairway procedure, checking behind and around me as I went up. A whole bunch of signatures picked up on my motion tracker, at least a dozen coming in fast. I flicked my fire selector to my utility launcher.

Sure enough, there actually were a dozen Mecha-Tamas flying towards me. When the majority of them came into view, I fired. At this range, a 20mm shotgun shell was absolutely deadly, not only for the target in question but also the others around it. If I had to guess, four or five of them were violently thrown back and clattered lifelessly on the floor. I pumped the launcher's slide, ejecting the spent cartridge and loading in another. I fired again – same result, only more of them were dead. My thumb flicked at the fire selector, switching back to single shot, and finished off the others still moving in a quick burst of fire.

My thermal vision then picked up something else. This contact was definitely not one of the Mecha-Tamas. The size, shape, and the amount of body heat was an instant giveaway – this contact was one of the residents. I moved in, careful to keep my rifle pointed down. When I rounded the corner, the small cowering form of Sarah came into view.

"No! Don't eat me!" she screamed in fear, covering herself.

Wait…what? Sarah thought I was going to eat her? Usually when securing a civilian previously in harms way, they tend to be bit overactive and this may cause them to shout some rather nonsensical cries. I've heard it all – gibberish, the usual pleas not to hurt them, more screaming, and others like that. But 'don't eat me'? If I were to compile a list of the strangest and weirdest ones I've heard thus far, that would easily make the top ten.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help" I told her reassuringly, dropping down to one knee to better communicate.

Sarah uncovered herself and looked at me. Her once fearful expression then changed to that of a bored and unimpressed glare.

"Oh, it's you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded. "One minute, you're telling me not to eat you, next minute you're 'oh, it's you.' Seriously, what does that mean?"

Sarah got up to her feet. Come to think about it, she was quite small – more so than Shinobu and Su. I was reminded of the interrogation, of when Keitaro tried to hit me, and how I called him a shrimp. Technically speaking, Sarah here fell into the category of a shrimp even more so. Then again, if she were a shrimp, she'd be the most evil and most malevolent one ever to be encountered.

"I don't know," Sarah replied, frustrated. "You look just like one of those turtles and I thought you were going to eat me, so there!"

Fair enough – my helmet did give me the whole robotic look. I also suppose that on some level, a careful glance could make me look like one of the Mecha-Tamas, particularly my helmet.

"Anyways, we've got to move," I said, changing the rather lucrative subject to the present situation at hand. "I'm here to locate and escort the residents back to the teahouse. Follow me, and I'll get you and the others to safety."

Sarah was about to respond, but something else replied for her. It was a single, bloodcurdling scream. My audio sensors gave a rough estimate of where it was coming from and marked it on my HUD. It was coming from Keitaro's room. If I had to guess, that scream belonged to him. I wasted no time getting to his door, with Sarah following. Switching on my thermal vision, I spotted a single, thrashing humanoid figure inside, as well as four cold signatures. I tried the door, but it was locked. I figured Keitaro was barricading himself inside his room for his safety, but I also figured he neglected the window or something.

"Aaahhh! Help me!"

"Hold on, I'm coming through!" I barked. "Clear the door! Get away from the door!"

"You're going to save the dork?" Sarah asked me.

"I don't have much of a choice." I reached into one of my pouches and loaded a breaching round into my utility launcher. "Then again, I do happen to get a kick out of this stuff."

Sarah was left to contemplate what I meant by that, but not for long as I lined up my utility launcher with the door's lock. She instinctively covered her ears and turned away, just scant moments before I fired. The lock was blown off from the door violently. I immediately slid the door open and burst into the room, engaging the four Mecha-Tamas already inside. I fired four times, and was rewarded with four disabled robots lying on the ground.

"You're alright, Keitaro?"

Keitaro was only able to respond with incoherent babbling and jabber, also pointing at me, Sarah, the four dead Mecha-Tamas, and back again. He was certainly not taking this too well.

"I'll take that as a 'yes' – calm down Keitaro, I'm here to help!" I said, trying to stabilize him.

Suddenly, a stone urn dropped on his head. Keitaro stopped his nonsensical chattering and fell to the floor. He wasn't unconscious but luckily, he had calmed down a bit. I looked behind me and saw Sarah, who had produced another stone artefact from what seemed like out of nowhere.

"Excuse me…Sarah, we're not supposed to attack the person we just saved."

"Well, it helped. Look, he's alright" Sarah pointed at Keitaro.

Keitaro got back up, definitely calmer than before. He still carried a fair amount of shock but compared to before, this was much better.

"W-what happened? Sarah? Soldier…guy?" Keitaro babbled.

I took some time to briefly summarise what happened – the Mecha-Tamas going crazy, me escaping from my holding cell, finding and helping Shinobu, and what I intended to do now.

"Come on, let's move. Let's get Kitsune and move upstairs for everybody else."

"Wait, what about Narusegawa?" Keitaro asked.

"I can't pick her up on thermal" I explained. When Sarah and I were just outside Keitaro's room and I had my thermal vision switched on, I would have been able to spot Naru, but to no avail. I should have explained more clearly to Keitaro, since the look on his face meant he was assuming the worse.

"Wait, is she…is she…"

"It means she isn't in her room. Let's move out, get Kitsune, head upstairs, and find everybody else," I told Keitaro and Sarah. "Stay close, keep an eye out for any of the Mecha-Tamas, and stay clear of my line-of-fire, got it?"

Keitaro and Sarah nodded. With that, we exited Keitaro's room and went straight for Kitsune. My thermals picked up a single signature inside. Kitsune was still in her room, and there wasn't anybody else inside, which was reassuring. We entered her room, and found her lying in her futon. I wasn't surprised to find a bottle of sake next to her, nor was I too surprised by the fact she was sleeping in a rather revealing nightie.

"Whoa, she sleeps in that?" Sarah exclaimed in astonishment. "Heh, I bet you'd like it if you saw Naru in one of those."

Sarah gently nudged Keitaro's side with a smirk on her face. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Sarah was implying.

"H-hey! I wouldn't! I mean, it would be nice – no, not like that! That's not what I meant! Narusegawa's fine the way she is! W-wait, no, what I meant was-!"

"Keitaro, watch the door, will you?" I said, pointing towards the door. I then began shaking Kitsune, trying to get her up. "Kitsune? Wake up, Kitsune! Wake up!"

The only responses that came from Kitsune were small moans and mumbles. She wasn't completely drunk, not like the other night, but she was probably still quite tipsy. Kitsune was at least semi-conscious. With luck, I could probably get her awake.

"Wake up, Kitsune!" I yelled again, shaking her some more. I didn't want to use any force to get her up, but what other way was there to do it?

"Hmmm…you're so naughty, Keitaro…"

An awkward moment of silence then fell inside Kitsune's room. Sarah watched on, her expression blank and shocked. I watched on, suddenly finding myself disturbed quite a bit from the…revelation…Kitsune kindly provided us with. What was actually going through her mind? Was she having…fantasies about a certain someone? While I didn't have any sort of love for Su's Virtual-kun for having traumatized the residents with footage of the war I was fighting, I actually wished I had one right now, just to see what was going on inside her head.

"WHAT?"

Keitaro was back in the room kneeling right next to me and staring at the sleeping Kitsune. No doubt, he heard what Kitsune mumbled. And no doubt, he was thinking what Sarah and I had initially thought.

"Keitaro, she probably isn't dreaming about that."

Keitaro tried to say something, but was interrupted by more of Kitsune's mumbles.

"…no, your torikame's too small…"

Again, there was another moment of silence. It extended for what felt like a significant period of time, before being broken by the sounds of Keitaro falling over. Followed by the sounds of Sarah laughing at Keitaro, possibly from what Kitsune mumbled.

"See? She wasn't talking about that before" I said, resisting the urge to break out laughing. If being in the military meant certain things, it included being highly amused by lewd humour.

"Wait, Keitaro, shouldn't you be watching the door?"

"What?" Keitaro got up from the ground. "Oh, right, I'll get back to it."

Suddenly, my motion tracker picked up movement just outside, at least four or five contact. My thermals picked up very little heat from the incoming wave – Mecha-Tamas.

"Get down!" I shouted.

The first of the Mecha-Tamas got to the door and were already inside. I didn't have time to shoulder my rifle. Instead, I reached for my sidearm. I lined up my sights with the first target and fired. The first shot found its target, but did little damage. Of course, my sidearm was still loaded with hollow-point ammunition. Had the Mecha-Tama been an organic creature the round would have dealt greater damage. I fired again, the second striking the robotic turtle and finally dropping it to the ground. Two rounds to take out one of them sounded reasonable. The others swarmed inside the room, and I continued to fire, methodically hitting each one and taking them down quickly and efficiently. I had around half a magazine after I finished my work.

"Urg…is it morning already?" Kitsune then grumbled as she sat up in her futon.

Of all things that would wake her up, it just had to be gunfire, and even so, she didn't act all too surprised or shocked by it.

"Excuse me, ma'am, we have to go!" I barked, much to Kitsune's annoyance.

"…five more minutes…" Kitsune replied, getting back into her futon and snuggling in her blanket.

"We have to go, now, Kitsune" I said, urging her to get out of her futon.

"…fine, four more minutes…"

"Kitsune!"

"…ten more minutes?"

I chose not to say anything. Kitsune eventually got the point and crawled out of her futon. I briefly explained what was going on and with the group now consisting of Kitsune, Keitaro, and Sarah we left the room and made our way to the stairs.

"Um, Kitsune-san, what were you dreaming about just now?" Keitaro asked as we moved along. I wasn't too surprised he was asking about that.

"Me? I remember you digging through a box of underwear and lingerie, and then you found Tama-chan, only she was smaller than usual," Kitsune replied, her brow wrinkling as she tried to pull back her memories of her dream. "Hey, what's with the long face?"

"Nothing" Keitaro replied, disappointed.

"Come on, I told you before, she wasn't dreaming about that" I said to Keitaro, chuckling afterwards.

Keitaro remained silent as we approached the stairs and made our way up. From what my map was suggesting, after we made our way up the stairs, we would end up really close to Motoko's and Su's rooms. As we got closer, my thermals picked up not two, but three heat signatures. Naru had to be here as well. Their placement was positioned right where Su's jungle-like room was. My audio sensors were also picking up something from within as well, yelling, from the sounds of things.

"I've got three human contacts inside Su's room and…holy shit."

"What?" Kitsune asked, walking up next to me. She was right behind me as we moved up the stairs, followed by Sarah and Keitaro.

"I'm counting at least fifty other signatures inside the room. There's at least fifty Mecha-Tamas inside Su's room."

"F-f-fifty?" Sarah cried in dismay.

I took the time to swap out my magazine for a fresh one, doing the same with my sidearm, and loaded more shells for my utility launcher. There were so many of those things inside – I was going to need as ammo as possible. I had forty-five rounds in my clip, plus one already in the barrel, each bullet equating to that many number of kills. I had eighteen rounds in my sidearm's magazine, plus one in the barrel, and with two rounds being able to take out a single target, I had at least nine kills there. Those were able to account for most of the targets inside anyways, but the shotgun shells were for insurance, if needed.

"Listen up, I'll enter first and clear it out," I told the others as we approached the door to Su's room. "Do not enter until I give an all-clear, and…incoming, get down!"

My motion tracker picked up something of a certain size moving quickly towards me. At that speed, it would break through the wall and strike anybody with a sizable velocity and impact. I immediately got down, just as the object smashed through the wall and flew over my head.

"Whoa!" Kitsune yelled, ducking below the object.

"Yikes!" Sarah cried out, getting down on the floor as well.

"Ahh!" Keitaro screamed, followed by the sounds of something hard striking against something soft.

I looked behind me and found Keitaro sprawled on the floor with a disabled Mecha-Tama lying on his stomach. He moved around a bit, meaning he was just fine. I walked up to the hole in the wall and peeked inside. Suddenly, another Mecha-Tama came flying out with such force and velocity that it tore through the wall and collided straight on with the wall, plopping dead to the floor. Inside Su's room, I could see Naru screaming and swearing while being swarmed at by an improbable number of Mecha-Tamas. Every time her fist contacted with one of the robotic turtles, they were violently sent flying through the air, either having met their end by the sheer force Naru could punch at or being destroyed the moment they hit the wall.

Did I even need to go in there? Well, I did, but I suppose the job of taking all of the Mecha-Tamas down wouldn't be as hard as what I initially expected.

Sliding open the door, I burst into the room and proceeded to engage the targets. Due to the sheer number of them, I had my HUD mark them out for easier targeting. I was overwhelmed when I got inside – there were too many of them, where would I even start? The thick throngs of robotic turtles circling and hovering around Su's jungle of a room didn't have any form of start or finish. Being a soldier, I had the near right to kill a member of the opposing force, but even all those rights were too liberating in this situation.

I simply pointed my rifle in one direction and fired. I kept to my single shot fire discipline, picking off specific targets. There wasn't a need to exactly aim – I just lined up my rifle HUD crosshair with whatever target I saw first and fired. Seeing how dozens of them were crowding all around here, it wasn't too hard. My motion tracker picked up movement behind me. I turned around and resumed fire, taking out the swarm of Mecha-Tamas behind me. I continued to reorient myself again and again, firing off shots where I could. During all this, my gaze temporarily met Naru's. She was quite shocked to see me here. Of course, given all that has happened I would assume she still harbours a fair deal of distrust with me.

Come to think about it, was my image being improved to the eyes of the residents? Me, coming in with my weapons and helping to turn the tide, was it a good thing for them? Is their opinion of me changing? This entire incident was turning to be a good public relations stunt, actually. Then again, I wasn't spiteful enough to make use of that. I merely saw something familiar and acted on it – namely, I saw explosions and decided to make a few of my own.

I kept up the fire, picking off more and more Mecha-Tamas. I occasionally switched to my sidearm, but I was mainly using my assault rifle. Round after round, my HUD updated the number of rounds left in my magazine. Starting at forty-six, it dwindled with each shot and finally dropped to zero. I thumbed the magazine release, dropping the magazine out of its well. A pair of Mecha-Tama then rushed at me. I dropped my rifle for a moment and drew my sidearm, lining up and firing a pair of quick shots for each. Picking up my rifle again, I reached for a new magazine, slapped it in place and cycled the bolt.

By now, the number of Mecha-Tama had dropped significantly. The only remains were the lifeless metal carcasses that littered the sides of the room. My HUD picked up a few more retreating deeper into the room, out of reach from the trees and foliage, but their numbers were so few it would not matter in the very end. As far as I was concerned, this area was clear.

"All clear! It's safe to proceed!"

From the door, Sarah, Kitsune, and Keitaro walked in, aghast over the number of fallen Mecha-Tama.

"Remind me not to catch you on a bad day" Sarah commented.

"Are you kidding me? This is me on a good day" I replied. My face mask kept my expression hidden, but underneath I was smiling ear to ear. This was a good day, actually. On my bad days, I screw the killing part and call in air strikes and armoured support. I also had the single instance of a very bad day. Needless to say, it only happened once and it corresponded quite nicely with my Silver Star and a reprimand for excessive damage.

Great times…

"Narusegawa!" Keitaro ran out towards Naru.

"Keitaro?"

The two met and hugged. I take it this whole situation was the closest to danger they've encountered. I had to admit, it was quite charming watching the two hug each other. It was cute in its own way, I suppose.

"Should we leave you two alone?" Kitsune asked, a smirk growing on her face.

As if Kitsune's voice was some sort of signal, Naru snapped out of whatever state of mind she was in and realized Keitaro was hugging her. And with that, she promptly threw one of her trademarked punches that levelled Keitaro and actually buried him in the ground. She then looked towards me, her expression changing to apologetic. Despite the fact that she was probably going to say something to me, a moment of silence developed.

"Thanks for the help" she said, after a long pause. I could tell, this was actually quite hard for her to do.

"Not a problem, ma'am," I replied. "I'm here to help. I've already got Shinobu to the teahouse, and after we get Su and Motoko, we'll head there as well. Where are they?"

"I'm here!"

Su then dropped out of a tree and into view. While she was still in the state of usual hyperactivity, she seemed a bit…dimmed. Su was happy and smiling, but it was just a bit off from what I normally see from her. She then jumped into the air and landed a dropkick on me.

"You're a big meanie, blowing up all my precious Mecha-Tamas!"

Well, let's see – I helped saved the residents from certain destruction and while I receive a 'thank you' from Naru, I get a drop kick from Su? Of course, she was the one who made all these, and I take it she isn't too pleased with me turning them to scrap metal all of a sudden.

"Okay, so Su's accounted for," I said, getting back up to my feet. "Where's Motoko?"

Su and Naru pointed deeper into the room. My thermals picked up body heat from around that area, as well as with signatures matching the last of the Mecha-Tamas in this room, and also some audio cues. The audio cues sounded like…screaming? From Motoko? I moved in closer, pushing branches and leaves out of the way, and the closer I got, the louder the screaming. Come to think about it, couldn't Motoko handle a problem like this easily? She had her sword and she knew several attacks that, in theory, would obliterate all of these things. If that was Motoko, and she had all the training and such to be able to retaliate, then why would she be screaming?

"Turtles! Turtles! Turtles!"

Motoko stood there swinging her sword about fruitlessly, while the remaining Mecha-Tamas circle around her. Her eyes, usually hard and concentrated and able to pierce any amount of armour, were now unfocused and in a state of shock and fear. I nearly fell to the floor in disbelief. Was Motoko scared of turtles? Of all people and of all things, it would be Motoko being scared of turtles. But I had no right to laugh at her for that – hell, I was scared of dolls and that was bad enough on its own.

Shouldering my weapon, I opened fire. The Mecha-Tamas were standing still, as though sitting back and enjoying Motoko's rather humorous reactions. I finished off the remaining few with little difficulty. Checking over the room, I found nothing. This room was clear. I had expended a magazine for my rifle and most of one for my sidearm.

"…turtles, turtles…are they gone?" Motoko looked around, falling out of her state of frenzy.

"They're gone, this room is clear, ma'am."

Motoko then looked over at me. Suddenly, her eyes changed to her usual angry and pissed off glare. She raised her sword high in the air and swung.

"ZANGAKEN!"

I had no time to react before I found myself thrown back through Su's room, hitting what felt like every branch and leave on the way through. So, Naru thanks me, Su's dropkicks me, and Motoko attacks me – wonderful. I immediately got up from the crater I landed in and back to my feet. Motoko was already in front of me, sword drawn and ready to strike.

"No wait, stop, Motoko-chan!" Keitaro ran in and prevented her from attacking any further.

"You're defending the same person who has attacked you?"

"Motoko, he's just saved us!" Naru said, also stopping Motoko from skewering me. "He's on our side."

Motoko looked from Keitaro, to Naru, then back to me. She calmed down and sheathed her sword, but she was still sceptical and unwilling to trust me all too much. Again, I would not blame her at all for that. My track record wasn't exactly the best.

"Thanks, both of you" I said, thanking Naru and Keitaro.

While Keitaro smiled back, Naru's expression then changed a bit.

"You may have helped us, but don't think you're off the hook that easily."

"Understood, ma'am," I replied simply. "Alright, we're all present and accounted for? Let's haul ass back to the teahouse."

Everybody then proceeded for the exit. Just then, Naru then turned around and looked behind her for a moment.

"Wait, what about Tama-chan?"

Oh right – Tama-chan. I suppose she, regardless of being a turtle of unknown species, was a resident just as much. I should have thought about that earlier.

"Don't worry, Narusegawa, Tama-chan's over there," Keitaro reassured, pointing towards Motoko. "She's over there; on...Motoko-chan's…shoulder…"

A thick silence then hung over the residents as they realized what Keitaro was talking about. Motoko froze in her footsteps as she heard what Keitaro said. She then looked at her shoulder. There she was, green shell and smiling face and all…

"Myu! Myu!"

A single, ear piercing scream was released, so loud and so high pitched I swore my eardrums were going to burst. This was the side of Motoko I had never thought existed and would never have even thought was possible for a person like her. Regardless of how impossible it seemed, it was happening. Motoko continued to scream while she thrashed about, swinging her sword in a useless attempt to pry off Tama-chan, or worse.

Motoko then stopped, patting her back and self down in case Tama-chan was still clinger to her. She sighed, relieved.

"Is it gone?"

"Uh…Motoko-chan…" Keitaro weakly said, pointing above Motoko's head.

Motoko looked up – and probably didn't see anything the moment Tama-chan landed on her face. She screamed for a moment, then stopped and fell backwards. Motoko, a seemingly hardened and experienced swordswoman and warrior, had fainted because of a turtle. It was only now that everybody rushed to her aid.

"Motoko-chan? Motoko-chan!" Naru tried to wake Motoko up, but she was out cold.

"Myu? Myu?"

"Hey Tama-chan, you shouldn't be scaring Motoko-chan like that" Keitaro said soothingly to the small reptile as he picked her up.

"And for that, I'm going to eat you…" Su threatened, drool forming in her mouth.

Keitaro took care to keep Tama-chan from Su's hands. I knelt next to Motoko and checked her over. I was still quite surprised over her fear of turtles. She stared down the barrel of my sidearm and neither blinked nor surrendered, and she was definitely not scared of me and the weapons I possessed, but turtles? For Christ's sake, she fainted!

"We've got to move. Somebody carry her sword. I'll carry her" I ordered.

I handed her sword off to Naru, and slung my rifle in front of me. Reaching for her, I slung Motoko over my shoulder and stood up, ready to move. She was actually quite light, even for her size. It was a relief – it wasn't like what the movies suggested. Carrying a wounded buddy over your shoulder is actually quite tiring. For Commonwealth soldiers, fitted with bulky and heavy combat armour and lots of gear, it was as bad as getting tortured.

We moved on, exiting Su's room and moving down the stairs and to the lobby. I kept one hand on my sidearm and an eye on my motion tracker but found nothing. The return trip was actually quite uneventful. Along the way, we passed by the numerous remains of the Mecha-Tamas I took out on my way through the building. With the exception of Su, the others looked on quietly over the amount of damage I had done.

"You're such a meanie, blowing up and shooting my precious Mecha-Tamas!" Su berated me once again just as we exited the front of the inn and got outside. Interestingly, the explosions and detonations in the distance had stopped.

"Well this wouldn't have happened if these creations of yours didn't go crazy," I explained dryly. "And that reminds me, how many of these did you even build? I need to find all of the remainders and take those ones out."

"I only built one Mecha-Tama."

I stopped and looked at Su. My helmet's heads-up-display covered my irritated glare.

"I have taken out more than fifty of these things, and you tell me you only built one?"

"Really, I only built one Mecha-Tama," Su explained. "The ones you were shooting at – they are the mass produced models."

Mass produced? These things were being made in large quantities? What the hell?

"Explain, please."

"I only built one Mecha-Tama, the same one you shot at the night you ruined my wedding gown."

"Recovered vital intelligence regarding future equipment, you mean" I corrected.

"What did you shoot my precious Mecha-Tama with that night?" Su demanded.

Careful to keep a hand on Motoko's body, I reached into a pouch and pulled out one of the ring airfoil rounds and handed it to Su. Everybody gathered around her and got a closer look at the small plastic round.

"What is this?" Naru asked.

"It's a ring airfoil round, a less-than-lethal device meant to take a target down without harming them" I explained.

Su turned it around and kept examining it as though it were something completely alien.

"Come on, this thing isn't new, it's around even today."

"But it doesn't do anything, like scramble computer circuitry?"

"Of course not – it's a plastic round I launch from my rifle. I hit Keitaro with one of these and he's still fine" I continued.

Keitaro shot an annoyed glare in my direction. That's right – I shot one of these at him and I was playing the whole thing off as innocent.

"Whatever the reason," Su continued, handing me back the round. "The circuitry in my Mecha-Tama was so messed up afterwards it stopped responding to my orders and it went rogue awhile ago and got loose. It was carrying some new features I just added, like a self-replicating internal constructor able to produce more simplified, mass production versions of itself."

Was I hearing this right? There was a robotic turtle somewhere out there breeding more robotic turtles. That was…creepy. As the general quote and rule regarding this sort of stuff went – robots building robots: that's just stupid. But why would shooting the robot with a single ring airfoil round cause it to go rogue? Was the force of the impact strong enough to damage its internal programming and circuitry? It seemed like that so far, but there were still some things that seemed off.

"That's impossible." I tried to draw back as many memories of that night as possible, even bringing up my mission recorder and analyzing video footage just to be sure. "That thing was the same size as all the other ones. There's no way it could carry some type of factory inside itself and keep reproducing itself."

"I know, so that's why I fitted a self-propagation cycle on it," Su continued to explained, this time rather proudly. "I didn't have time to make a new Mecha-Tama to test it out, so I installed it onto my current model. When given the order, it will consume anything with sufficient biomass or anything electronic and use that to power its system. It will expand and grow at least three hundred times its original size, perhaps even more, and after that it has enough power and bulk to carry out the self-replication. It will also then abandon its previous weapons develop a new set of weapon systems, rockets, the last I remember."

A self-propagation cycle? Expanding three hundred times its original size? Self-replication? Rockets? What the freaking hell?

"This is bullshit," I said. "You're telling me you made a machine capable of self-growth and reproduction practically to the level of an organic life form, something which our scientists in the 22nd century have not even come close to developing! That just isn't possible."

"Well, your scientists must suck then. If you're really from the future, I'm disappointed in where science will be going" Su replied. She was actually, and genuinely, disappointed.

I wanted to keep arguing. This was not making any sense. I was interrupted when the ground started to shake. I tried to yell, but distant rumbling covered my voice. My motion tracker picked up something moving – something big. I turned to its direction, located off to one side of the inn, probably around a hundred metres off. It was huge, fifty to sixty metres tall, maybe more, and that was just height. Whatever this was, it was also wide and long. The clouds of smoke and billowing leaves surrounding it eventually faded, and through it appeared the head of what looked like a giant robotic turtle standing on its hind legs.

There it was – Su's Mecha-Tama. It was the one, the same one capable of growing and reproducing itself. It was standing there, way more than three hundred times its original size, towering above the inn and everybody else.

"You…have…got…to be…shitting me!"

"I don't think she is" Keitaro nervously replied.

The giant Mecha-Tama then looked in our direction. It turned itself towards us, shaking the ground as it moved with its huge limbs, and its head pivoted and looked down at us.

"Uh…shouldn't we be moving?" Naru asked.

"Shouldn't we be running?" Sarah asked, visibly shaking from where she stood.

"We should be, but we're not," I pointed out. "Does anybody feel like a jog? A sprint, maybe?"

We then broke off running. There wasn't a way to describe it – we just ran as far and as fast as our legs and carry us. The Mecha-Tama roared, and seconds later, something exploded behind us. Su was right – it was packing rockets. If I had to guess, maybe it was the reason for all the explosions just before. Another explosion went off behind us with as much force as the last. I had no time to look where it was shooting at – I had to get the hell out of its way.

"There it is! The teahouse, we're almost there!" Keitaro shouted in joy.

Everybody pushed forth with renewed vigour, desperate to reach the teahouse. I was at the very rear, much to my misfortune. Well of course, I was carrying Motoko as well, so it was explainable at least. I was getting close. The others were already inside. It was up to me to get Motoko in safely. Suddenly, another explosion detonated. It must have been quite close to me – I felt the force of the explosion push me aside and force me to the ground. I had no time to rest. I had to get back up. When I did, I realized Motoko was no longer with me. She was laying six or seven metres from where I was. She was moving a bit, probably waking up. I ran towards her and picked up her, resuming my desperate dash for the teahouse. During this, she had regained consciousness and realized I was carrying her.

"Let go of me! Let go of me!"

She struggled, but I held on long enough to get inside the teahouse. I set her down on a table and immediately took up a position next to the door looking out towards the Mecha-Tama. The residents rejoiced, having made it to safety. Shinobu was particularly happy to see Keitaro again. While nice to see they were all reunited, we were all far from safe.

"Incoming!" I screamed, bracing myself.

Another rocket landed close by, throwing up dirt and rocks, some getting inside the teahouse.

"Are you sure the police won't do anything about that?" I asked Haruka.

"Definitely not," she replied. Haruka was still calm and cool, despite the fact there was a giant robotic turtle wreaking havoc outside. She took up a position opposite of me, her pistol in hand. "Everybody, get down!"

The ground shook again. Another rocket found its mark, getting closer and closer to the teahouse. A single rocket from this thing would easily demolish the building. It was unacceptable. I needed to take this thing out.

"Su, is there a way to disable it? Is there some type of weak spot on it?" I demanded.

"Let me think…" Su replied, rubbing her chin in deep thought.

Yet another rocket found its mark, shaking the ground even more. I could hear the scattered cries from the residents. They were scared. Of course – who wouldn't be, particularly when rockets were raining outside?

"Think faster!"

"Got it!" Su triumphantly shouted. "There's a computer terminal on its back that I use for debugging purposes. It controls all of the Mecha-Tama and if we can get to it, we can get it open and enter a username and password and shut it down from there."

A terminal, on its back? Well, it was a solution at least. The problem was it was on its back. This means having to get close to it, scaling its back, and finding this computer terminal. It also means having to get past its barrage of rockets.

This was just brilliant, not in a terrible way, however. It was the sort of thing that required a Commonwealth soldier to resolve. Commonwealth soldiers were given all the equipment and training necessary to establish complete and total operational supremacy in any battlefield we would fight in.

I unloaded my utility launcher, since shotgun shells weren't going to help against this beast. I looked back out at the Mecha-Tama, trying to find at least something to work with.

"What kind of armour is it and how thick is it?" I asked.

"One inch, mostly steel and some other materials like Kevlar and other ceramics, a bit of Chobham composite armour" Su replied. It looks like she had mixed a whole range of materials for its armour.

It was quite substantial, but it wasn't that much, actually. By 22nd century standards, that was more like a light tank. A Walker probably had better armour than that. My 6.8mm rounds could probably penetrate but that was difficult to tell. I needed a bit more kick. I reached for the storage areas in the back of my vest and pulled out some ammunition for my launcher. The Bloc often brought armour on us, but we had a variety of weapons to combat them. I didn't have an antitank weapon with me, since it wasn't required for the mission I was taking part in just before, but I did have several 20mm armour piercing rounds. To call the black grenade-like shells merely 'armour piercing' didn't give them enough credit. They were heavy, fin-stabilised depleted uranium flechette rounds able to punch through the hull of a Bloc APC. Powerful, accurate, and absolutely devastating – just part of an extensive arsenal that made the Commonwealth soldier a force to be reckoned with.

"How does it aim its rockets?" I asked Su, again, trying to get as much information about my target as possible.

"It's eyes." Su pointed towards her own, symbolising the Mecha-Tama's eyes. "Those are its most accurate form of target acquisition. After that, it uses its scanners to lock its missiles, but I never got the target locking as accurate as I wanted it."

Sounds fair – I needed to blind it. My ammunition would be more than sufficient for that task. Of course, I needed a bit of help, especially to protect the teahouse and all the residents.

"Motoko? Can you use your sword?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your sword," I said again, pointing towards the katana being held in Naru's hands. "If you can, I may require you to help. If any rockets head towards the teahouse, I may require you to take them down before they hit. That is, if you are able to do so. If not, I'll run the gauntlet myself."

Motoko stepped forward, eager to prove herself. She picked up her sword from Naru and unsheathed it.

"I will do my part in protecting us all."

She wasn't going to help me, actually. Motoko stepped in only to defend everybody else. More chances than naught, she was probably going to do that anyways, without me ordering her to do it. Hell, if she had the chance to take me out, I figure she'd do it. Regardless of why she chose to step in, Motoko was going to do her part. She made her way to the roof of the teahouse and took up a post there.

The next part was up to me.

"Here, take this." I handed a small, portable radio to Su, just before I would enact my part of the task. These small devices were mostly useless, given our helmet mounted communications equipment, but they had their uses every often. "It'll connect straight to me, just press the button and talk."

I popped out of the teahouse and took aim. My HUD zoomed in on the Mecha-Tama's head and provided me with targeting aids. I lined up with the first eye, switched over to my utility launcher and fired. The armour piercing round left the muzzle at a ferocious velocity, shedding the sabots as it did. It struck the left eye straight-on, cleanly entering and blowing out the back in devastating result. The Mecha-Tama roared at me, as though in pain, which was ultimately unlikely I hope. It slammed an arm on the ground and fired a series of rockets for the teahouse.

"ZANGAKEN!"

As they approached, their flight path noticeably shook and veered off, detonating in midair fractions of a second later. Motoko was doing her part, thank goodness. I had to keep up mine. I pumped the slide, lined up with the next eye, and fired. Once again, a direct hit. It was now without its sight, and its ability to accurately aim its rockets. My motion tracker picked up movement, multiple contacts heading straight towards the teahouse – more of the mass produced Mecha-Tamas. So, they actually were coming from the big Mecha-Tama. I switched back to single shot and opened fire. There were at least a dozen moving in at a time in waves. Usually, this would have been easy to deal with, but that was assuming I would hunker down and pick them off. I had to move forward and take the offensive.

Several shots rang out from Haruka's weapon as she joined in picking off the numerous hostiles. She fired off her entire magazine and then reloaded swiftly before joining in again. With Motoko at the roof holding back the rockets and Haruka providing some defence, everything was in place. I moved out of the teahouse, charging headlong towards the big Mecha-Tama. It was probably slightly more than a hundred metres off, meaning I'd have to run a fair distance through the slight forest around Hinata Inn under fire from the many mass produced turtles and the main one itself.

I about half of the way to the edge of the trees when more of the smaller Mecha-Tamas came into sight. Haruka kept up her quick bursts of fire from the teahouse, while I did what I could from my position. The small ones weren't terribly hard to destroy, but rather, irritating to have to constantly deal with. Given how I was going to be moving in the relative close quarters of the forest and trees, I unloaded the armour piercing rounds and jammed the shotgun shells into my launcher.

I then realized I was standing still - and that there was a rocket heading straight for me.

I tried to get out of its way, but it hit the ground only a metre-and-a-half to my right. The air thickened around me and my entire body was slammed by a subsonic fist rivalling that of Naru. No different from a rag doll, I was thrown aside and forced to the ground. It wasn't merely the force of the rocket, but the detonation deafened me. My breaths were short and panicked huffs while everything else was faded and blurred. I gagged for a moment, and then coughed out blood into my facemask. The nanites would probably already be at work cleaning the mess up. I got back to my feet. The rule was, when shot and not at any risk of bleeding out, get back up and keep moving. The longer I stayed on the ground meant more time I'd spend as an easy target for my enemy.

Getting back to my feet, I picked up my rifle and continued to run towards the Mecha-Tama. While I did, I reached for a nanite injector and jabbed its nozzle into a suit seal, injecting a fresh batch of over-energised nanites into my body. The other group I injected after breaking free of my cell were still operating inside me. This current group would either help whatever current wounds I've taken or act as a battle stimulant and keep me moving.

My motion tracker flashed – more contacts. My HUD locked onto them just as I crossed into the woods. I had no time to stop, I had to keep moving. Switching back to my utility launcher, I fired off the first shell as soon as I approached the group of incoming Mecha-Tama. The area was tight and offered no space for either them or me to manoeuvre – perfect for a 20mm shotgun shell. I had cleared out a gap in their wave for me to keep advancing. Jumping over gnarled roots and ducking under branches and leaves, I stopped for nothing, firing a shotgun shell every often to clear my path. The smaller Mecha-Tamas weren't exactly concerned with me.

They should be.

I was getting closer and closer to the big one. A display on my HUD displayed the rapidly dwindling distance between us. By the time it came out to last twenty metres, I exited into a clearing. The Mecha-Tama stood in the centre, rockets firing off from opened compartments on its shell. It was a behemoth, definitely larger than any vehicle fielded by the Commonwealth armoured divisions. Then again, it wasn't the most mobile, being confined this single clearing as it slowly advanced.

Raising my rifle, I fired a burst at its head, just to get its attention. If I was lucky, I could reduce the damage it would do on the inn and teahouse by making it focus on me. It may be blind, but I suppose its scanners could at least pick some something small like me harassing it. The new volley of rockets it fired was, indeed, being redirected at me. Rolling out of their way, I kept up this process. This was going to be between it and me.

"Helloooo? Can you hear me?"

"I read you, Su," I replied over my helmet's built-in radio. "I'm at your Mecha-Tama's location. Now, where's this terminal at?"

"It's on top of his shell and it's a hexagonal plate marked in yellow. You should see it. The username is Kaolla S., password: banana. The 'k' and the's' in the username are capitalised, and the password is all lowercase. Just pull the hatch and it will open."

'Kaolla S', and 'banana' – got it.

More compartments popped open on its back and more volleys of rockets fired off. I quickly dodged them, and as soon as I was steady, I reached for and loaded a grenade in my launcher. Another compartment opened, ready to unload its payload yet again. I snapped my rifle up, taking aim with the newly changed set of grenade launcher sights in my HUD. The 20mm grenade left the launcher and found its mark inside the compartment. It destroyed not only that compartment and the others around it, but also detonated the other rockets possibly stored underneath, severely damaging that section of its back.

I ran forward, weaving in and out and in between its limbs before finding a section close enough to the ground for me to climb up with. My gloves and boots had nanites along their surface able to reposition themselves and provide better traction. It wouldn't let me walk freely on its back, but when crawling on all fours, I could make better progress. I slowly began to crawl up the Mecha-Tama's shell, while keeping a lookout for a yellow coloured plate. Of course I wouldn't see it here – I needed to be up there, right at the peak of the shell.

More movement – a pair of compartments popped open. Instead of missiles, these ones were packing automatic weapons. The brief barrage of automatic fire caught me by surprise. Whatever calibre they fired, it must have been decently sized. I lost my footing and found myself rolling backwards. I was lucky to have grabbed hold of the shell and stabilise myself long enough for me to position my feet and steady myself. Crawling back up to where I was, I took aim with my launcher and fired a grenade into the first compartment. I didn't have the time or the ability to pump the launcher, so I merely fired at the second one. The 6.8mm rounds pierced through the small turret, and eventually the weapon itself stopped firing.

Christ, the back of this thing was like a damn minefield, only instead of mines, there were hidden automatic weapons. Hell, I was sure there were more than just guns hidden here, but I'd rather not find out firsthand.

Slinging my rifle, I crawled up with a quicker pace, looking side to side for this apparent panel. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted it, a yellow painted hexagonal plate. Bingo. I quickly moved towards it and examined it briefly. Su did say there was a hatch I was supposed to operate…there! The hatch was in the centre of the panel. I lifted it and pulled, the entire panel lifting as well, then sliding out of the way. Underneath it was a small computer screen and a keyboard.

Something hit my chest. I didn't even have to guess what it was – another turret must have opened up on me. I took aim and fired a pair of bursts into it, putting it out of commission. The bullets weren't hurting me, but they were annoying as hell, like the gnats that hovered in retarded circles in front of your helmet's HUD.

I typed in the username: Kaolla S, and then the username, 'banana.' This was it – I had won. This was yet another case of a Commonwealth soldier establishing operational supremacy. Whether it was war itself or something as trivial as this, the Commonwealth soldier, with their weapons, training, and equipment, was a perfect fighting specimen.

Error! Username and password combination is incorrect. Please retype username and password.

…

SON OF A BITCH.

I tried again, making sure I typed both in correctly.

Error! Username and password combination is incorrect. Please retype username and password.

I tried yet again, making sure I had typed everything in with the appropriate upper and lower casing.

Error! Username and password combination is incorrect. Please retype username and password.

K-A-O-L-L-A, space, S, right? The password was banana, all in lowercases. I typed that in.

Error! Username and password combination is incorrect. Please retype username and password.

…

You must be kidding me…

I tried everything – different spacing, lettering, periods, and all that, but the same error message kept appearing. This was slowly beginning to irritate me. Just accept the bloody password already! Again and again, I tried different combinations and patterns.

Error! Username and password combination is incorrect. Please retype username and password.

"I-ALREADY-RETYPED-THE-USERNAME-AND-PASSWORD-YOU-STUPID-PIECE-OF-SHIT!"

"Helloooo? Soldier-guy, are you there? Did you say something?"

"Your username and password aren't working, Su" I reported, trying to refrain from swearing and cursing with all my might.

"They aren't working? Oh, that's bad."

Really? Such a pleasant surprise.

"The Mecha-Tama must have reprogrammed its own password. You've got to keep trying until you can disable it."

Keep trying? Was Su kidding me? How was I supposed to guess a password?

Suddenly, a trio of turrets opened up on the Mecha-Tama's back and opened fire. The rounds struck me across the chest and I lost my footing. I rolled backwards down the shell, unable to grab hold of anything to stop myself. My tumble came to a sudden and painful stop moments later. I had rolled off of the Mecha-Tama and back onto the ground. At this point, I was pissed. Actually, 'pissed' wasn't even the word to describe it. I was furious and enraged. I hated this machine. I wanted to tear it apart with my own hands for the frustration it has caused me.

I wanted to kill that thing and do things to it best left off-the-record.

"Su, that computer controls the entire machine, right?"

"That computer? What do you mean?"

I dug my hand into the ground, picking up a fistful of dirt and grass, in which I squeezed. People have different methods of relieving their anger – this was mine. I needed to keep myself steady. Being too angry reduced my ability to think rationally.

"If I do something to that computer, the entire turtle will be affected by it, right?"

"Um…yeah, it would be, but-"

"Understood – engaging."

I loaded my rifle with the shotgun shells and swapped out my magazine. I then ran back up the Mecha-Tama's shell. The computer terminal was just ahead, and so where the three turrets. As soon as I came into range, they opened fire. So did I. My IW52 was set on three round burst. At this point, I was too angry to stick to single shot. I fired a set of bursts into the first turret, then the next, and then the last. I was unaware of how much ammunition I was actually using – I simply fired off what I felt was appropriate to convert the turrets back to the scrap metal they started out as.

With those out of the way, I walked up to the computer terminal. The error message flashed on the screen, mocking, and laughing at me. I levelled the muzzle of my rifle's utility launcher at the screen and switched fire modes. The moment I pulled the trigger, the computer exploded. I pumped the slide and fired again, and again, and again, until I expended all my shotgun ammunition.

The Mecha-Tama stopped moving and lurched forward but once before it collapsed. It had shut down, at last. I had defeated it, finally! I undid my helmet straps, lowered my facemask and took in a deep breath of the cool, night air. During the brief amount of time I've spent here, I can actually say I've missed my normal day-to-day routine I developed during the war.

Getting off of the Mecha-Tama, I began my trek back to the teahouse. I was calmer now, and the anger that I experienced just moments ago had passed. What was I thinking? I got into such a state of mind that made me ready to kill anything in my way. Conflict always did have its ugly sides and it had a rather unfortunate ability to bring out the worst in anybody.

I thought little of it as I continued my walk. Somewhere in the middle of the woods between the Mecha-Tama and the teahouse, I spotted the residents fanning out and searching the area. No doubt, they had seen the Mecha-Tama fall. Where they looking for me? Did they think I was still alive? I walked out into a clearing and they eventually converged on me. While I knew better than to come back smiling and proud of what I've done, seeing how it isn't much actually, I gave the residents a polite smile as though nothing happened.

"You…you…you defeated Kaolla-san's Mecha-Tama?" Shinobu looked at me with amazement.

"That was pretty cool!" Sarah was at least enthusiastic about the whole thing.

"That was unbelievable" Naru said. I had the feeling she wanted to say more, but she held back. Was her pride preventing her from applauding my efforts any further?

The others remained silent. Keitaro could do nothing but stare at me, as did Kitsune. If I had to guess, the both of them were too shocked for words. Motoko said nothing either. If anything, her pride as a warrior was keeping her from even looking at me.

"Nice work," Haruka complimented, taking a drag of her cigarette. "A little messy, but nicely done."

"All in a day's work, right?" I replied.

I had a bit more to say, but was interrupted when Su dropkicked me for the second time this night.

"You idiot! Do you realize what you've just done?"

"Other than take down a robot bent on destroying the inn, the teahouse, as well as with all of us?" I answered, getting back up to my feet. Without my helmet on, there was nothing but my skull to block Su's foot, and it certainly did not do a good job of it.

"No, you didn't use the username and password!"

"What was I supposed to?" I reasoned. "The machine rejected them, so I did the only thing I could and BAM, problem solved."

"I wanted you to use the username and password so my Mecha-Tama will go into standby mode for me to debug and fix" Su explained.

"So, you wanted me to save your science project for you?"

"No, I wanted you to use the username and password so you won't have to attack it like that, and so its self-destruct mechanism doesn't trigger."

Self-destruct mechanism? Was I hearing this right? Su fitted a self-destruct mechanism onto her Mecha-Tama? I stood there, unsure of what else to say, while the others mirrored my thoughts exactly.

"Why would you fit a self-destruct mechanism on it?" Keitaro demanded.

"Myu, myu!"

Tama-chan then landed on my shoulder and gave me a mock salute.

"I fitted it on so during my final battle with Tamago, if she was smart enough to have disabled my Mecha-Tama like that I could still win even afterwards!" Su answered, quite enthusiastically while pointing at Tama-chan with a knife and fork she had produced from almost nowhere.

Okay, so I heard the self-destruct mechanism part just fine. But was I hearing the final battle with Tama-chan part right? I knew Su wanted to eat Tama-chan, but did she build her Mecha-Tama just for that?

"Explain your self-destruct mechanism in detail, please" I said to Su.

"The internal reactor has probably shut down and disengaged itself by now, so only the remaining weapons will be detonated, and everything within seventy metres of it will be blown to bits," Su explained, somewhat proud of her creation. "It's a bit small, but I'll fit a better one on the next version."

"Seventy metres?" Naru asked, somewhat concerned. "Well, how close are we to it?"

I temporarily put my helmet back on and looked back at the Mecha-Tama and used my rangefinders to measure the distance from my position to it. Upon doing so, I then realized there were what looked to be electrical forks arcing off its metal hull. The number of them grew quite dramatically, now catching everybody's attention.

"We're thirty metres off," I reported, taking my helmet off again. I then turned around to face the residents. "And that thing isn't looking too good, so maybe we should…"

I turned back around and realized there was nobody standing there. I could see their rapidly shrinking forms off in the distance, running away at full steam. Even Tama-chan was gone, probably flying alongside them, desperate to get out of range. I chanced one more glance at the Mecha-Tama. It was really starting to light up, as though ready for a huge finale.

Come to think about it, I was less than half of the way out of its range. I really needed to get the hell out of there.

I ran as quickly as I could. There was nothing else for me to do – I simply ran. I ducked under the branches and leaves and leapt over the short obstructions. I had quite a distance away when I heard a whining sound behind me. It grew with intensity as the seconds passed, but then came to a sudden stop. After that came what sounded like one of the loudest explosions I've ever heard and experienced. It felt more like a miniature nuclear bomb, the way the explosion knocked the trees and their branches around, stripping them of their leaves in the process. During that, I lost my footing and fell forward. I got back up and continued to run. Behind me, I could hear rumbling. It slowly and violently increased in sound and strength. Was I going to make it? Was I going to get out of its range just in time?

The pressure built up around me, and I found myself unable to stand, let alone run anymore. I was lifted into the air, and my vision slowly began to black out. I held onto my helmet and rifle as best I could, but it was getting increasingly harder to do so. I had blacked out the moment everything came to a sudden, abrupt, and painful stop.

What was I thinking? I should have left my helmet on…too late for that now.

My head…all of this feels familiar somehow. Of course, I experienced this before. Every soldier has a moment where they will be launched through the air by an explosion. Waking up from one afterwards was the worst part. Reality was torn to bits and whacked out of shape. The pain was often so sudden and came without even knowing it. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, trying to get myself out of the semi-conscious realm I was hovering in.

The memories pieced themselves together inside my head. Through some strange incident, I was sent a century into the past. I've made contact with a variety of residents and encountered things that seemed impossible. I was captured, interrogated, and I helped them fight back against a giant robotic turtle and an army of smaller ones. I destroyed it, but it blew up afterwards, and I was sent flying…

Was this all just some sick dream? Was I waking up and going back into my reality? Was I going to wake up back in 2145, inside a barracks, lying in my cot and staring up at the ceiling above me?

Worse, was I going to wake up with a pair of hairy testicles hanging over my forehead? I snapped awake, daring not to lift my head and get up until I've taken a good look above me. I swear, if I ever caught Ostergard going that again, he wasn't going to have anything left to teabag with.

Luckily, I saw nothing. Then again, I saw a completely different ceiling. It wasn't the dark green cloth material of a tent, nor was it the cold and expressionless grey of the metal and concrete. Everything that happened – it wasn't a dream. I didn't have the luxury of realizing it was one and waking up from it. I was here, in 1999, over a century in the past amongst the people whose descendants I'd be more likely to meet.

I got up and looked around. I was in a room, possibly inside Hinata Inn. It was unfurnished and had no furniture. The only thing that was here was the futon I was on, as well as with my rifle and helmet just across from me. What happened? Did the residents bring me here? Hell, did they help me after that whole being launched into the air episode? I had little time to ponder that, right when the door slid open. Keitaro then entered the room and appeared surprised to see me up. Next to him was Naru, who merely peeked in and smiled.

"Good morning, so you're awake?" Keitaro asked.

"From the looks of things" I groaned, trying to get up.

I tried, but ultimately, I could not. My legs were in pain and could barely move. I could probably stand up, but it would certainly be a struggle trying to do so.

"You might want to rest for awhile," Naru said, walking into the room with Keitaro. "The doctors said you'd need some time to heal."

Doctors? Since when was there a medic here? Wait a minute, unless she was talking about a real doctor.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"All of yesterday, actually," Keitaro said, recalling whatever happened just recently. "After Su's Mecha-Tama exploded, you were knocked unconscious, probably even into a coma. Aunt Haruka had to call in doctors to look over your injuries. For a moment, they didn't think you were going to make it."

I contemplated that for a moment. Doctors were in here examining me just before, enough to make a prognosis regarding my condition. If so, they've seen my equipment, my armour, and everything else about me. Did they know I was from the future? While my mind was in that area, I reached for one of my nanites injectors. Either by luck or through surprise, they were still with me. I stuck it into a seal and injected the nanites. My legs were where the most damage was at, but they weren't too bad. A few minutes with these nanites and I could probably walk flawlessly.

"Wait, what are those? We saw you stab yourself with one of those the night before" Naru asked.

"You know those medical kits from video games, the ones that work instantly and heal all your wounds? This is the real life equivalent to them."

After making the injection, I tossed aside the canister. I could feel the nanites already taking effect.

"Anyways, keep going, what happened? These doctors, did they see anything?"

"Don't worry, the doctors are close friends of Aunt Haruka's," Keitaro explained, his information being of much relief. "They agreed not to tell of this, and they certainly won't."

"Come on you idiot, how could they not agree when she has a gun pressed up to their foreheads threatening to kill their families?"

Well, that last bit had me brought upon new feelings of relief as well as humour. I could almost see Haruka doing that. It was a great thing, however. This meant at least part of my secret would stay here.

"Anyways, after Su's Mecha-Tama blew up, we found you unconscious and we decided to bring you back to the inn," Keitaro explained. "You were hurt quite bad, actually. The doctors said you weren't going to survive, but then they were stumped right after they discovered you were recovering. You've been sleeping in this room for all of yesterday recovering."

"What about my equipment? Was any of it disturbed or removed from me?"

"None of it," Naru replied. "The only things we touched were your gun and your helmet, and that was when we brought you back to Hinata Sou. We didn't take anything off of you at all."

Again, I was relieved. My identity and my equipment were safe. Better yet, my nanites were doing their thing and I was still alive. All in all, I was victorious.

"Are you hungry? Shinobu-chan is making breakfast" Keitaro asked.

Breakfast? That sounded really good. I was quite hungry, actually. Of course, I spent more than a day unconscious and the thought of eating my ration bars didn't appeal at all. That was, however, in contrast to the thought of warm, cooked, and tasty food – something no soldier would reject.

"Breakfast? I'm in, let's go."

I then slowly got up. My legs had drastically improved. The pain was gone and my legs were now able to move much more freely now. As I got to my feet, I took a moment to stretch my arms and neck. During that, Keitaro and Naru looked on with shock. They probably weren't expecting me to be up and at it so soon.

"Wait a minute, you can move now?" Keitaro asked.

"It's all in the nanomachines, Keitaro," I replied. "Come on, let's get some breakfast, I'm dying here."

"Shouldn't you take your armour off?" Naru asked me, pointing out my rather bulky and nigh-robotic combat armour.

"It takes me ten minutes to get out of this and that's if I have help," I replied dryly. "Don't worry, I've practically lived in this suit for years now and I'd rather keep it on anyways."

Naru looked at me as though I was insane. Who wouldn't? Especially in twentieth century thought, the idea of staying in a heavy suit like the one I was wearing for any long period of time was not pleasant. Fortunately, it wasn't for me. If I had to guess, I haven't taken off this same suit for at least eight weeks so far.

"Okay, let's go-AHH!"

Keitaro was just at the door when he stepped on something and lost balance. A closer look revealed it was my injector case. I tossed it aside, and it must have landed close to where the door was, and Keitaro just happened to be unlucky enough to have stepped on it. He flopped about for a moment with his hands flailing around, trying to grab hold of something. Keitaro's hand finally did, and what he grabbed hold of managed to give him the support necessary for him to stand himself back up.

That object he grabbed hold of just happened to be Naru's left breast.

"What? You…you…" Naru then angrily clenched her fist.

"No wait, it was an accident Narusegawa! It was an accident!"

"You pervert!"

Her fist struck the side of Keitaro's head, and he was sent flying out the room and down the hallway just outside. Naru had one arm modestly covering her chest, while the other was outstretched. I looked from her fist to the crumbled form of Keitaro located somewhere down the hallway with his head buried inside a wall. It wasn't the first time I've seen Naru utterly destroy Keitaro, but hell, it only reminds me never to cross her.

"Say, remember all that stuff you two mentioned, how the doctors didn't think I was going to survive and how they didn't know why I was recovering?" I asked Naru, who brought her fist back in.

"What about it?"

"Yeah, what do they say about him?"