Ryoma had flown through the vortex expecting a fight with giant monsters, to face god or the devil, aliens from another dimension, an insane creature he could not fathom. What the Getter team found was not what any of them had expected. Instead, when the Getter emerged from the vortex, it was torn apart by a hail of massive bullets the size of trucks.
As the smoke cleared, Getter-1 grasped a hole dangerously close to Hayato's cockpit, and stared at its attackers, waiting for Ryoma to give it an order. The Getter team stared into the eyes of a dozen Getter-1s armed with giant assault rifles. At their lead was Getter-G, the Getter Michiru was to pilot, in its second configuration, resembling Getter-2.
"Identify yourself, and explain where you got that Getter. NOW!" Michiru's voice ordered.
From his laboratory, a half mile from the Getters surrounding the classic team, Saotome nearly choked on his coffee. "It can't be…" he whispered.
"It looks like it is," Coen replied.
"Oh, what a treat!" Stinger chimed.
"Michiru!? Is that you!?" Ryoma exclaimed.
"Ryoma?" Michiru asked, lowering her drill.
Oil sprayed out from Getter-1's arm, coating Getter Robo G, and it fell to a knee and moved its hand over the stump in an attempt to slow the bleeding. G raised its hand towards Getter-1 in an act of comfort for its dying brother. Neither of the pilots had commanded their Getter to act, yet both had acted anyway.
"Tell those assholes behind you to lower those guns and get us out of here," Ryoma commanded. "This thing is falling apart. We took one hell of a beating back there."
"You heard the man! Someone help the Getter onto its back and await further orders!" Michiru ordered, the pilots behind her stumbling around trying to figure out who goes and who stays in place.
"Jesus, how many of these guys did Saotome have without telling us?" Ryoma asked, finally realizing just how many Getters were present.
"Ryoma," Hayato began but was cut off.
"I mean, if we had this many why was it always us running ops?" Ryoma said, chuckling to try and suppress the realization of what was happening.
"Ryoma, I was there for two entire years. Hayato was there for three months." Benkei informed.
"How… how long have we been gone?" Ryoma asked, his voice cold, as the Getter was laid onto the ground.
"It's been forty-two months," Michiru grimly informed.
"Jesus. I've missed so much. How's the little guy, Genki?" Ryoma asked, trying to look for a ray of light.
"He's been doing well. Dad says he has the makings for another great scientist, like him. He wants to keep Genki away from the Getter Ray project though. He says it costed him three sons already, and countless friends. And it keeps drawing monsters who will hurt him." Michiru informed.
"Clever old bastard…" Ryoma said.
An hour later…
Michiru stood before the three Getter pilots, each with a shock blanket draped over them. Clinging to her right leg and peeking out at the strangers was a three-year-old Genki. "It's alright, Genki. These are my friends." Michiru said, trying to ease her brother into acceptance of these men.
Benkei bent down and extended a hand. "Hey there Genki, my name's Benkei. I haven't seen you since you were a baby."
Genki peered at the hand for several seconds before extending his own hand, quickly shaking Benkei's, then pulled away. "So, just what happened to you guys anyway?" Michiru asked.
"Time travel. Met some ninja. Killed a bunch of oni. Think I killed the devil too. Oh, and I made a friend." Ryoma said.
"Well at least there's an upside to that whole thing, I guess." Michiru said.
"She died in my arms." Ryoma replied.
"Oh. I'm… sorry for your loss." Michiru said, instantly realizing the person would have died by now anyway.
"I was there a while longer than Ryoma. It was the Heian era, but things were… different." Hayato said.
"How so?" Michiru asked.
"Technology was too advanced. Guns, cannons, zeppelins. Steam punk technology. It was as though history had forgotten what was happening, and dropped random pieces of history there." Hayato informed.
"I was there a lot longer than either of you guys. And yeah, Hayato was right but… they also acted a lot more modern than they should have. You would think they had different idea sets and ways acting, but it was almost identical to modern society. You would just think it was an isolated village if you didn't ask what year it was." Benkei informed.
"Wow, do you think those wormholes the oni and you guys traveled through had some kind of effect on the society there?" Michiru asked.
"Or some asshole was experimenting with tech way out of his league and ended up gifting the old folk with something they shouldn't have and fucked up history. Oh! Gramps! Didn't see you there!" Ryoma exclaimed as Saotome approached.
"Ignoring the fact, you were staring at me, Ryoma, i am quite pleased to have you back. It's been… hard without all of you."
"Doesn't look like it." Hayato hissed.
"Morons, the lot of them. They could never amount to you, no matter how hard they tried." Saotome replied.
"Oh? Is that the only reason you missed us?" Ryoma asked.
"As a matter of fact, it is! Your only useful as pilots and have no other use in this world! Hayato at least has intelligence and Benkei a potential career, but you are useless piece of garbage who could never amount to anything without me!" Saotome screamed, something deep inside him snapping at Ryoma's taunt.
"You… BASTERD!" Ryoma yelled, punching Saotome in the face and sending him to the floor, causing Genki to cry out and run to his father. "Go to hell Saotome, and take your god damned Getter with you." as Ryoma said this he turned and began to walk away.
"Ryoma, where are you going?" Michiru cried out.
"I'm going home." Ryoma replied.
It had taken no effort to extort a combined total of 55,116 yen from various staff members before he had left. It had however, taken much effort to walk two days from Mt. Asama to Tokyo, stopping only to eat and sleep. When Ryoma finally arrived on the edge of the city, his feet were blistered and his legs were numb.
Ryoma "lived" in in an old dojo left to his mother after his father died when Ryoma was in middle school. The dojo fell to him after his mother had died, prompting him to accept the request by Saotome to join the Getter Ray Project. The dojo was now run down, falling apart from neglect. Still, it was home. Ryoma fell onto the place he once called a bed, and instantly fell asleep.
Ryoma awoke seventeen hours later, starving. He pulled himself to his feet and walked into the city, praying that the ramen shop he once attended as a teen was still around. It was. Ryoma ordered the largest bowl on the menu, which took up both the area in front of his seat and the seat next to it at the counter seat.
On a TV in the corner of the serving counter, Ryoma watched the news as he quickly shoved noodles into his mouth. The TV showed that man kind's first ever moon colony was now completely operational, covering a quarter of the moon. The Russians were the first to begin development, followed by the Americans. A year later, after several small countries had joined, China invested immensely in the project followed by Japan, South Korea, and India.
Seeing how far they had come, especially without the Getters involved, gave Ryoma hope. There was no reason to guard humanity, no real one. No reason to continue piloting the Getter. The world didn't need Ryoma in that way, and that was fine with him. He would find his place in this world, without the Getter, and he would make it a better place.
In the depths of space floated the first complete Getter Robo, torn to pieces and abandoned for years. There had never been a mission to retrieve the machine, no reason to launch one. It had never come into orbit, and no asteroid had ever hit it. Inside the Getter core, life stirred. Sentient. Hungry. Lustful. It needed to spread, and to feast.