Disclaimer: The character and backstory of Namusan Sapou belongs not to me, but to Ryutaro. Apologies for not getting permission beforehand to use him, but I promise I'll do my best to give the bastard justice.
"On that deserted beach, I was standing in the presence of one of the most evil beings in either world, and didn't even know it at the time."
- Mei Sakura; 'The Unification War, Volume 1: Overtures'
Chapter X:
Burning Sands
August 16, 2006
Pararakelse International Airport, Pararakelse Island
1118 hours, local time
Being a remote, out-of-the-way island, one would expect the facilities and amenities of Pararakelse Island to match that setting. It did not. Aside from a bustling, tourist-driven resort town, Pararakelse Island also featured a large international airport.
Out on the tarmac of the airport, a giant turtle-shaped mecha sat giving off cooling ticks, its jet engines hissing to alleviate the built-up heat from a nonstop flight from Japan. On the back of the mech, three young girls looked around in a mixed bag of confusion, surprise, and excitement at their surroundings.
"This is Pararakelse Island?" Mei asked, blinking. She hadn't quite expected to see such a large airport on such a tiny little island.
"Now what are we going to do?" Shinobu asked bleakly. "How will we find them?"
Hearing the dejected tone in her friend's voice, Su leaned forward and looked sideways into Shinobu's face, then dug around in one of her pockets for a moment. "Well, Shinobu, that's where this comes in handy!" With a grin that did perfectly fine in replacing any nonexistent fanfare, Su produced a circular device that was patterned like a turtle shell, with a radar screen in the center of the obverse.
"Isn't that the turtle radar?" Shinobu asked.
"I modified it to pick up a signal from Naru and Keitaro!" Su replied, grinning triumphantly.
Almost on cue, the radar screen lit up green. Blinking in surprise, Su brought the device down and carefully inspected its surface, then smirked and pointed ahead. "We found them! Mecha-Tama 3, go!"
Hydraulic lifts within the mecha's 'legs' lifted it off the ground enough for the VTOL-style engines to rotate back into flight position, propelling the turtle-shaped craft forward and up into the sky.
Desert of Death, Pararakelse Island
1230 hours, local time
"So how long have we been chasing him?"
"I lost track an hour and a half ago."
"Damn, who knew the little bastard had this much stamina?"
Hours of running through triple-digit temperatures in the middle of the day were taking their toll on all of them. Keitaro was the most visibly affected; for the last hour, each new step he had taken had been a major effort on his part. Motoko's hair was pasted to her forehead by sweat, and Seno couldn't even bring his feet all the way out of the sand.
"Stop running, bastard!" Seno snarled. "You're going to get us all killed!"
Keitaro slowed down marginally, seemingly considering it. Behind him, Motoko suddenly stopped walking. Seno looked towards her in time to see her eyes roll up in her head as she pitched forward. Swearing, he dropped his sword into the sand and went down onto a knee, catching her in his arms and turning her over to face up.
"Motoko!"
Stopping completely, Keitaro looked back to see that Motoko had passed out, and his instinctive reaction to help others overrode everything else. Turning back, he started to run back toward them when his exhaustion overcame him and he collapsed face-first into the sand, facing uphill, away from Seno and Motoko.
Expelling a mixture of sand, saliva, and sweat, Keitaro laid there with his face half-buried in the sand, staring at his upturned left hand. I guess this is it, then, he thought to himself. My journey ends here. As he laid there, a single white feather drifted into his field of vision from in the sky, landing in his outstretched palm. What's this? Instinctively, his hand closed over the feather.
As if triggered by his action, a flash of movement caught his attention, and he looked up to see Naru standing uphill before him, her back toward him, her wings spread out to her sides. He blinked, trying to determine if she was real or a figment of his imagination, and as he did so, she turned toward him and extended her right hand. "Don't give up, Keitaro," she said warmly. "All you need to do is make it over one last obstacle."
Reaching out, Keitaro took her hand and she pulled him up to his feet, then led him to the crest of the hill. Behind them, Seno retrieved his sword, picked Motoko up in his arms, and followed them to the top of the hill. What he saw almost caused him to drop her into the burning sands.
There, barely a hundred yards ahead of them, the desert gave way once more into deep jungle. And at the threshold of the jungle was a shimmering, crystal-blue oasis, capped by a rock formation that looked strangely similar to the general shape of Tokyo University.
Science has yet to explain how all of them managed to get from the hilltop to the waterfall feeding the oasis in under ten seconds flat, but that's just how things happened. Keitaro, Naru, and Nyamo immediately placed themselves beneath the waterfall, drinking from and soaking in its cool waters, while Seno knelt in the shallow end, alternatively scooping handfuls of water to gently coerce Motoko into drinking and just soaking his hand in the water before running it over her face in an effort to cool her down.
Beneath the waterfall, Keitaro sighed luxuriously and looked over to Naru, who was seated on a rock and completely soaked in water. She noticed his slack-jawed stare, and looked down to see that the water had soaked through her shirt, causing it to cling to her body like a second skin.
A deep blush rising to her cheeks, she slapped her hand against the water, which sent a pressurized wave of energy through it, creating a minor tidal wave to sweep Keitaro away from the waterfall. "Go find us some food!" she yelled, almost as an afterthought.
Seno watched in amusement as Keitaro bounced across the surface of the water like a skipped stone, to smack into the far bank. His attention was quickly shifted elsewhere as he felt Motoko begin to stir in his arms. He looked down to see her own olive eyes staring up at him.
"What happened?" she groaned.
"You passed out," he answered. "Exhaustion and dehydration, probably. It's a good thing Naru found us this oasis, or we'd all be in trouble."
Lifting herself off of his lap, Motoko found that she was indeed sitting chest-deep in cool, comforting water. Smiling, she took a deep breath and then dove underwater, pulling herself out to the middle of the oasis, where the water was deep enough to actually swim in.
Seno smiled at his wife's antics, leaned over to drink one last handful of water, then stood up and followed on Keitaro's exit vector. "I guess I'll do the manly thing and help Keitaro with the whole hunter-gatherer thing."
Meanwhile, Naru picked disdainfully at her soaked shirt. "Looks like we're all going to need dry clothes…" she mused.
Ancient Cavern, Beneath Desert of Death
1252 hours, local time
"Everything seems to be proceeding as you planned," Namusan Sapou said, crossing his burly arms over his chest as he stared into the crystal projector that currently displayed an image of Seno, Keitaro, Motoko, Naru, and Nyamo around the oasis.
Gensai smiled humorlessly. "Of course," he said off-hand. "I've been at this game for over a hundred years. I know what I'm doing."
"I still fail to see how this lot could pose a threat to my war against Heaven," Sapou replied derisively, his stance and expression indicating how little he thought of the Hinata party. "They're a bunch of children playing at being fighters."
"They're a genuine threat to us both, my friend. Nakakami and Aoyama have a slightly-respectable amount of skill with their blades and command over energy forms. Furthermore, there is that angel to consider."
"She is the only one that is even worthy of consideration, and even then only as a means to produce more soldiers for my army."
"Yes. But to acquire her, you must first destroy those who would protect her. This, accomplishing both of our goals. I am rid of those who are the gravest threat to me, and you are one step closer to conquering Allah."
"Very well. Your plan is satisfactory. I shall see to it that our mutual goal is accomplished."
Oasis
1756 hours, local time
By dusk, Seno and Keitaro had gathered enough food to feed all five of them, with plenty of leftovers. It mostly consisted of fish caught from the oasis, but there was a healthy collection of various fruits and nuts gathered from the trees and plants nearby.
"I still say we should've nabbed that snake," Seno said, keeping an eye on the fire-roasted fish.
"Seno, it was a snake," Keitaro replied. "You mean to tell me you weren't at all affected by Snakes on a Plane?"
"Dude, come on, that movie was a B movie for the sake of being a B movie." The swordsman scoffed. "I caught more errors and inconsistencies in that movie than I care to remember. And besides, I'm pretty sure I could've dressed up that snake to not look like a snake."
"Oh, boys…" Naru called out from behind them in a sing-song tone.
Seno and Keitaro exchanged glances. "Why do I get the feeling we've been sold up the river?" the swordsman asked.
"What do you mean, 'we'?" Keitaro shot back. "You can get out of most trouble; I'm the one that's always up the creek without a paddle."
"True."
Shrugging, the two decided to face fate and looked back toward Naru. Their only regret was that they hadn't looked sooner. All three of the girls had ditched whatever they had previously been wearing in favor of bikinis made of nothing but leaves and thin branches. While Seno pondered the physics, or lack thereof, behind the girls' new attire, Keitaro's nose immediately started to drip blood.
Dinner was consumed at an appreciable pace, and afterwards, the quintet began to split up. Nyamo curled up a few feet away from the fire and was asleep in minutes, with Tama snoozing on the rapidly-cooling sand beside her. Seno and Motoko had wandered down the 'beach' a way from the fire, hand-in-hand, conversing quietly. That left Keitaro to sit and stare into the fire as Naru went off to retrieve a large leaf to use as a makeshift blanket for Nyamo.
The Hinata manager looked up as she returned and sat down next to him, sliding over to lay her head on his shoulder. "Seta told me that Nyamo's grandfather disappeared," she said without preamble.
Keitaro nodded. "That's right. He set out to explore the interior of this island, searching for the lost turtle civilization, Pararantis. And people just assume that he died out here." He looked over the top of Naru's head, to where Nyamo slept nearby. "Nyamo made a promise with her grandfather, that when she grew up they would go looking for Pararantis together."
He felt Naru tremble as he said this and, assuming she was getting cold, wrapped his arms around her. "So now she's trying to find it all by herself," he continued. "She's absolutely convinced that her grandfather will be there waiting for her. When I heard that, I knew I had to do everything I could to help her realize her dream."
Sighing, he let his arms slip off of Naru as he said, "I screwed up my promise with you to get into Tokyo U, so I thought that maybe if I could help her keep her promise, it might somehow make up for my failure."
Naru reached up and seized his left arm in both of hers, holding onto him tightly. "You stupid jerk," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "It doesn't matter if you keep that promise or not. I'll still love you either way."
He looked at her in outright surprise. "But, Naru… We've spent our whole lives trying to fulfill that promise. It wouldn't be fair for me to just get off the hook like that."
"We have the rest of our lives to look forward to, Keitaro," she replied, squeezing his arm. "But we can deal with that later. For right now, I'm going to help you and Nyamo find Pararantis."
He smiled ruefully. "I really shouldn't even ask if you even care about making it into Tokyo University, should I?"
Her expression became that of a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "I actually didn't even check the results," she said. "When I found out you were here, I came straight away with Motoko and Seno." She looked down, then back up into his eyes. "But Keitaro… it doesn't matter to me. If you really did fail, and I did too, we can just retake next time. All that matters to me is being here with you."
This was the part that sometimes came as a bit of trouble for Keitaro. While he had managed to acclimate himself very quickly to the concept of dating Naru, it still caught him off guard that she could love him with just as little regard to her own state of affairs as he did. In his mind, the natural order of things was that he sacrifice anything and everything he needed to in order to ensure that she always had exactly what she wanted, and not the other way around.
But of course, it's common knowledge that Keitaro was not quite the sharpest tool in the shed.
And thus it was to the great shock of everyone, including the voyeuristic Seno and Motoko down the beach, when Keitaro offered no further argument, and instead leaned in to kiss Naru.
Over a dozen feet away, Seno smirked in satisfaction and laid back on the sand, lacing his fingers behind his head. He looked up at Motoko, still sitting up beside him, and said, "Mission complete."
"Okay, Heero," she taunted, rolling her eyes as she adjusted her position and laid down beside him, resting her head where his arm met his shoulder. She yawned and slipped her arms around him, snuggling up tight against him. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Motoko," he said, kissing the top of her head before resting his own against hers. Turning his face up toward the heavens, he let his eyes slip shut and began his journey towards sleep.
August 17, 2006
Desert of Death
1014 hours, local time
The next morning found Su's Mecha-Tama craft sailing above the desert floor at an altitude of a hundred feet, all occupants focused on scanning the sands below them for any sign of their missing comrades. Suddenly, the jet engines gave out momentarily, sending the craft plummeting down to the shrieks of its passengers.
The engines sputtered, boosting the craft back into the sky, before failing again. This time the Mecha-Tama was only twenty feet off the ground when the engines kicked back in, pushing it back up at a significantly-lower altitude than it had previous been traveling at. Clearly, Su had forgotten to include long-range fuel capacity on the craft's design.
In the 'cockpit' of the Mecha-Tama, Shinobu and Mei were hanging on to the railings for dear life as the radar device began beeping from Su's pocket. Taking one hand off the controls, she reached back and retrieved the device, then stared at its display. "There!" she exclaimed, pointing to the oasis looming before them. "The reading's coming from that jungle!"
"So that's where they are?" Shinobu asked.
Any reply that Su was going to make was interrupted by a burst of flame from the rear of the mech as the last of whatever fumes it had been running on went completely dry, sending the turtle-shaped craft careening down toward the forest. Luckily, they were only about thirty feet in the air, so the likelihood of serious injury was very low. The mech slammed into the forest floor, throwing all three of the occupants clear to land in an ungainly heap twenty feet away.
Groaning, Su brought the still-flashing radar in front of her so she could see its display, then sat up and blinked in surprise. Numerous contacts were beginning to appear on the radar screen. "What does that mean?" she asked no one in particular. "Five…seven…no, hundreds!"
"Are you sure?" Mei asked, picking herself up off the ground.
"It's an army of Keitaro!" Su exclaimed. "Or perhaps an army of Naru…"
Mei leaned over Su's shoulder to try and determine if the device was broken or not. Shinobu, on the other hand, was staring out into the woods, and what she saw caused her to utter quietly, "I think the most likely explanation would be… an army of turtles!"
Su and Mei looked around. The Mecha-Tama had landed at the edge of a large depression in the ground, into which the three of them had been thrown. And ringing the edge of that depression on all sides were hundreds of tortoises.
Without warning, the tortoises began pouring into the depression like water from a bowl, flooding toward the three girls from all sides and dogpiling on top of them. Oddly enough, however, as soon as the three girls had hit the ground, the tortoises backed off and began to gently nudge them with their heads.
Then, out of nowhere, a voice could be heard over all the grunting and mewling of the tortoises, singing a song with no words. As if on cue, the tortoises all stopped what they were doing and looked toward the voice. Shinobu likewise uncovered her head and looked to see what the commotion was about.
There, standing in the center of the depression, was a girl who, if she wasn't so tan and had shorter hair, could pass for Shinobu's twin. Fearlessly, the girl walked through the masses of tortoises, which parted for her like the proverbial Red Sea.
"She looks like me…" Shinobu uttered.
The quartet of tortoises that had been surrounding her turned and stomped off at a wave from the girl, who knelt down in front of Shinobu and smiled. "Don't be afraid," she said softly. "They just want to play."
Behind the girl, half-obscured by the jungle, Shinobu saw Keitaro, Naru, Motoko, and Seno wander past, and stop. Keitaro looked over to the girl and called, "There you are, Nyamo. Come on, let's go!"
The girl, Nyamo, stood up and turned to catch up with the others, leaving Shinobu and the others to their own devices.
Wait, Keitaro… Shinobu thought, trying desperately to call out to him. But no matter how hard she tried, her voice would not cooperate. What a lousy time to lose my voice.
Her mind heavy with the weight of exhaustion and all that had happened recently, she lowered her head to the ground and passed out.
Forest
1122 hours, local time
An hour later found Su working hard to repair the damage done to Mecha-Tama's engine from flying it on empty, while Shinobu and Mei sat off to the side. "Are you sure it was Keitaro?" Mei asked.
"I don't know," Shinobu answered, shaking her head. "Maybe it was just a dream."
Naru's step-sister took on a contemplative expression. "If all of them aren't really stranded on this island, but are here by choice, then maybe we should stop chasing after them."
"But why?" Shinobu asked.
"We might be interfering with them," Mei answered, drawing her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
"Either way is perfectly fine with me!" Su called, triumphantly slamming the engine panel closed before clambering up into the cockpit.
"We shouldn't just give up," Shinobu said sadly. "We can do anything if we try."
Mei looked at her blankly for a moment, before tilting her head to one side. "Didn't Keitaro tell you that?" She sighed. "He ran away after screwing up on his exam. That's not much of a role model. That alone proves that sometimes trying isn't enough."
The weight of Mei's pronouncement hit Shinobu like a sack of bricks. She turned to stare down at the ground, feeling depression begin to set its overwhelming weight on her.
No, some inner part of her subconscious cried. Don't give up, Shinobu!
"No!" she shouted, standing up to her feet. Mei and Su both looked at her in surprise. "While it's true that I'm worried about Keitaro, I didn't come here just for them. The real reason I'm here is to see everything through!"
With that, she walked over to the Mecha-Tama and climbed up onto its back. "Let's go, Su," she said.
Smiling, Su laid a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder, then turned and activated the Mecha-Tama's drive system. While it couldn't fly any further without liquid fuel, the reactor still created enough power to propel it in quadrupedal mode. Pausing just long enough to pick up Mei, Su set the massive mech off stomping through the forest.
Standing at the front railing of the passenger area, Shinobu felt the sudden, irrepressible urge to sing.
Uta o utau toki wa
itsu demo soba ni ita ne
hazukashii kimochi
demo naze ka na ureshii
Initially surprised by Shinobu's sudden outburst of song, Su and Mei smiled, and were likewise drawn up in the routine.
Fui ni mitsumeatte
shunkan de fukidashita
watashi to anata wa
hinata de jareru ko neko
Kentaro Crash Site, Desert of Death
1123 hours, local time
Out in the desert, Mutsumi and Kitsune, who had spent the entire morning wandering fruitlessly through the burning sands, suddenly stopped as they saw the crashed rocket craft that Kentaro had used to transport Seno, Motoko, and Naru to the island.
Ima wa wasureta uta
togire togire ni nazoreba
Boarding the craft through the open hatch, the pair quickly found Kentaro sprawled across the pilot's chair, unconscious. Walking up to him, they gently nudged him until he returned to the world of the living, completely surprised that anyone had managed to find him.
pinto ga au you ni
yakusoku shita kotoba
A short time later, the craft had been dug out of the sand, righted, and had changed propulsion modes from an airship to a treaded vehicle, rolling its way across the desert with Kitsune and Mutsumi standing on top.
Forest
1124 hours, local time
Deep in the jungle, the adventurous quintet were carefully navigating a narrow ledge over a high river. Nyamo was in the lead, walking comfortably along the ledge, with Keitaro, Naru, Motoko, and Seno following her, in that order. Tama and Shippu flew close alongside the party.
Mouichido utaou
itsu demo itsu made demo
Naru, suddenly overcome by exhaustion, lost her footing and plunged over the side, but Keitaro reacted instantly, dropping prone to grab her left hand in both of his. With a bit of lifting help from Motoko, Keitaro pulled Naru back up onto the ledge, flattening himself against the rock wall and pulling her flush against him in the process.
Omoide wa iranai yo
aitai ima sugu ni
Smiling gratefully, Naru kissed Keitaro before stepping back behind him on the ledge and allowing him to continue forward. At the back of the formation, Seno threw both of his arms up in a "Let's mosey" gesture.
August 18, 2006
Hinata Apartments, Hinata, Japan
0824 hours, local time
Back at the Hinata apartments, Haruka sat at one of the tables in her empty teahouse, smiling fondly down at an old photograph she held in her hands, of herself and Seta on a beach, her leaning back against him with her arms around his neck.
Tomodachi ga iru kara
utaeru uta ga aru to
August 17, 2006
Forest, Pararakelse Island
1125 hours, local time
In the forests of Pararakelse Island, Kentaro's faster treaded vehicle had just caught up to Mecha-Tama 3, and the two vehicles created a new side-by-side formation, allowing them to clear more ground faster.
Shiranai de ita watashi
kitto shiawase datta
tomodachi ga iru kara
utaeru uta ga aru to
kizuita ima no kimochi
anata ni utaitai
On the back of Mecha-Tama, Shinobu smiled and held her hand to her chest. She didn't know how, and she didn't know why, but in that moment, she felt that her heart was connected to the hearts of all her friends, both near and far.
"Watashi wa koko ni imasu," she sang quietly. "Mouichido aitai."
Finally, after their sometime-perilous journey through the desert and jungle, the adventurous quintet finally managed to get clear of the jungle. Only to find themselves standing at the edge of a cliff, with nothing ahead of them but the ocean.
"A dead end?" Naru asked, disbelieving.
Motoko frowned slightly as Keitaro and Naru looked off either side of the projection of land they stood on, and Nyamo went out to its very edge. Seno scratched his head.
"Damn it!" Keitaro swore, falling to his knees and pounding the ground with both fists. "We were so close, and we came so far! Why, dammit?"
Suddenly, they heard a cracking sound. Seno looked down to see a hairline split running through the ground directly between his feet. "That doesn't look good," he said, stepping over to the side of the fracture that his companions were on. "Something tells me that we're not in Disney World anymore…"
Almost as if on cue, the overhanging rock ledge that they stood upon broke free of the main cliff face and dropped a dozen meters to the ground below, unceremoniously spilling all of them into the breakwater.
"Man, it's a good thing I left the PSP at home," Seno said, staring down at his water-logged pants.
As the others tried to regain their bearings, Nyamo looked up and noticed something on the beach. She immediately stood up, revealing the water to only be calf deep, and walked back toward shore.
The others looked in the direction she was walking, only to see a giant stone statue of a turtle, covered in moss, sitting on a stone wall. Nyamo, already ashore, walked around the turtle statue until she found something that surprised her even more. A functional canoe-like boat, discreetly tucked away amongst the weeds.
"So this is Pararantis," Keitaro said, standing beneath the turtle statue.
"I doubt it," Seno replied, inspecting another part of it. "This is likely just a remnant of an outer wall. It is an impressive find, though."
"Grandpa!" Nyamo called out suddenly, drawing the quartet's attention. "Grandpa!"
The Hinata crew, half expecting that she had found her grandfather, ran over to her, only to find the empty boat. Sighing, Keitaro placed his hands on Nyamo's shoulders comfortingly, but she brushed him off and began climbing to the top of the turtle statue.
Seno and Motoko stuck nearby to keep an eye on her while Keitaro and Naru walked further down the beach. "There's nothing here except that shrine," he said after a few minutes. "I guess that Nyamo's grandfather set out from here after he didn't find anything."
"Are you going to go?" Naru asked sadly, her back toward him.
He chuckled slightly. "It's Nyamo's dream, but I guess I've started to look at it as my own personal quest," he replied. "Maybe I'll even find some ruins that would blow Seta away."
"Then in that case… I'll go with you."
"What?" he asked, stepping up behind her. "Come with me? But you have Tokyo U…"
"I don't even know if I passed or not," she replied softly. "The night before the test, I couldn't sleep at all. That's why I wanted you to go with me. I didn't have the courage to face the exam board by myself. So, I thought that maybe if I could go with Nyamo and you…"
A rumbling vibration coursed through the beach, coming from the direction of the turtle shrine. "Nyamo!" they heard Seno shout. "Get down from there!"
The Tokyo University hopefuls looked down the beach in time to see the turtle statue explode violently, scattering stones in every direction and raising a cloud of dust. They watched in horror as Nyamo came sailing out of the dust cloud, but Motoko shot out after her, moving to intercept the girl and catch her before she hit the ground.
"Bastard!" Seno's voice called out from inside the cloud. "Take this!"
There was the sound of blades clashing, and then a heavy impact. A second later, Seno flew out of the cloud as well. The swordsman rolled in midair, landing in a crouch with Shinaijou held in his right hand, his left pressed protectively against his chest. "Son of a bitch…" he groaned.
A low chuckling sound was his answer as the dust cloud suddenly parted, revealing a tall man standing on the remains of the turtle statue. He was a well-muscled man, with a tanned complexion and black hair that ran down to the middle of his back. His clothing consisted of a loincloth and a breastplate made from what appeared to be turtle shells, and shoulder pads that were very clearly snapping turtle heads.
"How amusing," the man said disdainfully, his eyes focused on Naru. "An angel that does not possess the courage to own up to her errors. Though, that's not at all surprising for any member of your race. Nothing has changed in the thousands of years I've slept beneath the desert."
"Hey, bastard!" Seno snarled, pushing himself back to his feet and planting himself in the man's line of sight. "You're not done with me yet!"
"Be gone, insect," the man replied off-hand, waving off the threat Seno posed. A wave of purple energy slammed into the swordsman, knocking him completely off his feet.
"Seno!" Motoko cried, lowering Nyamo to the ground and running to her husband's side.
Smirking triumphantly, the man jumped off the statue and began to walk towards Naru, who was backing away in fear. "Come, little angel," he said. "Join me. Turn your back on God and I will give you everything that you desire."
His expression hardening, Keitaro moved to stand between Naru and the approaching man. "I don't know who in the hell you are, but you stay away from Naru!" he shouted.
The man's smirk widened into a grin as he held his right hand out to his side. A crystalline-bladed sword materialized in his hand, its hilt wrapped in turtle skin, the hand guards shell fragments. The guy was obviously very much into the whole turtle motif.
"Another pathetic insect to squash?" he asked. "The last one got only a warning. I'll clearly have to make an example out of you!"
With that, the man burst into motion, taking the sword in both hands and holding it back on his right side. Despite the clear and grave threat he presented to Keitaro's life, the Hinata manager refused to back down, boldly staring down his impending doom rather than reveal Naru to harm.
"Now you die!" the man shouted, driving his sword forward at Keitaro.
But before it could hit, the clash of metal against metal rang out across the beach. To the shock and surprise of everyone present, Mutsumi was suddenly there, forming the third point of a triangle with Keitaro and the other man. An extended quarterstaff was held in her hands, the sound having been created when she had used the weapon to deflect the man's sword away from Keitaro.
"Listen to me, Namusan Sapou," she said, a hard edge in her tone and expression that none of her friends had ever seen before. "If you are going to pose a threat to my friends, then I have no other choice but to stop you!"
Namusan leapt back away from Mutsumi, breaking contact with her weapon, and stared at her intently, as if studying her. Then, he smiled. "Ahh, Yochi no Kouken," he said. "I certainly didn't anticipate that I would encounter you allied with this rabble. My battle with Heaven does not concern the planet–"
"And it does not concern me," Mutsumi interrupted. "However, you wish to do harm to my friends, and I will not allow that."
He smirked. "Your friends are of little concern to me. I only want the angel in your midst. Give her to me, and I will allow the rest of you to live."
"Not. Going. To happen," Mutsumi affirmed.
"Well then, Yochi no Kouken. If you wish to stop me, then you must be prepared to die."
"Fire missiles!"
From down the beach, a barrage of anti-vehicular missiles roared over the heads of the Hinata tenants, raining down on the position of the beach where Namusan stood. As the turtle-obsessed enemy disappeared in a cloud of smoke and fire, Naru and the others looked back to see the Mecha-Tama 3 down the beach, providing missile fire, and Kentaro's rocket craft positioned beside it.
"Pathetic!" Namusan's voice called out. They all watched in horror as the smoke cloud suddenly parted and Namusan stood in the center of the crater that had formed, completely unharmed. He smirked triumphantly. "You expect those puny things to harm me?"
"No way!" Su exclaimed. "He's not even scratched!"
Without a word of warning, Motoko stood up and drew the Hina blade up over her head, charging up ki within the blade. "Hyakkaryouran!" she shouted, and a burst of rose petals and wind roared out toward Namusan. The backwash of wind threatened to knock everyone standing off their feet.
But Namusan simply raised his sword and struck horizontally. The air before the blade appeared to harden into a crystalline shield that effortlessly dissipated Motoko's special attack. "You need to try harder!" Namusan struck the shield again, shattering it into razor-edged crystalline fragments that all pivoted in midair and raced toward Motoko.
This time it was Mutsumi who reacted, waving a hand toward Motoko. A semi-transparent barrier formed of blue hexagonal panels materialized in the air before her, stopping the crystalline fragments cold. "That Protect spell will keep you safe a while longer," she said, holding her quarterstaff defensively in front of her.
"It's my turn!" Kentaro exclaimed, sending his ship racing across the beach toward Namusan, the forward projection of the craft spinning like a power drill. Su's Mecha-Tama adjusted the angle of its missile launchers and fired another volley of rockets.
"ZANGAKEN!" Motoko shouted, striking the air with her sword, causing a wave of ki to rise from the blade and lash out toward Namusan.
"KIBARYUU!" came Seno's voice as the swordsman slammed Shinaijou into the beach sand. An explosion of energy rose out of the ground beneath their enemy.
With a wild grin on his face, Namusan reached out and grabbed the rotating drill of Kentaro's drill tank with his bare hands, stopping its rotation cold and neutralizing the threat that he presented. Demonstrating an ungodly strength, the tanned man lifted the vehicle from the ground and moved it into position to intercept the three strikes from the other attackers.
Motoko's ki wave struck first, ripping into the drive units at the rear of the vehicle and tearing away entire chunks of the engines. Next in line was Seno's underground energy explosion, which decimated the treads of the vehicle and compromised the cabin area. The volley of missile fire impacted against the top of the vehicle, the explosions compressing the entire hull and rupturing the fuel tanks.
As fire and explosions began to fill the cabin, Kentaro exclaimed, "Damn, they got me…" then reached over and pulled the eject lever. A panel blasted off the top of the vehicle seconds before the entire pilot's couch was blown clear of the self-destructing craft.
Kentaro's rocket tank disappeared in a brilliant flash of light, accompanied by a blast that rocked half of the island. As the smoke began to clear, Mutsumi peered through it to see that Namusan was down on one knee, shaking his head as though attempting to clear it. She may as well have seen the stars circling around his head to know that he was stunned by the explosion.
"Motoko! Seno!" she called. "Now's our chance!"
Shaking off the ringing in his ears, Seno looked forward to see Namusan's state, and grinned. "All our attacks, plus Kentaro's little drill tank blowing up, must've filled up his break gauge. Now we'll get two free turns to nail him with."
Motoko glared at her husband. "This is not Xenosaga 3."
He sobered and gave her a meaningful look. "No, but we can still use some of their tricks. Ready, Motoko?"
She nodded, then slowly raised the Hina blade to her right side, before tightly clenching it in both hands. "Zangaken…" The faint white glow of her ki began to emanate from her blade.
Raising his own blade, Seno touched it to Motoko's with the gentle ting of metal hitting metal. The aura of ki expanded to wreath his blade as well. Lowering his blade to his side, Seno rushed the stunned Namusan, striking out horizontally with Shinaijou. Motoko came in from an intersecting angle, her blade coming down vertically to bisect Seno's slash. Seno spun from where he had stopped, completing a full rotation as he brought his sword down in a vertical cut.
Both he and Motoko then leapt back, standing back to back, and called out "Shishikokoro Rendan!" Then they rushed forward, driving their ki-wreathed blades directly through Namusan's chest. An explosion of energy blasted their enemy back off their blades, to leave Namusan lying in the beach sand, clearly beaten.
Standing up, Seno looked over to see that they had won, then smirked, raised the Shinaijou up to eye level, before slicing it back down to his side. "It's just a scratch," he said.
Motoko just shook her head.
Mutsumi turned away from their fallen enemy, looking back at the others. "Is everyone alright?" She blinked. "Wait, someone's missing."
"Huh?" Keitaro asked, looking around. He saw Su, Shinobu, Mei, Naru, Kitsune, and Kentaro. With Seno, Motoko, and Mutsumi closer to the battle area, that left…
He suddenly looked out to sea, and saw a familiar tan-skinned figure standing in the boat that they had found, already five meters out. "Nyamo, wait!" he cried, running out to ankle-deep water.
"What's wrong, Nyamo?" Naru called, joining him in the breakwater.
The young girl looked back toward the shore, and held out her left hand in the unmistakable gesture to stop.
"She doesn't want us to come," Motoko said, joining the group along with Seno and Mutsumi.
Blinking in confusion, Naru fell to her knees in the surf. "But…why…"
"We can't go," Shinobu said quietly, "because this is Nyamo's dream. It's her personal journey, and she'll have to go it alone from here."
"All by herself?" Kitsune asked, a hint of sadness to her voice.
Shinobu nodded and smiled at her friend. "Nyamo believes that if she tries hard enough, she can do anything."
"Shinobu does, too," Mei said with a smile.
"So… we just get left behind?" Naru asked.
Keitaro walked over to her and knelt down beside her, laying his left hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure it would be a wonderful experience, but it's not our dream to fulfill," he told her. "Seta has his dreams, Nyamo has her promise. We can't just go trying to make their dreams our own." He smiled at her, then reached down to take her hands and pull her up to her feet. "Because, we have our own dreams and promises to keep. And no matter what happens, we have to keep moving forward toward them. There's nothing we can't accomplish."
Naru smiled in return, then rested her head on his shoulder as she looked out toward Nyamo's rapidly-retreating form. "Even if I failed this time," she said, "I'll keep trying for Tokyo U."
Kitsune, Shinobu, Mutsumi, and Mei all exchanged dumbfounded glances, then remembered that they had yet to tell Naru and Keitaro that they had passed the entrance exam. Before they could utter a word, however, an explosion from down the beach drew their attention, and the entire party looked over to see Namusan standing from where he had fallen, bloody and battered, and charging up a massive aura of energy.
"Do you think you've gotten the best of me?" he snarled. "I cannot be defeated by the likes of you!"
He released the energy in a massive shockwave pulse that spread to the extent of their vision. Everything that the wave touched, sky, sand, and water included, disintegrated into nothingness, leaving the party to fall into a vast, black void.
August 17, 2006
Unknown Location
Unknown Time
When Keitaro opened his eyes, he wasn't sure if he had gone blind, had his face covered by something, or simply had imagined opening his eyes. He saw a dank, dimly-lit area surrounding him, the dimensions of which he couldn't even begin to fathom. Something thick and organic was wrapped several times in body, preventing him from moving, and he had the distinct feeling that he was suspended in midair, and upside down.
That feeling was confirmed when whatever it was that was holding him moved, twisting and turning him upright and in the opposite direction that he had been facing. What he saw next almost caused him to recoil in surprise.
"What is that?" Naru's voice called out from somewhere nearby.
Ignoring what he saw, Keitaro twisted and turned within the grip of whatever held him, looking for Naru. There she was, a scant three feet away from him on his right, likewise restrained and held in the air by what appeared to be a green tentacle.
"I…?" a voice replied, a voice that was naggingly familiar to Keitaro. "I… am a monument… to all your sins…"
The creature before them, if it could even be called a creature, was a startling sight. To Keitaro, it looked like a massively-overgrown Venus flytrap, with a pair of mandible-like extensions on the side of its main opening to help foster the illusion of a barely-humanoid mouth. This apparent head was connected to a mass of some sort of organic substance that was its body, which anchored itself to the chamber it resided in by way of the hundreds of tentacles, some larger than others, that sprouted off of the main body.
"Our sins?" Naru asked.
The creature made a deep grumbling sound, as though sucking in a watery breath of air. "The sins of humanity…" it answered. "Poisoning the planet, leading all on the path to destruction."
"Oh, you have got to be shitting me," Seno's voice said in the darkness. "Is this fucking Gravemind? If there are about to be Flood showing up, then I want out of this gig, right now."
Squinting into the darkness, Keitaro barely managed to make out Seno's silhouette, struggling with a bit more oomph than he or Naru had. If Seno's here too, then everyone else probably is, as well… Following that line of thought, he peered into the dim light until he indeed managed to spot everyone: Kitsune, Motoko, Shinobu, Su, and Mei.
"Seno, would you stop with the game references for five minutes?" Naru hissed. "This is serious!"
As if in response, the creature pulled Seno out of the rough line that the group had been gathered in, out in front of them all. "This one is steel and nerve, and has its mind concluded…" It then likewise pulled Naru out to the front, holding her up as though inspecting her. "This one is but flesh and faith, and is the more deluded."
"Kill me or release me, parasite," Seno spat, once more stealing lines from wherever he deemed appropriate. "But do not waste my time with talk."
"There is much talk," the creature said calmly. "And I have listened. Through rock, and metal, and time. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen."
The creature lifted another of its tentacles out of the darkness, this one carrying Mutsumi. But unlike the rest of her friends, this tentacle had been coiled into a platform, atop which Mutsumi stood. "You're not very far from the truth, Seno," she said, smiling slightly. She lifted her left hand, gesturing toward the creature. "This is almost the same thing as Gravemind, except instead of being a collective consciousness for the Flood, this guy is the collective consciousness for the planet, composed entirely of Lifestream energy."
"Lifestream?" Motoko asked. "Like ki?"
The Okinawan native tilted her head to the side. "Sort of," she replied. "The Lifestream is the core of all things living. It flows through each individual person, plant, and animal, giving them life. Some have learned to harness this energy within themselves and exert it into a physical force. Ki is one such manifestation."
"But if the Lifestream gives life to everything," Naru said, "then what about…"
"God?" Mutsumi smiled. "God is the one who grants the Lifestream to planets that He wishes for life to develop on. He plants the Lifestream, sustains it, and when the time has come for a planet to die, He gathers the Lifestream to be transported across space to a new home."
"So is there any reason that this is like mashing together all of my favorite games?" Seno asked.
"That is one purpose of the Yochi no Kouken," she replied. "Aside from keeping watch over the planet and protecting it, it is also the task of the Yochi no Kouken to fragment the true knowledge of Existence and disperse it, as clues to be left for the heroes of destiny."
"And you decided that working these pieces of knowledge into a myriad of video games was the best way to do it?" Shinobu asked.
"It was my predecessor who began that work, not me," Mutsumi answered. "I merely made sure that it continued as planned. It was also my task to manipulate events so that the heroes of destiny would be gathered together when the time was right."
Kitsune blinked in confusion. "So you're sayin' that we're these heroes of destiny?"
Mutsumi nodded. "The only ones left who remain unaware of that destiny, yes."
"Why now?" Motoko asked.
Mutsumi frowned, her expression bleak. "Grave threats to the planet, no, to all of Creation, have risen. Kawakami Gensai is nearing his full power, and he will not stop at levying his vengeance upon Japan. Namusan Sapou, an immortal djinn who rebelled against God, will soon renew his war against the heavens. There will be others, those that have not yet awakened. To stop these threats, it is necessary for the heroes of destiny to awaken."
The crew was stunned into silence. What could you say to a proclamation of that degree?
Shaking her head slowly, Naru looked over toward Seno, the closest person to her besides Keitaro. "No game references to throw in?" she asked teasingly.
He shook his head. "This part clearly didn't make it into any of the games."
"Xenosaga," Motoko said flatly.
"I guess you could count that one," he replied with a shrug. "KOS-MOS' awakening, and all."
"Well then, let's get on with it!" Su exclaimed. "Wakey, wakey time!"
Mutsumi smiled faintly, then closed her eyes and clasped her hands together beneath her chin. A pale, white-green aura rose around her, and soon the mind of the Lifestream began to glow as well, until the entire chamber glowed a soft white color.
The tentacles which held the Hinata crew restrained pulsed and glowed as well, transferring the energy of the Lifestream stored within them to each of them. "In the dark times that followed," Mutsumi's voice echoed throughout the chamber, "an Angel of the Lord came unto them, and entered into a covenant with them, that together they might stand against the darkness. And with them was awakened the staff of knowledge, the blade of power, the blade of justice, the blade of deception, the staff of light, and the potence of alchemy.
"Awaken, destined heroes, for your time has come. Keitaro, the blue mage. Naru, Angel of the Lord. Seno, the warrior. Motoko, the samurai. Kitsune, the thief. Shinobu, the white mage. And Su, the alchemist."
As she finished, the light of the Lifestream rose to a blindingly-brilliant white, overwhelming the vision of the Hinata tenants. They each had a brief sensation of floating unfettered, and then nothing.
-
Save the game?
O : Yes
X : No
-End of Arc 2