Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka Seven or anything copyrighted to it. I wish I did though...
Chapter 15: Alone
"Oh… It was just Linck's toy…" Eureka said in the corner of the room, her voice was soft and quiet.
"How long has it been…" she muttered.
"The typeChaos's check is done, Holland" Anemone said looking happy.
"That's one less problem in my shoes…" Holland was tired.
"Hey… Where's Eureka?" he suddenly started. At the mere mention of Eureka's name, everyone just turned the other way and wiped the smile off their faces.
"In her room" Dominic said. He was with Anemone.
"She's been like that for 16 months now, Holland" Dominic suddenly said.
"Yeah… There's nothing we can really do about it…" Holland said. Dominic and Anemone turned away and walked to the hanger to move the typeChaos back to its spot.
"It's been over a year now hasn't it…?" Anemone said.
"Yeah… 16 months already" Dominic replied. They looked to the spot where they put the Nirvash, but in its place was blue Nirvash. Dominic can clearly recall the events that led up to the tragedy: first everyone said a red Nirvash bud out from the Nirvash itself, and then it fought a battle that it could never win, then it was to be shot down and blown up. They could no longer search the area because it was covered by military officers and KLFs, if Renton had survived; he was dead now. No one dared to talk to Eureka anymore because they feared what might happen. Holland tried a few times to cheer her up but she just simply shook her head and walk away. Eureka distanced herself from everyone; even Axel, Adrock and the kids.
"Hey Eureka, uh… lunch is ready" Holland said coming in to the dark room. It was the room that Eureka shared with Renton when they returned but she turned off all the lights and covered the window with a cloth. Eureka was in the corner staring blankly into the small blue hairclip Renton left for her.
"Oh… Thanks Holland…" Eureka always seems to be in deep thoughts.
"Eureka… You should really go out for some air…" Holland said.
"I don't feel like it…" she said quietly. Eureka slowly walked to the cafeteria with Holland and everyone looked down when they saw her. No matter how hard they tried to cheer Eureka up, even just a little it would fail and Eureka would be worst than before.
"Hey Eureka… We got some cake for you" Anemone said. Eureka just brushed it off and left, she didn't even finish her meal.
"How far did you go…?" Eureka asked herself again. Eureka didn't like speaking anymore but she would speak to herself. Everyone around her was just another object; she shut so much of the world off that she even became silent to the Nirvash and machines that she once opened up her heart to.
"Dominic… it's so painful watching Eureka like that…" Anemone said.
"I guess she stopped crying a year ago…" Dominic concluded. Everyone could remember Eureka would burst into tears over the slightest mention of Renton's name, but now, she was quiet, discreet and didn't to exist what so ever. The Gekko-Go and the Dango-Go's objective now was to find a way to reactivate the last two cross-over points but without much information and Eureka shutting off her heart to everyone they had no leads as to how to reactivate them. After resupplying at Tresor the Gekko-Go was once again off to search for answers from Voderak priests or hermit scientists. The Gekko-Go headed out and for about four hours the flight didn't have any problems what so ever. However, the military was ready to make its move again and not long after they got out of Karsas city's air space a small platoon ambushed them. There were three KLF squads and one of them was heavily armored.
"Turn the Gekko-Go 40 degrees to the left and launch the typeChaos and the 808!" Holland yelled as the KLFs closed in.
"Roger" Hap, Gidget, and Doggie replied.
"Damn it… Right after we left…" Holland said angrily. Anemone and Hilda launched and the Dango-Go launched the 505 and 808. The large KLF started attacking the Gekko-Go mainly. The KLF was bulky and it looked like the armor was put over normal KLF armor but that didn't matter right now for them. Even with its size the pilot was very good and managed to dodge all the attacks the Gekko-Go and the LFOs had to offer.
"Who's in that thing?!" Anemone said as she tried to hit it again. They had only taken out two of the nine KLFs and the bulky KLF was moving too well for them to hit it and they were taking more damage than anything else. The bulky KLF was black and blue with red on the armor and the head a mostly a square with one eye hole. It looked like a standard KLF but the armor would open up and fire lasers. Anemone barely avoided this but the KLF had ripped it off its board and threw it to the ground at high speed. Before it took out a gun the two 808s interfered with the attack and the 505 was able to save the typeChaos. The KLF then turned around to the Gekko-Go and launched a large missile at the back hanger door and smashed its way into the hanger by then Holland had just launched in the 909.
"That almost hit me!" Holland said as he looked back. The KLF's armor came off but Holland was too far to see what the core was but two other KLFs entered the Gekko-Go and the other four KLFs stayed out.
"Talho, sound off the alarm!" Holland yelled to the intercom.
"Intruders are on the Gekko-Go!" Holland yelled. The gates of the Gekko-Go locked up as the red light sounded off but the alarm has somehow been disabled shortly after they were activated. A hacking genius had just killed off all the alarms and security devices. Eureka got out of her room to see what the commotion was but she just leaned to the walk. She didn't care if she got hurt or anything, she didn't even care that she could get killed in the next second. She decided to head to the hanger to see what happened but when she did she saw three KLF pilots destroying the ship's rear controls.
"Stop!" she yelled. Her eyes filled with hate for the people that killed Renton; even of these people weren't there she still hated the military KLFs. One of them pointed a gun at her and slowly walked to her. Other came behind him and Eureka heard him speak.
"Eureka, please come quietly with us" the second one said. Eureka kicked a paint bucket at them and it scattered over the helmet and suit of the on holding the gun. The person tried to rub off the paint but they couldn't. He slowly took off his helmet. When Eureka saw the face of the person, she became very angry.
"Haven't I've been tormented enough!" Eureka yelled, tears fell from her face.
"Why?!" Eureka had never felt angrier in her life. Holland had somehow landed on the Gekko-Go and climbed in through one of the hatches. When he looked down he saw the bulky KLF's armor had fallen off and inside he saw the red Nirvash. He looked to one of the pilots that had entered and saw someone that resembled Renton.
"Why did you have to show up after he's gone?!" Eureka yelled even louder now. The one that looked like Renton fired and shot Eureka in the shoulder.
"What are you doing Hikaru?!" the second one said. Hikaru didn't answer but instead continued to look at Eureka.
"You know we need her alive!" he continued. Eureka had gotten up and held her shoulder in pain.
"Why don't you just finish me now!" Eureka yelled. Hikaru was about to pull the trigger when Holland jumped down and shot the man next to him. He dropped his gun but managed to get on the red Nirvash and jumped out of the Gekko-Go. The third one had left as well.
"Eureka, are you alright…" Holland asked as he came up to her.
"Why… Why do they always use Renton…?" Eureka cried while she held her shoulder.
"At least we know he's alive…" Holland started.
"That wasn't Renton!" Eureka felt angry wash over her again.
"But Eureka…" Holland didn't understand why.
"That might be Renton's body…" Eureka said through tears and quietness.
"But that's not Renton!" Eureka yelled.
"Do you think Renton could ever do this?!" Eureka clenched her injury even harder. Holland turned his head slightly and looked to the armor that had come off the red Nirvash. The armor was meant to mock them. Soon everyone heard about Hikaru and how he piloted the Nirvash and bared great resemblance to Renton. Eureka felt lonely before but now she felt angry and hate to the pilot of the red Nirvash. Eureka stormed back to her room when Mischa had just finished bandaging her up.
"Why… They stole you from me… and now they're using your face against me…" Eureka knew that they purposely used Renton. She clenched the blue hairclip even tighter now, she knew if someone was truly Renton or not because she could feel his feelings and nothing came from Hikaru. Eureka found herself breathing heavily and her fists were held so tight, her finger nails had stabbed into her skin.
"Dominic… That's so cruel…" Anemone said.
"Going by what Eureka said… I believe they killed Renton mentally" Omega concluded.
"I agree but it seems they replaced him rather then killing him" Dr. Bear protested.
"Wait… I got an article on something like that" Omega rummaged through a box.
"Here it is!" he said as he rose up a piece of paper.
"According to research done by the military scientists… There's a way to destroy or severely damage the mental portion of the brain" Omega ran his finger through the report.
"What… What happens if it's destroyed?" Anemone asked.
"The person becomes a vegetable and stops moving all together" Omega replied.
"But the brain can recover, but the person loses all mental attributes that made them once was" Omega quickly added.
"But if it's severely damaged then the person will have random flash backs to their original memory and will stop if a loved one is attacked or they attack a loved one" Omega said very quickly
"I guess Renton's mental signals have been destroyed…" Dominic and everyone concluded.
"Is there anyway to save him?" everyone wondered the same question.
"Depends on who gets to him first… Once the memories are gone, their gone for good" Omega replied to the question.
"If it was just damaged then the person would suffer from memory lost and has a small chance of repairing them" he pulled something from Dr. Bear's pocket.
"Hey, that's my candy" Dr. Bear snapped at Omega.
"I'm hungry okay!" he yelled back.
"By getting to him first… what do you mean?" Anemone needed to know.
"The person can be re-taught everything they lost… But as for memories… if it is destroyed… It's like crushing a glass vase into dust, you can never put in back in perfect order, but if you say you dropped it and it's in piece than of course you can repair it" Omega had a little trouble explaining.
"If you crushed it to dust then… you have to melt it down and make a new one from the old pieces… or add new ones to the old one" he quietly said.
"So we lost Renton for good then" Dominic and Anemone had to admit it.
"Next time we face him… We might have to kill him, he's become someone else. It's perfect for the military, a face we can't kill but a person that could wipe us all out like that" Omega said while in deep thought.
"But who will be the one to do so…" Dr. Bear added. Eureka was at the door and listening to the conservation, she was right about Renton not being there anymore but she couldn't bring herself to kill Renton's face. She hurried back to her room and waited. She knew that they would come back for her soon and the Gekko-Go was at risk more then ever.
"How was the mission" the blond child said. (The Dewey kids)
"We failed to capture the target but we managed to cripple the ship" a military officer said. Next to him was Hikaru.
"Hm… We should use this time to attack while their weak from this encounter, besides I'm sure they can't defeat our experiment" another of the Dewey kids said.
"Hey Hikaru, I'll go with you this time" Helen said as she came up. Hikaru showed no emotion what so ever he simply turned his head to confirm the voice. She placed her arms around him and gave him a hug.
"You may go, dismissed" they kids said together. Hikaru walked to his Nirvash in the store room of the military base and sat in the Nirvash and waited for his launch signal. Helen jumped in the Ariel and waited beside Hikaru, she kept looking at him during the entire time he was waiting.
"Get Jurgens… We can't continue fighting like this… That LFO could have done a lot more" Holland was preparing for an attack from them again.
"Leader, we got the typeChaos repaired but the Gekko-Go can't fly properly" Gidget said.
"It's no good the engines and control flaps have been severed" Job's voice came from the PA.
"What forces do we have…?" Holland asked Omega over the intercom.
"Uh… We have two 808, 909, a 505, the Nirvash, the typeChaos and a 606" Omega's voice came through.
"Eight LFOs in total" Omega added. Even with all the LFOs are full power and fighting, the red Nirvash alone could take them down. Holland's fears were confirmed when Woz's data come in: The red Nirvash and the Ariel were headed their way.
"Everyone get ready for battle!" Holland yelled. Holland himself headed for the hanger where he looked at the blue Nirvash, if Eureka took on Renton; they might have a fighting chance. Both the Gekko-Go and the Dango-Go started launching their LFOs; the red Nirvash took the lead.
"Everyone, concentrate mostly on the Nirvash, we have to take that out first. It can't take all of us on!" Holland said over the intercom. Just as they headed for the point where both sides were to meet the military stopped but the red Nirvash. It reached to its back and loaded its hands with six boomerang blades. The red Nirvash met with the 505 and the other split in order to attack its rear. But before they could even turn around the red Nirvash had stabbed three boomerang blades into the 505 and used its foot to destroy the ref board. It was still holding the 505 and got ready to finish it off when a blue boomerang blade flew past him. The red Nirvash grabbed it and gave a signal. The Ariel and the other KLFs attacked. The typeChaos defended against the Ariel while Eureka took on the red Nirvash. The battle began and in the centre were the red and blue Nirvash. The two LFOs clashed and everyone watched to the sky. The red Nirvash soon over powered Eureka; it knocked the boomerang blade off and grabbed the blue Nirvash's face. It lined up and pulled the blue Nirvash near the Gekko-Go where it charged up to it and slammed it into the armor plating of the Gekko-Go.
"Eureka!" Holland yelled as he said the red Nirvash overpowering her. The red Nirvash still had its right arm on the blue Nirvash's face and this helped pin the right arm of the blue Nirvash. Eureka tried to reach for another boomerang blade when Hikaru caught it. He started to pull on it and Eureka could hear electricity crack as the arms moved slightly. From the mere force of the grab the blue Nirvash's hand started to crack and Eureka could see cracks form on the arm. She looked to the cockpit to the pilot stare at her. His face showed no emotions and his expression didn't change from when their last encounter. The Nirvash's arm was coming off when Omega's 808 came up and fired a shot on the red Nirvash. Hikaru reacted and jumped up just missing the shot.
"Are you okay, Eureka?" Omega asked over the intercom.
"I'm fine…" Eureka replied quietly. The red Nirvash had now turned its attention to the Ariel and the typeChaos.
"Anemone, the red Nirvash is coming your way!" Omega yelled. Anemone saw the Nirvash coming and jumped up to avoid the attack. The red Nirvash had indirectly pushed the Ariel back as it lined up for another attack. It did a cork screw and slammed itself to the typeChaos where it started to crush the forearms of the typeChaos. It started to pull the arms apart from the main body and as it did it smashed the ref board of the typeChaos with its foot and when everyone heard the cracking of armor, the red Nirvash grabbed the face of the typeChaos and threw it away. This time however, it took out only two blades and raced off to the two 909s. When Holland saw the red Nirvash coming in he tried to fire on it but it moved to smoothly for him to hit. By then, the red Nirvash has just sliced off the laser cannon on the 909 and then grabbed an arm and sliced that off. It took hold of the 909 and threw it to the back of the other 909 where it was knocked its board.
"Go away!" Eureka yelled as she gave a last attack on the red Nirvash. It caught her and she could clearly see the pilot still there with the same expression and heartlessness. He was about to attack when he saw her start to cry but she still looked at him with hateful eyes. An alarm went off as another attack came from the 808, he let go and flew away. The red Nirvash's power was running out.
"Darn… Failed again, we'll let's go home, Hikaru!" Helen's cheery voice came over the intercom. Everyone heard her voice, even Eureka; hate filled her heart when she heard the voice call out to the one who looked like Renton. Eureka watched as the squads turned into jets and fly off. Eureka let herself fall to the side of the cockpit, she just saw the person that killed Renton disappear with Renton's face again. Eureka pictured Renton's smile in her head.
"Why…" Eureka started to cry again.
To be continued…
The young woman's suffering continues, a new but familiar face was presented to them; is he the answer the young woman wants? Next time: Coming home