Chapter 3: Memory
"You have potential Naota-Kun" that familiar, not-so fatherly, voice said from so many years ago "Your brother's course was obvious, he knew what he was here to do. But you, there are so many possibilities. After your mother died, I tried to raise you strong, I know I seemed like a bad father, and maybe I was, but it made you who you are, you are strong. Nothing can stand in your way. But be careful, you're too emotional, you get too attached, never let that bring you down."
"Why are you leaving Naota?" Now it was her voice echoing back to him "You have me, and you have him. You don't have to go, everything is right here for you. Don't leave Naota, you can be a better father than he was."
"So this is it then, Ta-kun?" Haruko's grin showed through the haze of memories "This is how it ends?"
Naota awoke in a cold sweat, dull morning light peaking through the cracked windows of his childhood home.
Oato sat in his first class, two rows ahead of him was Tezzi, the girl he had loved since he was old enough to recognize girls as an opposite gender. He had never spoken to her, but he had decided when he woke up that this was day to finally make his move. Of course he decided that every morning, Genko and Doug had grown so bored of it wasn't even worth teasing him over anymore.
"So my mom says she used to know him." Genko said "He's a few years younger than her apparently."
"Why would he do that to you, Oato?" Doug asked leaning over to his friend "Oato? Buddy?"
Oato was in a daze, not just because of Tezzi, that was normal, but the events of the previous day kept running over and over in his head.
"And what happened to your house?" Doug started speaking again "It looks like a bomb went off over there."
"Have either of you ever been to that old run down bakery?" Oato asked absent-mindedly
"Why?" Genko started "Do you want to take Tezzi there, so you can be alone to make Furi Kuri?"
Oato head popped up to attention "Furi Kuri? What is that?"
"I don't know exactly, my mom used to say it a lot." Genko leaned in closer "What's up with you? You've been acting weird all morning."
"You promise you won't tell anyone?" Oato said under his breath
Genko and Doug leaned in close "Yeah." They both whispered simultaneously
Their eyes widened as Oato described what happened yesterday. He told them about the bump on his head, the robot coming out of it, and about the strange man from the river bank coming to fight. They looked at him in astonishment, neither of them knew what to say.
"Like hell." Doug finally said, after what seemed like an eternity of silence.
"I'm having a hard time believing it myself."
"Is your head okay?" Genko said examining his forehead "Is there like a black hole in there or something?"
"I don't know. My mom didn't seem surprised, but she wouldn't tell me anything. All she said was that guy was someone she used to know, then she begged me stay home sick."
"AND YOU DIDN'T?" Doug yelled loud enough for everyone to hear "What kind of moron are you?"
"I feel fine." Oato said
The morning bell rang signaling the start of class. "Just shut up and don't tell anyone, I mean it, Doug." Oato often wondered if all Americans had such big mouths like Doug
Oato went a different way than usual on his way home from school. He went up a few back roads, until that old bakery was in view, he hesitated at the farthest corner from it, before he kept walking, he didn't know why he wanted to come here, but it felt important. He walked slowly across the battered door that lay on the ground. Some flashing lights caught his eye from the back of the house, and he made his way to the laundry room. He pushed the door open and found the large mysterious man hunched over his pile of blue metal, it was starting to take a shape.
"E-Excuse me?" Oato squeaked over the sound of flying sparks
Naota stopped, turned around and looked at Oato for a few seconds.
"You know, just because it's falling apart doesn't mean it's not private property." He said towering over the boy in an unthreatening manner. "Does your mother know you're here?"
"No sir, I figure she probably would have told me not to come."
"That's probably for the best." Naota said throwing him a pair of dark goggles, like the ones he was wearing "Put those on." He crouched back down over his project "Your mother is very smart, and I'm a very dangerous man."
"What happened yesterday?" Oato said sliding on the goggles "What happened to my head?"
"It's called an N.O. channel. It works by…" Naota stopped trying to remember what Amarao had said "It utilizes the left and right sides of the brain creating a portal to bring things through." He was impressed with himself as the sparks started flying again "That's why I'm here. Years ago, when they first built the Medical Mechanica factory, They used my N.O. channel to bring across robots like the one that came out of your head, I managed to defeat them with the help of someone called Atomsk, but I don't know if we'll be so lucky this time."
"What are you building?" Oato asked looking over Naota shoulder
"You'll find out." Naota said with a cat like grin "You should get home before your mother gets angry. She's mad enough at me for coming home."
Oato began to walk out as he took off the goggles. "Hey kid." Naota called "What happened yesterday isn't the end, there's gonna be more."
Oato sulked home, dreading his next encounter with the creatures from his head.
"Today's the day!" Oato said triumphantly as the boys walked to school "I'm gonna talk to her today."
"Right." Doug said with a smirk "What makes today different from any other day."
"I can feel it." Oato said "I feel brave today."
"So you're gonna make a fool of yourself finally?" Genko said in a teasing tone of voice
"There's nothing you can say to change my mind Genko. I feel to good today."
They arrived at school, there was always time before class started to talk to their fellow students. Oato nervously inched his way toward Tezzi. He was gonna do it, finally he would say something, anything, to her. The whole world seemed to fall away as he singled in on the girl of his dreams. He walked up to her, any number of clever icebreakers running through his mind.
"Hi." He stammered, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? He thought to himself a little disappointed
But she didn't seem to mind, she turned to him with that warm beautiful smile of hers. "Hi." She said "Oato right?"
"Y-yeah, say I was just thinkin'…" But he didn't get a chance to finish as Tezzi's brow furrowed in a confused way
"What's that?" She said looking at his forehead
His eyes crossed as he tried to see his forehead, a small round bump had formed, and his face went red "Oh nothing." He squeaked, and then it jolted his entire head, and shot out about an inch "I gotta go!" he said as he ran out the door
He arrived home, out of breath about ten minutes later, not bad for a half hour walking distance, he rushed to the mirror in the bathroom. He stared at the newly formed horn. "This isn't happening." He said, another jolt hit him, the horn shot out hitting the mirror and cracking it just a bit. The bounce back was enough to throw Oato to the ground.
He stood back up and place a finger on the tip of the horn. He pushed with all his might and the horn popped back into his head. He took his finger away, it popped back out with a painful springing action.
Eri walked in the newly repaired front door, looking around. "OATO!?!" she yelled before seeing him lying on the coach with a pillow over his face. "What are you doing, the school called, they said you rushed out this morning before class." She pulled the pillow off his face, and he eyes widened as she revealed the telltale bandage on his forehead. "I'll kill him."
"It's not his fault, mom." Oato croaked in a tired way "He's just here to help."
"How do you know?" Eri said suddenly answering her own question in her head "You went to see him?"
"He explained everything to me." Oato slowly sat up "Why didn't you tell me."
"I thought it would be different."
"Well it's not, mom." Oato said starting to sound angry "Either way you should have told me. Don't be angry at him, not for this anyway, he came back because he knew it would happen again, he wanted to come back and help." Oato looked up at his forehead "There's no reason to worry." The bandage shot off his head as the horn jolted again, by this point it was about three feet long, it widened from the point down to his forehead, and the first foot of it was a metallic red.
"You're staying home Oato!" Eri said shaking off the fact that what looked like a spear was jutting out of her sons forehead
"It's not a cold, Eri." Mamimi's voice came from behind her
"How long have you been there?" Eri asked turning around
"He's gonna need more than bed rest to make this go away. And besides, this town has a way of forgetting things like this."
"He's not son, Mamimi." Eri said turning red
"But you weren't the only one involved in the conflict last time." Mamimi eyes went angry "Your problem has always been that you see everything, only the way it affects you, you weren't the only one there. Think about Naota, yeah he ran away, but he's back now, and for a good reason, and you still treat him like garbage."
"Get out of my house." Eri's hands had turned to fists.
"It's not gonna go away, it has play out 'til the end." She turned and walked away
"I didn't know you knew Genko's mom." Oato said his eyes widened "So she was there too? When Medical Mechanica tried to take over the world?"
"You should get some rest. When the robots start popping out, it takes a lot out of you." She walked off to her bedroom
Naota looked down at the familiar screen, it was dark, no life in it. He ran his gloved hand over it.
"Let's see if you work old buddy." He lowered his head to the screen touching it with his forehead, the screen sprang to life with Atomsk symbol glowing red, Canti stood, still towering over Naota, even though he was now full grown, the robot was missing arm.
He looked down at his missing appendage in what seemed to be sad way "?"
"I don't know, I couldn't find it." Naota said "We'll figure something out."
Oato lay in bed staring at the ceiling. "What am I gonna do?" He looked at the horn shooting from his head "I can't go to school like this. I can't believe I'm actually hoping it comes out soon."
The Siren from the MM building rang out over the town, Naota shackle began to sake, and Canti looked at him confused, Oato rolled out of his bed overcome by pain.
The horn shot out now taking on the form of a knight's lance, a metal hand clutching it's handle. Oato screamed in horror. Naota mounted his Vespa and gave an intense look at Canti.
"I hope you're up to this." He said revving up the engine "I'll meet you there."
The tall armored body forced it way out smashing things all around Oato's bedroom, as it revealed it's full form. This one was definitely bigger than the last. It stood at least ten feet tall, crouched inside the bedroom, it wore plate armor from head top toe, a red light bouncing back and forth inside it's visor. It smashed through the wall and walked out into the world, as if it knew, anyone fighting it inside would have the upper hand. Oato looked on in shock before jumping to his feet and grabbing the Flying V. He ran out after it.
Naota arrived just in time to see the lumbering form, now a full twelve feet tall, walking down the street. Canti landed beside him.
"What are you waiting for, Frankenstein?" Naota said staring up at Canti.
"?"
"Go help the kid, you don't need to worry about me anymore."
Canti walked off after them in a rush, Naota stepped off his Vespa, wondering if he should join the fight.
Once the robot was pleased with how open the terrain around him was, he stopped and turned to Oato, getting ready to attack, he was blind-sided by Canti, who came tackling him to the ground. Oato seized the opportunity to leap in, the Flying V, proudly above his head. It came down on the robot's torso with a force, he didn't even know he was capable of.
Naota rushed in, feeling obligated to help. He charged in at full speed his Rickenbacker at the ready. As he closed in on the fight Canti and Oato went flying into the air, the huge robot stretching it's form and standing.
Oato twisted his body in mid air, he knew that it was up to him to defend the city, and he wasn't gonna waste and opportunity to strike by falling flat on his ass. He contorted his body into a more comfortable falling position as he raised his guitar above his head, it came smashing down on top of the robot's head, caving it in.
The robot's lance flailed wildly, knocking Naota off his feet. Oato landed on the ground watching the robot try to figure it's environment out. Canti stood behind him. He turned to look up at the TV screen face.
"A little help?" He said nervously
"!" Canti stretched out a hand scooping up Oato and tossing him into the air.
Oato came down, slamming his guitar in the robot's shoulder, it's lance came around and launched him back into the air. Canti caught the lance in his one hand and began to swing him, his swung him around and around, until he had gained enough momentum to let go, the robot went flying into side of a car a full block away. Canti caught Oato in the palm of his hand as he fell back to earth, and once again force him into the air. As the robot stood, Oato came down on him, his guitar tearing through his chest sparks flying. Canti Charged up the street forcing the robot back into the car he had already ruined, the robot lay twitching for a moment. Oato stood panting next to Canti, the robot began to stir, slowly rising from the wreckage, Oato raised his guitar and brought it down on the robot with a CLANG!, the robot collapsed motionless, into the car.
"You're damn good kid." Naota said walking up "I couldn't do that on my second time out."
"Thanks? I guess?" Oato wasn't sure if he should take that as a compliment
Canti approached the robot, he grabbed it's arm by the wrist and wrenched it from the rest of it's body. He turned to the other two ";)" and through the arm over his shoulder.
Naota lay on his coach looking at the stained cracked ceiling above him, every memory of his past came flooding back to when he was here, The look on his lost love's face when he left Mabase forever, the look on Haruko's face when he…
"Do you need a place to stay?" Eri's voice broke the silence "God knows I need a handy man, and Canti's always useful to have around."
Naota sat up, looking at her skeptically.
"No tricks, Nao. I have an extra bed, and this no kind of place to live." Eri said stretching out a hand
Naota stood and shook her hand gently.
