Chapter Five

Tochiro cursed uproariously, as he fought a vicious air battle above the clearing where he had spotted Emeraldas. Every so often, he caught a brief glimpse of her, Angel, and a rather sinister-looking man…..the last of which worried and angered him greatly.

"If he's laid one finger on her, I'll personally hunt that yarou to the ends of the universe and tear him limb from limb!" Tochiro seethed, as he continued his fight; only hoping that he could get to her side before she could suffer any more.

…………………………

The ground battle wasn't going any easier for the rest of the Arcadia's crew, nor for her captain. In fact, they had been forced to take shelter in the now-bombed out parts of the prison in order to avoid part of an aerial bombardment that was just barely being deflected by the ship itself.

"Sure is a helluva lot different from how earth had been, huh?" Tochiro Jr. asked, carefully aiming his shots so they would count. Young Harlock nodded.

"Yeah……but if something doesn't change soon, we'll……!" Young Harlock started to say, yet yelped when another guard suddenly emerged right in front of them.

"Shit! He's too close!" Young Harlock's mind yelped, not realizing that someone had just heard that desperate thought, and was about to spring into action. With a howl that would have frozen even a battle-hardened wolf like Lightningtooth in his tracks, Keikai fiercely launched himself at the guard's throat, grabbed it in between his small jaws, and twisted with all his might. The two youths could only stare in mute shock as the grown man went down with a gurgling groan; his throat torn out by a wolf cub!

"Whoa…..That was amazing! Where'd you learn that?!" Tochiro Jr. asked; having found his wits and voice before Young Harlock could, this time.

"My dad taught me." Keikai replied, almost proudly, as he spat out the blood that was still in his mouth with some distaste, and grinned at the two boys.

"Wow…..Maybe we should call you somethin' else other than 'Keikai' from now on….." Young Harlock said, then glanced at Tochiro Jr. "Any ideas?"

"Nope." Tochiro Jr. replied, with a shrug.

"Then how about 'Lightningfang', but we can call you 'Fang' for short? How does that sound?" Young Harlock questioned. This got a winning smile from the wolf pup; his tail ablur as he nodded in agreement.

"Fang…..I'm Fang." The newly renamed pup murmured, liking the way it rolled off the tongue, and how it brought a sense of completeness to his own young soul.

"Then let's keep fightin' then, Fang. We've got a battle to win!" Tochiro Jr. encouraged, as he turned and motioned with a wave to the rest of the complex. With nods from both Young Harlock and Fang, they pushed onwards; ready for whatever else the complex had to throw at them, because of the courageous wolf pup at their sides.

……………………………

Tochiro let out almost a yell of victory, when he finally got one of the enemy fighters off of his tail; turning and firing even more blasts when the other tried to close in….almost able to hear the other pilot's fearful cry, when he saw how agile Tochiro's Cosmo Wing truly was.

"Outta my way!" Tochiro roared, furiously, before he let the enemy fighter have it, and then rushed back to the spot where he'd last seen Emeraldas. To his fury, both the female pirate captain and her wolf were down, and were being held at gunpoint by the man in front of them.

"Yarou…..you're gonna pay dearly for that." Tochiro snarled, as he again squeezed the trigger to his Cosmo Wing's cannons again; making the ground on all sides of the man explode. He could sense the relief of both Emeraldas and Angel beneath him, yet all too soon had to take his mind off of that, since the blue fighter had somehow survived his barrage, and was coming around again for another pass.

"Hold on for just a little bit longer, you two…..please hold on." Tochiro murmured, worriedly, when he'd sensed how tired and pain-filled the two truly were, now.

……………………..

"Where'd you think my mom's bein' held now, Harlock?!" Tochiro Jr. asked, as he and Young Harlock raced between the cell blocks; trying in a vain effort to find the cell where they thought Emeraldas would be.

"No idea…..but I don't think she's bein' held in these buildings, anymore!" Young Harlock replied, barely managing to avoid being hit with a stray blast, before a pair of strong arms grabbed the both of them and moved them out of harm's way.

"Shit! You kids had to have been outta your minds and got a helluva death-wish comin' into this hell! What made you decide to come out here?!" a man's voice asked, as they both looked unbelievingly back at him. The man appeared to be in his early to mid-twenties, had spiky brown hair that was tied back with a red bandanna, and was dressed in dingy white, Japanese-style fighter's clothes. His brown eyes, though fiery with the light of determination, were also filled with concern for their safety.

"We're here to rescue Tochiro's mom! Do you know where she is?" Fang asked, urgently; shouting to be heard over the explosions going off around them. At first, the man seemed stunned that Fang had spoken, yet then shook himself out of it, and looked at Tochiro Jr. closely.

"Your mom got caught and brought here, kid?" the man asked. Tochiro Jr. nodded.

"My mom's name is Emeraldas, the Pirate Queen. Have you heard of her?" Tochiro Jr. asked, in turn. At this, the man managed a slight smirk.

"I would've had to have been hidin' under a rock since the end of the Illumidas Occupation, to have not heard of her, kiddo." The man said, as he released them, cautiously stood, and then ruffled their hair with one strong hand.

"Then where is she?" Young Harlock asked, worriedly.

"She's still here on this hellhole planet somewhere, that's all I can say…..also I know that she's still alive, but has been tortured by the yarou that had captured us both." The man growled, angrily.

"Mom's been…..tortured?! How?! And who did it?!" Tochiro Jr. asked, angrily; his voice rising with every word spoken.

"Gokai….." the man replied, with a snarl; his brown eyes taking on an almost amber hue, at the thought of the man who had done the deed.

"He's gonna pay…." Tochiro Jr. vowed, furiously, as he gripped his Cosmo Dragoon tightly in his white-knuckled hands.

"That much I don't doubt, kid." The man agreed, as he then motioned for them to look in one direction in particular, "That's the direction I saw a red-haired lady and a wolf take, less than an hour ago. You might still be able to catch up with them!"

"But what about you? Aren't you comin' with us?" Fang asked, as he watched the fighter prepare to leave the shelter. He got a smirk from the man as a response.

"I've got a rebellion and prison break to run, pup. You'll be able to handle just fine without me!" the man said, with certainty, before rushing out into the open. It took only a split second for one of the guards to draw a bead on the swiftly-moving fighter, and just about that long for Young Harlock to notice him, aim, and fire. The fighter turned to look behind him in shock, when the guard fell to the ground dead; a smoking hole in the center of his chest all the proof the fighter needed to see that the boy had saved his life.

"Great shot, kid! I owe ya one!" the fighter shouted, gratefully, as he gave the trio a thumb's up, before turning and disappearing into the smoke.

"Wonder if we'll meet him again, someday?" Tochiro Jr. mused, as they watched him go. Young Harlock shrugged.

"Who knows? We just might." Young Harlock said, before they took off in the direction the man had said Emeraldas had gone…..and they hoped they weren't too late.

Author's Note!

Okay! Here's the newest chapter for this story! Hope this helps with the writer's block, Ligthingtooth-san!

Gemini14