Mediziner's Notes: I think by this point my memories and personalities on the Braves were starting to decay from not watching the series but I did later on rewatch the show again to keep the memories/personalities/whatever alive to keep me motivated.
This Chapter was originally uploaded: 24/7/2019 on DeviantART.
The Leader within Cover Art is drawn and commissioned by Erilmadith-Everyoung on DeviantART. You can also find Radiant Prism's full reference there, too.
Enjoy!
...
The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes, though not once has Gunmax seen or even catch a glimpse of Radiant Prism take one sip of her canister. Instead, he noticed that she seemed distracted, but why? He followed her gaze towards a small group of mechanics on break, talking about a visitor in the station. 'A visitor?' He thought, immediately thinking that the visitor mentioned could be either Ayako, or Seia... But no names were said, but convinced himself he didn't pay attention if they really might've said any names. His focus turned back to the German Brave.
"First time fighting crime outside of Germany?" Gunmax spoke.
Radiant Prism turned to Gunmax, her attention to the green Brave. "What?"
"The criminal we took down earlier, wouldn't this be the first time you've dealt with crime outside of the country you came from?"
"Well..." Radiant Prism thought for a moment at this, she hadn't really taken it into thought but since Gunmax brought it up, she realised that yes, it's her first time actually dealing with a criminal outside of Germany. She was well aware that police officers from another country can't deal with criminals in another country they're visiting... But since she had fled Germany and joined Deckerd's team here in Japan... That sort of thing wouldn't count, or at least that's what she thinks as she had no idea what the correct answer was...
"I suppose so." She finally said with a slight shrug. "When I focus on dealing with criminals, I don't think much about something like that. To me, I try my best to deal with criminals as fast as possible before they could damage the cities further into ruin." Radiant Prism tilted her helm downwards. "But, this was my first time dealing with a bio-machine... At least as far as I can recall. I don't think I've seen nor dealt with a bio-machine like the criminal piloted before, every single criminal I've dealt with were all piloted machinery."
"Who knows, you might've but never paid full attention to detail back then." The Motorcycle Detective leaned against the wall casually. "And the leadership you displayed earlier? Not bad."
"Eh? No, I'm no leader." Radiant Prism said flatly with a shake of her helm, her gaze drifting onto the Build Team whom all nearly have been fully repaired. "I never have been, nor I will become one. That's only Deckerd and Duke's jobs."
"You say that, but you really pulled it off well for a rookie." Taking another sip of his canister, he continued. "Well one thing is true, you're nowhere near the same level as Deckerd, Duke, and McCrane, but you did distract the criminal and had Shadowmaru and Kagerou free us while you bought time for them until we were all free to fight back. I don't really enjoy admitting things, but I'll tell you that was some pretty good leadership performance you displayed even if you were only leader temporarily at the time when both Fire J-Decker and Super Build Tiger were both incapacitated for a short time."
Radiant Prism frowned, she did what she could to help the others. In truth, she only did that so that she wouldn't have to hold onto such a temporary status for so long. She never considered herself a leader, nor did she want it. What mattered to her most was that everyone were all functioning and not incapacitated by whatever tricks criminals pulled on them... Even if she were to end up as a temporary leader again if such a situation like that happened again, she'd always want to ensure either of the three Gunmax mentioned were available to take over. 'I'm just a normal Brave... Like him and the others. Why would Gunmax believe I have some potential, I have no idea...' She thought, a part of her pauldron opening to reveal a long appendage with a pointed tip as she directed it over the nozzle of the canister.
Gunmax saw this and couldn't help but snicker at this. "That's sure an unusual way to drink." He commented.
"Why would you think that?"
"Humans normally wouldn't drink with a garden hose." He said, drinking from his canister.
"...It's a fuel probe, not a garden hose." Radiant Prism frowned, raising an eyebrow at the way he drank his fuel. "Most fighter jets have these when they refuel from within the air by a much larger plane that carries-" Both Radiant Prism and Gunmax were interrupted when the lift doors opened, revealing Deckerd who just walked out, yet rather than looking relatively cheerful, he seemed... Sad, upset even.
"Oi patrol car, it isn't like you to look so down." Gunmax chimed.
When the Brave Detective stopped in place, he thought for a moment then spoke. "I'm... Just going to go ahead and help clean up the mess." He said, then continued walking until he reached the end, changed form and drove off.
"Eh, he'll be back, he's not really going to help clean up." Gunmax said with a shrug.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, let's just say there are moments where some choose to hide their true feelings." The sound of the main door opening as the two watched as the Build Team had just left, ready to begin the long tiring task of helping the humans clean up. In truth Radiant Prism felt bad that they had to do this on a daily basis, but sometimes depending on how mild or severe the damage the city receives after defeating a criminal, they'd need all the help they can get.
Setting down her fuel canister, the German Brave got up. "I'll be out for a flight, I need some time to myself." She told Gunmax, making her way outside.
...
As hours passed into the night, the Build Team had been hard at work helping people with the mess until they've put most of the rubble hauling to a stop. However the remainders of the goop had been the most annoying to clean off as they focused their primary task of cleaning that off since it didn't make much of a racket compared to rubble being moved about, and it had to be removed cautiously to avoid making damage to the buildings that remained intact with minimal to no damage. "To think that this stuff is strong enough to immobilize us, and also a pain to clean off..." Power Joe frowned. "Let's hope we don't get another criminal recreating something like this."
"I'm just looking forward to getting back to the station and recharge since it's too late to go and play soccer without people yelling at me." Drill Boy said unhappily, having scraped some of the goop after melting as much as he could off a nearby building.
"I doubt that we'll see another criminal like that again for a long time." McCrane told the others. "We still have to finish cleaning up this mess." He paused as he noticed how much there still needed to be done, sighing internally. "...Even if it may take us a couple of days."
"A couple of days!?" Drill Boy exclaimed, having stumbled and dropped a bit of rubble he had been moving out of the way, causing Dumpson to quickly step back to avoid damage to his feet. "That means I won't be able to play soccer!"
"Drill Boy! Watch what you're doing!" Dumpson exclaimed, clearly irritated. "We just got repaired not too long ago!"
In the background, Power Joe was laughing as he began to tease Drill Boy about how clumsy he was, which only served to further anger the younger member. "I'm not clumsy!" Drill Boy snapped, intending to give the older member A few words but Dumpson quickly got between the two, easily keeping them out of reach. "That's enough, both of you. We need to focus on getting back to cleaning up. The sooner we can get th-" The dump truck was suddenly interrupted when he saw a car swerving oddly, the others followed Dumpson's line of sight and there they saw was a small car swerving in and out of the lanes. While there was little to no traffic, the Build Team knew they'd have to stop the drunkard.
Dumpson walked over to the side and waited until they drove close enough to be at arm's reach, grabbing hold of the vehicle carefully.
The woman inside looked puzzled when she noticed that the buildings weren't moving, but when Dumpson lightly tapped on the door, drawing her attention from the confusion caused her to scream and freak out and instinctively attempted to drive away indicated by the revving of the engine. This effectively made the driver completely forget they weren't on the ground.
"Brave Police Dumpson, you're under arrest for driving while intoxicated." He said, lowering the vehicle but kept the tyres from touching, to prevent any possible escape.
"I'll call up the police to take her off our servos." Power Joe said, using the radio frequency to call for any nearby police officers to their location as he reported about that they apprehended a woman who was drunk driving.
The drunken woman lowered her car window, angrily yelling at them about how they have no right to arrest her, which served to quickly anger Drill Boy but McCrane stopped him. Of course there were still a small handful of people who didn't really accept or acknowledge them like real police officers but still they had a job to do regardless of what others thought. "I hate it when humans drink or eat stuff that makes them act weird..." The Soccer Detective said with a disgusted expression, turning away crossing his arms.
"Put my car down this instant, you useless machines!" The lady screamed drunkenly, slamming on the gas as she tried to drive away.
"She's... Really out of it but the police should be here very soon." Power Joe frowned, his optics on the drunken woman who seemed to be in her late 20s. 'She would've looked relatively cute if she didn't drink so much...' He thought. Right away, something had come into mind as he addressed the Wrestler Detective. "Hey Dumpson." He then leaned in to whisper so only the red Brave could hear him. "Did you have to deal with people like that when you and Drill Boy went missing?"
"...Don't remind me of that incident." The Wrestler Detective said, clearly irritated with the incident of his and Drill Boy's misadventure throughout the city being mentioned but kept himself in check as he was still holding the vehicle with the woman still inside, continuing to ramble and even throw insults at them. He never wanted to experience the event all over again with what he and Drill Boy had to go through in the past, but fortunately with the human sized bodies, that won't happen again since in case they somehow get locked out, as they could easily reach the doorknob next time.
"Anyways, the police should be here very soon, I can see the flashing lights up ahead." He said, changing the subject upon sight of flashing colours of red coming towards them.
When the police finally arrived, Dumpson set the car down and allowed the human police to take care of the rest as they extracted the woman out of the car and into the back of the police car. Now all that was left was the empty vehicle to deal with.
Once the police had left, McCrane stepped towards the empty vehicle. "You three keep cleaning up, I'll return shortly after I've taken this vehicle away." McCrane ordered.
the others acknowledged as the Combat Detective changed form and positioned himself, attaching his hook to the vehicle, then carefully drove off to his destination. He would return a few minutes later to resume cleaning up alongside the rest of his teammates. More hours had gone by and they've made a nice amount of progress on cleaning as midnight came. At least once they have a lot of the goop cleaned up and disposed of, they'd mostly have a lot of rubble to remove, which they would save for when it's daytime again.
"Ugh, I'd rather be back in the station right now..." Drill Boy grumbled unhappily as he began melting and removing more of the goop.
"All of us do, but unfortunately we have to keep cleaning off the stuff as much as possible." Dumpson said.
"You know Drill Boy, if you keep-" Power Joe started, but ceased when Power Joe's communicator went off, immediately seeing that it was Yuuta contacting him. "Hey Boss, what are you doing up so late? Don't you have school tomorrow?"
-Build Team, have you seen Deckerd?- Yuuta asked them.
"No we haven't. Is something the matter?" McCrane replied.
-I haven't seen Deckerd since we talked after we arrested the criminal, I'm really worried. If... If by any chance you guys see him, can you please tell him to come home?-
Drill Boy then had an idea. "What if I went out to find Deckerd, Boss?" He spoke up happily, then saw the others loomed over him, unimpressed. "Um... B-Because... Ah, I need to stretch my wings!"
"Drill Boy!" Dumpson exclaimed.
"Running away on the job, are we?" Power Joe teased.
"What!? No! Think about the Boss!" The Soccer Detective exclaimed in return.
"Enough." McCrane said, then focused his attention back to the communicator. "Boss, we'll keep a sharp optic for Deckerd and let you know."
-Thank you...- Came a tired response and the communication was cut.
Power Joe turned to the others. "I'll admit, it's not like Deckerd to just disappear on the Boss like that considering how those two are really close." Power Joe said as he closed and put his communicator away. "I wonder if they've gotten into a fight or something..."
"I'm not sure myself, but looking at the scale of the cleanup..." The Combat Detective thought for a moment, then continued. "We'll go two to three hours longer into cleaning, then return back to the station to resume in the morning."
"Eh!?" Drill Boy exclaimed. "But McCrane..."
"Time to get back to work, Drill Boy." Power Joe said, earning an irritated grumbling response from his younger teammate as he reluctantly resumed helping his teammates.
...
Duke had been in the office working on extra paperwork as he needed to distract himself with something for a bit until he'd decide to head downstairs to recharge. What made him concerned was how it wasn't like the patrol car to not be at the Tomonaga residence when off duty, and to worry the Boss of all people. Not too long ago, he was contacted by Yuuta about asking Deckerd to come back home if he ends up returning to the station, something he promised to do should Deckerd show up back at the station. Deep down, a part of him wanted to retire at the night and temporarily stay over at the Tomonaga residence until Deckerd returned, but grew hesitant thinking that Yuuta might get annoyed at seeing him in the garage rather than Deckerd... Even if he drove quietly to the residence, the sound of his engines would be enough to rouse the young boy and what would crush his heart is to see the young boy's happiness turn into that of disappointment upon sight of him rather than the Brave Detective...
He sighed sadly, putting a servo to his faceplates while listening as the Build Team reported the situation to Gunmax about Deckerd not returning back to the residence. The Motorcycle Detective said he'll keep his optics peeled for any sighting while on his nightly patrol.
'Perhaps I should find the time to speak with the Boss about something I've wanted to tell him... But with Deckerd having gone missing...' He paused in thought, putting more thought into it and after a few seconds he then shook his helm. 'I should wait until Deckerd returns, he might not be in the mood about it for the time being... But, perhaps I should think about writing a letter to Lady during my break, I'm sure she'll appreciate hearing from me by something more simpler...' While he knew that he could just contact Regina through the station's communications provided it's still daytime over in the United Kingdom, he had seen a few times how people would write letters to one another and remembering how he'd seen Regina and the other humans do it, he had been meaning to give it a go himself back then but never found a perfect opportunity to try.
The Englishmech resumed his paperwork for a little longer until he decided that he was done for now and that he'll continue in the morning, neatly organizing and stacking the papers. Much like how the Build Team and Gunmax were going to keep an optic out, and perhaps also assuming Shadowmaru and Kagerou if the humans are convinced enough that Kagerou won't go rogue would also be doing the same, he too decided that he'd go out and help find where Deckerd had gone off to.
He brought out his communication badge, informing everyone. "I'm going to help find Deckerd." When he put his badge away, a thought came into mind and he couldn't be sure but decided that someone would need to stay at the Tomonaga residence in case Deckerd decides to show up there. "Radiant Prism, I'd like for you to stay at the Tomonaga Residence tonight, in case Deckerd might come back. Please do not fly over the residence, you'll need to walk to avoid waking up the others. We don't want to get any complaints about loud noises at night."
-Understood.- Replied Radiant Prism.
With that out of the way, Duke made his way out of the office and changed form, driving onto the roads and keeping his visuals peeled for any sight of Deckerd. Normally he would've been recharging by now, but because Deckerd had decided to just disappear on everyone, especially the Boss, it was very concerning. A part of him wondered what happened between the two. As time went on, he thought about it further... The Build Team at the time were in the middle of being repaired, same with Gunmax along with getting his Gun Bike repaired but unlike the previous didn't have too much damage and thus didn't stay long. He wasn't sure about Shadowmaru and Kagerou, but from last he saw they didn't seem to have any damage. As for Radiant Prism, she seemed fine when the mechanics examined her for any damage.
He continued to drive, occasionally turning into different streets rather than sticking to a specific street. Currently, he was waiting at a red light, keeping in mind of when it will change colour, he took the moment to glance around making sure nobody was breaking the law on his watch. When the traffic light did change, he continued onwards. '...I should contact Shadowmaru.' He thought, figuring that the Brave Police should expand their search for Deckerd. "Shadowmaru, are you available?"
-Good Evening, Sir Knight.- Came Shadowmaru's response.
"Shadowmaru, have the others cleared Kagerou? We could use both your assistance in locating Deckerd... He seems to have left without warning nor telling anyone what he was doing."
-Deckerd? I see...- The Ninja Detective went silent for a moment, then continued. -Unfortunately Kagerou still needs time. He's cleared and the others have been fully confirmed that he's not going to repeat any of what happened years ago. Currently, he's undergoing upgrades to his systems.-
"Upgrades?" Duke repeated bemusedly.
-Yes, Kagerou is my prototype.- Shadowmaru paused for a moment, then continued. -I'm sure you're already well aware that I was built differently compared to the others because unlike the rest of the Brave Police, Kagerou and I were built in secret.-
Duke was surprised, but understood as such advanced technology they possessed should never be within the hands of any criminals alike. He then brought back the main topic. "The others and I could use your help in locating Deckerd." He asked.
-I'm afraid I won't be available.- Shadowmaru replied.
"What's the problem?"
This time Shadowmaru replied with a more serious tone but still remained calm. -I'm not leaving Kagerou's side again.-
There was a long pause until eventually Duke decided to simply hang up after telling him to let him or the others know should he decide to join the search, feeling that if he pressured the Ninja Detective to come out and help, he'd get a bit hostile with him which was something he'd rather avoid altogether. While Duke himself had no idea what had happened over the years, he wasn't there when Deckerd and the Build Team first met Shadowmaru and Kagerou. He'd heard bits and pieces mentioned before about the incident mainly due to Kagerou going rogue, but they were not enough for him to piece the story together. Once he turned into another street, he could suddenly hear a barrage of dogs barking from all around which made him wonder what was going on, thinking there was a burglar situation as he kept on alert for any suspicious people. However, a few seconds shortly afterwards, the earth began to shake. "An earthquake!?" He exclaimed, braking as he waited out the earthquake. While it wasn't a powerful one, it made him concerned as he began contacting the others about the earthquake situation as one could never know that there could be damage elsewhere within the magnitude radius.
"Duke reporting, an earthquake occurred but I don't see any damage from my location." He said, continuing forward. The earthquake fortunately hadn't been powerful enough to cause any damage, but to Duke it was still concerning. It could be more than just a small simple earthquake, knowing how the country was known for it's earthquakes, and even at times perhaps even quake swarms.
-We felt that too, looks like we'll have to hold off cleaning the city for a little. We can't be certain if this is the start of a quake swarm.- McCrane answered. A cheer of joy from Drill Boy could be heard in the background.
"Quake swarms? Smaller earthquakes surely wouldn't be as harmful as an average common harmless earthquake...?" Duke replied, bemused.
-What? Quake swarms are smaller than your average earthquake but some of those swarms can come out to be more powerful than the others.- Power Joe spoke up. -The others and I have dealt with quake swarm disasters for a long time.-
-Sometimes the smallest things can also be the cause of major incidents.- Dumpson pointed out. -Even if it's hard to believe, we've all learned that the hard way over the years since we first came online when we first helped out with natural disasters with earthquakes being the main cause of what happened most of the time.-
"I see... I'll keep that in mind." Duke said.
-I never thought earthquakes were so common in Japan... Or at least more common than in Germany. We rarely get any earthquakes or earthquake swarms.- Radiant Prism spoke up. -As for an update, no I have not seen Deckerd return to the residence. I'm still at the residence awaiting his return.-
Gunmax then suddenly chimed in. -Oi, he probably just needs time to himself. He'll return eventually.-
-Eh? How can you be so sure of that, Gunmax?- Drill Boy asked curiously.
-Let's just say I have ways of knowing.- Gunmax finished, then hung up his end of the communication.
...
The sound of chattering voices outside was enough to rouse Yuuta out of bed. With a stretch and a yawn, he went over and moved his window curtain to see his four neighbours gathering around an uneasy Radiant Prism. "Oh... He's not home yet..." Lowering his head, Yuuta opened his window and he could hear Coach Ohmura asking her all sorts of questions.
"Coach, I think you're just scaring the newcomer." Itohata said.
"Tch! I just wanted to know why he's replacing Patokichi! I was looking forward to seeing him but now instead I see someone completely different who's not answering a question I say!" Coach Ohmura said, planting the palm of his hand to his nose.
"But it's nice to know there's a new BP unit on the team." Kashiwazaki said. "The head of the Brave Police could have not too long ago decided to add in a new member or two."
"Oh but one thing comes into mind." Mudra spoke next. "Look at the crest on his helmet, it looks like Deckerd's but he does not have the Asahikage like the rest of the police do."
"Yes, instead we're seeing the flag of Germany in it's place." Replied Kashiwazaki.
"Tch! I knew that before I even saw the missing Asahikage!" Coach Ohmura said irritably.
The others began to laugh all while Radiant Prism stared at the four conversing humans with uneasiness. They didn't seem like they were going to hurt her, but she was still very wary of humans altogether.
"Hey everyone, you guys are scaring Radiant Prism!" Yuuta said, having come out of the house after getting dressed. "Radiant Prism's not comfortable around people yet, she... Um..."
"Sh-She!?" Everyone exclaimed in surprise, then looked to Radiant Prism, who simply gave a wary nod, but not saying anything.
"Yeah, everyone else was surprised too. But she's still-" There was a sudden earthquake, right away Yuuta moved away from the house and with the others, while Radiant Prism instinctively put her servos over the others in a protective manner, in case something might fall, but fortunately nothing occurred once the earthquake was over, moving her servos away.
"That was the second time since last night." Mudra said.
"Oh... Yuu-chan, I thought you said Radiant Prism wasn't comfortable around people...?" Itohata asked, clearly confused.
"She is... But despite that, she's still Brave Police like Deckerd and the others, she still wants to protect others even if she's scared of people. I think it's also the same with criminals-"
"Yuuta!" Kurumi called, having opened the door. "What are you doing still here!? You'll be late for school!" She then noticed Radiant Prism, wondering who she was but right now school was school. "Hey you, help Yuuta get to his school, he's going to be late!"
"Uh..." Radiant Prism looked at Yuuta, it was clear she didn't know where it was.
"Jeez Kurumi, I'm going..." The young boy said, getting annoyed. He then turned to Radiant Prism, holding his arms up towards her. "I'll show you where my school is."
"Understood, Sir." Upon Radiant Prism lowering her servo, Yuuta was confused for a moment, but then remembered that she was a jet, not a car. Carefully, he climbed up and seated himself comfortably in her servo. "I'll be flying if you're alright with that. I won't go my normal speed, as I do not wish for you to get hurt." She said, which Yuuta nodded as he then waved the others goodbye.
Now that he thought about it, maybe when he has a day off from school, he could ask Radiant Prism if he could have a bit of a ride once she's more comfortable with people. The thought of riding in a real plane, a jet more or less sounded a lot more fun than playing with his favourite RC planes.
A little while later, Radiant Prism had just returned to the station, ready to start the next set of lessons. When she came upstairs to the office, she saw that McCrane remained. Was he next to teaching her?
'That's right, just about everyone is looking for Deckerd...' She thought.
"Ah, Radiant Prism, good morning." McCrane greeted upon hearing her enter.
"Good morning." She replied. Right away she could see a glimpse of some stacked paperwork next to McCrane.
"Radiant Prism, McCrane will be teaching you today." Duke said, keeping his focus on something on his desk. Radiant Prism was quick to spot Duke who was now in a smaller body, and when she approached out of curiosity, she noticed one blank paper, and another more smaller and rectangle shaped gave her the answer she needed.
"You're writing a letter?" She focused her vision on the paper, or at least what she could see. Duke was writing in another language instead of Japanese. "Is this a letter to someone out of the country?"
"Yes." Normally Duke would've covered what was written but because nobody aside from Gunmax knew how to understand and speak English, he didn't find it worth to do so. "I'm writing a letter to send to Lady."
"...Lady?" She repeated, her attempt at saying the English word made Duke cringe just faintly.
"He means Argine Regina." McCrane told her. "She's Duke's creator from England."
Radiant Prism was surprised, perhaps maybe not completely but somewhat. She had been curious about Duke's accent and his mannerisms varying differently than the rest of the Brave Police. In truth she thought that Germany was the only other country to also have the Brave Police project instilled into the police force... But did recorrect herself, recalling the mentioning of the Scotland Yard, perhaps those Braves are Regina's personal team over in England? She wouldn't know, but McCrane called her over so that they could begin work, to which she agreed and borrowed one of the available chairs as the two began work.