World Savers...
Jin: " how do you know my mother?"
Seredy: " 14 years ago, I was hospitalized. My body was failing me as I grew older."
His eyes were glued to the ceiling as he spoke.
Seredy: " back at that time, Yara was the one taking care of me."
For an instance, his sharp and hard gaze softened.
Seredy: " that woman, if kindness can be someone then it will be her."...
" Sorry Jin, Mama has to come home late today, she has a lot of work. Be a good kid and listen to what papa tells you."
She ended the call and the old man on the bed whom she was tending to rose his eyes at her.
" Talking to your son."
She snapped. It was the first time she heard his voice since she took care of him. No matter how many times she tried to start a conversation with him, he never spoke back.
" Yeah."
She answered, a soft smile appeared on her face as she pushed her white wavy hair back.
" I too has a daughter."
The woman looked back at him.
" But I don't think she even remembers me."
" What do you mean?"
" I was from a family o generals. And I had to go through long wars. When I first left, my child was still a baby wrapped in bundles and resting in her mother's hands. When I came back, I found she was a teenager living with her grandparents when her mother died. The first thing she had ever said to me was ' who are you?'. It really struck me back then."
" I'm sorry for that."
Her eyes went down as she heard his story.
" Isn't it horrible, this thing we call war..."
The woman looked up at him.
" Before I knew, 18 years had passed while I was on the battlefield. I never got to see my beloved daughter grow up. I never got to be there for her when she made her first steps, when she voiced her first words, when she first went to school. And I wasn't there for her when she lost her mother. The war robbed me of that precious time with my daughter, with my wife... My daughter never got to know who her father was."
He posed and looked out the window.
" In the end, I decided to keep quiet and not tell her that I was her father."
The woman had a surprised look at him.
" She better thinks her dad is gone. It's better than having to force herself to call a stranger ' father '. A stranger who won't be able to do much for her after all. He doesn't really deserve to be called a dad."
" I don't agree."
He looked back at the woman who had a small smile.
" I may have not been though the same as you. I know this world is not perfect, and there is actually no safe place from war. If anything, I want my son to grow up in a peaceful world where he doesn't need to worry about those things. If I can do anything to protect my son's future, then I will. I'm sure that you as well. You wanted to protect her future. You wanted to protect your family, right? So don't say you didn't do anything for her. I'm sure that even her, she longed to know her father. Even if she didn't recognize him."
The man looked away.
" Even though, it's too late. She won't be able to meet her father ever again."
" It's too early to say that."
Her smile softened.
" I will make sure to take good care of you, so when you are discharged of this hospital, you should go pay her a visit. Promise?"
The man seemed taken by how confident she was as she made her claim
" I can't guarantee that. But I will try."...
Seredy: " she kept reminding me of that promise everyday she came to tend to me. Until one day, she didn't show up ever again."
Yagami looked down as he spotted Jin's fists clenching, nevertheless, the young man kept a cold face.
Jin: " did you bring me here to tell me this?"
Seredy: " Optima..."
Jin: " eh?"
Seredy: " I'm the first one on the earth to use the completed Optima, do you know why?"
Jin narrowed his eyes. He wouldn't like what was coming, he knew for sure.
Yagami: " now hold on, Evangeline Mech was the first ever to use the Optima."
Seredy: " true, the first prototype was used on her. And from what I heard it almost failed. But that experiment allowed them to complete it. Yet that's not what I need to tell you."
His eyes flicked back to the man by his side and Jin felt uncomfortable at that.
Seredy: " a month after Yara passed away, someone visited me..."
It didn't take a genius to know who.
Yagami: " ... Kaidou Yoshimitsu."
Seredy: " he said he won't let me go easily, he said he needed me, and that he had something that could save my life."
Jin: " Wich was Kamiya Craft's completed Optima..."
Seredy: " wrong..."
Yagami and Jin blinked in mild surprise at that.
Seredy: " Optima isn't Kamiya Craft's. That's true that Kamiya Craft were the ones who first developed artificial organs, but they didn't develop them with medical usage in mind. Human's body can't be combined with those metallic organs they created for their androids. Someone else made some researches to make that combination possible and to develop those organs so they can replace real human's. Kamiya Craft merely used the data and ran the needed tests."
Yagami: " someone else..."
Seredy: " the Optima was actually Yara's project."
Yagami: " what!"
Jin somehow managed to hide his shock.
Jin: " it was mother's... Then, how did it end with Kamiya?"
Seredy: " my guess is since he adopted you, your grandfather got access to all your parents belongings, along with Yara's studies and researches."
Yagami: " it can't be..."
Seredy: " I don't know if he already knew about that before he adopted you or that he was just lucky. But either way, I should be thankful for you, because of you my life was saved back then."
Yagami casted one glance at the man who kept silence and decided to ask next.
Yagami: " I didn't know that Kaidou used the Optima on someone other than Evangeline. Even when they raided the place..."
Seredy: " he kept me a secret and locked me away in one of his Labs. Back at that time, I believed Kaidou and his ideals, I believed him when he said he is going to end the world's problems. And so I helped him willingly. It was until later that I figured out his true motives and that he was manipulated by someone else. Someone more powerful, and more greedier than him."
Yagami narrowed his eyes at that.
Seredy: " along the time Kaidou was killed and Saturn was getting ready to be launched. I managed to escape. Using some of Innovators' data, I started building my own army to fight for the world's peace."
Yagami: " thus assembling the World Savers..."
Seredy: " I have to thank Seekers and NICS again. I couldn't have finished off my own army if you didn't get rid of Gardyne for me."
Jin: " what!"
Seredy: " he took notice of the factor that was building its forces in the shadow. If you didn't stop him around that time, the World Savers could have been finished off before it even started. But thanks to you getting his attention, we were able to steadily build our own army."
Yagami: " and that's when you started your awful deeds as terrorists."
The auburn man gritted his teeth at Seredy's words.
Yagami " that makes you the leader of the World Savers after all."
Seredy: " the world Savers has no official leader. Even if I go, someone else will take my place and will finish off what we started. Until those people fall down and as long as there are people who don't acknowledge their ways, the World Savers will continue rebelling, they will always stand up and fight."
Yagami: " you..."
Seredy: " your ways will never work. The enemy we're both fighting is cold hearted, who never cares for the people they sacrifices. To defeat them you need to be like them. You kind people shouldn't step in this fight."
His eyes narrowed.
Seredy: " it's just like the battlefield. If you don't pull your trigger first because you think of the person in front of you, he will pull his trigger and kill you. You have to be cold hearted down there, just like your enemy. You kids are not able to do so. So leave this battlefield while you can."
Zenon reached his limit at that and jumped out of Jin's pocket.
Zenon: " beautiful words coming from the mouth of the one who tried to kill thousands of Kids in Kamui Daimon!"
Seredy: " as I told you... We have to be like them to fight them. That was needed to make the people turn on them."
Zenon: " why yo-"
Jin held his hand in front of his LBX to stop him.
Zenon: " but..."
Jin: " I've heard enough. Yagami-san, let's head back."
Yagami nodded slowly as he watched the young man walking past him.
Seredy: " I warned you."
There was no reply. Jin and Yagami merely closed the door behind them and left...
Tokio City...
Hospital...
Ken stood up after he checked on his CCM.
Ken: " we have to go now, it's almost time."
Ruri looked up at her brother and then down at the face of the sleeping man.
Ruri: " it has been four years, right, since Mizel's incident..."
Ken narrowed his eyes.
Ken: " almost five."
The purple head shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she recalled what she had been told about that day.
Ruri: " our parents' car fell of the highway and exploded. Only Dad managed to get out alive because mom shoved him out the car before it was blown. Still..."
Ken looked down at the man.
Ken: " he has been out since then."
Ruri: " will he ever wake up?"
Ken placed down a hand on her shaking shoulder.
Ken: " we should have faith."
She looked up at her brother and her head bobbed slowly.
Ken: " now let's go. We promised Ran-san to not be late."
She nodded again as she stood up and followed him...
Tiny Orbit...
Ami: " now that just leaves Jin."
She announced once Ruri and Ken arrived.
Kazu: " that Jin, he is taking too long!"
Kazuya groaned before Takuya stepped into Seeker's base with a serious look.
Takuya: " he called this morning and said he won't be able to join us today. It seems he has something to do."
Everyone then directed their attention to Tiny Orbit's director.
Takuya: " we will start without him."
He pulled a direct video call with a certain blond.
Hiro: " Secretary Kaios!"
A mixture of relief and surprise could be seen on their faces.
Ami: " you managed to call NICS?!"
Kaios: " it was lately that president Claudia managed to get our communication back."
His face was pale and his eyes half closed. If anything, they could tell he had a rough month himself.
Ran: " does that mean you managed to get rid of your infected LBXs as well?"
Kaios shook his head with a dejected face.
Kaios: " we're still struggling. And that's why I've called Seekers. We need help. Ban and the others hardly can contain the situation on their own."
Kazu: " wait! Does that mean Ban..."
Mirai: " why are you surprised? It's Yamano Ban we are talking about. He surely would have a talking LBX."
Evangeline : " but at least, we know they're all alright."
She breathed out in relief.
Rina: " the situation there?"
Kaios: " pretty bad."
He said pulling out some footages from around country A. It all showed destroyed buildings, flipped cars, broken light poles and a lot more.
Touko: " that's horrible..."
Takuya: " now you know of the situation."
He looked at everyone there.
Takuya: " you all have to head to Country A. All of you will be going. Stopping the rampaging is our priority."
" Roger that."
Kaios: " we're depending on you."
He said before ending the call.
Yuuta: " how to go there, though?"
Rina: " Yagami and the others will be needed here while you're gone, so you can't go with Eclipse."
Ran: " Takuya-san, can't we use your private jet like the last time?"
Upon her suggestion, Takuya tapped his chin in thoughts.
Takuya: " to be able to do so, we need permission to send it. Though it will be hard seeing the current situation in the whole world."
Queen: " Touko."
Touko: " right. I can ask papa to get us a permission."
Everyone looked back at her with quizzical expressions as she fished out her CCM offhandedly.
Kazu: " how is your father going to help us?"
Touko: " wait. Didn't I tell you guys. I'm prime minister Zaizen's daughter."
" Eh!"
Their eyes widened at that revaluation.
Evangeline: " you didn't say anything about that."
Touko: " sorry."
She said sticking her tongue out and slightly hitting her head.
Takuya: " anyway, it will be helpful for us. Please do."
Takuya quickly caught their attention back to the main topic.
Touko: " alright."
She walked out the base as she called her father.
Rina: " Takuya, there is one more member that will be joining you."
The blunette suddenly spoke up. Everyone swapped curious looks, even Takuya seemed slightly taken by the news.
Ami: " another member..."
The other door at the end of the room opened as a young woman entered. Everyone looked at her. Her blue hair tied back into a low ponytail, her brown eyes glimmering in the light.
Takuya: " Rina... This is..."
Rina: " everyone, let me introduce her. My younger sister, Runa."
Kazu: " Rina-san's sister!"
Everyone stared back at her in mild surprise. It was their first time meeting her face to face. The blunette bowed politely.
Runa: " nice to meet you everyone. I'm Ishimuri Runa."
From behind her jumped a familiar Strider frame black and white LBX with light blue lines and a scythe across the back.
Runa: " and this is my partner, Joker."
She pointed at him.
Sendou: " ho, you're using Joker. If so I can tell you're pretty strong to master that unit."
Joker: " seems you've used a Joker yourself as well."
Sendou: " ma, it was my first ever unit."
Sendou shrugged with a smirk.
Rina: " Runa has been under special treatment since she received the Optima. It's only recently that she was allowed to experience the outside world."
Evangeline: " almost five years of treatment..."
Runa: " I couldn't help it."
Rina walked off to her, placing both hands on her shoulders and giving her a gentle smile.
Rina: " although she is still weak, but she really wanted to join you in this battle."
Takuya: " are you sure of this?"
He asked Rina who simply nodded.
Rina: " I can't say I'm not worried. But if she wants to go, I have to support her. She had spent most of her life in a hospital, so if she wants to see the world with her own eyes I can't stop her."
Kirito rubbed his head nonchalantly.
Kirito: " anyway, the more the merrier as they say. It's better to have more battlers."
He didn't seem any happier to have an extra battler though.
Runa: " I hope I will be up to your expectations."
Ami: " here also. Glad to have you with us, Runa."
Touko came in at that moment.
Touko: " everyone. Papa arranged a flight to country A this evening. You should all get ready."
Mirai: " this evening?"
Freedom: " well, the sooner the better, isn't it."
Takuya: " alright. Once again, the world's fate is confided into your hands. We're counting on you."
"Hai!"...
Jin shot his eyebrow at the blonde.
Jin: " this evening?"
Evangeline bobbed her head. Seeing how he was the only one who didn't attend the meeting. She delivered the news to him as soon as she reached the house.
Evangeline: " also, Secretary Kaios said that Ban and another group out there was given the same special program as us."
She said slumping down on the sofa by his side.
Zenon: " no doubt Yuuya, Jessica and Elie are among them."
Twilight flew by her player's side.
Twilight : " but it's really relieving to know they're alright."
Evangeline agreed.
Evangeline : " I was getting really worried about them. What's with Elie's operation being soon too."
Jin narrowed his eyes at the mention of that topic.
Jin: " seeing the situation, I hardly doubt she can go through with it."
Evangeline couldn't resist a sigh at that.
Jin: " anyway, are you going?"
Eva shot him a questioning look.
Evangeline : " I don't understand the meaning behind that question. Of course I'll go."
Jiiya came in the living room with a tray of tea, reverting their attention.
Jiiya: " this house will feel empty with both of you gone this time."
Eva quickly beat Jin to grabbing the tray from the butler's hands and started serving the tea.
Jin: " sorry about that, Jiiya."
Though it can't be visible through his thick glasses, but the old man narrowed his eyes at the cold expression the white and black haired boy was putting.
Jiiya: " Young master, you don't seem well since you came with Yagami-san."
Zenon looked up at him. It wasn't like he didn't realize that. He was the one who knew Jin the most, and he knew his silence was different this time.
Jin: " I'm just a little bit tired. That's all."
Of course, he knew that won't convince both Jiiya and Zenon. Even Eva frowned at how obvious it was. But he hopped that by saying that they would at least leave him to his own thoughts.
Zenon: " anyway..."
He knew better to change the subject.
Zenon: " since they managed to communicate NICS, doesn't this mean we can contact Ban and the others?"
Jin: " not actually..."
He said as he took his cup of tea from Eva.
Evangeline : " they said NICS managed to contact us because they used an extra Communication Satellite that has been reserved for urgent matters. Not that everyone can use it. And even Seekers couldn't get to NICS again after their call."
Zenon: " I see."
Jiiya: " hopefully Yuuya and the others there are alright."
Zenon: " if they have the same power we have, they should be."
Jin: " but still they couldn't do anything about the infected LBXs. We have to move to help them."
Jiiya: " then..."
Jin and Eva looked up at the older man.
Jiiya: " may you have a safe journey, Young Master, Lady Evangeline. Please take care out there."
They both exchanged a soft smile before nodding at him.
Jin& Evangeline: " thanks, Jiiya."...
At the airport...
Ami: " thanks for seeing us off, aunt Marie."
Marie: " it's my duty. Make sure to tell Ban, Elie and their father to work hard out there."
Kazu: " of course. You should as well take care of yourself. Ban and the others will want to see you welcoming them when they get back here."
Marie nodded with a gentle smile.
Marie: " everyone, be careful."
Ran: " we will. Don't worry."
Hiro: " mom, your coming with us?"
Haruka: " I'm sure they could use one extra mind there."
Mirai: " and who are those guys there?"
She pointed at a family not far away from them. All of them were either wearing hats or hoodies as well as glasses.
Arata: " the Reizetsu."
Muraku: " I can see how hard it's for them..."
Yuuna: " be careful out there."
Hayato: " you both have your parents spirits. I can see you going down their path."
Ruri: " uncle."
Fumie: " do your best there. We will be getting stronger as well here."
Akio: " when you will come back, we will surely defeat you."
Ken smiled at their excitement.
Ken: " alright, I'm looking forward to that battle."
Yuuta: " don't worry mom, I won't be away for so long."
He said to the woman hugging him tightly, almost crushing his rib cage.
Yuuko: " Let's just stay like this for a while. I will miss you."
His father was having a large small at them before directing his attention to his kid.
Kenta: " Yuuta, you said you were given the power to help everyone. You have to be responsible."
His mother pulled back.
Yuuko: " I really don't want to let you go. But if you insisted like that. Then I can't help. Be careful. We only have one Yuuta."
Yuuta: " I will."
Sendou smiled as he read his sister's message. Although Evangeline and Nightmare tried to peek at it, he didn't allow them. Ignoring the blonde's annoyed stare, he turned to Kirito, standing there with a cold air and as usual, a bottle of coke .
Sendou: " where is that Kousuke? Is he running away?"
Kirito: " not at all, but he said he is still needed at Kamiya Craft for the time being.
Evangeline : " he is the CEO he can't just leave."
Sendou: " sounds right. On the other hand, we have the hire to Prometheus running away from work."
He gestured towards Gouda who had a tick forming on his brow.
Gouda: " hey!"
Riko: " quite pissing off the leader!"
She jumped at his defense.
Touko: " I see everyone is here."
They all looked back at the woman who was pulling a large pink suitcase behind her.
Evangeline: " Touko... What's in there?"
Touko winked at her.
Touko: " just a few things I figured I may need in country A."
Kazu: " that's... Few..."
Touko: " quite losing time! Let's head out!"
It wasn't long until they boarded the privet jet and took off while everyone were waving goodbye at them from the airport...
