"Sir," the man at the terminal analyzing Getter Ultimate got up and looked at the man at the helm of the room, "the Getter engine's efficiency shot up to 87%!"
In the sea of noise in the command room, the young man with blonde hair looked at the screen. The data was overwhelming: many exclamation marks at different spots of the mecha and bars filling quickly in the corners of the screen.
Engineers and technicians scrambled to understand what was happening. They kept blabbering about their models being overruled, as if the laws of physics themselves bended to the will of the getter reactor. One even gulped down an entire bottle of vodka.
The young blonde man stared at the info in the screen. A grin slowly formed in his face. From his smile, a glint flashed from a gold tooth.
Beliobod fired its beam.
It surely would incinerate the enemy. It charged long enough to nearly overload its magma core, to the point of creating heat closer to a small solar flare. Not even that incomprehensibly absurdly resistant getter armor could resist.
PAFT!
Lumi widened her eyes. The hand of the getter-based mecha had just…slapped Beliobod's magma beam away. It even made a dull, quiet sound, followed by a massive, but harmless explosion in the middle of the sky.
Something changed in the Getter-based mech. A massive wind whipped up and a bubble of warm getter energy enveloped it. Its silhouette remained visible from inside, along with its star-shaped pupils. It clenched both fists.
Lumi blinked.
She found herself in the outer space, staring at a massive shaped in the center of a black hole. She could only see a green-tinted darkness with a humanoid silhouette. Its eyes overflew with green energy.
Stars, galaxies, nothing escaped from its power. It greedily consumed all light in the universe, while the mecha's green-tinted darkness grew larger and larger. It already cast its shadow over Lumi.
Its metallic fists clenched. It lifted them and emitted a soul-curling roar that quaked the entire universe, down to its atoms.
A shiver climbed through Lumi's back. She blinked again.
She was back at the destroyed streets of that human city. She could feel a massive wave of getter energy passing through her.
Is the task force wearing armor? Lumi thought, placing a hand on her head. Then, she immediately remembered they were. They followed all safety protocols.
She could walk into a sea of getter rays, but the same couldn't be said about the others.
PoOr, PooR prIeSteSS, cAn't YoU sEe HOw iT eNdS?
She heard a childish cacophony of weird voices, followed by giggling.
Looking around, she saw nothing.
Were they mocking her?
The universe wouldn't say such mean things to her, right? It had to be them, the getter rays!
Or was it just her imagination?
Snapping out of her trance, she slammed her fist in the panel and said, "The mission stays the same, take it down! We have no choice but to tolerate more collateral damage!" She moved one of her tentacles and contacted the mothership: "This is Priestess, send reinforcements! Whoever you can send, send it!... What do you mean they aren't ready?... Please, I am begging! Send everything we got! We need that getter reactor down!... No, not all, the team is still on the ground."
She twisted her tentacles in their pods. Repair robots were activated, along with sentinel robots to dissuade any human from approaching it. She opened the hatch, detaching her tentacles.
Life is sacred…
The holy words echoed in her mind as she went to the building the twins went. It contrasted with the fate imposed on her by the Red Emperor. Maybe there was time to stop that chain of events.
She closed her fists and narrowed her gaze. Her jellyfish cap expanded and she flew to the building the twins went.
She had to end that now.
Inside the sea of surging getter radiation, something changed. Screens lit up all around Ai, lines of code beginning to scroll past, faster and faster as programs within the machine began to awaken. For the first time, she felt something more than steel and circuits stirring around her, a feeling as though some indescribable presence was waking up, stretching after a long slumber.
[BGM: Bloodlines]
There, in the center of the screen, the radioactive emblem of the Getter began to pulse, glowing brighter and brighter, Ai becoming aware of a dull, rumbling roar on the edges of her perception.
Higher and higher the numbers soared, a getter ray coefficient beyond anything she'd seen yet, and still climbing. The engine efficiency hit the maximum for a moment.
To a normal person, this would have been terrifying, but for Ai...it felt like coming home. She could feel the dreams and hopes entrusted by the Ai of that world to her. Some building pressure within her chest seemed to click home, a missing connection finally locking into place as the screen lit up, demanding authorization in the form of large red button in the LCD screen.
For what? It didn't say, but it didn't need to, the words coming to her unbidden, with an unbridled glee and almost indescribable sense of rightness.
"Getter…"
No, a single mutter wouldn't be enough. Her blood boiled, her lungs were ready to burst, to shout to the highest volume she could.
"CHAAAAAAAANGE-!"
She slammed the panel with her fist. The button dissipated into something like confetti in the screen.
The world seemed to shake apart around her, as if the planet itself recognized what was coming.
"PERFECT-!"
A high, keening wail came from the remaining enemy machines, instinctively realizing too late that the scales of battle were changing, all of them massing into a single charge, intent on burying the nascent evolution.
"ULTIMATE GETTER!"
But Ai had no time for trivialities like that, as the power finally erupted in rapturous, burning glory all around her, a tide of almost solid green energy exploding outwards and swatting her foes aside like insects.
Stretching out her arms, she saw and felt the Getter respond, its limbs an extension of her own. Mighty fingers flexed, green light surging through the gaps as they clenched into fists with a thunderous clang, the bulky forearms stretching, flexing and rippling, before six lethal, bladed spines punched up and out of the tearing steel skin. The sundered metal surfaces stitching themselves closed around the spines, as if they had simply grown there.
Her legs too, rippled with newfound strength, the Getter slamming booted heels down with a crash, shattering the asphalt as new armor plating emerged, doubling, even tripling it in places as she took up her stance.
Dust and debris, already sent flying from her landing, whipped into a frenzy, as massive, draconic wings burst from the Getter-3's wings, casting a towering shadow over the city streets as they shook the air.
And above it all, two burning eyes glowed with the light of six pointed stars, under a crown of four horned head fins, the sound that shook the world was of a woman's laughter ringing out, joyous with a sense of freedom both borrowed and true.
Where once stood a machine that felt incomplete and cobbled together, now stood something else entirely. Not just physically, as every part of it seemed to streamline and fit together now, all natural parts of a true, composite whole...but something even deeper than that, a surging, roaring animus it had previously lacked.
Life.
As the neon bright specter lit up the city, rearing up in a triumph of iron and starlight, blood and thunder, the apex of Professor Saotome's research, released at last in a form beyond his wildest predictions, the enemies of humanity trembled with instincts that ran deeper and older and more universal than any other.
Prey, facing down its natural predator.
Her name was-
Its name was-
Hoshino Ai.
Perfect Ultimate Getter.
"Mashallah, Sapphire!" The woman in the comms channel said. Before, her voice sounded so dull and judgmental, but now it changed to a level of excitement she had seen only in her best performances in her previous life. "Everyone here is losing their minds! The engineering team has no idea how you managed to activate its Perfect Form alone!"
"Weren't you, guys, cursing and moping just moments ago?"
She felt liberated from her dull, perfect soldier lie. As much as she could adapt to whatever her audience wanted, she didn't want to be condemned to a dull and lifeless role.
Now, it was time to give her audience a performance they would never forget.
"…Well…"
"Relax, leave it to me!" Ai said, while moving the controls forwards, "I'll show these aliens the miracle of mankind!"
Getter created an earthquake with each step it took, leaving green sparks in its wake. Its eyes glared at the enemies. Inside the cabin, Ai could feel the getter rays whirling around her. The stars in her eyes shone green. Efficiency was at 68%.
She finally found a reason to fight, in name of this love she understood so little, but that every human being had a right to. For the first time in that new world, she was enjoying herself.
Recovering from their upset, the enemies started their counterattack. The Beetle went first, lowering its head to tackle the Getter, slamming its carapace at it. Ultimate Getter slammed its elbow, making it sink into the ground. Coating its right hand in getter rays, it chopped the Beetle's carapace, puncturing it in one of its joints. It continued digging down, until it removed one of its plates, and tossed it against the Centaur. It moved so fast it sliced one of its legs.
Dragon fired its shoulder cannons at the Getter, allowing the Beetle to go back. While, Getter's armor absorbed the Dragon's suppressive fire, Centaur discarded its sliced leg and reorganized its remaining legs into a tripod. It pointed its gun at Getter, the side frills glowing hot pink.
The gun fired, released a beam of pink energy. Getter blocked it with its left palm.
Ai saw the temperature at Getter's left hand skyrocketing. But her military eye picked up something. Just like before, Centaur let its guard open. She pushed both controls forward. The Getter lunged at the Centaur, and jumped high holding its ax down. The Dragon stepped in front of the strike, protecting the Centaur by closing its wings. The shield absorbed the might strike, but its wings shattered with the impact.
"Not bad." Ai said. She could feel her heart pumping blood through her entire body. The adrenaline pumping in her veins was just the same as singing to a large live audience. She had an obligation of doing her best to protect this world and all the beautiful life in it. She felt herself becoming one with the machine.
"Watch this! The power of Getter searing through your soul!"
With another swing of Getter's ax, the Dragon's torso had a massive cut. That's when Ai realized the Dragon had been charging its firebreathe during all this time. It had placed itself in front of the Centaur to have a better angle to shoot at her.
"Heh, of course it's not going to be that easy." Dancing her fingers through the command panel, she directed the getter energy to create an invisible shield in front of the Getter. She dropped the ax for a moment.
The dragon shot the beam at point blank. The getter shield absorbed the strike, making the area around it glow like the sun. Ai could feel the cabin getting warmer and the engine efficiency falling down: 56%, 51%, 43%, 37%. Coating again its hand in getter energy, she commanded Getter to punch through the beam. As the beam overflew in all directions, Getter grabbed something inside the Dragon's mouth.
Ai had no idea what Getter caught. Nevertheless, she crushed it.
A loud explosion happened, creating a massive cloud of dust. When it dissipated, Ai could see that Getter's left hand was badly damaged, with bent fingers and sparks flying around.
"Sapphire, medium structural damage done to your left hand. Self-repairing mechanism activated; drones with spare parts will be on stand-by until you get an opening, but try to not use it for a while."
"I'll be more careful."
She had to admit that maybe she was getting a bit too excited. She remembered that getting a bit too excited made her a bit more prone to errors, especially when synchronizing with her bandmates. She reminded herself that enthusiasm was the fuel, not the motor. She was the center of B-Komachi and she could use that fuel to shine bright in the stage. And, now, she could use it to fuel her will to fight.
She'd need that fuel, because the Dragon wasn't over yet.
From the spot where the metallic stump fell down, another head emerged. This time, it had a much smaller neck. It opened its mouth, revealing a repeating cannon. The cannon started firing a flurry of heavy bullets. Although Ai used Getter's arms to block them, they still made dents in Getter's armor and small explosions.
"Sapphire, behind you!" The voice from the woman from the comms channel
Hearing the comms woman's voice, the Getter stepped aside and grabbed a spear, locking it with Getter's arm. It was Beetle, attempting a sneak attack. Getter swung the spear, dragging Beetle in the air, slamming it into Dragon. It helped to make it stop its attack, with the Beetle laying down on Dragon's top. The lights throughout their bodies blinked almost as if turning down; smoke came out from some openings.
From the corner of her view, she saw the Centaur acting. It discarded its gun and opened a port in its chassis. It picked an electrified sword and charged at the Getter.
Ai's grin became sharper.
As the Centaur got closer, the Getter span on itself and jumped to the left, spiraling in zigzag to where it left its ax. Just like in the choreography of "Sunset B*L*E*S*Sing", a song that took days to master; she had learned one day before the presentation that the man who made the choreography was upset at her manager for some reason, so he made a very difficult sequence as petty revenge. She took the challenge, nonetheless, and she would never forget how delighted her fans at Fukuoka were at the end of the presentation. The man even gifted her and her bandmates with a dinner at a high-end restaurant in the end, as an apology.
Picking the ax with the right hand, Getter sliced horizontally, cutting the Centaur's remaining legs, and struck it down, coated in getter energy, cutting the enemy in half. Seeing a glowing core in the opposite half, Ai fired a barrage of missiles.
They all hit the target, making a loud explosion.
After the dust settled, Getter stood still, with its ax slung over its shoulder, while a pile of rubble was the only memory that the Centaur was once whole.
Seeing its fallen comrade, the Beetle and the Dragon got up. Their mechs' faces didn't show emotion, but it was clear from their instances that they would fight until the bitter end. The Beetle pointed its spear to the Getter, as well as the Dragon its main and auxiliary cannons.
Looking at the corner of the panel, Ai saw the engine at 15%. The strain of using only one pilot was catching up. She could feel herself a bit tired as well, sweat dripping in her forehead. But that was nothing new for her. Those guys wouldn't last half a day at JIF.
She could feel both in her body and in heart she didn't even start to fight yet.
"Let's dance!"
A.N.: I thank again the Darkbreaker for helping me with the Getter description scenes. About the change in Ai's character, one of her abilities is to adapt to an audience, so I can imagine that the moment she perceives the "genre" she is, she also can adapt to it, that's how she became a hot-blooded pilot and tune in with the getter energy, just like the other getter pilots.