Inside the Blue Earth, Noal and Aki watched in awe as Varis and Blade were enveloped within bright, glowing fields of energy. The energy fields spread out and took a shape that vaguely resembled a pair of birds. When they started attacking, causing the Radam's monsters to explode messily in their wake, Noal and Aki watched with distinctly different attitudes.
"Jeez, look at them," Noal groused, watching in dumbfounded shock as those two boys ripped into the Radam's monsters with frankly reckless abandon. "They're not Dangerous Boys, they're Destructive Boys!" Shuddering briefly, Noal turned his attention back to piloting; it wouldn't be good for anyone if he let them get killed out here.
"I'll contact Headquarters so we can let Chief Freeman know about this," Aki said. Turning to the radio located in the part of the console that controlled communications, Aki contacted the Outer Space Development Group's base. "D-Boy, D-Two; just who are you two, anyway?" she muttered, only half aware that she had started speaking again.
"OSDG Headquarters, Milly here. Is something happening, Aki?"
"Milly, is the Chief there?"
Aki got her answer a few seconds later, when Chief Freeman's calm visage appeared on her screen.
"What is it, Aki?" he asked, calm as always.
"Sir, do you remember those two boys that Noal and I picked up when we were on that mission this morning?"
"I remember them," Chief Freeman said. "The two of them made quite the mess of our headquarters."
"Noal and I boarded the Blue Earth before they could manage to take off," Aki said. "And what we're seeing up here, well... It's amazing."
"Yes, I agree," the Chief said calmly. "It's a rather surprising development."
"Chief, did you see the way they fought?" Noal asked warily, his mind still reeling a bit from what he had just seen.
"Yes, they have incredible power," Chief Freeman said, though he didn't sound entirely enthusiastic about it; Chief Freeman had always preferred to err on the side of caution, and anyone with eyes could see that these boys were indeed Dangerous.
"The footage you're filming up there is all over the monitors down here!" Milly said, clasping her hands together over her heart and grinning. "It's so amazing! I've never seen anyone beating those aliens before, and now we've got two people who can do it!"
"Well, Chief, what do you think of those boys: D-Boy and D-Two?"
"At this point, I can't even tell if they're enemies of ours, or if they might be on our side," Chief Freeman said. "D-Boy said that they were both humans, but I don't know if even that is true. D-Two certainly didn't back him up." The Chief paused for a moment, clearly trying to decide what he should do next. "Noal, Aki, I'm going to give you some orders that will likely prove crucial to the survival of Earth and the human race: no matter what happens, I want you to bring D-Boy and his brother D-Two back with you when you return to Earth."
"What? You want us to bring them?" Noal demanded, shocked.
"Roger," Aki said, cutting Noal off as she ended the transmission.
I
Out in space, Varis and Blade were still carving their way through the hordes of Radam creatures that were trying to hold them back. It was beginning to seem a little boring, to Varis at least. Blade didn't seem to mind though. When they managed to land on the Orbital Ring, Varis looked out at all the fresh Radam creatures that had come out to fight them and sighed. More and more and more; this is annoying.
Squeezing Blade's hand, the both of them still a bit out of breath from what they had just been through, Varis released his grip as Blade nudged him slightly.
Diving forward, both twins started blasting through the Radam creatures that were now trying to surround them. Blade, seeing that the odds were not on their side, drew the separated halves of his tekkalance and joined them together. Hurling his weapon like an oversized boomerang, Blade ran forward and caught it as it came down. There were now five less of Radam's creatures there to attack them.
Varis pulled his hands apart, and a shaft of bright bluish-white light appeared between them as he recalled his own tekkalance. Jumping off the Orbital Ring and igniting his rockets, Varis flew into the midst of a group of Radam creatures. The slashes he was making with his tekkalance and the way he was keeping himself out of the way of the Radam creatures that were trying to attack him in return seemed almost instinctive to Varis.
It was strange, but Varis was glad that he wouldn't be having to learn about his abilities while he was fighting. It was one more thing that the Radam had done to him. It was useful, but there was no way in hell that it went even one tenth of the way to making up for what they had stolen from him. It wasn't even a consolation. All Varis was to them was a living weapon, these instincts just made that fact more clear.
Back on the Orbital Ring, Blade was having the same kind of experience. It was as if he knew just where and when to strike to be able to bring down the maximum number of Radam creatures. As the twins slaughtered their way through the massed Radam creatures that were trying to bring them down, neither of them had any idea that their performance was about to attract the attention of a man that they would both come to hate almost as much as Omega himself.
II
Back on Earth, deep within the headquarters of the Allied Earth Military, the gathered soldiers were in a grim mood. None of the news that they had received from their surviving forces had been good, and not one of them was looking forward to receiving more of the same reports of losses to Radam creatures. That was what made the footage they were watching on the main monitor so interesting.
It actually looked like the Radam creatures were losing this time, and losing badly. There were a pair of human-sized figures of roughly the same configuration darting in and out of the formations of Radam creatures with a grace that almost defied description, and most certainly defied belief. They both had weapons, and the Radam creatures were being destroyed by the score in their wake.
"Look at that! Summon the staff officers right away!" ordered one of the higher-ranked officers who was watching the broadcast.
In another room, on a higher level of the base, the leaders of the Allied Earth Military were having a meeting. It was the sixth one they had had this week, since all of them knew that they had to look like they were doing all that they could do to help save the people of Earth, no matter how hopeless the situation appeared to be. Right now they were deep in a discussion of how to allocate their funding; opinions, as always, were divided.
"It's for this reason that I suggest that the Allied Earth Military focus on building space ships for the foreseeable future," one of the other soldiers stated, the main focus of his attention on General Howard Bradly, the chairman of the military council.
"And where in the hell are we going to get the money for that?" Bradly asked, a bit more than slightly annoyed. "Every space ship that we've ever built has been destroyed by those alien monsters. We don't have the resources to waste right now."
"The simple truth is that we cannot continue to rely solely on ground-based weaponry any longer," Lieutenant Patrick Robertson said. "We'll need to build at least a small number of spacecraft if we ever want to regain the initiative in this war."
"How can we budget for that, when everyone knows that any new ships that we build are just going to end up being destroyed by those creatures?" Brigadier General Frank Archer demanded. "Or even shot down by those lasers that the enemy has gained control of?"
At that moment, another person came striding into the room where the military leaders were having their meeting.
"Excuse me, sirs," he said. "But there's been something of a new development."
"What?" Bradly asked, surprised. "Get it up on the main screen at once!"
All of the Generals in the conference room found themselves turning toward the main screen as the video began to play.
"This footage was recorded by one of our few remaining surveillance satellites."
The footage would have come as a surprise to anyone who was used to dealing with Radam creatures and their attacks: the Radam creatures were actually losing for once. And losing pretty badly. All to a pair of humanoid beings that were barely half their size. All of the military personnel were shocked, but one in particular was already looking for a way to use this new development to his advantage.
His name was Xercese Colbert, and while he had been bored out of his mind during this meeting, he was always looking out for ways to build up his own power and increase his standing in the world. These two new creatures that were being shown on the monitor, tearing through the ranks of Radam's own creatures like they were nothing, held a great deal of promise as far as the General was concerned. Amazing; this is beyond anything I've ever seen before. How perfect. As soon as the video clip had ended, General Colbert stood up.
"I want to know everything you can find out about those two creatures," he ordered. I want them for my own.
"We'll get right on it, General," Lt. Robertson said, saluting him sharply.
III
[Shinya, the Blue Earth is in danger!]
[Huh?]
Turning to look back over his shoulder, Varis saw that the Blue Earth was indeed in a great deal of trouble: they had been knocked out of their original position by a group of Radam creatures, and were now falling down towards the Orbital Ring.
[Damnit.] Shaking his head, wondering just which cosmic deity he and Blade had pissed off, Varis turned back to the Radam creatures that were still coming their way. [I'll deal with them, you take care of the Blue Earth.]
[I will. Good luck, Shinya.]
[Thanks, Ta-kun.]
Battering the ranks of Radam creatures out of existence with his tekkalance, Varis shot a look back over his shoulder. Blade seemed to have the situation with the Blue Earth well in hand, and oddly enough the Radam creatures were all starting to pull back, so he broke off his attack and made for the safety of the Blue Earth. If he didn't get some food in him soon, he was going to de-transform and pass out, probably in that order.
And out here, doing that kind of thing would be almost instantly fatal; at least if he was lucky.
IV
When they had rejoined each other in the Blue Earth's airlock, Varis patted Blade's shoulder to let his brother know that he was still there. That they were still together. The doors opened once the pressure had been equalized, and Blade walked into the ship ahead of Varis, protecting his brother the way he had taken to doing.
He didn't really hear what Noal said, but he saw the way the other man stepped in front of Aki. It was as if he was trying to protect her, too.
His transformation couldn't hold with all of the energy he had used up, and he ended up standing in front of Noal and Aki completely nude. He felt Shinya falling against him, and knew from the feel of his brother's skin that Shinya was in the same condition as he was. As they struggled to stand, Takaya tried to keep his brother from hitting his head on the unyielding metal of the deck.
"D-Boy! Just what the hell are you, anyway? And your brother, if the two of you are even related at all; just who are you two?" Noal demanded. "Hey?! Are you even listening to me?"
Takaya ignored him, even as his knees buckled under him and he fell to the deck. Shinya would have probably made some kind of joke, or at least said something in response, but he could see that Shinya was barely conscious at the moment.
"D-Boy? Are you and D-Two going to be all right?" Aki asked; Takaya hoped so.
"What's wrong with you two, anyway?" Noal asked, crouching down in front of them.
"Give us some food to eat," he said, glancing briefly in their direction, then cradling Shinya's head and watching for any changes in his brother's condition.
"What? Are you serious?" Noal echoed, looking more disbelieving than anything. Then he shrugged, and he and Aki came over to help them up.
Aki was obviously still a little flustered by the fact that he and Shinya were both still naked, but since there was nothing he could really do about that he decided not to worry about it. Getting Shinya back to full health was the more important thing, anyway.
Once they were both back on their feet, Takaya felt someone else's arms around his waist, someone who he knew couldn't be Shinya.
"Noal?"
"I might not trust you, D-Boy, but you'd just be in the way if you and D-Two collapsed here. Besides, I don't think Aki's quite up to handling the two of you right now."
Turning to look back at the nicer or the two Space Knights he'd been dealing with, Takaya saw that she had turned to look at a spot on the wall, almost directly opposite where he and Shinya were standing. It seemed like she was more flustered than before, but maybe that was just because he was starting to realize just what kind of an acutely embarrassing situation he and his brother were in now.
"You're right," he conceded.
"Good, now let's get you two dressed before Aki blushes herself to death."
"Noal!" said female Space Knight admonished; without even turning around, Takaya noticed.
Takaya could feel the other man offering a one-shouldered shrug, but more importantly he could feel that Shinya was starting to revive. His brother was moving a bit more enthusiastically, which Takaya was grateful for.
[Shinya, do you think you'll be able to walk soon?]
[I don't really know, Ta-kun. I guess we'll find out soon, though. Is Noal actually helping us?]
[I think he just wants us out of the way in case we fall over again.]
[He's really being annoying, isn't he?]
[You were the one who said we didn't make the best impression on them,] Takaya reminded his brother.
[You heard that?]
[Wasn't I supposed to?]
[That was just a thought I had, Ta-kun. I didn't really mean to share it.]
[I guess I still have a few things to learn about this link of ours,] he said. [From now on, I'll make it a point not to actively listen in on anything you're not trying to tell me.]
[I think that might help, Ta-kun.]
"All right, this is it," Noal said, cutting into their conversation without really knowing he was doing so. "Pick out your uniforms and get out of my hair."
With those as his parting words, Noal turned and left the twins standing in front of a small selection of folded Space Knight uniforms.
"You know, I don't think Noal likes us very much, Ta-kun," Shinya said, as Takaya started unfolding another of the stored uniforms.
"Yeah. I think you might be right, Shin-chan," Takaya muttered, as he heard the sounds of Shinya starting to dress up. He decided that he might as well get to it himself; his stomach was going to rebel if he didn't get some food in it soon, and he could just tell that he wasn't going to get any if he went back into the Blue Earth's main area naked.
Shinya probably knew that just as well as he did, and that was most likely part of the reason that he hadn't been quite as belligerent with Noal as he otherwise might have been. The other part being his still-fairly-obvious tiredness of course.
Once they were dressed, and all the more hungry for the extra effort expended, Takaya helped Shinya – or Shinya helped him; they were both tired enough that technicalities didn't matter much at the moment – walk back into the main room of the ship.
"Can we have some food now, please?" Shinya asked, and Takaya could just hear his exhaustion; neither of them could afford to rest now. There were still the Radam to deal with.
"Here," Aki said kindly, handing the two of them something that looked like a plastic bento box. "These rations might not be the best tasting, but they'll keep you going as good as anything out there."
"Thank you," Takaya said, as he took the rations and handed one of the boxes to Shinya.
"Thanks a lot, Aki."
He sat down at the table, with Shinya following not long after; though his brother didn't sit down so much as fall into his seat while he was already yanking open the container of rations and digging in. Once he had his open, though Shinya had the advantage of starting in on it first, Takaya tore into them with gusto. His transformation and the subsequent fight had taken a lot out of him, and he didn't need to look over his shoulder to know that Shinya was doing the same.
"Jeez, you boys can really pack it away, you know?" Noal said, smirking slightly.
"The Tekkaman System drains a lot of our strength," Takaya said. "That's why we get so hungry when we use it."
Shinya, his mouth already full of the bite of rations he'd taken, simply made a muffled sound of agreement.
"So, those armored demons are called Tekkamen?" Noal asked.
"I'm Tekkaman Blade," he said, taking another bite of the rations he'd been given. "My brother is Tekkaman Varis."
Shinya had said that the Radam had called him Tekkaman Evil while they had been trying to bring him over to their side; Shinya was strong, and he had fought. His brother was Varis; not Evil, never Evil. He made the mistake of trying to breathe while he was still eating the energy bar that had been packed in with the other rations, and ended up choking on a bit of it. As he tried to gag it up and out of his trachea, with Shinya thumping him on the back to help, Takaya tried to settle back down.
[Silly Ta-kun,] he heard Shinya say.
"Take it easy, D-Boy, that food of yours isn't going to go anywhere," Aki said. "Look at D-Two; he isn't hurrying."
Takaya supposed he might have made a comment about Shinya being lazy; that is, if he'd been around people he knew or if he had any other family left, but he wasn't, and so he didn't. "Who are you talking about? D-Boy; D-Two, I don't understand."
"Those are your names. D-Boy," Noal said, pointing to Takaya. "D-Two," he pointed to Shinya. "It means Dangerous Boy; your brother is just as dangerous as you are, but it would be too confusing to call you both the same thing." Noal said, grinning in a way that put neither twin at ease. "If you want me to call you something else, then you'd really be better off remembering your real names."
"No," Takaya shook his head. "It's all right. I guess I can get used to it; neither me nor my brother remember anything about ourselves. In short, we have amnesia," Takaya said; he'd tried to be more controlled ever since… it had happened.
It was probably a good thing, but he couldn't help remembering the way things had once been. Aiba Takaya hadn't been like that at all; he'd been a bit more like the way Shinya was now, and Aiba Shinya had been... well, Aiba Shinya had been more like a Kitsune, really: playful, subtle when it suited him, and always eager to have a good laugh. That was why he'd made up the nickname Shinya-sune, in fact.
Aiba Shinya the Kitsune.
"You're going to have to think up a better story than that! Now, start talking," Noal sneered. "Who are you boys? Who are the Radam, and how do you know what they're called? And what in the holy hell are those Tekkamen things you and D-Two transformed into?"
"We can't tell you something we don't know, Noal," Shinya snarled, slamming his hands into the table as he rose from his seat to glare at the man antagonizing them. "You shouldn't be asking such personal questions about us, anyway. You don't have any right!"
"The right?! Listen, you little punk, Aki and I didn't have to drag you out of that crater-
!" Noal roared, leaning farther over the table.
"And my brother and I didn't have to waste our time saving your life, you stupid ingrate!" Shinya snapped.
"This isn't important," Takaya said, standing; Shinya looked like he was about to attack Noal barehanded. "Brother, come with me. We need to go now."
Turning, knowing that his brother would follow him wherever he went, Takaya launched himself toward the Blue Earth's airlock. It was time they found what they were looking for.
"Hey, wait! Get back here, you morons!"
They ignored him, of course.
"Wait!" he heard Aki shout, just as the door behind them slid closed.
V
Once they'd made into the inner sections of the Orbital Ring, with Noal and Aki tagging along close behind, Shinya watched as Takaya turned back to look at them again.
"How far are you two planning to follow us?"
"We were ordered to bring you and D-Two back to Earth with us," Noal said. "I'm not letting you get away."
"Well, good luck with that," Takaya said, sounding like he could have cared less; Shinya felt about the same. If these people wanted to risk their own lives for them, that was their problem.
The door opened soundlessly after Takaya had activated the manual controls, revealing darkness to anyone with Human-standard eyes. But then it had been a long time since Shinya's eyes had been anything but those of a Tekkaman; he could see the carnage beyond the doors. It didn't affect him much; after what he'd been through, a few more dead bodies weren't such an issue.
Aki's gasp of horror, even more than the sudden brightening, let him know that they had turned on their helmet lights.
"Really now; this is just too much," Noal muttered. "Wait, where do you two think you're going?"
"Move quickly," Shinya suggested calmly; he could hear them talking behind him, but he didn't pay it much attention.
"The Orbital Ring System, once said to be mankind's greatest masterpiece, meant to serve as a spaceport; it's nothing more than a graveyard now."
"We could go right into space, with the Orbital Ring's elevators connecting us from Earth. It's such a shame."
"I guess it was really all for nothing," Takaya said darkly; Shinya sighed, that was more true than he wanted it to be.
"Listen to you, D-Boy; the Blue Earth is the only spacecraft left on the entire planet. Now we've lost every avenue we might have used to get into space," Noal said. "You know?"
"We might be better off not being able to go into space," Takaya said.
"I think you can see the results of that well enough," he said, glancing around at the bodies floating in front of them; he tried not to think about just whose fault that was, neither he nor Takaya were Aibas anymore, but remembering still hurt.
"What do you boys mean by that?" Noal asked.
"You'll find out soon enough," Takaya said, as they passed through another pair of doors.
Shinya had to nod in response; whatever they were looking for, they were getting closer. He still didn't know quite what it was, but it was connected to the Radam. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.
Takaya landed in front of a old, broken-down panel which actually, thankfully, still worked. Shinya landed a few paces behind him, watching his brother's back as he always did.
"Where are we going now?" Noal asked.
"The Radam have a very good reason for occupying the Orbital Ring the way they did," Takaya said.
Bright light spilled into the corridor in front of them as the doors Takaya had activated opened slowly. Shinya squinted at first; the sense of whatever the Radam were hiding sweeping over him, he could almost put a name to it…
There were Radam pods anchored to every one of the walls. They hung in the near center of the room; most of them looked like strange, purple potatoes. The one in the center was different, though. That was the only one that he sensed any danger from; it was calm for now, only registering as a sort of vague tickle, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be so placid for much longer.
"They wanted the Orbital Ring's powerful solar energy collectors," Takaya said.
"Their pods wouldn't grow so rapidly under normal conditions," Shinya said, cocking his head slightly as the sense of danger permeating this place spiked sharply; it was centered around that round pod, he knew it, but he didn't know what it was or even what they would be able to do about it. "They're exploiting the almost inexhaustible energy-source they've found here."
"So, the Orbital Ring is serving as a nest for the Radam?" Aki demanded, horror struck.
"Right," Takaya said.
"We've got to do something before they start hatching!" Noal prompted as Takaya trailed off. "Once these ones start moving out, there'll be no chance for us to control the situation."
"You really think you have any kind of control now?" Shinya muttered, speaking more to himself than anyone else; he must have accessed some kind of residual information, left over from… that time. Again, he started feeling that sense of foreboding as his eyes locked on the spherical pod in the center.
"I know, that's why," Takaya said, trailing off as Shinya inhaled sharply.
Another twinge from his senses; another feeling telling him that they should get the hell out of here while the getting was good.
"What is it, you two?" Aki asked.
[Ta-kun, we need to leave. Now!]
[Shin-chan-]
"It's him! He's very close; too close," Takaya said; Shinya moved in front of Aki and Noal, to protect them and so that they would be able to get them out of this room faster.
"Wait now, D-Boy; you and D-Two-"
"Get down!" As Takaya knocked Aki and Noal to the floor, Shinya dove down himself.
Before any of them could take another step, or even start to say another word, something fast and bright flew over their heads to impact on the far wall with a small explosion. It was one of Dagger's energy-arrows; there was no way he wouldn't recognize that.
"That hurt," Noal grumbled, obviously annoyed.
"Tekkaman Dagger," Takaya muttered, just loud enough for even the humans to hear him.
"What?" Noal and Aki both demanded, "Another Tekkaman? What's this all about, D-Boy?" Noal asked, as if he was far more concerned about something trivial like that than about the fact that there was a vicious, homicidal Tekkaman not ten feet away from them.
"We don't have any time to explain this," Takaya said, and Shinya watched for any moves that Dagger might make toward them; he'd known the person that Dagger had once been, as much as he didn't like to think about that, but no one who had been taken by the Radam was anything like the person that they had once been.
"We can make it through the atmosphere as long as the ship is still spaceworthy," Noal said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "But the main vernier is damaged, so we aren't able to take off."
"All right; my brother and I can take care of that," Shinya said. "The two of you, get back there and make sure you're ready to launch otherwise," he continued, darting a look back at Dagger; they still had a bit of useable time. This isn't going to be easy, Shinya thought.
"Wait, you boys!" Noal shouted, even as Shinya took up a guard position next to the spot that Takaya had just vacated.
"Hurry! Go!" he heard Takaya shouting at them, and he almost turned to look, but Takaya had a job to do, just like his brother; he had to warn Takaya when Dagger got too close.
His instincts were screaming at him to move, but as long as Takaya was in danger – and with Dagger now fully out of the healing pod and heading for them, they were all in pretty grave danger – he was going to stand his ground. He couldn't do any less; Takaya would have done the same thing for him… they were all they had left. The doors slammed shut, sealing them in with Dagger; but Noal and Aki were safe.
He didn't care so much about Noal, but Aki was someone he thought he might have been able to form a friendship with. But it was too late for that now; one part of their past had caught up to them, it was time to deal with it.
"Both of you, get out of here, now! My brother and I will hold him off while you escape," Takaya said, in response to Aki's voice; he could understand it fairly well even through the muffling effect of the door, but it was almost drowned out by Dagger's heavy, clanging footfalls. "Go now!"
Concentrating, Shinya pulled his tekkaset out and held it; it was his lifeline at times like this. He might have hated the Radam for what they had done to him, the things they had taken, but there was really no disputing that the power could be useful at times. Times like this one.
"We'll come back to you, Aki," he said, and smiled slightly; it was nice to have someone else who cared about them. "Don't worry."
"Tekkaman Blade; Tekkaman Evil, I swear I'll finish you both off, this time."
Takaya growled, Shinya snarled. The three of them exploded out of the windows; the doors sealed behind them automatically, which was a good thing or he would have worried about the others. Or at least about Aki.
But now, they had more serious issues to deal with.
[Shin-chan, you circle around and take him from behind. I'll handle things from the front.]
[All right. Just… keep your wits about you, Ta-kun.]
[I will, Shinya.]
VI
Slamming into Dagger again, watching as Varis kicked him in the side, Blade raised his lance to deflect a blow from Dagger's bow. He'd already been cut once by that thing; he wasn't going to forget it.
Splitting his lance, he deflected another thrust and then stabbed, mirroring the attack that Dagger had made on him when they had clashed the first time. He didn't know if it would leave the same kind of damage on Dagger as it had on him, but it felt good nonetheless.
He watched with some relief as Dagger screamed and fell.
[Nice work, Ta-kun, but I think we should get back to the Blue Earth,] Varis said. [I think Noal said he was having trouble with the engines.]
[I remember,] he smiled briefly. [Shin-chan?]
[What is it, Ta-kun?]
[Race you.]
He darted off, turning his head to catch sight of Varis just behind him.
[Maybe you're not so depressing after all, Ta-kun,] Varis said, laughter in his voice.
[I never claimed to be, Shin-chan,] he shot back, laughing himself.
They were soon back with the Blue Earth, and she was clearly having some trouble.
[So, we just get behind and push?] Varis asked, sounding slightly dubious, even as he followed Blade into position.
[Yeah; I think all the she needs is a little jump-start.]
[Then we're going to try and re-board the ship while it's still in motion? I guess it can't be too hard, if Keanu Reeves could do it.]
Of all the times for him to think of that, he thought, rolling his eyes in fond exasperation. [Just keep pushing, Shin-chan.]
As they kept shoving, putting all the strength they had into the task, Blade saw the rockets on the back of the ship – just between him and Varis – start firing for the first time. Sighing with relief, knowing that his brother would have seen it, too, Blade eased off. Then something twinged in his danger sense, the very same one that had warned him of Dagger's approach the first time.
He saw the green Tekkaman again; standing atop a raised structure on the Orbital Ring, just drawing back his bow.
"Voltekka!" he bellowed, as the charging process started; it finished quickly and he fired, taking most of his strength but vaporizing Dagger's arrow.
That was good.
VII
Turning to watch Blade as he fired, knowing that his Voltekka used up most of his energy, Varis swept him up quickly and made for the safety of the Blue Earth. The ship was heading back around for them; it was nice to know that Aki was thinking about them. He'd have been willing to bet that she was the one who had wanted to help them.
Noal was enough of a jerk to want to leave them behind, he knew.
VIII
Looking into the aft-monitor again, she could see D-Two holding onto D-Boy's waist and waving to them as they came for him.
"D-Two, we've got you. Do you think you can make it to the secondary air lock?"
"I think I should be able to make it that far, Aki-san," he said, and she wondered for a moment just how he could communicate over the radio; but it wasn't the time to think about things like that. "Thank you, though; for coming back for us."
"You're welcome," she said, wishing that he hadn't felt the need to say that. "Come on, D-Two, get on board."
"We're here, Aki-san."
"I'm going to go check on them," she said, setting the navcomp to keep them on course.
Noal might have said something else, but she didn't listen. Neither D-Boy nor D-Two had come into the main hold of the ship; there had to be something wrong. Coming into the hold, the air lock sealed so she could get inside, she found both boys lying on the floor. She tried to ignore the fact that they were naked as she looked them over and tried to determine if they were all right.