He almost wanted to laugh; that was what Aiba Shinya would have done, what his Shinya would have done. Just laugh, and laugh, until he started crying, screaming, or choking. He didn't particularly care which at this point. The sound of the infirmary doors sliding open once again, bringing Takaya's attention back to the present before the hysterical laughter bubbling up in the back of his throat could become anything more than a momentary discomfort, was both a welcome thing for him, and kind of annoying at once.
Still, he supposed that hysterical, nigh-maniacal laughter wasn't really the best thing for someone's peace of mind.
"We're cursed. We're all cursed."
He heard Shinya's sharp intake of breath, then his younger twin sighing. Digging the fingernails of his right hand into his lower-thigh, just above his knee, Takaya tried all the harder to swallow the hysterical laughter bubbling up at the back of his throat. He knew that it wouldn't do anyone any good if he broke down now, of all times. When the doors opened and the rest of the Space Knights came in, Takaya tried to breathe more deeply in an effort to calm himself down.
It was much easier to think of than to do; it still felt like there was something stuck in his throat.
"What's going on, D-Boy?" Noal asked. "D-Two?"
"What's happened, Aki?" Honda asked.
"Come on…" Levin said, trying futily to break the ever-escalating tension in the room; he doubted anyone would really be able to do that, but Takaya knew that Levin would hardly be Levin if he didn't try.
None of them really had anything to say; not him, not Miyuki, and not even Shinya.
"Members of the Space Knights, I've come here to tell you the Radam's secret." Miyuki said, bringing his attention – and probably Shinya's, too – back to the here and now.
He hated the here and now, but it wasn't as if hating it would do any good.
"Will you tell us now, Miyuki-san?" the Chief asked, as calmly as he ever had.
"Miyuki."
Miyuki seemed to be trying to turn so she could sit on the edge of the bed, or else she wanted to stand up, so Takaya moved to help his and Shinya's sister get comfortable again, even as he saw Shinya doing the same from the other side. He almost asked Miyuki if she was doing all right, but that would have been a stupid question for any number of reasons; all of them completely obvious.
I
"The Radam have been cultivating their trees to transform Earth into a more compatible environment. That's how they really plan to invade." She was grateful that Takaya and Shinya had managed to find such kind people to take them in; with everything that had happened to them in the past – and given everything that was going to happen to them in the future – they deserved all the kindness they could find.
"But, none of us have been hurt by the trees at all," The Space Knights' Chief said; he seemed like such a calm, reasonable person.
It was an almost painful reminder of their father. "Once the flowers come into bloom, you will be."
"Flowers?" the blond Space Knight, standing at the front of the group with their Chief, asked.
She knew that it was a strange thing to consider, that flowers could be dangerous to anyone; but she knew better than anyone just how badly appearances could deceive someone who hadn't been forced to face the full horrors of the Radam for themselves. She just hoped that she could stop this horror, even if she wouldn't live to see the end of it. "Once the flowers come into bloom, all at once…" She could almost see it happening, in her mind's eye; the nightmare image that had haunted her, ever since she had recovered her own mind inside the tekkapod that had all but devoured her: "Then the Earth will be taken by the Radam, and their invasion will be complete." It had happened before: the Nandorians and the Shir'ana were only two of the peoples who had been entirely enslaved by the Radam, though they were admittedly the ones most often used to make Tekkamen. "This is what we were taught. And, we're not the only ones…"
Omega himself was a Nandorian; and, though she knew that not many people would have understood why she felt the way she did, Miyuki found that she felt sorry for him. Not Omega himself, of course, but the host: the innocent Nandorian whose body Omega had stolen. She didn't even know his name, but she knew that he had to have been suffering just as much as any one of them.
Maybe even more: Nandorians were creatures of open grasslands; they spent their days hunting their next meal, or farming the foods that they had once traded for passage on space ships, or working the metals that some of them had once mined. Of course, all of that had changed once the Radam had discovered them. Just like things had changed for Earth, now that the Radam had discovered them.
Still, Miyuki knew that Takaya and Shinya – they would never really be Tekkaman Blade or Tekkaman Varis to her, and Shinya would never be Evil; just like she would never be Tekkaman Rapier – were as determined as she was to make sure that humanity didn't share the fates of the Nandorians or the Shir'ana; and she knew that her older brothers had a much better chance than her of making sure that nothing like that happened.
Still, she at least had to make sure that the Space Knights truly understood the creatures that they were facing.
"Goddamned Radam!" the blond Space Knight said.
"And so, the Tekkaman leader, Omega, has been trying to awaken the other Tekkamen as soon as possible."
And we all know who those are, yeah? Shinya's mental tone was almost as bitter as his laugh; it sounded like a dog barking.
"Omega?" the kind female Space Knight who seemed to be getting so close to Takaya muttered, sounding surprised.
"Is that their boss?" the blond Space Knight asked.
"The other Tekkamen are Dagger, who was killed. Their big boss Omega," Levin, a man who reminded her of a much younger and far more carefree Shinya, said, as he counted them off on his fingers. "Then there's D-Boy, D-Two, and Miyuki, and then Spear…"
"Just shut up and listen to what she has to say," Honda, the big, gruff Space Knight said.
"The ones about to awaken are Axe, Lance, Wraith, and Sword. They're all comrades of Dagger, who was killed," she said, shuddering again at the thought of just how close Omega and all of his forces actually were.
"So, there really are five Tekkamen left?" Shinya asked, clearly trying to be kind; it was still obvious that he and Takaya wanted to know the answer to that question just as much as any of the Space Knights that they worked with.
"Where are they now?" the Space Knights' Chief asked.
She breathed deeply once, gathering her remaining strength for what she was going to have to say next. "On the dark side of the Moon."
"The Radam base is on the dark side of the Moon?" Takaya muttered, sounding as if he was angry with himself for not finding out more; he really did tend to take too much on himself. She was glad that Shinya was still with him; the two of them had always acted to balance each other out so well.
"Damn," Shinya muttered. I guess that explains why we both spent so much time staring up at it.
Wrapping her right arm around Shinya's neck, and her left arm around Takaya's, Miyuki tried to comfort them as best she could; she didn't like to think of that, the fact that Omega had still been calling out to her older brothers even after they had managed to escape him, but it seemed like something he would do. Omega wasn't the type of creature who could ever allow something that he considered his to be outside of his control to remain alive.
None of the Radam were, really.
"Takaya, Shinya, once Dad released the both of you, he blew up the Argos," she said, feeling the pair of them starting to lean into her again, as though they were trying to give her their remaining strength; it was kind of them, but the both of them were going to need all of their strength for what was coming. "And the explosion caused the Radam ship to go spinning out of control. Omega was able to make an emergency crash-landing on the dark side of the Moon."
Neither of us knew where it was, Takaya almost snarled, sounding like he was blaming himself for not being able to find Omega's ship.
Maybe we did, Ta-kun.
II
It had been so long since he'd been aware of his body, that Axe had almost forgotten that he'd had a body to be aware of in the first place. Now, however, with the chamber he'd been confined in for so long that he'd almost forgotten himself bursting open, Axe found that he was both relieved and rather curious about what was going to happen next. After all, there was little chance of them being awakened in full armor like this without a very good reason.
When he stood up on his own feet again, armored as they were at the moment, Axe found himself taking stock of his current situation: there were three others standing to the left of him; and, after a few moments of contemplation, Axe found that he could recall just who it was that he was looking at. Just to his left, tall and lithe, with pale-colored armor and a prominent spine on his chest, was Lance; next to him, almost as tall, but with smoother lines to her armored form, was Sword.
He couldn't quite see the last member of their little group – he was at the wrong angle for that, and their fourth was too short to see over Lance's and Sword's heads in any case – but Axe knew that he was there: Wraith, the youngest of them; the little rabbit he'd trained so well.
Feeling the subtle, not-quite-telepathic pressure on his mind, Axe turned with the rest of their new group. Standing just before them, his red eyes glowing through his dark visor as he regarded them all, was Lord Omega himself.
Axe, Lance, Sword, Wraith, I'm glad to see that you have all awakened without incident; however, as you may have already realized, this is not an occasion for idle chatter. Blade and his traitorous twin brother are still alive, and they continue to hinder our efforts to expand our territory. I wish for you four to meet up with Spear so that you may handle this problem. Permanently.
Yes, my Lord, he said, bowing his head respectfully.
Of course, Lance answered in his turn.
At once, Sword said, her tone as respectful as any of theirs.
As you command, Wraith said; Axe smiled slightly.
The little rabbit had clearly learned his lessons well.
As the four of them made their way deeper into the ship, toward the sense that he had of where Spear was, Axe reflected on their current circumstances. He wasn't exactly pleased to know that two of his students had not only attacked one of their own family members – not to mention one of his own students – but were even now attempting to defy the very being that had granted them both new lives and greater power than any human that had ever lived.
Axe couldn't understand why anyone would reject that kind of power; the glory that Lord Omega had offered them all, but he knew very well just how loyal Blade and Evil were to each other: where one of them went, the other was never far behind. They were going to have to deal with that – going to have to deal with them – now that Blade and Evil had clearly chosen what side they were going to take in this war. And, knowing that Spear – that Kengo – had been so badly injured in his efforts to bring the twins back to their family and the only people who would ever truly care about them…
Well, that changed just about everything.
III
As Miyuki pulled the two of them closer, Shinya wrapped his left arm around her, and felt Takaya doing the same on her other side. This wasn't easy for any of them, so they were all doing their best to give each other strength. Didn't mean he hated the situation any less; damn the Radam for doing this to them, anyway.
"Tekkaman Omega currently cannot leave the moon base," Miyuki said. "So, the only real way to save the Earth is to attack the base and kill Omega."
"While he's protected by four more Tekkamen, each of them probably as powerful as Spear." He didn't particularly like being a killjoy, but well… there you had it.
"That's correct, D-Two," the Chief said, nodding slightly to him. "There'll be no room for failure, once we start attacking the Radam's moon base. None of us can afford to be rash."
Shinya, are you really sure about this?
I know that Spear nearly killed us before, Ta-kun, and you know that none of the others are going to hesitate anymore, he added.
Takaya laughed softly, once; it wasn't a happy laugh. Yeah. They'll kill us, unless we kill them first.
That was what Father said, yeah? he answered, leaning his left cheek against Miyuki's head; none of them were quite at their best right now.
"Would you three like to wait here?" the Chief asked, looking down at the three of them with an expression that seemed kinder than the stoic one that he usually wore.
Shinya was grateful for that; god knew they could all use a little kindness right now.
"Thank you; all of you," Miyuki said; Shinya wrapped his arm more tightly around her.
When he felt Miyuki tensing, Shinya shifted slightly to let her lean more completely against his left side, and wished that he could do something more for her, somehow. Still, even if this was all he could do – just sit beside his and Takaya's sister and try to give her at least some of his strength – he'd give it his all just like he did with all of the important things in his life.
IV
She could almost feel them; the four of them were awake now, under the command of Omega. All of them: Mr. Goddard, Feng Li, Shinji, and even Sasuke… they were all his slaves now, just like Kengo had become. She hated it; and she hated it all the more for the fact that she couldn't do anything about it.
Miyuki, Shinya said, his telepathic voice as soft and kind as anyone could ask for. Are you all right?
It's them, she said; she wouldn't have wanted to worry the only remaining family she truly had, but there wasn't really any way to avoid that. Not with everything that was happening. They're all awake now.
I know; Takaya and I felt it, too, Shinya said, letting her lean her head against him; Miyuki sighed.
She could feel the weakness induced by her condition dragging her down almost like a physical weight; a stone around her neck.
"I'm glad that you're both still here with me, at least," she said, leaning more heavily on Shinya as she felt the sheer fatigue that she had been trying harder and harder to push away with every passing moment. "Takaya-oniichan, Shinya-niichan."
"Is there anything else you need?" Shinya asked, the worry in his tone something that she hadn't wanted to hear from any of the little family that she had left. "You seem tired."
"I am; I'm sorry," she said, feeling her previous tiredness pressing down all the harder on her once more.
"It's all right," Takaya said kindly, standing back up. "Miyuki."
"Thank you," she said, not liking the way she was forced to lean heavily on both him and Shinya as she struggled to stand back on her own, two feet.
"Come on, we'll stay with you while you rest," Shinya said, though the smile on his face was more wistful than she had ever wanted to see on her cheerful older brother.
She tried to smile, just to see if she could help her older brothers – the last of her brothers – feel better; they smiled back, but she could still tell that neither of them were particularly happy about the situation. She wasn't, either, but she knew better than anyone here that nothing could be done about that. The only thing that any of them could do was to adapt.
V
As he and the others finally made their way through Lord Omega's ship, Axe took a moment to orient himself with Spear's mental signature once more. He knew in general where the four of them were going, but the sheer sameness of the vessel could sometimes be rather disorienting. Of course, he could perhaps be excused for his lack of familiarity with the vessel they were all staying aboard, given the fact that he had just been released into the vessel itself merely and hour or so ago.
When his mental sense of where Spear was in relation to the rest of them grew strong enough that he could track on the actual direction that his oldest student could be found down, Axe smiled slightly under his helmet. Yes, there might have been a more dire purpose behind their release from confinement at this stage – and yes, one of his own students had been grievously injured by two of those who should have rightfully been on their side – but having the chance to move again, unconfined by the artificial womb that nourished him for so long…
He might not have known precisely what any of the others were thinking, but Axe would have been rather surprised if they had felt any differently about the matter.
VI
When she and the Chief had both settled themselves down in front of the workstations that the Chief had used when he'd worked on the virus that had got Noal and Aki into the ADF's base so that they could help rescue D-Boy and D-Two, Milly had wondered just what would happen next.
"Hey, why don't you take a coffee break?" Honda suggested, setting down a cup – creamed and sugared just the way he knew she liked it – by her left elbow. "We have a German coffeemaker in the hangar; it's damn good coffee," he continued, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him setting a cup down near the Chief, too.
"Thank you," she said, glancing over at him with a smile.
"I've heard from the doctor. He says that Miyuki won't last long," Honda said, she could see him standing just behind the Chief's chair on his left-hand side.
The Chief himself sighed, then. "Her body's in a state of systemic failure, because she was incompatible with the Tek System." Milly felt the silence between the three of them stretching out, but she didn't really know what someone could say to something like that.
"How awful," Honda muttered.
"Do D-Boy and D-Two know about that?" Milly asked; she kind of suspected that she already knew the answer to that, but hearing it from someone with the Chief's authority had always seemed to make things like that more real, somehow.
"So, Chief, even if D-Two hadn't persuaded D-Boy to stay, you wouldn't have let either of them go out into battle, would you? You wanted to let them stay with their sister while she was still alive."
The Chief didn't say anything else, but Milly knew Honda was right; the Chief was a very kind person, no matter how much he thought he had to hide it.
Milly also knew that the Chief wasn't one to take any credit for things like that. Just like when he hadn't said anything about why he'd developed the new weapons system for Pegas that had allowed D-Boy and D-Two to finally beat Spear after all he'd done to them.
VII
Sighing softly, the aches and pains in her body dragging her attention back to the nightmare reality she was being forced to endure, Miyuki opened her eyes. Her vision cleared almost immediately – yet another reminder that she wasn't really human anymore – but the sight of her older brothers' gentle faces helped to banish what little misgivings she had. At least, the ones that weren't related to the facts of her condition.
"Miyuki-chan," Shinya greeted; his smile as gentle as it had ever been, but with an undertone of sadness that Miyuki would have given almost anything to be able to erase.
"How are you feeling?" Takaya asked; her eldest still-human brother's expression was just the same mix of worry and kindness that she had seen on Shinya.
"Is there anything we can do for you?" Aki asked, smiling gently.
She only had to think about that offer for a moment. "I want to see the ocean."
"The ocean?" Aki asked.
"The beach, where my brothers and I used to play when we were children."
For just a moment, with the three of them gathered together like this, Miyuki could allow herself the luxury of remembering how things had once been. She could even see, in her mind's eye, the way her older brothers had looked when they were both ten; long before any of the horrible things that had happened to all of them were even a distant premonition. It was kind of painful sometimes, thinking about the times that they would never have again, but she often felt that someone should remember those times.
"There was a big power station, and a lighthouse," she said, almost tempted to close her eyes, but not wanting to block out the tenderness that she could see on Takaya and Shinya's faces. "It was such a beautiful place."
The times when they had been happy; when their family had been whole.
"We'll take you to the beach right now," Takaya said, smiling a softer smile than she had seen from him since the two of them had met up with each other; Takaya had been impulsive when the mood struck him, and she was glad to see that at least that hadn't changed about him. "As long as you feel well enough."
She loved the fact that the eldest of her remaining older brothers hadn't changed so much that she couldn't recognize him, but… "I don't really feel well enough, but… Let's wait until dawn."
"Why's that, Miyuki-chan?"
"Because at night, I can see the Moon," she said, turning to lay on her side.
She heard Shinya's soft sigh, just before the younger of her two older brothers reached out and gently took her right hand in both of his. "All right, then. Whatever you want, Miyuki-chan."
"Thank you, Shinya-niichan," she said softly, feeling the familiar and so very unwelcome lethargy beginning to steal over her once again.
"Get some sleep; we'll be here when you wake up," she heard Shinya say, his voice as soft and gentle as anyone could have asked for.
She wanted to say something in return, to at least thank Takaya and Shinya for the kindness that they and their friends had shown to her, but her failing body wouldn't even let her do that. The only thing that Miyuki found that she was capable of doing, to let her older brothers and their friends know how grateful she was for the kindness that they were all showing to her, the only thing that her failing body would allow her to do, was to smile at her older brothers and the people that they clearly wanted to share the rest of their lives with, up until the point when she lost consciousness entirely.
VIII
As the four of them continued to make their way deeper into the ship, Axe himself in the lead, he at last began to sense Spear's presence. It had grown stronger, both from the steadily decreasing distance that remained between their group and the place where Spear had been sent to recuperate after the clash with his traitorous younger twin brothers, and because Spear had clearly regained consciousness by this point.
I'm glad to see the four of you awake again, he heard Spear's telepathic voice, suffused with a weariness that he'd never thought to hear from one of his own students.
Particularly Kengo, who was the eldest of them; still, he'd have been the first to admit that the circumstances they were all being forced to deal with weren't exactly easy on any of them. And, considering how seriously Kengo had taken his duties as the eldest sibling – particularly the part about guiding and protecting his younger siblings – it was bound to be harder on him than the rest of them. Axe would do what he could to ease the burden on the eldest of his students, but in the end he knew that nothing short of Blade and Evil being brought back to their side would truly help Spear's overcome his depression.
So, that was what Axe was going to focus on.
When the four of them reached the tekkapod that Spear had been convalescing in, arraying themselves in a neat semi-circle around the pod as it continued to pulse gently, Axe smiled. Sure, the coming events weren't likely to be particularly easy on any of them, but with the five of them to Blade and Evil's mere pair of Tekkamen, the odds would be stacked a great deal higher in their favor.
In the end, that was really the best that one could hope for under these circumstances.
Are you all right, Kengo? he asked; while it was true that Lord Omega would want them to handle this situation with all the speed they could manage, Axe thought that he could at least offer Spear a bit more respite before they were forced to engage the traitors.
Not so much that Lord Omega would take notice and be displeased by the action, of course, but enough so that Spear would have time to gather his resolve.
I'll manage, sensei. Thank you, Spear said, not sounding entirely happy about that, but also resigned to leaving; as they all were going to have to do soon.
The tekkapod shuddered and burst, releasing Spear back onto the floor of the ship, where he quickly reversed his transformation. He stood there for only a few moments, a melancholy look on his face, before Sword all but threw herself forward – armor vanishing in a flash of red – to wrap her arms around Spear's waist and kiss him deeply. He didn't hear what the two of them were saying to each other, their telepathic conversation clearly closed to anyone else, but the signs of such a conversation were obvious to anyone who knew where to look for them.
If you're not too busy, he said, smiling wryly under his helmet.
Forgive me, Spear said, still stroking Sword's hair gently as he continued to hold her. Kissing her forehead for a long moment, Spear forced himself away from Sword with obvious reluctance. "It's good to see all of you again, sensei."
"It's good to see you again, Kengo," he said, making his way over to the young man so he could clap an armored hand on his left shoulder; Spear smiled in response, though he still didn't seem entirely happy.
Axe didn't need to waste time guessing why.
"Come on, you two," he said, turning his attention to Lance and Wraith. "We still need to prepare ourselves."
There were no words exchanged between the three of them, but the sound of armored footsteps on the hull of Lord Omega's ship let Axe know that he was indeed being followed. That was good; it was good to know that at least some of those who had formerly been a part of the Argos' crew understood discipline. Disobedience annoyed him; and really, what else was this little rebellion that Takaya and Shinya had staged but disobedience on a grand scale?
As he, Lance, and Wraith made their way to what remained of the Argos – preserved not only for posterity but for far more practical reasons – Axe resolved that he would give Kengo all the help that he needed in order to bring Takaya and Shinya back to where they belonged. It was past time that those two acknowledged the responsibility that came with the incredible power that they had been granted.
He would see to it that they did so, and not only that, but also that the two of them made reparations for what they had done to Kengo; what they had done wasn't something that anyone was supposed to do to their own family.
IX
Even now, she could smell the gasses that the tekkapods were releasing into the air; the way they were making things more comfortable – more suitable – for the Radam Tekkamen that they thought they were going to be breeding here. She hated that smell; it only served to remind her all the more of just how much the world had changed; just how much damage the Radam were doing to their home.
Still, even in the midst of all the changes – all the damage that the Radam's invasion had done and continued to do – there were still some things that remained.
"This place…" she said, looking up through the mist at the lighthouse atop the cliff. "It's different."
"Let's go back, Miyuki," Takaya said, his sigh ruffling her hair in passing.
"It's all right, Takaya-oniichan," she said; she couldn't help but know, given what she had seen, and what she was smelling even now as they stood just on the edge of the beach, how different things had become. The scent of the tekkapods was at least being blown away by the clean breeze off of the ocean, but with… what she was now, she could still smell the scent of the tekkapods. "The Radam have taken over the beach, but it still reminds me of the times we spent together."
The times when the three of them had still been part of a larger family; times that would never come again. No matter how much she wished that things could have been different.
"Let's take a walk," she said, wrapping her arms around Takaya' left and Shinya's right. "Just for a little while. Okay?"
"That's all right with me," Shinya said, smiling. "Let's go, then."
As the three of them made their way down the beach – the farther they could be from both the sight and the scent of those horrible tekkapods, the happier Miyuki would be – Miyuki tried not to wonder just how close Kengo and the others were to making planetfall again. They would come when they came; it was really best not to worry about that before it happened.
Worrying never helped anyone, she knew.
X
Sitting before the banks of computers, scenario after scenario playing out in the virtual space before him, Heinrich von Freeman could not help but think back on what he had learned. Not only about the two young men who had come to the aid of the people of Earth when they had most needed it – though the price that they and their family had paid was not one that he would have ever wished on another living person – but what Miyuki had told him about the Radam. More specifically, the location of the leader of the invasion.
There had not yet been an expedition to the dark side of the moon; the Space Knights would be the first there, if he and Milly could make this work. When he allowed himself to think in that direction, Freeman felt that it was a rather sad thing that the first human landing made on that for-the-most-part-untouched surface would be an act of war rather than one of discovery.
Still, needs must; in the end that of all things still held true.
"Pattern 17. One second has been converted into 3.5 hours in this simulated attack."
"No good," he said, pleased with her diligence but wanting to explore other options all the same. "Increase the efficiency by 30%!"
"Roger!"
Before he could say anything more, however, the comm. unit that had been placed in this room – so that he would not be out of contact with his people even when he was hard at work with simulations such as this – activated. However, it was not one of his own Space Knights displayed on the screen.
"There you are. Nice to see you again."
"We're in the middle of operation planning," he said, not particularly interested in whatever Colbert might have wanted to say to him. "I'll have to get back to you."
Just as the fingers of his right hand were poised over the button that would deactivate this room's comm. unit, Colbert spoke again: "If you knew I had the High-yield Fermion Missile, would you still hang up on me?"
"Fermion Missile?" he echoed; he didn't want to believe that even the General, with all of his arrogant pretensions, would be willing to use a weapon so terrifyingly powerful as that monstrosity.
"I see you're interested in what I have to say now!" Colbert said, his smile letting Heinrich know that – more than likely – the General wasn't bluffing in this instance; would that he were.
XI
Feeling the sand squishing between her toes, over and over again as the surf she was standing in washed up above her ankles, Miyuki laughed happily as – for just a moment – she imagined that the rest of her family, even beyond Takaya and Shinya, was relaxing on the beach just behind her. It was a nice, happy fantasy; the kind that could only be truly sustained by willfully ignoring reality.
Still, reality was the only thing that she could actually change; so, even as hard and cruel as it was being to them all right now, reality was what she was going to concentrate on.
"The water's still so cold!" she said, the sound of her own voice bringing her attention fully back to the present. "Takaya! Shinya! Are you going to come?"
"Maybe later, but this is fun, too," Shinya said; the fond, nostalgic smiles on both of her older brothers' faces let her know that – even though Takaya seemed not to want to break the mood that had settled over them by talking – the two of them felt the same way she did.
"Hey, Takaya-oniichan," she said, thinking back to see if she could remember their names without prompting. "You like Aki-san, don't you?"
"What?" Takaya said. "Well, I…" Takaya paused for a moment, seeming like he was thinking hard about something. "-ow!"
Turning at the sound of Takaya' exclamation, she found Shinya smiling in that way he did when someone had annoyed him; then he kicked Takaya in the shin again.
"You're trying to keep it a secret, aren't you?" she asked, laughing softly.
"No." Takaya said, at the same time as Shinya said "Yes."
She laughed, and then again as Shinya shifted, folding his left calf under his body, and began to write something in the sand. Takaya didn't seem to notice what Shinya was doing, having fallen silent to stare out at the ocean the way he had been doing before the three of them had started talking. It was also something he did when he was embarrassed, so Miyuki was fairly sure that she knew just what he was thinking.
Or, what he was trying not to think about.
When she turned to look back at Shinya, Miyuki giggled softly as she saw what he'd written in the sand. There was an arrow pointing to Takaya, and under it the word "idiot" was neatly spelled out. Takaya looked confused for a moment, before he looked down at the sand next to him.
"You're annoying, Shin-chan," Takaya said, in that deadpan way he did when Shinya had gotten one-up on him, but he didn't want to admit it.
"That's what you always say, Ta-kun," Shinya said, his tone and his smile both telling anyone who knew him that he was humoring Takaya.
It was clear that Takaya knew it as well, since he gave Shinya a stink-eye.
She laughed softly. "Come on, tell me. I know that Shinya-niichan and Levin are really good friends, but I don't know about you. Ever since you were little, you've hated being alone, Takaya-oniichan. And, even though you still have Shinya-niichan with you, you've lost Dad and Kengo-niisama. And soon, I'll be gone, too."
Takaya looked away for a long moment, and Miyuki wondered what he could be thinking; the expression on Takaya' face was as blank as he could manage to make it. When Shinya leaned against him, wrapping his left arm around both of Takaya' shoulders and letting Takaya lean against him in turn, Miyuki knew that she had said something that would have been better left unsaid. She wished for a moment that she could take the words back, but that wasn't the way the world really worked.
In the end, all she could do was sit down behind her two remaining brothers, put her hands on both of their shoulders, and try to think of a way to help them feel better.
Of course, there were still a few things she could do right now. "But, I don't have to worry anymore. Because you have Aki-san now!" she laughed softly. "And Shinya-niichan has Levin-san."
"You noticed?" Shinya said, smiling so that his bright blue eyes crinkled up at the edges. It was so strange, seeing the younger of her older brothers with blue eyes. Still, she knew that things could have been worse; they could have easily been so much worse. Shinya laughed lightly. "What do you think of him?"
She giggled softly. "He's kind of weird, but he seems nice."
"Yeah," Takaya said, chuckling. "Levin is pretty weird."
XII
Standing in the shadow of the Blue Earth, Aki looked out toward the beach where D-Boy, D-Two, and Miyuki were all sitting together.
"I wonder what they're talking about?" she heard Noal ask.
"Maybe we'll find out," she said. For one thing, the three of them were too far away from where she and Noal were standing. But, more importantly, she didn't really want to intrude on their conversation. It was a rare thing; something just for the three of them, and D-Boy and D-Two had already been forced to give up so much. "But we shouldn't pry."
"Yeah, you're probably right about that."
She could tell that he was still curious about just what Blade, Varis, and Miyuki might have been talking about, but Aki also knew that Noal wasn't about to try disturbing them to find out. Really, that was all she could ask for considering the circumstances. She was curious, herself.
XIII
Standing in what had once been the main room of the Argos, Spear found himself confronted by an odd feeling as he watched his youngest brother – Sasuke-chibi, hatched at last – carefully tucking the gray three-quarter sleeve shirt that he had picked out of the limited selection that he had brought for himself when they had provisioned the Argos for their journey into the dark blue slacks that he had chosen to offset it. He could not place it, not at first, but when he found himself almost unconsciously moving to stand sentinel over the youngest of his brothers, Spear began to recognize just what it was that he was feeling.
He felt… hatred. A deep, slow-building feeling that seethed inside him even as Spear clamped down on his telepathy so that he wouldn't end up inadvertently projecting that horrible feeling to any of the other of his friends or the little remaining family he still had.
Examining the feeling for a moment, knowing that he could not fully regain his mental footing without knowing just what it was that had unbalanced him in the first place, Spear found that it was not his youngest brother that he felt such a disconcerting thing for. Of course not; he could have never harbored such a feeling even for Shinya and Takaya, not even now that his younger brothers had gone so astray. And certainly not for Sasuke, who was still here and at his side where he belonged.
Finding his eyes drawn to the back of his youngest brother's neck, below where Sasuke's spine linked to the base of his skull, Spear beheld the fitfully moving form of the small Radam creature that acted as a link for all of them. His hands were resting on Sasuke's shoulders, and for a moment Spear wondered just when he'd moved them, but then he found his gaze drawn back, once more, to the form of the creature firmly attached to the back of his youngest brother's neck.
It was wrong; everything about this situation was wrong. Nothing like this should have happened in the first place, but… now that it had, there was really only one thing he could-
"What is it?" Axe asked.
Spear blinked harshly; had he been thinking about something? He couldn't quite remember. It was disconcerting, but before he could begin to think too much about that, Axe had spoken again.
"Let me handle that," the eldest of their group – the man who had trained every one of the members of his family into the fighters that they were now – said, smiling.
"Really?" he asked, smiling softly as he raised an eyebrow; really, whatever he'd been thinking, it couldn't have been all that important.
"Really." Spear allowed himself to be gently edged aside, as Axe took his place standing behind Sasuke. "You still remember how much Sasuke enjoyed collecting scarves, eh Kengo?"
Spear laughed softly. "Yes; he brought some of them with him."
Axe 'hmm'ed softly, a mildly disapproving expression on his face. "You should have remembered."
"Yes," he muttered; thinking of Earth, and the twins, and all of the troubles he'd faced concerning the two.
Still, with the extra forces that he now had on his side, Spear knew that – one way or another – dealing with his and Sasuke's wayward brothers would be a great deal easier from now on.
XIV
He almost asked Colbert to repeat what he just said; almost unable to believe that even he was willing to go so far for the sake of his ambitions. But he was not one to deny the reality before him; just as General Colbert, it was clear now, was not a man to listen to reason. Or even to heed the voice of experience when it was presented to him.
"That's absurd! You must know what would happen if you fired it at the Orbital Ring!"
He turned away; this was just like Colbert, jumping on the first, most obvious opportunity to solve a problem that he had been presented with. "Of course I know: the Fermion particles from the missile will fill the Orbital Ring, causing a high-speed Fermion reaction, and then a massive burst of energy. Enough to destroy every last Radam monster on it! So, I want you and your Space Knights to divert the attention of the Radam until we've fired the Fermion Missile!"
"Brigadier General, you must call off the operation at once!" he said, finding that he'd stood up almost against his own will. "If there's a fermion reaction inside the Orbital Ring, it'll be disastrous."
"Disastrous?" Milly asked.
"The Orbital Ring itself will be shattered by such a colossal wave of energy, and the Earth's gravity will cause it to fall to the ground. If that happens, all equatorial areas will be destroyed, and several hundred million people will be killed."
"This operation will save the future of the human race," Colbert said, sounding as purely callous as he ever had. "At the cost of a mere several hundred million."
"That's awful," Milly snapped, speaking for only the second time since Colbert had contacted them with this mad plan of his.
"What's that?"
"Is the military so powerful that you can just decide who to sacrifice?" Milly said; swiftly growing as passionate as he had ever heard her become. "You can't measure human life like that! Each life is precious!"
"Shut up!"
"A life may seem small to you, but it's precious to that person's family and friends, and everyone around them! Isn't that what it means to lose a life?"
As Milly lost the last of his composure, collapsing to the computer console weeping, Freeman felt that he could easily guess the true cause – one of them, because like all of those who had joined up with his Space Knights, Milly was not one to stand for injustice – of her vehemence in this matter. Miyuki's condition weighed heavily on them all.
"The Orbital Ring is the Radam base!" Colbert snapped, unmoved as Freeman had expected him to be. "I don't care what the cost is, I'm going to attack the Orbital Ring!"
"But you're wrong!" he interjected. "The Radam's true base is…!"
The ringing of the attack-alarms, and a report from one of Colbert's own underlings drew the General's attention then, and Freeman knew that there was nothing more that he could say to dissuade Colbert from his mad plan.
"The Radam are on the Moon!" he said, trying to catch the attention of someone levelheaded within Colbert's forces. Someone who might have been able to stop that mad plan of the General's before he could carry it out.
Milly exclaimed; Freeman found his fists almost involuntarily clenching, Colbert's constant search for self-aggrandizement at all costs had finally gone too far. "What do we do?"
"Everything we can," he said, once he had managed to regain what composure he could manage under the circumstances.
However, he was fully aware that, as things stood now, the Space Knights would need all of their forces to deal with him. And, with the Radam attacking once more, Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis were going to be unavoidably delayed.
XV
Back aboard the Blue Earth, Takaya seethed quietly in his seat. Just one afternoon; just a single afternoon, that they could spend with Miyuki. Apparently even that was too much to ask. Looking back at Shinya, not truly wanting to interrupt his younger twin's remaining time with their younger sister but knowing that he had to all the same, Takaya saw Shinya kissing Miyuki on her right temple.
"We'll see you soon, Miyuki-chan!"
"Yeah," Miyuki said, and he could tell that she was trying to smile more for the two of them than for herself; there wasn't much he could do about that as things stood now, but Takaya hated it all the same. "Come back safe."
"Don't worry; we won't let the Radam defeat us," he said; he still wished that the three of them had been able to stay together longer, but all the wishes in the world wouldn't change what had really happened on this day of all days.
"Yeah," Shinya said, with an easy smirk that Takaya knew wasn't nearly as lighthearted as his younger twin was trying to make it look. "We'll kill all of their monsters and then come right back to you."
"Yeah," he muttered.
"See you, Miyuki-chan," Shinya said, as the two of them quickly made for the Blue Earth's air lock.
Once they had made it into the air lock, with the doors sealing behind them the way they always did, Takaya called on Pegas even as he felt Shinya invoking his own transformation. Breathing more easily once he could feel his and Shinya's combat partner being launched out of the ship. And, even more, when he could feel that the transformation had completed itself.
Flying free from Pegas at last, he quickly joined up with Varis as the two of them backflipped onto the mech and rode it against the Radam monsters coming down from the sky. Calling his lancer, Blade saw Varis doing the same. Tearing their way through the Radam monsters that were swarming over the OSDG Headquarters, Blade turned slightly to watch as Varis leaped off of Pegas with a burst from his thrusters.
Shinya.
Don't work too hard, Varis said, his younger twin becoming enveloped in the bright blue light of his thrusters as he dove for the largest knot of Radam monsters on the ground.
I won't, he said, looking out over the vast swarm of Radam monsters still descending on them from the air.
Just then, the sense of someone else – four someones in particular – slammed into him with a force that Blade hadn't had time to prepare himself for even subconsciously. Whip-turning, even as he mentally called out to Varis that they had company, Blade confronted the one person he would have been perfectly happy to never see again: foremost of the Radam's brainwashed soldiers, Spear.
Only, Spear wasn't alone this time; and the people that backed him only served to remind Blade of just how much he'd lost during the course of this war. Shinji Mabashi stood on the far left, his hair somehow looking freshly-dyed; Feng Li stood next to him, dressed in the outfit that she had chosen to wear at her wedding reception; Sensei Goddard stood on the middle-right of the group. And there, standing at the far right of the four evil Tekkamen that had come to the OSDG Headquarters to help Spear destroy it, was Sasuke.
Sasuke, the youngest of his and Shinya's siblings. He'd been hoping that Sasuke had died sometime during the transformation process, if only because Takaya hadn't known if he'd have been strong enough to face down the youngest member of their family in mortal combat. He didn't know what that would say about him if he did, either.
"Takaya," Spear said softly; there was a new hardness to the evil Tekkaman's eyes, a new firmness to his tone, that Blade was sure wasn't going to lead to anything good. "Shinya." Spear's eyes tracked Tekkaman Varis as his younger twin landed, but the icy expression on his face as the five evil Tekkamen closed with him and Varis didn't change one bit. "I've offered you several chances." Spear folded his arms, the expression on his face the same as the one Kengo wore when he had reached the end of his – not inconsiderable – patience. "Now, either you're going to come home with me willingly, or I'm going to drag you back."
Well, really; under the circumstances there was only one way that they could answer that kind of a challenge.