Awareness was an uncertain thing, for the first few moments, before Axe was once more lucid enough to take stock of himself and his current situation. The first thing he noticed was Kengo's head, lying listlessly in his lap. The next was Sasuke's small form, moving fitfully as the youngest of his students slowly fought his way back to consciousness. The proceeding few moments were merely a blur of sensation, but Axe felt that he could at least hazard a guess as to what had happened.
"You did well, my student," he said, gently gathering Kengo's deeply unconscious form into his arms even as he allowed Sasuke to use his right arm to lever himself back to his feet. "Well done, Kengo-kun."
"Good afternoon," Shinji greeted, as he and Feng Li made their way over across the devastated landscape.
"Mr. Goddard, is he dead?"
"He'll be fine," he said, quickly cutting into Feng Li's worrying before she could truly start in earnest. "Look after him for me, will you? Sasuke and I will determine our current situation."
"Of course," Feng Li offered quickly, once again proving that his initial assessment of her still held true; she really would be a good match for Kengo.
Smiling softly as Feng Li gathered Kengo up in her arms, speaking softly to him as though he was still lucid enough to hear her in his current state, he turned to Sasuke and nodded to signal the younger Tekkaman to come along with him. Moving slightly away from the other members of their group – the small family that Kengo had brought together; and that Takaya and Shinya clearly sought to destroy, for whatever absurd reasons they might have – Axe brought out his tekkaset and nodded to Sasuke as he did the same.
The sense of Wraith's transformation taking place right next to him lead Axe to smile slightly; but, the fact that the first thing he heard after completing his transformation was Shinji's grousing over the loss of his hair tie, caused Axe's smile to widen into an amused grin.
"Maybe you should cut it," he suggested, not particularly seriously; all of them were permitted their little vanities, after all.
Shinji turned to him, a shamelessly exaggerated expression of shock on his face. "Perish the thought."
The four of them shared a laugh, before he and Wraith took to the air, in search of Takaya, Shinya, or any of those humans who they would need to deal with.
I
I hate that Radam brat, Noal mused, as he took stock of the injuries that Spear and his cronies – that pint-sized Radam brat in particular – had left him with. He was pretty much crippled right now, what with his right arm and left leg having been all but snapped like dry twigs. Still, he was grateful in a distant sort of way that something had called Spear and his cronies away, even if it was going to end up causing trouble for the rest of the Space Knights down the line.
The sharp chirp of his comm. gave him something else to focus on, and Noal was glad for the reprieve.
"Noal here; tell me this is the Space Knights," he said. Milly, speaking from the other end of the line, sounded just about as happy to hear him as he was to hear from her.
Apparently, the OSDG Headquarters had been almost completely devastated by Spear and his cronies; they'd been fighting D-Two and Miyuki, and then there had been some kind of huge explosion that took out basically everything in the area. He wasn't even talking to Milly from her normal post; no, she was contacting him from some kind of mobile squawk-box while she, the Chief, and all of the surviving OSDG support-staff evac'd from the remains of the OSDG Headquarters before it all started falling down on their heads. He spared about half a minute to hope that their boys had survived – while at the same time hoping that Spear and his cronies hadn't – before he detailed his current situation and got orders to sit tight.
Aki and Levin had evidently been able to find a prototype tank – the Green Earth – to escape in, and even now they were attempting to rendezvous with the other elements of the Space Knights. The two of them were particularly interested in finding D-Boy and D-Two, of course; not that he couldn't guess the reason for that.
Carefully arranging his broken limbs, Noal waited for his two current favorite people in the world to show up.
II
When Shinya had started to show signs of waking up, Takaya futilely wished that he could have given more than just his vest to his younger twin while they were both making their way away from what remained of the OSDG Headquarters. Strong as his younger twin was, Shinya's comparatively pale skin meant that his younger twin would burn more easily in the sun. And yes, they both had Pegas to help shield them both from that, but Takaya still couldn't help wishing that he could have done more.
Gathering Shinya back up onto his back, as his younger brother had started to slip free, Takaya kept walking.
"Brother, do you know where we're going?" he heard Shinya ask.
Takaya sighed, rubbing the broken remains of Miyuki's crystal that he'd managed to recover; it was the same way that another person might rub at charm of their own, but Takaya didn't know if that kind of thing would bring him good luck or bad. "Away from here, Shinya."
"Yeah," Shinya said, with a brief sigh of his own. "I hope the others made it out all right."
"Yeah," he muttered, knowing his younger twin would hear it. "So do I."
Licking his dry lips, Takaya sighed again. He didn't quite know what he and Shinya were going to do, from this day forward, not after all that they'd lost, but he did know what their focus was going to be for the immediate future: they were going to find a way to get to the Moon, so that the two of them could finally end this battle of theirs.
They were going to find a way to kill Omega, even if it killed them both in turn.
When he heard Shinya's annoyed sigh, and felt his younger twin's breath ruffling his hair, Takaya could just barely manage to hold back a sigh of his own. "What is it?"
"The Radam again."
"Of course."
Letting Shinya slide down off his back, knowing that his younger twin would never agree to being left out of battle no matter how many arguments Takaya tried to marshal, Takaya turned back to Pegas.
Transforming even as Shinya did the same, Tekkaman Blade landed in front of Tekkaman Varis as Pegas drove them into the midst of the Radam monster swarm that continued to descend toward this desolate patch of land. Carving their way through the masses of Radam monsters in front of them, occasionally turning to deal with the ones who had appeared behind them, Blade could feel a strange energy building within him from somewhere.
He couldn't determine where it was coming from, since he hadn't started the charging process for a Voltekka and there wasn't any other source of energy aside from the transformation itself that he knew of that carried that same kind of feeling. When the new energy began building to the point that he could feel it thrumming in his body, Blade began to wonder in earnest just what in the hell was going on.
Shinya!
His younger twin was at his side in what seemed like half a second, and as the corona of energy that he'd felt building up while he'd been engaging in battle against the massed Radam monsters flung them up and out farther than Blade had ever flown without the aid of the Blue Earth.
What was that?
I don't know, brother, his younger twin said, letting Blade know that he'd inadvertently projected that thought.
Yeah, he muttered, looking down at the remains of Miyuki's crystal that he'd still had in his hand when he'd transformed. There was still a subtle glow emanating from the broken crystal. Shinya, look, he said, holding Miyuki's crystal up so that Varis would be able to get a better look at it.
Oh, he heard, as Varis cupped his armored hands around Blade's own.
The subtle glow that had suffused the remains of Miyuki's tekkaset had faded out almost entirely by now, but Blade could still remember the power that he'd felt from it.
Miyuki.
She's still helping us, Varis said, picking up on the thought like he'd been having the same one.
Blade figured he had been; it was an easy enough thing to figure out, once you were presented with the basics, really. Now, all that remained was to get one. And lucky them, they just so happened to have a good – not easy, no one but an idiot would call what they were going to be doing easy – source of crystals; enough for the both of them to take one each.
Thinking of that brought a brief, grim smile to Blade's face, even as the last light in Miyuki's broken tekkaset slowly faded away.
III
That's the third time I've seen that tank, Axe-sensei, Wraith reported.
Axe turned his armored head in the direction that his youngest student had indicated, and he narrowed his eyes in consideration. You're right, Sasuke. He paused for a moment, considering the vehicle as it continued to trundle forward to some unknown destination. Head down and investigate it.
You really think it's something important, Axe-sensei?
It's something we haven't seen before, Sasuke-chibi, he said, smiling as he set his armored left hand – right still grasping the shaft of his halberd – atop Wraith's head. Whether or not it's important… Well, we'll see.
He only had to give Wraith a gentle push to his right shoulder, before his youngest student leapt down from the back of the creature that Spear had rode on – the one that Axe was borrowing while his eldest student recovered from the damage he'd taken trying to defend them all from Miyuki's insane last-ditch effort to kill them all – and landed lightly in the forest of still-immature tekkapods that they had been flying over. He could both see and sense the burst of energy when Sasuke released his transformation, and Axe was pleased to know that his lessons on subterfuge had sunk in so well.
It wouldn't do, after all, for whatever humans they were inevitably going to be going to deal with seeing a Tekkaman – even one Sasuke's size – come striding out of a forest of tekkapods.
IV
As the Green Earth's engines rumbled, driving the tank further on through the forest of tekkapods that Aki was doing her best to ignore the presence of, Aki couldn't help but wonder just what had become of D-Boy and D-Two. She was at least reasonably sure that the both of them had survived the destruction of the OSDG Headquarters, considering all that they had both survived before that, but she still couldn't stop herself from wondering just when they would all meet up again.
"Wait," she heard Levin say, bringing her attention back to the present moment and all of the upheavals therein. "Someone's up ahead."
Looking out through the Green Earth's large windscreen, Aki found that there was indeed someone coming out of the forest of tekkapods. Coming from the left, relative to the Green Earth's own path through the forest.
"Wait, that's just a kid," Noal said, sounding about as surprised as she felt, hearing that. "What in the heck is a kid doing out this far all alone?"
Normally, she would have been worried about someone so young being anywhere close to all of those horrible tekkapods, but there was something uncomfortably familiar about this particular boy; something that made it all but impossible for her to express her usual sympathy in the face of the strange boy who was even then starting to wave to them as though to signal the Green Earth to stop.
Turning back to her computer station, Aki pulled up the crew manifest from the Argos mission that she had downloaded after hearing the story of what had happened to D-Boy and D-Two's family. Because, while what had happened to the Aiba family and their friends was horrible, it was also a fact that the survivors of that mission – as horrible a thing as something like that was to think about – were a threat to the remaining people who wanted to live free on Earth.
Soon enough, Aki found the exact reason why this boy in particular made her feel more and more unnerved the closer the Green Earth got to him. "No… That's a Tekkaman."
"Tekkaman?" Levin echoed, and Aki saw the red-haired man look from her to the seemingly-innocent young boy – only fourteen, according to the dossier that had been compiled on him – standing just a few meters in front of them now, still waving them down. "You mean, from the Argos?"
"Aiba Sasuke," she muttered, looking up at the rapidly-approaching form of the Radam Tekkaman – he looked so gentle, almost fragile, standing there in those ill-fitting clothes; he had an albino's natural paleness, and the colorless hair that she had seen so many times when she spoke to the Chief – that continued waving them down as they approached.
"So, that's what that Radam brat looks like without his armor," Noal growled, reminding Aki that he'd had a closer encounter with Aiba Sasuke – by whatever name the Radam had given him when they had twisted him into one of their evil Tekkamen – than any of them had had so far.
"Yeah," she muttered, feeling her eyes burn with tears.
What had happened to the Aiba family and all of those other poor people aboard the Argos when they had encountered the Radam had been horrible enough even to hear about, but now to see one of the very people that had been destroyed by them – twisted and tortured until he was nothing more than a shell of the boy he'd once been – was infinitely worse than any story, no matter how clearly told, could ever be.
"At least he's alone," Levin said, sounding like he was searching for something to give them all hope, small hope as it might have been. "Well, for now, anyway."
"Yeah," she muttered.
By now, all of them knew full well that every Tekkaman – whether fully transformed by the Radam or not – was telepathic and could contact any number of their fellow Tekkamen with only a thought. So the fact that this one was all alone really didn't mean anything; not even considering how small and harmless he looked. Even when she was dying from the aftereffects of the incomplete transformation she'd been forced to endure, Miyuki had been able to fight off any of the Radam monsters that had attacked, and she'd still been able to outrun Spear for as long as her strength had lasted.
And now, considering how the transformation had obviously taken for Sasuke as it hadn't for Miyuki, facing him would be all the more dangerous for all of them. Particularly considering Noal's condition. He couldn't very well use the Sol-Tekkaman, with his right arm and left leg still delicate from being broken the way they had been.
"Levin, stop here," she said, having just come to a decision.
"What?" the red-haired man asked, turning to look her way just as Aki had tucked the gun that she had carried with her ever since they had evacuated the wreck of the OSDG Headquarters out of sight. "That's a Tekkaman out there!"
"Levin, please," she entreated, already standing and beginning to make her way to the entrance / exit of the Green Earth.
Levin's gaze passed over her, lingering for a moment on the bulge of the gun tucked into her belt, before he nodded. "Roger."
"Thank you, Levin."
None of the others said anything as Aki rose from her seat and began to make her way out, but Milly did give her a long look as she made her way out. As she began to hear the soft sound of someone knocking at the Green Earth's hull, knowing just who it had to be, she swallowed hard. Shifting the gun she was carrying further out of sight, so that Sasuke wouldn't be able to spot it the way her fellow Space Knights had managed to, Aki continued over to the Green Earth's exit.
Even though Aki knew what she was doing had to be done, since for all Aiba Sasuke's fragile appearance he was still one of Omega's Tekkamen and hence just as dangerous as Spear, she still couldn't help the thought that she was essentially going to be shooting a child. Still, whoever Aiba Sasuke had been before Omega had gotten to him, that boy was dead now. All that was left was the evil Tekkaman; that concept was borne out clearly by her encounter with Spear in that church, back when D-Boy and D-Two's insane older brother had been attempting to bring them back into Omega's fold.
The door opened, and in just a few moments the knocking at the Green Earth's hull stopped entirely.
"Hello?"
Forcing herself not to wince after hearing that soft, gentle sounding voice – Spear's had been just as gentle, for all that it had naturally been much deeper than Sasuke's – Aki stepped down from the interior of the Green Earth and began to make her way closer to where Sasuke stood. He was facing her now, an expression of curiosity on his pale – paler than D-Two's, even – face. Even the red eyes that had looked so unnatural on Spear fit into his face, since she'd seen the Chief's eyes often enough that she'd become used to seeing just that color on an albino.
Still, Sasuke's red eyes weren't the natural product of his albinism; they were the mark of someone who had been turned into a monster by the Radam.
"Good afternoon," Aki said, trying to make her voice sound gentle so that she wouldn't provoke any kind of reaction from Sasuke – she almost wanted to know the name the Radam had given him, if only so she could stop thinking of him as a human boy while she was facing him – and at the same time trying to subtly maneuver him away from the Green Earth so that the others would have more time to get away if another Tekkaman showed up. "Are you lost?"
"I was looking for someplace I could stay," Sasuke said, and Aki was unnerved by just how sincere he managed to sound even though she knew he had to be lying. "I got lost in the forest," Sasuke wrapped his arms around his chest, and even though Aki knew that he was deliberately making himself seem uncertain and vulnerable, she was hard-pressed not to react to the effort. "And, now I can't find my way out."
Moving to stand closer to Sasuke, still wanting to get him away from the Green Earth but not knowing just how she could manage that since he was bound to notice if she started trying to lead him back into the Radam's forest when he'd just said he was looking for a way out of there, Aki tried to think of another way to deal with him.
"Nee-chan, do you think I could travel with you?" Sasuke asked; Aki shuddered at the earnest tone of his voice. She knew he was lying, but it was getting harder and harder to make herself realize that, consciously. "I'm all alone out here, and you look like a very kind person."
"Well, I…" Aki said, moving closer to Sasuke. "Come on."
The fact that Sasuke was actually willing to let her guide him – however gently – back nearer to the line of tekkaplants that he'd said he'd just come out of, was just as unnerving as anything else about the Tekkaman she was being forced to deal with. Gently brushing out his hair with her left hand, trying not to be distracted by the softness of Sasuke's colorless hair against her fingers, Aki carefully unlimbered the gun she'd taken steps to conceal from Sasuke's line of sight.
Aiming it squarely at the back of Sasuke's head, not wanting to endanger any of her fellow Space Knights by the evil Tekkaman's continued survival, and also not wanting to burden D-Boy or D-Two with having to kill another member of their family, Aki tensed her finger on the trigger. God knew they were already having enough trouble with Spear.
"Are you going to kill me, nee-chan?" Sasuke asked, and Aki saw him turn to look back at her over his right shoulder, leaving her gun now pointed at his right eye.
A shudder ran the length of Aki's spine, as those red eyes – the same eyes that Spear, and probably all of the Radam Tekkamen, had possessed – fixed on her past the gun she'd aimed at him. She stepped back, nearly at the same time that Sasuke himself leaped lightly away from her like some kind of gazelle, and she quickly found herself facing him across a gap that was more than wide enough for him to transform and attack her any time he wanted.
The next thing Aki saw, as she fired a shot that Sasuke quickly crouched out of the way of, was the subtle sign of one Tekkaman attempting to make contact with another of their kind. Firing as fast as she could, and watching in frustration as Sasuke nimbly dodged all of her shots as he leapt to the top of one of one of the nearby tekkaplants, Aki had soon expended the last of her ammunition. Her blood chilled when she saw the huge, armored form of the other Tekkaman that had responded to Sasuke's call.
"So, you're the Space Knights," the stocky, broad-shouldered Tekkaman in green-shaded armor said, looking down at the Green Earth and her crew with a halberd that seemed to be his main weapon in the same way that Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis' lances were theirs. "Well done, Sasuke-chibi."
When this new, armored Tekkaman lowered his halberd so that Sasuke could grab onto it, lifting the smaller Tekkaman up with one hand onto the back of a creature that looked nearly identical to the one that Spear had rode into battle when he'd faced Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis, Aki caught her first glimpse of just how strong a Tekkaman in full armor could really be. Of course, the fact that Sasuke had been fast enough to dodge bullets had long since brought home how fast a Tekkaman could be.
It wasn't a comforting thing, being faced with a pair of superhumans who lacked even the most basic scruples or humanity that D-Boy and D-Two possessed.
V
Holding Kengo close to her, feeling his warm breath on her neck as she continued to make her way through the lush forest of tekkaplants that the Radam had planted, Sword hoped that he was feeling the same returning strength that she did, surrounded by the nutrient gas that the plants gave off. She didn't know, since she couldn't see any life returning to her love's face, and his body was just as warm as any other Tekkaman's. Still, after the sacrifice that he had made to protect all of them from his mad sister and those faithless traitors he called younger brothers, Sword knew that it was probably a vain hope that he would wake anytime soon.
Looking back up, she saw that Lance had stopped walking and now had his head cocked slightly, as though listening to some far-off sounds, she paused. Halting her own forward motion, Sword was just about to ask just what it was that Lance thought was so important, when she herself began to hear the sounds of footsteps slowly approaching from their left. Turning that way, not having sensed the approach of any of her fellow Tekkamen and so knowing that it couldn't be Axe or Rapier coming to meet with them, Sword wondered just what breed of foolish humans had chosen to die this day.
"See, I told you there was people up ahead," one of the humans said, and Sword narrowed her eyes in annoyance; she hated it when those she met could not speak properly.
"All right, so you were right," the human at the forefront of the group, the one who seemed to be the leader of this particularly pitiful band of a pitiful breed, said. "What, you want me to congratulate you?"
"Look at that one back there," one of the stouter humans – though he would have been no match for Axe even if Axe had merely been a human, himself – said, pointing squarely at her. "Ain't she a pretty one?"
Clenching her jaw, even as she held Kengo closer to her, Sword knew just what these – most useless of all humans that they were – had to have in mind. They were fools to even consider such a thing, and naturally all of them would die for their presumption, but it seemed that she wouldn't even have to lift a finger to see these particular cretins punished.
"Hello," Lance said, cheerfully snapping the neck of the human who had been so arrogant as to attempt to single her out simply for the fact that she was the sole woman – Tekkaman though she was – among the small group that she was traveling with. "And goodbye, little human."
Why don't you allow me to handle this, Sword? Lance offered, even as one of the other humans foolishly attempted to attack him and he broke their neck with a high-kick. You just make sure that our leader is taken care of, hmm?
Yes, she agreed, looking down into the slumbering face of her love; she'd no need to dirty her hands with this rabble when Lance could handle them just as well, and would clearly take more enjoyment in the process. I leave this in your capable hands, dearest Lance.
She felt his amusement through the telepathic link that all Tekkamen shared, but she was not entirely certain whether it was caused by her own turn of phrase, or the sheer ease with which he was shattering what little resistance the humans could muster against him.
Knowing that Lance was more than capable of dealing with any number of humans, even without the protection of his transformed state considering how pathetic an adversary any of these fools would inevitably prove to be without even the rudimentary weapons that these creatures armed themselves with, Sword settled into a crouch so that she could rest at least some of Kengo's weight on the ground; since love him though she did, Sword was forced to admit that his unconscious form couldn't remotely be considered light.
The dense bone and toned musculature that made her love one of the best of those warriors who had been chosen to serve the glorious Radam Empire also, unfortunately, made him rather a task to carry now that he had been rendered insensate through his sacrifice.
Sword briefly looked up, as she heard Lance making a rather crude taunt, and shook her head in exasperated amusement. Yes, it likely was rather disconcerting for those humans that Lance was fighting in the nude, and probably far more disconcerting that he was winning, but there was truly no reason for him to indulge in such childishness. Still, speaking of it now would likely distract him from his opponents, and after the battle he wasn't particularly likely to care about what she though of his remarks.
Particularly to a human, since their opinions counted for so little in the first place.
So Sword decided to ignore Lance's little faux pas, intentional though it might have easily been, and simply cradled Kengo's head closer to her body while she sat and waited for Lance to finish dealing with the humans who had been so foolish as to attempt to harm any of those who would properly be their masters.
When she heard the heavy thump of something rather large being dropped at her feet, Sword looked down to see the corpse of one of the humans who had been so stupidly audacious as to threaten them.
"What do you think I want with this?" she asked, rather nonplussed by the sight of the dead human who had been dropped so abruptly at her feet.
"Well, the both of us are going to need sustenance, if we're to be of any more use during this campaign," Lance said, and Sword narrowed her eyes slightly as she considered the merits of what he was saying. "And, I do remember reading that the flesh of these creatures tastes rather like pork."
She chuckled; that fit rather well, that these squalling little things would taste like the little creatures they had once used for food. And, that she, her love, and Lance – who were as high above them as they were above those puny creatures – would use them for sustenance, in turn. It was indeed rather fitting, now that Sword was given the time to reflect on such.
Lance was even courteous enough to wrench the arms – and only the arms, since she had little interest in the legs of these creatures, more substantial meals that they might have been – from the corpses so that she did not have to disturb her love where he slept. Biting into the yielding flesh at the top of the arm she was holding, Sword quickly swallowed the blood that welled up in her mouth, even as she continued to thoroughly chew the meat that she had taken in.
Once she had reduced the mass to mush, almost to the consistency of food that one would feed an infant, Sword gathered Kengo closer into her arms and pressed her lips against his even as she gently pried his unresisting jaw open. Her dearest, unconscious love reflexively swallowed the meat she'd just given to him, and Sword leaned back against a nearby tekkaplant as she began to prepare another such bite.
First, she would see to it that her dearest love would survive these troubled times, and then Sword would see to her own needs.
VI
The first time he'd transformed after the latest in a long line of horrors he'd been forced to face, he'd had Miyuki's crystal tucked neatly away in his pocket, having found it just after getting Shinya dressed in the clothes he could spare and therefore not having had much time to really contemplate just what it was that he was looking at – how much loss was represented by such a simple-seeming thing like the crystal shard he could hide in the palm of either hand – but the next of the Radam monster attacks that it seemed he and Shinya were forced to face every time they seemed to be getting their feet back under them after whatever new tragedy had happened to them. This time, he and Shinya had been sitting together, Miyuki's crystal cupped in his hands and Shinya's cupped around his in turn, just thinking about all that they'd lost.
There had been no more hesitation, then: whatever Kengo and the others had been before, all of them would have to die for what they had done to Miyuki, even over and above what they were trying to do to the Earth.
Miyuki's crystal had still been clenched in his right hand, even as Takaya had leaped into Pegas' interlock-chamber and felt the energies of his transformation fill him. Only this time, there had nearly been more energy than even he was prepared to handle. He'd called to Shinya, at least he was fairly sure he had, but he could sense his younger twin's presence close by in any case.
The Radam monsters that had been descending for another attack were destroyed completely in the wake of what felt like a much, much more powerful variant of his Crash Intrude, and as Blade felt the energies inside him continuing to pour out without even the slightest hint of tapering off, he couldn't help but wonder just where he and Varis were ultimately going to end up.
Right then, the rush of energy that had flung him this far into the air and torn through the Radam monsters in his way like so much used tissue paper, dissipated and left Blade staring up at the Orbital Ring, just a few centimeters in front of him. Turning to look back at Varis, he saw the confusion plainly expressed by his younger twin's body language, and a slight smile worked its way onto his face.
We went further, this time.
Varis' chuckle, along with his younger twin's amusement, came clearly over the link that they both shared. Yeah, we did.
What we said before, I'm even more sure of it now, he said, looking down at the still-glowing shard of Miyuki's crystal he held in his right hand.
Yeah.
With no Radam monsters to threaten them anymore, Blade turned Pegas back toward the Earth and dove. Seeing it all like that, nearly all in one piece even if only for such a short time, brought home just what he and Varis were fighting for again. They weren't just in this for themselves; everyone still living on Earth was depending on them. Seeing Varis' right hand on his left shoulder, even though he couldn't feel it through his armor, brought the smile that had slipped away back to his face.
At the very least, Blade could take comfort in the fact that he wasn't alone; that neither of them were alone, separated as they were from their fellow Space Knights.
As the two of them dove back through the atmosphere, Blade began to consider just which of the evil Tekkamen that he and Varis were facing now would make the most opportune targets. Forcing Spear to give up his tekkaset, while it did appeal to the part of Blade that wanted vengeance for what had happened to Miyuki, didn't really seem to be in the cards for the moment. Particularly since he didn't exactly know if Spear had actually survived.
And, under the circumstances, Blade didn't particularly know what he was hoping for.
VII
Hmm, now that's an interesting development, Axe mused, looking up as he felt a powerful – and powerfully familiar – surge of energy. Sasuke, withdraw.
Are you sure that's a good idea, Axe-sensei? What about the humans?
They're not much of a threat to anyone, except maybe a few unlucky Radam monsters, he said, even as Wraith wove out of the way of another shot of that gun the Sol-Tekkaman pilot – and the pilot of the ship that he'd helped to ground permanently; a memory Axe still savored at times – was aiming at him. There's something more important, out there.
What is it, Axe-sensei?
You would have been a bit distracted, he allowed, smiling indulgently down at the youngest of his students; the little rabbit had a mean kick. But, I sensed Takaya and Shinya, just coming back down to Earth. And I know where they'll land.
Yes, Axe-sensei, Wraith responded, as he obediently disengaged from what could only marginally be considered a battle and flew back up to meet Axe where he stood on Spear's mount.
Good. Now, my little rabbit, let's see what Takaya and Shinya want, he said, chuckling as he directed Spear's mount toward the area where he had sensed two of his most wayward students descending back to the planet they were still so foolishly attached to even after all that defending it had cost them.
When Takaya and Shinya breached atmosphere again, he and Sasuke were right there to meet them. Narrowing his eyes as a thought came to him, Axe returned his attention to his youngest student. Sasuke, release your transformation; I want to see how Takaya and Shinya react.
Yes, Axe-sensei.
The surge of energy that burst forth as Wraith became Sasuke again would have clearly drawn the attention of even a Tekkaman who wasn't paying attention, but the way both twins' gazes – clear even behind the concealing effect of their respective visors – snapped to lock on the small form of his youngest student caused a distinct suspicion to take root in Axe's mind.
Show them your tekkaset, my little rabbit. The brief surge of energy that accompanied the summoning of any Tekkaman's tekkaset was certainly not the most noticeable effect when Sasuke called the requested item back to his hand. No, the most noticeable effect of the favor he'd asked of Sasuke was when Takaya – impulsive as he'd ever been – directed that mechanoid he used to transform without the use of an intact tekkaset to charge the two of them. Ah, so that is what he wants.
Wrapping his left arm around Sasuke's narrow chest, Axe held the little rabbit close to his armored body as he directed Spear's mount to nimbly dodge the sudden, futile charge that his foolish, wayward student had decided to launch against them.
Axe-sensei, do you know what's going on?
That I do, my little rabbit, he said, pleased to have been right even as he continued to dodge the attacks that Takaya, and now Shinya, continued to attempt on the small form of his youngest student. Takaya thinks that, if he claims one of our tekkasets, he'll be able to boost his own, weakened powers. He might even be desperate enough to think that he could make it to the Moon, to challenge Lord Omega himself.
Could he?
Even if he did, Lord Omega would slaughter him in single combat, holding Sasuke closer as he dodged yet another futile attack from Takaya and Shinya, Axe smiled. So you don't need to worry about that, my little rabbit. Still, he paused a moment, dodging another attack from Takaya. You should probably transform again, since it's likely we're going to be fighting in earnest soon.
Right here?
It'll be fine, Sasuke, he said, smiling again at the concern his youngest student was showing for him, unneeded though it was in this instance. I'm still in my armor, and it's not as though we need to worry about Takaya and Shinya right now.
Yes, Axe-sensei. "Teksetta!"
The surge of energy that transformed Sasuke into Wraith once more was a rather interesting thing to sense, particularly from this close, Axe reflected as he and Wraith began engaging Takaya and Shinya in earnest once more. Still, their battle only lasted as long as it took for his wayward students to exhaust their limited powers – something neither of them would have had to worry about if they had simply gone back with Kengo when he had first made the offer to them, but it was clear that Takaya and Shinya were simply being stubborn for whatever frivolous reason they had decided on – and after that they were both forced to withdraw.
Should we pursue them, Axe-sensei? Rapier asked, turning his armored head to look back at Axe.
Not just yet, little rabbit, he said, gently patting Wraith's armored head. I need to contact Lord Omega, and tell him what I've found out about our wayward Tekkamen. Meanwhile, I want you to see if you can find Feng Li and Shinji; we're going to need a place to stay while we're still on this planet, and it would be best if they were present so we could select the place that best serves our needs.
He knew just where Kengo would have wanted to stay, if any of them had had such an option; but the Aiba estate wasn't really suitable for living in at the moment, having stood so long without its caretakers, and so they were going to need at least some place of residence while they all recovered and made plans. Those of them that were conscious to make plans in the first place, of course.
VIII
As Pegas' interlock-chamber released him, just as he was starting to feel that same, hateful disorientation and detachment that had always signaled when he was at the end of his useable time in his transformed state, Takaya sat down on the rocky ground and sighed. He should have expected Axe to have outfoxed him when he'd had Wraith transform back into his human form, but all that he could think of when he'd seen the tekkaset glittering in Wraith's pale hands was the power that even the broken shard that was all they had left of Miyuki had granted them both.
Well, it had granted him power, but he'd shared that power with Shinya so the specifics didn't matter.
"This isn't going to be easy, Ta-kun," Shinya said, and Takaya looked up to see his younger twin drop unceremoniously to the ground beside him.
He scoffed softly. "No," he clutched the remains of Miyuki's crystal tighter, feeling the edges dig into his hand. "No. Still, it's something we can do; for Miyuki."
"For Miyuki," Shinya affirmed, as the pair of them held the remains of her tekkaset between their hands.
He didn't care how long it took, and he knew that Shinya didn't, either: they were going to take a pair of tekkasets from the first pair of Radam Tekkamen they could pin down – whether it was Axe and Wraith wasn't particularly important so much as the fact that they needed a pair – and they were going to go to the Moon so that they could deal with Omega personally.
That was really all there was to it, in the end.