The day seemed to be starting as all days did: they hid from the Radam monster that prowled the streets of their village, inside the few buildings that stood, amid the alien plants that had taken root all around. Rashid called out briefly, but he was silenced just as swiftly by his grandfather. None of them truly knew if the Radam monsters they faced would be able to hear them if they spoke in more than hushed whispers, but not a one of them was eager to find that out for themselves.
The signal was given, and the bombs that had been placed inside the pit traps set up around the village went off, dropping the ground out from beneath the monster and leaving it to fall into the special glue that had been mixed to hold it.
"Don't move yet!" he heard, though having never seen one of their traps in action before this day, it was more of a temptation than any of his family would have approved of.
"You did it!" he called, hurrying out of the building that they had sheltered in for what felt like a much longer time than it probably was.
He followed the trappers to the nearby pit that they had prepared to hold the Radam monster, and saw that the creature had fallen into the specially made glue that covered the bottom of the pit in a layer thick enough to hold even such a huge creature as that one fast. As the trappers discussed the matters of their trap and whether it would hold the beast or not, and if so for how long, Rashid found himself wondering about a far more simple matter.
"Grandpa, why don't you kill him?"
"Because it's impossible, Rashid," Grandfather said, and he turned away from the beast struggling in the pit that had been prepared for it. "We can't kill the Radam monsters with our weapons. Keeping these monsters immobilized is really the best we can do."
"If only the Guardian Spirits would come again," he mused, watching as the Radam monster in the pit struggled in the glue that held it fast.
"Guardian Spirits?" Grandfather asked, turning to look down at him.
"I heard someone from another village talking about them yesterday. They said that the Guardian Spirits can kill any Radam monster they see!"
"That's just a rumor, my grandson, nothing more," Grandfather said, not sounding impressed.
"No, it's not! The man said he saw it with his very own eyes!" he exclaimed.
"Since the Radam gained such a strong hold on the world we've had no reliable communications with the outside," Grandfather said, with all of the wisdom that his age had granted him; still, Rashid did not want to believe such a thing. "Who knows what might be going on over the mountains, or on the other side of the desert. All we ever hear are rumors, and some rumors are simple nothing more than falsehoods, or at best wishful thinking."
"But, if the Guardian Spirits do come, we won't have to be afraid anymore." He continued watching the Radam monster as it struggled to free itself from the glue in the pit. "I think the Guardian Spirits are real; they have to be those Tekkamen we've been hearing about!"
I
When he'd heard that kid and his grandpa talking about the Gemini Boys, Noal had almost had to smile. Sure, the stories might've gotten a bit garbled in the telling, but that was probably just because it'd been a good five months – or a bad five, depending on how you looked at it – since all of the Space Knights had been together. People this far out from the action probably didn't have much of a way to find out just who all of the people were who kept them safe from the Radam's constant barrage of attacks. Well, at least as safe as anyone could be in this world, anyway.
The kid walked past him, as Noal went to take a look down at the trapped Radam monster. It was a bit of a coup, seeing normal people taking down one of Omega's pets like this, but he had to admit that this didn't look all too safe from where he was standing. Having one of these things out in the open, even though it looked trapped in that pit that'd been set up, was bound to attract others just like it; even if only because of that shriek they all make when they were attacking.
Turning away, Noal made his way deeper into the village. The heat was staring to get to him, so he was going to find a nice, shady patch – hard as that might have been in a desert like this place – to take a bit of a rest. Of course, just catching some rest wasn't the most pressing thing on his mind; there was always the chance that those crazy kids of theirs had stopped off here.
They'd have needed to find some place to stay, since the OSDG Headquarters had been totaled by Spear and his little wrecking crew.
Finding his way into the shade of a line of mostly-intact buildings, Noal settled down to take what rest he could. He watched idly as some of the other villagers came and settled themselves down, too, once they'd gotten what they needed from the power plant hidden underneath the village. That was another reason he thought their boys might have been here: no matter how desolate it might have looked, any place with a power generator was pretty much inviting Radam' monsters to take notice of it.
And, for the most part, where you found Radam monsters, you usually found the Gemini Boys handing them their shelled butts.
Leaning back against the cool wall of the building whose shade he was sitting in, Noal let himself breathe a bit easier. Sure, it hadn't exactly been a picnic looking for those kids of theirs in every tent city and small village they'd passed, and trying to keep the Green Earth fueled while they were searching kind of cut into the time they could spend looking, but none of the Space Knights were about to give up so easily.
It might not have been easy, but those kids of theirs were Space Knights too, and no one who wasn't a complete idiot could deny the fact that everyone on Earth would have been a lot worse off if they didn't have the Gemini Boys to spearhead their defense.
"Is this the first time you've been in this area?" the old man, who seemed to be the leader around this place, asked, and Noal got the feeling that he was the leader; it was something in the man's tone, something that he'd come to recognize from the Chief. "You've come here in search of electrical power, haven't you? Energy is extremely valuable these days, you know? I hear it's tightly rationed in every town and village. They're distributing it secretly so as not to draw the attention of the Radam."
The kid was the one who got up, though; offering him a canteen with a wide smile on his face. "Um, would you like some water, sir?"
Noal made a soft noise of agreement, but just as he had reached for the canteen the kid was offering to him, the ground shuddered and the all-too-familiar roaring shriek of a Radam monster sounded. Should have known today was going too well.
The kid and his grandpa, knowing just how things worked in this kind of situation, took off running. Noal followed along with them, wanting to make sure the two of them at least got to safety; because as soon as they did that, he was going to double-back and deal with that damned Radam monster. The kid's grandpa really seemed to know what he was doing, which fit with the way this place had managed to keep together in the middle of the desert with a power station of all things; but that Radam monster wasn't going to break pursuit just because these people were fast.
"Here comes one of the Radam!"
"So, there are still some monsters left," the kid said, sounding a hell of a lot steadier than he'd been expecting from someone his age; probably came with the territory, though.
"If they destroy the power-generator, it'll be the end of this village!" the old man shouted. "We've- No! We've got to run!"
"I'll draw it off! Just keep running!" he shouted; the kid's grandpa might only be worrying about him, but if he let the guy lead a Radam monster back to whatever shelter these people used to weather Radam monster attacks, he'd never forgive himself.
Drawing his pistol, he aimed for the thing's five eyes and fired a few shots to get the twisted space crustacean's attention. Firing and running, and more than a few times having to dodge the thing's pointed legs as it tried to step on him, Noal was able to draw the Radam monster back and away from whatever shelter those people were going to be using to hide out from the Radam's army of space crabs. He fired some more, drawing the Radam monster back further; back toward the abandoned building where he'd stored his Sol-Tekkaman.
Running into the remains of the building, beyond the still barely-intact arch that must have been the remains of another building judging from all the rubble inside it, Noal pulled the cloth he was wearing on his head down just that little bit more to shield his eyes from all of the dust and debris thrown up by the Radam monster as it charged after him. He could, just barely, make out the blue-on-white form of the Sol-Tekkaman he had stored here for when he'd inevitably need it.
It might not have had the sheer, overwhelming power that either of the Gemini Boys could bring down on these things, but then dealing with these things you really didn't need the same kind of power you'd have needed to face down a Tekkaman.
Firing his Fermion gun at the Radam monster as it continued attacking, Noal breathed a bit easier when he blew one of the thing's legs clean off. Sure, one less leg might not seem to be much of a coup with how fuck-off huge these things were, but once you'd been fighting them for long enough, you got real good at recognizing their structural weaknesses when you saw them.
Of course, what he saw next was a hell of a lot more threatening than any Radam monster; even the fact that he was facing a whole swarm of their flying-types wasn't nearly as gut-clenchingly terrifying as the two armored figures – one big and stocky, the other small and lithe – standing on top of that one-eyed flying purple platform that Spear had always seemed to ride around on.
"Well, since you managed to kill one of our monsters, I almost thought you were one of our lost Tekkamen," the familiar, deep voice of the Tekkaman whose name he'd learned was Axe, said. "But, you're just more of that troublesome scrap made by the Earthlings!"
"Sorry to disappoint you!" he called back; sure, this was probably the stupidest thing he could be doing, but there were people here he had to protect. "But I won't let you near my friends!"
Axe laughed again. "Oh? You really think someone like you can stand against us? Sasuke, I think this human could use a lesson."
"Yes, Axe-sensei."
That pint-sized Radam brat leaped down from that flying, one-eyed purple platform, landing on one knee with his armored right fist buried in the ground. The kid – much as Noal might not have liked thinking about it, this was still a kid he was facing – got back to his feet with the same, practiced-looking smoothness that every Tekkaman seemed to have, and Noal had only a few moments to wonder if it was really true that Axe had taught every one of the Tekkamen – D-Boy and D-Two included – how to fight, before the little Radam brat broke out into a dead-run and body-slammed him through the wall of the building they'd both been fighting in front of.
Groaning as he forced himself back to his feet, Noal found himself almost immediately yanked up and off said feet, hoisted up and over the little Radam brat's head, and pile-driven into the ground with a force that Noal could only be grateful hadn't crushed his skull or broken his spine. Struggling back to his feet, Noal panted harshly for only a few moments before he was forced to raise his arms to block the sudden barrage of kicks the little Radam brat was aiming at him.
The sight of that kid running up to him, where he'd been knocked back from what felt like having a steam-piston slammed into his head, chilled Noal's blood over even the sight of that pint-sized Radam brat Axe had called his student coming for him; after all, he'd only been risking his own life, before. Having this kid mixing it up with that pint-sized Radam brat in the armor – whose name he'd have really liked to know, so he could stop thinking of him as just a kid named Sasuke already – aside from giving him the cold shakes just thinking about what'd probably happen to him, meant there was one more variable in this fight.
Because, small as that pint-sized Radam brat in the armor was, this was still a Tekkaman they were talking about here.
"Are you crazy?! Run!"
Before the kid could say one more word, that pint-sized Radam brat had grabbed him by the neck and hauled him into the air. Noal could feel the air leaving his lungs, as he looked at the kid as he struggled in the armored grip of that damned Radam Tekkaman.
"Bastard, get away from him!" he shouted, knowing it was probably a futile gesture but needing to do something, all the same.
He could have sworn he heard the little Radam brat scoffing, but what happened next wasn't remotely what he'd been expecting: the little Radam brat leaped up and flew into the air, just as a wide, emerald beam slammed into the spot where he'd been standing just a second ago. A very familiar wide, emerald beam.
Grinning under his helmet as he looked up to the sky, tracking the beam back to its source, and wondering for a long moment just why it was only Blade who'd fired, Noal squinted into the sun for a moment before the polarized lenses of his Sol-Tekkaman's visor were able to compensate and give him a clear view of just what he knew he'd be seeing. And sure enough, there they were: the Gemini Boys and Pegas, all three of them backlit by the sun.
It was as dramatic an entrance as anyone could ask for, and for a few moments Noal couldn't help thinking that that was the point.
II
(Shinya, deal with Wraith,) Blade said, just the way Varis had been expecting him to after what they'd both seen. (I'll help Noal.)
(Right, Ta-kun,) he said, leaping lightly down from Pegas' back to land in a spray of crushed, broken rock just behind Wraith and the kid he was currently strangling.
Grabbing the smaller Tekkaman's right arm, just above the hand he was using to hold – not strangle, at least not yet – that kid up by the neck, Varis squeezed and brutally twisted that arm as he forced Wraith to release his hold. The evil Tekkaman turned to look back at him over his narrow right shoulder.
(Shinya stop, you're hurting me!)
Barely suppressing an enraged snarl at the sullen glow of those evil red eyes, Varis whipped Wraith through the air and slammed him into the rocky ground had enough to leave a fairly good impression of Wraith's armored body in said ground. Ignoring the pained sounds that the evil Tekkaman was making – it was so much easier to tell himself that this wasn't Sasuke when they were both in armor – Varis slammed another punch into the center of Wraith's back, just below his thrusters, to keep the evil Tekkaman down.
(Shinya!)
Blade's warning shout came almost on the heels of Axe's shoulder-tackle, though he knew his older twin had probably meant to call out before that, so Varis found himself knocked into a crater of his own by the charging form of the larger evil Tekkaman.
(Axe, get back here!)
(We're done for today, Takaya, Shinya. We'll find you again, soon enough!)
With that Axe, with the smaller form of Wraith cradled in his arms – Varis tried not to remember those times when their dad had carried Sasuke to bed – flew off on the same type of creature that Spear had always used to travel when he'd been the one that the two of them were facing. Getting back to his feet, Varis looked to where Blade was standing, his older twin still staring up at the sky where Axe had made his escape from.
Shaking his head, Varis turned to look at Noal. Their old comrade seemed to be recovering his equilibrium as well as anyone could ask for under the circumstances. His armored helmet was off, retracted back so that it stuck up at the back of his head.
"Noal," Blade said, and Varis could tell that his older twin was smiling under his helmet.
"It's good to see you again, Noal-kun," he said, offering his own, unseen smile to his and Takaya's fellow Space Knight.
"That was amazing!" the kid he'd rescued from becoming Wraith's latest victim crowed. "But, I didn't know that there were three Guardian Spirits." The kid turned to face him straight-on, and Varis saw him smile wider. "And you all know each other?"
"I'm D-Boy, and this is my younger brother, D-Two," Blade introduced them both.
"Hey," Noal said, calling pretty much everyone's attention to him, which seemed to be what he'd been aiming for in the first place. "Don't you think you've spent enough time in that armor of yours, D-Two?"
He chuckled softly. "I guess."
After all, it was always best to transform back when you had a chance to, rather than waiting until you were forced to.
III
He wondered for a few moments just what Tekkaman Varis had been discussing with the man that was so clearly his friend, when suddenly Tekkaman Varis began glowing. He had only a moment to wonder why one of the saviors in red would glow with a blue light brighter than the desert sky, when the form of Tekkaman Varis vanished into that same light. Rashid only had to blink three times, then he found a young man – beardless, with the unlined face of a youth who seemed not even to have reached his prime – standing in the place that had been occupied by the Tekkaman Varis.
"All right, D-Boy, you should be getting out of that armor soon, too," the man who had tried to save them all before their Guardian Spirits had arrived – the man who seemed to be trying to protect them, even as the Guardian Spirits protected the Earth – said, and Tekkaman Blade nodded his armored head.
"Yeah."
He heard Tekkaman Blade thanking the man, whose name he learned was Noal, but by then Rashid had returned his attention to the Tekkaman Varis. Or, the youth who wore the armor of the Tekkaman Varis. Noal seemed to use those strange not-names as though they were those that they had been given by their parents, though Rashid did not know of anyone who would give such names to their own children.
"Hey," the Tekkaman Varis said, his voice more gentle than Rashid had ever heard from one who did not live in their village.
"Hello," he said, looking up into the pale, unlined face of the man who wore the armor of the Tekkaman Varis. Reaching out for his hand, Rashid smiled as the Tekkaman Varis crouched down so that he could more clearly see the bright, blue eyes of the youth who had chosen to offer himself in defense of those who could not defend themselves.
Reaching out to take the hand of the youth now crouching before him, Rashid saw the Tekkaman's slight smile as he allowed his hand to be examined. The Tekkaman's flesh, in clear contrast to the armor that he had been wearing, was as soft as it was pale. It also felt warmer to the touch than any other's that Rashid had felt in his life. With only a moment's pause, to see if the Tekkaman Varis objected in any way to his actions, Rashid gently pressed his right hand against the unarmored Tekkaman's right cheek.
The flesh there was as soft as that of the Tekkaman's unarmored hands, and for a moment Rashid found himself wondering just how a youth with such soft flesh could bear the armor of one of the Guardian Spirits. Then, when the youth who was clearly the twin of the one who crouched before him came up to stand by the side of his brother, and the Tekkaman Varis himself rose smoothly back to his feet, Rashid realized that his grandfather and Noal had likely been speaking even while he had been thinking of what he had newly learned of the saviors in red.
"So, are you best friends yet?" Noal asked, the expression on his face one of gentle amusement.
Hearing the soft laughter, just as gentle as the tone of Noal's voice, from the Tekkaman Varis as he fell into line with his twin and his friend, Rashid looked back up into the sky-hued eyes of the dark-armored Guardian Spirit. "What do you think?"
He was almost surprised to hear his own name spoken by the dark-armored savior in red, but then he realized that Grandfather had likely told one of them. "Yes," he said, smiling up at the youth with sky-hued eyes who was the Tekkaman Varis. "I mean, if that's all right with all of you," he continued, turning his gaze to take in the small group.
IV
After they'd said their goodbyes to that Rashid kid and his grandpa, Noal couldn't help but look back at D-Two. It was so weird, seeing him without the Space Knight uniform that he'd pretty much come to expect both of their boys to be wearing. Still, it was always a possibility that he'd lost his uniform sometime during his and D-Boy's travels. Though that did beg the question of how D-Boy had managed to hold onto his uniform.
Still, they could worry about all that stuff later; right now, he was just happy to see the two of them again.
"After five months, we meet again. This is really something, eh D-Boys?" he asked, reaching out to shake first D-Boy's hand and then D-Two's.
"Yeah," D-Boy said, as D-Two grinned.
"What have you two been doing all this time? We've been worried," he admitted; since D-Two's whole clothing situation, amusing as it was, wasn't particularly relevant he wasn't going to bring it up.
"Five months ago, when Headquarters was attacked…" D-Two said, the expression on his face becoming serious enough to match the one D-Boy was wearing. "Well, D-kun could probably tell you better than I can, since I didn't see quite as much of it as he did."
D-Boy's eyes narrowed, that determined expression that Noal had come to know so well from both their boys appearing again. "D-chan, you said Miyuki sent you away…" D-boy's eyes narrowed just that much farther, and Noal got the feeling that he was toeing the edges of something a bit more personal than he was used to. "Anyway, I found him at the base of one of the mesas where the Headquarters used to be, and I also found…" D-Boy stopped for a long moment, and D-Two obligingly wrapped his arms around his older twin's waist, and there was the briefest flicker on their respective foreheads that served to let Noal know that there was more to the conversation than what he was hearing. "I found out what brother and I have to do: kill the remaining Tekkamen and destroy the Radam's base on the dark side of the Moon, where Miyuki said it was."
"That's what brother and I have been trying to find a way to do, for the last five months," D-Two said, letting D-Boy lean against him for a long moment; Noal found himself wondering just how many times during the last five months that the pair of them had spent like that, with D-Boy wearing down enough that his little brother would be pressed into comforting him.
He wondered if the pair of them even kept track, anymore.
"You boys…"
D-Two chuckled. "We've spent the last five months looking for a spaceship, even though we did like the Blue Earth."
"But, there are no spaceships anywhere in the world; not after everything that's happened," he said.
"I know, so that means that the only option brother and I have left is to use the field generator function of another tekkaset to launch ourselves into space," D-Boy said, as he and D-Two both smiled. "But, the only way to do that would be to use an intact tekkaset, and…"
"We don't really have that option," D-Two said, holding up his own tekkaset.
D-Boy wrapped his left arm around D-Two's shoulders, and the pair of them leaned into each other for a long moment.
Sighing as he turned to look back at the sunset, the clouds beginning to turn from gold to pale pink as the sun continued to sink lower. "I see, so that's why you've been traveling all over the world. You're trying to find another Tekkaman to take their crystal? I have to say, I respect your dedication. Both of you Gemini Boys have always been so determined."
D-Boy's smile looked more reflective than any he'd ever seen the kid wear; before or after those little mind-blowing revelations that Miyuki had convinced their boys to share. "Yeah," was all D-Boy seemed willing to say on that particular matter, though, since the expression on his face became one of worry when he turned to look at Noal again. "How are Milly, the Chief, and everyone else?"
Serious as the question might have been, Noal found that he couldn't resist a bit of teasing. "Hey now, try to be a bit more honest with yourself, D-Boy. Are you really asking about the Chief and everyone?"
"Yeah, even before Aki-chan?" D-Two added, grinning like the cat that ate the canary.
He got the feeling, after seeing the look on the kid's face, that the only reason D-Boy wasn't blushing was because the kid didn't want to look like an idiot in front of D-Two; D-Two, who was already grinning at him in that knowing way that only brothers who were particularly close could pull off. Deciding to show some mercy, before D-Boy could start his usual flustered quasi-stuttering and D-Two could inevitably rib him into submission, Noal grinned.
"Come on."
"Right," both twins said, their voices overlapping in that way that people who knew each other well could do when they spoke.
V
The approaching night had truly fallen by the time they made it into sight of the tank that Noal had told them their fellow Space Knights were staying in, but you couldn't have told it by him. It still looked like dusk as far as he was concerned; still, there were some advantages to what the Radam had done to him. Smirking slightly as he heard Levin and Milly – talking about carrots, of all things – Shinya moved forward.
"Really, I don't think carrots are that bad," he said, smiling just a bit wider as Levin turned to look at him. "Hi again, Lev-chan."
Finding himself pulled abruptly forward into an almost bruising lip-lock, Shinya allowed his jaw to relax as Levin gently nudged him to open his mouth. As he gently wrapped his arms around the other man's waist, Levin slipped his own around Shinya's shoulders and the two of them held each other closer. He'd been wondering what would happen, what they were all going to do now that the main force behind the Space Knights were all back together, but none of that seemed particularly important right at this moment.
He'd had few enough gentle moments in this new life of his, so for right now Shinya was determined to savor the one he'd found.
Soon enough, though, the lack of oxygen forced the two of them apart, and Shinya smiled once more as he and Levin faced each other. "Ah, so you did miss me."
"My sweet, sexy D-Two," Levin said, and he felt the other man's hands running through his hair. "I couldn't stop thinking about you, even for a minute."
He sighed; there might've been reasons why he and Takaya had proceeded about things in the way they had, but he didn't like making people worry about him. "I'm sorry I wasn't back sooner."
"Will you tell me why?" Levin asked, tilting his head slightly.
Shinya smiled softly. "Can I eat first?"
Levin laughed, just as softly. "Well, if you help me cook dinner, then I might forgive you."
"Roger," he said, turning to the table that had had their meal-in-the-making-spread out on top of it.
Picking up one of the knives that had been neatly laid on the table, as though waiting for someone to pick it up and use it. For a moment, Shinya was reminded of the times when Kengo would set out the food he was preparing, but he quickly put those memories aside. Now wasn't the time to think of the past; though all of the Space Knights probably knew by now just what he and Takaya were having to deal with, Shinya knew that dragging up the past like that wasn't healthy for a lot of reasons. He tried not to, but sometimes Shinya would catch his thoughts drifting that way.
When Levin planted a soft, gentle kiss on his lips, Shinya closed his eyes and smiled softly; here, now, was all he really needed.
VI
The three of them had started out walking together, but when Shinya had seen Levin and Milly, he'd broke off just the way Takaya had been expecting him to. Breathing deeply once he caught sight of Aki, Takaya could almost feel Noal's knowing smirk behind him. At least brother's not here right now, Takaya mused, smiling slightly in fond amusement as he saw Shinya and Levin meeting up again.
"Aki?" he called, feeling a bit silly for doing so but not quite sure of how else to open this particular conversation.
Aki, who'd been washing dishes at a camp sink when he'd first caught sight of her, turned to face him with an expression of such complete, joyful relief on her face that Takaya found himself wishing for a few moments that he had found the time to contact her while he and Shinya were hunting Wraith and Axe.
"D-Boy!" Aki exclaimed, coming quickly over to meet with him.
"Aki, I-," he said, wondering if she'd be willing to listen to his explanation for what he and Shinya had been doing, or if they would just sound like excuses to her.
"I'm glad you're back," Aki said, and while he was happy to see her smiling the way she was, he still couldn't help but wonder if that was how she was really feeling.
"Sorry," he muttered, looking down slightly as he saw Aki covering the last few steps that separated the two of them.
"D-Boy," Aki said, and Takaya felt her arms wrapping around his waist. "I missed you."
"Aki," he said, leaning his head against Aki's own as he embraced her in turn. "I missed you, too."
Aki turned back to him, and Takaya wondered for a moment what she wanted. That is, he wondered until she kissed him gently on the lips. It was a gentle kiss, nothing like what he'd briefly glimpsed Shinya and Levin sharing over Aki's left shoulder, but Takaya still felt warmed by the thought that she'd even wanted to do that kind of thing with him. Even if he wasn't the best at talking to people, or even the most sensitive to other people's moods.
Well, not when those people weren't Shinya, anyway.