The sense of one of his own washed over him, and he found himself purring softly as the mental presence of one of those he'd nearly lost returned to him.
(Spear, I'm pleased to find you awake again,) he said, turning his ears toward the sound of his returned soldier as the young Tekkaman approached the chamber where he tended to spend most of his time; damaged as it currently was, his Deep Scout still needed tending. (You seem troubled, however. Is there something on your mind?)
(I suppose I am,) Spear said, as his soldier's swift footfalls drew closer. (I've been practicing something that Shinya told me was called Parkour,) Spear elaborated, after only a moment's thought. (It's more difficult than it seemed to be, when he first described it to me.)
(Indeed?) he asked, suspecting that there was more to the young one's current mental state than simply the reminder of one of his former kin.
(Shinya told me that he found the activity useful for clearing his mind and organizing his thoughts,) Spear said, and he found that his young soldier's mind was indeed becoming more settled, even as a certain sense of melancholy seemed apt to cling to him.
It was no surprise, of course, since his young soldier was making use of the advice given to him by an avowed traitor. A traitor he still had yet to resolve himself to killing, given how soundly each and every one of his overtures to either Blade, Evil, or the pair of them had been rebuffed. Still, even the sentiment that bound Spear to the traitor twins could be worn away, with time and patience.
(It seems a rather solitary pursuit,) he said, ears turning to focus more completely on Spear as his young soldier walked beside him.
(Yes, I suppose you're right,) Spear said, that same sense of melancholy continuing to linger about him.
I
Turning to look back at Omega-sama, Spear found himself more than a bit surprised when the Warlord's armor began glowing, then retreated to reveal Omega-sama's form for the first time.
Spear had known that the Warlord was something other than human, but he hadn't been prepared to see just how inhuman Omega-sama truly was. To begin with, Omega-sama was taller than any human Spear had ever seen before, though the kangaroo-like way the Warlord stood made it more difficult to tell just how tall he truly was. Really, Omega-sama bore more than a passing resemblance to several animals that Spear was familiar with from when he had lived on Earth.
His head appeared wolflike, though it seemed to be about the size of a horse. The Warlord's ears looked like an odd cross between a rabbit's and a cat's, which Spear supposed fit with the predatory aspect of Omega-sama's entire form. His nose was so much like a rabbit's that it was even twitching and sniffing at the air as the pair of them faced each other, and long, catlike whiskers stood out on either side of it.
The short, dense-looking fur covering Omega-sama's form seemed to be a few shades darker than the color of ripe wheat, and his long, serpentine tail was adjusting itself as Omega-sama's stance shifted slightly while the pair of them faced each other.
(Come, Spear,) Omega-sama said, directing his attention down the corridor of the ship in front of them. (Tell me what troubles you.)
(Of course, Omega-sama,) he said, bowing before he gathered his composure and set off again.
Even though Parkour was something that Shinya had shown him, Spear still found that it did help him to compose himself and arrange his thoughts. That was clearly something that he was going to need, given what Omega-sama had asked of him.
II
"Come on, Sasuke-chibi, keep up," he said, turning to the youngest of his students as the pair of them ran through the forest of tekkaplants on their way to the large clearing he'd discovered while the pair of them were flying over this area.
Axe was pleased that Omega-sama had seen fit to assign him and Sasuke to work together, both since the younger Tekkaman was still in training, and because he'd come to enjoy Sasuke's company while the pair of them had been working together.
"We're almost there, Sasuke-chibi," he said, grinning as the building loomed up before them. "Now, follow my lead!"
The pair of them kicked open the heavy double-doors in their way, and Axe reached out to steady Sasuke as they landed.
"Good work, Sasuke-chibi," he said, smiling as he reached out to ruffle his youngest student's soft, colorless hair, then pulling the boy back to his feet as he pressed deeper into the church the pair of them were going to be staying in.
At least, for as long as it took to draw Takaya and Shinya to them.
Guiding Sasuke over to one of the large, stained glass windows, Axe settled down, stroking Sasuke's soft hair even as he considered everything that had happened. The fact that Kengo had been forced to shield them all was troubling enough, but the fact that his eldest student had been defending them from Miyuki was outright unsettling. Shinya had been with her at the end, as well, but his older student had survived.
It was something Axe could only wonder about, for the moment, how Shinya had survived Miyuki's death throes when the five of them nearly hadn't.
The ache in the scar on his right side drew his attention, and Axe sighed. It seems those boys will be coming to meet with us, he reflected, narrowing his eyes as he considered what he and Sasuke were likely going to have to do. It was more than likely that the pair of them were going to have to fight Takaya and Shinya, as much as Axe personally disliked the thought.
Still, it was plain to see that those boys were determined to defy Omega-sama, so they would have to learn the price of their defiance.
III
The sound of the Green Earth skimming over the water was nicely blocked out by the reinforced windows he was sitting behind, but Noal couldn't help wondering how it was for the Gemini Boys. Both of them did have more acute senses than any of the other Space Knights, and while it wasn't something either of them liked to talk about – since it was just one more thing that the Radam had done to them – the rest of them did try to take it into account.
The Gemini Boys were their comrades, after all.
"We're crossing over the Dover Strait," he reported, putting on his sunglasses as the Green Earth rumbled away beneath them, carrying the Space Knights on to their next destination. "I just hope the computer analysis checks out, and we find Axe and Wraith there."
"Don't worry!" Milly piped up from his right, sounding about as optimistic as usual. "I've input all the data on the appearance and distribution of the Radam, as well as the path that Axe took when he flew away. And, since Wraith was with him when he left, the pair of them should still be together. The probability of Axe and Wraith being in England is about ninety-six percent."
"That means the danger index is around ninety-six percent, too," he said, not entirely pleased that they were going to be encountering that vicious Radam brat and his thug teacher again, but knowing that there really wasn't anything that he, personally, could do about it. "This time around, none of us can afford to let our guard down."
IV
Narrowing her eyes as she looked up at the mangled Sol Tekkaman in front of her, Levin sighed. "Jeez, you really did a number on your poor Sol Tekkaman," she said, making up her mind that she would tell her sweet, sexy D-Two about this as soon as she found him; maybe if the both of them yelled at Balzac, he would understand how terrible it was to abuse an innocent machine. "What did you do, use him as a scarecrow?"
"Don't throw a hissy fit, now," Balzac retorted, sounding about as irritatingly smug as he ever did. "Each one of those scratches is a medal for making it through hell; that's why I have so many of them."
"You shouldn't sound so confident," Levin said, sighing again as she considered just how much work she was going to have ahead of her. "I'm not just going to be working to repair your Sol Tekkaman, I'm going to power it up, too," she said, turning away from Balzac as he sat on a nearby crate. "Hey, Pegas, would you tilt this Sol Tekkaman a little? I need to see inside."
"Roger," the big mech said, and then proceeded to tip the poor Sol Tekkaman over!
"You went too far again," she sighed, palming her face as she heard Balzac laughing. "I'm going to find D-Two; I need a hug."
Making her way out of the Green Earth's repair bay, Levin rolled her eyes as she heard Balzac laughing harder.
V
Sitting with Takaya on the edge of the Green Earth, looking out over the water as the sunset painted it in oranges, pinks, and steadily-deepening reds, Shinya squeezed his older twin's left hand as the music they were both listening to continued to play. The sound of someone else making their way over to where he and Takaya were sitting drew his attention to Levin, and Shinya found himself both curious and pleased to see the redhead.
"Levin, are you all right?" he asked, catching sight of the despondent look on the redhead's face as Levin settled down next to him.
"Pegas is a total klutz," Levin groused, sitting down next to him and proceeding to cuddle him tightly. "And Balzac was making fun of me."
"He was, was he?" Shinya muttered, narrowing his eyes slightly, even as he found himself turning over something else that Levin had said to him; something the pair of them had been talking about earlier. "Levin, do you still mean what you said, back when we were staying in that castle?"
"Yeah, I did," Levin said, nodding and looking up at him in a way that seemed more than a little scared.
"Ah, so I have a girlfriend now?" he asked, smiling at Levin as the three of them all settled down together.
"Yeah," Levin said, a bright, almost fragile-seeming smile on her face. "Yeah, you do."
"Okay, Lev-chan," he said, smiling gently at Levin. "If that's what you really want."
Levin leaned forward to kiss him almost before Shinya had gotten the last word out, and Shinya couldn't help but feel warmer than he'd felt in a long time.
VI
Watching Shinya and Levin as they kissed, Takaya couldn't help but wonder what his younger twin and Levin had been talking about. The way Shinya had mentioned having a girlfriend gave him at least some idea, but Takaya thought he might try and talk about it with Shinya later. If something didn't happen later, of course.
The sound of more footsteps on the Green Earth's hull drew his attention, but Aki spoke before he could wonder who it was.
"I didn't know you liked classical music, D-Boy," Aki said, and Takaya had the feeling that if he turned around, he'd see her smiling at him.
"Brother's the one who likes this kind of music," he said. "I'm mostly listening to it for him."
Shinya laughed softly. "Really, I mostly listen to songs like this while I'm exercising. It helps me foc-" Shinya's yelp cut off the rest of his younger twin's explanation, and Takaya turned to see Shinya giving Levin the same look he'd given Miyuki so many times when their little sister had done something silly.
"Lev-chan," Shinya growled playfully, pushing Levin to the hull of the Green Earth so he could loom, grinning, over the redhead before leaning down to gently bite the tip of Levin's nose in return for- whatever it was that Levin had done to provoke him.
"D-chan, your girlfriend is still weird," he said, biting back a smile even as he found himself chuckling softly.
Shinya, of course, pulled down his right eyelid and stuck out his tongue in response. Sighing, even as Shinya let Levin up again and he heard Aki laughing, Takaya scooted over slightly to let Shinya settle back down next to him. Wrapping his left arm around Shinya's waist, Takaya found that he couldn't quite resist a smile as he saw Levin wrapping her right arm around Shinya's neck and shoulders.
It was nice, just to be able to sit and watch the sunset like this; nice to be free of the Radam, even just for a moment.
VII
As he and Omega-sama made another circuit of the corridors of the ship – what Omega-sama had told him was called a Deep Scout among the Radam – Spear found that he was actually struggling to keep up. Still, the longer legs and larger thigh-muscles that the Warlord possessed did seem more suited to running than any human that had ever been born.
Even though the both of them were Radam, Spear could hardly deny that Nandorians such as Omega-sama had been all but born to run.
Still, even as he took note of the clear differences in their physical abilities, perfected as they were by the Empire they both served, Spear found that the words he wished to say truly did seem to be coming to him more easily.
(I'm glad to know that the others are all right,) he said, as the pair of them turned a smooth corner, continuing closer to where the remnants of the Argos lay, enveloped within Omega-sama's Deep Scout.
(Particularly after you nearly gave your life shielding them, I expect,) Omega-sama said.
(I suppose,) he allowed, slowing as what remained of the Argos came into view, uncertain quite how to feel about the disapproval he could sense from Omega-sama.
(There is no point in wishing for things that can never be, my soldier,) Omega-sama said, a certain sternness carried along their telepathic link. (The traitors have found their resolve. And so you must find your own. We cannot allow them to continue culling our number the way they have been doing for so long.)
(I know that,) Spear snapped, then shook himself as he remembered just who it was that he was actually talking to. (I apologize, Omega-sama,) he said, bowing deeply even though the mental link between them allowed him to feel how disconcerting it was for Omega-sama to watch.
Apparently, Nandorians bared their throats as a gesture of submission, but the idea of raising his head like that in Omega-sama's presence was just as disconcerting to Spear; a dogeza would probably look utterly insolent to him, considering that tucking all four of the limbs under the body was a Nandorian attack posture.
(You're still unsettled, my soldier,) Omega-sama said, eyes and ears tracking his movements as Spear continued on his way toward the remains of the Argos. (Are you certain you should be returning to this place?)
Sighing as he continued onward, Spear found himself once again feeling that perverse sense of gratitude that the crew section of the Argos had been preserved within Omega-sama's Deep Scout. (Maybe I shouldn't, but this still feels like something I need.)
(Oh?) Omega-sama asked, left ear turning more completely towards him.
It didn't feel like something he could explain to Omega-sama, mostly for the fact that Spear could barely explain it to himself, but he needed to be in the Argos. He needed to be surrounded at least by the memories of his family, even if he couldn't be surrounded by his actual family. Miyuki was gone, Takaya and Shinya seemed more than anything to want him dead, and while Sasuke was loyal, he and Goddard-sensei had left him behind.
The pair of them would return, yes, but Spear couldn't help feeling alone, even with Omega-sama so close at hand.
Making his way through the damaged halls and corridors of the Argos, Spear found his way back to Takaya's room. It was one of the only three rooms that had included any kind of sleeping area, given that the rest of the Argos' crew had been placed in stasis while the ship was traveling, and he certainly didn't want anything more to do with Kouzu Aiba than the blood that the pair of them shared. Glancing over at Shinya's room, as he and Omega-sama passed the slightly opened door, Spear could only recall Shinya's defiant, bright blue eyes staring at him.
Both he and Takaya seemed determined to defy Omega-sama and the rest of the Radam Empire, but the blame for that could be firmly laid at Kouzu Aiba's feet; Spear would never forgive the man for stealing his younger brothers away from him.
(My soldier, we've arrived,) Omega-sama said, settling back on his tail; Spear had wondered how Nandorians sat down, with their long, thick tails to counterbalance them as they ran. (Now, tell me what has been troubling you.)
Sitting on Takaya's bed, with the few reminders of his older younger brother that remained in this silent place – the broken remains of the Argos, within the regenerating hull of Omega-sama's Deep Scout – Spear sighed.
(I guess I'm just… I suppose I am just hoping for another resolution to all this,) he said, feeling hot breath on his face as Omega-sama leaned in, and then the swipe of a tongue under his left eye.
(What is irritating your eyes, my soldier?) Omega-sama asked, standing back up, both ears aimed forward, all the Warlord's attention clearly focused on him.
(There's nothing in my eyes, Omega-sama; I suppose I'm just stressed,) he said, reaching up to wipe a second tear from his right eye.
(Oh? That reaction is also triggered by emotional stress in humans?) Omega-sama asked, clearly more than a little curious, if the impression he was getting over the mental link the both of them shared was any indication.
(Yes,) Spear said, looking up slightly as he felt Omega-sama pressing his soft-furred muzzle to his forehead; reaching up, Spear gently stroked the Warlord's jaw.
Omega-sama did seem to be trying to comfort him, given the impressions Spear was getting over the mental link the both of them shared.
VIII
Legs dangling over the edge of the Green Earth, classical music still playing, Takaya couldn't help but look up at the Moon. It was full again, but it was also a deep red, which couldn't help but remind him of the glaring eye of a Radam Tekkaman. Takaya thought it was more than a bit fitting, since Omega's ship had crashed there, and that was probably where Spear had been taken.
It was probably why neither he nor Shinya had seen him since Miyuki died.
(Are you all right, Ta-kun?)
(I'm… I guess I'm as well as I can be, under a moon like this,) he said, leaning deeper into Shinya's embrace as the pair of them sat together on the edge of the Green Earth.
(Yeah; it looks too much like one of Spear's eyes, on a night like this,) Shinya sighed, wrapping his right arm more tightly around Takaya's waist as the pair of them sat together under the moon.
"D-boy, are you and D-Two doing all right?" Aki asked, bringing Takaya's attention back to the rest of the Space Knights; back to the comrades that he and Shinya had been surrounded by for so long.
"We're doing all right, Aki-chan," Shinya said, before Takaya could think of how he could try and reassure her that he was fine. "It's just strange, looking up at the moon like this."
"It's a red moon," Aki said, sighing as she looked up at the moon, herself. "Is that what you were thinking about, D-Boy?"
"Yeah," he said, glancing up at the red moon for a long moment, before sighing and turning his gaze to the stars all around it. "It's where Omega's ship crashed, and it looks like one of their eyes."
"I guess it does," Aki said, sighing as she turned to look over at him, and Takaya glanced down as he felt her reaching out to take his right hand. "Is that all you were thinking of, D-Boy?"
"D-kun might not have been thinking of anything else," Shinya said, even as Takaya shifted slightly so he could lay his head on Shinya's right shoulder. "But, it sounds like you might have been thinking about something else. Do you want to talk about it, Aki-chan?"
"Well, I guess I was just wondering what kind of things you and D-Boy did with your family," Aki said. "I mean, if it's too painful for you to talk about, you don't have to say anything."
Shinya sighed, and Takaya bit his lip as he felt a certain melancholy passing over him, through the mental link he'd established with his younger twin; the mental link that was meant to help the pair of them track down Axe and Wraith.
IX
"Good work, Sasuke-chibi, keep it up," he said, smiling as he watched the little rabbit pulling himself up; keeping a tight grip on the little rabbit's ankles, Axe braced himself and lightly tossed Sasuke into the center of the room. "Good," he said, smiling wider as he watched Sasuke leap back to his feet.
Blocking the little rabbit's kicks and punches as the pair of them sparred, Axe found himself thinking back on the time he'd spent training Takaya and Shinya. Truly, Shinya had been the one most dedicated to the training that Axe had been giving the twins, and Sasuke had been right there, watching. The look of wonder on the little rabbit's face back then had been just the same as the one Axe was seeing now.
Axe was pleased to see it; pleased to know that at least Sasuke had taken the lessons he had been teaching the Aiba siblings to heart, along with Kengo.
Even as he kept up Sasuke's training, working to correct the mistakes he could see in the younger boy's stance and fighting style, Axe found that thoughts of their inevitable meeting with Takaya and Shinya wouldn't leave him. Those boys would be coming, Axe had made sure of it, and all that he and Sasuke could do was to prepare for it.
To train themselves and their skills, and then to confront those boys when they arrived; to hold the line, until Kengo recovered and was able to return to them.
As he and Sasuke continued sparring, moving through the wide aisle between the narrow pews of the church he and the little rabbit were staying in together, Axe found himself more and more pleased to be able to teach so many receptive students. Even with Takaya and Shinya's continued defiance, Axe had at least some hope of bringing those boys back onto the right side.
He knew that Kengo would be pleased to have the pair of them back, once he recovered.
Catching Sasuke as his youngest student stumbled, feeling the increasing fatigue the little rabbit was prey to, Axe turned Sasuke around and directed him to power-walk around the edges of the double-row of pews in the church, loosening himself up and cooling his muscles down so that he wouldn't wake up stiff and sore after the pair of them went to sleep for the night. Ruffling Sasuke's soft, colorless hair as the pair of them began slowing down, going from a fast-walk to a normal walk, and then to a stroll as Axe steered him toward the stained-glass windows that would allow the pair of them to sleep more comfortably than any of the hard, narrow pews at the center of the church.
Lifting Sasuke into his arms, Axe climbed up onto the windowsill, settling the little rabbit down in his lap, wrapping his left arm around Sasuke's chest under his arms, to brace the boy so he wouldn't roll off of Axe's lap while he was sleeping.
Takaya, it seems that you and Shinya will be meeting Sasuke and I soon, he mused, narrowing his eyes as he caught sight of a moth, fluttering around the candles he'd lit so that he and Sasuke would have at least some light while the pair of them had been sparring. I truly hope we can come to some kind of an accord, boys.
Narrowing his eyes, Axe threw the knife he'd carried with him, pinning the moth to the far wall of the church.
Turning back to Sasuke, Axe twined his fingers together with the little rabbit's, smiling softly as he saw Sasuke's pale skin contrasted with his own suntanned skin.
X
"Mr. Goddard," D-Two paused for a moment, sighing. "Well, he's Tekkaman Axe now. But, he was Dad's assistant. His job was working with electronics, but his real passion was martial arts," D-Two leaned back, and D-Boy braced him so he wouldn't tip over. "I trained with him a lot. Not for Parkour or swimming, I mostly learned those on my own, but Mr. Goddard was the one who taught all of us to fight," D-Two narrowed his eyes, looking down into the dark water that the Green Earth was traveling over. "Sasuke – Tekkaman Wraith, you know – always came to watch me when I was training. Now, it seems like Axe is training Wraith, himself."
"And now you're both going to be fighting them," she said, feeling her heart clench with sympathy for the pair of them; even after everything that D-Boy and D-Two had been through, they were going to have to fight even more of their family members.
More people who had been taken from them by the Radam.
"Mr. Goddard really did seem to enjoy being a martial arts instructor more than he enjoyed working with electronics," D-Boy muttered, sighing as he leaned more heavily against D-Two.
Wrapping her left arm around his neck, while D-Two wrapped his right arm around D-Boy's waist, Aki wished for a long moment that she could find the courage to kiss D-Boy's cheek. It might even make him feel better, but the thought that it would make her feel better made Aki feel more than a bit selfish about the prospect. D-Boy and D-Two had been talking about the family the Radam had stolen from them; Aki didn't want to make things all about her.
XI
"The moon is the color of blood tonight," Noal muttered, narrowing his eyes as he looked up into the sky. "Seems a bit ominous." He wondered what the Gemini Boys were thinking, seeing the moon that color, and what was hiding on the far side of the satellite.
Or, just who was hiding there, really.
XII
(Shinya, do you remember our last survival training?)
(That mountain we climbed, Ta-kun?) he asked, leaning his right cheek against the top of Takaya's head, blinking slowly as he wondered what his older twin could have been getting at; what Takaya was thinking, bringing that kind of thing up at a time like this. (What about it?)
(I… Well, I was just thinking. Father told you not to, but you still saved me from the flooding river,) Takaya said. (You've always protected me, ever since the both of us were small.)
(You were the one who started things, Ta-kun,) he said, gently stroking his older twin's hair. (You saved me, that day after the fire; when Father brought Sasuke-chan home.)
Takaya didn't seem to have anything to actually say to that, just holding him tighter as the pair of them looked up at the moon together.
XIII
Laying back on the bed that Takaya had slept on, during the short time that he, Shinya, and Kouzu Aiba had spent on the Argos together, Spear gently stroked Omega-sama's jaw.
(Omega-sama, would you talk to me?) Spear said, still feeling hollow and more than a little shaken, even after enough time had passed for him to physically recover from having Miyuki-chan all but die in his arms. (I want to know more about you.)
Omega-sama rumbled deep in his throat, sounding more than a little like the oversized housecat he resembled in more than a few aspects. (Well then, I suppose I should properly introduce myself: my name is Takkonniku. Or, at least that is how it would sound in the language you primarily speak.)
(What do you mean by that, Omega-sama?) he asked, briefly pausing his motion of stroking the Warlord's lower jaw.
(The name you've been using would be more properly defined as a title,) the Warlord said, seeming gently amused about the current situation. (I was called Umegon Takkonniku by my mentor, Kourita.) The rumbling sounds of what reminded Spear a great deal of the way a housecat would purr when they were being petted grew louder, and the sense of amusement changed to one of interest.
(Are there more like you? And, what would you prefer that I call you?) Spear asked, more than a bit curious about the Warlord, now that he'd learned something more about the Warlord.
(You may continue to refer to me as you have, if you prefer,) the Warlord said, as the pair of them continued their talk. (As to your other question, yes: my mentor, Kourita, as well as my clan-brothers Tiraikku and Kouha, my clan-sister Kouka, as well as the rest of my people. Once we have settled this colony, you'll likely have the chance to meet them.)
(I look forward to that,) Spear said, pausing for a moment, as he considered just what he was going to call the Warlord from now on. (Takkonniku-sama.)
(As do I, my soldier,) Takkonniku-sama said, leaning in to nuzzle his forehead.
Spear reached up to stroke his muzzle, feeling more settled than he had in some time; even though he was most likely going to be forced into combat with Takaya, Shinya, and their Space Knight allies once again, but knowing that there was something beyond this battle of theirs did provide a kind of comfort to him, at least.
XIV
With Aki's arm around him from his right side, and Shinya's seeming to brace him from his left, Takaya found that he couldn't stop thinking of the way Shinya had actually snapped at Father, before his younger twin had reached down to pull him from the flooding river that the both of them had been knocked into by that falling tree. He'd never thought that Father had been treating the pair of them differently, at least not before that night.
After it, however, Takaya had started to see the way that Father tried to coddle Shinya, and how much it had annoyed his younger twin; Shinya didn't mind being supported, of course, but he hated to be underestimated.
Sighing softly, Takaya reached into his right pocket, where he'd kept the remains of Miyuki's shattered tekkaset ever since he'd found it; right on the spot where she'd died, and so close to the place where Shinya had fallen.
"What is that, D-Boy?" Aki asked, even as Takaya felt Shinya's right hand curling around his own.
"It's Miyuki's tekkaset," he said, smiling softly as he leaned deeper into Shinya's loose embrace. "She was like us: Miyuki didn't lose her human heart, even after she was transformed into a Tekkaman. So, I think that Sasuke-chan and Goddard-sensei must still be who they used to be, somewhere deep inside."
"Yeah," Shinya said, nodding even as he narrowed his eyes up at the red moon. "We just have to get past their Radam instincts, to reach the person inside."
"Is that why they're invading Earth?" Aki asked, looking sadly down at the water the Green Earth was still traveling over.
"Probably," Shinya said, glaring up at the red moon. "But we're going to stop them."
"Even if we do end up having to kill them," Takaya said, making a promise not only to his younger twin, not only to the rest of their fellow Space Knights, but to all the people of Earth who were depending on them. "But, to get to the moon, we're going to need a complete crystal. One for each of us," he said, looking over at Shinya, as his younger twin turned a fierce, determined smile on him.
Together, the pair of them could defeat the Radam's remaining forces, even if it did end up costing the lives of the rest of their family.
XV
She'd been forced to leave her sweet, sexy D-Two behind, but working with the Sol Tekkaman – even if Balzac was still a jerk for laughing at her – was one more way Levin could help her friends and fellow Space Knights. Even her sweet, sexy D-Two would be safer with a second Sol Tekkaman to help him. Even if it wasn't by that much.
"It's all done!" she exclaimed, grinning widely, even as Balzac stood next to her. "What do you think? I mean, this one might not be quite as sexy as my beautiful D-Two, but-"
"I like it," Balzac said, grinning. "This one looks like a hard worker."
"All right!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Well, I'm overdue for a victory cuddle-"
"And you know just who you're going to get it from, don't you?" Balzac tossed back, grinning widely.
Levin stuck out her tongue in return; he might have been right, but she was hardly going to tell him that.
XVI
They'd headed back inside, him and Takaya, after he'd suggested that the pair of them should get some actual sleep instead of spending the rest of the night staring up at the moon. The feel of a familiar someone's wiry arms wrapping around him brought a small smile to Shinya's face, and he turned as Levin leaned forward to kiss him.
"All finished with your work, Lev-chan?" he asked, as the pair of them broke for air.
"Yeah, so I can at least escort you both to bed, yeah?" Levin asked, a cheerful smile on her face as she wrapped both of her arms around his unoccupied right; he'd had the left wrapped around Takaya as soon as he'd managed to convince his older twin to go to bed.
"Of course, Lev-chan," he said, laughing softly as the three of them made their way back to the sleeping area of the Green Earth.
He and Takaya might have been staring down another confrontation with Tekkaman Axe and Wraith, but at least they would be rested before it. At least they would have their comrades to support them. And at least they still had each other.
He and Takaya could face anything the Radam set against them, Shinya knew, as long as they had each other.