It'd been some time since the two of them had found their way to this church to settle down in while they trained and made their plans to deal with Takaya and Shinya; he wasn't so concerned with the humans who tagged along with them, since humans in general weren't particularly of interest to the Empire unless they were being transformed into Tekkamen.
Looking down at Sasuke where he lay, curled up on his chest and breathing softly, Axe smiled softly as the younger Tekkaman slumbered on.
(Good morning, Sasuke,) he said, sitting up slightly as the younger Tekkaman shifted in his arms. (I'm glad you're rested, now hurry and get back to your exercises, little rabbit.)
(Yes, Axe-sensei,) Sasuke said, fully opening his eyes and tilting his head up as Axe raised them both back into a sitting position.
Lifting the youngest of Omega-sama's forces up and setting him gently on his feet again, Axe smiled. "I want five laps around the pews, and make sure you stay on top of them while you run," he said, giving Sasuke a stern smile even as he reached down to ruffle the boy's soft hair. "Let's see how fast you can manage."
"Yes, sensei," Sasuke said, bowing to him before turning to leap lightly to the top of the nearest row of pews to begin his first laps of the day.
Turning away from his observation of Sasuke as the young Tekkaman continued the routine that Axe himself had set him on and making his way out onto the balcony so that he and Omega-sama would be able to speak without distracting Sasuke from what he'd been asked to do.
Taking a last look back at the youngest of his students as he stood before the large, glass doors that would take him out onto the balcony, Axe smiled as he watched Sasuke jump from one pew to the one just on the opposite row. It was good to see that the young Tekkaman was so diligent when asked to work like this. But he didn't have any more time to reflect upon those matters.
Omega-sama had called on him, and like any loyal servant Axe would answer.
Standing outside on the balcony, overlooking the wide expanse of swiftly-growing tekkaplants, Axe turned his attention towards the sensors that Omega-sama had planted the edges of this church when Axe had informed him that he and Sasuke would be staying here while they enacted his plan. He didn't quite know how the plan would work out, not with the twins both seeming bound and determined to force a confrontation, but Axe was duty-bound now to carry through with it.
And, unlike Takaya and Shinya, Axe still understood his duty.
Axe bowed slightly to the sensor that was now aimed at him.
"Here's my report, sir: the survival coefficient of the humans is fifty-two percent, while the breeding coefficient of the Radam trees is sixty-four percent. The humans and Radam trees are at a 4 to six ratio. This is the current situation in the European Area," he said, knowing that his words were being received and transmitted back to the Moon, but not quite the specifics of how for the moment; maybe, if he was given the time later, he'd ask how such a thing was done. He knew it had to be some kind of bio-electric converter, and electronics had been one of his passions, though not nearly as much as martial arts.
(You've been killing too many of them, Axe. Do try to restrain both yourself and your student. Wraith looks to you for instruction, and lowly though the humans are, some of those here might have the potential to join our forces,) Omega-sama said, his tone sounding as calmly calculating as it ever had.
"Yes, sir. I'll keep that in mind," he said, pitching his tone to be reassuring, and wondering for a moment just how it was coming through on the other side of their connection.
(Regarding that subject, how is Wraith's training progressing?)
"He learns as quickly as his brothers," he said, smiling fondly at the reminder of the youngest and most loyal of his students. "He's also eager to prove himself against Shinya in particular."
(Spear has nearly recovered, so you'll have his support very soon. I would be interested in the little one's progress, however. Show him to me.)
(Sasuke, come out,) he called, turning back to look through the glass doors in the direction of the pews; he couldn't see them all that well from where he was standing, but he could see when Sasuke began making his way over.
(Yes, Axe-sensei.)
It wasn't long before Sasuke was making his own way out through the glass doors and onto the balcony.
"You wished to see me, Omega-sama?" Sasuke asked, bowing respectfully as he came into sight of the apparatus that their Warlord was using to communicate with them.
(Yes, child, I did. How has your instruction been proceeding?)
"Very well, Omega-sama, thank you," Sasuke said.
(I'm pleased to know that, little one,) Omega-sama said, and Axe smiled wider.
A good teacher always enjoyed having the fruits of his teachings acknowledged.
(Axe, see that you continue to monitor the growth of the Radam trees.)
"I will, sir," he said, reaching down to ruffle Sasuke's soft hair, bowing slightly as the transmitter he was speaking through went dormant again.
"I'll help you with that if you want me to, Axe-sensei," Sasuke said, looking up at him with that same, earnest expression he'd seen more than a few times on Kengo's face.
"I'll keep that in mind, Sasuke-chibi," Axe said, smiling as he ruffled Sasuke's hair again. "You should keep training; Master Kengo is going to want to see how much better you are when he comes back to us."
"Yes, Axe-sensei," the little rabbit said, bowing deeply as he turned to make his way back inside.
Axe stood still for a moment, enjoying the sunlight and the fresh scent of the tekkapods, before making his way back inside, as well. Takaya and Shinya would be coming soon, best to see Sasuke prepared for that. The fact that neither of the twins would risk using their respective Voltekkas, given the risk of destroying the very crystals they were attempting to obtain, would make this coming confrontation one of purely skill and training.
And physical force, which he already had the advantage over either Takaya or Shinya; though the fact that neither of those boys tended to fight alone against anything but large groups of their monsters did make him grateful for the skill and training that Sasuke would bring to this battle.
I
The steady rumble of the Green Earth's engines usually served to relax him, but now it only served to remind Takaya of just what the people he could be said to be closest to in the world were about to be getting themselves into. He didn't like the thought one bit, and would have even asked Shinya to stay out of it if he hadn't known full-well that his younger twin would have punched him in the head for suggesting it. But, even if it was doomed to failure, Takaya found that he had to at least make the attempt.
"Hey, this is something I've been wondering, but why don't either of you use your Voltekka against Axe or Wraith?" Levin asked, before Takaya could begin to muster any of his arguments against the other Space Knights coming with him.
"One Voltekka would be too powerful, much less two of them," he said, mind still open in order to be able track Axe and Wraith's mental signals; they were both growing steadily stronger as he and Shinya closed in.
"Oh," Levin said, her tone sounding like she wasn't particularly happy with what Takaya was saying. "Wouldn't being powerful be a good thing?"
"We'd probably be able to kill Wraith, maybe even him and Axe if we used them at the same time," he said, folding his arms and sighing. "But, there would be too much of a risk that we'd destroy their crystals if we kill them using the Voltekka."
"Oh?" Levin asked, though the redhead's tone made it sound like she was asking a rhetorical question.
"So, you Tekkaman Boys have to go into battle without being able to use your finishing move?" Balzac asked, a commiserating tone in his voice. "That's tough."
"Also, how do you know you can get to the Moon with one of their crystals?" Levin asked.
"Miyuki showed us," Shinya said, in a softly terse voice.
With their mental-link in the state it was while they had been using that link that all Tekkamen shared with one another to be able to track down Axe and Wraith, Takaya could sense his younger twin's thoughts on the matter almost as clearly as though they were his own. Neither of them was particularly happy to have the rest of the Space Knights tagging along for this. Not with what they both knew Axe and Wraith were capable of.
"Is that a crystal fragment?" Levin asked, sounding curious and a bit worried.
Or maybe that was just how Takaya felt, himself.
"It belonged to Miyuki," Aki said, from where she'd been sitting in the back row
"It was two weeks after I found Shinya in the remains of the Space Knights' base," he said, trying not to think too hard about just what made him so edgy about potentially having the rest of their comrades around during the kind of fight that he and Shinya were about to get themselves into. "Shinya was still resting, but that was before the Radam's monsters started coming down on us," he said, holding out the remains of Miyuki's tekkaset; it'd become something of his personal talisman over the time he'd carried it.
Narrowing his eyes as the Green Earth continued on its way, Takaya leaned into Shinya as his younger twin wrapped his right arm around his neck, continuing to tell the story of what had happened when he'd transformed. Telling his and Shinya's comrades about the last gift Miyuki had given them, and just what the pair of them had learned from it.
"The three of us had reached the stratosphere in an instant," he continued, smiling slightly as Shinya reached out to cup his hands around the shard of Miyuki's crystal Takaya was holding in his right palm. "The remaining power in Miyuki's crystal reacted to our Tek-Set," he curled his fingers slightly, twining them with Shinya's. "The crystal's power formed a Crystal Field, and for a moment it enveloped us. And, if this little fragment was capable of doing so much, then there's no question that Shinya and I could both make it to the Moon if we had a complete crystal of our own."
No one really had anything to say, not to that, anyway; but it wasn't all smooth sailing.
"What's going on?" Shinya asked, as the Green Earth slammed to an abrupt stop.
"There's too many Radam trees to go farther," Noal said. "What do you D-Boys think we should do?"
"You know what the answer to that is, Noal," he said, fists clenching at his sides. "We go forward. Shinya and I have been getting a constant signal. Axe and Wraith are waiting on the other side of this forest."
II
Clasping his hands on Sasuke's narrow shoulders, Axe continued calling out to Takaya and Shinya as he observed the path they would inevitably make their approach from, considering the direction he could tell they were moving in.
(It's been a long time since the four of us truly spoke,) he said. (Sasuke and I have both missed you. Come to meet us soon.)
He rather suspected that that was precisely what the two of them were doing, since their mental signatures had both been growing ever clearer – and hence closer – the longer he and Sasuke stood on the balcony waiting.
"Are they going to be here soon, Axe-sensei?"
"They'll be here soon, little rabbit," he said, smiling as he reached up to ruffle the younger Tekkaman's soft, short hair. "And we'll be ready."
"Yes, Axe-sensei."
Looking back out, down the path that Takaya and Shinya would be taking on their way up to the ground that he had prepared for them – the path their mental signatures were still on – Axe found that that strange vehicle of theirs hadn't yet come into sight. He knew that it had to be only a matter of time until it did, since Takaya and Shinya weren't at all likely to ignore the baits he'd kept setting out for them every time they chanced to run into each other. Or, at least that was what he allowed Takaya and Shinya to think.
III
The road in front of them didn't look particularly promising, but if Noal knew one thing about the Gemini Boys, it was how stubborn they both were. Neither of them were likely to let a little thing like being hemmed in on all sides by the Radam's forest get them down, or stop them from what they were clearly bound and determined to do, so Noal knew it'd be up to him to get them all moving again.
"Come on," he said, already standing so he could make his way out to where their secondary transport was stored. "Into the Jeep; it's more maneuverable in these tight spaces."
There was a general agreement on that point, so Noal led the way to where the Jeep and some of the other peripherals were stored. There was no way in hell that he wasn't going to haul his and Balzac's Sol Tekkamen out to wherever it was that Axe was calling them from; no way in hell he was going to let those two go off on their own with all the trouble they always seemed to get into.
Once they had all made it to the vehicle-bay at the back of the Green Earth, Noal was just about to start discussing what they had all come here for, when he noticed Aki and Levin had already started lashing the flatbed haulers to the trailer-hitch. So, with that particular job out of the way, Noal called Balzac over so that the two of them could start getting their Sol Tekkamen ready to travel.
Neither of the Gemini Boys seemed particularly happy about that, but there were just some things a man needed to do when his friends were in danger; wasn't his fault that D-Boy kept missing that. D-Two understood, so that was at least one of the Gemini Boys whose neck he didn't want to wring. It was a start, at least.
Once he and Balzac had finished loading up their respective suits and getting them secured, with D-Boy's disapproving gaze boring into them the whole way – something Noal was getting more and more used to ignoring – Noal hopped into the Jeep's driver's seat and waited as the rest of his friends and fellow Space Knights all climbed in and made themselves as comfortable as they could.
"Are all of you buckled up, kids?" he asked, drawing a smirk from D-Two and mostly unamused looks from the rest of his fellow Space Knights.
Starting the Jeep without another word, Noal hit the gas and guided her and their long string of trailers out of the Green Earth so they could continue on their way. The forest of tekkaplants all around them wouldn't have let them get the tank through in any case, but given how thickly-clustered they were in this area, Noal wasn't entirely sure if even the Jeep was going to have an easy time navigating the terrain. Still, it was a quicker alternative than setting out on foot, and better for keeping all of them together for what they were going to be doing whenever they got to wherever it was that Tekkaman Axe and his little Radam brat were baiting them to.
If it'd been anyone else insisting they walk into this kind of a trap, particularly with two Radam Tekkamen who were obviously going to try to kill them all for it, Noal would have insisted on finding a different plan; still, in this case, doing that would have probably just ended up with the Gemini Boys sneaking off to deal with Axe and Wraith. On their own, with no one to back them up when things inevitably went south. That was one of the things he was particularly hoping to avoid, especially under the circumstances, so Noal made it a point to keep his misgivings to himself.
Everyone already knew that he wasn't generally in favor of the plans those crazy kids had made, especially the kinds that involved the pair of them walking into the jaws of a trap that had been set up by an evil Tekkaman or two, so there wasn't really much point in going over and over that kind of thing again.
"D-Boy, is it all right to head in this direction?" he said, after he'd had to steer carefully past a pair of bubbling pools of goop – Radam-goop, no less – in the narrow path they were all traveling on.
"Yes, it is," D-Boy said, sounding as determined as he ever did.
D-Two didn't answer, but from the look of concentration on the kid's face, he might not've heard the question in the first place. It was smooth sailing for awhile linger, but Noal knew that this wasn't the kind of terrain a guy could afford to be careless on. The Jeep nearly bounced over the ridge of a sudden drop-off that he hadn't seen nearly in time to avoid, causing them to end up with the right-side wheels of the rugged vehicle sunk right into a pool of the bubbling much that Noal had been hoping to avoid.
"My bad. I lost control of the car," he said, as his fellow Space Knights groused and muttered and tried to sort themselves out.
IV
Tuning out the complaints from the other Space Knights, Takaya turned his attention to Shinya, even as Noal tried to get them loose from the pool of shimmering ooze that their Jeep had fallen into.
(We're going to have to walk the rest of the way, Ta-kun,) Shinya commented.
He could hear the soft click of his younger twin's seatbelt as Shinya removed it, and the clatter of Shinya's footsteps as his younger twin jumped down out of the Jeep. After he'd given Pegas orders to follow them as they moved, Takaya caught up to Shinya and the pair of them began making their own way along the path that would lead them to… to wherever it was that Axe and Wraith wanted them to come.
To their next battleground.
"Do you think they're going to try to catch up?" he heard his younger twin mutter, over the distant shouts of their fellow Space Knights.
"Probably. But we can't let them."
The shouting was getting more than a bit louder, so by mutual agreement he and Shinya both picked up the pace. It wouldn't be right to go leading their fellow Space Knights into the kind of danger that Axe and Wraith posed to anyone who wasn't a Tekkaman, and if they managed to lose them by the Jeep then that would be all to the better. At least they would have a way to retreat before Axe and Wraith came down on them.
For a moment, even though he knew it was useless, Takaya wished that he'd managed to talk Shinya into letting him handle the pair of evil Tekkamen alone.
Then they were standing outside the large, tall, imposing building that Axe had selected for their battleground, and there was no more time to think about things like that. It was something Shinya would have probably thought was funny, that every one of the evil Tekkamen they had been forced to face had taken shelter in an abandoned church, but if Shinya had anything to say on the matter he kept it to himself. Now really wasn't the time for that kind of thing, anyway.
Slowing back to a walk after they'd run so far for so long, Takaya could already feel his stamina beginning to recover. He knew it was an effect caused by all of the nutrient-gas the tekkaplants were putting into the pair around them, and so while he wasn't particularly happy to be the beneficiary of anything the Radam had set up for him, Takaya didn't grumble about it. There was already plenty of things he hated about the situation; he wasn't going to waste time complaining about the small things.
(It's just like when we fought Spear,) he snarled over their mental link.
(They really do seem to like places like this,) Shinya said, a weary sort of amusement projected over their link along with his younger twin's words.
The large, dark wood double-doors creaked as they opened, and Takaya quickly found himself staring into the dimly lit – or it would have been dimly-lit to someone who wasn't a Tekkaman – interior of the church. He also found himself confronted with the very Tekkamen who'd drawn them so deep into this place to begin with, but the two of them seemed content to wait for him and Shinya to come to them rather than the other way around. Takaya didn't know quite how he felt about that.
He did know that he would have felt a lot better about things if Shinya would have been the type to agree to stay behind, however.
"Goddard," he snarled.
"Welcome back, Master Takaya, Master Shinya. Sasuke-chibi has been missing you. Why don't the three of us talk, while we wait for him?" Axe asked; Takaya clenched his fists at the sentiment in Axe's tone, even as Shinya looped his left arm through Takaya's right.
He wasn't about to give Axe the satisfaction of getting a rise out of him, even if he said he didn't want that. When Tekkaman Wraith came out, looking small and almost fragile next to Axe's stocky, well-tanned, broad-shouldered, imposing bulk, Takaya leaned a bit more into the comfort of his younger twin's body. God help him, he still couldn't quite resign himself to the thought of killing Tekkaman Wraith the way he was going to have to kill all of the others.
No matter how many times Takaya told himself that this was just another evil Tekkaman like Spear, all he kept seeing was his and Shinya's younger brother Sasuke.
"Goddard, what do you think this is going to accomplish?" Shinya asked, his voice a little tight with the tension that Takaya could still sense over their link; he hadn't shut Shinya out again, knowing that he would need his younger twin's support for what was going to come.
"I'd hoped that you, of all people, would have been willing to be reasonable, Master Shinya," Axe said, a slight smile on his weathered face; it almost looked like the one Spear tended to wear, and Takaya ground his teeth at the memory. "You've always been a good counter-balance for Master Takaya."
Clenching his fists tight enough that he almost felt his nails going through the flesh of his hands, Takaya tried to force himself to calm down before he did something even more drastic than just running flat-out to confront Axe and Wraith on ground they'd already had time to prepare.
"What do you want, Goddard?"
"It's strange, the way destiny works, isn't it?" Axe mused; Takaya tensed as the evil Tekkaman stepped closer to the pair of them. "I was the one who taught you and Shinya to fight. And, while I was working with Master Shinya, Sasuke-chibi would always come to watch, learning as much as he could. And now, to see that you boys are using the lessons I taught you against the rest of your family… I admit, I'd never though something like this would ever happen. Honestly, it was difficult enough learning that the pair of you had already fought Master Kengo. So, why don't the pair of you come back to us? Join up with the Radam again. Come back home."
Come back home… for a moment, Takaya could almost see Spear's empty smile and outstretched hand in place of the one Axe was offering him. "Goddard," he snapped, forcing his attention away from their old teacher. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite tear his eyes away from where Sasuke – where Wraith – was standing, right beside Axe; the Radam Tekkaman had his muscular right arm around both of the younger Tekkaman's shoulders and was gently guiding him to stand in front of the pair of them. "You know that won't happen."
It helped, looking at Axe's arms; it help to keep his attention off the sadness on… on Tekkaman Wraith's face.
As a small, soft hand curled around his own left hand, Takaya tensed nearly to the breaking point when he looked down into Sasuke's – into Tekkaman Wraith's – upturned face. The youngest of Omega's Tekkamen was staring up at him with such a sad, hopeful expression that for a moment – a single moment in time; a moment of weakness that Takaya wasn't eager to admit to even Shinya – Takaya wished that everything could go back to the way it had been. But, even he and Shinya working together couldn't turn back time.
And he wasn't about to sacrifice Earth to the Radam just for his own comfort.
As he walked, stiff-legged and tense, into the darkened interior of the church, lined with chipped pillars that lent the place an even more profound aura of abandonment and disuse, Takaya mused bitterly that this was the perfect place for this kind of a confrontation to happen; the perfect metaphor for what was about to happen. This empty place, that had once been filled with light and color and life and song… he and Shinya had once had those things, too.
Now, all that was left to them were the sad, broken remnants of what had once been their lives.
Axe had been talking, and Shinya had been keeping up their end of the conversation for the both of them, but until he saw the pair of evil Tekkamen settling themselves down on a pew in front of them – until he knew that the two of them weren't going to go any farther – Takaya couldn't allow himself to relax enough to listen.
"Still thinking, Master Takaya?" Axe asked, smiling gently in the same way that Spear always had.
"Why are you even here, Goddard?" he asked, wanting to have at least some answers, before everything crashed down on his head again.
"I want you boys to come back with us, Master Takaya. Sasuke misses you, Master Kengo misses you," Axe said, his hands on Sasuke's shoulders as their younger brother sat down in front of him. "And, I confess that I've been missing our training sessions, too."
"The answer is no!" he snapped, already starting to feel worn down from the constant repetition; Spear had done just the same, and it had been just as exhausting then.
"Takaya-niisan, why do you hate us?"
Turning away, before he could give in to the temptation to respond to the sadness in Sasuke's voice – Tekkaman Wraith, Takaya reminded himself again – Takaya leaned lightly against Shinya as the two of them stood against Axe.
V
"What is this?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes incredulously at where the trail of deep footprints that Pegas had so considerately left for them to follow ended.
It didn't make a lick of sense to him, how two of the most evil creatures currently on the planet could think of taking shelter inside a holy place like this. At least without bursting into flames, or being thrown out once they crossed the threshold or something. Sure, he knew they weren't vampires or anything like that, but he still couldn't help the thought that a Radam Tekkaman shouldn't be able to set foot on holy ground like that.
He wasn't going to mention it to any of the Space Knights, of course, but he couldn't help the thought that that kind of evil shouldn't have been able to set foot on holy ground.
"The Radam trees have covered the cathedral," Aki said, a haunted, reflective tone to her voice.
"By the look of things, you can tell the enemy's around," Noal said, and Balzac couldn't help agreeing with him.
"We should probably go in. Those Tekkaman Boys might need us," he said, reminding all of them of the job they were still trying to do.
Just as they were all about to start moving forward again, however, some kind of eerie giant eyeball – red as the eyes on all of the Radam Tekkamen he'd been unfortunate enough to encounter – turned toward their group with a baleful glow to it. He didn't know what to expect, but the burst of that same, sticky purple fluid from the iris still came as a nasty surprise.
"What the…?!" he exclaimed, nearly at the same time as Noal shouted his own warning to the group of them as a whole.
He could only hope that Noal's warning had come in time…
VI
Sighing softly as he saw the pure, stubborn determination on Takaya and Shinya's faces as they stared him down, Axe felt Sasuke shuddering slightly as the younger Tekkaman leaned into his loose embrace.
"I see you boys are as stubborn as ever," he said, gently rubbing Sasuke's left shoulder in an effort to comfort him; probably a wasted one, considering that his older sister was dead and his middle brothers were spitting on the offer of clemency that Omega-sama had so generously made, but there was ultimately no harm in simply making it. "I can see you're not going to give us a choice," he said, tightening his one-armed embrace around Sasuke so that the youngest of Omega-sama's soldiers wouldn't feel as though he was being neglected in favor of his elder brothers. "In order to protect Master Kengo, Lord Spear," he said, helping Sasuke back to his feet so that the two of them could stand on roughly equal footing with Takaya and Shinya; so that the both of them could face what was coming head-on. "Blade, Evil, we're going to kill you!"
Rushing them with Sasuke at his side, Axe quickly found himself facing Evil, as he stepped out to counter Axe's charge with one of his own.
"Oh, are you protecting Blade now, Evil?!" he demanded, grinning as he met the snapping blue eyes of the younger Tekkaman standing against him.
Evil scoffed. "Yes, I am. And my name is Shinya!"
"Oh? You're still pretending you're human, Evil?" he asked.
Evil sneered in response. "I am human!"
VII
He could hear Shinya fighting Axe what seemed like only a few steps away, exchanging both blows and words it sounded like, but Takaya found that he didn't have eyes for anyone but the Tekkaman in front of him. Sasuke- Tekkaman Wraith was as vicious as he was fast, and Takaya knew that he couldn't afford the distraction that trying to talk would inevitably be. That was one of the reasons he was trying to ignore what the Radam Tekkaman was saying to him.
Takaya also knew that, if he stopped to answer any of… Tekkaman Wraith's desperate questions about what they were all going to do now that they weren't a family anymore… he wouldn't be able to start again.
"Niisan!"
Freezing at that sudden, desperate shout – Sasuke! – Takaya ground his teeth as he stood poised to ram his right fist into… into the Radam Tekkaman's face, Takaya found himself abruptly thrown out through the stained glass window that the pair of them had managed to maneuver themselves in front of during the course of their fight. He should've known better than to trust sentiment from an evil Tekkaman.
It was just like Spear: just words that didn't really mean anything to the one speaking them; he should've remembered that.
Dragging himself up before Wraith slammed a heel-kick into the top of his head, Takaya ducked under another sweeping high-kick and then tackled Wraith back into the side of the church they were both fighting in front of. Forced to brace himself as Wraith kicked him in the gut, Takaya gasped for breath as he steadied himself. It was insane enough that he was being forced to deal with Wraith when the two of them were both outside of their respective armors, but if the two of them were forced to transform…
Grinding his teeth as Wraith's fist slammed into his crossed arms, Takaya braced himself for whatever was going to come next.
VIII
As the purple ooze that'd been spat out by the freaky Radam eyeball-plant – man, that was weird to think about – slammed into the ground, Noal couldn't help but notice that it seemed to be heading somewhere, rather than just splattering all over the ground around them like something that resembled normal goop would have done. Still, this was Radam-goop, and Radam-goop could always be counted on to cause problems.
Just like the Radam themselves, really.
"Pegas!" Noal shouted.
They'd have to do something about that, if they were going to be able to give the Gemini Boys a fighting chance against Axe and his vicious Radam brat of a student.
IX
"You did very well, Master Shinya, to stand against me for so long," he said, smiling gently as his wayward young student struggled in his grip; Evil was tenacious, no one who met him could deny it, but with his arms effectively pinned behind his back the younger Tekkaman could no longer fight against the sleeper-hold that Axe had him in.
Evil would lose consciousness soon enough, and then he and Sasuke would be able to attend to Blade all the more simply.
"Let me go!"
He chuckled. "Ah," he said, tightening his grip as his wayward student's struggles became all the weaker with the lack of oxygen he was suffering from. "You know I can't do that, Master Shinya."
Evil's attention was clearly no longer on him, however; his wayward young student was clearly using what remained of his conscious moments to let Blade know what was going on. It was an admirable use of the resources that were still left to him; yet another reason that he and Omega-sama were willing to forgive these little rebellions of theirs. All other things aside, Evil and Blade both knew the value of discretion.
Though admittedly Evil was the one most willing to be discreet when the time came.
As he felt Evil starting to go limp in earnest, Axe caught sight of Sasuke kicking Blade under the chin hard enough to knock the elder of his wayward students off his feet for just a few moments before he managed to recover.
(Good work, Sasuke,) he said, knowing that his youngest student wouldn't have been able to hear him if he'd simply called over to him, considering all of the other noises in the area.
(Thank you, Axe-sensei.)
He could feel Evil, already so very weak from having his oxygen steadily cut off, still attempting to buck him off through some means. He was all the more proud of Evil's tenacity in the face of the kind of odds he was up against; it was truly the mark of how far his teachings had taken root in Evil's mind, that he was still willing to fight even under these kinds of circumstances. He also caught hold of the tekkaset that had appeared in Evil's left hand, sighing softly as he saw the damage that had been caused to the structure; those boys had already hurt themselves so much through their own intractable stubbornness.
"Well fix you when we get back to the Moon, Master Shinya," he commented, though Evil was unconscious now and couldn't hear him say it.
Ducking out of the way of Blade's sudden, reckless charge, Axe smiled softly as he shifted Shinya's body out of his way and signaled Sasuke to pull back.
"I've always told you that your habit of fighting defensively was going to limit you, Master Takaya," he said, shifting so that he could pass Evil to Sasuke without giving Blade any absurd ideas.
He didn't want Evil being injured now that he and Blade were being forced to escalate the level of their own battle.
"Teksetta!"
The familiar rush of energy as he transformed into his armored form was rather comforting, and Axe smiled as the bright crimson light cleared from his senses and he was able to see the dismay on Blade's face. The elder of his wayward students clearly hadn't expected him to escalate to this level, but there were few other ways to truly determine if Blade measured up to Evil, after all.
"Aren't you going to Tek-Set, Master Takaya?" Axe asked, grinning as he raised his lancer and prepared to engage Blade in earnest.
X
Calling for Pegas, and feeling an echo of the power that his tekkaset held, Takaya tensed and jumped back as Axe stepped forward, his armored feet clanging against the floor of the church. Flicking his eyes over to the place where Wraith was sitting, the younger evil Tekkaman with his thin, pale arms wrapped around Shinya's chest. He'd been pushing against his younger twin's mind when he had the time between clashes, but he couldn't actually reach Shinya's mind at the moment.
He knew that Shinya would recover, but for now he would have to fight Axe on his own.
Calling for Pegas again, Takaya felt the same echo from his tekkaset.
"You really think he's going to come?" Axe mocked, sounding like he was smirking at him.
Grinding his teeth, Takaya ducked Axe's sudden slice for his head, diving over to where Wraith was keeping Shinya. A hard straight-punch had the little Radam Tekkaman throwing himself backwards as Takaya grabbed Shinya's shoulders and pulled his younger twin out of Wraith's slackened grip. Running for the exit, shifting Shinya as he moved so that he was carrying his younger twin on his back, Takaya heard Axe's heavy, clanging footfalls behind them.
He also heard the sound of Axe's thrusters as he lifted off, so Takaya pushed his tiring muscles for everything they could give him; unfortunately, that turned out to not be quite enough to get the pair of them beyond the row of Radam vines that punched their way through the floor right in front of them.
(Takaya?)
(I'm here, Shinya. I guess we're in trouble again,) he said, trying to make a joke even as he wondered just how in the hell he was going to be able to get the two of them out of here.
(Did Axe just Tek-Set?)
(Yeah. Are you all right?) he asked, feeling Shinya slowly reviving as he turned around to face Axe again. (Can you fight?)
(I should be fine, Ta-kun.)
When he was setting his younger twin back on his feet, the two of them were forced to turn suddenly at the sound of Axe landing just behind them.
"You're like mice in a trap," Axe chuckled. "I'll bury you together in this cathedral!"
Before Axe could say another word, however, two very familiar bolts of Fermion slammed into the wall on the right side of the door.
XI
Breathing more easily when he'd managed to blow a hole through the wall of the building – he tried to ignore the fact that it was one of the few cathedrals that'd remained standing for the duration of the invasion – Noal called to Balzac to get D-Boy out of there so the kid could transform.
"All right, D-Two?" he called, having noticed that the kid looked a bit unsteady on his feet.
"I'm all right, Noal-kun. Thanks," the kid said, and Noal looked back to see the kid with his crystal already out, wearing that same look of fierce determination he'd always had when he went into battle. "Teksetta!"
When Tekkaman Varis transformed, Noal sighed in relief to know that he wasn't going to have to fight alone against a crazed Radam Tekkaman. When the little Radam brat that'd been tagging along with him came running at the pair of them, in full armor and with his sword up and ready to bring down some heavy punishment, Tekkaman Varis kicked him hard enough to knock the little armored Radam brat back against the far wall.
"Thanks, D-Two," he said, grinning in relief even though he knew that Tekkaman Varis couldn't see him doing it.
"Of course, Noal-kun," the kid answered, and Noal would have sworn that he was grinning, too. "Well, Axe?!"
XII
When he'd finally managed to transform – using Pegas, even though the big mech had practically been encased in some kind of chemical mixture made by the Radam, and Balzac had actually ended up having to throw him into Pegas – Blade felt better about the situation than he had since the whole thing had started.
(Shinya!)
(I'm here, Ta-kun,) Varis said tersely.
(Noal,) he muttered darkly.
Varis chuckled. (Yeah, Noal-kun's here, too. I'm sure he's happy you rescued him.)
Growling deep in his throat, Blade drove himself forward with his thrusters, but only found himself on the wrong end of another of Axe's shoulder-barges.
(So, you managed to Tek-Set, Blade,) Axe said, the evil Tekkaman sounding amused. (Well, it doesn't matter. Even if you and Evil are Tekkamen now, that's just going to make killing you even more satisfying. Neither of you has ever managed to defeat me! And you can't even use your Voltekka on me or Sasuke, because you want to take our crystals for yourselves!)
Axe laughed, as the pair of them leaped into the sky, Blade circling to see if he could make any openings in Axe's defense, Blade snarled. (So, you're onto us!)
(After observing the way you boys fought, it's obvious! And don't think I forgot the way you looked at Sasuke, either. So, Master Takaya, what are you and Master Shinya planning to do?!)
Trying to regain his bearings, Blade found himself stuck in the same purple goop that'd bound Pegas until he'd managed to use the big mech to transform. The energy-surge had cleared it, causing it to crumble intro dust, but the only thing he could use now that he was transformed was his Voltekka, and that took time to charge.
Also, he could only fire it once per transformation, and there were too many people he cared for in the area for him to risk a shot.
Screaming, as Axe's thrown lancer sliced through his left calf, Blade forced himself to relax as Tekkaman Varis threw his own lancer to intercept it.
(Quick thinking, Master Shinya,) he could almost hear Axe's amusement when he spoke, though his link wasn't open far enough to feel echoes of the evil Tekkaman's mind anymore. (Still, do you think it's going to be enough?)
Blade growled, feeling himself sink deeper and deeper into the muck no matter how he struggled to pull out of it. It seemed almost like quicksand that way, but under the circumstances Blade didn't have the time to see if laying back and trying to swim out of the stuff would do him any good…