New Orleans
Sei had been missing
for almost twelve hours and the daily rush of
lunch-time customers had packed themselves inside
'Hey, Pizza!' before Kiko, tired and upset, stormed
her way through the plastic doors that separated the
kitchen and main restaurant area of the pizza store
from the tiny, cramped living quarters behind it. The
store's regular customers were already used to the
comings and goings of the two men and the women in
their brightly-coloured robosuits and, assuming they
simply worked nearby, had given up their daily
gossip.
However, while the
store's customers had lost interest in the
activities of the three colourfully-garbed figures
always coming in and out of the store's back room,
the owner of 'Hey, Pizza!' and his single
employee had not.
"Kageki..."
Trick said to his young employee. The
sixteen-year-old in the green baseball shirt, black
trousers and white apron stood at the store's busy
counter, doing his best to serve the many waiting
customers.
"I know,
Trick-san," Kageki replied. "I'll be
fine!"
Trick smiled.
"Thanks,
Kageki."
The tall, black-clad
Trick Star took off his own white apron and followed
the angry Kiko through the still-swinging plastic
doors at the back of the kitchen just in time to see
her slap the sleeping Ikku's chest. The young man's
eyes shot open and, surprised, he slid off the couch
and onto the hard floor.
"Get up!"
Kiko yelled.
"Kiko..."
Trick reached forward and rested a hand on the girl's
shoulder, but she shook it off. "What's going
on?"
"Sei's
missing!" Kiko shouted. "I've spent hours
searching for him; I missed work today - and
Ikku has been laying here asleep. Don't you care,
Ikku? He's our friend!"
Ikku looked at the
ground.
"There's
nothing - "
"There's
nothing you can do?" Kiko interrupted. "You
could have taken my - " She stopped speaking
suddenly, but only because she was crying. Tears ran
down her face in torrents and Trick rushed forward to
put his arm around her.
"Kiko..."
He looked at Ikku. "I think Kiko and I need to
talk. In private."
Ikku opened his
mouth to speak, then thought better of it. Instead,
he turned to the desk and placed his palm down on its
surface, allowing Cog to scramble onto the back of
his hand. He picked up a long black trenchcoat
hanging by the two heavy plastic doors which
separated the room from the rest of the restaurant
and, careful not to drop Cog's fragile form, slid it
over his red robosuit and left Kiko and Trick to
themselves.
"Kiko,"
Trick repeated her name again. "There is
something wrong, isn't there? Something other than
Sei being missing, I mean."
Kiko looked away
from Trick for a moment and felt hot tears begin to
form in her eyes. Trick was right - and she was going
to tell him exactly what was bothering her - but
still, the suggestion that she would not care so much
or be so upset if the only thing bothering her was
Sei's disappearance annoyed her.
"You're as bad
as Ikku!" she snapped. "Am I the only one
who cares about Sei?"
"You know
that's not true," Trick replied calmly,
"and I know enough to know when someone
is stalling. What's wrong, Kiko?"
Why does he keep
saying my name? Kiko wondered. I'm the only
one here! I know he's talking to me!
Kiko took a deep
breath and looked directly into Trick's face. Aside
from a slight frown, there was no sign of criticism,
of judgement, nothing to suggest that he was unhappy
with her, and even this upset her. She had done
nothing wrong, and she did not want a fight, but a
part of her knew it would be easier to get things off
her chest in the midst of a fight.
"Kiko?"
"It's..."
Kiko let her voice trail off, took another long, deep
breath, and started again. "I am worried
about Sei. I really am, and I don't understand why
Ikku isn't." She paused, and blinked.
"But you're right, that's not all that's on my
mind."
Trick took Kiko's
hand and led her to the couch on which Ikku had been
sleeping only a few moments earlier. They sat beside
each other, Kiko with her hands together in her lap,
while Trick kept his arms crossed.
"It's my
brother," she said finally.
"Your brother?"
Trick repeated.
Kiko nodded.
"My brother was
the one who kidnapped Cog last week," Kiko
admitted. "I hadn't even thought about him for
so long. But then, when Science Island was
destroyed... he was a captain in the Science Island
guard, and when it was destroyed he came here."
Trick nodded; then,
his eyes lit up with sudden realisation and he looked
intently at Kiko's face.
"Senshi,"
he said simply.
"Yes!"
Kiko cried. "How do you...? Oh, right! He
mentioned a pizza shop... I should have
realised!"
Trick nodded again.
"Your brother
came here when the city was overrun by Gears and you
were fighting Buki Robo," Trick explained.
"He actually helped destroy some of the Gears
outside the store and was here when you dropped your henshin.
He mentioned being a member of the Science
Island guard."
"That's him,
alright," Kiko confirmed. She sighed. "He
kidnapped Cog to get me to talk to him. He wants to
be a Roboman."
"And you
said...?"
"No, of
course."
"Yeah... of
course," Trick scowled. "Why?"
"Because..."
Kiko stared at Trick's face for a long time.
"Because. Just because." She smiled.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. Not yet."
Trick smiled back at
her.
"You're a good
person, Kiko," he said. "That's why you
care so much - about Sei, about your team. It's in
your nature to be the heart of this group, the
compassion that holds it all together... just as it
is Ikku's nature to be hot-headed and, yes, selfish.
And lazy. And to have a truly disgusting body
odour."
Kiko laughed loudly
and Trick's smile broadened. He uncrossed his arms
and slid one of his hands over one of Kiko's, and
squeezed it gently.
"Your heart is
what makes you you," he said. "I
don't want to see you lose that because of anything
your brother may have done. I've met him, remember?
He's not worth it."
Kiko closed her eyes
and nodded slowly as she considered everything Trick
had said. She realised that it was not the first time
Trick's words had settled her down.
He may not have
powers like ours, she thought, but if
anyone's the heart of this group, it's - !
Kiko opened her eyes
as Trick's cheek brushed against her own, and pulled
back as his lips touched the corner of her mouth.
"Oh! Eww! No!
What?" she stammered.
Trick's cheeks
turned bright red.
"Sorry,"
he said as he let go of her hand.
Kiko shook her head.
"No,
Trick," she said. "I didn't mean it like
that. You're great, really. And smart. And nice. And
cute... hot, even. And - "
"I think you'd
better stop now," Trick forced a smile and
tilted his head toward the door. "I might
just..."
"Yeah."
Trick stood and
quickly made his way out of the room, leaving Kiko to
fall on her back along the couch. She tried to clear
her mind for a moment - not to forget what
had just happened; just to free her mind up to think
about something else - but she could not and, she
realised suddenly, she was grinning.
Oh, damn it,
Trick! Why do you have to be so gorgeous?
Outside
"Hey, Cog - I
think this is the first time we've been alone,"
Ikku said as he wandered along the street outside
'Hey, Pizza!'. "We should talk."
"Sure!"
Cog replied enthusiastically. There was a long pause,
then "About what?"
"That's... a
good question," Ikku replied. "I don't
know. Isn't there anything you, a
tiny-but-technologically-advanced robot, wants to
tell me?"
"No..."
Cog replied slowly. "I don't think so!"
"Hmmmm..."
Ikku rubbed his chin with his left hand as Cog,
squatting on the boy's right shoulder, shrank further
into the folds of his trenchcoat. "Maybe there's
something I could ask you. I wonder..."
Cog peered out from
her hiding place long enough to notice the stares
Ikku was receiving from the people they passed. To
anyone in the street, it would appear that the
oddly-dressed young man was talking to himself.
"I know!"
Ikku stopped walking, and Cog was barely able to keep
her balance. "Maybe I should ask you again about
what you said when Kiko told us about Sei."
"What did I
say?" Cog asked.
"You told us
that you could detect any of my father's
technology," Ikku reminded her. "You told
me you meant our Alert Bracers and Robo Rifles and
other weapons, but I think there's more to it than
that. I'm right, aren't I?"
Cog did not reply.
"Cog...?"
"Yes!" Cog
finally replied. "I lied!"
She was afraid. Sei
had a secret, and although no-one had ever asked her
to keep it, she knew it was for the best - especially
because she was not sure if Sei knew the secret
himself. Still, she knew that it would come out one
day, and while she was prepared to answer any
questions Ikku may have, she had hoped that the
kind-hearted Kiko would be the one to learn the
truth.
"I knew
it!" Ikku jumped into the air, cheering loudly.
"There is no way any normal person could be as
perfect as he is! He has a brain implant, doesn't he?
That's how he learned how to use the robosuits and eternity
shards everything else so
quickly!"
Cog's head slumped
forward. Ikku had no idea what he was talking about.
"That's
right!" she told him. "Doctor Nagura put an
implant in his head and downloaded all the
information into him!"
"Haha!"
Ikku laughed, oblvious to the stares and quiet
retreat of the people around him. "I know I'm
not as smart as Sei or Kiko, but Sei won't make me
feel dumb ever again!"
Cog frowned.
"Sei makes you
feel dumb? I think you're smart!"
Ikku stopped jumping
around.
"You do?"
"Yes!" Cog
replied. "Kiko did not realise what I said. You
did!"
"I did, didn't
I? But still..."
"Oh!" Cog
interrupted. "Ikku, I have found
something!"
"What is
it?"
"Sei!"
Ikku reached up and
lowered the small robot to eye-level. She turned
around in the palm of his hand, and it reminded Ikku
of a satellite dish rotating to get a better signal.
As she turned her back to him he noticed the small
slots on her back, which had been fused together a
few days earlier, had separated again.
"Cog, your
back...!"
"I know!"
Cog replied. "Sei fixed me."
I didn't even
notice, Ikku thought. Is Kiko right? Am I
selfish? Don't I care?
"I know where
Sei is!" Cog confirmed a moment later. "We
should tell Kiko!"
"No!" Ikku
replied quickly. "She thinks I don't care about
Sei. I want to get him on my own. With you. Which
isn't on my own, but you know what I mean." He
fingered the top slot in Cog's back, and noticed a
blue shine as the eternity shard inserted
into the slot caught the sunlight. "That's a raido
shard. Can you take us to him?"
"Yes!" Cog
replied. "But I think - !"
"Where is
he?"
"In Brazil! In
the Amazon rainforest!"
"Kiko's a
girl," Ikku said. "Girls don't like those
things. Can you take us to him?"
I'm a girl, Cog
thought. She considered protesting, but she realised
Ikku was just being Ikku. It was in his
nature to act without thinking - to do what he
thought was right. To act to prove a point, even if
it meant putting himself in danger - just as it was
in her own robotic nature to be cautious.
Most of the time.
"Yes! Hold
on!"
Ikku tightened his
grip on the tiny robot, his even smaller hands
gripped the tiny, almost-invisible imperfections in
his skin. Tiny particles of blue energy flooded from
her mechanical form and washed over Ikku's body and,
within moments, they had disappeared from view -
leaving stunned passersby to stare blankly and a
fading blue glow.
"Giant
turtles?" a short, asian man told his wife as
they walked by. "Tiny, talking robots?
Teleporting kids in spandex? Never had to worry about
any of that back in Japan..."
