Elsewhere
"You appeared
on the wrong rooftop, Guardian!" Satoshi
snapped. His massive chest heaved as he took a deep
breath, preparing himself to shout again a moment
later. "The Robomen were not supposed to be
aware of Musen Robo until after the other
preparations were complete!"
Guardian bowed his
balaclava-covered head slightly.
"Sorry,
Director Satoshi," he responded. "But...
my mistake may have been for the best. Musen
Robo's attack has distracted the Robomen these past
few hours, buying your Gears all the time they needed
to modify the necessary television and radio
broadcast towers to relay Musen Robo's message across
the world."
Satoshi grunted
loudly.
"A lucky
coincidence," he remarked, "just as it was
lucky for New Orleans that I need Sorceress Miko
alive, otherwise I would have gone along with
Nagura's plan to have Musen Robo crush the city as
soon as the Robomen were out of the way!
"Still, as you
say, Musen Robo is in place and all of the other
preparations are complete. I need only make sure the
Robomen are out of the way permanently.
Nothing can interfere with my plan, Guardian!"
"No, Director
Satoshi," Guardian said. "Should I have
Chojin - "
"No,"
Satoshi interrupted. "Musen Robo can handle this
task directly. Have it continue as planned. When it
broadcasts its ansuz energy-powered signal
through the TV network, every television-viewing,
radio-listening person on the planet will be under
its control. A world dominated by technology,
controlled by a single, wireless broadcast signal -
precisely what I want, what the master needs!"
Guardian nodded.
"What if the
Robomen do try to interfere?" he asked.
"That is even
better," Satoshi told him. "They will need
to henshin to fight my robot, and Nagura
said that, once they have henshined, their
robosuits are linked by a mental connection - a
connection Musen Robo can commandeer and make the
Robomen do anything he wants, on a level far more
powerful than that of the sudden, quick attack it was
forced to engage in due to your error!"
New Orleans
Senshi released his
hold on his sister's hand as he fumbled through the
small pocket sewn into the leg of his robosuit to
find the key to his small apartment and, almost
immediately, Kiko realised that something was wrong.
It took a few moments - only long enough for Senshi
to find his key and open the front door - for her to
realise exactly what: she was alone with her
brother... the brother she hated.
"What am I
doing here?" she wondered. "This isn't... I
shouldn't be here! Not with you!"
"What's wrong,
imouto-chan?" Senshi asked. "Of course you
should be here! You're my sister! You're family! We
love each other!"
Kiko shook her head.
"I can't be
here..." She slowly backed away from her
brother, towards a narrow stairwell they had only
moments ago finished ascending. "The robot...!
I've got to stop... the robot..."
She turned and
hurried down the stairs, and the further away she was
from her brother, the clearer her mind became. Images
flashed in the back of her mind; memories of a time,
not even an hour earlier, when she and three of her
fellow Robomen, as well as the tiny robot Cog, had
gathered on a rooftop to discuss the eternity
energy they were each able to wield.
Kiko had stormed
away from the gathering seconds before the arrival of
a bizarre-looking robot which used what she knew was ansuz
energy in an attack against her teammates - and
somehow, for some reason, that had momentarily made
her forget her intense dislike of her brother; and
his own stand-offish, stubborn behaviour seemed
equally well-hidden.
Kageki and Sei
were acting weirdly too, she remembered. I
have to get back to 'Hey, Pizza!'. Cog will know
what's going on... if she hasn't been affected as
well!
She hurried through
the streets of New Orleans until she found herself at
her destination - her home, the pizza restaurant
'Hey, Pizza!', owned by her friend and confidant
Trick Star. She pushed open the front door and found
the restaurant owner standing behind the store's
counter with Cog at his side... and her teammate
Kageki kneeling before him, with his head bowed low.
"I'm sorry,
otou-san!" Kageki cried. He sounded as if he was
on the verge of tears. "I won't do it again!
Thank you for your forgiveness!"
"That's...
okay," Trick replied.
He looked helplessly
at Kiko as he noticed her enter and Kageki suddenly
rose and wrapped his arms around Trick's body. The
teenager squeezed his employer tightly for a full
minute before he pulled himself away.
"I will finish
the cleaning and then help Mariko with her
homework!"
Kageki kneeled again
and brushed his hands against the linoleum floor
repeatedly, waving them around in large, sweeping
circular motions. It looked to Kiko as if he was
trying to scrub the floors clean, only without the
benefit of a brush or hot water.
"Trick?"
she asked as she stepped into the restaurant.
"What...?"
Kageki rose suddenly
and bowed before Trick.
"I've finished
the floors, otou-san! The homework's done! How can I
help you now?"
"Kageki?"
Trick waved his hand in front of Kageki's eyes, but
the boy didn't react. "What - "
"Thank you,
otou-san!" Kageki smiled cheerfully. "I
like to help as much as I can! Thank you for your
kindness!"
He turned away from
Trick and hurried to the corner of the room, where he
squatted and motioned as though he was pulling
something from the floor and stacking it in a neat
pile to his side.
Trick nodded at Kiko
and pointed to the thick plastic doors separating the
pizzaria from the small back room that and the other
Robomen called home, and she followed him, and Cog,
inside.
"What's going
on?" she asked the moment the doors swung shut
behind them.
"Kageki burst
in here calling me his otou-san and thanking me for
my kindness and forgiveness, and asking what he could
do to help," Trick replied. "It's just like
him, except for the pulling invisible weeds and
cleaning invisible stains part."
"It's the ansuz
energy!" Cog said. "A robot appeared
and attacked the Robomen with ansuz energy!
He's seeing, feeling, hearing and experiencing
something that's only in his mind!"
They heard a loud thud!
and looked around the room. Eventually, their eyes
fell on a groaning form on the floor in the centre of
the small chamber.
"Ow," Sei
rubbed his forehead. "No-one told me being a
couch potato hurts."
He dragged himself
back onto the couch, laid himself flat on his stomach
and closed his eyes. He remained still, as though he
were asleep, oblivious to the blaring noise of the
television beside him.
"Sei's acting
strangely, too," Trick said, stating the
obvious. "He's become just like Ikku."
"It's affected
Senshi, as well," Kiko revealed. "He
started acting like there was no problem between us.
He even dragged me to his apartment, and for a while
I wanted to go with him, but I snapped out of
it."
"We need to -
" Cog began, but the robot's tiny voice was
drowned out by a loud fanfare emanating from the
television. All eyes were drawn to the small screen,
which showed footage of a familiar-looking robot -
the same block-bodied, spring-limbed, antenna-headed
robot Kiko had seen attack the rest of her team -
trying to break down the door of a nearby television
station.
"This is Wayne
Rogers at NOTA headquarters, hoping someone is
watching this!" a man's voice spoke over the
images displayed on the screen. "We're under
attack by some sort of robot! We need help!"
Kiko turned to Cog.
"What should I
do?" she asked. "The others - "
"Go!" Cog
told her. "Trick and I will handle this! We'll
find a way!" Kiko nodded and ran from the room.
"I hope..."
"I think I know
what's going on, at least with Kageki," Trick
said. "His father is... not a nice man.
Kageki's spent his whole life trying to please him.
That's why he always wants to help. From the way he's
behaving, and what he was saying... it's like his
dream come true. He's being helpful, and his
'otou-san' is appreciating him for it."
"Maybe it's the
same for Sei!" Cog mused. "He might envy
Ikku!"
"Well, assuming
we're right, and we know what's going on..."
Trick stared at Sei's inert form. "What do we do
about it?"
"And," Cog
added, "why didn't it affect Kiko like everyone
else?"
"Let's
go, Robo!"
Kiko did not pause
as she experienced the now-familiar sensation of time
slowing around her as the circuitry embedded beneath
her skin hummed to life, as bright lights moved along
complex wires, glowing even more brightly at certain
points as thick, jagged pieces of metal emerged from
her skin and pierced the porous fabric of her yellow
robosuit. The metal fused together to form silver
gloves, boots and a chestplate, then slid smoothly
over her face and head to form a protective helmet.
With her henshin
complete, Sato Kiko was no longer just Sato
Kiko - she was Yellow Robo, a Roboman
through-and-through.
"Stop!"
she shouted at the robot pounding on the heavy door
of the NOTA television station.
The robot turned to
face her.
"Only one of
you?" it said, but its voiced seemed to come not
from its body, but from the very air between them.
"I, Musen Robo, am worthy of
the attention of all the Robomen - but I
suppose your teammates are otherwise occupied,
hmmm?"
"They'll snap
out of it eventually, just like I did!" Kiko
told the robot. "Now surrender!"
"No," the
robot said calmly. It crossed its coiled, spring-like
arms across its chest.
"Robo
Rifle!" Kiko heard the voice behind her
seconds before Musen Robo staggered backwards, struck
by the invisible energy the Robomen's primary weapon
emitted. It fell against the outside wall of the
television station as Kiko turned her head to see Sei
standing behind her, his blue robosuit covered in
silver armour identical to her own.
"Sei!" she
cried. "But... how?"
"Cog explained
that somehow Musen Robo used ansuz energy to
make us experience what we wished for the most."
Kiko winced as she
heard another voice behind her. She turned to see her
brother, also wearing his Roboman armour, approaching
with an armoured Kageki following a few feet behind
him.
"But we all
wanted to be Robomen!" Kageki added cheerfully.
"Musen Robo's
initial attack was weak, sudden, the product of
surprise," Sei explained. "As its effects
wore off, our less intense desires allowed us to
regain our senses and come to your aid."
"That's great,
guys!" Kiko told them. "But what do we do
about him?"
She pointed at Musen
Robo, who was beginning to recover. The robot was
back on its feet and slowly making its way towards
them.
"Yellow
Robo," Sei said, "your Electro Blaster
should be more than capable of stopping Musen Robo
before it can attack again."
"Right!"
Kiko agreed. "Electro Blaster!"
There was a bright
flash of raido energy as the handgun-sized,
translucent-yellow weapon appeared in Kiko's right
hand, and she levelled it at Musen Robo's chest. She
started to squeeze its trigger, but felt her hand
relax as the robot's satellite dish-like eyes fixed
on hers.
"Not so fast,
Yellow Robo!" Musen Robo exclaimed. "You've
walked right into my trap - I couldn't have scripted
it better myself! I needed you and your teammates to henshin
before I could fully take control of you - and
now that you have, my ansuz energy can
commandeer the wireless connection that links your
robosuits and force you to succumb to my will!
"Enjoy your
deepest, greatest desires once again, Robomen - and
know that you cannot stop me!"
"Otou-san?"
Kiko glanced to the
side and saw Kageki on his knees once again, looking
up at a father who wasn't there. On her other side,
she saw Senshi staring at her, and behind her she
heard a loud yawn as Sei sat on the ground with his
legs straight out in front of him. He leaned back and
rested on his elbows as he watched the clouds pass by
overhead.
"Guys!"
Kiko shouted at them. "Snap out of it! We need
to stop Musen Robo!"
"Nah," Sei
replied. "Why fight, when I can just sit back
and relax?"
"Otou-san
wouldn't be happy if I got into a fight," Kageki
told her. "I don't want to upset him!"
"Come on,
Kiko!" Senshi called to her. "We shouldn't
stay here! Let's go home and have a nice, home-cooked
din - "
"No!" Kiko
growled. She raised her Electro Blaster again and
aimed it at Musen Robo's back. She squeezed the
trigger, and a cascade of yellow jera energy flooded
from its tip and washed over Musen Robo. The robot's
movements slowed dramatically, but its springy arms
continued to strike relentlessly at the reinforced
door of the building; and suddenly, the door gave
way, and Musen Robo disappeared inside.
Beep-beep!
Kiko looked at her
bulky Alert Bracer and saw one of its buttons
flashing with a red light. She pressed the button and
heard Cog's voice emerge from the device's speaker.
"Kiko, come
back to 'Hey, Pizza!'. I think I know what Musen has
done - and how we can stop it!"
"I can't! It's
in the TV station and could be doing anything!"
"If you
stay," the voice she heard was no longer
Cog's; Trick was speaking to her, and his voice was
filled with concern, "you'll be fighting
alone. Come back, and get the others to come with
you. Cog's discovered something about the Alert
Bracers!"
Kiko glanced at her
three allies and noticed that none of them were
wearing their Alert Bracers.
"Okay, I'm
coming back," she said. But how can I get
the others to come with me?
When Kiko led
Kageki, Senshi and Sei through the open doors of
'Hey, Pizza!' they had each dropped their henshins,
sending the silver metal that formed their
armour back into their bodies. As soon as they
entered the store Sei leaned against a wall and began
lazily tapping his foot to a beat only he could hear,
while Senshi and Kageki stared at her with puzzled
expressions on their faces.
"You said my
father wanted me to come here!" Kageki told her.
"Where is he?"
"And where's
the rest of our family?" Senshi asked.
Kiko rolled her
eyes. It had been simple to lure the other Robomen
back to 'Hey, Pizza!' with promises of further
fulfilment of their fondest wishes - and now that
they were there, she hoped they would stay.
She left them behind
as she returned to the restaurant's tiny back room,
where Trick and Cog waited by a small computer desk
directly behind the doors which separated it from the
rest of the store. On the desk she saw Senshi and
Kageki's distinct Alert Bracers and beside them was
Sei's Alert Bracer, identical to her own, but
separated into several pieces.
"When I first
examined the new Alert Bracers after Doctor Brachis
brought them to us last week," Cog told her as
she entered, "I noticed something strange about
them - there were slots that could contain an
artificial intelligence chip like the one that
controls me, and there were two chips with the Alert
Bracers! I heard what Musen Robo said to you on
television and I realised what those slots were
really for!"
At the mention of
the TV, Trick turned his attention away from the two
women and watched the flickering images on the small
set.
"The artificial
intelligence chips can be inserted into the Alert
Bracers to control the signal going through the
robosuits!" Cog explained. "That way they
can make sure only the intended user is operating the
suit!"
"Do you think
they can stop Musen Robo's control over the
others?" Kiko asked.
Cog nodded.
"There's only
one way to find out!"
She gestured to
Kageki and Senshi's Alert Bracers, and Kiko quickly
picked them up and rushed back to her teammates. With
a little coaxing, they slipped them over their
wrists.
"Henshin!"
she told them.
Kageki shook his
head. "My father wouldn't like - "
"Anything for
my imouto-chan!" Senshi interrupted. "Robo
Change!" His Roboman armour quickly
reappeared, and when it had fully formed he paused,
shook his head, then stared at Kiko. "I feel...
strange. What happened?"
He glanced down at
his Alert Bracer, which had lit up with the same
yellow and orange energy that passed through the
circuitry beneath their skin whenever they henshined,
and Kiko guessed that meant Cog's plan had worked.
The chip inside the Alert Bracer was making sure only
Senshi's thoughts controlled the robosuit.
"Yes!"
Kiko cheered. "Cog! It worked!" Kiko waited
for a reply. Then, after a few moments, she called
again. "Cog!"
Cog did not reply,
but Trick soon reappeared with Sei's repaired Alert
Bracer in his hand. He offered it to Sei, who took
one look at it then snatched it away from Trick and
slid it over his wrist.
"Trick?"
Kiko asked. "Where's Cog?"
"Inside Sei's
Alert Bracer," he told her. "She modified
it, then had me insert her AI chip."
"But - !"
Kiko wanted to protest, but didn't know what to say.
"Sei! Henshin!"
Sei shrugged.
"Why not? It
was kind of fun before. Let's go, Robo!"
Kiko watched as
Sei's robosuit was again shielded by the thick silver
Roboman armour, then turned her attention to his
Alert Bracer. Like Senshi's, it was glowing brightly,
blocking Musen Robo's influence.
"What
happened?" Sei asked suddenly. "I feel
different."
"You were under
the control of a robot called Musen Robo," Kiko
told them, "but Cog modified your Alert Bracers
so it can't control you any more." And quite
possibly gave up her life!
Sei looked down at
his Alert Bracer.
"This Alert
Bracer has been modified to accomodate an artificial
intelligence chip, like those of Kageki and
Senshi," he immediately noticed. Then,
"Where is Cog?"
"Her chip is
inside your Alert Bracer," Kiko said.
Sei nodded, and Kiko
turned back to Trick.
"I can't get
Kageki to henshin," she told him.
"I'm going to leave him here while Sei and I go
stop Musen Robo."
Trick nodded.
"I'll look
after him."
"Good,"
Kiko said. "Come on, Sei!"
She headed for the
front door, and Sei followed. Out of the corner of
her eye, she also saw Senshi follow her out of the
store, but she did not acknowledge him. She didn't
want him with her but she also didn't know if she
could defeat Musen Robo without his help.
It took the trio
only a few minutes to reach the NOTA headquarters
building - and, by pure coincidence, they found Musen
Robo leaving through the door he had smashed open
just as they arrived.
"Oh, you're
back!" the robot said. "How
contrived."
"Let's
go, Robo!" Kiko shouted. "Electro
Blaster!" The small weapon appeared in Kiko's
hand once again, and she raised it to point squarely
at Musen Robo's head. "I'm giving you a chance
to surrender, Musen Robo. Don't make us destroy
you!"
"Hah!"
Musen Robo laughed. "My mission is already
complete. I have nothing to fear from you! But I must
know - why are you not under my control?"
"Control
Tonfas," Senshi muttered. There was a brief blue
flash as the twin black-and-silver shafts appeared in
his hands, anchored tightly to his gloves. Without
offering Kiko as much as a brief glance, Senshi
rushed forward and struck the sides of Musen Robo's
head with his blunt weapons.
His
Alert Bracer, and Sei's, immediately stopped glowing.
Whatever damage Senshi's attack had done had managed
to half Musen Robo's efforts to control them.
"It
is a pity my mission expended the last energy
contained within my ansuz shard," Musen
Robo remarked, "but I still have my kenez
shard! Hardware Upgrade!"
Red kenez
energy gushed over the robot's body as the three
Robomen looked on. They watched as it grew from a
mere five-and-a-half feet tall to fifty feet tall,
then up to five hundred feet tall.
It
laughed as it grew; a hollow, barely-audible laugh at
its regular size which became a thunderous guffaw as
it reached its giant proportions.
"Sei,
what should we do?" Kiko asked. "Without
Ikku we can't form Gattai Robo!"
"We
should still engage the use of our Robo
Vehicles," Sei told her. Kiko nodded.
"Phase Three!
Go, Robo Vehicles!"
they shouted simultaneously.
Senshi
backed away as the metal components of Sei and Kiko's
armour separated from their bodies and hovered in the
air in front of them. As the Robomen watched, the
metal, surrounded by a barely-visible aura of raido
energy, began to grow, transform and change
colour before their eyes. It took only a few moments
for what was once silver body armour to become the
pale blue Water Cutter and the bright yellow
Lightning Jet.
Kiko
and Sei hurried aboard their respective vehicles and
Kiko wasted no time taking to the air, swooping her
maneuverable fighter jet in front of Musen Robo's
face. The robot swung at her with its coiled arms but
she dodged the blows, flew away then returned to
bombard the flailing limbs with jera energy from
her vehicle's weapons.
The
robot's right arm froze mid-swing, but Musen Robo
moved quickly; it tensed its other arm, tightening
the coil as much as it could, then released the
tension as Kiko boldly flew past - its blow struck
the belly of the Lightning Jet and sent it spiralling
out of control, toward the buildings of the city
below.
Oh
no! Kiko thought. I can't pull out! I'm
going to - wait! Is that...?
On
every second or third spin Kiko saw something, large
and red, moving slowly along a nearby street. It was
something she thought she recognised, but it
was not until she heard Cog's voice loudly utter "Robo
Fusion!" through her Alert Bracer that
she realised her suspicions were correct.
"Robo
Fusion!" she shouted back, and she
heard the voices of both Sei and her missing teammate
Ikku mingle with her own. As soon as the words passed
her lips, the Water Cutter split horizontally down
the middle and folded apart to form a pair of black
and blue legs and a strong black 'pelvis'.
Then
the turret of the red Flame Tank - the large,
slow-moving vehicle Kiko had seen as she spun dizzily
toward the ground - lifted off as the rest of the
tank split in half. The turret connected to the Water
Cutter 'pelvis' to form a red 'spine', and the two
remaining pieces of the Flame Tank became red and
black arms.
The
Lightning Jet suddenly righted itself, and its wings
Jet folded back, leaving the jet looking like a solid
rectangular block with a nosecone attached. The block
settled on top of Gattai Robo's 'pelvis' and in front
of its 'spine' to form a yellow torso and the
nosecone folded backwards like a hood, revealing the
black and grey head of the robot.
The
cockpits of the three vehicles merged together; walls
disappeared, leaving the three Robomen in one room,
sitting before three separate control panels.
"Ikku!"
Kiko cried. "What are you doing here?"
"Stopping
a giant robot," Ikku replied curtly.
Kiko
stared at Ikku for some time before responding. His
robosuit was torn in several places - it looked like
patches had been torn free, and the resulting holes
had been only partly sewn shut. She considered asking
what had happened, but the tone he used when
responding to her earlier question made her think
better of it.
"Electro
Blaster," she said instead.
For
the third time that day the translucent-yellow
firearm appeared in Kiko's right hand, but this time
an enormous but otherwise identical weapon appeared
in Gattai Robo's hand as well. Kiko lifted the weapon
in front of her body, a movement Gattai Robo
emulated.
["This
is your last warning!"] Kiko said, and her voice
echoed loudly from Gattai Robo's own massive mouth.
["Surrender or we will destroy you!"]
"Hah!"
Musen Robo laughed again. It tensed its coiled legs
as much as it could, then released the tension as it
had with its arm. The result was that it sprang high
into the air, almost directly above Gattai Robo, then
began to fall.
"Chaos
Sword," Ikku said calmly. The sword with the
black hilt and translucent-red blade appeared in his
left hand and, just like the Electro Blaster, an
identical weapon was gripped by Gattai Robo. Ikku
leaned back and raised the sword above his head.
"Oh
no!" Musen Robo shouted. "Whatever will I
do?"
The
robot glowed with kenez energy again and a
large hole appeared at the centre of its body, the
point at which the Chaos Sword was aimed. Musen Robo
fell around Gattai Robo like a rectangular metal life
preserver, then the hole began to shrink. It squeezed
Gattai Robo tightly, and although Sei moved his hands
quickly across his control panel to make Gattai Robo
lean forward, and Ikku slashed repeatedly at Musen
Robo with his Chaos Sword, it did little to harm
their opponent who created holes in its body whenever
they blade came close.
"Welcome
back, Red Robo," Sei said.
"I'm
not 'back', Sei," Ikku replied, "and now isn't
the time to discuss it. I'll come back if and
when I'm good and ready."
He
continued to thrust, jab and slash as the other
robot, but it was all to no effect. Musen Robo even
laughed, sharply and briefly, demonstrating a sense
of glee that was not felt within the cockpit of
Gattai Robo.
Kiko
ignored Ikku's remarks and tried to focus on the task
at hand. She lowered her Electro Blaster so that it
pointed almost between her feet and fired. Jera
energy splashed across Musen Robo's surface at
the same time it shifted its form to avoid another
thrust from the Chaos Sword; it froze momentarily
then, as its form changed back, it started to move
again.
"Ikku,
we have to co-ordinate - " Kiko began.
"Grrrrr!"
Ikku growled. He stabbed at Musen Robo as the
opposing robot tightened its coiled limbs again,
squeezing Gattai Robo from three sides at once. His
blade barely nicked the robot, but it was enough for
it to relax the tension for one brief moment.
"Robomen!"
All three Robomen heard Cog's voice from somewhere
within the cockpit. "This is amazing!"
"Cog?"
Kiko asked. "How...?"
"I'm
fine, Kiko!" Cog said. "My artificial
intelligence chip is in Sei's Alert Bracer, which has
let me connect directly to Gattai Robo's systems! I
can't control it, but I have learned a lot more about
it!"
"Have
you learned anything useful?" Ikku
asked.
"Yes!"
Cog replied. "Kiko, release your Electro
Blaster!" Kiko closed her eyes and concentrated
for a moment, and the Electro Blaster faded from her
hand - and Gattai Robo's. "Ikku, raise your
Chaos Sword, and bring it down slowly - I'll count
you down! When I reach one, focus all of your raido,
kenez and jera energy on the sword and
say 'Robo Illusion'!"
Ikku
raised the sword, and as Musen Robo increased the
pressure around Gattai Robo again, Cog began her
countdown.
"3...
2... 1..."
"Robo Illusion!"
the three Robomen cried out together.
For
the briefest of instants, the Robomen's minds were
flooded with multiple images of multiple Gattai Robos
with multiple Chaos Swords - four of them, facing
ninety degrees apart, but occupying the same space at
the same time.
Their
swords slashed as one and Musen Robo, expecting only
a single thrust, could not avoid them all. The robot
was cut into three solid pieces which fell to the
ground and exploded, sending a rain of fire and
debris over the original Gattai Robo as its three
brothers suddenly vanished.
Sei
leaned against his control panel as Ikku and Kiko
took in long, deep breaths. The effort of focusing
all of their attention and as much energy as possible
on a single assault had taken its toll; they were
exhausted, and relieved to find their feet teaching
solid ground as Gattai Robo faded around them.
They
were joined on the road by Senshi, who had dropped
his henshin and, like them, returned to
wearing only his black robosuit, and they quietly and
cautiously made their way back to 'Hey, Pizza!',
where Trick and Kageki waited for them.
Ignoring
the others, Sei walked into the back room of the
pizzeria and returned a few instants later with Cog,
back in her tiny body, resting on the palm of his
hand.
"Thank
goodness!" Kiko cried. "You're back to
normal!"
"Of
course!" Cog said. "I only transferred my
AI chip! It's no big deal!" She winked, but at
her size the movement was almost imperceptible to the
humans who watched her. "But thanks for
worrying!"
"Other
matters remain that cause more worry,"
Sei reminded everyone. "We need to modify Miss
Sato and Ian's Alert Bracers and find suitable
artificial intelligence chips to safeguard against a
second attempt to take control of our robosuits'
systems. Cog and I will leave immediately to recover
Musen Robo's chip."
"Wait,"
Kiko said. "I have some questions about what
happened today. Why did Musen Robo's ansuz energy
attack and second attempt to control us not work
on me? What happened to all of you?"
"Musen
Robo's initial attack was weak," Sei reminded
her. "It affected us as we were close to the
robot when it struck. You were probably too far away
to be affected."
But
I was affected, Kiko thought. When
Senshi took my hand, I wanted to go with
him...
"Musen
Robo's attack made us feel as if we were experiencing
our greatest desires," Sei continued. "I
believed I was not burdened by my knowledge and
responsibility."
"I
thought my father was proud of me," Kageki
revealed.
"And
I - " Senshi began to explain what he had felt,
but Kiko cut him off.
"Don't,
Senshi," she said, but after a pause, she added:
"Please."
Senshi
raised an eyebrow, the nodded politely. He realised
something was different about Kiko, and he was
prepared to give her time to sort it out before he
pushed his own interests any further.
"Why
didn't it affect me?" Kiko asked again.
"All I did was worry about all of you!"
"Perhaps
it did affect you," Trick said.
"Maybe your greatest desire is to want to help
people. You wanted to understand what was happening
so you could help your friends, so that's what you
experienced - and since you were trying to do that
anyway, nothing seemed different."
Kiko
nodded. Then, slowly, a smile crept across her face.
"I
was trying to help all of you, but you came
to help me!" she said. "Even though you
thought you had what you wanted, you still wanted to
be Robomen so badly you came to help fight Musen Robo
anyway! That's fantastic!"
"Why?"
Senshi asked.
"Because
it means we all want this. We all want to be Robomen,
we all want to work together, to be a team."
Kiko
took another look at Ikku and noticed that his
robosuit had almost completely repaired itself and
she guessed, from the rate at which had repaired
itself that whatever had happened to damage it in the
first place had to have happened only shortly before
Ikku joined their battle against Musen Robo.
"Ikku
- " she began.
"Don't
try it," Ikku replied quickly. Kiko took a deep
breath, but Ikku continued speaking. "I told Sei
I wasn't coming back yet, and I meant it."
"Fine!"
Kiko snapped. "Good, even! We were
doing fine without you!"
"Kiko!"
Cog interjected.
"No!
We're finally a team now, Ikku. Thank you for helping
us fight Musen Robo, but if you really don't want to
be one of us, we'll find a way to deal with it,"
she told him. "You may think we're all liars or
the other horrible things you called us last week,
but we still came together today. You have a place on
this team if you want it, but don't expect us to beg
for you to come back. We are who we are, and we, all
of us, are good people."
Kiko
panted and tried to catch her breath.
"Are
you coming back or not?" she asked.
"No,"
Ikku said. Without another word, he stepped through
the front door of the pizzaria and disappeared into
the night.
Later
Trick
waited for Kageki to go home for the night and for
Sei and Cog to finally embark on their search for
Musen Robo's artificial intelligence chip before he
pushed his way gently into the back room of his
restaurant, where he found Kiko lying, awake but with
her eyes closed, on the couch in the centre of the
room.
He
approached quietly and sat beside her. He noticed one
side of her mouth twist into a tiny smirk as he sat
down, and he waited for her to speak.
"Hi,
Trick," she said. "Sorry about
before."
Kiko
opened her eyes and peered up at her friend and host.
He was wearing, as always, all black - a long-sleeved
black sweatshirt, black jeans and tall black boots.
His hair was black; long and spikey. His skin seemed
unusually pale, but Kiko had been around Trick long
enough to realise it only appeared pale against the
dark clothes he wore.
She
smiled up at him, and Trick smiled back.
"Don't
be sorry," he told her. "I'm proud of
you."
Kiko's
eyes widened.
"Really?"
she asked. "Why?"
"I
told you that you were the heart of this group,"
he reminded her, "and you proved me right today.
I know you found it hard, but you kept your team
together at its darkest hour."
"I'm
not a leader," Kiko said. Trick's smile
broadened.
"You
don't need to be," he replied.
"Actually, yeah, you do need to be a leader,
sometimes. That's what you did today. Ikku's your
leader - he's the one with the strength to pull you
all forward, even if it means dragging you into a
completely unknown future. Sei's the brains - you're
smart, but he has the answers. He knows
what's going on, and how to handle things. But you're
the heart. You're the one that keeps it all together.
There's a reason the Lightning Jet is in the middle
of Gattai Robo.
"No
Flame Tank? No problem - you're just missing some
arms. No Watter Cutter? Big deal - who needs legs,
when you can drag yourself along? Without the
Lightning Jet, though, the rest just falls
apart."
Kiko
chuckled.
"Actually,
the Flame Tank's turret forms Gattai Robo's spine, so
the Flame Tank and Water Cutter could still - "
Trick
shook his head.
"Just
take the compliment!" His smile turned into a
grin, and he let out a quick burst of laughter.
"You did well today, Kiko." He closed his
eyes for a moment and suddenly realised how tired
Kiko must be. "I'll go, and let you get some
sleep."
He
tried to stand, but felt Kiko's hand wrap around his
wrist.
"No,"
she said. "Please stay. Just tonight."
Trick
stared at Kiko for a long time. He stared at her dark
eyes; her soft, thin lips; her pointed nose; her - not
unattractive, he thought - body. He thought only
a few moments had passed but, finally, he noticed
that she had fallen asleep, and his legs were sore
from standing for too long. He'd been watching her
for almost an hour.
He
kneeled beside her and kissed her gently on the
forehead.
"Okay,
Kiko," he whispered. "I'll stay."
He
curled up on the floor next to the couch and felt
Kiko's hand reach down, and the tips of her fingers
brush against his palm. He closed his eyes, and was
soon fast asleep.
Elsewhere
"Finally!"
Satoshi cheered. "A success! You are sure Musen
Robo delivered its message as intended?"
"Positive,
Director Satoshi," Guardian replied.
"Excellent!
Then all that remains is Operation: Guardian, and
securing the services of Sorceress Miko and and
Jinsei again - and if my men at this base are to be
trusted and you are truly as capable as I suspect you
to be, Operation: Guardian may be ready
within three weeks... and with Operation:
Guardian a success, coercing Miko and Jinsei
into my employ should be very easy... or completely unnecessary."
NEXT:
Adapt or Die!
COG'S
SPECIAL REPORT!
 |
Hi! I'm Cog! The Robomen use a lot
of complicated technology, and sometimes it
can
be a bit hard to get your head around it all
- especially when you can't
actually see what's going on! (Hey,
if you can accept that a two-inch tall
robot is talking to you, you better be
able to accept that than they can
break the fourth-wall and acknowledge they're
a character in a work of
fiction!)
|
To help you out, I'm going to pop in
from time to time to let you know what I know
about the technology - and that isn't as much as you
might think. Doctor Nagura told me a lot, but he's a
world-famous bioroboticist... and while I might have
been one at one stage, I'm not 100% sure!
I
learned some really cool stuff when I was inside
Sei's Alert Bracer today, and I could fully access
Gattai Robo! Do you remember way back in Roboman
#15 (Component 05.3) how I combined with Sei's
Vertex Shield to create a new attack for Gattai Robo,
"Saikou Blaster: Vertex Mode"?
Today I
learned that Gattai Robo has two more special
finishing attacks, and we saw one of them used
against Musen Robo: "Robo Illusion"!
Robo
Illusion allows the Robomen to combine jera,
kenez and raido energy through the
Chaos Sword to bend space and time to create multiple
Gattai Robos performing the same attack at the same
time! Ikku can do something similar on his own, like
he did fighting the Pixies in Blizzard Base Zero in Roboman
#3 (Component 01.3)!
Gattai
Robo's third special attack hasn't been used yet, and
it is linked to a special power I technically don't
know about yet, so I can't really tell you... but we
will learn soon! And Sei and I haven't finished
teaching the Robomen about their powers yet - very
soon we will be teaching them about their weapons
(the Chaos Sword, Electro Blaster, Vertex Shield,
Force Cannon, Control Tonfas, Robo Defender and
Triplicate Bomber) and the Robo Vehicles!
At
least, we will be teaching them what we know!
If only Doctor Nagura was back on our side... he
could explain it all!
See you
next time! ^_^
