Prologue / Teaser:

25 years beforehand…

The chorus of bullets piercing steel flesh, melodies of swords tearing through plating. A scene of immense mechanoid carnage as far as the eye can see. Personal Troopers lay piles upon piles along the battlefield, stretching towards the horizon as one of the bloodiest battles ever recorded in the history of the planet Earth was fought out. Amongst the din, fighting for the Earth Federation Army, a voice cries out from a demon faced Super Robot; bearing resemblance to a traditional eastern samurai. The Super Robot bears an enormous katana in its right hand, which suddenly begins to transform its shape. The handguard widens as the substance known as “liquid metal” erupts around the already immense katana, forming around the mold into a colossal broadsword. Yes, true to its name, this weapon is the Type-3 Colossal Blade, which means that the Super Robot must be Daizengar, unit 001 in the Dynamic General Guardian series of Personal Troopers. And the custom unit Daizengar is piloted by one and one man only. General Sanger Zonvolt, the greatest fighter the EFA has ever known.

“Main line, hold the forefront! Rear infantry, push forward to support the vanguard! Gunners, advance and hold position the rear guard was taking!” an immensely deep, manly, piercing voice roars. His hot-blooded cry is loud enough so that the entireties of his forces are able to hear his commands, and the mere tone of his voice inspires the will and courage of his soldiers.

A unison “Sir yes sir!” erupts from the Personal Troopers on the battlefield fighting for the EFA, you can hear the morale boost in their voices; eager to fight for General Sanger and for the future of the Earth.

“I’m more proud than you could ever know to have fought alongside such brave men!” Sanger roars afterwards in response, his voice brimming with pride. In one fluid motion, Sanger leapt to the frontlines of the battle and raised his Colossal Blade to the heavens. Daizengar’s movements were being perfectly matched by the pilot within, a perfect synch of man and machine as Sanger’s samurai spirit flooded into his Super Robot and to his soldiers. He took a deep breath, and with as much hot-blood as he could muster, proclaimed the will of the Earth to the remnants of the Inspectors, their final foe. Roaring with all his strength to the heavens, General Sanger Zonvolt took what he knew would be his last speech.

“THIS IS WHERE WE MAKE OUR STAND. WE, THE PEOPLE OF THIS PLANET, THIS EARTH WILL NOT FALL SO EASILY. YOU UNDERMINE THE WILL OF MANKIND, AND THAT IS YOUR DOWNFALL! I, SANGER ZONVOLT, AM THE SWORD THAT SMITES EVIL! TODAY; YOU FALL HERE. WE, THE FORCES OF MANKIND WILL EMERGE VICTORIOUS! I GUARENTEE YOU THAT! WE ARE THE AGGRESSORS, BORN FROM THE SPIRITS OF THE NEO DIVINE CRUSADERS, FROM THE SPIRITS OF THE EARTH FEDERATION ARMY, NO; WE ARE BORN FROM THE SPIRITS OF MANKIND! REGISIA, TODAY YOU FALL TO MY COLOSSAL BLADE!”

Doing what he had never done before; Sanger began to tear up as he turned to face his men. He took another deep breath as he continued on.

“MEN, WOMEN AS WELL. I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL THAT YOU STOOD HERE THIS LONG WITH ME! I KNOW YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR LIVES ARE ON THE LINE HERE; YET YOU CHOSE TO STAY! THAT MEANS MUCH MORE TO ME THAN VICTORY HERE TONIGHT! OUR NUMBERS MAY BE LESS, OUR MECHS MAY BE WEAKER, BUT OUR SPIRITS, THE SPIRITS OF MEN ARE FOREVER BURNING; FOREVER STRONGER THAN ANYTHING THE INSPECTORS WILL EVER MUSTER! COME NOW; AND LET US LAUNCH THE FINAL ATTACK! HERE ON EARTH’S OWN SOIL, LET ALL OF THE UNIVERSE KNOW THAT MANKIND DOES NOT FALL SO EASILY!!!!!”

As General Sanger Zonvolt charged the massive horde of Inspectors, his men followed suit, their burning souls fueled by the General’s hot-blooded speech. Sanger Zonvolt drew his Colossal Blade back for one final swing.

“BLADE OF A SHINING CLOUD; COLOSSAL STORM!”

“THERE IS NOTHING MY COLOSSAL BLADE CANNOT CUT!”


End Scene_

R&R Please. I realize that this is just a little teaser.

It's a good perspective for a sort of teaser. :hmm:

cool speeches are very GAR lol

Chapter 1 – Nightmares:

“Wake up daddy, wake up! Mommy, why isn’t daddy waking up?! Mommy, please, mommy!”

A pale, handsome face with jagged, long silver hair rests within a casket. A lingering smile upon the eternally resting face, as if he knew that he has helped mankind usher in a new era of peace. How that smile would have been twisted if he had realized that the peace he had fought so hard for would not last, that confusion, disarray, and chaos would once again engulf the Earth.

An exotically beautiful woman with sea green hair has her face buried in her hands. She is sobbing uncontrollably as a young boy with the same hair as the man in the casket tugs on the bottom of her dress.

“Mommy, please stop crying. Mommy, please! Mommy, what’s wrong with daddy! Why won’t he open his eyes? Mommy please!” the boy cries out, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. Not because of sorrow, for he doesn’t understand the situation at hand. It simply hurts him to see his mother cry so hard.

A man walks up to the pair, his face a mask of agony. His hair is long and similarly rugged to the man in the casket’s hair, with the exception that his hair is brown. He places a large, yet gentle hand on the shoulder of the woman, and offers his condolences.

“Sophia... I’m so sorry. It’s not easy for any of us, but I know it’s hardest on you. Please, try to persevere. For the memory of the General… and for his son as well.”

The man moves his hand away from Sophia’s shoulder and places it on the head of the young boy, who smiles and looks up into the face of the man. The man ruffles his hair and smiles back.

“He looks just like his father…” the man thinks to himself. “You be strong for your mother, okay now Valor? Buck up soldier!” the man commands warmly.

“Yes sir mister Kyosuke!” Valor replies happily. He is truly a naïve young child. The simple presence of someone he adores and has known for his entire lifetime cheers him up in an instant.

…12 years later…

“Mom I’m ho--,” the same boy calls out. He has grown in the passing years, and he appears to be a teenager now. His face is stricken, and the blood rushes out of his, giving him the same, pale complexion his father had in the casket. He runs into the bathroom and begins to heave, and suddenly, the vomit rushes out of his mouth into the toilet. He walks back outside and has to run back one more time as the nausea overcomes him once again.

Outside, in the living room is the corpse of his mother, dangling from the ceiling fan. She has hung herself, unable to deal with a world without her only love any longer. For some inexplicable reason, the fan has activated, and his mother’s corpse circles along with the fan, flopping in a final indecency to her body and memory.

…1 month later…

After all the necessary ceremonies for Valor’s mother, Sophia Zonvolt were taken care of, he was adopted by Kyosuke and Excellen Nanbu, as they were the closest thing Valor had to family now. Their son, Cainto Nanbu was Valor’s best friend, but not even he could move him out of the slump Valor was in. It was as if a virus of depression had infected Valor and saturated every ounce of his being. He had turned from a happy, outgoing teenager to a brooding, antisocial outcast in less than a month.

As Cainto observed Valor from Valor’s bedroom doorway, he recalled the last real conversation they had until Valor had shut himself off from the world.

“I… I just thought that she was happy with me, that with all my hard work I was; I guess filling the hole dad had left when he died… but I guess I was wrong. Totally fucking wrong. She never got over him; she always had a huge fucking scar in her mind from when he died. I guess some wounds never do heal.”

…4 years later…

Valor walked along the streets of the Langley Base city, where he had moved to with the Nanbu family from Tokyo after his father, General Sanger Zonvolt had died. He walked towards the town square, where he came face to face with a statue of his father’s legendary Super Robot, Daizengar. Etched onto the base was his father’s famous quote, “I AM THE SWORD THAT SMITES EVIL!” As Valor read the quote over and over again, he grew angrier and angrier.

“My fucking ass dad! MY FUCKING ASS!” he roared. “SWORD THAT SMITES EVIL? YOU’VE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!” he cried out into the night. “You thought you were untouchable, goddamnit. You thought that you really were the sword that smites evil, and look where it fucking got you… six feet under… and look where it got me for chrissakes… I’m such a wreck… I’m such a wreck…” Valor cried, tears streaming down his face.

“I’m such a disgrace to the Zonvolt name… I just can’t live up to your legacy dad. I just can’t…”

…4 years later…

Cainto walked into his and Valor’s dorm room at college, looking for his still best friend.

“Hey Valor, whaddya say w--,” he started, but was cut short as he noticed that Valor’s entire side of the room was empty. He scrambled to his desk as he noticed that a note was left there, cleanly printed in Valor’s immaculate handwriting.

Dear Cainto,

If you are reading this, then I am already long gone, and I have taken my father’s Daizengar with me. I may have inherited his sword skills and his remarkable piloting abilities, but I will never be the man my father was, and it seems like lately, that’s all anyone wants from me. Why can’t you be like your father this, and why can’t you be like your father that, I just can’t stand it anymore. I’m going under a pseudoname now, and I’ve decided to travel the land as a mercenary. I can’t do the good that my father has done for this planet, but perhaps, collectively, while working as a mercenary, I’ll be able to help the right people and at least approach my father’s greatness. Please tell mom and dad I’m really grateful to them for putting up with me for this long. You’re still my best friend Cainto, its nothing against you that I’ve left. Good luck in the future. Be the best PT pilot you can be!

Goodbye,
Valor Zonvolt

Cainto clutched the letter in his hand and crumpled it. Tears began to drip from his eyes, blotting the paper and smudging the ink upon the letter.

“You goddamn fool Valor… you goddamn fool…” he whispered to himself.

…3 years later…

All these images flashed by in an anonymous person’s mind, increasing in velocity with each passing second. The casket, the suicide, the adoption, the running away, all of it. Eventually, it got to the point where this cascading torrent of images caused the person to fling his eyes wide open and gasp, sweating and panting. He sat up, and several strands of rugged, silver hair fell into face.

“That fucking nightmare again…”

End Scene_

sounds nice and emo.

And, yes, Cainto is a parody of my GGG fic. (H)

Chapter 2 – A New Foe:

The man washed his face in a nearby stream, shaking off the drowsiness from his abrupt awakening and brushing off any thoughts of the nightmare. He had experienced it one too many times for it to have any lasting effects on his mental state.

As he dried his face with a cloth, his features were clearly revealed. His face was asymmetrical, with a rugged handsomeness. He was clean shaven for being in the middle of a desert, and his eyes were a clear piercing blue. His hair was jaggedly spiked, hued silver and neatly styled. He was slightly weather-beaten, and it seemed as though he had traveled many a land, and endured some harsh climates.

His garments were hidden beneath a beige traveling cloak, patched and tattered, frayed at the edges from overuse. The only visible piece of clothing, if it was that was two silver, metallic shoulder-plates jutting out; perhaps part of a military uniform. Yes; this was indeed Valor Zonvolt, son of General Sanger Zonvolt, now age 25.

It was daybreak, and as he turned the sun struck his father’s, now his Personal Trooper at the perfect angle, causing a magnificent cascade of sunlight to pour off of its battle worn armor. In 3 years of repeated use, the Daizengar had not lost any of its former glory. Standing with its arms crossed, bearing the visage of a war god, it was the final testament of Sanger Zonvolt’s legacy. A legacy Valor had desperately tried to escape.

As Valor looked upon the mech, he thought back upon the conversation he had with himself so many times on the first couple of days he had ran off with the Daizengar.

“Didn’t I leave to get away from dad’s legacy? So then why the hell did I take his Personal Trooper with me? Then again, I sure as hell am not going to get any mercenary work done with the universities crappy training Lions and Guarlions… God I’m such an idiot! I manage to escape and I’ve still got an attachment to the old man…”

Valor smiled wryly as he continued to debate the merits of each situation. Total escape from his father’s legacy versus having a reliable PT to use. He sighed and realized once again that this argument would probably never end, as he was constantly second guessing himself.

As he stretched and took his katana to do some training before he ate breakfast and moved on, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Several glints of light were rapidly descending from the sky, not too close to his position, but relatively close enough that they could be hostiles if they noticed him.

Quickly calculating the odds, Valor gathered his meager possessions and ascended to the cockpit of the Daizengar. He wasn’t taking any chances. As he booted up the Daizengar’s console, he kept a constant watch on the falling units. They were not in the EFA’s database at all.

“Damn, unidentified units?!” Valor thought, his mind racing. There were so many possibilities, and nearly all of them were assured to be hostiles. “Balmar Aerogater remnants? Einsts? Damnit, they could be anything!” Valor thought furiously.

As the Daizengar finally finished its booting sequence and the Pilot Recognition System, Valor quickly switched piloting methods from the basic console, to the exclusive Direct Motion Link System, where the Personal Trooper matched motion for motion down to the very intricacies, the movements of the pilot. As the console sunk deep down somewhere into the Daizengar, and the hologrid appeared to scan Valor’s movements, he turned to face the oncoming unknowns.

The unknowns finally crash landed some distance off; it could now be identified as three units. Daizengar’s thrusters engaged as it began to soar at high speeds towards the impact site. Utilizing the Daizengar’s advanced Tesla Drive S’, Valor arrived at what would later be known as Meteor 4 in no time at all.

Daizengar tensed and drew its Colossal Blade as the dust began to settle. Then, suddenly, a flash of light! Two of the units rocketed off, blazing at speeds unmatched by anything Valor had seen, even in records.

“What the hell?!” Valor exclaimed. Not even the speed of the Tesla Drive X, the prototype which incorporated a Tronium based Tesla engine could match that. Hell, he doubted even the Cybuster, which had been blessed by the God of Wind could match that speed.

“That’s not my main worry right now!” Valor suddenly retorted, berating himself for taking a moment to gaze in awe at the speed. Daizengar’s thrusters reengaged as he attempted to go in pursuit of the two unknowns.

Then out of nowhere, a metallic cable shot out from the crater of the remaining unit. Daizengar was barely able to dodge the attack, and the spike attached to the end actually chipped some of Daizengar’s armor.

“Damn, I totally forgot about the remaining one!” Valor muttered under his breath, mentally slapping himself. He turned face and scanned the unknown. It was not an Aerogater or an Einst, but something entirely different.

“Well… it sort of looks like an Aerogater…” Valor reasoned. The unknown somewhat resembled a scorpion and did not look like a mechanoid at all. It looked far too organic, and it seemed to be capable of… conscious thought.

“What… what are you?” Valor asked, attempting to communicate. All he got in response was a series of beeps and clicks, unintelligible and a telltale sign of AI. And not just any AI…

“What the hell, that pattern matches exactly with Aerogater bug signals!” Valor exclaimed, stricken. “But… this thing isn’t in the database; it doesn’t even resemble anything the Balmar Empire would produce! It’s more of an Einst if anything!”

As the cable slithered back and reattached itself to the unknown, it arched back. It was apparent now that the part which had been fired at Daizengar was the “tail” of the scorpion unit.

“Well, it doesn’t matter what the hell you are, you’ll fall to my Colossal Blade!” Valor roared. Daizengar raised the Colossal Blade above its head, straight towards the sky. The sequence was initiated as the handguard of the Colossal Blade widened, the liquid metal forming around the already massive katana. The Daizengar’s Colossal Blade took on its broadsword form as it charged towards the unknown with its Tesla Drive.

“MY NAME IS VALOR ZONVOLT, THE SWORD THAT SMITES EVIL!” he roared, swinging down his katana in Daizengar’s cockpit, causing Daizengar to swing down its Colossal Blade in return. His attachment to his father was greater than he knew.

As the Colossal Blade sunk deep into the plating of the unknown, Daizengar struggled to completely cleave the opponent in two.

“What… the… hell?!” Valor grunted, his struggle apparent. He was exerting more force than normal, and it still wasn’t enough to cleave through the unknown. “Why can’t I do this?!” he cried out. As he focused Daizengar’s optical units to assess the situation, his eyes widened in disbelief.

“There’s no way in hell that something can regenerate that fast… not even with all the Machine Cells ever created!” The unknown was actually healing itself faster than Daizengar could cut, so that if this cycle continued, it would eventually push the Colossal Blade up and out of it so that it could completely regenerate.

“It looks as if you could use some help, old friend!”

Suddenly, brave and heroic music burst out from nowhere! It overrode all other theme songs as a title screen, yes a title screen in the tangible world appeared!

Gallop, Trombe!

“…What the fuck was that?” Valor sighed, his head cocked to the side in utter confusion. “This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder…”

Then recognition set in. “Old friend… Trombe…?! I know that voice! Calvin F. Branstein, is that you?!” Valor shouted in joy.

A brilliant Super Robot colored entirely in perfect black, as dark as the deepest recesses of space. It was outlined with a deep, royal red, and had blotches of gold for decorative patterns. It sported a large billowing black cape and a pure white mane erupting from the top of its head. It was a flashy PT, yet it echoed a mysterious aura, as if both it and the pilot enjoyed helping from the shadows. Dynamic General Guardian unit 002, Aussenseiter.

“You called, my friend?!” Calvin F. Branstein replied. He had long, perfect blonde hair and a pale complexion. He was calm-faced, yet eager at the same time. Charismatic and cool-tempered, a natural born leader and the son of a pilot as great as Sanger Zonvolt, and a lifetime friend of his as well.

“It looked like you could use some help!” Calvin called out, as the Aussenseiter leapt gracefully over to the Daizengar. The Aussenseiter too had the benefit of the Direct Motion Link System, as the Daizengar and Aussenseiter were created to be a pair, custom PT’s made especially for Sanger Zonvolt and Elzam Branstein.

“I should think that we could take one little unknown together, no?” Calvin inquired, smirking. They had been separated for 3 years, but their friendship was no weaker. “If we couldn’t I’d be frightened for the future of this planet Calvin!” Valor shouted back, filled with joy to be reunited with his longtime friend.

As both mechs turned to face the unknown who had long since recovered, steely determination grew in the corners of their eyes and fiery souls burned within the hearts of their pilots.

“CLEAVE, DAIZENGAR!”

“GALLOP, TROMBE!”

End Scene_

.::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::. .::.

P.S.: Here is the theme I was talking about, it comes with a picture of Aussenseiter as well.

Trombe!

WTF THIS IS A NIGGERIFICALLY AWESOME FIC!

(Unusually long chapter :hmm:)

Chapter 3 – Familiar Faces

As Aussenseiter skillfully maneuvered its way around the unknown, it drew its two primary weapons, the Lanzekanones. The two specially designed beam rifles with bayonet tips, made for Calvin’s father Elzam, now were in his hands. And if Elzam was watching, he would’ve been proud. Calvin was handling the Lanzekanones and the Aussenseiter just as, if not better, than Elzam himself. The Aussenseiter began unleashing a barrage of plasma bullets against the unknown, every so often strategically remaneuvering itself to another location. All this time, Daizengar hadn’t done much of anything; in fact, it seemed to be sitting there, holding the Colossal Blade in front of its face, seemingly contemplating it, as if searching for flaws.

Within the cockpit, Valor stood with his eyes closed, in deep thought. While Calvin’s out there risking his life… no I shouldn’t say that. I know Calvin better. He’s too good of a pilot to get taken out by something like this. Anyhow… he’s out there now, and I’m just sitting here, thinking. Goddamnit Valor, this is so unlike you. You used to be the first to take action, the first to do anything; now here you are, mulling in your father’s PT, just thinking. If anything, you learned one thing from him. It’s the thinking that gets you killed. No remorse, no guilt. If you see the opening, you take it. That’s war. So then why am I just sitting here now?! What the fuck is wrong with me?!

Valor’s eyes flew wide open, the steely glint returned, the fire in his soul fueled once more. Electrical currents began to flow through the Colossal Blade, charging its edge with a force equivalent to a strike of lightning. Daizengar opened its mouth in accordance with its pilot, Valor’s voice projected through the soul of his father. Valor roared and Daizengar launched into the air, swinging the Colossal Blade down with all its might.

“Colossal Thunder!” Valor cried out, striking the unknown. It was taken by surprise, as all of its previous processing output was concerning itself with Calvin’s Aussenseiter. As the electrically charged Colossal Blade sunk deep into the metallic hide of the unknown, Aussenseiter kept its constant barrage, hoping that somehow together, the rapid healing process could be defeated.

“Calvin, it's no use! It’s just regenerating too fast!” Valor yelled towards the Aussenseiter. “What the hell do we do?!”

Projected within the cockpit of Daizengar, Calvin’s smiling face and his cool, collected mannerisms revealed he had a plan. “Why doubt the legacies our fathers have left us Valor?” Calvin inquired, innocently. “You know there is something in our arsenal that these things could not have predicted…”

The corners of Valor’s mouth upturned slowly, eventually spreading into a large smile. “As if I could forget about that technique. That was truly a spectacle to watch.”

“Then let us ride, my friend!” Calvin yelled, whipping Aussenseiter’s cape around. At that moment, the Aussenseiter began to glow a deep red, as the Daizengar glowed a royal blue. Then suddenly, both PT’s took off, flying towards each other and colliding in mass which should have resulted in a purple energy, but did not. Instead, it seemed as if the blobs of energy were struggling against each other, searching for a long weathered nook and cranny that felt just right to fit in. Apparently, this area was found, as the large mass flew off some distance, landing gracefully.

The sky darkened, as storm clouds began to gather. Only the silhouette of Daizengar riding what appeared to be a horse could be seen. It extended its arm, revealing the enormous length and grandeur of the fully formed Colossal Blade. A flash of thunder, and it was revealed. The perfect synchronization of man and machine, then with machine and machine. Aussenseiter had transformed into a mechanized horse, meant for the samurai Daizengar to ride.

“Together…” Calvin cried out,

“WE ARE THE SWORD!” Valor roared.

“Gallop, Trombe!” Calvin yelled, as the duo began to ride towards the unknown. It seemed to be calculating, searching its databases for something to counter this move with. When it could not, it began to process the attack, sending data to the database for future use. It seemed to accept its imminent defeat, as it sat there.

Gaining momentum and velocity with each gallop, the combination of Daizengar and Aussenseiter soon reached the unknown. At point blank range, Daizengar roared and cleaved the unknown in two, behind its Colossal Blade was all of the pent up momentum, and not only that, but the combined strength of two pilots, and their burning hearts.

Daizengar then began to spin the Colossal Blade rapidly, forming a miniature tornado, into which the unknown was sucked into, being shredded to pieces by the force of this attack. This move, the combination of both the Aussenseiter and Daizengar was known as the Colossal Tornado, a tried and true attack perfected by Elzam and Sanger, and now being used by their sons.

“We are the lone riders, and together, not even a thousand can stand in our way!” the pilots finished in unison. The unknown’s remains fell to the ground in a thousand pieces, collected by Calvin for further inspection.

Valor let out a long sigh, relieved that this incident was finally over. However, he still had a few puzzling questions to ask of his friend, nothing do with this attack however. Valor knew that even Calvin would know nothing about this.

“Calvin... why are you here?” Valor began. He felt that Calvin didn’t just happen to be in the vicinity of the fight, and just so happen to see his friend struggling. There was an ulterior motive at work.

Calvin let out a sigh just as long as the one Valor has just let out. He opened the cockpit of Aussenseiter and stepped out into the air, scratching his head. Valor followed suit, and was finally facing his friend in the flesh, after 3 years. Calvin smiled and raised his hands in a shrugging position.

“I came to bring you a present, and this is how I’m greeted?” Calvin joked. Valor simply grew angry as he assumed that his friend was dodging the question. “Calvin, I want to know why you’re here,” Valor said quietly.

“I’m not lying Valor. After all these years, perhaps our trust has been frayed thin some,” Calvin replied coolly, his eyebrows raising. He pointed to the sky, and Valor’s own eyes raised, wondering how he had not noticed it before.

There, hovering above the battle site was the Kurogane, the flagship of Calvin’s father Elzam. It had not changed in the passing years, it still kept the same color scheme of red, black, and gold, and the Titanic Drill was still mounted on the bow. Valor smiled as he reminisced about the times he and Calvin had on the ship. Still, he was slightly wary.

“What kind of present are you bringing me exactly…?”

“The best kind of course,” Calvin said, smiling. “But first, I’m going to need to ask you to come back with us, to Langley Base,” he said, offering a smile to Valor.

“Nuh uh,” Valor replied curtly, shaking his head. “I left three years ago, I don’t intend on coming back now. I haven’t done enough good in the Zonvolt name to return.”

Calvin sighed and stepped back into the cockpit of the Aussenseiter. His voice projected through Aussenseiter’s speakers as he turned around and began to fly towards the Kurogane. “I mean, it’s not like you ever had a choice in the matter,” he said, a hint of playfulness in his voice.

“What do you mea-,” Valor started, abruptly cut off as a large beam of light shot down from the Kurogane, beginning to draw Valor and the Daizengar up. “Beam him up Scotty,” Calvin joked, as the Aussenseiter successfully docked within the Kurogane.

“Let me go Calvin! Now! I mean it!” Valor yelled angrily. “I’m not joking, once this thing lets me go I’m cleaving this whole damn ship!”

“I’d like to see you try you hot-headed fool,” Calvin said, laughing at Valor’s mock anger. He knew that deep inside, Valor was somewhat glad to be able to see all his old friends again. Even the strongest man grew homesick after three years of reclusion.

As the Daizengar docked and Valor was escorted to a resting room, the Kurogane took off at top acceleration for Langley Base in the United States, now known as the Union.

Hours pass…

“Well, how’s it feel to be home?” Calvin said to Valor as they landed and exited the Kurogane.

“Well, I gotta admit Calvin, it does feel pretty good,” Valor said, smiling broadly. He took in a deep breath of air and took in the surroundings. His eyes passed from building to building, from large group of people to large group of --, wait, what?

“VALOR ZONVOLT, IS THAT YOU?!” a tall, powerfully built man donning a red jacket and fading brown hair cried out. Though the distance was large, the man seemed to appear next to Valor instantaneously.

“D-dad, I… can’t… breathe!” Valor choked. He struggled to remove himself from the bear hug that the man had placed him in.

“Whoops, sorry about that son,” the man laughed as he let Valor go. This then must be Kyosuke Nanbu, Valor’s adoptive father. An unusual burst of emotion from a normally cool and collected individual.

Valor scanned the faces of the crowd for other familiar faces. “There’s Kusuha, Bullet, Masaki, Folka, Fernando, Gilliam, Elzam, Kai, Lune, Viletta, Rai, Aya, Mai, Arado, Seolla,” Valor thought to himself, listing off the names in his head. It was only a small group of his lifetime friends, but nonetheless, he was ecstatic to see them all again.

“Dad, where’s mom?” Valor asked casually. He knew nothing could’ve happened to Excellen. She wasn’t the kind of woman to let anything bring her down.

“She’s with the others at TLI,” Kyosuke replied. “They’re analyzing the unknown fragments that you guys brought back.” Suddenly, Kyosuke’s face turned grave, a serious air was about him.

“Valor, we can celebrate later. Right now President Brian said he needs to speak with you. He called this conversation imperative; so I think you should go for now,” Kyosuke said, putting his hands on Valor’s shoulders and turning him in the direction of the President’s temporary office.

“Alright I guess,” Valor said, taken aback by the abrupt end to his homecoming. He was a little affronted at the president’s familiarity; but shrugged it off and started walking.

As he entered the office, he noticed two things. A young man around his age of what appeared to be Vietnamese descent, and a young man slightly older than him of what appeared to be Middle Eastern descent.

“President Micrid,” Valor said, shaking the president’s hand firmly and sitting down. He took note that the blinds were closed and little to no light was available, all the time a small electrical fan was running.

“Valor, I’m sure you know why I’ve called you here,” President Micrid said gravely. His voice was gravelly, as if he hadn’t slept for some time. “We hear about Meteor 4 some time back, but we didn’t fear the worst until you and Calvin sent in your report on the unknowns. We’ve classified them as Instigators, a pseudo fusion of Einst and Aerogater.” The president took a deep breath and ran his hand through his thinning hair. He continued.

“We’ve created an organization called the Anti-Instigator Investigative Squad. It has no formal name yet, except for that,” the president said, sliding Valor a small portfolio across the desk. “That contains what confidential information we’ve been able to scrap up on the Instigators. Valor, I sincerely hope you’ll accept my proposal to join this squad,” President Micrid said, offering Valor his hand once more.

Valor took a quick look down at the portfolio and ignored the president’s hand and rose. “I’m sorry Mr. President, but you should know by now that I work alone.”

The air near Valor whistled, as a hand shot out as fast as lightning and dealt a swift slap to the right side of Valor’s face. The force of this slap was so great that Valor actually flew back some.

“Feez!” the president breathed. “That wasn’t necessary.” The one known as Feez, the Middle Eastern man ignored the president’s remark and walked over to Valor, looking down at him.

“Stop being so damn selfish. You ran away three years ago because you couldn’t face your problems, but now you’re offered a chance to make up for what you couldn’t do in the past. Now accept it and move on. Are you a true man? If you are, show me your steely resolve!” Feez said, the burning soul of a man burning deep within.

“He’s right you know,” the Vietnamese man said, getting up. “Take his advice, and I think we’ll get along fine,” he said, smiling. “I’m PhantomZero by the way,” he said, offering his hand.

Valor took it and got up. The slap had shot a bright light of realization to his core, that he had been acting selfish. “PhantomZero huh…” Valor said, mulling over the name. “That’s sort of an odd name if you ask me,” he said, rubbing his face.

“Well its not exactly my real name,” he replied, smiling. “It’s a codename, yours is PhantomRiku if I’m not mistaken,” he said, briefly checking the portfolio. “Um… yep, PhantomRiku,” he said.

Valor turned to Feez. “I’m assuming Feez is a codename too then?” Valor said, offering Feez his hand. “I’d like to start over if that’s alright with you,” Valor said, no, PhantomRiku said smiling.

“Fine with me,” Feez said, smiling broadly while shaking PhantomRiku’s hand. “I think we’ll get along just fine, kid.”


End Scene_