Senzaiichiguu: Once in a Lifetime

Chapter Three:

Words…everywhere…

They played across his eyes, glowing blue and gold. Sparks filled the air as he peered closer at the moving text, taking in the contents of which they spilled. His lips moved to form the words as his throat released a noise that was pleasant yet so foreign at the same time. It took a moment for him to realize that the sounds escaping his throat sounded like the blowing wind, the dull roaring ocean, of floating clouds and golden sunshine. No human words could fully put meaning into the sensation of speaking the timeless language.

He touched his chest where warmth bubbled up from his words. It was more of a feeling, a shared universal feeling rather than a language so to speak. It was the feeling that he associated with Reideen and Akira…both one and the same yet so drastically different. Reaching out at the wall with moving text he touched it, letting the warmth flood him everywhere. Throwing his head back he let the ‘words’ flow through him as if he were a thirsty man drinking water after being without for such a long time.

The wall and the words vanished to be replaced by the image of infinite space, that black void of stars and pinpoints of light miles upon miles away from Earth. Junki stared out there, feeling a longing in his being for whatever it was that lie beyond the place called Earth. Before he knew it he was hurled past planets, galaxies, star systems and other denizens of space until he was hovering above a large planetary system. Peering closer he realized that there were space vessels everywhere.

Another one of his dreams and visions at the same time…

Images of memories flashed before his eyes, memories not of his own…memories of times gone by. There was a great battle that threw up fire across the heavens, illuminating against the blackness of space. They outshone the stars and Junki could hear the screams and feel the pain as lives perished around him. Then there was Reideen…

Olive-brown eyes widened at the sight of the still forms of Reideen and Gadeon lying beside each other. Could this have been the facility in which they were built? If so then how long ago? The technology around him was breathtaking and unexplainable in Earth’s terms. As more memories flashed by he tried to take hold of them. They were precious memories of the forgotten that had come back to say something to him. What? What were they trying to say?

Then the last images fell into his hands revealing a tall man wearing strange clothing that clearly wasn’t anything of Earth standing before a crowd of millions. The strange head piece he had on was a crown and in that moment Junki realized that this man was a ruler of some unknown planet. Taking a closer look at the man, Junki did a double take as his eyes widened and his breath left his lungs.

That man…looked just like his father…and like himself. In fact…he looked eerily like one of his great great grandfathers from his father’s side of the family. Shocked, he forced himself away from the image and woke up.

Gritting his teeth harshly, he brought a hand to his forehead as pain racked his nerves. Hissing in pain he screwed his eyes shut as colors burst behind his eyelids at the intensity of the pain before he leaned forward. Blinking away colored dots, he took a shuddering breath to relieve some of the pain. When his vision returned to normal and the pain abated to a dull ache he stared at the clock before tossing aside the blankets.

No point in going back to bed.

His feet hit the cold wooden floors of his room before he padded over to his computer. Seating himself in his black computer chair that his mother had bought him a few weeks back, he woke his computer up from its slumber and proceeded to log on. He had something that most computer geeks or astronomy buffs would have killed to have: computer access to the Hubble Telescope and others. Typing away at the keyboard he navigated around until he found what he was looking for.

Since what had happened with the aliens, he had decided to keep an eye out of strange things moving towards Earth. He jammed on his glasses that had been lying complacently on the desk where they had been placed hours before hand. As his mouse moved between windows restlessly, he decided to settle for surfing the internet for news.

Rays of sunlight filtered through his room, by then he had more than ready to go to school as his computer kept track of the happens of the Hubble Telescope. Ever since he had been unwillingly forced to be part of the government, they had deemed it necessary to give him a salary and clearance to files. His cover job at VT Audios also paid pretty well; added on top of his government stipend. Part of the benefits that came for being a rather indispensable part of the government was that he also was in on the latest technology had to offer. He reached over to pick up his small laptop. It was almost as small as a portable DVD player but rather powerful. Built by Panasonic, it was virtually indestructible. Weighing at the most about two pounds it was virtually nothing. Luckily the company had made the keyboard large enough so that he could type on it given that his hands were rather big.

Placing the small dark metallic red laptop inside his bag, he hoisted it over his shoulder and made his way down to have breakfast and depart for school as usual. The memories still played in his head in a vivid fashion but he gently put it in the backseat for the moment being. He had his education to worry about and dreams were the last thing that he needed to mess up his concentration.

0o0o0o0o0

It had been a few days since Sylvia had left the Lleyster Empire and into the Unchartered Territories with the delegation party. Sir Gyrvin, a well reputed delegate for foreign affairs had also come along. Colonel Vyrxas hadn’t told her the bulk of the mission but Sir Gyrvin’s appearance at the site was more than enough to tell her that this mission was rather important. So important…that they sent the best to handle the situation.

The portly man was in his usual jolly mood as she stood on the bridge to see the hazy lights that marked the fact that they were traveling through a ‘worm hole’ via hyperspace that was a small opening between the Lleystian Empire and the coordinates to the unknown planet. The travel had lasted a few weeks due to the distance.

“The Parliament was more than happy to fund this expedition if means the return of our most esteemed Emperor. According to probes sent a century ago, only one planet of the whole entire system was habitable. The planet’s moon and one of its neighbors, a dust planet showed promise of supporting life with terraforming. Then we left it alone due to the fact that it was a level 4 planet with very little advancement in technology. However it’s exciting to see that this planet had managed to achieve so much in the last 120 years.

“Though you may only believe that we’re only there to observe and search for the Emperor and the Guardian, our job is to also make contact with the pilot of the Guardian. We want to insure that we have friendly relations with the natives of the planet as well as observe the pilot and figure out the missing part that would make our APS closer to the original Guardians.”

Sylvia stared out of the windows at the bright lights of hyperspace flashing by her. Observe the pilot? She wondered what the pilot was like. The one from her old planet had been strapped with the responsibility of being a war machine before their planet had been attacked by the Dark Ones and their Agents. It had been a mistake on their part. They relied on him too much, and used him as a tool for war.

All sentient beings were cursed with the good and the bad. They were capable of love, kindness, cruelty and madness. These Earthians…somewhat primitive and crude by all standards of the Empires; they survived an onslaught from the Trio. They succeeded where her people had failed.

What was this planet like?

Glancing up at the time keeping device she noted that they were close to the deadline of appearing in the system that the Emperor had vanished to. The lights of hyperspace faded out as a giant planet the color of teal loomed in front of them. It was a gas giant with windstorms and a few moons. As the ship slowed to cruise and stealth mode, Sylvia saw that the planets in the system were beautiful to behold. Their colors were outstanding. She had seen a great deal of planets in her lifetime so far and the gas giants in this system were by far quite interesting.

As they slipped through the asteroid belt between the giants and the sold planets, she caught sight of a bright red planet.

“It’s all iron.” Sir Gyrvin said as he gazed at it with some interest.

Even so the intensity of the planet’s color was fascinating. She continued to look at it when she noticed the polar ice caps on top of both poles. Yes there was strong potential in terraforming the planet; however she doubted that the Earthians were ready for it.

“Oxidized iron? There’s an abundance of it in this system…To have a whole planet red because of it.”

“Indeed. It’s rare to find such planets we only have three in the Empire that can supply an abundance of Klassa metal.”

Iron was weak compared to Klassa. Then again all other metals were. It was what the ship was made of to begin with. She continued to watch out of the glass windows as they passed the silent red planet and beheld a dark blue and green gem that glowed light blue from the solar rays that was shining behind it. She gaped at it before her.

Never had she thought of it as a small planet but indeed it was. Yet even though it was tiny in comparison to the planets she had seen in her lifetime however unlike the cold grey that was on a vast majority of planets, this one still had natural life. In fact she could barely see cities from where she was at. Coming a bit closer she was able to see that the people of Earth built their cities in such a way that there would always be some part of nature in them.

They were advancing at an abnormal pace as far as growing planets went. To jump from candles to electricity and transglobal communications in about 120 years was unprecedented in a good number of developing planets that were being monitored. They had touched space from the satellites that were in orbit of the planet to give indication for such. It was now a level 5 planet and by law it was perfectly alright to contact them.

“Earth…will be an interesting place.”

She could only agree with him as she watched as the probes were released into Earth’s atmosphere. For the next few Earth months they would gather information including languages and customs.

However she didn’t miss the fact that the moon was missing a large chunk from it as well as had a newly created fissure that created a large scar on the moon’s surface.

0o0o0o0o0

“Stand, bow and sit!”

Chairs scrapped across the linoleum floor as the entire class stood up, bowed and once again took their seats. Junki had caught Akira’s eyes and gave her a small smile before sitting down. Shiori caught sight of the exchange and sighed as she took her seat as well. She wished that Junki would at least look her way. For the longest time she had liked him more than just childhood friends. It wasn’t fair that some stranger would take him away.

She wasn’t a bitter person in the least but after all that had been said and done, she knew Junki better than anyone else. Biting her lip she watched him from across her seat. It was something else to know that he was the pilot of Reideen that had saved the vast majority of Japan from destruction at the expense of his own life and wellbeing.

It wasn’t her fault to have fallen for him. In fact a vast majority of the girls in the school were in love with him. He was tall, handsome, intelligent and kind though somewhat mellow as far as personality went. People often saw his quietness as a sign for extreme maturity on his part. On the other hand they never knew what he had to go through as a child after his father disappeared. He was sensitive to many things around him though he kept an outward appearance of being calm. Rarely one to panic he held the order in the chaos that plagued his grieving mother and his inquisitive sister.

His talents were what had saved his mother from shame at the fact that his father had vanished. People had speculated that his father had run off with another woman. She didn’t remember when it was when he started wearing glasses but as far as she had always known him, his eyesight had been fine. Over time she began to realize just how much he looked his father wearing them. He had quit kendo once the rumors died down and focused on his academics. She had gotten into Mikansen due to the fact that her father and mother worked to get her in but Junki had to force his way through the ranks.

Always stubborn to the very end, he kept on staring on what was ahead of him, oblivious to the fact that he had gained the attention of the school. His kindness had landed him the favor of a great majority of the school, his intelligence had gained the interest of the teachers and his quietness in general was able to calm the rowdiest of classes. People respected and at the same time feared him. She never understood the fear part until recently.

He had been restraining himself for a while.

Reideen’s existence and Junki’s role as its pilot opened her eyes to the fact that there was more to him than he let on. The fact in itself was anything but comforting. In fact it was the most terrifying thing on the planet. He had almost died from that battle between him and the invading aliens. Yet in his increasingly role as something quite important, she knew that he was walking away from her. She detested the fact that he was leaving her but it couldn’t be helped- not when he was the only chance that humanity had of surviving.

Unknown to the brown haired girl, Midorino Akira had been watching her with vivid green eyes before turning her attention back to the teacher.

“We have a new student today. I would appreciate it if you were to welcome Sakuma Soujun”

Everyone watched as the classroom door opened to reveal a tall boy with pitch black hair the same color as Akira’s and eyes the color of sky. The girls of the class sighed over him. Between the new boy and Saiga Junki…it was going to be a tough call. He wore a pleasant smile but his eyes came directly in contact with Junki’s.

From his seat Junki stiffened as the feeling of ‘strangeness’ washed over him. It wasn’t strange really, but more on par with the fact that it was a similar feeling to Reideen’s presence but at the same time not. Whereas his general reception of Reideen’s presence was warm, the newcomer’s was slightly colder though not at all too unpleasant. He knew who it was though it seemed to be like an impossibility given that he had destroyed the ship with God Great along with all traces of the ancient mecha.

However it would seem that the silver giant had survived through some odd means…He brought his hand down to his pocket where he kept the armlet that had mysteriously been in his jacket pocket. The smile on Soujun’s face became much more profound. It wasn’t a sinister smile but more rather a highly interested one. Junki looked to Akira who continued to look at the boy before allowing her attention to drift back to the front. It was a subtle sign that Soujun wasn’t someone to be worried about at the moment. Though she was nonchalant about the boy’s presence, Junki couldn’t shake that penetrating gaze as the boy came up through the isle to take a seat behind Shiori.

He felt the contours of the small silver and gem studded barrette that rested in his pants pocket. How he always ended up with it baffled him. It would be the second time he had gotten it after a battle. Reluctantly he let it be as he turned his attention back to the teacher and watched the board. The problems were simple and he had already solved them in head. Now…as to the transfer student- that would be a different thing altogether.

0o0o0o0

A yellow envelope landed on the wooden desk with a definitive slap. Jyushiro Kimitake looked up as he shoved his glasses up his face to stare up at photographer Mitakana Hanabi as she smiled smugly at him. With a sigh he reached over to pick up the envelope and open it.

Kimitake was a relatively young man in his late twenties with dark brown hair and shrewd black eyes behind a pair of wire framed glasses. Some of the female workers called him cute but he was much too embroiled with his job working for a sports journal to even pay much attention to what the women were saying around the water cooler through there were wages that he would hook up with Hanabi. Now Hanabi was a rather beautiful woman with a lean, slender body, pitch black hair and warm brown eyes. However unlike most of her co-workers, being a photographer gave her room for eccentricity- such as wearing a T-shirt and jeans.

“You were actually able to find something interesting?” He asked as he spilled the photos into his hands, tossing the empty envelope onto the table.

“Mhmmm.” She answered as she leaned against the edge with a smug smirk. “It took a while to compile all of the photos but there was one that really caught my interest. Though I’m not an expert of the sport, I do know that he’s pretty good.”

“Who’s this he that you’re talking about?” Kimitake asked as he looked up from the photos. He already pulled out the ones that were powerhouses in kendo. The others were faces that were either relatively new or unimportant.

Reaching into her bag once again, Hanabi procured another envelope and held it up. “This guy’s pretty interesting. He’s really talented.”

Kimitake reached out to take the envelope. Opening it, he began to pull out the photos when the package fell from his hands and spilled the contents across the smooth table top. A few photos fluttered to the floor. He gazed up at Hanabi.

“Guessing by your reaction to the photos you must recognize him.”

Pushing his wheeled office chair back, he turned to his file cabinet and riffled through the files and pulled out a vanilla folder before turning to face Hanabi. He procured a photo from the contents and put it beside one of the photos on the table. Though somewhat yellowed, the photo was relatively recent…if one accounted for the rough estimate of ten years or so. The person in the photo was a young solemn looking boy with brown wavy hair and contemplative eyes. A very pretty child indeed.

Next to it was one of the photos that she had taken. The resemblances were striking indeed. The young boy had become a handsome young man. The features had filled out to a refined bone structure and the boy now wore glasses though they were designer ones that accented his natural good looks rather well. Both photos revealed the boy wearing a kendo uniform.

“Saiga Junki...”

Hanabi’s eyes widened as she turned to look at Kimitake. “The one that was supposed to be the youngest kendoka in history? The one that quit?”

“The very same one. He was something else. He held the future of kendo in his hands and let it go. We never figured that he was still sore about his father’s disappearance and now proven as death. He went through a lot during that time, so it’s understandable as to why he left. Yet to see him come back to kendo...”

It was interesting that after so long that he would come back to kendo. He had been rather straight laced about not returning if the rumors were true. Unlike the other sports, coverage on kendo wasn’t that big yet still important enough to be covered. Saiga Junki had once been the topic of discussions due to the fact that he had been the only rising star in the kendo. All of the other young contenders couldn’t match up to his skill. These days after he had left other prodigies had sprung up to fight over the empty throne he had left behind in his untimely retirement.

“Yes however I can’t say for sure why he came back to the kendo world. I’m sure that his last opponent’s family would object to his return.”

“They have no right to object. Saiga gave the boy a way out and the boy didn’t listen. I’ve heard the rumors that the fact that he had to fight the boy to the point of crippling disgusted him and whatnot. There might be some truth- it would not be out of disgust but perhaps out of guilt. Now that he’s gotten over with I think it’ll be quite the roar that he’s come back to kendo. Funny to think that he’s been doing it under everyone’s noses this whole time.”

Kimitake would go on for hours to solve so called mysteries with intensity once something caught his eye. Well, at least she was glad that she had gotten him out of his current funk.

“Now get me more photos and if you can a recording. I want to see if his skills had lain fallow after all these years or had grown sharp.”

0o0o0o0

Junki leaned forward as he scanned the images that had been downloaded to his laptop from the telescope. There definitely was something that had come by the solar system but vanished. Normally he would have ignored it in favor of possibly being a meteor that had just passed by. However anything that entered the system was considered potential danger. He looked over at his wrists seeing the two tattoos branded on him.

They weren’t that noticeable and were more like unusual birthmarks as opposed to tattoos. Even so the general shapes were more than enough to say that they were far from natural. His excuse had been melanin issues. People had been dense enough to fall for it.

Now he couldn’t hide the fact that people were going to buy that excuse given that Gadeon’s design was much more complex than Reideen’s. Too complex to be passed as melanin issues…even the most dense person would know about it. Sighing he ran a hand through his hair. Oh well, he would just say that it was a tattoo even though he would get in trouble with the school. Not that it would be too much given that he was a straight A student with extra curricular activities such as kendo and archery.

However of the late he was gravitating toward the image of the bad boy now he thought of it. Little wonder why the teachers were giving him worried glances. Having a motorcycle seemed rather out of place for him along with his frequent absences. Glancing over at Shiori he caught her scowling at him and gave her a small smile. She visibly relaxed and he went back to his search on his laptop.

A small flashing window caught his attention. It was a secured email from the government. Groaning he looked around before opening it. Reading the contents he didn’t know whether to be shocked or to be amused or even better yet…confused. Given that it was urgent he decided that he would have to cancel kendo and archery club today. Checking the time for the second time he stood up from his seat in the school library, shut down his laptop and left.

Half an hour later he arrived at VC Audio to greet his co-workers calmly as he stepped into the small office space.

“Oy Junki.” Maedesaki greeted. “You got your e-mail right?”

“I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t sent it to begin with.” Junki replied as he refrained from rolling his eyes.

“Yeah…well…the officials should be coming in any moment now. So are you excited about it? I know that the other pilots are.”

Junki glanced at Terasaki and Hoshikawa as they both shrugged their shoulders at the matter.

“Not really. It’s still quite experimental isn’t it? Though I’m quite sure as to the reason why I’m going to be piloting the experimental craft before the other pilots…isn’t it a tad too…rushed on their part?”

Maedesaki shook his head as he shot a smile at Junki. “Not exactly, most of their accomplishments in creating the prototype came from you and you’re excited because you get to see the fruit of your observation pay off.”

“You’re cruel Saiga-kun.” The brown haired man complained.

“It’s the truth.” Junki replied as he caught sight of the other two chuckling.

Truthfully he didn’t mind the other man’s snooping tendencies at all but all the same it was a bit unnerving that the government found him more than suitable to play guinea pig to the experimental prototype that would work somewhat like Reideen in all aspects. He knew that it was a matter of time before they came up with the creations. It was a robot manga come to life- like Gundam or something like it.

“The kid has a point.” Terasaki mused, “I mean I wouldn’t like to be an experiment to your genius.”

“You’re too cruel Terasaki...”

There was a knocking at the door and the four of them looked at each other as Maedesaki coughed.

“It would seem that it’s time to see the new product of the Jin Rai series.”

Sure enough when the door was opened, it revealed a group of suit wearing men that screamed of government officials as they made their way down to black cars…Couldn’t the government be more…subtle about everything? They could have gotten green cars…it would have looked less suspicious than black. Thankfully there weren’t any tinted windows or else that would have really made the whole trip worse than it was.

Junki mused that people on the road would find it interesting that a school boy would be crammed into a car with men wearing suits. One could only come up with a logical answer that he would have been the son of a wealthy person…not a farfetched idea given that his school was rather wealthy and powerful in its right. He got in with his intellect, nothing more and nothing less. The scholarships were demanding but he didn’t mind in the least. As long as he was guaranteed that he would land a promising career to take care of his mother- that’s all that mattered. A bit of hardship on his part wouldn’t hurt.

They reached the government facility and he stepped out of the car to gaze at the giant that towered over the vast majority of the buildings. Unlike Reideen or Gadeon which were respectively gold and silver; this new Jin Rai was pitch black with red markings.

“These babies are going to have custom paint jobs for each pilot so to distinguish between them better. Thanks to alien invasion our government has been provided another source of economy as far as arms goes.”

Saiga turned to gaze at the Minister of Defense before back up at the dark robot. It was slimmer than the other Jin Rai counterparts. It had flight capabilities and looking at the shoulders he saw that they didn’t carry any experimental bombs- or rather nuclear bombs if one wanted to get really technical. If there were no bombs then just what were the units equipped with?

“Though crude to Reideen, it’s still something of a feat on our part.”

He followed the Minister into the building as diagrams were shown and he was mildly shocked that all remotes would be connected to his nervous system and that the start ups would be voice and eye identified. The idea of having wires sticking out of him was unpleasant but he had no choice in the matter. Not when he was part of the government.

In the locker room he put on his plug suit which was no different than the one that Maedesaki had given him months before hand. Of course like the robot itself, the suit was black. Stepping out he made his way to the launch pad of the Jin Rai.

“So…given that you’re the experimental prototype’s pilot…what will you call this unit?” The mechanic asked just before he entered the cockpit of the giant.

Junki looked at the robot before answering. “Genzou…Phantom.”

As he descended into the cockpit of the newly named unit he encountered dim lighting and noticed right away that the unit’s insides were rather spacious…there was enough room for him to move about in but small enough to restrict said movements.

“Unit 000, power up.”

The dim lighting became stronger as he leaned back against the seat and felt pricks as the acupuncture needles were inserted into his back and ‘locked’ into place via his suit. They didn’t hurt per say but it felt odd having them there.

‘Voice recognized: Saiga Junki.’ Flashed across the ‘screen.’

“Activating code Shinigami.”

Immediately the display system came on and he could see the outside with clarity. The control systems were almost set up like Gadeon’s. He was seated and had to control the giant machine…he visualized himself walking and felt the giant lurch forward.

“You’re a rather fast adapter to the system…then again having piloted Reideen…it’s not a surprise. The systems are fine so far.” The minister’s voice fizzed over the communications set that Junki wore.

“Piloting Reideen is fundamentally different…” Junki replied as he took a few moves forward before stopping.

It was surprisingly flexible given its large structure. Well then…he would just have to take it a notch further. He had heard that the metal chosen had been titanium refined with carbon and finished with chrome to prevent rusting given that chrome was a rust proof metal.

‘Let’s give this a try.’ He thought as he began.

Genzou lurched forward once more but it was no longer walking but running down the length of the air strip before it leapt up into the air and began a series of aikido maneuvers.

“Send in one of the Jin Rai units.” Junki said as he grew more comfortable with the system.

In the control tower the minister and the members of White Heron exchanged glances at each other before he sighed. The mechanics watched in open mouthed awe as their creation continued to do things that were out of its range of capabilities.

“Rin Rai Unit 1 launch!” The minister roared as one of the large buildings opened up doors to reveal a Jin Rai unit lumbering toward the prototype.

Without preamble the gun that the Rin Rai carried cocked and open fired but everyone knew that they were rubber bullets for this practice session. Genzou swiftly ran past the firing bullets and hurled itself up into the air before landing behind the firing robot and grabbed its arms.

Those in the control tower could hear panting coming over the communications system from both pilots.

“Shit why me?” The Jin Rai pilot complained as he held up his hands in surrender.

Junki on the other hand didn’t pay heed to the man’s words. Although somewhat advanced in terms of capabilities of all the other nations, it still did not hold a candle to Raideen but for the Jin Rai pilots, this would be a step closer for them to do something.

“The system installed can’t process thought patterns swift enough.” Junki said as he leaned back against his seat. “It could just be me.”

As Junki wiped the sweat from his brown he glanced down at his hands. Chances were that the issue lie with his thought processes. The other pilots were trained in the use of guns and little else but Junki had been trained at an early age in the art of martial arts It was that training that made him mentally react faster than the machine could handle.

Back in the control tower the minister turned to Maedesaki. “That was unexpected. It was quite something that pilot Saiga did with the unit. I never knew that it was that capable.”

“You might want to put more reinforcements on the unit. Like Junki said…with your other pilots the units will be fine but if you continue to use Junki as the experimental pilot you’ll have to adjust the unit. His brain patterns are rather complex and extremely high on the charts. Being trained in the martial arts his whole life raises his already fast working brain to higher levels.

“It’s a miracle that he didn’t blow the unit up by overdoing it too much. I guess he noticed the differences and forced himself to hold back a lot of thoughts for the sake of not damaging anything. If you’ve actually to fully take the time to read my profile on him you would have drastically set a great number of programmers to adjust his mind’s process speeds as not to put a strain on the unit. Also the mechanics and technicians would have put in more shock absorbent systems to lower wearing of the joints. Junki’s mind is unforgiving.”

With that Maedesaki tossed a USB drive onto the table. “Take a closer look and see what that kid’s really capable of.”