A New Parallel

[shdwdrgn]

Most mechs are from or inspired by Dual Parallel Trouble Adventure. Also all characters and scenarios are either from the same series or slightly modified from the original. I do not own these, they all belong to the respective owning company of Dual. Also yes I use my real name but like Azure you will not see the middle or last parts to it for obvious reasons.

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A New Parallel Prologue

It was late I had been talking with everyone from Chatango and ELL for sometime this Saturday night. After taking a look at Fred’s tips again I decided to make an “Unparalleled Might Redo” that was more sound and professional. I began the what I soon found to be tedious work of trimming down my clips into 3 second pieces. It was just that I was so tired while trimming the clips into smaller pieces I had fallen asleep and my head fell onto the keyboard.

A strange occurrence happened in this sleep. I had the first dream ever for several years in my life. This was no ordinary dream though as it had been of what my AMV could turn out to be if I could just experience Zinv’s might for myself. Oddly enough a voice called to me in this dream.

“Nathan would you really like to experience this might for yourself?” the voice said.

Out of curiosity I replied, “So what if I do what could you do about it? This is a dream after all I’d only forget about it when I wake up as I usually do.”

“Fine believe what you will but I assure you that if you agree to this you will have an experience unlike any other.”

I pondered there for a minute wondering what would happen if I accepted. All I could think of would be that I’d have a dream of being in Dual and such until I awaken. It didn’t seem like it’d be all that helpful but then again I really had nothing to lose.

“Alright Voice work your magic on me and let’s get this thing underway then shall we?” I called.

“Oh ho I’m not the one who will be sending you to this parallel world. That is the job of another. All I’m here to do is give you the opportunity. Now when you wake up there will be a notice on your computer. Click OK and your journey will begin click Cancel and you will never get this opportunity again. Now wake up and make your final choice.”

When I awoke at around 3 am I found everybody had left the chat room and there was a weird notice on my computer. I had to wonder was it really the box that was mentioned in my dream. Being the curious person that I am, I read what it said.

“New file found on disc. Click OK to open this file now or click Cancel to deny this program.”

Now seeing as it said nothing important I had moved the mouse over Cancel. I thought of the dream, however and clicked OK instead. The files began downloading once I clicked my decision. I was beginning to think they’d only be some extra video for me to watch and nothing really special in particular. Oh boy how wrong was I at the time. The files finished and the program began to run and as I had predicted, some of the characters of Dual, Mitsuki, Kazuki, and Zinv, came out and began chatting with each other.

Kazuki was the first to speak as he said, “Well what do we do now? We’re supposed to go to space but it doesn’t seem likely to happen since we’ve been running through the same show for several years now.”

“Yeah Kazuki it’s time we either move on or change things up a bit. After all we can only do this for so long without losing our passion for doing it”, Mitsuki replied.

Kazuki then asked Zinv, “Can’t you change the dimensions so we can do something different for once?”

Zinv only shook his head and answered, “Sorry, no I can’t unless someone let’s out my other half we can’t change this show at all.”

At this point a small box of code popped up on screen. The title asked if I wanted to solve the code to release Zinv’s counterpart. So since I had just had that strange dream I worked the code until I finished it and clicked ok. Suddenly Zinv’s shadow lit up where the right eye should be. A complete Zinv crawled out of the shadow with the right eye lit up as was moments before it came out. It was completely black and bore red highlights on it.
I shook my head in disbelief not wanting to think this was real. Had I really just done that?

The new Zinv spoke, “Finally someone let me out of that prison.”
Kazuki jumped when the new Zinv appeared, “ What? He’s been hidden in your shadow all this time Zinv?”

The Zinvs replied together, “Yes and only a chosen person could release me/him. That person is watching us right now.”

I had begun to get a bad feeling about this little program and was moving to close it when a person behind me said something while pulling my arm away from the computer at the same time. I turned around to see the two people whom I would least expect to see in the real world. It was indeed the pair I had created for Earth’s Last Line, but how could they possibly be here?

Shiryu told me, “You really shouldn’t do that dude. You click that button and the opportunity you were told about goes right down the drain. Leave it alone for now and watch.”

As I agreed to do so Mercurio gave a slight giggle. I turned back to the screen and watched as Mitsuki moved towards the screen.

“Hey you what the hell are you waiting for get in here so we start this puppy anew”, She half-yelled at me.

Confused I asked in turn, “Are you talking to me?”

“Am I talking to you… of I course I am idiot there’s no one else to really talk to”, she barked at me.

I cringed at her remark and replied, “Well I’d love to but how am I supposed to get in there. I can’t exactly tear through time and space like Zinv can.”

The black Zinv cut in here, “That’s where I come in and the little friends on your end as well.”

I turned my head to look at Shiryu and Mercurio as they just return my gesture with an innocent wave. I turned around muttering some small curses in my head at how he was dragging me around like this as some sort of payback for what I have and have yet to do to him in ELL.

So I turned back to the small portion of the cast that was on screen wanting to have things change. Noticing that the black Zinv was doing something weird I began to wonder.

‘Is this what Azure had to go through to get into the Neon Genesis universe? I just hope it isn’t painful.’

Kazuki called to me at this point saying, “You better step back so that Shadow Zinv won’t crash into you when he moves through the computer’s screen into your world.”

Noticing that the now identified Shadow Zinv was moving through my computer’s screen to what was the real world, of that I’m no longer sure about, breaking just about every law of physics and rule of common sense as he came. He finally came out with a small pop and landed surprisingly quiet on the floor before me. Through all of this I was surprised that my parents hadn’t woken up with to find me with two other teenagers, a black robot in our house, and having a conversation with the computer.

Shadow Zinv only asked after he came out, “Are you ready to go? This is your last chance to back out.”

I looked at him and then to Shiryu and Mercurio, “Alright let’s go this looks like too good of an opportunity to pass up. Besides why should Devon get to have all the fun? Do what you need to do and be on our merry way.”

Shiryu and Mercurio gave a small laugh and was followed by Mitsuki shouting at me, “About time you got on with it! I was beginning to wonder if we should go and grab him instead since he already went through with it.”

I barked back to her, “Hey watch your tongue. After all I said yes didn’t so be patient and don’t get your panties in a wad.”

She only gave a slight huff and crossed her arms obviously displeased with what I had said. Kazuki just sat there behind her with his silly look of confusion.

Kazuki then said, “Come on you two be nice to each other so that we don’t have a quarrel when he actually gets here.”

“Fine whatever Kazuki”, she hissed slightly. “Just don’t make me have to work with him too much.”

“Gee Mitsuki it doesn’t sound like you really want me to help you guys out of this predicament”, I said this knowing she would have no point to argue against it. “Just be thankful that you got what you wanted from all this.”

I could only wonder about what misadventures I would be having with this group once I arrived.

Shiryu said lightly, “Time to go now we’ll begin by using your biorhythm to put you into a state of unconsciousness and then Shadow Zinv will begin to transport you to the world of Dual. Don’t worry, as you saw with Devon, things will conveniently change to accommodate your presence in that plane of existence.”

“Alright but I’ll have your head if you mess with me badly Shiryu. Mercurio would you keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t pull any tricks on me”, I asked politely.

“Sure thing, Nathan, I’ll watch over you and make sure he doesn’t try anything funny on you.”

I only replied, “Thanks.”

So Shiryu and Mercurio began to change my biorhythm to put me to sleep for the entire ordeal. I began to feel extremely sleepy as the technique started taking effect. I swayed slightly before falling to the side where Shiryu proceeded to catch me so as not to injure myself. At this point Shadow Zinv had begun to open the tear in space and time so as to send me to the world of Dual.
Shiryu asked, “Is it ready?”

“Yes its ready now just toss him in and the tunnel will take care of the rest for us”, Shadow Zinv replied.

So with a slight heave Shiryu sent me into the opening. As I was thrown inside Shadow Zinv, Shiryu and Mercurio all vanished. My mind was awash with many strange images as I passed from my world to the new world of Dual.

A tunnel of red, fluid light appeared in my mind as a large design covered in runic symbols formed farther down the tunnel and the newly ID’d Shadow Zinv appeared just as Zinv did before Kazuki when he was sent to the parallel world. The experience felt extremely strange like your mind had been separated from your physical half and that it was thrown into a horizontal skydive. I neared the end of the tunnel knowing that I would wake up in a place that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

I emerged lying on a bed in a darkened room surprisingly with my iPod in and playing, listening to Mercurio’s theme song.

‘How befitting that this is playing. They needed someone to change the way this place runs and they called out to me, such irony that I arrive to this song.’

I shut off my iPod and set it on a nearby nightstand. I stared up at the ceiling for what felt like a few minutes pondering what could possibly change for the better or worse since I was here now. I figured I’d be doing the second half of my Senior Year in Japanese schools now. I just had to wonder how was I supposed to be ‘accommodated’ for in this world. After getting frustrated trying to think of all the differences and possibilities, I turned on my stomach and went to sleep awaiting the surprises that would come with the rising sun.

[shdwdrgn]

A New Parallel Chapter 1

It’s a beautiful day and a construction site below is abuzz with the employees hard at work. One of the workers is operating the shovel machinery excavating the dirt for the foundation of the future site of the city hall. Workers are seen all over lifting planks of wood, talking over plans checking the machinery and such as we move through the jungle of scaffolding.

The excavator from earlier gets hung up on a large unidentified object. This object is equal in width to the shovel and is an aqua-green in color with intricate designs running up and down its sides. The shovel quivers with the effort of trying to move this new obstacle with no signs of winning. The project director is above watching this and notices the problem.

“What’s wrong”, he calls out to the man below.

“I think I hit something. You might want to check it out”, he shouts back leaning out of the window.

Over the shoulder of the project manager and his assistant it is easily seen that this foreign object cannot be moved by this small piece of machinery.

The assistant asks his manager, “Do you thinks it’s a rock?”

The manager arrogantly replies, “There aren’t any rocks here. We already bore this entire area.” Noticing a young man below pushing a wheelbarrow he shouts to him, “Hey Yotsuga!”

“Yeah?”

“Find out what we’re hung up on will ya?”

“You got it!” the young man shouts with an enthusiastic energy, apparently happy to be of some greater use than normal.

So Yotsuga hops onto the large object and begins dusting it off to see what it is. He reveals a small metallic piece almost entirely rectangle though with a curved top to it. It appears bluish in color with 3 semi-circles carved out of the sides bearing three circles of varying size near the top starting on the right and moving left with a small arc leaving the largest circle touching the left edge holding an intriguing symbol in it.

“What is this”, Yotsuga questions with a curious tone.
He pulled it out of the object and held it in his hand investigating it.

“Well did you find something”, the manager calls out.

Yotsuga turns and replies, “Yes sir! It looks like some kind of artifact.”

The assistant asks his superior, “Now what sir? What do you think should we call the bosses?”

“We better break it down with the drill. I don’t want any damn archeologists poking around on my site”, he says. “Just get rid of it. Somewhere, anywhere off the site.”

Yotsuga looks at the object he’s holding, “Well ok it’s gone.”
At this point two Yotsuga’s are seen one pockets the artifact fragment and the other tosses it into the nearby Dump truck. Both Yotsugas run off to the wheelbarrow to continue their normal work as if nothing had happened.

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22 Years later

I’ve woken up to my new world finding the room rather small yet comfortable for some odd reason. It was 7am and I got up and stretched my long limbs releasing the tired feeling from them. I grabbed my school uniform and made my way to the bathroom to get cleaned up and get dressed. When I came out it was almost 7:30am so I quickly packed all my stuff into my backpack including a spare set of clothes for later when I could get out of my uniform. I walked down the hall reading the school manual and passed by a room with the door slightly open. I peeked inside to see Kazuki with his face on the keyboard.

It was at this point I decided to have my first bit of fun with Kazuki. I decided that I had read enough of the manual that I didn’t really need it much now so I pelted Kazuki in the head to wake him up. However he only gave a slight jump but still woke up rather slowly and looked at his clock.

“Wake up Kazuki it’s 7:30 we have to get going if we don’t want to be late.”

He finally realized what was going on and quickly closed everything on his computer. I gave a small laugh before he even acknowledged my presence.

“O-oh good morning big brother. Thanks for waking me up, save some breakfast for me would you.”

“Alright but make it quick.” Big brother… that would take some time to get used to. My first time even being a sibling what an interesting twist this turned out to be.

So I went downstairs and got myself some food while I waited for Kazuki to come down. When he finally came down he set his backpack down next to his chair wide open. Mom found it and began to give him a lecture about not using it in class and he only snatched it back saying it wasn’t going to be used in class. Before it could be taken any farther we had begun to leave for school rushing out the door so we wouldn’t be late.

“Don’t worry mom we’ll be fine. I’ll make sure he doesn’t use it in class.”

“Oh come on don’t say it like I do it all the time.”
I just clapped my hand on top of his head, “Whatever you say little bro just keep it packed up.”

We took off at a light run down the street to try and close the distance as fast as possible. We eventually got into the tram cars and were crammed into it with the typical Japanese sense of space. After the long uncomfortable ride we emerged at a large station with hordes of people coming and going. We were in front the city hall that dad had worked on only 22 years earlier. I wondered if parts of the artifact were still there buried under the cement and steel.

Kazuki caught my look and asked me what was going through my head.

“Oh nothing I just have a feeling that this will be a strange day for us is all. I don’t know why but I just feel this way”, I said knowing it was a boldfaced lie.

“Ok whatever you say Nathan”, he replied turning back to the path before us.

We were moving up the walking path with several other students when I saw a darting shadow. Kazuki must’ve seen it to because he turned to where it had moved to. I didn’t turn fully knowing what was going to happen. When Kazuki turned back we both saw Hartzenen standing amid the city’s buildings. I was suddenly pulled back without Kazuki knowing I had been moved.

“So what are you doing?”

I turned to see it was Mitsuki Sanada who had pulled me off to the side.

Slightly blushing, “Eheh nothing much how are you doing.”

“Good I suppose though dad has been bugging me to get both you and Kazuki into the lab for some tests. Tell me do the both of you still have these visions?” Mitsuki asked.

“Yeah we both do in fact we’re seeing one right now”, I told her in a hushed tone.

“Well you did get the day off from practice right cause remember that we’re doing the initial tests today.”

“Right, right I did don’t worry your dad will be able to do his analysis trust me.”

“Alright just don’t keep me waiting too long ok?” She said with a slight blush to me.

‘Whoa does that mean what I think it means? Well the only way to find out is get on with things and head over to Mitsuki’s place.’

I had moved back towards Kazuki as the girls that were behind us began to talk about Kazuki and other students just stopped to stare at him. When I looked back at the city Hartzenen was gone so I grabbed Kazuki’s shoulders and turned him back towards the school.

“Come on let’s go. You shouldn’t make such a scene about the visions. It makes you and I look bad alright”, I told him in a low level as we continued our walk.

“How can you be so calm when that stuff is flying all around”, he asked me.

“Just something I picked up with age I guess.”

We finally reached the school and put our stuff in the respective lockers. I noticed Kazuki pull out his mini laptop before he closed his.

“You know mom really is right you shouldn’t use that in class. It’ll only get you into trouble and get it taken away.”

Kazuki only looked at it then to me with a smile, “But you know that many people read this stuff on my site and if I miss a battle with Hartzenen then my readers would be horribly disappointed.”

I nodded, “Right fine then but just don’t get caught with it out. I don’t want to have to bail you out if you lose it.”

“Ok ok I’ll be careful with it.”

After that small conversation we both left for our respective classes. I arrived in my class knowing I had the last row with the seat near the window. I couldn’t help but watch what was going on outside the window that only Kazuki and I could see. I laughed to myself knowing Kazuki would be typing away in class and not listening to the lesson. It was at this point that the missile loosed by the Rara mech had been fired and was headed for the school building I cringed as it came. Kazuki had done the same and ‘wap’ we both got hit with a piece of chalk. I only stood quickly and apologized to the teacher with a quick bow as the others lightly laughed. I had a feeling that Kazuki’s class was in an uproar of laughter with what he did.

Well for my first day here I did alright at Nanjyo Private Academy. I was headed downstairs as I saw Mitsuki was headed down as well. I just shot a look at the two guys on the landing and they seemed to shut up like me and her were somewhat of an item. I went downstairs and found Kazuki checking his site comments knowing that he’d find Mitsuki’s comment and spark a conversation with her.

I laughed as Mitsuki hovered over his shoulder watching him read it. He turned his head to the side noticing Mitsuki right next to him causing him to jump and disconnect his computer.

“Pfft hahahaha! Way to go Mitsuki.”

Kazuki in total embarrassment said, “Ah-uh you need to use the phone right?”

Mitsuki only asks, “You’re Yotsuga, Nathan’s brother, aren’t you... the one that writes the stories?”

“What?”


“Kazuki Yotsuga?”

“Yeah that’s me.”

Mitsuki was playing it up like we had never spoken of the visions before.

“I’m really interested in the story that’s on your home page. Do you really see these robots that you write about? And is it true that you’re always watching them? Well is it?” She inquired.

“Of course not, it’s just a story. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He began to walk off after he said that.

I walked up to Mitsuki and whispered in her ear, “Give him a second and you’ll see for sure.”

She had picked up the phone and was no doubt talking with her father, “Hi it’s me. Yeah ok. Hmm…”, she had just noticed Kazuki reacting to another vision. “So stay home tonight. Right, good.”

Kazuki had his back pressed to the lockers and bore a look of horror on his face. I saw that the entire entrance appeared destroyed and knew that he would be looking down the missile tube in the Rara mech.

Mitsuki cut in, “You can see them can’t you. So tell me what you see.”

I replied before Kazuki had the chance to, “We just saw the entire entrance get blown to pieces.”

“The entrance?” She questioned.

Looking around we saw everything had returned to normal like she had made it all disappear with just a few simple words.
Kazuki replies, “Of course we realize that it’s not actually happening but sometimes it feels way too real Sanada!”

“He’s right about that. You can’t help but flinch when you see a 1 ton missile flying right at you.”

Mitsuki asks, “So how do you know my name?”

Kazuki replies, “Well you are pretty famous.”

“So are you.”

At that statement Kazuki had squinted his eyes in dislike and humiliation. I had to stifle my laughter so as not to make him feel worse.

“Well Kazuki it’s a good and bad kind of famous.” I remarked.

“Oh shaddup.”

The three of us proceeded to leave the school together. Of course Mitsuki had us walking through the sports section.

“Hey Nathan where are you going, we have practice right now” one of the members of the soccer team said. “When did you decide that your girl was more important than the team?”

The coach caught him by the neck, “Can it. He has clearance to be off today.”

“Haha catch you guys later.” I called back to the team I really didn’t know.

“Come on Yotsuga wait up what’s the matter?” She asked Kazuki.

“You’re just making fun of me like everyone else does… and I’ll bet you even think my webpage is stupid.”

“No, that’s not true. I’m really, very interested in the robots.”

“Why, so you can give everybody something to laugh about?”

“That’s a very twisted way of thinking about it”, she said flatly.

“Well people talk about him behind his back and make him think this way, it’s not easy for him.”I shot in hoping to lighten things up a bit.

However a group from the sports teams proceeded to haul off Kazuki to try and interrogate him about Mitsuki.

And so the chase began, Kazuki running from the sports squad and them taunting him all the way. Kazuki turned down an alley to evade the United Team Alliance but to no avail they were dogging him at every turn. As he emerged Mitsuki and I motioned him to come into the shop we had found near his escape route. He rushed in only to try and run out but Mitsuki and I caught him and pulled him back into the shop. The UTA pressed up against the windows some with bloody noses and some huffing their breath all over the shop windows. We had wound up in a lingerie store.

After some time we emerged from the back door to make sure that the UTA wouldn’t find us. Kazuki and I stood there with our faces lit up a brilliant red.

“I’m really sorry we had to do that I didn’t mean to embarrass you like that. First time in a lingerie store?”

“Like I could ever do that, if I went into a lingerie store by myself people would really think I was a freak more than they do now.” He snapped to Mitsuki.

“He’s right you know that’s not the most wonderful position to be in.” I retorted.

“I’ll tell you right here and now Kazuki I never thought of you as a freak as a matter of fact I’ve known about you and your brothers’ visions for some time now. We’ve been talking a lot about these visions when we were out together. He really got me interested in the world that only the two of you can see.”

Kazuki looked dumbfounded.

“I really wanted to tell you Kazuki bro but things kept getting in the way of it. So it ended up that this is how you found out, well better late than never. I’m sorry.”

After Kazuki let down his defenses we moved on through the park where mothers and their small children gathered to play and talk alike.

“I’m really surprised someone like you is into robots Sanada”, Kazuki put out in the open.

“Oh really?”

“Well I don’t know, you just don’t seem like the robot type. Well anyway Hartzenen, that’s the white robot, had a fight with the enemy machine right in next to the school.”

“Enemy?”

“Yeah the black robot is who Kazuki sees as the enemy even though it could be the other way around. Just around the time when you and I got to the entrance he was towering over the building just outside.” I cut in since I had kind of been forgotten about.

“Here we are”, Mitsuki said subtly.

We stopped in front of Mitsuki’s rather mansion like house but Kazuki almost missed it he was in his description so deeply.

“Huh… what’s this?” Kazuki asked.

“This is my house”, Mitsuki answered.

“Wow it’s been a while since I was last here.” I stated.

“Yes it has, at least a week I believe.”

“Anyways, how about we have Kazuki tell you more once we get inside? I’m sure Mr. Sanada would love to hear more about it.”

Just then Mitsuki’s father burst out of the front door. He began a headlong rush towards us.

He finally got a hold of Kazuki and cuddled him in a creepy way speaking in a semi-crazed pace of excitement, “The kid, he’s here! Ahahahahahaha, Mmmmmm… Thank you so much for coming. I’m overcome emotion, you are the chosen aren’t you and you even feel good! I love it he’s the chosen one and he even feels good too!”

Mitsuki and I just stood on the sidelines for this event just watching, having to wonder what was going to happen now. Kazuki began to display the look of a person about to snap before he cried out for help.
“Help somebody! He’s a perveerrrt!” The cry seemed to carry into the sky for miles it was so loud.

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We were now down in the lab of the Sanada house which is rather dark and cluttered making for a rather horrendous combination. After we shuffled our way to the testing area I hit my shin a few times on some unknown objects causing a few stinging sensations. Mr. Sanada had Kazuki sit down in the chair that oddly resembled the electric chair.

Mr. Sanada then finally introduced himself to Kazuki once he was sitting, “Oh that’s right, I haven’t properly introduced myself yet. Ken Sanada, Mitsuki’s father, age 49, I specialize in dimensional physics. At present I’m an assistant professor at the university, but my soul, my blood, my life is completely dedicated to my own personal research. Hmm… you say I look young? You smooth talker you.”

“Mr. Sanada you’re going to scare him talking like that”, just to try and come Kazuki but it didn’t work.

“Great… I wish you would have mentioned that before.” He moaned.

Ken pulled out a picture and showed it to Kazuki now.

“Oh by the way my wife’s name is Ayuko. Isn’t she a beauty? Hehehehe I love to show her off. Uh where is she now you ask?” He began a whiney tone now, “Ayuko please come back to me. Please Ayuko.”

Mitsuki snatched the picture and began tearing it up, “Ugh! That’s enough, she left you remember? That two timing doesn’t deserve the you are feel…”

Ken grabbed her cutting her off, “But you won’t leave. You’ll always be there won’t you... Won’t you?”

“Of course dad.”

Kazuki’s eyebrow was twitching, “Oh great now it’s a soap opera.”

“Just be thankful you don’t have to tune in every day bro. I’ve dealt with this for a few weeks now.” I mentioned to him. “Just wait though it gets ‘more fun’ so to speak.”

On one of the screens there was a full analysis of Kazuki’s body head to toe.

“Hmm, I see… it’s a dull readout you’re too normal. You’re an average person without character. It makes no sense!” He slid an analytical machine away as he said this after holding what appeared to be a tuning fork to Kazuki.

“Never mind that, let me go already!” Kazuki cried struggling to break free of his captive chair.

“How is it possible that you can see these robots?”

Kazuki only gave a small gulp as they stared at each other. Ken finally cracked a smile.

“Number 1 global warming and natural disasters. 2 unstable world economy. 3 a society that never listens to me and 4 the escalation of tension between nations. Ultimately there must be a reason for all of this! In short, this series of phenomena is due to the effects of a world parallel to our own and you… Yotsugas what you two have seen are actually visions of this world. A dual parallel world… yyyes ahahahaha.”

“Hey what’s going on here, hey stop!” Kazuki cried as machinery moved closer to him.

Ken turned on the TV for a short moment.

“Science begins with new ideas. Scientists are expected to explore these ideas. So I’m going to show that big mouth, no proof, Rara a thing or two.”

He then turned it off and redirected words towards Kazuki and I again.

“And you Kazuki and Nathan you two are the lucky ones chosen to prove my theory. In my… SUPER ULTRA DELUXE PARALLEL WORLD TRANSPORTER!!! So what do you two think huh?”

“Aww man that sounds totally fake”, Kazuki countered.

"It really does sound corny Mr. Sanada", I reluctantly agreed with Kazuki.

“All right let’s see if either of you can come up with a better name for it then?”

“That’s not what I meant.” Kazuki whined.

“Daddy didn’t you tell me this device wasn’t finished yet?” Mitsuki questioned.

“Relax there’s nothing to fear, he’s going to a parallel world. My counterpart will most likely be on the other side waiting. Simple.”

“Uh it’s not as simple as it sounds. Have you even tested it before?” I asked knowing what the answer would be.

“That’s beside the point he’ll be fine.”

Ken was holding the lever ranting as he readied himself for pushing it, “You will see Rara. I’ll be the one to prove the parallel world!”

At this point I had moved to help Kazuki out of the chair.

Kazuki cried in distress, “AHHH! Don’t do it!”

“No wait daddy stop, you’re over doing it. You said you were only going to give him a physical examination today.”

“Huh? Riiigght. Sorry guess I got a little carried away.”

“A little!?! You almost sent him to a parallel world without his consent.” I snapped at him still wrestling with the straps as Kazuki made a sigh of relief.

“Oh gotta watch him every minute”, Mitsuki sighed. Little did she know she just sat on the activation lever.

The circle Kazuki and I were on began glowing. Knowing what would happen I made an attempt to release Kazuki but holding back at the same time so as not to end the story entirely. The light shot up around us as the transporter started to work its magic.

Ken was in a total state of shock, “M-m-m-m Mitsuki you flipped the transporter lever!”

“Ahhh! I what!?!” She screamed.

“Get him out of there quickly Nathan!”

“What you don’t think I’m trying! Can’t you stop it!?!” I barked back.

Next thing I knew I was back in the same tunnel I was in just under twenty-four hours before. The same experience and everthing. I’m sure Kazuki was going through his green tunnel and seeing Zinv for the first time. It was odd though I had come to like the way this felt it was so different than anything you could do in real life.
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I awoke to the Sanada basement lab only it seemed abandoned and there was no Kazuki. I moved to the entrance of the house and found a car outside not sure what it was doing here I waited until a door opened. I looked out a window a secretively as possible before seeing that Mitsuki came out of the car. I rushed out the door to meet her.

“Mitsuki is that really you? But how’d you get here before me?”

“It’s been two weeks since I last saw you. I’d forgotten how much I miss your company when you are away”, she pecked me on the cheek. That confirmed it we were together. “So is Kazuki hiding in side still?”

“No he’s not. After we were transported we got separated and I appeared here in the lab. He may not have come out yet.”

“Oh well we need to get you back to the base and have you checked out.”

So we went back to the headquarters and met up with commander Sanada. He talked with me about what the situation was and how I would influence it. He had me go test drive a core robot that they had just finished manufacturing. It was similar in shape to Hartzenen and was a dark green with yellow highlights.

“Wow I hope I don’t crash this sucker.”

“Just stick within the boundary lines and you’ll be fine”, Commander Sanada replied. “Just don’t make much of a scene because you’re not supposed to be able to pilot it.”

“Got it.”

So I took off to a slow pace to get the hang of it before I tried some more tricky things. I drove it around testing the turning capabilities and reaction times. I finally decided to try a more difficult move and did a side slide with which I could fire and then take cover just a fast as it started.

When I brought it back in I was told that my Life Sympathy scores were negative. This wasn’t surprising to me so I just blew it off. Commander Sanada set it up for me to stay in his house while I was here since I didn’t have a family here in this world.

When Mitsuki and I got to the house I found it was a bit bigger than I remember it being. So Mitsuki set me up in the room next to hers so we could always be just a wall apart. I didn’t mind much so I just got my things in order before heading down for dinner.

“So what would you like for dinner?” Mitsuki asked me.

“I really don’t know. Whatever you cook I’m sure will be delicious. Just make sure there are plenty of helpings.”

So she cooked up some Udon noodles with vegetables that night. They were the best Udon noodles I had ever had no wonder the commander and Kazuki had their minds so stuck on food!

After the wonderful meal we had some fruit for dessert and went to bed early. I still couldn’t help but wonder why I hadn’t arrived the same time as Kazuki. I went to my room and layed on my small palette finding it more comfortable than I imagined. I quickly fell asleep not even bothering to listen to any music at all. And so two weeks passed like this I had no combat until the day of Kazuki’s arrival.

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(Kazuki’s POV)

I found myself sitting in the same chair I was before but everything down here was dark and abandoned. Spider webs hung off everything and the glass had holes in it where ever I looked.

“Miss Sanada… miss Sanada are you there? Nathan why aren’t you here either?” I called. I leaned forward after saying this causing the bonds holding me to break. Unexpectedly free from the chair I face planted on the ground. I got up took off the small metal headband I had on and started looking around the house.

“Miss Sanada… bro where are you two? Is either of you there? Alright I’ll go home now. Thanks for having me over I guess. Don’t stay too long though brother.”

I was outside the house gate and began to walk home. The park was entirely empty, devoid of life really. Where could all of the children and their parents have gone so quickly? The farther I went the more I noticed the rest o the area was like this as well. The side streets, the tram station, everywhere it was like there was some secret mass evacuation or game of hide and seek.
I stopped by a phone booth and plugged my computer into it and searched for my webpage. I received error 404 page could not be found so I searched again and received the same error.

“Huh? That’s weird what’s going on?”

Just then the ground started to tremble. I stepped out of the phone booth to see what could make such a rhythmic quake.

“What’s that sound?” Suddenly the building in front of me burst sending shrapnel flying and cutting my right cheek. I quickly grasped it out of pain and force of habit to try and sooth it. “That hurt. That really happened”, I said in amazement looking at the blood on my hand.

Just then a massive object crashed through a raised walkway over the street. The walkway collapsed under the great weight causing a chunk to crush the booth I was in moments ago. I ran off to avoid being crushed by either the robot or the debris. I tripped and sent my backpack rolling as the robot came crashing down on the street causing another small quake. I got up and looked at the the object sitting there, it looked familiar but I couldn’t get a clear view with all the dust in the air. Once it cleared I recognized the robot immediately. I stood the robot’s thigh just staring at it in awe.

“Hartzenen!” I called calmly.

I grabbed a small piece of the now destroyed railing and tentatively tapped the hand that was nearby a couple times. I dropped the the metal when I had confirmed the robot was really here and not just my imagination as so many people believed.

“It’s really here! It’s the real Hartzenen”, I said reaching to touch one of the joints in the leg with my hand. Before I could touch it though the chest began to open, I stood in shock as it began to open and reveal the cockpit. A person was standing in it leaning to the left holding their left arm. The helmet was cracked revealing one eye which seemed to be having a hard time finding me.

“Run”, she said slamming herself to the right side of the cockpit.

Concerned for her as I was I jumped up to the pilot to check if she was alright. I called to her, “Hang on, I’m coming. Are you alright?” I asked as I scrambled up the chest plate of Hartzenen. I finally got up just as she began to fall forward and caught her causing her helmet to shatter revealing silvery hair and head wound. The pieces of helmet then seemed to liquidize on the ground at my feet which shouldn’t be able to happen or so I thought.

An explosion went off nearby causing me to be thrown into the pilot’s seat and one of my hands fell onto an orb. A screen lit up with two messages the first being “Pilot Battle-Resume” and the second being “Core Unit Eject Cancelled.” I had no idea what these meant at the time but the chest plate began to close on me.

“I need to get you to a doctor. Hey what’s going on? I’m still inside. Come on!” I cried as my left hand found the other orb in the robot which began to glow for some odd reason. The inside lit up with what could be seen outside the robot. The large robot I had seen earlier that day was right in front of me. It turned its barrel right at me like it had before.

“You’re kidding… this is… supposed to be just a vision!” I cried as it fired a missile at me at near point blank range. “AHHHHHHHH!”
The black robot searched for the proof that it had destroyed its target with that last shot but couldn’t seem to find it. I was behind it!

I said in amazement, “I… dodged it.” Just then the other robot punched me in the head followed by a punch to the gut and a club to the back.

“Stop it.” I cried as the robot gripped Hartzenen by the head. It pulled back the other hand and punched me sending me flying backwards.

“Hey that’s enough there’s an injured woman in here. Now knock it off! ARRGGGHHH” I claimed rebelliously causing the orbs my hands rested on to glow furiously bright.

Hartzenen reacted and jumped into action tackling the black robot through a small series of buildings. The black robot stood and fired its Gatling gun at me damaging the right wrist slightly but I dodged most of his fire and closed in on him for melee combat. I grabbed the robots left leg and put it on its back grabbing the Gatling arm and severing it from the unit.

It tried to punch me with the arm it had left but missed. It blew up my right arm with a missile evening things out a bit. I dodged a few more swipes from it and jabbed it with my tonfa in the left wrist causing it to explode. Hartzenen sagged down against another walkway as I sat in the cockpit holding the woman in my lap. The screens from earlier began to shut down with the message “Battle Complete”. The chest plate opened again to the light of sunset. I could now see just how much destruction I had caused in this fight.

“Can this really be happening? If Hartzenen is real than what am I?” I said confused as I stood in the opening holding the female pilot. The battle was over and the woman was safe, all I could do was stand in shock at what had happened here today.

[shdwdrgn]

A New Parallel Chapter 2

(My POV again)

‘Wow, look at all this destruction, I had no idea that this place would feel so desolate after a battle’, I thought to myself. I had begun to arrive at where Hartzenen had ceased functioning and found D was already checking Yayoi’s vitals. I hopped out of the cockpit to see if she was alright for myself.

D was getting a pulse as I got myself to the pilot’s seat of Hartzenen where I noticed a school jacket covering her. Mitsuki was just now pulling up behind D and I in unit 02. She came out and D announced that Yayoi was still alive.

“Well Mitsuki looks like Kazuki has finally arrived here. His coat is covering Yayoi”, I informed her.

Mitsuki replied, “About time he showed up, it took you long enough to get here as is. A month is ridiculous.”

“Commander Sanada, the Unit 01 is heavily damaged but the records it kept are still intact. Do you want me to collect it before the cleanup crew gets a hold of this info”, I asked over the comm. link.

“Yeah go ahead and bring it in with you. We need to keep the info about you and Kazuki a secret for now”, the commander replied.

“Got it, we’ll get it to you as soon as possible”, I confirmed pulling the data from Hartzenen’s core.

After that we got back into our Core Robots as the cleanup crew arrived to haul in Hartzenen. It was a long walk in the Core Robot but it was required for me at the moment since I couldn’t risk being revealed to a possible spy. Sunset came and went in the blink of an eye leaving me to wonder where Kazuki had disappeared to after the battle.

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(3rd person view)

1 hour earlier

The command center is in chaos as the battle rolled on. Crew members begin calling out statistics to the commander.

“Unit 01 is hit! Life Sympathy has fallen to 20.”

“Are any machines free to support?”

“Unit 02 and Unit 03 are in battle!”

“Unit 01 is completely shut down! Life Sympathy at 0!”

“Activation of Core Unit auto-eject confirmed… the core unit has been cancelled! Unit 01 now registering two life forms.”

The female inspector from the UN asked, “What is going on? Has Unit 01 been captured?”

“I don’t know.”

“Unit 01 remobilized. Bringing it up on the monitor.”

At this point footage of the missile aimed at Kazuki is displayed and is almost certain he’d be hit. However Unit 01 moves at an incredible rate behind the enemy robot.

Stunned the female UN inspector mumbles, “How can it move that fast… Establish contact!”

“Communication is down.”

“Sir, Unit 01’s Life Sympathy has fallen into the minus range just like Unit 04 is right now.”

Commander Sanada calmly muses to himself, “So it seems the other one has arrived at last.”

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(My POV)

We arrived back at the hangar with no crew people around to see who really pilots Unit 04. I hopped out and made my way to the cat walk for Unit 02. Mitsuki got out just as I made it to the end and she came rushing to me and caught me in a large hug.

“Oh Nathan you were great out there today. I didn’t know you would be such a natural at piloting a core robot like that”, Mitsuki told me in our loving embrace.

“Well I just wanted to do my best so we could end this fighting and get back home. That way we have more time to ourselves. Though it does seem Kazuki has finally arrived in this world even if he did get lost after the battle”, I responded.

“Well I suppose daddy will have us go out and find him eventually. So for now let’s get that data to him so we can confirm it was him”, Mitsuki said.

Just then D walked by having just been docked with Unit 03. We waved at her but she just kept going not even acknowledging us. Knowing she wasn’t one to talk we left for the commander’s office to review the info from the core unit of Hartzenen.

Commander Sanada asked, “You’re sure that’s him?”

Mitsuki and I only responded with a nod and left to go change out of our pilot suits to go with the search party for Kazuki.

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(Kazuki’s POV)

I found a small Pharmacy that had been left behind because of the fight. I reached into one of the cabinets and pulled out several different types of medicine to take back to the injured woman in Hartzenen. I left some money on the counter to pay for the drugs as I had no intention of stealing them. I wrapped them into a bag and left the shop in hurry as I needed to save as much time as I could with the injuries that woman had received.

“What? But how?” I pondered.

I arrived at where Hartzenen was laying only to find it had disappeared. Something that big doesn’t just vanish, someone had to have collected the robot while I was away finding medicine for the injured woman.

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(Commander Sanada’s POV)

I played the sound file that Nathan and Mitsuki had collected from the core unit before the main researchers could get a hold of it. It played back the voice of a young boy who was in distress over the fact that he was trapped and held our injured pilot in there with him.

I asked the two pilots standing near the door, “Is that definitely the voice?”

They nodded to show it was the correct voice.

“That was an incredible entrance by him don’t you think? His Life Sympathy scores were just as impressive as Nathan’s.”

The pair only shifted their stance a little at the remark I made.

“I know you just got back but I can count on you to help me can’t I?”, I inquired of the two

The couple turned and walked out the door as an answer that would go and help look for him. A video chat then popped up on my screen as the door closed behind them. I opened the line and cringed when I saw who it was.

“Agh what is it Akane you don’t look very happy”, I jabbed at her.

“I want to know why did you conceal the retrieved core unit voice data?”, she irritatedly asked.

“Conceal is such a strong word”, I playfully answered.

“If you don’t cough it up right now I’ll use my authority as UN inspector…”, she commanded from me.

I cut her off, “I know, I know. Ok I promise I’ll send it over right away Miss UN Inspector.” I pushed a button for a file transfer. Only instead I sent her a false file. She received a rather sexual sound file that I knew would get her frustrated.

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(Kazuki’s POV)

I sat on a park bench typing up my recent adventures. I had actually piloted Hartzenen. I looked at my hands in disbelief that what had just happened was real.

“I can’t believe it I really piloted Hartzenen. Oh man I sure hope that lady is ok.”

After sitting in the park for a little while longer I decided to head back to my home. Hopefully brother was already home and was having dinner with mom and dad. I was crossing a walkway when a truck drove by underneath followed by a large crowd of people with bags slung over their backs or in their hands. I noticed one of my friends from school and went up to ask him what was going on here. He only responded by knocking my hands away saying he didn’t even know who I was.

I grew very concerned at this point and began to run back to my house. I was so scared now that my family wouldn’t even know who I was. A large pole had smashed open the door to our house and so I ran inside after catching my breath. I found that the dining room was totally empty and dark with no signs of life. I rushed upstairs to check out my room. When I opened the door it was filled with packed moving boxes like nobody even used it at all.

“What is this? But this used to be my room.”, I claimed in confusion.

I heard a crash downstairs as I was staring at my transformed room.

Mom and Dad were talking about the broken door frame when I emerged at the bottom of the steps.

“Dad, Mom.”, I called. The pair jumped at my remark. “My room is loaded with all kinds of boxes, what happened? Where’s my computer and my models and my VCR? Where’s all my stuff?”

The woman asked in a frightful tone, “Who are you? What do you want?”

The man followed up advancing on me with his fists balled up, “Well come on answer her. What are you doing here?”

“Alright get out”, he said grabbing me by the collar and tossing me out the door.

“But dad…”, I said weakly.

“You thought that in all the confusion you’d try a little looting huh? Well you picked the wrong house…”, he told me before getting interrupted by his wife.

“Please that’s enough dear”, the woman said stopping her husband from advancing on me further. A crowd began to gather around us to see what was happening. “If you leave right now we promise not to call the police and we’ll forget about the whole thing. Please.”

I just stared at them confused about what was happening to me. That’s when I noticed neither me nor my brother’s name was listed on the house nameplate. It was then that I realized that Nathan and I didn’t exist in this world where ever I might be.

I stood up and bowed, “I’m so sorry.”

I ran off not wanting to believe that I had no family in this world. The entire run I was on the verge of tears at the thought of being alone in this world with nowhere to live. I eventually came to the school entrance. It was really destroyed like I had seen it in my vision just hours ago. It was then that I remembered Mr. Sanada’s words about me and my brother being the ones to prove that a parallel world exists.

“It can’t be, no way”, I thought but was cut off by my stomach telling me I was hungry. I pulled out my wallet to see how much money I had but only found small change because of the medicine I had purchased earlier. I sighed and returned my wallet to my pocket.

“What do I do now”, I asked myself and the people that were obviously not there to help me. So I began to walk towards the damaged entrance figuring I could stay there for the night. As I was walking lights flashed and lit me up in the night from all directions. How I didn’t notice them before I don’t know.

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(My POV)

We had found him at last. Who knows how long he was wandering around the city clueless about his situation.

“What’s going on”, Kazuki moaned.

“I thought you’d come here”, Mitsuki said as we moved into the light.

“Miss Sanada, Nathan is that you guys”, he asked.

I tilted my head towards him and then called to the group of soldiers that had accompanied Mitsuki and I to find Kazuki, “This is the guy we were looking for. Take him into custody.”

A pair of soldiers grabbed Kazuki under the armpits and dragged him off to a prisoner transport vehicle. Mitsuki and I were in one of the lead vehicles with 3 others surrounding the vehicle that held Kazuki.

“You know Mitsuki I kind of feel bad about how we’re going about finding Kazuki. It feels intimidating and it could scare him”, I said to her as I drove us back to headquarters.

“You’re right but you know we can’t risk having him get captured by Rara or have his identity compromised”, Mitsuki returned to my statement.

“I know but still it seems a bit excessive to me. Anyways here we are”, I said as we pulled up to what was the city hall in the other world but it was now run by the organization known as the Earth Defense Force. A guard confirmed our ID and then signaled to have the gate opened for us to go inside.

Once inside we began walking down the hall towards Commander Sanada’s office. With exception to our footsteps the entire trip was silent. We passed door after door in what seemed like a never ending loop across the highly reflective floors. We stopped at a door near the end of the hall and Mitsuki knocked on it. I glanced at Kazuki and he slowly turned his head towards me with a horrified expression on his face. It was rather hard for me not to laugh at him knowing full well what was in store for him once that door opened. So I turned away from him so he couldn’t see my emotions. The door creaked open slowly at first but then burst wide open.

“The kid he’s here! Ahahahaha”, Commander Sanada said as he embraced Kazuki in an awkward hug. “Mmmmm… thank you so much for coming I’m overcome with emotion! You are one of the chosen ones aren’t you and you feel good. I love it! He’s a chosen one and he even feels good!”

Kazuki once again had that super creeped out look on his face once more and cried out, “He really is a pervert!”

Mitsuki and I took off to the locker rooms to change into our regular school uniforms while Commander Sanada was lecturing Kazuki about the two of us not having any family here and reintroducing himself all while trying to explain how they’ve never met but Kazuki met a different Ken Sanada.

Kazuki was at this point undoubtedly trying to get the commander to send him back to the other world.

“So Mitsuki how do you think Kazuki is taking the whole other world thing”, I asked as we walked back towards the commander’s office.

“Oh I’m sure he’ll be able to cope with it but I still don’t think he realizes that we’re from the same world”, she answered.

“You have a point there. It really did seem like he didn’t think we were the same people he knew”, I mused as we returned to the door of the office. As we got to the doors the commander was explaining the crisis this world had fallen into. Mitsuki and I listened to the office and waited as the commander was explaining how he couldn’t send Kazuki back because of a worldwide conflict. Just then his computer went off with an emergency call for the commander and he rushed over into his chair.

“Something’s come up and I have to go now. Sorry”, he said as he sat in the chair.

“You can’t leave, what about me”, Kazuki said in an annoyed tone.

The commender replied, “It’s an emergency ask them for all the details.” He waced to Kazuki and sank into the floor.

Kazuki ran up to the desk, “Wait come back. Wait, wait but who do I ask?”

Mitsuki and I walked into the room as Kazuki said this and stood inside the doorway.

Mitsuki giggled to herself and said, “Still writing that stuff in this world too Kazuki? You know your parallel story. Remember?”

It was then Kazuki’s face lit up with realization that we were in fact the Mitsuki Sanada and his brother from the other world. He leaned on the desk and pointed at us with an amazed look on his face. Mitsuki and I took a seat on the couch opposite from Kazuki as the next battle trailer began to air.

“Oh I see so that means Nathan got here two weeks ago and you Mitsuki got here a month ago”, Kazuki said after we had explained to him that he had been missing for some time.

“Yes fortunately the army took me into protective custody. When I found out that my father was in charge of the Earth Defense Force, boy was I surprised”, she said with a sigh afterwards.

“Well what about you brother”, Kazuki directed at me.

“Well I showed up about two weeks after Mitsuki did. Fortunately she had been making routine checks during the day to check for us. I got lucky when and got picked up during one of these checks”, I explained.

“Well don’t you two want to go back to our world?”, Kazuki questioned.

“Of course we do but we can’t until this war is over and Commander Sanada can finish the transporter device. Until that time we’re stuck here, so Mitsuki and I decided to try and speed things up a bit”, I told him.

The trailer’s rather annoying music was playing in the background. The three of us turned our attention to it after my words to Kazuki.

“What is that”, he inquired of us.

“It’s another Rara Army attack preview”, Mitsuki replied calmly.

“What’s Rara”, he asked again.

“Rara is the opposition to the Earth Defense Force. This is their way of telling us their intentions ahead of time so that we can evacuate the battle stage”, I replied in a cold manner.

We looked back at the trailer as the silhouette of Mitsuki Rara in the guise of Miss Ra rose into view. We sat intently listening to the video as it was streamed to us over the TV. A set of lights behind the camera brought Miss Ra into full view now as she began to speak.

“The Rara Army has a special announcement for all to hear. The great Mister Rara, with all his godly power, is the omnipotent. He will unite the as we know it and he will become the creator our new world”, Miss Ra commanded at the EDF audience.

“He’s a liar”, Commander Sanada said unimpressed.

“Listen up you foolish members of the human race. You will bow down to the Rara Army”, Miss Ra boldly stated.

“You saw dad’s rival on the TV remember. He’s up for the Nobel Prize in physics”, Mitsuki told Kazuki.

“Oh”, he answered.

“But in this world he’s the force behind all of the evil”, Mitsuki explained.

The trailer rolled on getting less attention as Miss Ra’s rant continued.

“22 years ago he and my father excavated a very rare artifact. Dr. Rara took off with all of its power”, she finished.

“Artifact? What kind of power”, Kazuki said as he continued what felt like an extended version of 20 questions.

“Kazuki you drove a part of that power earlier you know. Hartzenen was made from the Artifact’s power”, I poked at him. “I mean you were the voice we heard piloting it right?”

“Oh right I did”, he admitted embarrassed.

“Hartzenen is a Core Robot made from the data that was recorded in the artifact of an ancient civilization. Rara stole the artifact and used it to declare war on the entire world”, I explained to him.

All three of us looked back to the trailer as the location was about to be announced.

“And now watch as the Rara Army will show an attack preview”, Miss Ra informed the watchers.

“Miss Sanada I think that the three of us should find a way to get back home. There must be someone who can help us out. What do you two say are you with me”, he asked of us.

“No I’m sorry. Dad already told you earlier, don’t you remember? He just doesn’t have any time to devote to his research. So he couldn’t help and besides that they made us pilots, Core Robot”, Kazuki stared at us blankly once Mitsuki finished explaining the situation.

“Wow”, he said amazed.

“Kazuki let me ask you something”, I said to him. “Why do you think you were brought here in the first place?”

“Well because I piloted the robot”, he shrugged at the question.

“That’s right and do you know why they brought you here”, I questioned further.

Kazuki looked at me in confusion, “To protect army secrets… at least I thought.”

“Wrong. I am going to let you in on a little secret. For some reason we haven’t figured out they can only be piloted by females”, she told him as I sat back on the couch.

“But I’m a… and so is Nathan… we’re both…”, he studdered.

Mitsuki cut him off, ”Boys.”

“But then how…”, he began to ask.

I cut him off and said, “Who knows we have an ability no other man has. But I can tell you one thing we know for certain… you were able to defeat the enemy with that robot.”

It was at this point that Commander Sanada would be getting drilled by the UN inspector about who Kazuki was since she already knew that my identity was confidential.

“You, Mitsuki and I are already involved in this conflict. We’re part of this war and part of this world. And that’s why we can’t go back”, I stated emotionlessly as Miss Ra laughed hysterically in the trailer before it cut off.

“Eh hehe… you’ve got to be kidding”, Kazuki replied in disbelief.

[shdwdrgn]

A New Parallel Chapter 3

(3rd person POV)

A radio is lightly on while it sits in the shadows. The focus shifts towards a mini laptop like so many have seen. The reporter from the radio station announces his next item for discussion as the light slightly grows in intensity.

“Next in the news, the evacuation of the residents of Tokorozawa City is at a peak expecting Rara’s troops to arrive at 4 pm tomorrow. Due to the massive evacuation, the Kanetsu Highway is heavily congested…”

Kazuki is seen lying on his bed staring into space with a concerned look upon his face.

“…with traffic outbound for Tokyo for over 100 kilometers from the Tokorozaka Interchange to the exit for Nerima. JR, along with private railways, are adding extra departures but crowded conditions are expected to be unavoidable.”

Kazuki then picks up his personnel card and stares at it. When suddenly a flash back occurs about how he, Nathan, and Mitsuki are already involved in this war.

“Involved?”, Kazuki thinks to himself. “Yeah, so why me?”

He drops the card on his face and resumes his thinking to himself.

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(My POV)

Mistuki, Kazuki and I walked in to the GDF Head quarters together that morning. Mitsuki leading the way ran her card through scanner first followed by myself and then Kazuki.

“So have you decided what you’re going to do yet?”, Mitsuki asked Kazuki.

“No not yet”, he timidly replied.

“I see”, see mused to herself aloud.

“You know it’s not like we’re forcing you into anything bro. If you don’t want to fight you can stay here with the commander”, I told him quietly.

“Yeah well I was brought here by force no thanks to you two”, he shot back at us.

Mistuki answered in a cool tone, “Think of it as protective custody. After all I bet you were a little uneasy there, all by yourself.”

Kazuki raised his voice to us in response, “You took me into custody to force me into becoming a pilot!”

I quickly clapped my hands over his mouth so that the guards only a few feet away wouldn’t hear anything else he might say. As I grabbed his mouth Mitsuki shot her elbow into his side causing him to moan from the cheap shot.

Mitsuki hissed to him, “Keep your voice down when talking about it. The Very existence of you and your brother must remain top secret.”

I released him as the door opened leaving him looking at Mitsuki in a confused way. Once the door fully opened Mitsuki and I walked in and Kazuki followed at a slight distance behind us.

“Say why did the both of you become pilots anyways?”, He asked as we moved down the hall to the dressing rooms.

“So that we can return to our original world”, I stated flatly.

“After all if we don’t get this war over soon, Dad will never complete his device”, Mitsuki followed up.

“That’s true… but doesn’t it scare either of you?”, he questioned.

“Not at all the both of us find it rather relaxing. You’d think it wasn’t so being in a fight on that scale and yet it’s fun”, I answered him.

“But this is a war with real combat. That should be terrifying”, he blurted out with concern.

“We know that. That’s why we aren’t forcing you into this at all”, Mitsuki assured him.

We stopped on the way to bow to an elder. Afterward we hit the food court so that Kazuki could get some curry for lunch. I merely grabbed a sandwich and ate it while Kazuki tried to find a place to sit as the tables were crowded to the point of being standing room only. Mitsuki and I finally decided we couldn’t wait any longer and grabbed him to take him to the Core Robot docking bay.

“Ok what is it?”, he questioned.

“We’ve wasted enough time here we gotta go now”, Mitsuki told him as she showed him her wristwatch.

“Go? Wait a minute, I haven’t even eaten my food yet”, he complained.

“We weren’t expecting it to be this crowded. Now come on”, I groaned at him as I grabbed his shoulder and made him start walking.

We eventually made it to the docking bay elevator and when the doors opened we saw Commander Sanada standing near the railing.

“Hi Dad! I’m back”, Mitsuki called and ran to his side as she sad such.

Kazuki and I exited the elevator, Kazuki sucking on his spoon as he had been eating a bit during the ride.

Mitsuki spun the commander around and began to talk to him.

“See? I told you I would bring him here for you right on time. Just like I told you daddy”, she beamed at him.

“Excellent Mitsuki my dear, thank you”, Commander said with a smile. “But didn’t we agree that you would call me ‘Commander’ from now on while we’re at the base, hmm?”

“Yeah sorry I forgot”, she replied.

Kazuki pointed a quizzical look in their direction with the spoon still in his mouth. Just then he noticed D walking away from Unit 03.

“Yes good work”, the commander acknowledged when D saluted him.

She then turned and walked towards the elevator. She stopped next to Kazuki and I as she waited for the elevator to open.

“Good afternoon D”, I greeted.

She turned to me and emotionlessly replied, “Hello Nathan.”

Kazuki then studdered and introduced himself, “O-oh I’m very pleased to meet you. I’m Kazuki Yotsuga Nathan’s little brother. I’m visiting the base.”

Just then D’s head turned completely towards us revealing her other eye to be just a socket with a large pale blue light in it. I may have seen it before but it takes some time to get used to.

“My name is D”, she stated flatly like normal.

Commander Sanada took note that not only was D reacting to me but also Kazuki as well.

“My god she’s greeting them both”, Mitsuki uttered in disbelief.

By this time the door had opened and D moved inside and left us to ourselves.

“That was really interesting”, the commander mused.

“What who is she?”, Kazuki turned and asked him.

“That was D one of the other Core Robot pilots like Mitsuki and I”, I answered.

“Yes and as you’ve probably guessed by now she’s not human”, Commander Sanada followed up.

“Not Human? Does that mean she’s a robot or an android?”, Kazuki asked.

“Well close but not quite. We call her a ‘bioroid’”, the commander returned.

“A bioroid…”, Kazuki muttered.

“An artificial life-form indeterminably similar to a living body although her real body is being preserved separately”, Commander Sanada continued.

“What?!”, Kazuki half shouted in confusion.

“When Nathan and I told you about that artifact from an alien civilization that was found in this world. D is an extraterrestrial life-form who was found sleeping inside that artifact”, Mitsuki responded.

“Only she was discover a little too late and apparently her nervous system and body were too far gone to save”, I finished.

“Indeed and that’s when we set about cloning her body, that is to say, we reproduced her, and replenished her nerves so that she could experience and study human life”, the commander explained.

“But why does her eye glow like that?”, Kazuki questioned further.

“That is her astral body. More simply, it’s like her soul”, the commander informed.

“But that light… are you trying to tell me that’s her soul?”, Kazuki again questioned.

“Well that’s the best explanation I’ve come up with so far”, the commander stated. “Kazuki please come here a moment.”

“Alright”, Kazuki said moving to where the commander went taking his curry with him.

Just then all the lights in the docking bay lit up revealing Units 01 through 04. Kazuki began to stare in awe as I pulled up alongside the rest of the group and sagged down onto the railing.

“You wanted to see this didn’t you?”, the commander lightly teased. Kazuki tossed his curry into the air lightly and ran to the railing to get a closer look at Hartzenen. The commander clumsily caught the curry before it could crash to the floor and spill everywhere.

“Yeah it’s Hartzenen”, Kazuki stood there and marveled at the Core Robot that was docked before his eyes.

“Want to give her a spin?”, the commander teased again.

Kazuki turned towards the commander, Mitsuki and I with a shocked look on his face.

“Can I really?”, he near pleaded.

The commander merely nodded to confirm that it was ok for him to pilot it. Kazuki’s face lit up with a wild grin and he then bowed to Commander Sanada to say thanks. He then turned around and ran to the cockpit of Hartzenen.

“I’d say he’s pretty happy for a guy who doesn’t want to be a pilot”, Mitsuki confusedly stated.

“It’s the fighting part I don’t like”, Kazuki called as he continued his rush to Hartzenen.

“He thinks it’s a game”, Mitsuki said placing her hands on her hips.

I moved in behind her and placed my arms around her stomach.

“Well, ever since we’ve been seeing Hartzenen’s battles back in our world he’s dreamt of piloting it. But he’s not one to take to combat very easily he’s the peaceful type after all”, I told her.

“Yeah I know but it would be nice if he took into consideration what it means to be a pilot”, she countered.

By this time Kazuki had gotten into the pilots seat. He then began looking around at the inside of it.

“Let’s see… which one’s the hatch?”, Kazuki said as he searched. He began pressing buttons left and right on the comm. screen to get the hatch to close. He gave up on it and then placed one of his hands on the control orbs which caused the screen to jump to life. The hatch began to close as the comm. screen went through the occupant confirmed routine as it booted up.

Fully enclosed now I couldn’t see what was on his face but the head of Hartzenen began to move around.

He laughed and said, “I can’t believe it this is so much better a head mount display. The inputs, power focus, and reaction times are perfect!”

“Oh you seem to like it. The reaction time is amazing”, the commander replied.

“Hey you just heard what I said?”, he asked us.

“Yes of course”, the commander said.

“why wouldn’t we hear you if you hadn’t said anything bro? It’s a basic communication system after all”, I told him over the comm. link the commander had opened for us.

“Anyways how does it feel?”, the commander asked.

“Uh sir, may I take it outside?”, Kazuki pleaded.

“Sure why not just try not to break anything we just got finished repairing it”, Commander Sanada said with a side glance at Mitsuki.

She jumped a little with a gasp escaping from her mouth.

“Mitsuki were you under attack?”, Kazuki asked out of concern. She turned away from him to avoid looking at him. “Aha I get it…”

She wheeled around in my arms and barked at him, “I only destroyed a library and a warehouse!” She gasped surprised she had said that out loud and grabbed her mouth. The commander snickered to the side, still holding the curry Kazuki had abandoned in favor of Hartzenen. I pulled Mitsuki closer to me and gave her a soft hug to try and relax her while Kazuki prepared to go out into the test field.

--------------------

I stood in the control center watching as Kazuki was about to take his test run in the Hartzenen unit. Mitsuki grabbed my arm and wrapped it around herself as she snuggled up to me. damn I had no idea she could be this way when she had the attention of a man that would give it to her.

“You’ll find that operating it is far less difficult than it would seem. Your Life Sympathy is transmitted to the machine through the sympathy orbs your hands are resting on. That’s how you closed the hatch before”, the commander instructed Kazuki.

“What is Life Sympathy?”, Kazuki asked.

“Life Sympathy is… well hmm… let me see, it’s the will of the pilot to control the robot and of course the strength varies from person to person”, Commander Sanada said.

“So that’s life sympathy… my will”, Kazuki whispered to himself. “Alright I’m going to try and move forward.”

Hartzenen took a small step forward as Kazuki began to pilot it. It began to walk rather easily as if he had done this sort of thing before. Mitsuki took at gasp at the results he had achieved so quickly while the commander just went on eating Kazuki’s long forgotten curry.

“Here we go!”, Kazuki exclaimed with excitement. Hartzenen responded by activating the equipment that allowed it to maintain minor levitation above the ground so that it could speed along with minor impediment. It then rocketed forward sending Kazuki into a shocked scream. He was headed straight for the buildings outside the training area just like he did originally. Barely clipping the fence at the top of the building Hartzenen jumped into the air avoiding the total destruction of the building itself.

It landed on the opposite side of the building almost clipping it a second time. It quickly did an about face upon landing causing it to halt before hitting another of the buildings.

Kazuki breathed a sigh of relief, “Phew that was close!”

“You’re outside the practice field, come back now”, the commander instructed.

“Uh I’m sorry sir”, Kazuki replied. He slowly brought Hartzenen around the building and back into the practice area as instructed.

Finally having the hang of things he began to glide around the field with great ease. As a last testament to what he could do he launched Hartzenen high into the air.

“What do his stats read?”, the commander asked.

“It’s reading minus sir, just like yesterday’s battle and Pilot four’s scores. Who is the pilot?”, the staff man asked.

“Well I guess he’s what some might call a natural!”, the commander exclaimed.

--------------------

We were all now in the commander’s office after he had reviewed the battle and test data with the UN representative.

“Kazuki Yotsuga, I think you already know why you were called here, so I’ll get right to the point. We want you to become a core robot pilot”, the representative said.

“We’re not forcing you into anything. It’s completely up to you…”, the commander said.

The UN rep. cut in, “Of course, we sympathize with you circumstances. I mean, being cast into an unknown world with no quick way to get home, not to mention the ridiculous war this world is engulfed in. There’s only one way to handle this and the quickest way to get you home is to end this stupid war, and you alone have the power to do it” She said this obviously trying to get his confidence up but ignoring the fact that Mitsuki and I were both here. Not to mention I had better scores my first time around.

“Alright I’ll do it!”, Kazuki exclaimed shocking everyone in the room at that moment… except the UN representative who went off on her soapbox a little longer.

Finally realizing he said something she asked, “Huh? Excuse me, what did you say?”

“I wouldn’t mind becoming a pilot”, Kazuki replied.

“Whoa are you sure bro? After all you aren’t the type that enjoys battles”, I said due to the fact that the commander had been shut up by the UN rep.

“It’s like the UN lady says the fastest way for us to get home is to end this war”, he said with a bow and then proceeded to leave the room.

--------------------

I woke up the following day at Mitsuki’s house. Kazuki had spent the night studying the manual for Hartzenen. Mitsuki cooked a nice breakfast that morning and we ate in quiet the whole time knowing there was a battle ahead of us. Once we finished I helped her clean up the dishes and put them away before we left the house to go to the mission briefing.

We entered via the pilots’ entryway and put on our GDF uniforms hats included and stood at front as all pilots did. I must say it was funny seeing Kazuki in the pink uniform that girls wore though I must admit being a 6’ 3” guy standing in what would normally be an a girls pilot line was rather awkward.

I half dozed through most of the briefing knowing full well what the enemy would look like and what it was capable of. Mitsuki nudged me once near the end of it so I wouldn’t fall asleep on my feet. A few minutes later the briefing ended and everyone gave the officer a salute and then proceeded to their respective stations.

Since everyone already knew I was a male pilot I could walk to the dressing rooms with Mitsuki and D without worry. Kazuki however had to sneak his way into the room.

“Did anybody see you?” Mitsuki asked as he came into the room.

“No ma’am”, he answered.

D had already changed into her pilots suit and Mitsuki almost had her suit on completely she just had to compress it. As she did so I came out in my already made pilot’s suit being a base black with silver legs and a red chest and arm color. I reached up my neck and pushed the compression switch so that it would conform to my body. To my surprise it was much more comfortable than I thought. Kazuki sat down in silence with a disturbed look on his face.

Mitsuki sat down next to him while I stayed standing. She asked him, “Are you feeling a little nervous?”

“No it’s just that I’ve never done anything like this before”, he replied.

“Well just take it easy and stay calm. If you wait for your cues then you should perform fine”, my attempt to calm his nerves would fail as I knew he’d jump out early in a panic and waste all his rifle ammo.

“Um…”, Kazuki began.

“Yes?” Mitsuki returned.

“What happened to the previous pilot?” He questioned.

“She’s unable to pilot a core robot ever again due to a Life Sympathy backwash…”, I stated cooly.

Kazuki leapt up in concern though Mitsuki finished for me, “She came through the experience just fine though.”

Kazuki sank back into the chair with relief at Mitsuki’s words. Just then the final alarm went off signaling us pilots to get to our respective units. D got up without a word and started walking followed by Mitsuki and then myself. Kazuki remained stationary for an odd reason so I called back to him.

“Come on Kazuki that’s our call!”

“U-uh ,right!” He claimed timidly.

He then took off at a slight jog to catch up with us. Once we entered the docking area Kazuki got into Hartzenen rather quick since it was closest to the dressing room. I walked Mitsuki to Unit 02 and and gave her a hug telling her to be careful out there. She replied with a warm smile and got into her machine and left me to the long walk to Unit 04.

Each core robot was picked up by the transport aircraft and taken directly to the battle zone so we could setup into our various positions for the battle ahead. Kazuki was tipped off about his output balance by D to which Mistuki and I quickly teased him about.

We setup in our respective positions each hiding behind a building as ridiculous as that may sound. I went to resting my eyes as the girls just sat waiting for the battle to begin. Mazuki however was finishing up with the manual in the down time. I opened my eye near the end of the timer’s countdown noting that it was time for the battle to start. I quickly balanced my output levels and prepared for Kazuki’s screw up. My main concern was going to be keeping his arm from being destroyed if I could.

Off in the distance Miss Ra would be giving her little speech to absolutely no one that could hear it and sent forth the Rara mech. I waited as it slowly lumbered to the ambush location. Right on cue though Kazuki jumped out and began firing.

I hopped onto the comm. link immediately, “Mitsuki, D! Kazuki’s gone off the mission plan abort the normal mission and take out the Rara mech before he gets himself hurt!”

Mitsuki and D quickly replied with a roger each and got out from there cover to begin the combat. I moved out from behind mine and began to close on the enemy. At this time Kazuki had run out of ammo and the enemy had its sight set on him. It shot out the two cord form its back winding them around Kazuki’s hand and the rifle locking them together. The wires began to melt through the gun causing it to come near explosion. I arrived and cut the wires but not before the damage had been done. As I passed by the rifle exploded sending Kazuki crashing into a building.

I growled at his inevitable failure as Mitsuki began to fire on the enemy mech causing little to no damage whatsoever. Mitsuki got too close to it and it had taken a hold of her by the head of her unit.

“Ahh what is this?!” She cried out. She moved her Tonfer forward to strike the enemy but promptly had her arm removed. This sent a shockwave of pain causing her to scream out wildly. I still had to get turned around from my attempt to save Kazuki’s ass though D had just arrived and aimed at the enemy.

Taking advantage of Mitsuki the enemy used her as a shield and fired on D. The rounds it fired disabled D’s Unit 03 rather quickly which left me as the last one standing. I had turned around and was headed back when it fired another pair of its melting wires towards me. I quicly side stepped to the street over rendering the attack useless and closed in on it. As I neared Mitsuki’s arm went limp and I rocketed over the top of a building moving to close for the enemy to track I ditched my rifle and slammed my Tonfer into the arm holding Mitsuki destroying it and releasing her at the same time.

Just then Kazuki appeared out of nowhere and shot his tonfer into the face of the enemy. After the enemy recoiled backwards he crushed the remaining arm rendering it useless as well. The enemy tail whipped him away which jostled Kazuki knocking him out. After the enemy completed its spin I shoulder tackled it sending it into a large building. It then opened its chest and launched 6 rockets at me.

They appeared to connect but I again launched myself into the air and rather than kicking through it I dropped right down in front of it and shot my Tonfer right through the base of its head causing it to impale the machine’s head before it eventually exploded causing the pilot more pain than the gut shot Kazuki would have given. I quickly jumped back as the body slumped to ground before me.

damn what a rush that was. My heart was racing faster than ever before and it felt great.

I eventually exited Unit 04 and met up with my fellow pilots. Mitsuki and Kazuki were sitting on a curb when I approached them.

“I feel I must apologize”, Kazuki said.

“Why? All your extra effort payed off”, Mitsuki assured him.

“Right but that’s not what I’m talking about. I didn’t really completely understand it all before. This war is not some idle dispute”, Kazuki said.

“Why do you say that bro?” I asked as I caught in on the conversation.

“It’s too intense! One false move and you would have died. I hate it”, he spilled out.

“Oh it’s all right. If I had been in any danger, I would have sent out a call sign”, Mitsuki said.

“Call sign?” He questioned.

“That’s right when we know we can’t go on we just send out a call sign. Once we do the battle will stop and our lives are spared in exchange for the rule of the area. Sure, cities have been damaged, but so far, no one has died. Kind of silly isn’t it?” She explained to him.

“I can’t believe I apologized for that”, he moaned.

Just then D had arrived and placed her hand on his head. He looked up at her and she began to pet him like he was a dog. Mitsuki gave on odd look at her while a stifled a small fit of laughter at him.

[shdwdrgn]

A New Parallel Chapter 4

I was walking home with Mitsuki having been grocery shopping for the past hour or so. I will say one thing now though never take driving to the store for granted, damn were my shoulders tired from that walk. She opened the gate as we came to it and we started up the path to the house.

“Thanks for carrying the groceries Nathan I really appreciate it”, Mitsuki told me.

“Heh, no problem. I can’t have you doing all the house work now can I”, I told her.

“I have no issues with doing that work but you insist on helping me so much it’s hard to say no. Well at least we’re home now and can put them away and relax for the rest of the day”, she said as she reached for the door handle. She started to put in the key when she noticed it was unlocked. “Dad are you home early today?”

As we went inside we took off our shoes and went to the kitchen and put away the food in the fridge and pantry. As we were unloading things we heard a noise up stairs so we quickly unfinished packing and went to investigate.

We were at the top of the steps and Mitsuki called out, “What are you doing up here Dad? You’re never home at this time what the big I-eh…” She had opened the door and we found Kazuki sitting quietly in the room. He turned and looked at us with a surprised look on his face. Mitsuki and Kazuki were frozen where they stood just staring at one another.

I was right behind Mitsuki when she opened the door and threw my hand to my face when I saw him sitting there.

“Should have seen this coming”, I moaned with my palm still pressed to my face.

The commander had arrived and began to explain to Mitsuki why Kazuki was in the house.

“Kazuki needed a place to stay just like Nathan did and since they were brothers I thought that this might be the best place for him since his brother is here as well. With Nathan here Kazuki should adjust to life here in this world rather quickly”, Commander Sanada said as-a-matter of factly.

“Ugh fine. Just make sure you tell me ahead of time so that I don’t think it’s a home invasion!”, Mitsuki huffed back.

I sat there noticing things had gone down a lot smoother than they had when I didn’t exist in this world.

Amazing how my mere presence and *cough*relationship with Mitsuki turned this entire scene upside down. Who knows what will change next.

It was then I realized what was going to happen to Kazuki later today.

Ahh crap I hope that I don’t have to do that too and if I do I have this feeling that Mitsuki will never let me hear the end of it. Little did I know this strange look came across my face when I was thinking and all eyes had turned to me in the room.

“Agh what are you guys looking at is there something wrong with my face or what!?!”, I exclaimed to them.

“What are you thinking about Nathan”, Mitsuki asked me directly.

“Uh it’s nothing I just had an awkward thought is all nothing major”, I tried to dodge.

Mistuki lightly shoved my shoulder and said, “You really shouldn’t be thinking that way with all of us around you know.”

I sighed issuing an “Aye” as I did so. I had a sweatdrop going and stepped out of the room before things got worse for me.

--------------------

Kazuki had finally collected the things he needed for his room and the two of us were cleaning up the room so he could move into it. I stood up after I had moved in his small, solid wood desk and wiped my brow. It was hot, really hot despite the fact we had the windows wide open. He had finished cleaning the floors so we went downstairs after closing both his windows. We had snuck up on Mitsuki as she was hanging up the phone from talking with the Commander who had just confirmed he wouldn’t be home for dinner tonight. As she turned around she gave out a distressed gasp.

“So the Commander won’t be able to be here for dinner tonight eh Mitsuki”, I asked her.

“No he’s got a lot of work to do tonight so he can’t make it”, she sighed.

Kazuki and I went into the living room and sat down for a minute while Mitsuki was preparing food for dinner. Kazuki began to get up to go and help but I caught him before he could go very far.

“Don’t bother bro she won’t accept help when it comes to her cooking. Just sit down and relax until she’s done we can’t do anything until then regardless”, I told only looking at him with one eye as I was half napping on the couch.

After about half an hour Kazuki went up to his room for some quiet time to himself and I just stayed on the couch for a few minutes. I got up shortly after and moved into the kitchen to find Mitsuki was just finishing up and was ready to put the food on the table. I grabbed a few of the dishes and set them down on the table and called Kazuki down for dinner.

“Coming”, he called.

We all sat down and ate our food in a deathly silence. The mood was rather drab since Mitsuki and Kazuki wouldn’t really talk with each other. So once we finished I helped Mistuki carry the bowls into the kitchen so she could wash them.

Kazuki came in after she had begun and asked, “Um is there anything I can help you with in here?”

“Nah we got it bro just go take a seat in the living room and relax for a bit”, I told him not wanting to strain things between the two since he would likely brake a stack of bowls like he had in the show.

“Oh…ok”, he murmured.

He left us as we were cleaning up the kitchen and sat in the living room. We quickly finished up and grabbed some strawberries for desert and made our way to the living room as well.

“We brought some fresh strawberries would you like some Kazuki”, Mitsuki asked him.

“Why yes please”, he almost yelled in surprise.

I sat between the two since both of them sat on the far ends of the couch. As we were eating the phone rang startling the two of them.

“Oh Dad! What are you doing? Huh Kazuki? Ok fine, Kazuki it’s for you”, she said.

Kazuki answered the phone, “Yes this is Kazuki.”

Just as he answered the phone the Rara battle trailer aired as I had expected. I leaned forward from the couch with the fork sticking straight out of my mouth as I had a tendency to do with my eating utensils. Kazuki finally hung up and returned to the living room.

“Nathan the Commander wants to see us at the base right now”, he told me.

“Figured as much, probably has something to do with this new battle trailer”, I sighed.

I stuck my fork in the empty bowl and got up to leave for the base. Kazuki followed suit and left for the entrance. Mitsuki looked around noticing she was in the living room alone now and jumped up running for the door.

“Hey wait you guys I’ll go with you”, she cried throwing on her shoes as she chased us down before we could get far from her.

--------------------

I found myself in the Commander’s office looking at Kazuki who now had a female suit on fully ‘endowed’ in the chest region. Mitsuki was standing there laughing her ass off at him while Kazuki was blushing. The commander was merely admiring his piece of work being used as it was meant to be.

“Hahaha is this what you wanted the both of them here for? This is hilarious dad”, Mitsuki manage to say between a fit of laughter before turning to myself and laughing even harder than before.

As it turned out there was no way for me to worm my way out of putting it on at least once. I now bore a similar suit to Kazuki’s only mine was a light green with yellow arms. I plopped down on the couch in his office making my intent of not wanting any more part of this clear.

Kazuki moaned quite loud, “Aww why do we have to wear these things at all? They look bad and people will immediately know who we are.”

“Maybe the workers around here will but the enemy won’t be able to tell should they catch a glimpse of you on camera”, the Commander shot rather quickly. “After all it is of utmost importance we keep the identity of you both top secret!”

The commander moved towards Kazuki and pushed the helmets button causing the liquid like substance to shoot around Kazuki’s head and mask his face as that of a female’s. He handed Kazuki a mirror to look at himself. Kazuki cried out when he saw his face causing Mitsuki to fall in a chair from her horrendous fit of laughter shaking her entire body.

Curiously I pushed my own helmet button causing the helmet to encase my own face.

“It may work for Kazuki but for myself not so much. The voice module can’t change my voice enough to hide the fact that I’m a male”, I stated in an awkwardly half male, half female voice.

“Hmm I have to agree with you there not to mention you’re way too tall for any normal woman. I guess you get off free and get to keep your old pilot’s suit”, the commander stated.

Kazuki yelped at that fact, “How’s that fair?! He gets off and I don’t. You people just want to do this for laughing at me, I know it!”

Mitsuki managed to take a breath, “Oh my… the both of you look adorable.” She managed to blurt out before bursting into another fit of laughter.”

Just before I could start laughing at Kazuki I managed to turn off my helmet and voice module. I bust out laughing not really caring that I still had on the suit despite being cleared to not wear it. Mitsuki had finally fallen to her knees laughing so hard her sides were hurting now and she was crying. It was then the commander made a remark about Kazuki’s waist being slimmer than Mitsuki’s that I didn’t catch in time due to the amount of laughing I was doing.

She quickly snapped out of her laughter and caught the commander square across the face and grabbed me pulling me out of the room as I was still laughing. We finally arrived at the dressing room where she forced me out of my goofy chick suit. I gladly changed to my normal Pilot’s suit as she changed into her own.

“Gah where the heck did he get the idea for that? It’s so impractical I mean if one of us were to be captured it wouldn’t matter if we had the suit or not anyways”, I said.

“Yeah but he must have felt the need to try it otherwise you and Kazuki would not be in this situation”, she sighed.

“Well you are still the best looking gal I’ve ever seen Mitsuki”, I said grabbing her by the hips and pulling her towards me. She quickly got the rest of the top on herself and pressurized her suit before embracing me as well. It was then we winced as we literally heard the Commander get slapped followed by a loud yelp.

--------------------

The day of the attack had finally arrived. Kazuki still hadn’t managed to worm out of wearing the fake female pilot suit and stood with the Commander at the front of the briefing room in it. D, Mitsuki and myself were sitting at one of the tables near the front. Mitsuki and I looked at each other knowing this wouldn’t end well with this huge group of people assembled. After all the giggles were already breaking out because of some of the whispers that had made their way across the room.

Before the Commander could even begin a person shouted.

“Is that you Kazuki?! You look so cute!”

He abruptly rushed out of the room as people began to laugh hysterically at his situation. I sighed and slammed my head on the desk knowing that Kazuki would run and hide himself if he could but would only be trapped in one of the corridors by security barriers. I grabbed Mitsuki’s arm and pulled her out of the room and closed the door behind us.

“H-hey what are you doing”, she cried.

“Listen we need to go and find Kazuki quickly otherwise we’re going to have this huge mess on our hands and the battle won’t get off on time”, I told her.

“How do you know this”, she questioned.

“You saw how he ran out he plans to hide somewhere so that he doesn’t have to let anyone else see him like that”, I said as we ran down the halls looking for Kazuki.

As we ran I finally heard the security doors drop signaling Kazuki had been cornered at last.

“Mitsuki you should go to that door and make sure he’s ok. I’ll see if I can find a way to get him out of the bulkhead away from the crowd”, I instructed.

“Alright I’ll see you later then”, Mistuki said as she took off down another hall.

“Alright let’s see if I can find my way around to the back side that’s unguarded and get him out of there”, I mused to myself.

I ran as hard as I could until I found a hall that crossed to the other side of the sealed bulkhead. As I drew near the area I realized I had no idea how I might get him out of there. I saw the terminal next to the large door and cued it up. I began to run through as many passwords as I thought could release the door. Before I knew it I had run out of ideas and slumped to the floor.

“damn I should have figured that I wouldn’t be able to do this so easily”, I sighed. Then I remembered that I had my mini comp with me and pulled it out and connected it to the terminal. I began to pull data from it until I came across the security data. I extracted the password and fed it back into the terminal’s prompt screen unlocking the bulkhead.

“Hey bro get running to the docks and get in Hartzenen quick. There’s no one down the halls here all the way there so you should be fine”, I called to him as he sat inside the hall looking at me confused.

He finally got up and ran past me not stopping to give any thanks or anything whatsoever. I ignored his impoliteness and set the bulkhead to seal again stepping inside as it did so. I quickly moved over to the inner terminal on the far side from me and had the bulkhead open up. As it rose I struck a pose and exclaimed, “TA-DA!”

Several people jumped back when they heard me while the UN inspector gave me a horrific glare. I pulled up my arms defensively and gave a sheepish smile knowing I got what was coming to me…

POW!

I was smacked right in the kisser.

“This is no time for jokes Nathan for your violation here you will be sitting out this battle and have cleaning duty for the next two days”, she huffed at me.

“Very well, but one last thing”, I said.

“What is it”, she asked.

“It was funny huh”, I questioned with a silly grin.

She merely closed her eyes and walked off with a nasty look on her face. At that I sighed and began to walk back to the dressing room.

“That was a nice thing you did for him Nathan”, Mitsuki said as I was leaving.

“Yeah it was nice but hey that’s what brothers do”, I said as I gave her a smile. “Now go give them a hit for me and come back safely.”

“You got it”, she exclaimed pecking me on the cheek.

That still took some getting used to but damn it felt good every time she did it.

[shdwdrgn]

A New Parallel Chapter 5

We were outside the gate Mitsuki and Kazuki were about to head off to school and as was customary I was going with them to drop them off and then head to HQ to get to work on tactics for different battle scenarios. I was lucky enough to have graduated early due to my academic performances. I was locking the gate as Mitsuki turned to Kazuki and asked him.

“Do you have your hanky Kazuki”, a little tease in her voice.

“Huh”, he said. He started to frantically search every pocket he had for the small piece of cloth he should have. He finally rubbed the back of his head and slumped over in defeat.

“You don’t have one… jeez you can hopeless at times”, she said.

“Well I’ve got a spare in the house so just take mine bro”, I said pulling out mine from my pocket.

“Eheh thanks I don’t know what I’d do without you two keeping me in line”, he said taking the hanky from me.

“Well you’d best figure it out quick cuz Mitsuki and I won’t be there to help you in class ya know”, I warned him.

She suddenly grabbed the tie around his neck and began straightening it.

“Oh look your tie is all crooked let me fix that for you. Now remember to always take good care of your appearance”, she scolded him childishly.

“Yes Miss Sa… I mean, Yes Mitsuki my big sister”, he said nervously.

-------------------------
(Flashback to the night before)

“We have to be sibling”, Mistuki exclaimed in a questioning manner. “Forget it! That would be a big hassle! Plus I wouldn’t be able to spend alone time with Nathan either.”

Commander Sanada began to stir the contents of the stewing bowl in the middle of the table. Mitsuki quickly shot her chopsticks in to stop him and add more pieces of vegetables into it.

“Stop you’re mixing it all up. Don’t eat the stuff on this side, it’s still raw. Anyways you agree with me right Kazuki, I already know Nathan does”, she said.

“Well uh… yeah I guess”, he muttered.

“Well here let’s think about it from a public standpoint”, the Commander offered. “Give me an egg would you Mitsuki?”

She cracked an egg into the small bowl he held out to her. He pulled it back and went back to his explanation.

“Thank you”, he said. “Now if it became known that two young men and a woman were living together in the same house what would people think? Surely you have a general idea.”

“Yeah but siblings? We can’t be siblings just like that”, she told the commander. “Right Nathan?”

She had begun to add in some onions when the commander protested. “Auh-uh no onions, please!!!”

“Sorry but onions are good for you”, she said basically ignoring his plea. She dumped the rest of them into the pot.

“Aw they reek though”, he complained.

“Well Commander Mistuki has a point not to mention most people know Mitsuki and I to be together already and if we suddenly become brother and sister things would get weird I think that only Kazuki and Mituski can fit into this scenario”, I explained to him.

“Well it’s too late now Mrs. Nanjyoin already accepted the transfer papers for the lot of you so Nathan is now your older brother and Kazuki your younger. So now you’re stuck with it. Okay Mitsuki”, he asked.

“Alright”, she said with a dejected sigh.

“Good. You three should memorize these now as they are a biography of the Sanada family that includes all three of you”, he told us plopping a large set of booklets down on the table for us.

“Oh right to make it all sound plausible”, Mitsuki said as she began flipping through a pink one that was presumably hers.

I reached out and grabbed to the red one that had my name on it and began to read through it as well trying to figure out what type of role I would play. As it turned out I was the older brother that was extremely protective of his younger sister. As I was thinking about things in my head I shot to Shiryu not knowing if he could hear me.

I’m so going to kick your ass for this when I get back. You can count on it!

“But do I really have to memorize all this”, Kazuki asked flatly.

“Yeah bro you, me and sister Mitsuki are going to be up for a long time getting this down to a science”, I told him already several pages into the book.

“That’s right Kazuki so don’t even think about running off to bed when we finish dinner”, she instructed.

“Understood, Miss Sanada”, he moaned.

“Kazuki”, she corrected him. “Remember that’s big sister Mitsuki.”

He blushed at this and uttered, “Oh yeah, I forgot. My… big sister… Mistuki.”

--------------------

We were walking up to the campus doors together now, all three of us even though I wasn’t going to be attending the school. All around us I saw guys checking Mitsuki out and issuing protests about being with both Kazuki and I.

Jeez even here all the guys are pigs. They try one thing I’ll pound the idiots.

We got to the entrance that was being reconstructed from Kazuki’s introductory battle. Mitsuki turned to me and hugged me rather tightly.

“Oh Nathan I wish daddy didn’t put us into this situation but I still love you”, she whispered into my chest.

“Yeah I know. Now you be careful and do well in class today and I’ll see you later tonight ok”, I assured her.

She let go of me and responded, “Alright but promise me you’ll be in the house when I get back. And as for you Kazuki, good luck today.”

With that she took off for class leaving Kazuki with a confused look on his face as he was about to protest something. We turned to look at the crowd of guys behind us that were giving us a menacing look.

“Oy! What the hell are you guys looking at”, I shot at them.

Surprised by my words a bunch of them backed flinched and started to scramble for their classrooms. I laughed lightly to myself turning to Kazuki.

“Now listen here don’t let any of these guys mess with you alright. Push back if they push you. Just make sure to not let things get flushed on your first day ok”, I asked.

“Yeah alright”, he moaned turning to head off to class.

“Good I’ll see you and Mitsuki later then”, I said to his backside. I started walking off noticing a few of the bolder guys had stayed behind. I quickly jabbed at them and made them run off and when nobody was looking said to myself, “damn right you little punks run. Try and mess with her I dare you.”

With that I headed back to the base for training and Core Robot maintenance. Before I went too far I looked up at Kazuki’s classroom noticing the teacher throw something across the room.

“Hahaha that kid will never learn”, I laughed. Having seen that I took off on that happy note.

--------------------

I had finally arrived at the Global Defense Force headquarters and made my way into the Core Robot docking area.

“Well looks like I’m in charge of overseeing the maintenance of you girls. This ought to be fun”, I said clocking in and grabbing my clipboard full of checklists. “Alright where’s my crew at?”

Almost on cue the engineers were filing out of the hall and into the docking bay. As I took a head count of how many hands I had to work with I noticed that I had enough to work on two Core Robots at once.

“Ok people I want you to split into two teams and each take a Core Robot. Team 1 you will be working on Unit 01 and Team 02 you get Unit 02.” I began to read from my list of repairs and checks that needed to be made on each unit, “From what I see Unit 01 needs a tune up on the right arm and the legs need a full check done on it. Unit 2 needs the head mount recalibrated and the Tonfer needs to be repaired. Also I want a full diagnostic scan run on each one from head to toe to look for any problems we may not have caught in our initial scan. Everyone has their orders so let’s get to work people.”

We had completed Unit 01 by the time lunch rolled around and Unit 02 was almost complete. I had decided to save Unit 03 for after lunch wanting Team 1 to help speed up Unit 02’s repairs. Unit 03 was in pretty bad shape and in order to finish on time both teams would be needed working together.

I sighed opening my boxed lunch Mitsuki had made. I ate alone in silence in Unit 04 as the rest of the crew went to the cafeteria to eat.

“Who knew being the maintenance supervisor could be so tiring”, I moaned packing a bite into my mouth. Not wanting to think about the afternoon anymore I focused on my lunch and began to run diagnostics on Unit 03 while the crew was still out for lunch.

--------------------

I was finally able to get the crew to finish up Unit 03’s repairs and ran a quick diagnostic of Unit 04 but knew that it was fine since I wasn’t able to pilot in the previous battle.

“Ok have a good night everyone”, I called as I left the hangar.

I walked home rather quickly because I wanted to get there and rest having been up and moving around all day. As I made it inside the door I heard Mitsuki and Kazuki talking inside the dining room.

“Zero points Kazuki! Why’d you accept all of these? Do you know how much of a hassle this is”, she scolded him.

“Well I accepted them because they asked. I’m really sorry about this”, he whined.

“Hey what’s happening you two”, I broke in as I entered the room.

“Oh nothing except Kazuki was accepting love letters to me all day at school”, she snapped. “And now he gets to hand write every rejection letter to say sorry!”

“Ok”, he moaned taking the rejection form she had held up. He slowly walked up stairs to his room.

“Hahaha poor kid just can’t catch a break”, I said. “So other than that the day was ok Mitsuki.”

She took my hand and pulled me into the living room and down onto the couch.

“It is now. Oh I’ve missed you so much today”, she said caressing my hand against her face.

“Well we’ll have to get used to it because this will be a regular routine soon. After all you’ve got school still and I’m working at the GDF for now”, I told her.

“Yeah but that still doesn’t mean it won’t be hard”, she complained.

“Alright, well I’m going to go check on Kazuki”, I said heading up stairs to see if he was actually writing the rejection letters as I knew he would try multiple times to cheat out of it.

He was hard at work and had finished a few already. Mitsuki came up as well and checked his handwriting and all that.

“Ugh… you handwriting is sloppy and it’s full of errors too. How can you do that when you were copying off something already written”, she criticized. She handed the stack back to him, “Here redo all of them and this time no mistakes.”

Kazuki went back to his room with a whole stack of bad notes. As I watched him start writing he got an idea to make things go faster this time. He pulled out his little computer and scanned the letter into and began to produce printed copies. Laughing to myself I went down the hall and saw Mitsuki coming up.

“You’ll want to check on him before he gets too far”, I said passing her in the hall.

She looked at me and then proceeded straight to his room knocking on the door.

“I’m coming in”, she announced.

I waited at the top of the steps and waited to hear the sound of the printer jamming.

“Ok”, Kazuki called frantically trying to hide the fact that he was cheating.

“How’s it going”, I heard Mitsuki ask.

“Uh, just fine”, he muttered nervously.

It was then that his printer began to complain about the paper jam that had occurred because of the pillow hiding it from view.

“A-ha”, Mitsuki said holding a tray of food for Kazuki. “I guess you’ll have to redo them again and this time they have to be handwritten.” She placed the plate on his table. “When you’re finished make sure to put the plate down in the kitchen.”

As she came back out into the hall I looked at her seeing that she wasn’t amused with Kazuki’s attempts at dodging the writing. She went straight into her room and closed the door.

“Dang Kazuki you just like to make things harder for yourself don’t you”, I mused as I went back downstairs to read up on some of the maintenance routines for the Core Robots.

--------------------

((The Next Day))

I was waiting inside while I saw Kazuki and Mitsuki returning home from school and some light errands as there were some bags in their hands as well. As I walked out Mitsuki asked Kazuki what he would like for dinner tonight.

“What’s wrong”, she asked him.

“Uh nothing. It’s just the first time you’ve asked me that”, he said kind of stunned.

“No, is that really true”, she said surprised.

“Yup it is Mitsuki”, I told her.

“Oh hey Nathan. So what will it be Kazuki”, she asked.

“I’d like to have curry.”
“Spaghetti would be better”, she said pretty much ignoring him. “If you eat curry all the time just because you like it you’ll turn yellow.”

“So why did you ask”, he said under his breath.

Mitsuki started to go inside but I quickly jumped in front of her.

“Uh now may not be the best time for you to go inside Mitsuki.

She looked at me questioningly, like I had gone crazy or something.

“Oh come on nothing’s changed Nathan just let us in alright”, she said moving me over to the side.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you”, I told her as she stepped in.

--------------------

“Alright what is D doing here”, she shouted at the commander.

He responded calmly, “She’s going to be living with us from now on, so you’ve got to be nice to her.”

“That’s not the question. The question is what is D doing in Kazuki’s room”, she shot back at him.

“Well D responds favorably to Kazuki”, he said. “So now that we have her attention, don’t you think this would be a perfect environment for her to broaden her emotional range?”

“What if Kazuki tries to do something funny to her”, she interjected.

It was then that Mitsuki began to bring in dressers to act as a partition for the room.

“My, my, my…”, the commander sighed.

“As usual you just weren’t thinking now were you”, she challenged him.

“That would not bother me”, D said.

Mitsuki and Kazuki flinched at her words and blushed a bit.

“See D doesn’t mind so let’s move all this”, he said beginning to move one of the lightweight dressers.

“Uh Commander that’s not the point Mitsuki is trying to make”, I said. “If Kazuki and D have the same room you put us right back into the situation we were in before the whole family scenario.”

“That’s right. Her perceptions are already messed up”, she shouted at the face of the Commander. She forced another dresser into the wall completing the task.

Next thing I knew Mitsuki had me installing a temporary door to D’s new room.

“Now listen, D. Don’t do anything rash ok”, she asked.

“What do you mean by rash”, D asked.

Mitsuki looked at D slightly blushing, “Well I can’t possibly say that out loud.”

“Ugh well it looks like this is under control, so now if you’ll excuse me I have some work to do”, the commander said walking off down the hall.

Mitsuki chased after him, “Daddy from now on will you at least consult me first.”

“Yes, ma’am”, he said halfheartedly.

I had finished the door and stood next to Kazuki along with D.

“Glad to have you here, D”, Kazuki and I said.

“Yes”, she replied.

--------------------

I had woken up slightly early and gotten myself some cereal when I heard Kazuki’s alarm clock go off up stairs. I drank the milk that was left over and went up to make sure Kazuki got up. Yet as I was going up the steps his clock had stopped. Curious as I was I went and opened the door meeting Mitsuki there as well.

I opened the door when I heard some talking inside to find D and Kazuki sitting there.

D looked at us and said, “Good morning Mitsuki and Nathan.”

I winced in anticipation of what was coming his way. Mitsuki wound up her arm and gave him a good slap right in the cheek. The resounding pop rang throughout the room defining what had happened.

They moved into the bathroom while I went downstairs to get ready for some other form of work at the GDF. Lucky me I got out from the chores set for the day though I knew things would eventually turn very badly later on.

As they came down Mitsuki looked at me knowing I was about to head out.

“Oh Nathan you got the lunch I made you right”, she asked as she walked towards me.

“Yeah got it right here Mistuki”, I told her.

“Ok try not to get stuck late tonight ok”, she giving me a hug.

“Alright I’ll try to keep on time. Kazuki you keep D out of trouble you hear and make sure to be thorough in your explanations too”, I shouted to him knowing he would still mess up costing Mitsuki her diary by doing so.

“You got it”, he said entering the kitchen.

----------------------

((Kazuki’s POV))

I bid farewell to Nathan as he left for work at the GDF.

“Lucky, he gets to skip all the chores today. Ah well can’t bother with complaining now. Just have to buckle down and get it done.”, I thought to myself as I was eating breakfast.

“Would you like seconds Kazuki”, Mistuki asked me.

“Yes please”, I replied in earnest. “How about you D would you like some more?”

I handed D’s bowl to Mitsuki, “Seconds for D, please.”

When I got mine and D’s bowls back they were piled high with rice. The amount of rice was so much that the bowl was taller than my hand was! D and I sat there staring at the rice before us as Mistuki scarfed down what was left in her bowl.

Later that day I had to do my laundry and found myself waiting for Mistuki to finish up with hers and my brother’s wash since he wasn’t here to do it himself.

Mitsuki came out and let me know, “It’s free now.”

“Thanks”, I replied to her holding my small bag of wash.

I dumped my clothes into the washer and was about to pour in the detergent when I heard Mitsuki.

“And don’t put in too much detergent.”

“Right”, I said to myself letting the detergent fall out of the box into the washer.

“D, if you have nothing to do, hang these out to dry.” I heard Mitsuki instruct D. “Otherwise I have to clean the whole house myself.”

“Man what’s with her”, I muttered. Just then the detergent surged out of the box at an alarming rate. “Uwah!”

My clothes finally finished washing and I went out to hang them to dry where I found D looking at the line confused.

“D? What’s wrong”, I asked her.

She turned and looked at me as if to explain her situation.

“Oh, I see”, I replied. “I think I can help you with that.”

Mitsuki came out and corrected how I hung the laundry to dry.

“No, no, no this is all wrong. You’re supposed to put it on a hanger and stretch it out to get rid of all the wrinkles, like this”, she explained. She took one of the shirts I had hung up and stretched it out on a hanger leaving it to hang straight. “This saves me the trouble of having to iron them out later!”

“Yes, ma’am”, D and I replied together.

“Never mind I’ll do it myself. They collect the non-burnables today so take out the garbage”, she told us. “Are you listening?!”

D and I stood straight up, “Yes, ma’am!”

We went inside and I began to show D how to collect the trash remembering that Nathan had told me to be extra detailed with my explanation. I opened a bag and picked up the trash can in my room.

“Ok D, you open the bag like this and fill it with the garbage from the can. Think you got it”, I asked her.

She nodded in reply to my question.

“Good I’ll take the downstairs and you can take the second floor”, I said standing up. “Oh yeah and while you’re at it you can probably throw away everything scattered around on the desk.”

“Ok”, she said.

Little did I know she placed Mitsuki’s diary in her bag when cleaning out her room.

--------------------

((My POV again))

I had finally finished the combat training program that afternoon before Mitsuki, D, and Kazuki arrived for the afternoon’s practice. We all got into our pilot uniforms and made our way to the practice pods. The hatches closed as the program began and I found myself instructing them on what the battle scenario was going to be.

“Ok everyone today we have a combat reaction test. This requires us to be ready for anything and to let each other know about where the enemy is. The goal of this scenario is to build team communication and cooperation. Got it everybody”, I asked them placing my hands on the Life Sympathy orbs.

“Got it”, they replied.

“Good, battle start!”

As I said that a number of enemy dummies appeared around the training area and we began our practice. As we progressed Kazuki and D’s compatibility went up higher and higher leaving Mitsuki and I sitting there wondering what happened to the training scenario.

--------------------

We made our way home after the long run of training.

I knew that their reaction times went way high in the show but being there to see it was something else entirely. They were borderline inhuman at those speeds.

I made my way to the shower to cool off. After a few minutes of soaking in its mist I heard Mitsuki call Kazuki.

“Say Kazuki, have you been in my room”, she asked him.

“No. Why”, he responded.

“My diary is gone that’s why”, she shot at him.

As soon as I got out we all went to see if the diary had been misplaced or not and when we came to Mistuki’s desk we got our answer.

“I threw the book away”, D stated.

Kazuki shot out of her room like no human could possibly do.

“You what?! Goand find it at once”, she hollered at him as he ran.

“Yes, ma’am”, he managed to say as he sprinted down the steps.

He came back empty handed and reported to Mitsuki.

“It’s my fault. I instructed her to do so and she did”, he explained. “I’m really very sorry.”

D and I were outside the door as Kazuki and Mitsuki talked. D looked sad while she listened to Kazuki take the blame for it all.

“Never mind”, Mitsuki said dejectedly. “We’ll never find it, it’s gone.”

Kazuki walked out the door though D was no longer there as she had gone to use Unit 03 to search for the diary in the dump.

“I apologize again”, he said as he came out. “Huh D?”

“What’s wrong Kazuki? Where’s D”, Mitsuki asked.

“I don’t know she just left”, he said to her. “What about you Nathan do you know where she went?”

“I’ve got a feeling I know where she’s off to”, I chimed.

I lead them to the dump taking the car that was going to be left at the house so I could go from home to work without so much trouble. I pulled up to the entrance where Unit 03 was standing and we could see D digging through the rubbish pile searching for Mitsuki’s diary.

“Yeah had a feeling we’d find her here”, I said turning the car off and getting out.

Kazuki ran out of the car and started to dig along with D. Mitsuki and I slowly walked up to them knowing that if they wanted to they could dig for days and not find it. Nonetheless they dug for a few minutes even with the rain coming down on them.

“Ok that’s enough”, Mitsuki said not wanting to see them dig anymore for what was lost.

They both stopped and looked at Mitsuki. D was all dirty and Mitsuki walked over to her. She started to brush off the dirt from D’s clothes.

“Oh look, you got dirt all over you. Who do you think has to clean these clothes”, she said wiping off D’s face now.

“I’m sorry”, D said.

Mitsuki finshed cleaning up D’s face and turned to leave, “There, let’s go home.”

“Would you like spaghetti or curry”, she said as she walked. “For din-ner.”

D replied when Kazuki looked at her, “Curry.”

“I’d like curry too! I want to eat curry until I turn yellow”, he exclaimed.

“Looks like curry it is”, I said walking back to the car with Mitsuki.

--------------------

((A few days later))

“I’m home”, Kazuki called.

He walked into his room and found a door that didn’t exist there earlier that day.

“Hey Nathan what is this”, he asked.

I looked at the door intrigued by what it led to having forgotten what was about to happen.

“You know I’m not really sure”, I replied moving into his room to take a better look.

He tentatively reached for the handle and eventually opened the door. When he opened it there was Yayoi undressing on the other side.

I hollered and slammed the door shut as Kazuki fell backwards stunned from the freaky encounter.

Mitsuki came in when she heard us.

“What’s with all they yelling”, she asked. “What’s that door doing here?”

Kazuki and I both placed ourselves between Mitsuki and the odd door so that we wouldn’t get hammered by her.

“Well uh, it might be that she’s still changing”, Kazuki replied nervously.

I stepped forward to keep her from moving closer to the door.

“Just step aside you two and let me see what this is about”, Mitsuki commanded.

Just then the door opened toppling Kazuki into me and placing the both of us on the floor.

“Kazuki I’ll be making dinner shortly. So please, wait a minute”, Yayoi said cheerfully. “Oh yeah that reminds me what would you like to have Kazuki?”

D had appeared in the doorway and responded in her monotone, “Curry.”

[shdwdrgn]

A New Parallel Chapter 6

“Breakfast is such a wonderful thing. Yet isn’t there such a thing as too much wonderful”, I think to myself as I stare at the tray before me. “I don’t think I can put all this down.”

I sigh and start to eat the rice I have as Yayoi puts down a small bowl on Kazuki’s tray. He looks rather confused about what to do with the small buffet we were served. D and I finished rather quickly and stacked our bowls and took them to the kitchen for cleaning. As we headed out I caught Mitsuki telling Kazuki to hurry up and eat his breakfast.

“You don’t want to be late for school after all”, she finished.

He gave out a sigh and then stared at his food like it was some dreaded chore to be taken care of. In the kitchen D had already put her bowls and utensils in the sink so I put mine in and began to run warm water. Afterwards I headed for the front door to get my things ready for work while Kazuki was getting ready for school. He bent over and gagged from having eaten too much food.

“Careful bro don’t eat like that again or it really will come up and out”, I scolded him.

“Yeah, right”, he sighed after having kept the food down. He turned towards the shoe rack and was grabbing his shoes when Mitsuki came in with our lunches.

“Kazuki your lunch is on the step”, she told him.

“Alright thanks”, he muttered, still having trouble with his food apparently.

“And here’s yours Nathan I hope you enjoy it”, she said as she handed my lunch box to me.

“You know it’s impossible not to right”, I take my lunch and hug her with my free arm as I head out for my short day of work.

As Mitsuki and I left the house I caught Kazuki muttering about his ‘aching stomach’.

And that’s when I noticed he still had the two box lunches to deal with even though Mitsuki had no love interest in him now.

--------------------

((Kazuki’s POV))

“Why does the whole school have to assemble just to greet this new teacher? What makes them so special anyways”, I ramble silently.

Even though I don’t want to be here I find myself standing in a single file line with the rest of my class as well as the other classes lined up around us. It’s so unusual to make such a large ordeal of a new teacher. Nonetheless I’m here and I can’t do anything about it.

“Ahem, I have an announcement to make. I would like to introduce the new teacher who be a part of our teaching staff as of today. We’re very lucky to have her. Won’t you step up to the podium please”, the principal asks.

That’s when I notice a woman in red dress clothes and short grey/silver hair walk up onto the stage.

“Oh no…”

“Good morning, my name is Yayoi Schwael. As of today I will be starting my new job at this school. I’m very pleased to meet all of you, thank you”, she said into the mic.

The crowd of male students then started clapping for her looks, though I had a blank look on my face before I eventually palmed it not knowing what to expect with her around now. The principal took the mic once more and made the announcement about who was unlucky enough to receive her as their teacher.

“And now Ms. Schwael will be teaching Contemporary Composition and Social Science”, he stated.

That’s when I got that defeated look where your head suddenly droops to one side, dark lines appear above your head and a bell tolls. The rest of the guys in my class however just pumped their arms at their sides and issued a yes in unison.

“Hey Kazuki check her out, now there is a really good reason to go to school. She’s excellent”, my friend behind me whispered into my ear.

“Yeah, excellent”, I said sarcastically.

That’s when Yayoi looked at me with kind eyes and a nervous laugh escaped my throat. However when I turned left to avoid her gaze I ran into Mitsuki’s menacing glare.

“Oh boy this won’t be good”, I thought to myself.

We were in the classroom now and reading our text book. Though this day, class was far beyond normal. She was hovering over me the entire class and I could feel the venom oozing from the looks of the other guys.

I looked over at the door wanting it to be my ticket out of here but as I looked I noticed Mitsuki was glaring in at me.

“This day sucks”, I sighed mentally letting my head silently fall to the desk momentarily.

Unlucky for me the bell for lunch rang shortly after and now I had two lunches the guys would fight for. I really want this day to end…

Just then my ‘friends’ picked up both lunches and held them.

“Oh that’s so nice of you, you brought us both cute little lunches”, one said.

“Oh Mitsuki’s food is so wonderful I don’t know how to thank you”, cooed the other.

“But she only made one of them…” I muttered.

Just then the rest of the guys crowded around my desk shouting different things about the lunches.

“Hey who are you guys”, I shouted at the group surrounding me.

“Hey wait! We’ll settle this fairly…with Rock-Paper-Scissors!”

I walked out of the group having lost my lunches once more to the ravenous horde of pervs that made up my class.

As I came out of the door Yayoi called me into the teacher’s lounge.

“Tell me Mr. Sanada, are they always like that”, she asked me.

“Yeah”, I sighed.

“I can see those boys really wanted Mitsuki’s lunch, she’s really popular”, she said in an amazed tone.

“Yeah I guess, but they got the one that you made for me too”, I explained. “I’m really sorry about that.”

“Maybe if I had given you your lunch later you could have avoided that whole mess”, she said handing me half of the lunch she had packed for herself. “Here you go.”

“I don’t know, are you sure”, I asked her.

“Yes, although it’s not much for a growing boy”, she said.

“Thanks”, I replied picking up the chop sticks with the box.

As I finished and left the lounge my friends grabbed me as soon as I was out of sight of Yayoi.

“Hey what were you doing in there huh?”

“She was just sharing her lunch with me”, I said.

“Why would she share her lunch with a guy like you?!”

“Because you guys took both of my lunches”, I shot back at them.

“First Mistuki and now Ms. Schwael, this is so unfair how is it that you get all the babes?”

“I don’t know, just lucky I guess”, I say in a kind of surprised tone.

--------------------

((My POV))

Today should be nice and easy all I have to do is some quick scans of the Core Robots and then just survive a training session with Yayoi who had no interest in me anyways.

As I came into the docking bay I noticed that my small diagnostics team was already at work since they also saw the chance for a short day.

“Alright looks like you guys already know what’s up so let’s get it done quickly and efficiently so we can all get out of here early”, I call to them. My remark receives a loud cheer from them as they bust a move on the scans.

Lunch rolled around and I sat in the cockpit of Unit 04 like I usually do since it’s so peaceful. I opened Mitsuki’s lunch and started eating it thinking about what would happen when Zinv rolls out of the EDF’s bowels. Unexpectedly I noticed D heading out from Unit 03 like she had been there the entire time.

“damn that girl is a sneaky one”, I said to myself chop sticks still partially in my mouth.

As I finished my lunch the crew came back in and we finished up our scans on Unit 04 well ahead of schedule.

“Everyone did a great job today and you’ve all earned the rest of the day off. So go home and spend some time with the family or whatever you wish to do so long as you come back again tomorrow”, I shouted.

The crew had barely let me finish before they had vanished from sight. I looked over at the elevator and noticed they had packed themselves inside and were shoving each other around to get the most comfortable spot why hollering at each other. As the doors closed their shouts became muted. They almost make the upcoming battle look friendly.

--------------------

We all stood there in our pilot’s suits staring at our instructor for the day. Apparently I was only a temporary instructor until they found a suitable one to take over.

“As of today, I have been appointed your full time drill instructor. You’ll find that I’m tough with failure. I am Lieutenant Yayoi Schwael. Pleased to meet you”, she said in a militaristic monotone. She saluted us and though D and I saluted immediately Mitsuki and Kazuki faltered for a second though I could see Mitsuki’s arm twitching in frustration.

I got into my cockpit and ran through the training protocol as quick as I could also trying to attain the best results possible so that I wouldn’t have to worry about Yayoi and Mitsuki’s wrath.

Thus begins the montage of Yayoi beating Mitsuki to all her normal duties. Breakfast, laundry, training, and school, where ever Yayoi was helping Kazuki, Mitsuki was likely there with a venomous glare.

--------------------

As I was walking past Mitsuki’s room one night I noticed her developing pictures of Yayoi. Oh jeez her comes her scheme to get rid of Yayoi for good.

I snuck up behind her, “What are you doing Mitsuki?”

She jumps a little and punches my shin.

“Ow! What was that for”, I exclaim.

“You shouldn’t sneak up on a girl especially when she’s making plans”, she huffs at me.

“Sorry, sorry. So what are you doing anyways”, I ask rubbing my shin.

“I’m developing photos of Yayoi to try and get her married so that she doesn’t bother us anymore”, she says running another photo through the wash.

“Alright just don’t drag me or Kazuki into it”, I say knowing full well just how escalated this would get.

The next day I walked up on Kazuki and Mitsuki in the hall as a battle trailer came on.

--------------------

“You have to call it off”, the UN Inspector shouts.

“No I will not”, Ms. Nanjyoin flatly states.

“Listen to me the location you have set is within 5 kilometers of the attack point”, the Inspector says drawing a line on the map.

“Commander, 5 kilometers is a fairly safe distance from the zone. You said this yourself before have you not”, Nanjyoin challenges.

“It doesn’t matter if the building is relatively safe or not, this zone has been evacuated”, the Inspector fires.

“Mr. Kamikochi is a very busy gentleman. The meeting must take place where his private jet can land”, Nanjyoin says.

“Then I order you to change the time of the meeting”, the Inspector orders.

“A change in schedule would be preposterous.”

“If the meeting takes place within this line you must obey the UN’s decision!!!”

“I believe an exception was made with a 4 kilometer line in the past.”

Just then Mitsuki draws a red line on the map inside the black line marking 5 kilometers.

“A 4 kilometer line. Rara will not get past it. I swear”, Mitsuki boldly states.

The room goes quiet as all eyes have fallen on her.

--------------------

Later that night I’m sitting in Mitsuki’s room as she puts up a map of the battle area on her wall.

“I’m not going to let Rara’s stupid attack get in the way”, she exclaims with vigor.

“And how are we going to do that Mitsuki”, I ask her.

“Well I’ll make sure we don’t cross that 4 kilometer line”, she states.

“So it looks like it’ll 2 versus 2 versus 1”, I mutter in my mind.

--------------------

All four of us pilots are lined up in the battle zone while the crew is over masking the marriage interview over the battle station setup to monitor where the battle proceeds to.

“Now listen up we do not let them pass this “Defend or Die Line” you got that D”, Mitsuki inquires.

She replies, “Roger.”

“You copy Kazuki”, she hisses at him.

“Y-yeah I copy”, he studders.

“I already know that you understand Nathan. So everyone better do as planned”, Mitsuki says. “Just protect it whatever the cost!!!”

“Right we all know how important this is for Yayoi”, I say. “No slacking!”

I don’t know how but we all heard Miss Ra’s laugh over on a distant building and we turned to look at her.

“You pitiful, god-defying fools! Today you will see who has the true power. Child of god come forth”, she commands and out of the water comes the enemy mech.

We fire our rifles at it as a wave of drones bare down on us. Most are destroyed but a couple latch on to Mitsuki and D at the waist. Somehow these thing immobilized the both of them. As I turned to get them off Mitsuki and D one that I didn’t see grabbed me as well.

“Good now that we have the lesser opponents occupied we can proceed with the plan. Big Robo destroy the white robot”, Miss Ra commanded.

The main enemy closed in on Kazuki. It connects with him and begins to push him towards the airport. damn him, Yayoi is such a nuisance why can’t he just let her go?

I bring my elbow down on the small bot latched onto me and destroy it heading after Kazuki to try and halt the robot’s advance. The robot’s jets force Kazuki towards the airport still and I manage to catch up and grab the tail end of it slowing it down even more.

“What do you think you’re doing Kazuki”, Mitsuki questions. “Quit messing around and stop it.”

“I’m dealing with a slight difference in power here”, he replies.

“Just hang on you two”, Mistuki roars as she chases after us.

I then notice we’re at the edge of the water and Kazuki lets us get pulled in.

When we reach the nearby island Kazuki and I manage to get it stopped as Mitsuki meets up with us.

“Kazuki where’s your bazooka”, she inquires.

“Don’t have it”, he answers.

“Ugh fine take mine then”, she offers. One of the smaller bots tries to attack her and she punches it out of the air as Kazuki takes the bazooka. “damn annoying pests!”

“Kazuki shoot the thing now! We need to limit the amount of destruction to the city”, I yell at him.

“Oh right”, he replies firing off the shots and clearly missing the target right in his face.

“damn Kazuki your aim really sucks you know that”, I lecture him as we get pulled to the edge of the battle zone.

As we sit on the edge the enemy charges up and rams into Kazuki pushing him into the bridge though Mitsuki was there to catch him so the line wasn’t broken.

Kazuki’s defenselessness act didn’t work and the three of us managed to hold it off the line.

“Grrr I will not let you cross this line”, Mitsuki states.

“Come in Kazuki”, I hear D call. Crap here it goes… “I’m having trouble, I’ve sustained damage.”

Right then one of the mini bots crushed D’s left leg.

“D”, Kazuki calls out.

“I’m not going to let you cross that line”, Mitsuki cries summoning up some momentum to push the bot back. Yet Kazuki wasn’t there and she missed completely and was thrown off balance.

The large robot pushed Mitsuki pass the 4 kilometer line sealing our fate with Yayoi.

“C… cancelled… it’s been… cancelled”, she says, flames bursting in her eyes. “damn you!!!”

Mitsuki then begins a large barrage of blows on the main enemy blaming everything on it. She demolishes it and sends a large piece flying into the building Miss Ra was on causing to fall from losing her balance. A few stories before she hit the ground Kazuki managed to catch her.

“Go get her Romeo”, I say mentally.

--------------------

“I don’t know what you were thinking saving the enemy. Just who’s side are you on Kazuki”, Mitsuki asks.

“As much as I don’t want to do this as your instructor I need to punish you”, Yayoi follows.

Then eerily in sink they finish, “And as punishment no supper for you.”

“Eheh”, Kazuki nervously laughs. Then his stomach growls reminding him that it won’t be full ‘til morning and he lets out a small moan to voice his disapproval.

“What can I say bro, sucks to be you”, I say stuffing a wad of rice into my mouth.

[shdwdrgn]

A New Parallel Chapter 7

Yet another RaRa attack had been launched and we were, yet again, defending the city. It was a similar model to the one used in Kazuki’s first battle as a member of the Earth Defense Force. We were all huddled behind a group of buildings as it launched its missile strike bombarding our cover.

“Ugh I am really getting tired of this”, Mitsuki said with a slightly irritated look on her face as the explosions went off. She then moved out from cover and fired upon the enemy.

It had no effect, this time around they had beefed up the armor and it just shrugged off her shots and began its retaliation. It lifted its right arm and a missile pod opened; this missile considerably larger than those previously fired. The missile was launched which caught me off guard.

“shit! Mitsuki look out”, I cried as I jumped from the cover and pulling her out of the missile’s path before it could connect with her. Kazuki had been late with firing his bazooka this time around. I looked over and found that he was actually MISSING his bazooka and had moved in and broken the left arm while it had focused on Mitsuki and I.

“Great work Kazuki now it’s time to finish it!” I said having jumped to the enemy’s position and uppercutting it with my tonfer at the base of the neck causing it to go up in an explosion.

--------------------

It was now 7am and I heard Kazuki’s alarm going off before suddenly going quiet.

“Again D?” I muttered to myself as I moved about my room. Then it hit me, “Yayoi too, almost forgot.”

At this point I had stumbled out into the hall just as Mitsuki had opened his room door to make sure he had woken up.

“Here we go…” I sighed waiting for her to lash out at Yayoi and D.

“What the hell are you two doing?! Ugh why do I have to repeat myself morning after morning”, she yelled at them. “Yayoi get out! Kazuki and D get dressed! You’re gonna be late for school.”

At this point I had already joined the commander for breakfast downstairs at a rather empty table. Though it didn’t seem to effect the volume of Mitsuki’s scolding up on the floor above.

“What a lovely breakfast”, Commander Sanada said in a very nonchalant manner.

“Couldn’t agree with you more”, I said dropping a large wad of rice in my mouth as I listened to the rumbling of people scurrying about up stairs.

--------------------

((Begin random acts of action))

Yet another model similar to the one destroyed earlier is seen standing in a large mass of water when suddenly a shot can be heard and a small puff is seen coming out the back of its neck. It then explodes and we see Unit 1 on one knee holding a bazooka.

“Yet another easy win…” I say hanging my head as Kazuki looks at his shot triumphantly.

---------------------

Now Kazuki, Mitsuki, D, Commander Sanada, Yayoi, and myself are sitting before Ms. Nanjyoin.

“In times of war or peace, rude and unrefined behavior is unbefitting of the human race”, she lectures us. “It is of the utmost importance in these times to establish a rigid character building training program.”

The screen sweeps across all our faces as we listen to her lecture showing many a blank stare.

“The same is true of the tea ceremony, calligraphy and flower arranging. Daily devotion to study and daily discipline…”

It is now that the camera stops on Kazuki and myself, since I am sitting behind him. His face begins to wrinkle and eventually becomes a grimace. We both roll over holding our ankles.

“Kazuki, Nathan! What are you guys doing?!” Mistuki questions us as we sit there on our sides.

“It’s my feet they’re totally numb”, Kazuki replies in a strained tone.

“What he said I think I cut off my blood flow to my feet”, I said rubbing my feet to try and get the feeling back into them.

“You guys are such sissies”, Mitsuki says rather calmly as Kazuki lets out a pseudo howl of irritation from his feet.

It is now that the Commander is also on his side on the opposite side of the group holding his own feet as well.

Almost crying he says aloud, “Ow oohoohoo my feet are numb! No! No don’t touch me!”

He then lets out a few howls and cries as Mitsuki touched him. Everybody else was just looking on in disbelief at how overreacive the Commander was being compared to Kazuki and I.

--------------------

((This queues a pseudo montage))

A large robot then drops over backwards in the screen with a loud crash. The camera scrolls up to reveal Unit 4 standing above it with the left arm extended forward having just punched the thing.

--------------------

Mitsuki is now seen at home kneeling before a basket of my laundry in her cleaning outfit. On top a pair of my boxers is clearly seen and it is easy to tell she’s having second thoughts about doing them. She then grunts and forces herself to pick up the basket. However Yayoi walks by grabbing it while carrying a basket for Kazuki’s clothes.

“My my looks at all these dirty clothes those 2 are just a pair of regular boys aren’t they”, Yayoi says walking off with the dirty laundry leaving Mitsuki staring in disbelief.

It’s then that I walk by my room and notice her.

“Hey Mitsuki what’re you doing in here”, I ask her.

She slowly gets up and begins to walk out of my room. As she passes me, she merely comes up close to my face and grunts in disapproval, then moves on to other chores.

--------------------

Yet another robot falls backwards towards the camera this time, showing Units 2 and 3 with their right and left arms forward having team punched the enemy with their tonfer.

((end pseudo montage))

--------------------

It’s late at night now and I’m still up going over some of the repair reports from the previous missions. I look at the clock and see what time it is and realize that I’m rather hungry.

I head down to the kitchen to look for something to snack on. I barely get halfway down the stairs before I notice Kazuki opening the door to the kitchen and stopping before he even goes in.

“Hello”, he says into the kitchen. “Commander?”

I walk in the doorway to find Kazuki and the Commander staring at one another kind of awkwardly.

“Wow you guys are still up too eh? Looks like you both had a case of the munchies as well I say pointing at Kazuki and the Commander.

A large bag of instant cup of noodles can be seen with 3 of the paper lids sitting next to the bag. A fair amount of slurping can be heard as we chow down on the instant noodles Kazuki had gone out and collected.

“I appreciate you sharing your late night snack”, the commander said between slurps of noodles.

“No doubt! It’s like you knew the three of us were going to be hungry”, I said taking a hearty slurp sucking a large amount of noodles into my own mouth.

“Crazy isn’t it? It’s ok though I bought lots!” Kazuki said brightly.

“I used to stock up on instant noodles all the time, but since Mistuki came I haven’t touched the stuff”, the Commander shared. “It’s been ages since I’ve enjoyed a good cup of ramen.”

“I hear ya Commander! It’s a shame she doesn’t let us have ‘em around for snacks”, I replied drinking the broth since I had already finished my noodles.

“Yeah Mitsuki would never make this stuff let alone let us get instant packages from the store”, Kazuki said slurping up some noodles of his own.

I raise my second, half finished cup to the both of them, “Here’s to the junk-food junkies!”

They both raise their cups of ramen to mine and we all begin to eat in earnest.

“You both certainly know what I mean! Ramen is the quintessential late night snack”, the Commander declares. Just then the lights flicked on and the three of us froze. The Commander had his chopsticks pointed at Kazuki, Kazuki was hunched over swallowing and I was mid bite with a waterfall of noodles hanging out the front of my mouth.

All that was said at the moment was a muffled “Busted…” from my ramen filled maw. Kazuki and the Commander had looked to see who it was but I didn’t bother, since I already knew who it was and was almost in tears at having been caught.

Thus we had a small feast prepared before us in the middle of the night and all the three of us could do was stare at the food Mitsuki had made on the table in front of us.

“It all looks so good I don’t know where to start”, the Commander said sheepishly.

“Yeah…” Kazuki followed.

Then only a single command left her lips, “Eat”

I lowered my head and begin to fill my plate as the Commander and Kazuki scrambled to do the same. As we ate we tossed out a compliment almost every bite we had not wanting to make her angrier.

--------------------

((Kazuki’s PoV))

I’m sitting in class staring at the board, holding several formulas upon it, before me.

“These formulas will be on the exam so be sure to write them down”, the teacher says in what could possibly be the Ben Stein tone of Japan. The bell then rang signaling a message to the entire school though I was nearly asleep.

I perked up at the sound to listen to the message.

“Your attention please. A trailer from the RaRa Army has just been broadcast. The time of the attack is on the 12th at 3pm. The attack zones will be the central, northern and eastern of the city. Students and staff who reside in these districts must return home promptly. Unfortunately the final exams will have to be postponed.”

At the end of the announcement the entire class jumped up in an elated cheer for the postponement of final exams.

“Yes what excellent luck! We get to put off the exam!”

“Just this once I wanna thank you RaRa! What d’you think Sanada?!”

I was far from as pleased as they were. “What miserable luck.”

--------------------

((My PoV))

We’re all back at the house enjoying our dinner now.

“What rotten luck, having to head out after studying for the exams”, Yayoi said.

“Oh, he’s just upset that he jinxed himself by actually studying for once”, Mitsuki said tauntingly.

“Haha! Seems it can’t be avoided though. After all, we don’t have much say in the battle zones”, I said shoveling a hefty portion of rice into my mouth.

Kazuki lets out an irritated sigh at his lack of luck, when the grandfather clock suddenly chimes.

“Oh no I forgot that I have to take dad his change of clothes!” Mitsuki exclaimed.

“The poor commander, having to stay overnight at the base every time RaRa broadcasts a trailer”, Yayoi says.

“I feel his pain, the nights after a rough battle are long and hard”, I mention through my mouthful of food.

“Yeah I’m sure it is rough on you guys. But I wish he’d pay more attention to bathing and changing his clothes”, Mitsuki said. “If I don’t watch him he’ll go days without doing either.”

“Mitsuki it’s dangerous outside at night. Are you sure you’ll be ok?” Yayoi asked.

I had just finished my meal and replied, “I’ll go with her, hang on just a sec.” I downed my water to clear my throat of any lingering rice.

“Thank you, Nathan”, Mitsuki replied to me.

“Not a problem”, I said making a large sighing sound as I finished the ice water.

--------------------

We crowd into the Commander’s office as he’s looking over a large map on his wall.

“Daddy I brought you a change of clothes”, Mistuki chimed.

“Oh why thank you Mitsuki, but I think these clothes I’m wearing are fine for now”, he replied.

“Um Commander you stink, badly. You need to go change clothes otherwise we’ll be able to smell you over the comm.”, I informed him.

“That and if you don’t I’m not going to make your favorite meal either”, Mitsuki threatened. At that he rushed out of the room with clothes in hand.

“Hey wait, you have to take a shower first. I don’t want you stinking up those clean clothes”, Mistuki said following him to make sure he did as she asked.

As she left I let out a small snicker. “What’re you laughing at? You’re next Nathan!” She said poking her head in before leaving to follow the Commander once more.

I turned bright red at her claim and waited for her return.

She came back in, with the Commander in front, not too long after they had fled the office.

“I swear, I’m going to catch a cold”, he says shivering slightly.

“What are you talking about? It’s not even cold season”, Mitsuki challenges.

“You two should head on home now. It’s too dangerous to be out too late”, He said to us.

“Sure thing Commander”, I said.

“Aw you don’t have to worry, I’ll be with him”, Mitsuki said confidently.

“Haven’t you got that backwards? He should protect you”, the Commander contradicted.

“Oh come on daddy. Nate always has his mind in the clouds. I have to keep him from running into light posts sometimes”, Mitsuki said mockingly.

“Hey that’s not entirely true. I pay attention to where I’m going most of the time”, I said. “and those things appear out of nowhere anyhow…”

She gives a slight giggle at my words. “Alright then tough guy let me see ya fight like a man”, Mitsuki said challenging me.

“Well there’s not anyone TO fight right now so what do you expect me to do? Shadow Boxing?” I quipped.

“Alright, alright just get going home you two”, the Commander suggested.

“Alright fine, let’s go Nathan”, Mitsuki said. “Good night daddy, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yup, see ya tomorrow Commander”, I said heading out the door. “Besides Mitsuki, I heard about how you pulverized that guy, who pinched you at school, from Kazuki.”

“Moi pulverize? No way. I just gave him a teeny little slap”, she replied. “It’s not my fault he ran away bumbling like an idiot.”

As we walked down the hall and out of the EDF HQ, I hugged her tightly and we walked home hand in hand. The night air was cool and calming and we took our time in getting back to the house. Who knew she had such an affectionate side.

--------------------

Battle time had rolled around and all the Core Robots had been loaded into their aerial carriers for transport.

Something just didn’t feel right today. For some reason everybody was on edge. I had a feeling this was the battle where Kazuki was captured by the RaRa Army. I was somewhat curious about how today’s events would change at my insertion to the Dual Universe.

Just as I predicted the large humanoid mech from RaRa appeared in the distance as the 4 of us stood in the battle zone waiting for the conflict to begin.

“You all keep your distance from this one. It’s different somehow”, the Commander informed us over the comm.

We all replied with a synchronous “Roger.”

The four of us began to spread out and surround the large humanoid mech trying to be as cautious as possible.

We all unloaded upon the enemy at once. Mitsuki and Kazuki with their rifles while D and I used our bazookas. All of our rounds connected creating a large cloud of smoke that we weren’t able to see through. It cleared rather quickly revealing that the enemy had taken no damage at all.

We continued unloading every piece of ammo we had into it but to no avail. It still stood fully erect without so much as a scratch upon it. It then lifted its arms up in front of it pointed at the four of us. What looked like turbines on its shoulders began glowing and emitting light from them.

Air began to visibly swirl around its arms. And then it fired.

“Brace yourselves”, I called just before the blast of air connected with all of us. For what it was it managed to cause us great strain. Eventually it blew away all of our Units except for Unit 1.

“So it looks like they’re still after just Kazuki… wonderful”, I quietly groaned to myself waiting for my Core Robot to land. I was forced to flip upside down and face first into a building while D was smashed into a building and Mitsuki was down on her back.

The turbines began to glow again as the three of us were unable to move to Kazuki’s aid. Kazuki had moved right into their field of attack.

“You fool! You just moved to where they wanted you”, I yelled over the comm. Hoping it could get him to move away. It was too late however as the enemy mech had already begun destroying the buildings using its ability to control the atmosphere. At this point I knew for sure Kazuki was as good as captured.

After having leveled the entire area and forced Kazuki into unconsciousness the enemy moved in and began to lift him using its special ability. It then bear hugged him and refuse to let go. D and I had managed to reposition ourselves and squeezed off a few rounds from our bazookas before the enemy machine retaliated by blasting us away with lightning.

“Oh no! D?!” Kazuki barked in his cockpit.

“Nathan are you two ok?” Mitsuki called to us.

“Y-yeah, I think we’re alright but that thing means business. You have to get Kazuki out of its grasp”, I replied to her in a strained tone.

“I can’t Unit 2 won’t move and neither you nor D can do anything after a blast like that”, she said as she attempted to get Unit 2 to move.

Just then the enemy unit took to the air still with Unit 1 and Kazuki firmly in stow. It immediately flew off towards the RaRa territory and away from our grasp.

--------------------

((Kazuki’s PoV))

I was now in enemy territory, away from everybody that could help me and no way to get out. I had no idea what to do. I kept on fighting to break away but I couldn’t break its hold on me.

I was trapped in unfamiliar territory and now I was at the mercy of my opponent. It was now trying to completely disable Unit 1 and it wasn’t holding up well to the attack. The casing had begun to buckle and was nearly cracked open now. I started to panic.

“Move, MOVE! CMON MOVE!” I shouted loudly in attempt to command Unit 1 to react. “The systems aren’t responding. Cmon move dammit. What’s wrong with you? Why won’t you respond to me?!”

My view screen completely shut off, leaving me in the now dark cockpit with no idea what was going on outside. I froze in fear at the only stimulus I could react to… the sound of the metal crumpling, as my foe tried to break its way inside my cockpit. As it finally cracked in my mind began to beg for mercy as light filtered in on me. The large red ‘eye’ moved to the large crack in the cockpit to get a view of me.

In absolute fear I panicked and Unit 1 responded to me. It lifted its left arm and tore off the right arm of my opponent. I then grabbed it by the head and pulled it down into my knee forcing it away. I began pounding the head casing repeatedly on my grounded foe.

--------------------

((My PoV))

As Kazuki waged his battle while the rest of could only look on and hope he was ok my head began to throb. I saw a large silhouette of Zinv only the eye was on the right side of its body. This image seemed familiar to me and yet very foreign as a huge wave of power washed over me. The Life Sympathy orbs were raging with activity as a voice came out on the comm.

“Sir the pilots of both Unit 1 and Unit 4 are going beyond the negative 100 mark in Life Sympathy.”

“Disregard Unit 4, he’s fine. Focus on retrieving Unit 1’s pilot!” Commander Sanada shouted rather quickly.

“No way, is it time already? It’s too soon…” I said holding my aching head as I sat in the cockpit. “Kazuki what is happening to you? And how is it affecting me at the same time?!”

--------------------

((Kazuki’s PoV again))

As I continued to pummel my foe, it eventually shocked me with some lightning it produced. While I was stunned it grabbed me once more and flew me further into enemy territory. As we flew I managed to get one of my punches to penetrate its armor. This blew out one of its ‘turbines’ and sent us falling towards the ground quite rapidly.

------------------------

((My PoV))

“Commander, I’m going after him!” I shouted forcing my Unit into action. But before I could even take 2 steps forward…

“Stop immediately. You can’t go in there. If you do, that would mean an all out war against RaRa”, The Commander said.

“I can’t just abandon him there. Who knows what they’d do to him if they find out he was the pilot!” I challenged.

“I know but this is an order from your Commander. I’d like to get him back to but it’s all up to him to get out on his own now. We can’t risk what might happen if we decide to interfere”, Sanada said.

Just then a large explosion went off from Kazuki’s direction. We all reacted rather alarmed and concerned about his health. Even I couldn’t help reacting with what I knew. Everybody was rather shocked at the thought that he might be gone now for good.

Mitsuki had opened her cockpit and was on her knees now. “Oh no… Kazuki…”

We all had no choice but to stare at the large plume of smoke where Kazuki would be right now. Nobody, but myself, had any clue about his possible position. But I still had to wonder how fate would change things since I came here to change the plot line.