Lead. Fuel. Explosion. << >> Blood. Life. Death.

This is so strange… to be back at this building.

Even more, after I had already given up the thought of putting my feet here ever again.

I only lived here for about six months, but it surely seemed that I would live the rest of my life here before all that happened…

I slowly walk to the elevator and see a few familiar faces on the way, it's like I never left this place at all, a feeling that's both comforting and unnerving.

As I approach the new phone the CEO gave me at the elevator display, it indicates to me the correct floor of my old apartment.

A few seconds later the elevator’s door opens and I’m once again in front of that door. I’m feeling very nervous despite telling myself "I’m prepared" all the way here.

I slowly reach for my phone again and before putting it against the apartment door’s display I hesitate…

My mind is overwhelmed with many thoughts, but the last warning the CEO gave me before coming here is what is ultimately making me falter.

I sigh loudly.

Before I could gather the courage to unlock the door I hear a voice coming from inside.

I should’ve checked if someone is inside before tryin’ to enter. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I was just acting by reflex.

“Hello, I want to talk to no. 02174!” - I say closing my face to the panel on the entrance.

Click!

Dzzzzz.

The door slowly unlocks and slides down disappearing from behind the doormat.

Gradually I see the figure of the person I was looking for: With long raven hair, a very pretty and symmetrical face only disrupted by a dot below her right eye, and a slender body that is extremely alluring.

Upon seeing me again 02174 is clearly taken aback. She blinks a few times consecutively before uttering even a word.

“I-is that really you, 02189? …”

I choose to just make an affirmative head gesture in order to answer her.

“How can this be? I thought you were dead...”

Ren looks at 02174 with a sad expression and says:

“I’m sorry…”

“I’m sorry I took this long to come back-”

“Why?”

The two look at each other awkwardly for some seconds, both of them don’t seem to know how to continue the conversation naturally until 02174 decides to complete what she was saying before.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy you didn’t die, but honestly, you’re not needed here anymore”

The young woman with her phone already in her hands shows its lock-screen to Ren who immediately gets a little dismayed, however, his reaction was almost cold, as he looked at the phone and he saw the image of 02174 hugging another man.

Ren looks back into 02174’s eyes and asks:

“So, this is the replacement?”

“Precisely”

The deadpan tone that enveloped that response assured Ren of 02174’s thoughts and feelings, however, he didn’t want to have any regrets, so he pressed on.

“02174, you told me you loved me, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s only natural for people that are married”

“So what about now?”

“That’s obvious, we’re not married anymore so I don’t love you. The one I love is this one, 02206” – The young woman says this while still holding her phone and shaking it in front of Ren’s face.

Ren slyly chuckles.

“Did I say something funny?”

Now I can be sure, without a doubt, that I really changed, or maybe I’m now able to be who I always wanted to be. It doesn’t matter but, now I see very clearly the difference. Such an apathetic and simple way to decide things and live a life is nothing short of laughable. However...

“It’s nothing, don’t mind me!”

Ren turns around, heading back to the elevator, and says:

“I hope you can find happiness, whatever that means...”

“Wait! Did you come here just to talk? You could just have messaged me, you know?”

“Don’t you worry, I won’t disturb you anymore!”

Ren walks back to the elevator while the apartment’s door closes again.

Now it’s gonna be even harder to do what needs to be done…

*****

A mountain of debris surrounded by a sea of fire. This hellish environment is now the stage in which two adversary groups of mechs are fighting each other and where two foolish humans inserted themselves.

*Mr. Amano, are you sure about this plan?*

*"Sure" ain’t exactly the right word my fella*

*We just have no other choice if we wanna save our home*

*Now, we’re closin’ the enemy so, only use the transmitter if needed, know what I’m sayin’?*

*All right, boss!*

Both men ride with their bikes while dodging a great number of hazards scattered around. The old man leads the way and Take is right behind him.

The usual upbeat expression is no longer written on Juurou’s face, even from behind his helmet is possible to notice his concerned look while approaching the mechs.

It’s certainly suspicious. Only this part of the city was attacked. It’s as if whoever came here, did it to attack the Shrine directly, even if they ended up destroyin’ the buildings around too.

For this to happen so shortly after all of us except Haku-kun bein’ called to a place quite distant from the Shrine. Not only that, but for this info, I received beforehand about the mech’s weakness also be relayed to me at a timing like this... The hell you doin’ Hideki?

The moment of reflection did not stop the man from noticing his surroundings. As he quickly perceives a Blue mech at the horizon with the help of his shades that can enhance his vision.

*Take! Enemy at 11 O'clock, get ready!*

As soon as he heard the command, Take grabbed the rocket launcher and put it in position, placing it above his shoulder.

*I’ll go distract it, ye shoot when I give the sign*

Juurou keeps his eyes on the target while maneuvering his bike, ready for any new enemy around. He sees the rest of the mechs relatively distant from the Blue mech first sighted. Knowing that, he traces the most secure patch between all the mechs.

The best move we can pull off is if we can somehow take advantage of the in-fighting and take out the remaining mech while also minimizing the destruction of the surroundings. But to be able to do that and rescue Haku-kun and Mayu at the same time...

Juurou’s bike accelerates as he passes through the battlefield, he activates thrusters on this bike to add up even more speed to finally be at the mech’s range, and Take does the same while being cautious to not be too close or too far from Juurou. Upon detecting him, the Blue mech targets the old man and fires its auto-cannon without any alarm.

KCHNG!! KCHNG!! KCHNG!! KCHNG!! KCHNG!!

A trail of huge projectiles follows the old man who successfully maneuvers around them without being hit. After the first spray of bullets, Juurou puts his bike on autopilot while he grabs a rocket launcher and begins standing up on the bike.

Jurou balances himself while standing up on the bike as he aims for the mech’s head.

FUSH!!!

At that distance, with the rocket’s speed, it was certain the mech would receive a direct hit, however, that mech was not a stationary target, nor was it piloted by an amateur pilot. Even being surprised by a person in a bike coming seemly from nowhere to attack them, the pilot’s reflexes and the mech’s mobility were enough to dodge the missile without much hustle.

BAAAAAAAAM!!!

While moving to flee the projectile, the mech was truly taken by surprise by a second missile that hit on its left leg joint.

The blue giant falls on its metallic knees and as soon as this happens, repair drones are immediately launched from the mech’s sides.

Wow! Mr. Amano is amazing! His plan worked out pretty great, but the difficult part begins now. I’m sure he knows this well too.

The old man then throws away the rocket launcher and goes back to piloting the bike. Seeing the mech’s reaction to the missile, he makes a sharp turn and hides inside some rubble.

Juurou looks from the gap in the debris and sees that besides the two violet-colored drones that came from the mech, and the mech itself, there was a third drone nearby, a gray one.

Although the Blue mech couldn't stand up anymore, it still followed the old man with its targeting system and was ready to shoot its own missile, however, it took another hit from behind.

A loud explosion sound followed the second missile that was launched by Take. He took the rocket launcher dropped by Juurou and used it to shoot the mech’s nape area in an attempt to hamper the mech’s head mobility and its vision capacities.

After receiving the confirmation of the hit by Take, Juurou leaves the hiding spot and approaches the felled mech.

I’ll have to wonder about that thing (the gray drone) after all this ends.

After getting sufficiently close, the old man activates a command on his bike that launches a chain from its back. It hits one of the repair drones and pierces it with the spearhead it has on the tip of the chain.

*Take, do the same to the other drone over yonder too!!*

The man repeats the same move and now the two bikes have the drones attached to them by a chain. After both successfully do their attacks, they step up and leave the area near the mech asap.

*Amano-san, are you sure it’s ok to just leave the giant bot like that?*

*Ain’t ye forgetting why we’re here in the first place? We needn’t fully destroy these things, it’s more efficient to impair ‘em and rescue people*

*Yeah, you’re right sir, sorry for the stupid question*

*It’s all right boy, I like yer attitude, we’ll need it to not die here while dealing with all the other ones!*

The remaining Blue mechs perceive the two new enemies approaching as soon as they notice that one of them felled. The Violet mechs also realize that and try to surround the Blue mechs, as they see that event as a favorable occurrence.

We got lucky by being able to take down that lost sheep, but now it seems we’ll not have an easy time.

The old man’s attention is once again taken by something he sees in his sunglasses.

*Take! I received some data about life signals, it seems there are people inside the rubble, but they’re all near the other mechs*

*This is bad...*

*It really is, but now it ain’t time to frown over things!*

*I’ll pass ye the directions. You’ll rescue ‘em while I distract those oversized scraps!*

*Roger!*

Take reloads the rocket launcher and throws it to Juurou, who catches it in the air, his bike loses a little balance, as both of them are riding at high speed, but he manages to not fall or lose control of the vehicle.

After that, they go in different ways, and Take opens up a compartment in his bike, and throws away many ammunition and other weapons around. He also stops his bike in a blind spot for the mechs and detaches the chain from his bike while using it to trap the drone inside some more resistant debris.

With Take somewhat away from him, Juurou completely focuses on the many enemies in front of him, however, this time is much different from that mech they encountered before. After all, getting near a fight between many mechs is like entering the middle of a minefield while blindfolded.

From a few miles distance is difficult to see what’s happening as dust rises and only occasionally some flashes of light ignite from there, while the mechs themselves are just colored blurs that are constantly moving around.

Seeing this scenario made clear to Juurou that he could never take on even one of them in a fair fight without a surprise element, just because of their mobility and firepower.

Another thing that Juurou perceived is that if he approaches too much, he’ll probably die just from the shock-waves and the heat of the weapons alone, even if he somehow wouldn't be hit by the mechs or the projectiles.

VROOOOOM~

Juurou accelerates his bike to the max he can, trying to circle the main area the mechs are fighting, and once again with the auto-pilot on, he shoots a few missiles to get the attention of the pilots for him and away from Take, trying to distance the battlefield from where the possible survivors are.

Most of the mechs bite the bait as they begin returning fire as the old man drives around with his bike, dodging the lead throw in his direction with relative ease.

However, some of the Violet mechs don’t seem too interested in that ‘puny aggressor’ (in their perspective) so they continue attacking the Blue mechs, who begin once again engaging with them and letting Juurou alone.

That’s expected… I’ll have to be more aggressive if I want their attention.

Juurou continues circling the fight while dodging the occasional missiles that come his way. While doing so, he grabs the ammo Take left around on the ground, and reloads the rocket launcher.

Juurou advances, and by taking advantage of the fact that not every pilot is being cautious of his presence, he tries to use the chain and the beaten-up repair drone on its end to try to wrap up the chain around a mech’s leg.

Both the bike and the mech are moving way too fast. To make such a difficult maneuver, would certainly require more than one try, and that would mean risking getting closer to the mechs to do a dangerous stunt that isn’t even granted to succeed or have the expected result.

Seeing this situation, and after almost being stomped by the mechanical feet and bullets around him, the old man decides to fall back for a moment, and at that instant, he receives a message.

*Mr. Amano! I found Mayu-chan!!*

*She is unconscious… but she has a pulse and is breathing normally*

BAAAAAAM!!!

A missile blew up right next to Juurou, as soon as he distracted himself with Take’s call.

“Dammit!!!”

*Take, move her away from here immediately!!*

*I’m on it! But I also found three more people, what should I do?*

*Why ye askin’ something like that!? Help ‘em all out!*

*Okay!*

I have absolutely no other choice, if I wanna distract ‘em I’ll have to do this no matter what!!

Juurou gathers up speed once more and runs towards the mechs. He quickly analyzes the situation and while dodging the bullets coming in his direction, he throws one more missile at a Violet mech’s direction. It can easily dodge the incoming projectile, but that movement gave Juurou the opening he was waiting for.

Without slowing down, the old man prances the bike on the front wheel while suddenly breaking and spinning it around, smoke comes from the friction on the wheel that would certainly blow up if not for Juurou’s skills as well as the fact that the bike was heavily modified to sustain that kind of stress.

The movement sent the chain straight upwards and it successfully entangled the mech’s left arm which was completely exposed after the dodging move it did earlier.

The Violet mech drops the weapon it’s holding on its right arm to try to remove the chain from its other limb, however, it’s taken by surprise by a hit on its back caused by a Blue mech’s missile that took advantage of the situation.

Juurou activates thrusters on his bike and they send it upwards because of the pendulum movement caused by the chain on the mech’s arm that’s connected to the bike.

Before the chain completely stretches out, Juurou releases it and gets launched even higher. The old man then turns around his bike mid-air and takes out another rocket launcher from the vehicle's compartment.

He once again activates the thrusters and descends at an extremely high speed, he knows that this movement could cost everything, but he also knows if he succeeds, he’ll gain inestimable time for Take.

The fuel is almost empty. This is undoubtedly, the right choice!!

The old man launches another missile at the other Violet mech that was ignoring him, and it predictably avoids the projectile. Juurou then set the bike’s thrusters to the max potency before jumping from it and taking one more weapon from the bike’s storage, this one, however, seems to be just a small handgun.

Still mid-air, Juurou looks forward and sees for a brief moment the bike he launched going at full speed at the direction of the second Violet mech.

The propulsion that the thrusts in max potency gave to the bike, made it become a projectile much faster and much more dangerous than any missile launched on that battlefield. It was not only the speed, but also the remaining fuel and the explosive bullets left on the bike’s compartment that made it into an extremely powerful weapon.

The second Violet mech tries to block the unavoidable hit of the high-speed propelled bike with its arm-

KABOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

A huge cloud of dust and debris as well as pieces of metal fly throughout the entire battlefield.

As soon as Juurou lands at the first Violet mech’s shoulder, he sees a chance and slides to its arm while aiming for the neck and launching another missile. This time, however, the pilot’s reaction was fast enough to defend the neck with its arms, making Juurou fall to the ground.

He rolls and with that movement successfully mitigates the strain on his legs, but as he was pretty high up, Juurou ends up breaking his right leg.

“Arrrrg!!!”

The old man, however, doesn’t stop and continues running among the mechs even if limping.

As he moves he takes the chance to contact Take as he knows it's gonna be hard to have another chance to talk to him again given the circumstances.

*Take!! How’s everything over yonder!?*

KCHNG!! KCHNG!! KCH-