Fantasy Stellar ARMOR Satellizer (Ranix Aurus & Admiral19)

[Admiral19]

"Oh my. Look who's returned~!"

As he feared, one of the people closest to the door of the lounge was Aoi, who had been previously deep in the pages of a book. Not far was Rui; guess they finally got over themselves from the last time they used their ARMOR.

"Something go wrong, Shouji?" Rui, who prior to the steaming man's entrance was aimlessly scrolling through various pictures of food, looked at Shouji with concern. He always walked around with such a big scowl, but this time around, he seemed particularly angry.

"Surely not, dear Rui," Aoi said, "because he is the one who told me a couple hours ago that he'd be..."killing two birds with one stone", right?" She looked at Shouji, feigning a look of innocence. "Did you manage to get a hold of the Kaiserin afterwards? Tell her about your achievement?"

"Aoi..." Rui tried subtly advising against agitating Shouji, but really, it's no use talking to her when she gets like this.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Y... You!!!"

Shouji exploded right then and there. He had always been a walking volcano no matter the situation. To be fair, he could be considered subservient to the Kaiserin, and with Alfred, at least the man would keep his polite facade completely straight. Aoi, however, had always managed to push all the wrong buttons with him. They were simply unable to click properly. Or perhaps they did, for a totally different reason.

"I'LL KILL YOU, BITCH!! SUIT UP!!"

Flash of white scattered over his body, enveloping him in thin layer of light before pouring down in a cascade. The bright white color was soon eroded by a black as dark as night, as the ARMOR that had attacked Kanae and friends before reformed right in front of the two women.

"ARMOR ON," the system's flat tone greatly contrasted its owner's fuming rage. "BLACK TWIN STAR."

Feeling power coursing through his body thanks to the suit, he threw a no-holds-barred punch at Aoi's face.

 

[Admiral19]

A hand clad in bronze orange caught Shouji's fist just as it was about to make contact with Aoi's face. Even beneath the helmet in the shape of a hound's head, one could imagine a look of disapproval aimed straight towards Shouji.

"What we're not gonna do," a deeper feminine voice said from within the armor she wore, "is attack our teammates." She shoved Shouji away(why was it so easy for her to do so?) and crossed her arms, this time directing her gaze to Aoi. "And what we're also not gonna do is antagonize our teammates. The Kaiserin wants us fighting our enemies, not each other."

Aoi scoffed. "We're not fighting. Just having a difference in opinion over tactics, is all."

Rui was the one to change the subject. "Where have you been all day, Aina? Running an errand for the Kaiserin again?"

"You could say; the remaining medallions in our possession were said to have different uses with our own armor. I went out to test that with the Virgo medallion."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Bah!" Shouji waved the hand which Aina had caught earlier, as if trying to wipe off nonexistent dirt. "Goody two-shoes," he spat. He really didn't like these people. Especially because they were somehow stronger than him, even though they were using the same kind of ARMOR! How is this fair?!?

"The Kaiserin gave you more medallions? I want them too! This medallion is trash! I'd rather use something else!"

He said that as if he didn't know that it was the medallion who decided the compatibility. Just because he wanted to, didn't mean he could just use a medallion right then and there.

 

[Admiral19]

"With respect, Shouji," Rui explained, "that's not exactly for you to decide; if you wanna use it to create ARMOR, whatever new medallion you get would have to be compatible with your body first and foremost."

Aoi put a quizzical finger to her chin. "Not like the Kaiserin will even let you have a new one after your performance today."

"Aoi..."

As annoying as it probably was to hear, they were...well, Rui was right. None of them knew how the medallions chose someone to bond to; it's possible that Shouji was just stuck with his lot because none of the other medallions would be able to work with him. That could be the case for any one of them here.

"Armor off." Aina sighed, dispersing her armor and deciding to leave the topic for later. "Funny you should talk about performance, Aoi...after all, you were quick to stay at base when we learned that Shouji planned to lure Leo out. I'm sure had you been there yourself, you could have both overpowered her easily—"

Aoi glared hard at Aina before giving her a dismissive wave. "I'm sure there was more to Shouji's failure than that...unless there wasn't. Besides that, I had to stay; someone had to take care of Rui. Sure, their movement while using Cancer is impeccable, but they have no stamina! A Satellizer Finish would do the poor thing in!"

"That's not what you told me," Rui interjected.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Hah! At least I'm not  that pathetic!" Shouji could perform his Satellizer Finisher without exhausting himself. Perhaps it was because his own Finisher wasn't exactly remarkable. While it was still a powerful weapon on its own right, his, a simple empowered punch, was mere fractions of the others' firepower.

"Armor off!" The black armor dissolved into thin air. Shouji might be a hotheaded fool, but he knew when to retreat. There was no point in making trouble now that Aina was with them. "Anyway, that bastard Leo is mine, you hear me? Don't you guys dare stealing my prey! The next time we meet, I'll make that bitch cry!"

Not a great choice of words considering his audience...

 

[Admiral19]

"Whatever you say," Rui said, "but be a little more wary of your tongue."

Aoi smiled, but she didn't say much else. Who stakes claim on a human being? Stalkers, that's who. She wondered if Leo was gonna curbstomp him again and send him back with his tail between his legs.

Aina cleared her throat. "We know where the Leo medallion is now. We know what it'll take to get it. So from here, I say we begin planning our next move."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Shouji retreated to his corner, eyeing the girls with hatred. Or so he might had planned to look. In reality he merely looked like a pouting child. An inexperienced youngling who had never experienced true hatred yet. A pretender.

"Plan, plan... that's all you do here. Experiment this. Plan that. What we need to do is act, fight! We have this power, what can those stupid police do? Let's take over the world already!" He rambled on until the gate slid open once again.

"This is why you lost against Leo, child."

A man dressed in white lab suit stepped in. He was a foreigner, with a natural blonde hair and brilliant sky blue eyes. His demeanor was quite humble, but something about him was imposing; a quality that made people listen to him whether they liked it or not.

"Alfred, you bastard..." Shouji growled.

"Good evening to you too," Alfred calmly replied. He then turned to Aoi. "Holder of Taurus. You've faced Leo before as well. Do you think it is possible to bring them to our cause?"

 

[Admiral19]

"Well, forcibly prying the medallion from her hands hasn't worked so far...I say she might as well keep it." From what Aoi remembered, the moment she showed off her ARMOR, that girl started doing everything she can to keep her away from whoever she was with at the time...like that boy, for example.

...That boy. Hold on.

"Perhaps..." she said, "perhaps we simply got off on the wrong foot. When I fought her, she had people she was trying to protect. She also asked me if I was working for OLYMPUS. I said no, of course, but let's say she knew what our goals were? Let's say she knew that we're trying to make a world that all her loved ones can live in safely?"

She side-eyed Shouji. "It might be hard to convince her after whatever Sir Gemini might have done, but I'm sure that if we appeal to the side of her that wants to see her closest ones safe...well, from there it's hook, line, and sinker!"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"That is a wonderful idea," Alfred rubbed his chin, seemingly intrigued by Aoi's suggestion. That had always been the way to lure people to their side: attract them with their desires. Money. Comradeship. A sense of belonging. Power. There was little that the organization couldn't offer with the resources that they had been accumulating for the past few decades. "We have started off on the wrong foot, but perhaps rectification could be made. Holder of Scorpio, I want you to make contact with Leo, try to appeal to their desire-"

"I wonder if it'll be that easy," Shouji harrumphed. A dash of guilt could be traced from his voice.

"Pardon?" Alfred raised an eyebrow at him. His gaze demanding further explanation.

"I... might have messed with her friends. Just a bit. That boy, yeah? He got a little sister. I injected her with the Jotunn... she turned back! She turned back into human! I don't know how!" He quickly backtracked when he noticed everyone's look.

 

[Admiral19]

Everyone seemed...surprised more than anything. "Wasn't the Jotunn still in development?" Aina asked. "How'd you get a hold of a sample?"

Aoi sneered at Shouji. "Probably bugged Alfred 'til he gave him a syringe-"

"That's besides the point!" Rui interrupted the pair. "We haven't finished a reversing agent just yet...and you said she returned to normal on her own? That's..."

"Well, you heard Aina," Aoi finished, "the Jotunn was in development. Shouji probably got an unfinished sample. Then again, Alfred probably isn't that careless. But either way, that's gonna make our job harder! Unless the rest of us completely disassociate ourselves from you, we'll never get on her side!"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"She turned back? Hmm... interesting..." Alfred was pondering over the last part more than anything. The Jotunn, the "monsterification" substance, was still in very early phase of development. Anything could happen during experimentation, so that by itself wasn't strange by all means. Perhaps if they could get a sample from that subject, it could help accelerate their research beyond its current rate...!

"Apologies. I wasn't paying attention," He snapped back to the present when Aoi mentioned his name by the passing. "I was actually planning to tell you. We'll start our public testing soon. I would like you to find potential candidates to inject the Jotunn with. Gemini was simply... ahead of schedule."

He pulled out a syringe from his suit's pocket. Inside was the transparent viscous liquid from before.

"Not every human will be compatible with it. Your WATCH can help you. We have uploaded some preliminary data to filter out the candidacy based on our experiments so far. The measuring instruments installed in your WATCH will do the rest. Though, I'm quite impressed that Leo's acquaintance was found compatible with the Jotunn by a stroke of luck. Perhaps I have underestimated you, child."

His words seemed like praising Shouji, but why did it feel like a mockery?

"Holder of Scorpio, you are free to use whatever you need in order to recruit Leo to our side. If that entails cutting off Gemini from us, then that's fine-"

"Oh, that's how it is, huh?!?" Shouji roared before storming out of the door.

"-they wouldn't find out the truth anyway," Alfred couldn't even finish his words before the impatient kid ran off into the distance.

 

[Admiral19]

"Understood." Aina and Aoi gave an affirmative nod, seemingly indifferent to Shouji storming out of the room. Rui watched him go with a pained look on their face. God, he seemed...especially volatile today. To be fair, Aoi was being particularly unkind to him, but still...

While Aina and Aoi kept discussing the plan, Rui stood and made their way out as well. "I'm...gonna go get some air now that I've recovered. I'll see you two in a bit!" Very quickly, Rui tried to follow the path Shouji went. If they knew Shouji—and they were hoping by now that they did—then he would be right where they thought he would be...

 

[Ranix Aurus]

The underground base had a lavish cafeteria with wide selection of high-quality food for its occupants. The researchers were people with distinct lack of table manners, but by no means were they sloppy, merely too tunnel-visioned with their studies to bother remembering which spoon or fork goes for which food.

Shouji on the other hand devoured his meal like a hungry beast.

The counter was a self-service style, so the young lad ordered as many junk food as he could carry before retreating to the corner, away from the little amount of white-clothed people chewing on KitKat and energy bars. On their part, they simply shook their head, muttering about how those calories would rot the poor kid's brain away, before going back to their works.

He was fuming, but his main target was Leo. That little bitch... everything was going smoothly until she and her merry band of fools got involved. He would have his revenge even if that's the last thing that he could do-!

 

[Admiral19]

Just as they thought. Rui went to grab a few snacks of their own before sitting down a ways away from Shouji.

It was no use, asking if he was okay. Instead, Rui stayed silent for a while, aimlessly chewing a granola bar, wondering what they could say to help take his mind off of things. Nothing that involved medallions, that's for sure...

"That's, uh..." Rui scootched a way back from the mess that Shouji was making. "that's a lot of food you've got. Lucky that you've got a high metabolism, ah?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Fuck o- oh, it's you," Shouji reined his toxic words back in. However, he didn't bother to reply to Rui either. He just sit there brooding by himself, chomping on burgers and french fries. It was a wonder how he could be so thin. Maybe anger does burn off of energy.

"This sucks. My medallion is trash!" He complained after a while. Although they haven't seen Rui's ARMOR in actual fight, results during tests had shown that even their performance was better than his. There was something inherently wrong with the Gemini medallion, but he didn't know what. And that would've been just fine if only Leo hadn't shown up and kicked his arse.

He threw his chicken wing, gnawed until there was only the bone left, on the tray. "Rui, I'm going to make her pay. If anyone ask, tell them that I went for secluded training."

That was a lie. He was going to steal some more of those monsterification syringes. The last time, he failed because that stupid guy's stupid sister didn't follow his order. This time he will find a proper host. Someone who will become his loyal minion. And then he'll finally be able to take down Leo once and for all!

 

[Admiral19]

"Well, hang on Shouji! I wanted to..." But it wasn't any use; he was off again, about to do whatever he does to let off steam. Well, they tried.

But trying isn't enough. But it wasn't like there was anything they could do—sure there is, just go after him! But he's already so high-strung...

They resigned to slumping against the wall and staring down at the messy tray in defeat for now.

---

"BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!"

Yep, that was her alarm alright.

Kanae practically pulled herself out of bed, body worn from everything that happened the past day. Thank gods for the ARMOR system...

Technically, she didn't have a class until later in the morning; roughly 10 AM, to be exact. So why was she up at 8 when on any normal day, she'd be sleeping until 9, about the time Akira would call her and tell her to get her tired ass out of bed?

Her guess was as good as anyone else's.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Seiichiro was a man of science. As a human, he still requires sleep. He just bent the rules a tad bit too much over how long and how frequent the sleep requirement had to be. But even someone who was used to stay awake for three days in a row couldn't resist the dangerous allure of Morpheus on that night.

8 AM. Wow. He had slept for four hours! That was out of the norm. The middle-aged man climbed out of his blanket only for his feet to bump into Mikawa sleeping across of him in fetal position.

"Mama... I'm sorry, mama... I'll be a good boy..." the reporter mumbled something that Seiichiro wished he never had to hear.

After that disastrous Sunday, the little group finally crashed at Kanae's house for the night. Seiichiro was practically a wanted man by his company now, while Mikawa was... most likely in the same dangerous position, considering that Taurus had seen his face. They ended up huddling together, spreading mattress and blanket on the floor and turning Kanae's family's living room into a makeshift refugee center.

Akira was taking the couch, sleeping so quietly like he was dead. The stress and fatigue were catching up to him with a vengeance, knocking him out the moment he was sure that his sister was safe. As for Hotaru, they had her slept in the guest room. A cursory check from Seiichiro had determined that she was most probably fine already. The trace of monster transformation from yesterday was no longer to be seen, at least on the surface. Seiichiro wanted to perform more tests, but it would take some time before he could assemble the necessary tools.

 

[Admiral19]

Everyone seemed to be relaxing rather soundly—well...mostly everyone. That's good. They'd feel nice and well rested whenever they woke up.

Kanae came down the stairs quietly, dressed to go out, wristband still on her arm. Even with everything that happened to her, the world doesn't stop; like it or not, Kanae has a lecture to go to in a couple hours, and she's gonna have to go to it. Akira had a class today too, but she could cover for his absence; taking care of his "sick" sister, since their parents weren't here.

"Hey, Uncle." Kanae popped over to the fridge...what all did she even have in here...? "Look, I gotta go to class. If anyone wakes up and wonders where I am, tell them that's where I went. Akira's got my number; if anything happens, he can hit me up. Anything you wanna let me know about before I get out of here?"

She managed to find a breakfast sandwich she'd buried in the fridge a day or so ago...it was probably still good, so she took a bite.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Oh, are you sure it's safe to go out? Hmm, I guess they don't have full information regarding your identity yet. Right, right... oh, if you have the time, can you find these for me? I don't think buying them online will be safe with my account."

Seiichiro handed her a piece of paper containing a list of technical mumbo jumbos. Capacitors, circuit boards... hemolytic agents? magnesium? chloride?

"I want to run a few more tests with the young lady upstairs. I'm afraid that the monsterification hasn't been cleared just yet. And perhaps if we can manage to find out how she reversed the transformation, we could use it against OLYMPUS."

 

[Admiral19]

Wait, so Hotaru wasn't completely alright yet? Well, power of friendship could only do so much, she supposed.

Kanae's face gradually grew more confused as she looked over the list Seiichiro gave her. Who the hell did he think she was that he figured she could just get him all this stuff?! She could probably ask some students if they knew where to get something...but the side-eyes they'd give her...she didn't wanna imagine it.

"Uncle, I am a college student," she said, "I don't know how I'm gonna get half the shit on your list, but I will try my damnedest." Maybe she could smuggle some stuff from the tech labs or something...

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"That's... true. I didn't think that far," Seiichiro went into contemplation. "How about this. Just buy me some cooking supplies. You'll be surprised by how much we can extract from everyday ingredients."

Not much, to be honest, but it was better than nothing. He was only running a small experiments anyway, not trying to mass-produce.

"Tanaka boy is... still sleeping. I tried shaking him a bit before, but he sleeps like a hibernating bear," he gave Akira a nudge, to no effect. "It's alright, miss Saitou. I'll make sure that miss Tanaka is safe while you're gone. I'll stake my honor as a scientist!"

 

[Admiral19]

Okay, cooking ingredients. Much more reasonable, and far easier for her to get! Cool! "Right, I'll hold you to that and leave him in your hands, then. I'll be back."

As she left the house, she realized something kinda important. She couldn't really take the train; who knows who could be on it, and who knows if they might be secretly plotting to go after her for her medallion. She had it pocketed, just in case, but still...

...oh. Oh, wait, hang on, she was getting an idea. That can't be good. "Suit up!"

There Kanae stood, wearing her armor, looking out at the various rooftops sitting just outside her neighborhood. Oh, if this works, she might never take the train again...!

Kanae started running, armored boots clanking against the asphalt, and then jumped. She got a good 20 feet in the air, which is far more than she was expecting, and so she had to recorrect a bit as she carefully landed on a slanted rooftop. From there, she hopped over to another rooftop, then another, following the usual path she takes to get to the station, and from there the path to the school. This was eons easier than waiting for a train; if there was one positive thing to come out of the ARMOR system, it would have to be this.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Akira hadn't dreamed for a long time.

Their family used to move a lot. It wasn't actually necessary for a teaching professor, but Genki Tanaka had a strong passion for his field of study. He would bring his family across the nation in order to pursue the latest and greatest in scientific advancements. Akira didn't hate it. He loved exploring new locations, getting new friends, and most importantly, he loved the father who was burning with excitement every time he shared his new findings to his juvenile son, even though Akira couldn't understand most of them.

Life couldn't get better. It did, however, get worse.

His memories were fragmented. An accident. Their house collapsed. His mother crying. Hotaru...

They managed to recover. Time healed all wounds, or so they said. Akira grew up to be a stalwart young man. Hotaru had grown taciturn over the years as she become reclusive, but she was healthy, and that was all that he could ask for. Their family, however, could never return to the way they were before.

One piece of memory remained fresh in his mind. Of him opening his mother's bedroom door. The slightly swinging shadow, the creaking of rope, Hotaru standing beside him, her lips parting, silently saying, "It's my fault-"

"Hey you, you're finally awake," Seiichiro's raspy voice greeted him the moment he opened his eyes. "You were trying to sleep for the entire day, right? Walked right into that dreamland, same as us, and that reporter over there."

Akira shook his head. His body felt refreshed, but his brain was foggy. Hotaru- right, where's Hotaru?

"Your sister's upstairs. Did you forget? Wash your face first."

"Oh. Oh, right. Thanks," Akira nodded at Seiichiro before waddling over to the bathroom.

 

[Admiral19]

Wind whistled from the outside of Kanae's helmet, her body shooting through the sky like a rocket. Passerby who looked up would think they saw a bird, or a particularly fast plane. This speed happened to give her just the right amount of time to ponder stuff. Stuff like how she felt when she first activated her ARMOR. Like how she felt using her finisher for the first time. Like how it felt to fight another rider, how it felt to take down a monster, how it felt to bring a monster back to humanity.

Whatever happened to Hotaru...that was terrifying. Kanae's known both her and Akira for so long...she couldn't imagine such a drastic change happening so quickly. Well...maybe she could; she's been there to comfort them in the long period of time following their mom's death. Kanae was afraid of talking to them whenever she called to check in, so scared to say something she shouldn't and have them distance themselves from her.

She didn't want them to leave. Kanae was better off because of them, felt better because of them, felt like she was...

"Oop...ARMOR off."

Kanae landed safely outside of the entrance to the campus and let her ARMOR fall away...couldn't freak anyone out, now could she?