Fantasy Stellar ARMOR Satellizer (Ranix Aurus & Admiral19)

[Admiral19]

Something...it wasn't something painful that sat in Kanae's chest as Hotaru came in closer, it was something...different. Like something was trying to puff her chest out from the inside. Has she felt like this looking at Hotaru before?

(Yes, actually: once in the aquarium.)

"I'm just fine." Their rooms were fairly high up in the hotel, so the city's lights were lit up and visible, providing the little light that was still in the room. "I'm just a bit worn out. And hungry, but that's a problem to handle later on."

She wondered something. The feeling in her chest strengthened.

"Have you ever fallen in love with someone?" A very nonchalantly asked question, considering what time it was.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Love... fall in love, the kind of love that you see in romance stories...?"

Perhaps she was still half-asleep. Hotaru rubbed her face in Kanae's chest, enjoying the presence that only her childhood friend could bring.

"I do... or perhaps it is something different, but also similar..."

She answered, her tone light, as if without a care in the world. Pure, without a sense of pretense, without any effort to throw a facade in front.

"But it doesn't matter... it's not the kind of feeling that someone like me is allowed... to have... It was said that if you... love someone... you want the best for them... I think the same way, so..."

Her voice barely registered as a whisper as she drifted to the land of dreams.

"...Someone like me... doesn't deserve love..."

 

[Admiral19]

Kanae was too late to say something different, too late to say that Hotaru was wrong before she fell into sleep again. That's fine, Kanae could come up with something later. The next time she was awake, Kanae could say that Hotaru did deserve love. She deserved every ounce of love she could get; from her, from her brother, from Kanae's folks, from Uncle and Mikawa and Shiori...hell, maybe even from Shouji!

(You know damn well that sort of love isn't the love you asked about.)

But it was equally as important, right? So why did Kanae's chest still feel weird? Why did she not want to let Hotaru go? Why did she...

Oof. Kanae had to sleep, holy shit.

---

Dreams were erratic things for Kanae. Sometimes they came, sometimes they didn't, sometimes they made sense, sometimes they were incomprehensible. This one was...

Kanae was never a crier. Not as a child when she got badly hurt. Not as a teenager on days she felt so lonely anyone else would be crying buckets. Sure, tears came to her eyes, but they never really fell.

She was trapped. Everything was set aflame, her world and everything she loved engulfed in blue fire. Surrounding her were all sorts of monsters, monsters like the ones she fought, snarling and hissing and gnashing their teeth at her. There was not a single face she recognized, no one around to protect her. They all seemed to want the same thing from her, even if Kanae couldn't understand their sounds.

They wanted her to cry, wanted to see her break. Kanae wanted to break too.

But she couldn't muster a single tear to her eyes.

The monsters laughed, and she did not cry. They laughed at her, she who was without ARMOR, without backup, without everyone and everything she ever cared about, and she did not cry. The crushing pain of knowing that her life and her very world has come to an end was awful, terrible, soul-rending, and still she did not cry. It wasn't a valiant display, it wasn't her being determined. She wanted to cry with everything she had, heaving chest and running nose and burning eyes and all, but she couldn't, couldn't, couldn't.

---

When Kanae woke up, her face was completely dry. There was a sharp sting in the corners of her eyes, but she hadn't cried in her sleep.

She sighed. What a fucking...awful dream that was. She didn't really feel anything except exhaustion.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Hotaru was sleeping peacefully beside Kanae, her breathing faint as she was plunged deep in dreamless slumber. However, she slowly opened her eyes the moment that Kanae had woken up, as if she noticed it even in her sleep.

"Good morning," she mumbled as she curled up into a sitting position on the bed. She rubbed her eyes to wipe away the lingering drowsiness.

"Are you okay, Kanae...? Did something happen?"

Hotaru seemed to notice something when she looked at Kanae's expression. She didn't know what it was exactly, just that her friend didn't seem to have a good sleep last night.

 

[Admiral19]

"I'm fine..." Not entirely, but she was fine enough. "Just a bad dream. I'll survive." She hopped up from the bed. "More importantly, I want some breakfast, so let's go hunt for something delicious, ah?"

The dream was still lingering in the back of her head, shadow remnants of the pain she felt in it sitting in her stomach. She'd still be able to eat, but...well, it was a little painful to feel.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"Hmm, let's," Hotaru hugged her arm and dragged her out of the room. It would be best to stave off nightmares with a hearty breakfast, after all. They stumbled upon Akira in the hallway sitting on a couch while looking at his phone. The display was turned off. He seemed to be spacing out instead.

"Oh, you're finally awake," he mumbled when he noticed the two. "Your parents are having breakfast right now. Uncle is..."

Seiichiro had his own distinct schedule. He spent all night tinkering with his project, only to crash when everyone else had woken up. As for breakfast... come to think of it, Akira rarely saw him eating. His diet seemed to be consisting mostly of coffee.

...No wonder Shiori always ended up feeding him. She just couldn't leave him alone.

"What are you doing?" Hotaru stared suspiciously at his hand.

"Nothing," Akira put his phone back into his pocket. "Let's go? I'm hungry."

 

[Admiral19]

Kanae's eyebrow rose when she saw the phone, but she shrugged it off swiftly in favor of leading the way to the hotel lobby for the breakfast bar. Aisuke greeted them first, coffee and small plate of breakfast pastries in hand.

"Good morning!" He sounded bright, an interesting contrast to the rest of the group that had just woken up. "I got a hold of Lucas, the person I passed Capricorn to. He'll be expecting us at his pawn shop within the hour, so eat quick. Seiichiro will be...occupied for most of the day, as he told me last night before he crashed immediately afterwards...Yuna will check in every so often and make sure he doesn't do anything illegal."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"That's great," Akira replied before noticing something. "If Uncle and auntie isn't coming with us today, then it'll be us and..."

He finally noticed Shouji sitting alone at a nearby table, quietly nibbling on a piece of bacon. The latter looked up when he noticed someone staring at him, but quickly looked away with an annoyed expression.

It seemed that the road of reconciliation was long and arduous...

 

[Admiral19]

The past half day has been busy.

First off, there was the partner the Kaiserin kept bringing up; a current member of OLYMPUS' North American branch who, for the sake of anonymity, went by the name "Calico". She sent the Holders a map and the rough location of their building project, nestled in an abandoned mine in Montana. The final building wouldn't be tall, but it would be large, a flat surface almost like a stage. Overseeing that project would take up one of the Holders' time, that Holder being Rui, supervised by Alfred.

The rest of the time, of course, would be spent finding the remaining medallions. Where Rui was sent to Montana to help with the building, Aoi and Aina were tasked with finding the first medallion. Once Capricorn was found, they'd move on to the next location as quickly as they could.

And so, Aina and Aoi were walking about, disguised as they could be, wearing caps and masks and shades to hide themselves. They were trying to search for a pawn shop that Capricorn was apparently being held at, and so far...they've had very little luck.

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Alfred's message arrived through their phone. They had foregone the usual communication network in favor of subtlety. After all, they weren't in their home nation. They couldn't just build the infrastructure secretly without the local government knowing. The best they could do was to use encryption to keep their messages safe. That, and providing as little damning evidence as possible within them.

Someone will come over to assist you.

It was awfully concise as usual, without even specifying who it was. Definitely not Rui, as they were still busy back there in Montana.

A few minutes later, a ding came from their app. A pair approached them at the same time, one in casualwear, while the other was wearing a baggy duster with a hat concealing his face. The former was a young girl with some strands of blonde hair hidden under her cap. She nodded at the two, making sure that nobody was around, before taking her cap off, letting her hair down.

The color of her hair began to change, starting from the root. Black began to overturn the pale, yellowish color, until it had engulfed them to the tip. The blue in her pupils were also turning black. as if dyed by an ink.

The girl who was once known as Nakamichi Haru was now standing before them.

"We were told to rendesvouz with you," she said briefly. The tall figure behind her suddenly began to make gurgling noises, which only stop when she tapped his arm.

"Don't worry about Youmo, he won't do anything stupid."

In Alfred's words, he would be more confident with letting Youmo out if she was coming along to watch over him. But that felt a bit sad for Youmo, so she wouldn't say it out loud.

 

[Admiral19]

"Good." Aina looked over the map on her phone. "Should something go wrong, we'll need your help. Aoi..."

"Yes, understood." From Aoi's pocket, she brought out a small badge, about the size of her palm. "We've got something to provide should we not have enough payment, though I doubt that'll be an issue. If it does, well." It was vague, but Youmo and Haru would understand.

---

The shop was very easily noticeable, what with a red banner smacked across the front. A bell above the door rang as Kanae and co. entered, taking in shelves worth of all sorts of objects. The shop interior had a certain smell to it, which wasn't unpleasant, but...

"Good morning." Aisuke waved to Lucas at the counter front. "I called ahead earlier today about something I wanted to buy off of you?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"That's fine. My Lord said that I should leave the detail to you," Haru went along with their plan. She placed her hat back on, and like magic, the color of her hair turned once again to blonde. The features of her face had also shifted, a bit sharper here, and bit softer there, turning her into someone slightly different. Even her acquaintance might not recognize her with only a quick glance.

"Let's go."

They had been practically sweeping the entire region's antique stores to search for that medallion. She could only hope that the next one would hold the jackpot.

---

"Welcome... what, it's you."

Lucas Spitz was a burly man dressed sloppily in a wife beater, with his muscles showing up unrestrained. Contrary to his intimidating image, he was wearing a pink apron with a cute mess of a drawing, seemingly made of crayon, sprawled on it. His store was filled with rows upon rows of old-looking stuff, albeit their authenticity was still up for debate.

"It's been a while. You've got quite a company there."

He glanced at the group of kids following behind Aisuke. Hotaru was clinging on Kanae with a sleepy look, Akira was looking around with interest over a set of clay figures, while Shouji was looking down on the ground, giving off a gloomy atmosphere.

"Right, you said that you want to buy back that old thing. It's been a couple of years, surely you didn't forget about the interest? Some people are interested in buying it off for their collection. I've been keeping it safely for you all this time. Aren't I trustworthy?"

He shamelessly praised himself, even though people wanting to buy that dirty-looking medallion was a lie. They might had shown some interest, sure, but the medallion didn't look like a genuine antique. His customers merely gave it a glance before going for some knock-off cups or vases instead.

 

[Admiral19]

"Of course not. In fact, I anticipated you wanting a little more back for it than I sold it to you for."

Before Aisuke could bring out the crystals he brought, the bell above the door rang again, and another group entered. "Good morning," one of them said to Lucas, "I'd like to make a purchase after these folks are done, if you would."

Just their damn luck; Leo and the others knew about the medallions in America too. But it seems like the transaction hasn't been made yet...there was still time.

One of the people's eyes focused on the medallion, set neatly in a display case. "That right there. How much to buy it off of you?"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Lucas, ever the businessman, was undoubtedly interested with what Aisuke had in hand. Cash was great, but he knew that the guy was a collector himself. If he could get his hand on some genuine artifacts, that would be splendid.

Before that could happen, another set of customers entered. Wow, business was booming today!

"Welcome! Feel free to take a look, we'll be done soon-- oh, you want... that?"

Lucas had a double take to make sure that these new customers were pointing at the medallion. His smile froze for a moment.

"Ahh, sorry about that. It's not for sale anymore," he pulled the case down from the table. "I have something similar in the back. Why don't you take a look? They're worth more than this little trinket!"

Akira found it a bit odd that someone would gun for the medallion immediately, although it might be just a coincidence. He turned around to take a look, and he immediately felt shiver down his spines.

It didn't take long before Shouji followed suit.

"You...!" Akira stepped forward to shield Kanae and Hotaru behind him. He didn't recognize the other three, but the face of that woman had been burned into his memory. That was the woman who had fought with Kanae before at Mikawa's apartment!

"Aoi, and you too, Aina," Shouji hissed as he took his hood down.

 

[Admiral19]

Kanae was equally as confused until she got a look at the group herself. Aoi stood out to her immediately, and Kanae would have armored up immediately if it weren't for where they were, surrounded by so many fragile objects.

"Oh my!" Aoi's smile was clear, even behind her mask. "You all are more perceptive than I thought. Good to meet you, new faces, and as for everyone else..." She removed her sunglasses, sharp green eyes shooting a pointed glare at Shouji. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Catch up later, would you, Aoi?" Aina addressed Lucas again. "I'm sorry sir, but we would like the medallion. Perhaps there's some sort of trade we can make for it?"

Aisuke, recognizing that the folks trying to get the medallion were bad news, swiftly brought out the crystals he was going to trade. The smallest of them was about the length of Aisuke's thumb. "Sir, I'm sure whatever they want to give you isn't worth nearly as much as these. I know how much of a gem collector you are, Mr. Spitz. These are some wonderful, high-value pieces here." Physical objects were gonna be the winner over whatever cash Aesir's agents would offer.

But it seemed they were prepared for that. Aoi came up to the counter and placed down some sort of badge. "This was dug up from an old World War 2 site. Incredibly vintage, only seen one other thing like it. A very nice rarity for your personal collection, I'd say."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

What was going on here? Did they know each other? Was it some kind of rivalry? Spitz was eager for a little of competitive price himself, but from his experience, this kind of feud wasn't conducive for business. He'd rather nobody started a fistfight in his shop, thank you.

"Well... it's not that I don't want to sell, but it's merely pawned to me. This gentleman is the real owner of the stuff. And seeing that he's paying me back for his loan, I don't see why I shouldn't respect the trade..."

It was definitely not because of the high-quality gemstone that Aisuke had brought out, oh, no. It was his integrity as a pawn shop owner, integrity! He picked one of the crystal in his hand, admiring the shimmering reflection on it.

The badge was a tempting offer. His instinct was telling him that it was a genuine article. It could definitely sell for a big sum! But...

"Young lady, no means no," Lucas sighed. He would hate himself for this later but he had a reputation to hold. Nobody would pawn their items to him again if words spread that he sold their stuff without their consent. He then swiped the gemstones on the table with a sly smile, before giving the medallion back to Aisuke.

"This will do, Mr. Say-thou, this will do. Here's your antique back! Oh, about this badge, how about I trade you with this coin? It's excavated from the middle east, they said that it's from the age of the Sultanate..."

 

[Admiral19]

"Ah, thank you greatly, sir!" That was a bit simpler than Aisuke thought it would be!

Unfortunately, Aoi wasn't willing to take a no.

As Lucas was packing up the medallion for Aisuke, Aoi nodded at Youmo, as if giving him a cue. "Shame. If I had known that this man reserved this little trinket, I would have brought something a little more valuable. It's alright, I'm sure we can...negotiate."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Youmo didn't react to Aoi's cue. However, Haru had indeed noticed it in his stead. In a way unknown to the others, she had communicated with Youmo, and the man complied immediately.

Immediately.

It was like a nightmare brought to life. For one second, he looked more or less human, perhaps with a bit suspicious choice of clothing, but not that out of the ordinary. In the next second, a pair of huge tentacles had burst out from under his duster, sweeping through the small shop with tremendous speed. His hat fell off alongside his violent rampage, allowing them to see the face underneath morphing hideously into the scaly head of a lizard.

At the same time, Haru had leaped to the ceiling. Soft tendrils poured out from her back, each tips ending with slightly enlarged ends that carried stinging poison. She aimed her tendrils toward Aisuke, focusing on the medallion in his hands.

 

[Admiral19]

"Suit, up!" Kanae was quick to react. Within moments, Kanae was armored up and swatting away the tendrils shooting towards Aisuke.

"Goddammit...if we have to fight..." She wound up a punch and threw it towards Youmo's stomach. "Take it outside!"

Aisuke gave an apologetic smile to Lucas. "Sir, I deeply apologize, rest assured we will explain everything and make sure your shop is paid for. Right now, however...erm, please keep yourself safe!"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

"What the hell is going on?!?"

Lucas Spitz was quick to scream, and quick to run away, especially after one of Youmo's tentacle smashed a row of cabinet in one go. Screw protecting his merchandise, he might not even be able to protect his own life! The moment Aisuke called out to him, the big burly man immediately scrambled away to the back room.

Shouji had pulled Aisuke at the moment of chaos and dragged him away from the fight. Thankfully, Kanae had managed to react in time, but with him holding the medallion in his hands, he would be in the eye of the storm. They had to act fast.

"Tch," a beat too late, Akira pulled out the Gemini medallion from his pocket, and then slid it into his wristband. The machine lit up the moment Hotaru grasped his arm.

ARMOR ON. TWIN SHOOTING STARS.

At the same time that Youmo was thrown out of the store by Kanae's punch, streaks of light enveloped the shining figure that emerged from the transformation, clad in black and white armor. Upon realizing what he had truly seen, Shouji's grip tightened. The feeling in his heart was hard to describe.

Haru had retreated the moment that Kanae interrupted her attack. Rather than the medallion, she seemed to be more concerned about Youmo. That left Akira and Hotaru free to turn their attention to the rest of the group.

Error: exceeding energy limit.

"Can't you take care of it yet?!" The eyepiece on the black side lit up, followed by Akira's irritated voice.

"It's almost done..." Hotaru's voice came from the white side.

"You know what, it's fine. Just use up that energy at once," Akira raised his hands, taking the pose of an archer, as energy poured out from his palm to form a bow and an arrow.

Satellizer ready.

They aimed the surging arrow of energy at Aoi and Aina, before letting it go, causing a huge shockwave that knocked the shelves down with a bang.

 

[Admiral19]

"Haru!" Kanae cried out, watching the now-monster retreat to Youmo's side. "I don't want to fight you! Both of you stand down!"

ARMOR ON. LONG LIVE THE QUEEN.

"So Rui was right after all, huh?" Aoi was armored up within seconds, shielding herself against the shockwave of energy that flew towards her and Aina. "Looks like we weren't using dear old Gemini correctly!"

ARMOR ON. BEGIN THE HUNT.

Aina's dark orange ARMOR was sleek looking, somewhat similar to Aoi's...save for her left arm, attached to which was a pile driver that was about the same size of said arm. The helmet took the shape of a hunting dog, and a scorpion-like tail curled upwards behind her. "Who's "we"? Need I remind you who had Gemini in his possession before theirs?"

"Details, Ms. Hirano." Aoi charged at Akira and Hotaru, spear level with their chest. "What matters is that we ought to take it back!"

In the meantime, Aina stared down Shouji from across the storefront, pointing the massive weapon on her arm directly at him. "Rui should have killed you where you stood, traitorous dog."

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Haru shook for a moment when she heard Kanae calling her name. She realized that in the heat of the battle, her disguise had come undone. No wonder that Kanae had managed to recognize her. She gritted her teeth, feeling remorseful, but it was too late. Youmo let out a bestial growl as he looked like he was eager to jump back to the fray, but Haru grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"That's enough. Let them duke it out with each other," she mumbled. Slight hatred flashed in her eyes when she looked at the suited-up Holders.

"Darn," Akira didn't expect that they could block his attack that easily. No... it didn't seem to be entirely true. But expecting to win that easily against two people at the same time might be pushing the limit after all.

"Let me," Hotaru suddenly took control of their merged body. The white side of the ARMOR flashed for a brief moment as she launched forward to face the spear head on.

"You're the one who hurt Kanae before, aren't you...? Unforgivable."

Satelli- WARNING: ENERGY OVERFLOW DETECTED. WARNIiiii--

The synthetic voice crackled for a moment before dying out. Energy was accumulating in Hotaru's fist. On her right arm, dots of light began to form. One, two, three... at the same time, lines of light began to connect them one after another in a zig-zag pattern, until the last dot connected to her wrist.

"H-hold on! You're using my body right now-!"

Akira's plea was ignored.

The fist was launched at Aoi, clashing straight with her spear. The outflow of energy blasted everything around them to dust, warping the space around them itself.

 

[Admiral19]

The sudden surge knocked Aoi backwards, sending her a good distance away from Akira and Hotaru. What the hell?! She didn't anticipate that!

"Lucky shot." She stood, her face twisted into an angry snarl. "I won't let you get lucky a second time, though."

Satellizer, set up.

Aoi's spear glowed a bright blue and spun rapidly, striking against Gemini's armor swiftly in all directions.

"You figure out how to use the medallion properly," she growled, "and all of a sudden you think you're hot shit?! Try thinking that when you're barraged on all sides!"

From inside the store, Aisuke took advantage of the chaos and rubble to try and slip away, only for Aina to catch a glimpse of him and rush to him with the intent to attack. "Don't keep what's rightfully ours, old man!"

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Hotaru retracted her hand after the strike. She looked at it for a moment before sighing.

"That's weak," she grumbled.

"Good observation, genius! You overloaded the system! What did you expect?!" Akira's angry retort came soon after. "Guh-!"

Their sibling quarrel was cut short by Aoi's barrage of attacks. Akira took over control and tried to dodge them as much as he could. Thankfully, Gemini's new form had thicker armor plating, allowing them to withstand the damage whenever they breach through. Unfortunately, his body was already screaming in pain from Hotaru's overuse of the system just now. Adding to this, he was starting to struggle.

On the other side, Shouji had noticed Aina's intention and pushed Aisuke out of the way. He grabbed a clay vase before throwing it at Aina. "Don't come closer!" He yelled, although against an ARMOR it was a laughably futile effort.

 

[Admiral19]

The chaos behind Kanae caused her to look back and see Akira, Hotaru, and Shouji struggling. As much as she wanted to reach out to Hotaru right now, she couldn't while the other two Holders were overwhelming her teammates. With only a look back at Haru, Kanae charged into the fray herself, lashing out to interrupt Aoi first. The attack managed to catch Aoi off guard, her attacks with her spear not stopping, but slowing considerably.

Laughable it was, the clay vase doing nothing but shattering against Aina's armor. In response, she grabbed Shouji by the collar and lifted him up high.

"Did you really see yourself so weak that you could go to no one else but our enemies?" Her voice was cold, the pointed end of her weapon threatening to pierce his neck. "How much did you tell them, Shouji? How many of our secrets did you willingly divulge to them?"