[PSP] Guardian Sentai Roboman #17

[utsukushuu.dreamer]

>From PSP:
http://www.night-jaeger.net

---

GUARDIAN SENTAI ROBOMAN #17
"On Guard"
Component 06.2
March 22nd, 2010
by Adrian J. Watts



London

"Eugh!"

Kiko leaned forward and coughed loudly as the blue raido energy faded
from her body. Despite having been a Roboman for close to a month, she
realised she had still only teleported a handful of times and was not
even approaching getting used to the stomach-churning feeling that
accompanied the dissipation of the blue mist.

To her right, Ikku was making similar gagging noises. Sei, however,
stood far to her left, surveying the city around them.

It was only then that Kiko realised they were standing on top of a
tall, stone building with a flat roof. She crept carefully toward the
edge for a better view, mindful of the fact that she may, at any
moment, feel the need to lurch forward.

I wonder what happens if I throw up on my robosuit? she thought. I'm
not sure we could even clean them, with all the circuitry... and the
smell would never come out of the leather Robo Rifle holsters!

>From the roof's edge she could see a number of famous sites: the river
Thames stretched out in front of her; ahead and to the right, the
Houses of Parliament - and Big Ben - shone many lights over the city.
Directly below her stood two armed American soldiers, eyeing a plain
white van parked on the other side of the street.

"This is the last one, right?" one of them asked.

"Yeah. It's taking that Infinity Changer or whatever to Germany," the
other soldier replied. "I'll be glad when it's all - "

The two soldiers were disturbed by something behind them and stepped
to the side. Two more men, this time wearing white lab coats, emerged
from the building holding a large box which they carried to the rear
of the van. The van's back door opened and the two men loaded the box
inside. The closed the door and the van started to move forward.

"If that's the last one," Kiko turned as she heard Ikku's voice behind
her, "shouldn't we follow it?"

Sei shook his head.

"Wait."

The two men in lab coats went inside the building... but the two
soldiers outside remained at their posts.

"It's a decoy," Sei said.

"What?"

"Look at the guards. They are more tense now, and quiet. They have
become nervous."

As the three Robomen watched, another plain white van pulled up
outside the building and the two men in coats emerged with an
identical box. They repeated the process of loading the van and
sending it on its way, then returned to the building... but the
soldiers remained.

"Another decoy?" Ikku asked.

BWA-THOOM!

The sound of the explosion reached the ears of the Robomen long before
its force knocked them off their feet. They fell back against the roof
and felt the building shift beneath them. They heard glass shattering,
people screaming and scanned the skyline for any sort of threat.

"Look!"

Kiko spotted the jet first. It appeared identical to her own Lightning
Jet in many ways, only coloured predominantly black instead of yellow.
It swooped low over the river, chopping up waves in its wake. People
at the bank fled as the jet jerked back and forth, and it seemed to
Kiko that's its pilot was having trouble deciding where to go.

The jet swooped upward, revealing its underside - and Kiko realised it
was not a jet at all!

The robot criss-crossing London looked more like a person flying a
hang glider than anything else; on its back were the wide, triangular
wings of a stealth jet, and a tiny cockpit. Underneath, the robot was
clearly visible - its arms were stretched across its wings, its body
pressed flat against the 'glider' to remain aerodynamic.

It landed in the street directly beneath the building on which the
Robomen stood and stared at the damage it had caused.

"I am Chojin Robo!" it shouted. "Surrender to me or face more sonic
boomage!"

"Who's he talking to?" Ikku asked. "I haven't seen him look at us
yet..."

"It does not seem like the most intelligent robot," Sei remarked. "We
should - " He paused. "What would you like us to do, Ikku?"

Ikku smiled.

"You called me Ikku again!" he laughed. "We're here to keep the EDD
tech safe, right? Then let's do that."

Sei and Kiko nodded.

"Let's go, Robo!"

Energy crackled around their bodies as the already-familiar sensation
of their transformations began. They felt the circuitry embedded
beneath their skin pulsate as it sent the signals instructing the
robosuits to allow metal shards to pierce the thin fabric and re-form
as shiny silver chestplates, gloves and boots. The same metal covered
their faces and the back of their heads to form thick but malleable
helmets. Commands came into focus on the inside of the two-way
mirrored visor that opened in the front of the helmets.

"Robo Rifle!" they shouted in unison.

They each drew the handgun-sized weapon holstered at their sides and
took aim at the robot. Chojin Robo looked up at them and cocked his
head to one side.

"The Robomen?" he wondered. "Satoshi warned me about you little robo
dudes."

Chojin Robo raised its left hand and pointed his fingers at the
Robomen; an instant later, dozens of tiny, jagged metal pieces
screamed through the air towards them.

Director Satoshi? the three Robomen wondered at the same time.

"Vertex Shield!" Sei cried. He stepped forward as the translucent blue
shield materialised and attached itself to his right arm. Each of
Chojin Robo's flechettes struck the shield and was deflected back
toward the ground.

"I'm not here for you anyway," Chojin Robo said. "You. You." He
pointed at the two soldiers guarding the front of the building.
"Where's the Eternity Changer at?"

The soldiers trembled as they stared at one another. Neither of them
wanted to be responsible for putting their cargo at risk; yet, at the
same time, neither of them wanted to die.

"Come on, guys. Give me the Eternity Changer, and I'll leave you and
your city in one gnarly piece, okay?" He waited for a response. Then
"Ow!"

Chojin Robo felt some of the more fragile components of his complex
mechanical system begin to fail, but he could see nothing that might
cause him any harm. The two soldiers were frozen to the spot. There
was no sound or flash of light to suggest that there had been an
explosion. Finally, he looked up.

"Stop that!" he said. "Seriously!"

"What need do you have for the Eternity Changer?" Sei asked.

Chojin Robo laughed, and it occurred to Kiko for the first time how
human the robot sounded. Buki Robo's voice had been similarly natural.
She thought a robot's voice was tinny, mechanical or monotonous - but
she knew that if she could not see for herself that Chojin Robo was,
indeed, a robot, she could have easily assumed his humanity.

"That's not really any of your business, little buddy!" Chojin Robo
replied. "Now, do you want to quit with the fighting stuff?"

"No," Sei replied.

"Then this is your own fault, pal o' mine!"

Chojin Robo jumped into the air... but he did not come back down. He
moved higher and higher, far above the heads of the Robomen, and then
pointed his arms downward at his quarry. Red energy crackled around
his fingertips and, suddenly, the building beneath the Robomen
collapsed.

"Phase Three! Go Robo Vehicles!"

As the Robomen fell, the metal components that formed their armour
separated from their bodies and hovered in the air before them. In
seconds, the metal bent, shifted, expanded and fused together to form
three large vehicles - the yellow Lightning Jet, red Flame Tank and
blue Water Cutter.

Sei reached out and wrapped his fingers around his friends' hands and
blue mist began to swirl around them. A moment later, they appeared
inside the cockpits of their respective vehicles, and turned their
attention back to Chojin Robo.

["Yellow Robo!"] Sei called out. ["Bring Chojin Robo closer to the
ground!"]

["Okay!"] Kiko replied.

The Lightning Jet took to the air and swooped erratically around
Chojin Robo's floating form. Kiko found the jet unusually difficult to
control and, she remembered, it was not the first time she had
struggled to use her Roboman equipment - one week earlier, she had
tried to summon her Electro Blaster. It had taken a long time to
appear and, when she was able to use it, it seemed sluggish.

The jet was responding in a similar way. It seemed an effort to move
higher into the air and an even greater effort to attract Chojin
Robo's attention and lure him back to the ground.

"You guys can fly?" Chojin Robo remarked. "That's pretty cool! But can
you get big? Hardware Upgrade!"

Red energy - the same energy that destroy the building on which the
Robomen had been standing - covered Chojin Robo's body and, in an
instant, the seven-foot-tall robot was replaced by one almost five
hundred feet tall.

"Ah, looks like I don't have enough fuel left to fly," Chojin Robo
said as he slowly settled back onto the ground. "Dang."

["We need Gattai Robo,"] Ikku said.

Sei pressed several buttons on the Alert Bracer strapped to his left
wrist and, a second later, Cog's voice echoed through the cockpits of
the Robo Vehicles: "Robo Fusion!"

"Robo Fusion!" the Robomen repeated in unison.

Suddenly, the Water Cutter split horizontally down the middle and
folded apart to form a pair of black and blue legs and a strong black
'pelvis'. Then the turret of the Flame Tank lifted off as the rest of
the tank split in half. The turret connected to the Water Cutter
'pelvis' to form a red 'spine', and the two remaining pieces of the
Flame Tank became red and black arms. The wings of the Lightning Jet
folded back, leaving the jet looking like a solid rectangular block
with a nosecone attached. The block settled on top of Gattai Robo's
'pelvis' and in front of its 'spine' to form a yellow torso and the
nosecone folded backwards as though it were a hood, revealing the
black and grey head of the robot.

The cockpits of the three vehicles merged together; walls disappeared,
leaving the three Robomen in one room, sitting before three separate
control panels.

"We should end this quickly," Ikku said. "We can't let Chojin Robo do
to London what Shellshock did to New Orleans."

"Yeah!" Kiko agreed. "Did you notice the way he speaks? It sounds like
he's trying to be American!"

Sei nodded.

"I agree," he said. "Perhaps it was an attempt to gain the favour of
the American soldiers transporting the Eternity Changer?"

"Whatever he was doing," Ikku said, "we need to stop him now. Chaos
Sword!"

There was a flash of blue light and the translucent-red bladed Chaos
Sword materialised in Ikku's right hand; in the same instant, a
proportionally larger version of the weapon appeared in Gattai Robo's
hand. Ikku swung his sword forward, and the robot copied his movements
precisely.

"A sword?" Chojin Robo asked. "I'm so over this!"

Chojin Robo lunged forward and Gattai Robo stepped back. The robot
needed room in which to move its sword. It took several steps away
from its attacker before swinging the sword forward and slicing a
grove across Chojin Robo's right wing.

"Do it again - make an 'X'!" Chojin Robo said. "I've always wanted a
tattoo!"

Ikku did as he was asked, but as Gattai Robo swung the sword forward
again, Chojin Robo reached out with both hands and clapped one palm to
each side of the blade. He held on tight and pushed as hard as he
could. Gattai Robo could not help but move backwards, its metal feet
tearing up the asphalt, concrete and earth beneath it.

"Electro Blaster!" Kiko shouted.

That was a blue flash and, after a moment's delay, the handgun-sized
yellow Electro Blaster appeared in her left hand; and just like the
Chaos Sword, a second, larger version of the weapon was carried by
Gattai Robo.

Kiko stood and took careful aim at Chojin Robo's right arm. She
concentrated, focussed and pulled the trigger. Nothing emerged from
the barrel of her own weapon but, outside, two large beams of yellow
energy streaked from the Electro Blaster toward Chojin Robo and hit
their target perfectly. The robot's left arm began to shrink, back to
its original size.

"Oh no you didn't!" Chojin Robo yelled. He turned his right hand into
a fist and firmly grasped the Chaos Sword. With one strong pull he
yanked the weapon free from Gattai Robo's hand and twisted it around
so he could wield it against his multi-colured foe.

"Red Robo!" Sei said. "Depower the Chaos Sword!"

Ikku shook his head.

"I don't know how!" he cried. "Don't they just disappear when we're
done?"

He moved the Chaos Blade in his hand and Gattai Robo's free right arm
copied the movement; but the larger weapon, still in Chojin Robo's
grasp, did not move.

"Haha!" Chojin Robo laughed happily. "Missing this? I tell ya, Satoshi
never would have expected this! He just wanted me to distract you all
while that Guardian guy went after the Changer. This sword might get
me some decent upgrades, y'dig?"

He took a step forward and slowly waved the Chaos Sword meters in
front of Gattai Robo.

"Yellow Robo!" Sei said loudly.

"Right!" Kiko replied.

She quickly aimed the Electro Blaster at Chojin Robo's left arm. She
pulled the trigger and again, two solid beams of yellow energy struck
the robot's large arm. Suddenly, Chojin Robo stopped moving
completely.

"What did he mean he was just trying to distract us?" Kiko asked.
"Who's Guardian?"

"Director Satoshi is working on a project called Operation: Guardian,"
Sei replied. "They must be related."

He scanned the horizon for any sign of the two vans that had left the
area minutes earlier. Through Gattai Robo's eyes he was able to stop
them both, only a few kilometres away. They were heading in separate
directions but still remained close... and neither one appeared to be
under attack.

"Red Robo, reclaim the - "

Before Sei could finish speaking, the cockpit of Gattai Robo was
filled with flickering blue and yellow energy. Suddenly, the three
Robo Vehicles separated. The Water Cutter crashed onto its side in the
middle of the road, a few feet from the edge of the Thames. The Flame
Tank appeared upside-down on top of the rubble-like ruins of the
building Chojin Robo had destroyed - but the Lightning Jet was nowhere
to be seen.

Kiko appeared in a shimmering rain of blue energy on top of the
overturned Flame Tank. The disappearance of the Lightning Jet had not
restored the metal components of her Roboman armour. Something was
wrong, she knew that - but she had no idea what.

["Yellow Robo!"] Sei shouted. ["You have depleted your robosuit's
store of jera energy. You are no good to us here. Leave Chojin Robo to
us - go find the Eternity Changer and keep it safe!"]

"Sei, I - " Kiko began to reply.

["Kiko, if you stay here you'll be in too much danger,"] Ikku said.
["Please..."]

["If you concentrate,"] Sei added, ["you may be able to run quickly
enough to catch one of the vans, just as you were able to move with
superhuman speed when we first encountered Shellshock."]

"What...?"

Kiko thought hard, but was only barely able to remember what Sei was
talking about. She remembered, after seeing Ikku in danger on
television, moving with speed she had never expected to find and save
him, but she thought it was only her perception of time being affected
by stress. If Sei had noticed it, too...

KRRRWWWH--!

Kiko heard metal bending as Chojin Robo slowly began to stir.

["Kiko, go,"] Ikku said. ["Leave this to us!"]

Kiko nodded, dropped over the side of the Flame Tank and ran down the
street.

London's a big city, she thought, and I have no idea where the vans
are. What if -

Kiko's thoughts were interrupted as the world around her turned dark.
She did not panic; something very similar had happened when she first
attempted a henshin into Yellow Robo. Again, she could see the
patterns of circuitry embedded in her skin and the yellow jera energy
moving inside her - but this time, similar patterns appeared outside
her body. The roads, streets, rivers and channels of London appeared
like a grid around her. Bright shapes represented what she recognised
as street lights, cars, computers... everything machanical in the area
shone brightly on the grid and, not far away, she could see two shapes
closely resembling the vans she had seen depart earlier.

She memorised their location and began to run. The darkness faded back
into light and the world became far more easily recognisable, until
the jera energy flared around her and, once again, Kiko was moving far
more quickly than she ever imagined.