Now here is a man who is a tricky guy to explain. We are talking super-genius here. On one occasion we had a glimpse of him as a child of perhaps 12 years of age. This boy was grabbing plans, diagrams and papers. He knew nothing else, not fear or anger, only that there were intriguing problems to be worked out. And he did it, too. As an adult, he once met a wonderful woman and married her, in 1973. They had five children in quick succession, but I suspect if their fifth had been a boy, the mother would have said, "Enough." However, he loved his children, that was clear. He had noticed at some point a great many signs that something would cause a dangerous level of negative energy on Earth, and that this would be something, some beings, that would come. He could not get support for his efforts, being as most people naturally thought he was just another one of those mad geniuses, who had probably better NOT be allowed anywhere with lots of money. The danger he believed was coming was just too much and at last, he went into hiding, to complete his work in utmost secrecy. The most painful aspect of this was, of course, that he had to leave his wife and children. He could tell them nothing, which was something his children found appalling and infuriating, especially Shou.

Mondo as a boy.

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He spent 10 years programming and building, doing the level best he could. It might have nearly killed him not to come out of hiding when his wife died in 1991, leaving their children alone. But the whole world was at stake. After having hidden for so long, and using magical symbols to protect his undersea base from Saima invasion, he had a difficult time leaving his children completely alone. He gave them his finished 99 Machines, and programmed madly to complete the other support vehicles he was working on. He had a friend, sort of, Mr Inui, with whom he had competed for everything (including, I think, his wife) and the two of them got on about as you'd expect. When Inui found himself in charge of the funding for Mondo's project, well he nearly cut our man off. But they worked it out, and became real friends. Mondo found himself, on several occasions, being in the position of having to scream and beg to all that is holy, when his children were in their greatest danger, when he'd be sure they were dead. The year was the most stressful he had ever lived through, yet he came through for his children whenever he could, bringing them new weapons right onto the battlefield. When they were too busy to investigate something highly suspicious, he went right in there and nearly got himself killed. He supported them as best he could. When they were trapped in a nightmare world, and he could do nothing physical, he sat beside them and sang on his tri-guitar.