Chapter Four
Lone Wolf
1
Poker is a peculiar game. For example, if your hand is weaker than your opponent's, a good strategy can still win you the game. If your opponent has a full house and you have no-pair, you still have a chance. A gambler's weapons are not the cards. Brains, strength, imagination and a good bluff; those are what decide the outcome. A high-class gambler would always raise his spirit to the highest level, but it is an unimaginably difficult task. A Poker master did not have a long life. Living that kind of life long would drive a man crazy.
Even so, many gamblers were attracted to Poker. Poker was a gambler's gamble, and a master collected considerable esteem. And at this hotel, in the dark casino, there were many people gathered around the poker table. For a long time there had been no crushing victory. People sipped their drinks and waited with held breaths. It was down to a man and a woman.
The dealt cards glittered under the light of the chandelier. The dark casino did not have a dark atmosphere. In the royally decorated halls, the most splendidly dressed, glamorous people drank the best champagne and amused themselves with games. The game chips were made of gold, platinum or silver depending on their value. The man playing had dropped into the casino with only one silver chip. Most of the customers were in tuxedos and dresses, but this man was in a blue-double and wore no necktie. First he earned his chips in the Roulette game. Afterwards, he came to the Poker table.
At the start of the game, there were five players. One, and then two others lost. The remaining people were that man, and the woman in the black dress. The woman was obviously a pro hired by the casino. She siphoned off money from the customers and fed it back into the casino. And the man, many times during the game he reached inside his jacket. He had a habit of using a fingertip to play with the initials embroidered on it. G.Y. His name. The initials for Gai Yuuki.
"Stop smoking please. I hate that," Gai called out to one of the customers.
Since they had started this game, eight hours had already passed. There was a pile of chips in front of each of them. He had not smoked cigarettes. Each time his turn ended, he poured a shot-glass of straight whiskey and drank it. No matter how much he drank, he did not become drunk. Though he stared straight in front of him, he was peripherally aware of every nook and cranny.
The dealer dealt five cards. Gai had a no-pair. That could not win. The woman pushed aggressively. Gai raised. He bet every one of his chips.
"Full House," the woman said.
"Too bad," Gai replied. "I have a Straight Flush." With a no-pair in his hand, when did he get a Straight Flush? For the woman sighing in front of him, Gai pushed her former chips forward. "Here. All of it. A small present."
"Oh! How very generous." She gazed up at Gai with admiring eyes and smiled. "I'm a generous and handsome man. Moreover..."
"Moreover?" she asked.
He took her hand and raised it to his lips. "Moreover, I kiss well. Moreover..."
"Moreover?" she asked again, enchanted.
"Oh, that's all I can say, here. I'm really very shy."
And Gai took the woman and left the casino. The streets were lit orange. In about thirty minutes the day would end. And right after them came men from the casino, their shadows surrounding Gai, who stopped and stood still. One man shoved his hand into Gai's pocket, and drew out several cards. From this set, Gai had switched one of his no-pair cards and used it to get a Straight Flush. "We don't like cheaters, Mister," a man said, and they closed in.
"Close your eyes," Gai said to the woman.
"What?"
"It'll be all right."
When she opened her eyes, the men all lay senseless beside the road. "Oh, you're strong!" she gasped.
"I'm strong in other things, too. You'll see soon," he said.
At the hotel they took a room and after they'd made love, Gai left the woman long enough to order the bellboy to buy a Maccaron. It was his favorite whiskey. The two of them drank it together on the sofa by the window.
"You have really nice arms," the woman murmured.
"Is that in gambling, fighting, or sex?"
"Gambling, really. But you can do the other two well."
"I don't have anything to lose, so I'm strong," Gai answered.
"Not anything?" she asked with soft sadness.
"Not anything. Only a weak guy wants to have a lot of things."
"And is that your way of life?"
"Yeah," Gai breathed out a sigh. He did not like a woman who asked many questions. "Well, no. When I was a kid there were lots of important things. I kept my dead father's skull, and my mother's heart pickled in alcohol. She committed suicide."
"Don't joke."
"It's not a joke. I'm usually bad at remembering the past. It's better to trust the old days to the poets. You different?"
"How about the future?" She lay her head on Gai's shoulder. "You and I could make a great combination. We could dominate any casino and make a good living."
"Sounds interesting." The woman gave Gai's mouth one more kiss and then she went into the bathroom.
"Could you get me a towel, please?" she called later from the shower. Gai was nowhere to be seen. He had wanted to see the dark streets outside, and left his empty whiskey glass by the window.
2
In the basement training room, Odagiri assumed the Mounted Stepladder position before Kaori, Lyta and Ako's eyes. She wore an old, worn-out Karate gi. She braced herself, hips wide like a female Sumo-wrestler's. Kaori, Ako or Lyta had been sitting correctly on the floor for so long, their legs had fallen asleep, and they wished they could fall over. The previous weight training had left their muscles stiff and cramping. The only thing they could do was keep their torsos straight.
Odagiri often delivered quite a tongue-lashing on the trio. She demonstrated before their eyes pulverizing bricks. Using a karate foot technique, she cut the top off of a beer bottle. She was a stupendous champion karate expert. Kaori, Ako and Lyta were blown over. Imagining what would develop from here out, the three shuddered and exchanged nervous glances.
"Right. Who will be first?" Odagiri asked.
Ako was quick. "Hmm. Not me. Well, I suppose you can start from Miss Kaori."
"Oh, go ahead, Ako!" Kaori invited her.
Despite Odagiri's best efforts, all three were still amateurs. They were only frightened. Odagiri was in a hurry. She had to prepare them immediately to be adult warriors. They had to become warriors, or being bathed in the Birdnic Wave would be meaningless. To her relief, Ako and Lyta had the determination to become Jetman. It seemed that, after their encounter with the enemy, they fully realized the importance of being warriors. Ako said she wanted to protect her friends and family. She had returned the check that Kaori gave her before. Lyta declared that it was because of the overrunning of his field, to protect the land. Those were very fine reasons, but they had to choose to protect themselves, too. They did not know how the enemy had identified them, but now the Jetman were a target. Being in a group was far safer than being alone.
"Why are you so slow?! You have to get much faster!" Her three putative students flinched back at her shout. All three closed their eyes, facing Odagiri. In that moment, she took all three out, utterly defeating them. They bit the dirt.
Kaori fainted. Ako burst into tears. Lyta broke a front tooth. Looking at the three of them, Odagiri pinned her hopes on the fifth Jetman. The last warrior. What type of human being would that one be? She hoped that person would be useful. At this time, only Ryu was a warrior. It was he who was out, searching for the fifth Jetman.
3
Gai stopped his beloved vehicle in the underground parking lot. He took the key from the ignition. A vintage curio Harley, made in 1950. He had ridden it for a long time, and not once had it failed him. Gai thought of the bike as an extension of his body. When he took out the key and the engine ground to a halt, he often felt as though his own internal organs stopped functioning. The Master said nothing, as always.
Gai left the bike, went up the stairs and opened the bronze doors. This was the Golden Gate Bar. He always dropped in there after a day of gambling. The bar was not actually open for the evening yet, so there were no customers. Gai sat down at the edge of the counter. The Master and the shop, neither ever presented a false face of friendliness. There were no pictures, no flowers, only a concrete wall. The old saxophone the Master used to use was in its place on the Sake racks. This was the only ornament in the bar. Gai had played that sax several times. After the Master had first heard him perform, the young man became the only person he would allow to touch the ancient instrument, for he loved the jazz Gai played.
The Master set a shot glass in front of Gai, and pointed towards the saxophone questioningly. Gai gave a slight shake of his head. He was not in the mood to play, even though the Master asked him. He had felt like this for a long time, now. His last performance had been a year ago. He felt that he was moving away from music. No, the music had deserted him. He did not feel its loss, no. This was just the way things went.
Gai drained his Maccaran in one quick gulp. A stranger seemed to materialize out of thin air and settled in an empty seat one away from him. Gai spared the man a quick glance, but saw nothing to explain what suddenly annoyed him. Gai instinctively sensed that this man was a completely different type of person than he was.
"Hot milk," Ryu said to the Master. "No sugar." When the milk arrived, he asked the Master to leave them alone.
Ryu and Gai were the only people in the shop. Ryu cast a glance at Gai and smiled. He slipped a bracelet out and lay it on the counter. "This... is yours."
"Say what?" Gai asked, startled.
"You were also bathed in the Birdnic Wave. The day the Earth Ship was destroyed. When that strange light -- " With straightforward frankness, Ryu told Gai everything he could.
"That's very interesting," Gai said wryly, when Ryu finished speaking. A small smile curled his lips. "Does this make me some kind of justice warrior?"
"Yes. Please, lend us your power. We need the Jetman all together to fight."
"Really. But can't you see I'm busy? Every morning I volunteer to help sweep the streets. Every night I volunteer to watch the fires and strike them with clappers."
"That's very noble," Ryu answered.
Idiot, Gai thought. He doesn't even know a joke when he hears one.
"But," Ryu continued, "protecting the Earth is extremely important work. We are the only ones who can."
"Yeah." Gai downed two cups of whiskey in the blink of an eye and started to laugh through his nose. "Sweet. I was bathed in the Birdnic Wave totally by chance. That's like getting a Royal Straight Flush in Poker! So then, shall I let chance decide if I join?" He put his hand in his pocket and drew out a coin. "Heads or tails. If you win, I will join you."
"Didn't you understand what I said? You can't decide such a problem like this!"
Gai snapped the coin into the air with his fingers and caught it coming down. "Well, which? I don't care which side of the coin it is. Let chance take its toll. If you don't want to decide this way, then goodbye."
Ryu had followed the movement of the coin with his sharp eyes and felt confident. As the coin fell he had noted the flashing sides as best he could. After a moment he said reluctantly, "Heads...."
Gai slowly opened his hand. There was nothing there. The coin had vanished like smoke. "Neither heads nor tails. Too bad," Gai said. He stood up and left the bar.
Ryu caught up with him in the basement parking lot. "Wait! Please, listen to me once more!"
"Whatever. It's useless." Gai turned to him. "Shall I care about the future of humanity, who and how many could die?"
"Are you serious!?" Ryu's voice rose unintentionally in his shock. "Why don't you think human life is important?!"
"Yeah, yeah. You seem like a nice kid. Kids believe that sort of thing."
"WHAT?!"
"Is it good? I do want to say this: I've never joined any team. From here it's all the same. I live alone. And the most important reason is that I hate people like you."
"You don't understand a thing!" Ryu snapped, closing on Gai. "It's the peace of the world at stake! We don't have the luxury of thinking only about ourselves!" Before he finished speaking, he was punched away.
Gai butted Ryu's face with his head. "Yeah, do whatever you like, I don't care. Later." With that parting shot, he turned to leave, but Ryu scrambled back up and grabbed him. Gai spun around with a wicked smile. Simultaneously, the two men attacked each other. Both their strikes landed on empty air. Gai struck again, a kick that impacted a parked car hard and sent the hood springing up.
"He's strong," Ryu groaned. For being bathed in the Birdnic Wave lent the recipient extraordinary power. And Gai used that power instinctively. Ryu had a brief instant and then changed his guard to the left. When he had to think about his adversary's safety, he always guarded with his right despite being left-handed. He had never taken the left-hand guard unless his adversary was incredibly strong.
Gai did not have a strict style of guarding. He was by nature a good fighter, going into it with his full heart. He struck repeatedly with his elbow, always blocked by Ryu's crossed arms.
4
At that time, Kaori, Lyta and Ako were running in the hills in the suburbs. It was Odagiri's orders that, after practicing Kempo, they were to run a twenty kilometer marathon. An hour had passed since they left the base, and they had barely hit three kilometers. They were not in great physical condition. Throughout the entire day Odagiri had concentrated on intense physical training. The trio had really reached the limit of their endurance.
The three runners kept alternately falling down on the frozen road. Whoever fell on their stomach tended to end up panting. The other two always helped that one up. "SHIT! The chief! That widow, that..." Ako had spilled abuse on Odagiri more times than they could count. She was well aware that the bracelet picked up her voice and Odagiri could hear her nasty words.
Darkness fell. There were few streetlights, cars seldom passed out here. All the three could see was the dim white mist of their breathing. The season was still freezing cold. In an ordinary year they would be so glad to be able to see signs of the coming spring. This year, the global climate had been strange. People were freezing to death in New York. In the usually eternal-summer islands, frost had fallen. Meteorologists had declared that the world was entering a terrible glacial period, and they were not people to laugh at.
Kaori and the others kept having to stamp the frost from their feet. Ahead of them they could see a stone quarry. Enormous silent rocks loomed out of the still snow. There was a shovel car stopped ahead. Trees drooped from its arm like enormous, awful fangs. Then Lyta first saw the red eyes in the darkness.
And then... the ground shook under heavy, menacing footsteps. The three froze, their eyes wide as they stared all around. The thin ice covering the great rocks around them shimmered and, within that shining the silhouette of the great robot loomed in the darkness.
"GREY!" The three humans forgot their aches and pains and ran for it.
Grey's red eyes slowly came closer. Kaori uttered a small scream as she turned and saw the flash from his beam cannon. Lyta threw himself over her and the pair tumbled on the ground. The beam hit the ground, and the resulting explosion kindled red fire and sent gravel scattering through the air. The two humans suffered a direct hit.
"This time you won't get away," came Toran's voice. And from some unknown where came his eerie, terrible whistle.
The quarry's rock formations slid from the ground and, as if in response to the rising pitch of his whistle, exploded simultaneously. Countless stones, like volcanic bombs, rained down on the three terrified people.
5
Ryu blocked Gai's elbow with his crossed arms, countering with a downward kick. Gai leaped into the air to avoid that strike and landed behind Ryu. Certain he would win, he smiled. In a one-to-one battle, the rear was an excellent place to take someone from. That was his advantage. "Drop dead!" he snarled. He swung his elbow down in a vicious strike to the nape of Ryu's neck, just like an axe. But his strike just cut the air. Ryu ducked and avoided the strike by a hairs' breadth. His back was still to Gai. Ducking, he moved into a spring and flipped backwards, kicking his opponent right between the eyes. "GAH!" Gai's balance was destroyed.
Whipping around, Ryu drove the palm of his hand into Gai's gut. The blow slammed Gai into the parking lot's wall. The impact opened a straight crack in the wall, fifty meters long. If he had not been bathed in the Birdnic Wave, Gai would have been killed instantly. Just then, Ryu's bracelet chimed. Odagiri was calling.
The bracelets had small cameras, and Odagiri was eyewitness to the crisis faced by Kaori and the others. She ordered Ryu to rescue the three right away. As Gai slowly recovered and got back to his feet, Ryu was leaping into his car, the Jet Striker, to hurtle away.
"WAIT!" Gai screamed after him. "This isn't over yet!"
The Jet Striker roared away, Ryu inside. Gai would have to use all his skill as a driver to catch the vehicle, as his bike did not have nearly the capability of the other. The Jet Striker could go five hundred kilometers an hour at its best; it was an F1 type machine, after all. The space between the two vehicles widened quickly.
The Jet Striker reached the hilly outskirts in no time. A quiet snow had begun to fall, dropping down from the black emptiness. It shrouded the cold ground. A dog's corpse, garbage on the road, all this ugliness was hidden under the white veil of snow. But there were still bodies in the veil.
Toran and Grey were there. They radiated heat, and the snow was obliterated the moment before it could touch them. Ryu could see Lyta and the others in front of him. Toran's whistle moved the great lumps of rock. The stones rose in a mass, only to be aimed and dropped down at Kaori. Ryu kicked the second engine into operation. The booster blazed, throwing the Jet Striker into the air and pulverizing a great boulder. Simultaneously Ryu leaped from the wheel to land near his three companions. "RYU!" the three cried and gathered to him.
They could hear the approach of the great, black robot in the darkness. Toran floated down from the sky to sit on Grey's shoulder. "Huhn. One more of you will not be enough," he said. "There should be five altogether."
"What kind of people ARE you?!" Ryu shouted back at him. "Why do you know about the Jetman?!"
"It was you who called us," said a voice behind Ryu.
The four whirled about. There was a grove of trees, and amongst them was the form of a third enemy. The man with the two halves of a face, one old and one young. Radiguet.
At the sight of this terrible ugliness, Kaori and Ako unconsciously clung to each other's hands. Ryu's eyes went wide. "You...."
This was the face that had appeared on the monitors just before the Earth Ship exploded. There was no way to say how many times Ryu had seen that face in his mind's eye. "We were called... to this star," Radiguet said, yet again.
Ryu had to fight down an impulse to launch himself at the strange being. "What does that mean?" he asked in a low voice.
"Can you not hear it? You, the Earth and the call of this planet's misery?" Radiguet asked. "Because of you foolish humans, this world is on the verge of death. We've come to rescue the world. In other words, because of you humans, we were invited to this star." His voice was odd, without tone and yet as though it were double-layered and echoed, stretching.... It was the sound of an old man's and young man's voice speaking at the same moment. The two sounds overlapping each other were like discordant music. "There are countless stars in the universe, burgeoning with lifeforms of wisdom, intelligence and health," Radiguet continued, "that is how evolution dictates the patterns of existence. When they reach a certain level in the gradation, with their own hands they begin the destruction of their world. Seas dry up. Greenery dies. The sky falls. The stars' grief surges and we listen. Our mission is to rescue the wounded stars. We have wandered space since before Earth was born. We have protected countless stars. There is nowhere in the universe we cannot hear a star's voice. So now it is this world which needs our power. Only if you are obliterated can the world be saved. We, the Vyram, will accomplish our mission."
"Vyram..." this was the first time Ryu had heard the enemy's name, and he repeated it numbly.
The Vyram.
"That's a pack of lies!" shouted Lyta. He was so angry and filled with hatred that his body shook. "My - my fields were destroyed, and that guy's going to protect the Earth? I don't believe it!!"
"Stupid human, you cannot possibly understand us," Radiguet replied.
"You're wrong," Ryu snapped. "Human beings are not as stupid as you think. We believe in our human potential! We have the potential to create a glorious future -- "
"Oh really. Show me that potential," Radiguet invited. He held out his hand and chuckled nastily. One drop of blood fell from his fingertip. A small sphere that fell into the snow and rolled, tumbled, then expanded and expanded... and changed.
Ryu, Kaori, Lyta and Ako all gaped at the multi-headed monster that towered over them in the snow. From the pulsing blob of muscle stretched three long, snake-like necks. From three throats thundered roars of rage. The three heads had no eyes, no noses, only terrible, red mouths filled with needle-sharp fangs. Its jelly-like saliva dripped from the mouths. Its skin was fluid and in places blood bubbled out. It did not move.
Then the necks whipped out to strike. Ako leaped out of range. "FLY!" She avoided the biting fangs by rolling. Saliva dripping down burned the ground.
Ryu heard the roar of a bike's engines closing on them and looked up. There was no mistaking it. Gai was arriving on his Harley.
"Hey. Now all five of them are here," complained Toran.
Gai had followed the Jet Striker because he was determined to end the battle with Ryu. He was stunned when he saw the scene before him. "Wh - what is that thing?" he muttered under his breath.
Ryu caught up with him and quickly slipped the bracelet onto his wrist. "Fight!" he shouted into Gai's ear. "You too are a Jetman!" And then he changed. Kaori, Lyta and Ako followed suit.
The monster stretched a neck out and swung it in an attack on the still motionless Gai. "Gu!" He was tossed flying like a pebble.
"Transform!" Ryu shouted again.
Just before Gai would have been crushed against a cliff, he moved to activate the bracelet. The Jetman transformation. The goggle-helmet and the shining body suit engulfed his body. Gai's body spun and he kicked off the cliff. He jumped straight at the monster. "Bastard!" Gai flew at the monster, slamming his fists with his full power behind them into its gaping maw. He smashed the glittering, needle-sharp fangs. His eyes opened wide in amazement as he realized how powerful he was. He had the power to leap across the emptiness, to pierce the ground with his punch. Is this the Jetman power?! he wondered. The monster would not let Gai go. It had his arm from wrist to elbow and was sucking him in. It looked like he was going to be swallowed up. Ryu drew his blade-type weapon, the Bringer Sword, raced to Gai's side and beheaded the monster. They were both drenched in the creature's blood. The severed neck flopped on the ground like a spring.
"What do you think?" Toran, watching all this attentively, whispered to Radiguet. "Should I go fight?"
"No," Radiguet answered him. "It's too soon to attack them. The Jetman's full power has not yet bloomed. We will wait."
"For what reason?" Toran inquired curiously. "Why should we ignore Juuza's oracle?" Radiguet only stared at Toran and smiled.
Ryu, Kaori, Lyta and Ako had drawn their Bird Blasters and were firing them at the monster. Plazma arced from their guns. The monster howled in agony. It stretched its remaining necks. However, though they continued bombarding it with plasma energy, the attack by only the four of them was too weak to stop it.
"What are you doing?" Ryu shouted to Gai. "Attack it with your Bird Blaster!"
Gai had the Bird Blaster in his hands. "I don't like this. I don't like orders!"
The monster swung a head towards Gai, spitting out a ball of saliva that hit near his feet and opened a fissure. The saliva splattered about, hitting his suit and scorching it. Gai reflexively hit the trigger of the Bird Blaster and began firing. With all five attacking, the monster was wrapped in the plasma energy pouring from the five Bird Blasters. The resulting explosion was tremendous.
The monster's body warped, then blew apart and the Jetman ducked and held tight through the horrendous shockwave. Its burning flesh and entrails streaked across the sky and rained down on the Jetman. The monster's final howl reached all the way across the mountains and echoed. The burnt meat still shuddered and stank.
The five's bracelets processed the information for the change from their suits. Radiguet, Grey and Toran were nowhere to be seen. The humans did not know when their enemies had disappeared. The Vyram had not even left footprints. Though they strained their ears, there were NO indications at all, only the sound of falling snow.
It was Gai who broke the silence. The roar of his Harley's engine cut the air. Ryu stepped up to him, reaching out a hand to offer a handshake. "Thank you. If you hadn't come -- " He did not get to finish speaking before Gai struck him viciously. Ryu fell, but Kaori and the others were quick to help him up.
"You misunderstand," Gai snapped. "I'm only wiping the fallen sparks away. I will not join you." He took off the bracelet and dropped it onto Ryu's chest. "Okay. Never bother me again. I'm alone. No one can change me." He gunned his bike and snow dusted into the air as he tore off.
"Wait, please!" Ryu cried, starting to race after him. But then his ankle was hit by a strong, terrible impact that sent him tumbling. He turned around. Kaori, Ako and Lyta also turned. There was a fine, silver link whipped around Ryu's ankle. It stretched out straight into the darkness. That whip was a deadly weapon, the Necrod, and no one could have guessed what it was made of. It seemed like an ordinary stick except for the extraordinary elasticity of the whip. From its pointed end came electromagnetic waves. It was strong enough to split the ground with one blow. And this Necrod Whip was the weapon of the last of the Vyram commanders. Maria Rei.
She stepped from the darkness, face visible for a moment. "Rie!" Ryu gasped when he saw her. She had huge pupils, red lips and long hair. She wore a white bodysuit on her slender body. She looked exactly like Rie.
"Fool," she said. Again the Necrod Whip lashed out, this time tearing the skin off of Ryu's neck, his blood splattering. She cut a wound like a cross over Ryu's heart. "Sooner or later, you will all bear the cross by my hand," she stated. Her lips crooked in a small smile.
She's different, Ryu told himself insistently. It's not Rie. She would never smile like that. Rie had been so bright and beautiful. She would never hurt me. She's not Rie. Rie is not... Rie... died.
"Don't be in such a hurry, Maria," came Radiguet's voice from the darkness. "It is not yet time. Come back."
Maria turned away from them with a smile, into the darkness. Then, like a phantom, she faded away into the distance. The wind blew and branches knocked. The snow fell. It fell in great flakes. It closed like a hand over her shoulders. She slowly turned towards them again.