Dual Fan Fiction ❯ Interstellar Dual! ❯ Final Goodbyes ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure and its characters are the property of Pioneer and whoever, not me. The rest was fashioned together by the eccentric mind of Will Rogers (Xtor49), and now, Thorin Blauvelt.


Italics: thoughts.
Bold: emphasized
Underlined: info from the author, such as definitions, clarifications, and the Author’s Note. Underlined text is not spoken by characters.
<>: a mecha is speaking


The crew of the Skylight returned to Earth escorted by the Marikesan ship as proof of the end of hostilities. Almost immediately, preparations began for making a journey deep into outer space; a journey...that could take over half a decade. The preparations were made a high priority, and they were finished in less than a year. The Skylight was ready for its departure across the heavens. Here begins the true
Interstellar Dual!


After over eight months of work, the Skylight was truly ready for its long journey. Dr. Sanada and Ms. Hayase had mapped out several possible planets for habitation based on the Marikesan charts. The closest one, at Skylight's top speed, was about two years of travel away. There were still a few functions of the Skylight that they hadn't figured out but that were non-essential. Finally the day of the launch arrived, which was also the anniversary of the day Travis came to this universe.


Travis and Mitsuki R. were standing together holding hands while Travis said goodbye to his former schoolmates. He had graduated in the past few months, given that he had been a Senior. Then, as the young couple turned to leave hand in hand, Ayuko and Dr. Hiroshi Rara walked up. Travis watched Ayuko suspiciously, wondering if she had decided to change her mind and come along after all.


Ayuko smiled at Travis's wariness. "Don't worry, Travis; I am going to be staying here on Earth. I just came to wish my daughter and her fiancé farewell," Ayuko said smoothly.


Mitsuki R. looked at her mother in protest, "Mother, we are not engaged yet. We decided not to get engaged until we find a new place to live."


Travis and Ayuko both looked at Mitsuki in astonishment. Travis then smiled and puts his arm tighter around Mitsuki's waist, "Well then, I guess you aren't staying to watch Kazuki and Mitsuki S. get married to christen the journey?"


"No lad, I'm afraid not," Hiroshi answered, "I have a lot of work to do on the artifact transmission receiver that's in the lab so if need be we can call you for help." Hiroshi cast a sidelong glance at his wife that indicated the real reason that they weren't staying. "I'll miss you both very much." Hiroshi gave Mitsuki a goodbye hug.


Surprisingly, Hiroshi also gave Travis a fatherly hug, "Take good care of my daughter." Then he lets go and walks off, tears in his eyes. He walks by Ken Sanada. "Now I know how you felt when you let your Mitsuki leave with Kazuki. I'm going to miss you, you big windbag," he then extends his hand to Ken.


Ken looks at Hiroshi in surprise, then smiles and takes Hiroshi's hand, "I'll miss you too, you ignoramus." Then they pulled into a hug.


Both Ayuko and Akane look at their respective husbands in complete surprise, never having suspected that all of the rivalry between the two doctors was also a form of brotherly love and respect.


Ayuko stepped in, dragging Hiroshi away and going to their car. Ken watched his associate go away, knowing that he may never see him again. His eyes also filled with tears. Akane put her hand on Ken's shoulder, "Come on Ken. The wedding is about to start. Mitsuki would be so upset if we were late."


Ken picks his cheek up, "Yes dear." They walk together, Travis and Mitsuki R. joining them along the way. They walked back to the underside of the Skylight where the wedding was to be held.

Travis spotted Naoya Shiozaki and Isawa Toshihiko sitting at the front looking at Kazuki jealously. Dee was standing as the maid of honor. Travis looked at Mitsuki R, "I need to go, Mitsuki; I'm the best man."


"Alright. I understand," Mitsuki R. answered, and then she gave Travis a quick kiss on the cheek, then went to sit by Yayoi, Alice, Ryla, and Mina.


Travis then walked up to his position. Yayoi smiled up at him, holding hands with her boyfriend. She mouthed to Travis, 'Thank you'. Then she smirked as her boyfriend kissed her neck. The American never could remember the guy's name.


Travis smiled at Kazuki as the groom got into position. Travis was surprised as he looked into Kazuki's eyes. He saw a determination that reminded him of that one day in the locker room, almost a year ago, only not formed out of anger.


Wow, Travis thought, He is really changing. He's totally ready for this.


Then Kazuki froze. Travis turned and saw Mitsuki S. walk down the aisle led by Ken.
He heard a low whistle from Kazuki and almost made the same whistle. She looked stunning in her wedding gown. The gown was a white silk, reaching all the way down to her feet. But the striking aspect of the dress was that it fit almost exactly like a second skin on the upper half of her body.


I take that back. No man could be ready for her, Travis almost laughed at the faces on Isawa and Shiozaki; they were almost drooling. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kazuki notice and glare at his friends. The look he gave them actually got them to behave.


Travis smiled to himself about how well Kazuki had matured in the past year since he had arrived. Then he smiled over at Dee, who was now 15 and a half years old. She smiled back, still as innocent as ever. He thought back to what happened in the lunch room whenever she walked in. The first time it happened reminded him of when he first started going to school here.


A hauntingly familiar voice echoed in Travis' head, "Please...give the... young... couple... our best."

I will, he assured the voice.


All of a sudden, Travis was jolted out of his reverie as Mitsuki S. got up to the altar. He kept smiling as he watched two of his closest friends in his new world be joined to each other for the rest of their lives.


* * *


After the ceremony and reception were over, it was time to begin the launch. Almost all of the crew was now in the Skylight, with the exception of Kazuki and Travis. The male pilots, each in their respective mecha, were to fly behind each wing of the Skylight as the honor guard. Each would be activating the Light Hawk Wings upon lift-off and preparing for the special display.


Dee was chosen to make the countdown. Travis looked out over all the people out below them.


Tatsuma said.


"Yeah, pal; I know. And all here to say goodbye to us," Travis answered, smiling,
Planetary exiles to planetary heroes in a year. The world...the universe works that way sometimes.,"Lt. Commander Ecks to Lt. Rara. Can you hear me, Mitsuki?"


"Yes, Travis, I can," Mitsuki R. answered, smiling because Travis had called her.


"Did you enjoy the ceremony today?"


Travis heard Mitsuki giggling. "Yes I did, Travis. Why do you ask?"


"Just wondering, gorgeous. Do you want the same kind?"


Travis saw on the com screen Mitsuki's face slowly flush, but noticed that it wasn't as large as she would have blushed over that in the past, "No Travis, I want one that is just us and our friends."


Travis smiled, "I agree."


Dee's voice cut in on the main speaker, "Attention, attention! T-minus 10 seconds till launch. 10...9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1̷ 0;0." Right as Dee said zero the Skylight slowly began to lift off the ground.


"Alright. Travis, Kazuki, Light Hawk Wings now!!!" Ken ordered.


"You heard the man Tatsuma. Activate Light Hawk Wings." Travis said to his mecha.
At that point, both Zinv and Tatsuma roared as their Light Hawk Wings opened washing the crowd in the energy wave. They both began flying behind the Skylight.


"Time for the finale, boys." Ken announced.


"Right," Travis and Kazuki answer together.


"You ready Travis?" Kazuki asked his American friend.


"You bet Kazuki. Let's do this." Travis answered.


Travis charged up both his Chain Lightning as Kazuki began to prepare a gravity shell. They both counted backward from three in time with Ken Sanada. Upon the count of Zero, Travis released his chain lightning, Kazuki fired his gravity shell and Ken Sanada sent several beams from the Skylights weapons. They met exactly between Zinv and Tatsuma, relatively speaking of course, and burst into an enormous flare.


The whole crowd shouted and cheered as the Skylight broke free of Earth's gravity to begin its long, lonely journey.


Authors note:
Hi my name is Thorin Blauvelt and I am co-writing this story with Will Rogers. For those of you who have enjoyed chapters 1-6 of Interstellar Dual! I'm glad you decided to read my part. Anything I write and is posted on here has met Will's approval before it was posted and so I am not stealing his story. What happened was I read chapters 1-4 before 5 and 6 came out and loved them so much I asked the site Admin. if Will planned to write any more, and if he did, did he need any help and if he didn't if I could have permission to continue it. Well as you all have noticed it turned out Will did intend to write more but said he was glad for the help. I hope you don't mind chapter 7 being a little on the short side but its sort of the transition chapter between Earth and space. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and the rest of the chapters Will and I put out.
As said before, Interstellar Dual! was originally posted at dualfans.host.sk , so what Thor’s Author’s Note is talking about is from back then.


The following was written by Will Rogers (Xtor49)


Travis Ecks stepped onto the bridge of the Skylight shortly after reboarding, "Captain Sanada, can I speak with you in private?"


Dr. Sanada saw from Travis' expression that the young man felt this was very important, "Of course, Lt. Commander." They walked into the captain's office nearby.


What could Travis need to talk to him about already? Did we forget something? Kauro Hayase wondered.


"Yes, Travis, what is it?" Dr. Sanada queried in his office as he sat in his chair.


Travis sat across from him, "Well, this is kind of a sensitive subject...is there anyway we could make birth control or something on this ship?"


The doctor leaned back in surprise, "What brought this on?"

"Well...say we got into a battle, and a portion of our female crew was pregnant? Namely, your daughter. If Mitsuki was pregnant, her life sympathy would be off, and she literally couldn't pilot Sakura. We would lose a good portion of our strength, and we need all we can get. Also, combat is no place to raise a small child. We don't have facilities for a day-care, anyway," Travis answered.


"Yes, I see your point. Our crew is mostly made of young couples, or those with children at least in high school. While we cannot stop anyone from having a child, we should encourage against it and help to prevent it. It should be possible to manufacture condoms and birth control. I'll get some people on it later; I'd rather not announce it over the intercom, you understand," Dr. Sanada told him.


Travis nodded, "Yeah. Thanks, Doc." "Dismissed," the older man stated. Travis left, Now I just have to talk to the newlyweds about it.

Author's note: this was a subject I felt had to be addressed. I sincerely doubt the government would've paid for two years worth of condoms for the entire crew. So there had to be some reason why Kazuki doesn't get Mitsuki pregnant. It's not like you can expect them to take vows of chastity for two years. No babies any time soon. Sorry.