Before SeitenFire could even approach the revived monster, he saw his teammates running in his direction. They placed themselves on both his sides and stared at the Unsealed.
"How is it that we have to deal with a giant version of this racing lunatic again, huh?" SeitenWater complained the moment he stopped beside SeitenFire.
"There's nothing new with that. Get used to it already," SeitenEarth placidly replied which only made SeitenLight laugh.
"How about we end this together?" SeitenWind asked towards SeitenFire. The red warrior just nodded and positioned to a stance along with the other Seitengers.
Placing their Vessel Medallions and pushing the required button, the warriors raised their Hyakureider to the sky.
"Spirit Summon, Start!"
One by one, the five Grand Vessel Spirits appeared from the portal and went down towards their respective Seitenger partners. The warriors soon boarded their respective Grand Vessel Spirits.
"Reiyouki Gattai! Formation, Build Up!"
At that command, the Grand Vessel Spirits began changing their forms to combine. Firion, Sereo, Terraiger, Skylon, and Dovight all began changing their forms and combining to form an armed robot, poised and ready to battle the Triske Monster's Unsealed Form.
"Heavenly Guardian King, Descend! SeitenOh!"
When the robot was all poised and ready to fight, they began charging toward Motross to end the battle. But what they didn't expect was the speed the Triske Monster gained after becoming an Unsealed. Before the Seitengers knew it, they were having a hard time dealing with the monster's speed as it kept on charging towards SeitenOh in a flash.
"Okay, this is not exactly what I signed up for when this monster became an Unsealed!" SeitenWater complained as he struggled to stand up and gripped his Hyakureider stabbed on the dimensional floor.
"None of us expected this, so stop complaining and let's just think of a way to defeat this nuisance," SeitenEarth replied.
It was then that the medallion with the condor head that SeitenFire was holding glowed, which the others soon noticed and once again, bright enough to distract the Unsealed.
"Uh... What's that?" SeitenWind asked but no one answered.
Moments later, the glow subsided before projecting a figure of a big red condor in front of the Seitengers that surprised all of them.
"That was you, wasn't it? The one who talked to me inside my head while I was racing with Motross a while back," SeitenFire inquired to make sure.
The condor nodded. "That's right, my chosen warrior. And you've just earned the right for you to finally use my powers, just as your predecessor had done once before. Though I never thought it would take me 25 years to finally meet you."
"25 years? That long?"
"Who are you, anyway?"
"I am an Elemental Guide residing in the Realm of the Hundred Heavens and can only be summoned once my chosen warrior has proven his worth to possess my powers. Though mostly known by my title "Thriving Condor of the Flames", my name is Condire. Pleased to make your acquaintance---" the condor said as it faced the other four Seitengers. "---and your allegiance, as well." These last words were all said as the condor eyed SeitenFire.
"You said that I earned the right to use your powers," SeitenFire said. "How?"
"The same way you're all summoning your Grand Vessel Spirits, of course. What else? We Vessel Spirits do live in the same realm, after all."
Despite the slight sarcasm detected in the Elemental Guide's voice, SeitenFire could only laugh at that. He soon faced his teammates who only gave him encouraging nods before deciding to do what needed to be done.
This time, however, instead of pushing the red button of his Hyakureider, SeitenFire pushed the white one.
"Spirit Summon, Start!"
It didn't take long before a red condor in its mechanical form appeared from a portal above and soared towards SeitenOh.
"Reiyouki Busou (Spirit Vessel Armament), Set Up!"
To the Seitengers' surprise, the mechanical condor soon changed shape and in a matter of seconds, it transformed into a bazooka that SeitenOh took hold of the moment it floated in front of him. At that point, the said robot was armed with a powerful weapon.
"Fire Condor Knight, Descend! SeitenOh Condire!"
"Shuichi-san!"
"This is unbelievable!" SeitenWater exclaimed and tapped the red warrior's shoulder who still couldn't speak because of all the development happening to them all at the same time.
"Well, what are we waiting for? It's time to kick some monster racer's butt," SeitenLight declared that, even though she initially earned incredulous stares from the older Seitengers, soon made all of them laugh.
"Let's go!"
With that, the bright glow dissipated and no chance to waste, SeitenOh---in possession of the Condire Bazooka---began firing blast after blast towards Motross. Each blast coming from SeitenOh's new weapon was nothing that all of them had anticipated, especially in terms of speed.
"W-what is this?!" Motross could only say in pain as the new weapon continued to blast the monster with power unlike it ever encountered before.
This was why Motross couldn't do anything since it was hard for the monster to beat the speed of the shots coming from the bazooka. When the Triske Monster was weakened, the Seitengers decided to cast their finishing attack as they combined their Hasureiki with that of SeitenOh.
"Ready, guys?"
The rest nodded before they took out their respective Hyakureider from their respective podiums and charged it with their respective Hasureiki. SeitenOh, in turn, positioned once the bazooka started charging, as well.
"Flame Condor Blazing Judgment!"
Four fireball-like energy formed in front of the bazooka's mouth and moments later was fired towards the struggling Motross. It didn't take long for the Unsealed to be destroyed and finally disappear, thus ending the death race challenge that it had made to the red warrior.
SeitenFire didn't mind SeitenWater pouncing on him once again and hugging him tight because of the blue warrior's amazement. He soon faced SeitenEarth who only gave him a tap on his shoulder and beaming smiles coming from the two female warriors.
"You did it," SeitenWind said soon after.
SeitenFire just nodded.
"And the winner... the Fire of the Fang!" SeitenWater declared almost loudly that only earned him a smack from SeitenEarth.
"Stage set!"
SeitenFire could only heave a heavy sigh of relief as soon as it was over. With his teammates happy that their current ordeal was over, he looked at the Guardian Medallion inserted into the slot of his HyakuReiDer.
"Thank you so much for helping us, Condire," SeitenFire said and even bowed to it.
"What are you talking about, Shuichi? You're already my chosen master, and you've proven to me that even amid the situation before, you can use the power of your dreams to reach your goal. Whether to defeat the enemy or just find a way to deal with the problem, I'm just glad you didn't falter and give up."
SeitenFire couldn't help smiling at the words he heard from Condire. "You know there's no way I would give up, especially if it's about racing. I'm not going to let some monster beat me to it."
The red warrior soon heard Condire laugh. "Well, if you Seitengers ever need my help again, just summon me. I'll come anytime."
"Thank you very much, Condire-san," SeitenLight said politely and even bowed to the said Elemental Guide.
The other Seitengers also expressed their delight and gratitude to Condire soon after. But if there was one more person that SeitenFire would like to thank, it was Helen. Despite the suspicion that SeitenEarth had about her, SeitenFire was willing to set the tension aside if it meant having Helen as their new comrade who would help them with their battle against the Tareans.
xxxxxx
The only thing the other Vessels could do as they walked was to look at the Fire Condor Medallion that Shuichi was also looking at in awe. The damage done to the civilians was already resolved, thanks to them fully defeating Motross. Kanako, Akira, and Natsume also confirmed to the Vessels the state of the other victims who were at the hospital.
"So this is a Guardian Medallion, huh? I can't believe Shuichi-san was able to gain new power. What made you do that, anyway?" Itsuki couldn't contain his excitement (still reserved, though) when he asked that question to the biker.
Shuichi smiled as he looked at the composer and made the Guardian Medallion disappear from his hand. "If I were to base it on what happened today, gaining the trust and approval of an Elemental Guide is something that needs a greater reason for you to fight. Whether it's passion or dreams that we have."
"But from what I know, none of us still have any idea about the Elemental Guides at all. Only the Guardian Medallions were mentioned to us, and briefly at that. How did you know that it was an Elemental Guide?" This time, it was Eichirou who asked that.
Shuichi stopped walking which made the others do the same. When the other Vessels looked at Shuichi, they saw him looking at the sky now stained with purple color because of the shadow cast by the clouds surrounding the setting sun. They couldn't help frowning at the sight of his serious face.
Though they've known him to be a serious person, this was something rare to see. It was like... he remembered something melancholic.
"It was Helen who mentioned this to me," Shuichi replied soon after. "This was the real reason why she was replaying the earlier footage of my race with Motross."
"That girl knew a lot about our business now, huh?" Itsuki couldn't help commenting.
"So you're saying that she had an idea that it was an Elemental Guide who gave off that light from the previous fight?" Misae asked the question.
But Shuichi continued talking without looking at the others. "She said that each of us owns a Guardian Medallion, and as we know, it was the second classification of the Spirit Power Medallions. Each of the Guardian Medallions can only be summoned and allow us to awaken its powers when the spirit residing it --- which, of course, you now know that it was the Elemental Guide --- would react to a certain strong emotion that we possess. Like I told you a while back, it's supposed to be an emotion strong enough that gives us a reason to fight."
"If you ask me, that's a complicated thing to think about," Eichirou said after a few moments. "But it's still amazing! Each of us owns a Guardian Medallion? Now I can't wait to see mine and meet the Elemental Guide it represents."
The others could only smile at that. Eichirou wasn't the only one who felt that way. The others, as well.
"I guess that's one proof that our Hasureiki is starting to evolve. Awakening the powers of the Elemental Guide spirit residing in the Guardian Medallions is not an easy task," Itsuki said before getting serious, as well. "But that Helen..."
"Onii-chan! Not again," Erika complained, speaking for the first time.
Itsuki sighed and faced his sister. "I can't help it, okay? Things had gotten a little rockier than usual for us ever since she arrived here. She knew more than what she was telling us and I need to know what they are. If she truly knew a lot of things about the Vessels and the Heavenly Spirit Guardians, then I need to know the extent of her knowledge with regards to that. Maybe after that... I'd change my mind about my impression of her."
The pianist just sighed resignedly. Her brother could be hard-headed sometimes and she was thinking how on earth did she bear with it all this time. But Itsuki had a point and she couldn't help it if he was suspicious about Helen. As for her, she was aware that Helen had some reasons why she wasn't saying anything about what she knew to them. For now, she'd let it be so things won't get messier than usual for all of them.
Minutes later, they finally reached the Mizuhashi mansion and all of them were tired from the battle. Hideoki welcomed them with a smile and told them that he had prepared snacks. Of course, Eichirou already went walking ahead and the other Vessels had to run just to reach the dining room where the snacks were. But before Shuichi could proceed, he looked out to the garden, and there, he saw someone familiar.
"Helen?" he muttered and decided to approach the young novelist.
When he finally reached the place, he was surprised to see her sleeping on the table using her arms as pillows and her laptop was still open.
"It's almost night time and yet, she's still here. She could end up getting sick because of this."
But even so, he still smiled. Until now, he couldn't believe that Helen was the famous Hanasaki Kikue. For a girl like her, she had truly achieved a lot at her age. Just like Erika and Misae. But perhaps that achievement came to her with a price. He still couldn't process the fact that Helen was an orphan just like him. And to think she became an orphan at an early age.
Shuichi decided to approach the sleeping Helen. When he finally reached her and checked what was on the laptop's screen, he smiled when he saw that it was the draft of the novel that she was writing. Does this girl ever rest from writing? But then, he couldn't help anticipating a possible new novel from Hanasaki Kikue. For sure, it would be a hit once again.
He soon ended up deciding to save the file and shut the laptop down. He looked at the sleeping girl who was wearing the jacket he bought for her. Before leaving, he removed the racer jacket he was wearing and placed it on Helen's back since it was bigger and could protect her somehow from the cold.
"Thank you, Hanasaki-sensei, for saving me," Shuichi whispered to the sleeping Helen and slightly caressed her hair.
He was supposed to take a step away from there so that he could head to the dining room. But before he left her there, he eyed the six-winged cylindrical item intently that was placed on the table. Helen called it the "Astral Shifter". But the functions were barely his concern at the moment. Was it a coincidence that the same six-winged figure was also embroidered on the jacket that he brought for Helen which she was now wearing?
At the same time, he couldn't help wondering why he felt something strange about that device. He couldn't explain the exact description for him to describe the sensation as strange, though. But even so, he could truly feel something powerful about that device, without a doubt. Could this be the feeling that Itsuki had possibly sensed for the composer to question Helen's true reasons for her going to the mansion just like that?
He surely had a lot of questions about all this. But perhaps the answers would be revealed in time to them. For now, he'd just let things flow as they were supposed to.
"Hey, Shuichi! Hurry up or Eichirou-san will eat your share!" he heard Misae call out that soon brought him out of his reverie.
"You're mean, Mi-chan!" Eichirou whined and the others' laughter soon followed.
Shuichi sighed and shook his head to shrug off those thoughts for now. He would probably deal with the issue later on.
End of Record #4
xxxxxx
NEXT ON REIYOUKI SENTAI SEITENGER! RECORD 5: Still Photos
It was Mariko's birthday and Eichirou wanted to do something special for his dead mother's special day. The others wanted to help their friend with regards to the said occasion but for some reason, Eichirou insisted on doing it alone which confused the others. One of the letters that came before those for Hideoki was about a photo exhibit of his mother's most notable works in fashion designing. But for him to be able to put that into action, he would need the help of Odagawa Haruna, Mizuhashi Mariko's apprentice. Another problem came when a Triske Monster began attacking the location of the exhibit. Haruna seemed to have held a grudge against Mariko after her death because people still see her as an apprentice and not as a fashion designer with her own identity in the fashion world. One of the dresses that Haruna did as a favor for him brought back not just the real reason why both of them were pursuing their dreams, but had also awakened a deeper power in Eichirou that he never thought he had all this time.
This marks the first appearance of Waliver combining with SeitenOh in a Spirit Vessel Armament (Reiyouki Busou) forming SeitenOh Waliver.
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