✔ | Same Fear

What She's Fearing

Only a heavy sigh escaped Hammie's lips as she was watching the battle sequence with the other Kyurangers who remained in the Orion from the monitor that Raptor projected. But even though she tried hard, she couldn't concentrate on the battle itself as her mind was obviously traveling somewhere else.

"Hammie, are you alright?" Raptor called out, which almost immediately snapped the said girl out of her musings.

She even blinked for a few times before the question finally registered in her mind. She smiled and nodded. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

From Hammie's tone, it appeared that she didn't want to talk about what was troubling her. At least, that was what Raptor was thinking. But she couldn't possibly leave it like that, right? Hammie was her friend.

On the other hand, the battle on one sector of the planet was underway. Lucky, Stinger, Naga, Spada, and Kotaro were dealing with the giant Daikan of that sector and even the Moraimarz Robot using Kyuren-Oh. But unknown to the rest, as it was ongoing, Stinger's mind was still on the Orion where the female ninja was currently at.

The stare she gave him was still bugging his mind up to that moment. He figured that there was seriously something wrong with her. Hammie wasn't normally like that, that was why he was thinking about it.

"Stinger, are you alright? You seem to be spacing out," Lucky noticed when they finally defeated their targets.

The said scorpion guy only nodded and said "Nothing". But it appeared that he wasn't fooling anyone in that team.

Meanwhile, Hammie decided to head out to her room after watching that battle. Thankfully, no one tried to stop her even though it was really obvious that they were starting to worry. She closed the door of her room and leaned her back on it.

She couldn't understand why she was affected by that dream. Of course, she knew that it was just a dream. There was a small chance that it would come true. But if Hammie had to consider the current situation in which Stinger was a part of Kyuranger and a member of the Rebellion, that small chance could increase in more ways than one. Maybe not that fast, but it would still increase.

And that was what Hammie was fearing to happen.

Yes, the dream was about Stinger... and in that dream, he died.

Hammie was sitting while waiting for the others to arrive from the mission that Shou Ronpo gave to the team. One of the five people chosen to be a part of the line-up was Stinger. She was feeling nervous since the battle wasn't projected on the monitor, which confused her. Even the rest of the team who were in standby were uneasy about that, as well.

Why did that happen?

From the window of the Orion, Hammie could see the Voyagers arriving and slowly entering their respective hatches. But even from there, she noticed something strange about a particular Kyu Voyager.

The damage on the Sasori Voyager was more than what she expected. All of a sudden, she felt something akin to fear at the sight. Especially when she saw that chains seemed to be pulling it, as if no one was driving it.

She immediately left the main deck and as fast as she could, reached the hatch where the Sasori Voyager was. She saw Spada and Lucky already standing below it, specifically where the cockpit was. Champ was already inside of it.

Her eyes widened in shock when she saw the robot carrying someone who appeared to be sleeping. But who was she kidding? Stinger... He couldn't be, right?

Lucky and Spada seemed to have finally noticed Hammie's presence, judging from the way they appeared to be startled and turned to her direction.

She dragged herself towards the two Kyurangers now eyeing her with such sorrow in their eyes now that they saw her.

"What happened down there? Why is the Sasori Voyager like this? What happened to... Stinger?" It was a surprise that she still managed to ask those questions despite the mixed emotions now swirling in her chest.

Spada looked away while Lucky heaved a heavy--and also a ragged--sigh.

"Hey... Why aren't you answering my question?" she asked again, desperation was starting to build up in her.

"Stinger... used the Sasori Voyager to protect us, me and Spada..." Lucky answered after a long while of contemplating silence. "That's why his Voyager took the greatest damage. And..."

But Hammie shook her head emphatically, most likely showing her denial. Her tears, before she could even stop it, already began to fall one by one--fast. "Tell me... that's not true," she uttered in desperation. "Please tell me it's not true... He can't be dead!"

And yet the proof already appeared in her line of sight when she saw Champ carrying Stinger's bloodied body. Aside from the tears now falling nonstop because of that sight, she screamed Stinger's name in pain and disbelief...